Just to make you laugh (or a least smile)

This evening we went to a baseball game. Shortly before we were ready to leave for home I asked Bennett if he was cold and wanted his jacket back on, or if he needed to use the bathroom. He said no to both. So Brenda, Jenny and I went on watching the game while the kids played. I turned around quicky when I heard something suspicious and let out a shriek when I saw what I saw. You've probably already guessed. About 20 feet behind me is Bennett with his pants and undies at his ankles making the longest possible stream of unrine that he can with his hands on his hips...and the puddle he made in the dirt path was something to be seen. Unfortunately my shriek alerted everyone to the situation and there was lots of laughter. He seemed oblivious but poor Macey was really concerned that everyone was laughing at him. I guess when you have to go, you HAVE to go. And Nora, If you're reading this, I thought of you because I read your most recent post right before we left for the game :)!!

Memorable Milestones

At least I want them to be, which is why I am writing them down. This blog is intended to be a scrapbook for my kids. At some point I am going to have it published and bound for them. There is actually a company that does that. Cool huh?! I have just been realizing how quickly they are growing up and how little I actually post about the things they like and can do. So I am going to start today and hopefully do it more often so I (and they) can see the growth and changes they are making. Here it goes.

Things about Annabelle who will be 2 and 1/2 on June 29, 2009.

1. She takes random words and phrases and makes them into a song. Last night it was,

boogies in my nose

boogies in my nose

blow it

blow it

peanut butter, peanut butter

jelly, jelly

2. She can spell her name if sung in a song. Video to follow.

3. She can count consistently and in order to 13 and will continue to 20 but may skip or add a number here or there.

4. As of this past weekend she is able to pedal her tricycle long distances and can steer. I have to nudge her once in a while to get up a hill or over a big crack in the sidewalk. Today she went around the block twice. Woo hoo!!

5. She tells me when she is going number 2 and if we hurry, we can get MOST (not all) of it in the toilet. I might start potty training on her 2 and 1/2 birthday. We'll see.

6. She picks out A's for her name and B's for Bennett's name on everything...t'shirts, signs, magazines, etc.

7. She talks and talks (in long sentences) and also loves to copy Bennett.

8. She got her first black eye this past Thursday when she ran into the handle bar of a large, old fashioned tricycle.

9. She's quiet around those she's unfamiliar with and will often give them an angry glare if they try talking to her.

10. She loves to dance, dress like a princess, and call her daddy when she does something she's excited about. Today she called to tell him she ate all her green beans.

Things about Bennett who will be 3 and 1/2 on May 30, 2009.

1. He loves to make us laugh by making up his own jokes and he tells them over and over again. And we laugh over and over again.

2. He uses my vacuum attachments as swords to fight dragons and monsters. And he also enjoys "hunting" for deer and red tailed hawks. He makes sure to tell us that he got them "right behind the shoulder blades."

3. His real friend Mykenzie from preschool often becomes an imaginary guest at our house. We've had to, pull up a chair for her at the dinner table, make sure we told her she needed to ask to be excused, and scoot over in bed because I was laying on her pillow. Hmmm...

4. When counting objects (last night it was meatballs at dinner) he can tell us how many would be left if we ate two or if we put three back, etc....the start to adding and subtracting.

5. His favorite activity is to work in the yard or garden.

6. He's been able to spell his name for a while now and can write it fairly consistently. He needs a reminder here and there.

7. He likes me to tell him what letter words start with and what they sound like. We think of words that start with the same letter and do, pp-pumpkin, pp-pipe, pp-potato, (for example).

8. When he counts to ten, he will often hold up his hands and put up the corresponding number of fingers.

9. He knows his first and last name, his city and state, and just so many other things!

10. He's a jumping kid. He wants to jump off of EVERYTHING!

I should have done this long ago. I feel like I've missed so many important things and writing them down now seems insignificant. Oh well. I've learned my lesson! Here are a few pictures and a short video.

a little bit of a lot

Darrin Doings...

Last night I had the pleasure of going to a little ceremony honoring "influential educators." All senior National Honor Society members were asked to choose a K-12 educator who was most influential to them in their school career. Darrin was chosen by a sweet girl who then had to write a letter about him. The teachers didn't know who nominated them until the letter was read to the crowd. Thankfully Darrin was the first one honored because the kids were being too noisy. We sat in the cafeteria and waited for everyone to come in to enjoy the cake and punch.

Which leads me to the next topic. Only the kids enjoyed the cake and punch. Our friend Brenda recently started the Medifast program diet and has had success with it. She is now the "go to" person at the doctor's office where she works for patients who would like to start a weight loss program. Darrin and I have decided to start this. Monday was our first day. We have not recieved the Medifast food yet but are following the plan the best we can from what we have at home. I did not order any food for myself but will continue to eat better right along with Darrin. He will recieve 5 weeks of Medifast food soon and will hopefully see some results not too long after that. His goal seems a bit much for me as I think he is just fine the way he is, but he is excited to be doing this! Here's what's for dinner tonight...

Bennett Bits...

Bennett is beginning to write his name. Below is a picture of what I found one morning on the desk at the preschool where I work. Now that Bennett goes there, I get little perks that other parents don't normally get, such as seeing work that other parents wouldn't normally get to see, and hearing funny stories about him. Finding this on the desk in the morning made me smile the rest of the day and I requested that I be able to take this white board home to get a picture before it was erased :). He only had a little help with the "e's." Can you make it out?

His second "n" is quite large and his second "e" he insisted on being up by the name the teacher wrote out.

And here is a video clip of what I found him doing after being upstairs a moment to get the girls (Annabelle and Carly) up. He did complete his task without my help...and that even means pouring in the milk. I'm just thankful it was a near empty gallon. Okay, the vidoe clip will be at the bottom of the post. Here is a picture.

All Things Annabelle...

Annabelle's room has 3 small finishing touches yet to be made. I need to get a new sheet and bedskirt, and I still need to paint 3 baskets green instead of white. That's it! It looks like such a big girl room. She seems happy with it :).

In addition to our usual Summer swimming and Kindermusik classes, I also signed Annabelle up for a dance class for kids ages 2-5. I think she's really going to enjoy it. She will be in the class with Macey. I can't wait for pictures from that. They will be SUPER CUTE!!

Annabelle's newest favorite activity is dressing up and dancing. You may even get asked, "do you want to see my moves?" Here are a couple pics of her in a princess outfit. Unfortunately I didn't think to take a picture when she was accessorized from head to toe including earrings and a tiara. And I'll have to admit (because the pictures make it obvious) that I didn't bother doing A THING with her hair today.

And now for news from me...except that I don't feel like I ever have anything new to report (which is a good thing) so I'm just going to give ten little blessings from my day today...

1. Talked to my dad on the phone for a while this evening.

2. Rocked Annabelle for a while before putting her in her crib.

3. Enjoyed visits from Jenny and Savannah during the girls naptime.

4. Seeing Bennett's smiling face as he got off the bus this afternoon and watching all his friends waving to him.

5. Darrin getting home "early" and us being able to enjoy dinner TOGETHER!

6. Eating fresh strawberries in sugar for lunch.

7. Got some laundry put away while the girls so quietly watched Caillou.

8. The kids being in bed before 8:00...quiet night with Darrin.

9. Darrin complimenting the lunch I made for him today...it was "more filling" than the one he had yesterday :).

10. The fact that it got nice out so I can enjoy a quick walk with the dogs when I get done with this post.

Have a great night!!!

Because I've had a request...

Here's a new (and very unoriginal) post. I copied the idea from Jenny. Everybody loves a video...right?!?! Sorry I can't figure out how to turn them. It makes viewing them less enjoyable, but OF COURSE they're still cute :)!


Also, we went to the Creative Gymnastics Center today for playgroup. I have a VERY FEW photos to share. They were moving around too much to get any good shots. But here are a couple just for fun!!

Watching a litttle golf.

Or not!!

7:20

7:40 Annabelle was in bed and sleeping by 7:00 Bennett should have been too. But how can a dad resist when his little guy sweetly asks if he can stay up a little longer and watch some golf :).

Just another lazy, rainy Monday.

Happy Easter and Week in Review

Darrin was home for spring break this week which was really nice. It gave us a sweet taste of what Summer break will feel like. Here is a recap of our week (what I can remember of it while I sit here thinking).

Friday: Can't remember much but I do know I made 3 loaves of banana bread and some potato soup.

Saturday: Day trip to Holland/Hamilton. Visited lots of grandma's and grandpa's.

Sunday: Our friends Tim and Emily came for a visit. It was their first time in Colon. Jenny and Jason also came over. We had burgers on the grill

Monday: SNOW!! Our power was out from 9:30 until 3:30. We went to Portage to buy paint for Annabelle's room (I still need new curtains and to make a few finishing touches. When it's ALL done I will post pictures of her "new" room). We aslo ate lunch at Qdoba and had dessert at Coldstone Creamery.

Tuesday: PAINTED

Wednesday: My mom, Aunt Jeanette, and cousins came for a visit. Darrin also started ripping apart the back entry way to lay new flooring and put in drywall.

Thursday: More work on the back room and Darrin went golfing. It was nice so the kids and I took a good walk while he was gone.

Friday: Can't remember at the moment. Nothing too exciting I don't think. More work in the yard and back room.

Saturday: Darrin took Bennett golfing (pictures to follow) and Annabelle and I went to Aldi's and Walmart together.

Sunday (today): Happy Easter! We're treating it as an average Sunday. We're getting the house and yard all picked up and everything put away to start our work week off on the right foot!

Here is

a disgruntled Annabelle

after I woke her with the flash

and continued to take pictures.

How rude!

And Here Are My Two Favorite Golfers

A weekend you wish would never end.

That's the kind of weekend we had this past weekend. We didn't do anything special or exciting but it was just plain nice. On Friday evening we took advantage of the nice weather and were outside until 8:30 doing yard work and some playing. On Saturday I took a walk in the morning then came home to get the kids ready for their first movie, Kung Fu Panda. The theater offers free matinees to kids on the weekends, and a tray of popcorn with fruit snacks and a drink is only $3.18. They did well and made it through the whole thing. There was a 15 minute intermission and a magician named Alan Kazam performed. Bennett said he wants to go back. This coming weekend they're playing Horton Hears a Who. We came home and ALL took a good, long nap, then headed to the Fiesta Mexicana for dinner with a group of friends. It's the place we always go when we go out with this group of friends so I think the place is worthy of a few pictures on my blog. I'll get them next time I go :). On Sunday we stayed inside ALL day...okay, not really all day. The activity the kids enjoyed most in the day was Annabelle pretending she was a baby while Bennett pushed her around in her "stroller" (a laundry basket). He catered to his "baby's" every need. It was great. They played this for quite some time. We finally left the house at 7:00 to go to the Sharps' for an Easter egg hunt and some egg decorating. We didn't even bother changing out of our pajamas to go over there. That's just the kind of day it was!!

Annabelle doing some decorating.

Dying eggs AND hands.

Bennett watching Alan Kazam

Annabelle enjoying the movie...and her drink.

Their tickets to get in the show.