Oozing Happiness

We took Ben on a 'hike' to a nearby refuge today. For us, it was more like herding cats than 'hiking', but Ben still had fun.

He was very excited to wear his own backpack, and he did for the first 5 minutes (looked like such a 'big kid'), but then he just wanted to carry it (in his hands) the rest of the way...

The rest of the pictures show the pure joy that our sweet son oozes... (We'll have to remember these moments when the brunt of the 'terrible 2's hit').

Birthday Boy!

We had a great time at Ben's 2nd Birthday Party on Saturday! Andy's family came over for Ben's fire truck-themed party (aka as fa-fuk to Ben - nice, I know). We had a great time hanging out, eating some '5-alarm' chili (or taco soup), then opened presents (wow - Ben got some very nice things - thank you, everyone!) and had some fire truck cake and ice cream. Here are some pics from the past few days.

Here is the cake-making process (documented, mostly for my own record...). It was my first time making a 'fancy' cake, but I think it turned out pretty well. Let's just say that I learned a lot.

We've spread out the gift opening over the past few days and will finish up tomorrow... Pretty overwhelming for a 2 year old. Today we opened his tent/tunnel. It was pretty hard to break him away for bedtime...

We have one happy little BOY! We are so lucky to have such a smart, funny, and loving son like Ben. He is so much fun to be around. We can't wait to see him grow in the upcoming years. Yeah, Ben - You are 2!!!

His favorite phrases as of late are: "I did it!", "One more time", "Daddy doing?"

If I Had a Hammer...

Ben loves a good hammer. I've been meaning to get him one of those little benches with the wooden "nails" for some time now, but I just haven't had the chance. Maybe I'll just get him the real deal - a hammer and a dog-leash-staker-thing... I think he played with this 'toy' for at least 20 minutes at the nearby state park for our Mother's Day picnic with Andy's family.


And he got in some good baseball practice, too. Here he is putting on his glove (to be just like daddy and his uncles) who were playing catch in the nearby field.
and showing off his wicked side-arm throw.

and taking a break sitting in his Ben-sized chair. We had a great time at the park - the weather was great and we beat the crowds and got a nice spot. We picked up subs at the grocery store, so no cooking for this mom! Very fun and relaxing. I hope that all the other moms out there enjoyed their Mother's Day as much as we did here!

Goodness.

It's been a while since I posted... It seems like we have just been plain busy (aren't we all?). Let's see. What has been keeping us so busy?

1. We put our house on the market as of Friday, so it's taken about all of my energy to get the accumulation of 5 years of junk out of my house and into storage. We do love our house and all of the work that we have put into it, but the layout isn't great for little kids, and we feel the need to get out of the city and onto some "land". We'll see what the next few months bring... We've spent a TON of time looking into properties in the area and have even started looking at both houses and buildable land.

2. All 3 of us caught a cold/ cough that for one of us (luckily, Ben) was short lived - probably thanks to the 5 days of antibiotics that he got as a "here take this Rx and get that screaming (but adorable) child out of my office" gift. My cough has lingered on and on and has now morphed into a sinus-y allergy-y thing with lots of sneezing and ear itching.

3. I left my cell phone in the pocket of my pants and sent it all of the way through a washer load. I dried it out for a few days and it seemed to make a near-comeback, but, alas, the numbers 2,5 and 0 would not work, so no dialing out for me. I spent 1.5 hours in the cell phone store and walked out with a flip, keyboard phone to make texting easier... Oh, wait, I don't really text. But I think I will start now.

4. Ben is an enormous sponge. He amazes us everyday with what new things he has picked up... His favorite phrases right now are: "Ben do it" and "Mama, come here!" He is quite polite and says "Thank you" a lot. He also has a cute little sense of humor - for a while there now he went thru a 'say the opposite' stage: Looking at a picture: I say "sun". He says "moon". Sun. Moon. Sun. Moon. Repeat. You get the picture...

5. Pregnancy-wise: I am feeling pretty good lately - lots of kicking - which helps me remember I'm pregnant! Slight heartburn at night, and the cough sure wasn't fun when my stomach muscles aren't quite where they are supposed to be, but really, I can't complain - I've had it pretty easy.

We got him a little big-wheel for Easter. His poor little legs won't let his feet reach the pedals. So he has learned to scoot - Fred Flintstone style - around the driveway/ sidewalk. Very cute. very 'big boy'.

I have been VERY neglectful in taking pictures and video of Ben this past month (see above list), so I snapped a few today in the yard.

We're planning on a picnic lunch at a nearby state park tomorrow for Mother's Day. Hope to get some more pictures there and to relax and enjoy some family time.

Happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there!