Duck Outing with Grandpa

Today we went to the park to feed the ducks with Grandpa. We had a great time. Benjamin kept saying his favorite word when he saw them - "DUCK, DUCK"! Here's some pics....

Don't Cry Over Spilled.....CEREAL!

Suddenly things got very quiet in the house today. I walked into the kitchen and this is what I found. Benjamin found his ziplock bag of cereal, opened it, and emptied the entire contents onto the floor. That was 10 hours ago - I'm still finding cereal throughout the house.....

Duck Duck Goose!

Here's a picture of Benjamin in his favorite duck towel from Grandmother. At around 7pm tonight he kept saying "Duck, duck, duck". He was ready for his bath and was telling us! Too sweet.

Simon Says Sushi

David and I ate at Simon's Sushi last night for our anniversary. It's one of our favorite places. We had a really good time. Grandma Nancy and Granddaddy stayed with Benjamin while we had dinner. We sure did appreciate it! On our 1st anniversary we started a tradition to buy a Cross with each anniversary. We label the back of each one so we can remember what year and where it was purchased. This year we're waiting to buy the Cross until we're in Greece. So far our Crosses have come from the Hill Country, Playa del Carmen, and Fellowship Church in Plano. We're getting quite a collection!

Happy Anniversary!

Today is our 4 year anniversary! We'll actually be celebrating it tomorrow night while Grandma Nancy and Granddaddy stay with Benjamin.

Today was very busy. We had music class this morning then this afternoon we met with our Gymboree group at Wiggly Playhouse. Benjamin had a blast. He didn't have a nap because of it all. That made for a stressful late afternoon....he was G-R-U-M-P-Y!

Frederick is feeling better. Thank Goodness! He's back on muscle relaxers and steroids, poor guy.

The pictures are of Benjamin just hanging out today and also some pictures of the flowers blooming all around our yard!

Poor Frederick...Part 2

Frederick has hurt his back again. Poor thing. He's been so mopey and won't walk up his steps to our bed. He was walking across the living room earlier and stumbled. He was just walking! And we was walking really slow. It just breaks my heart. That triggered us to take him to the vet. The vet thinks it has something to do with all the running he did at Grandmother's house while we were in Seattle. He has some friends on the other side of Grandmother's fence. They run along the fence chasing and barking at each other - just playing of course. Anyway, so we're back on medication and bedrest for 10 days.

Separation Anxiety

Benjamin is going through separation anxiety - BIG TIME! We went to the gym yesterday and when I tried to drop him off he wouldn't stopping SCREAMING uncontrollably. We had to just leave so no treadmill for Mom yesterday. I never even had a chance to leave the nursery to actually try to work out. It was so bad. The ladies in the nursery were so suprised at him because he's been so good lately.

We tried the gym again today (he was actually good today - but that was because I had to sneak out when he wasn't looking - otherwise he was SCREAMING his head off AGAIN). Then we went to Sherman to pick up Frederick from Mom's house. She was keeping him while we were in Seattle. The trip to Sherman went very well - I scheduled it to be right at his nap time because I knew he would sleep in the car. We also picked up his one year pictures while we were in town. I LOVE THEM! It's been a really good day!

Sleepless in Seattle

We flew to Seattle over the weekend to visit my Grandma Thelma. It was Benjamin's first plane ride. He did great on the way up there. He slept 3 of the 4 hours it takes to fly there. However, on the way back he had a few outbursts. He eventually fell asleep though. Thank goodness.

It was so nice to see Grandma Thelma and we had a good time visiting with her. We had a small birthday party for him while we were there. Seattle isn’t big on air-conditioners since it never really gets hot there. But we were there on what they said were 2 of the hottest days. It got hot inside! I thought I was tough when it came to things like that but I learned otherwise……

Benjamin was completely thrown off of his schedule. He woke up at 5am on Saturday morning ready to go! So David got up and took him to McDonald's so he wouldn't wake up Grandma. Then Sunday morning he woke up at 3am. That was hard. He's normally such a great sleeper. We're glad to be home. We're crossing our fingers he'll sleep through the night tonight.

Twelve Month Shots

Benjamin got is 12 month shots on Monday. He was supposed to get 4 vaccinations but we opted to only get 2 of the 4 shots. He got the MMR and Chicken Pox shots. We've decided to spread the shots out for the next few months instead of getting all 4 shots at once. The only reason we decided to go ahead and get the MMR and Chicken Pox shots is because we're going overseas to Greece next month. The doctor recommended these 2 shots for that very reason. Apparently there's been an outbreak overseas of the measles so it's best we get them. So he was EXTREMELY upset yesterday. It was a hard day. Obviously he wasn't feeling well because there was a lot of crying (from Momma too)! I felt so bad for him because I know he wasn't feeling well. We even had to leave the gym nursery early yesterday because none of us could get him to calm down (as Grandma Nancy and GrandDaddy would say...DAGUM!). By the way, Grandma Nancy and GrandDaddy...we'll let David chew the gum you left (that is, if you left it on purpose). Ms. Kelly has had stressful dreams about gum for about 2 years so I don't so I don't chew gum (ask us later about that - pretty weird story). However, David said he will chew your "DAYGUM". Too funny.

Oh! Benjamin gets to sit forward in the car now. Thank you Aunt Laura and Uncle Abraham for the carseat. Benjamin loves it. Now that he faces forward he can finally watch the DVD player that's installed in the car. He LOVES it! The DVD he's been watching is set to classical music so I can turn the volume up and listen to some of my favorite classical music while he's watching seals and fish play in the water (another DVD from Grandma Nancy and GrandDaddy). Another happy day for all!

Happy Birthday/Mother's Day!

Benjamin turned 1 year old today on Mother's day! We also celebrated Abby's birthday, who turns 7 on Tuesday. We had a very busy day today but it was so much fun. After church the whole family came over. GrandDaddy, Grandma Nancy, Grandpa, Grandmother & Russ, Uncle Abraham, Aunt Laura, and cousins Abigail & Andrew. David made his delicious meatballs and spaghetti for everyone while Benjamin enjoyed his "duck" cake prepared by Grandma Nancy. Nancy talked me into just giving Benjamin the ENTIRE cake and see what he would do. Surprisingly, he didn't do much. He just kind of poked at it. Not much mess. Since no one else ate off it I decided to help make a dent in it. I've already eaten 1/3 of the cake and it's only 8:30pm.

I counted how many pictures I took today. I started taking pictures from the moment he woke up this morning. Not including the video, I took 84 pictures. I just didn't want to miss ANYTHING! Here's some of them. Benjamin only slept 15 minutes in the church nursery today so he was extremely tired by bedtime. He went to bed early tonight - without any kind of fuss about it.

This is what happens when Daddy dresses the baby...

The pajama top has matching bottoms....these are not them, obviously. Too funny!

Good Day!

We had a great day today! First, today was the first day that I could just "show up" at the gym without making an appointment at the gym nursery. Benjamin passed his walking test yesterday so I'm free to come whenever I want! (If the child isn't walking yet you have to make an appointment). Second, Grandma Nancy stopped by for a short visit. I told Frederick she was on her way and he couldn't stop looking for her (yes, I said Frederick). She ended up being a little late so he gave up on her. She showed up when he wasn't looking. He was happy to see her (so was Benjamin). Thanks Grandma Nancy for stopping by. We always love to see you!

Finally, David, Benjamin, and I spent some time at a neighbor's house this evening. Ed & Gerry live just a few houses up from us. Benjamin got to spend some time in their swing and he really enjoyed it. It's nice to get to know some of our neighbors considering we've been living here for over 3 years.

Oh! One of the pictures below is Benjamin being a little hacker. Every time I try to work on my laptop he's all over me. Forget all of his colorful toys - he's all about the computer! He gets that from his daddy.

One Year Pictures!

Yesterday Benjamin had his one year pictures made. Here's one of my favorites!



We had a nice visit with my dad last night. It's so nice to have him back in town. Stupid me...I forgot to take pictures.

Grandpa is Back in Town!

Got a surprise call from my dad today that he is back in town from a 2 month hiatus to Rockport and Florida. Happy Day for All! The picture of Benjamin and Grandpa was when he was about 4 months old. We'll take some up-to-date pictures once Grandpa comes over on Tuesday for dinner. The other picture is of Benjamin today putting little hand prints all over my freshly wiped windows.

Uncle Eddie Vedder

David and I got great laugh out of this one today. While David was watching You Tube of a video by Pearl Jam, Benjamin walked up and saw the lead singer (Eddie Vedder) and he exclaimed "UNCLE!". Uncle Abraham and Eddie Vedder look nothing alike. Sorry Eddie. Abraham is much better looking. However, Abraham is learning the guitar so they have that in common!

Also, got a picture of Daddy giving some love to Benjamin right after his bath this evening (that is, Benjamin's bath, not David's....)

Walkie Talkie!

Now that Benjamin has gotten so good at walking he loves to take the phone and run off with it. Notice in several of the pictures all you see is the back of Benjamin running off with the phone in his hand.