Our Weekend

It had been a pretty busy week so we were looking forward to the weekend.  Friday night was pretty low key.  We let Benjamin swim in the backyard, I made taco salad for dinner and then we went for a bike ride around the neighborhood.  Benjamin loves it :-)

Saturday morning we made waffles and just hung out around the house.  After Benjamin napped we decided to head to Corvallis to their outdoor water park/pool.  We weren't sure how Benjamin would do, and even though it took him awhile to warm up to it all, he ended up loving it.  And, it was awesome because he finally started walking again after not putting that kind of pressure on his leg for almost 2 weeks!  Ironically, he took his first steps because he wanted to walk back to the little water slide they have....at least his injury hasn't given him a permanent fear of slides :-)

 taking his first steps after nearly 2 weeks!!!  Go Benjamin Go!

Sunday morning we went to church, grabbed a quick lunch and then while Benjamin napped we got a few things done in preparation for our EPIC girls sleepover that we have each year right before school starts.  The girls weren't staying at our house tonight but the boys all crash at our place.  It was busy getting stuff done and then I headed over to Kristen's for the actual party.  We had a great time, the girls were really mellow in comparison to last year, and it was a full night of food, games, devotions, and of course talks about cute boys, ha!  :-)  We slept a little bit then headed out for a day of shopping, lunch at Olive Garden, and more shopping.  Peter dropped Benjamin off in the morning and he went shopping with us.  It was a long day, but was a great time!

Today was a Costco run, a long nap for Benjamin, a bit of some drama with our EPIC group, dinner to be made and then Peter had an elder meeting tonight.  So I went and hung out with Kristen for a few hours while the guys met.  I came home and got Benjamin to bed, then took a bubble bath which was sooo relaxing.  Now Peter and I are vegging a bit before we head to bed.  We're also thinking of our nephew Jack who busted his front tooth tonight at the park.  Poor little guy!!  He's taking it like a champ, but we think he deserves ice cream :-) 

A few videos

I love having a video camera because it captures things that pictures can't show.  Here's a few quick videos I'm sure the grandparents will enjoy :-)

Benjamin has really loved swimming this summer.  He's also practicing saying his name at the beginning.

It's been so fun to watch him learn his shapes.  He can now identify them all, and put them back into the shape sorter all on his own!

I took this video while we were looking for a campsite a few weeks ago.  It's fun how much he likes to talk.  He can now count to 10 on his own (usually skipping 8 though!)  and knows a big chunk of the ABC's.

What I'm Loving Wednesday

I've been wanting to link up with some other blogs again for WILW and finally think I have a free Wednesday to do so!  So here goes.....

*  I'm loving that my sweet husband unloaded the dishwasher before he left for work this morning.  It's seriously such a little thing, but I appreciate it so much and it really shows he cares!

*  I'm loving that we've been enjoying evening family walks and have a quiet little street we can walk to that has a horse on their property.  Benjamin loves to bring the horse 2 carrots and give him a treat!  All Peter has to do is whistle when we get close, the horse remembers us and comes trotting across the field.  If we take too long to get there he starts to kick the fence in impatience for his carrots, ha!

*  I'm loving that our dear friends returned from 3 weeks of vacation yesterday.  We missed them!!

*  I'm loving the abundance of blackberries in our neighborhood.  We go for morning walks and eat our fill....Benjamin loves them!  I even made a blackberry pie for the first time, yum!

*  I'm loving that we're going to see family over Labor Day weekend

*  I'm loving my new Erin Condren Life Planner.  Hopefully this will help me keep things organized for our little family of 4.

*  I'm loving that we are going to be a family of four in February 2012! 

*  I'm loving this fabulous summer weather

*  And I'm loving my amazing hubby and adorable little boy!

His first splint and x-rays!

Sunday after church we all took naps and enjoyed a lazy afternoon.  After dinner we decided to take Benjamin to the park to get out some of his energy.  We were having a great time until we decided to attempt the biggest curvy slide at the park.  Benjamin was too scared to do it himself so I went down with him.

Unfortunately, despite going pretty slow, his foot got caught behind him on the way down because he was wearing tennis shoes.  He started crying terribly and didn't want to play the rest of the night.  We thought he might just be being a little dramatic, so we took him home gave him some Tylenol and put him to bed.

The next morning though, I watched him on the video monitor and he wouldn't stand up in his crib like he always does.  And he cried and cried and cried.  He was inconsolable.  We spent the morning sitting on the couch watching cartoons on PBS until the doctor's office opened so we could make an appointment.

We went in right away to the doctors and they were obviously concerned since he wouldn't put any weight on his foot at all.  We took him downstairs to get x-rays and he was not too happy about those at all.  The x-rays didn't show any fracture though so they put a hard splint on it, wrapped it up and asked us to come back in a week for more x-rays.

We went back yesterday (one week later) and had more x-rays done.  Thankfully, they are still not seeing any fracture but Benjamin is still not wanting to bear much weight on his foot.  He took a couple steps tonight and will put a tiny bit of weight on it if he's holding on to something else, but we're hoping he'll slowly heal.  They told us we could take the splint off and just give him ibuprofen as needed.  It's really hard for him to understand why he doesn't feel like wanting to walk all of a sudden, especially for such an active little boy.  And Mommy is having to carry him a lot more, in and out of the house, etc so it's been a little bit trying in that sense, but we're really grateful for doctors and that he seems to be slowly healing.  In the meantime, I'm enjoying a few more extra snuggles with my little guy.

I didn't think my little boy would be having x-rays this young.....hopefully this isn't a sign of things to come as he becomes more and more of an active toddler.

(Keep scrolling down for lots more new posts I put up tonight!)

Camping Trip!

We had really wanted to go camping this summer but knew that the days and weeks were just flying by.  So we had talked about it, but nothing was really coming together.  Well, until I woke up Friday morning and saw this little sticky note from Peter.....

Yeah, it was "just an idea"  How about I pack up all the stuff while he's at work?  Delightful!

Though actually it's not really that complicated because our stuff is all together in our upstairs storage and I was able to make a quick grocery run for some easy meals.  I got everything ready, got myself and Benjamin ready, and after he woke up from his nap (okay, we actually woke him up so we could leave) we were off!

We had intended to go to a camping site we'd been to before about 40 minutes from us but it was full and so was everything else around it.....so we drove a little further and found a great site about 6 minutes or so from Clear Lake.  We were grateful to have found a site and in such a pretty little spot.

We got set up.....

Benjamin was happy to play all the accessible sticks

the site wasn't too bad all in all

our little family tent.  A little cozy now that we have Benjamin but we survive

the setup

the view from the edge of our campsite

the pretty little creek right on the edge of our campsite

then headed to Clear Lake for a little walk before dinner.

we had a nice clear view of the Three Sisters on the drive there

ready to get on the trail for a little walk

me and my sweet boy

happy little boy on a big tree stump

such a pretty lake

we didn't walk for terribly long but it was a beautiful little walk

throwing rocks into one of the streams

Benjamin insisted on being carried by Mommy so I had to carry him most of the way back

see how clear the water is?

this is seriously my new favorite picture.  I love, love, love my two boys

We came back to our site for a yummy dinner, and smores and just spent fun time together as a family.

cozy in his hoodie, and always on the move

happy as a clam digging in the tree while Mommy made dinner

Daddy teaching his son how to make a campfire

he may or may not cheat and use lighter fluid!  ha!  It gets the job done :-)

Hot dogs, corn on the cob and applesauce!

he was soooo excited to be outside and camping!

roasting a marshmallow with Daddy (he didn't eat it but enjoyed the process)

finishing a few marshmallows over the fire

Eventually it was time for Benjamin to go to sleep and he only cried for about 2 1/2 minutes before falling asleep.  

all cozy in his fleece pj's

reading his Bible stories with Daddy

And we spent the rest of the evening sitting by the fire, eating marshmallows and catching up.  It was sooo nice to be outside and we really enjoyed our evening.

Of course, our pleasant evening was short-lived when Benjamin woke up at 1am so we pulled him into our sleeping bag with us, but he's not used to sleeping with us at all, so he just tossed and turned for an hour before we finally put him back in his playpen.  He slept great........until about 6:45.  Oh joy!  Peter let me sleep a little bit longer and then I made breakfast for everyone and we just enjoyed a nice morning together.

I'm so glad I brought along our shovels and buckets.  He had a blast digging in the dirt.  All boy he is

so content and cute with his shovels

it was such a beautiful sunny morning at the campground

eggs, sausage and english muffins for breakfast!

after we were finished the blue jay decided to eat Benjamin's leftover cheerios :-)

Then we headed off to do a trail near Clear Lake that follows along the McKenzie River and has 3 different waterfalls.  It was about a 3 mile loop and it was such a gorgeous walk and such a gorgeous day.  We were loving being outside together and really enjoyed it.

so pretty

Peter was a champ carrying around our "little" 30 pound son :-)

my boys love to hike around outside

walking across a cool tree bridge

we had a river view almost the entire 3 mile hike, it was great

I'm always the one taking pictures, but Peter wanted one of me to prove I was there

our little guy fell asleep on the hike (soooo shocking after his quality sleep the night before, ha ha ha!)

the water was just so clear and pretty

Benjamin's nap was shortlived so we let him out of the pack so he could walk a little bit

it was perfect timing for Benjamin to walk since we arrived at a fun little reservoir he could explore

one of the many beautiful views of the waterfalls, complete with a pretty rainbow

Afterward, we found a little campsite for a picnic lunch before we headed home for the evening.

he ran down the hill over and over and over.  It's the little things in life for our little guy!

oh, we love you Benjamin

so happy to be dirty and enjoying a handful of M&M's for dessert!!

We came home, unpacked, got showers/baths (Ben was SO filthy!) and Benjamin was wiped so he had a bit of an early bedtime.  He absolutely looooved being outside and camping and it was such a fun memory for us as a family.  Maybe we'll find another weekend to go camping before summer is officially over?  We hope so!