Random life

Just some random thoughts/thing I want to remember/stuff going on

*  Laundry and cleaning.  Really?  Its just never ending.  NEVER ENDING.

*  I bought a magnetic doll set for 25 cents at a garage sale last week for when we have our friend's little girl over, but I put a few on the fridge for Ben to play with and he is loooooving them.  I ask him to "go put the magnet on the fridge" and he knows exactly what I'm talking about, so it's fun :-)

*  Ben loves to bed read to, and convinced Daddy to read him a story or two a couple of nights this past week

seriously?  When did he get SO LONG?  He needs to stop growing.  Asap.  Done.  No more.

*  He threw his first major FIT out in public yesterday.  We were having dinner at Carl's Jr. and he wanted to hide food in his high chair and was soooo mad when we told him no.  We removed his food and he just whined and cried the whole time.  Later when we went to Bi-Mart he wanted to get out of the cart and walk but that means he grabs everything off the shelf.  So when I didn't let him, he screamed and cried and turned all red and blotchy.  I held him, yet he continued.  So I took him out to the van.  We went to Wal-Mart and he did the same thing so we waited in the van while Daddy got the gardening stuff he needed.  It was so emotionally draining.  He knew exactly what he was doing and so I couldn't just "try to distract him" or give him his paci or try to appease him.  I want him to learn to obey and listen to his mama because I want to teach him right from wrong.  I want him to grow up knowing he's a sinner that needs Jesus.  I know he will never be perfectly behaved, nor do I expect him to, but I do hope that he will eventually choose to obey because he knows that in obeying his parents he is pleasing and obeying God.  I think I might need to check out "The Strong Willed Child" from the library?? :-)  Here's an example of his temper after bath time when he had to get his pajamas on.....oh boy!

*  Tonight Benjamin was having a blast feeding Daddy his blueberries....he may have had a few himself too!

*  Benjamin absolutely loves us to sing to him.  He was going to get his sling shot after his bath tonight so we could sing "Only a Boy named David"

*  He was loving his new blueberry multi-grain bar for a snack after his nap (with his cute bed head)

*  His hair is seriously crazy when he's out of the tub. 

*  While Daddy was putting weed killer all over the yard tonight, Ben and I played.  We dove into the dress up box again....this picture is for you cousin Jack.  Ha ha ha!  Daddy was mortified, but I must say, green is a pretty good color on him and the ruffles are so stinkin cute.  LOL!  :-)

*  Tonight I sang Benjamin to sleep a little bit, which I don't normally do.  I usually just sing "You are my sunshine" to him and put him down.  But tonight I rocked him and sang to him and told him how much I love him and that's why we sometimes have to make him mad when we discipline him.  I could have held him forever, I am so blessed to be his mama.  I put him down in his crib, and he stood up to give me a hug and rest his head on me for another second.  Melt. my. heart.  Being a mommy is seriously the best.

*  It's time for a piece of cheesecake so here's a few pics of my cute little booger at bath time tonight

Quick (but long) weekend

I'm kind of sad this weekend is coming to an end!  Peter got home around 7pm on Saturday night and it was so good to have him home.  Benjamin was thrilled to see him, it was pretty cute :-)  Peter had a great time fishing with the guys even if they didn't catch anything.  I was glad he was able to get away with his friends.

Benjamin woke up super early again on Saturday so that wasn't fun.  He was good at the coupon lunch with the gals of our church even though he was all over the place.  He is such a workout!  He's not being naughty he is just constantly going all the time.  We stayed until just before 2pm and then I came home so I could put him down for a nap.  He slept a couple hours and I painted some more.  We took a really long walk after he woke up because it was about 60 degrees and mostly sunny, then we played on the front porch for awhile.  We had lightsaber fights :-)  Well, he had a lightsaber, I had a recorder from the dollar tree and we battled it out, ha!

I slept terrible last night so it was a bit of a long day but church was wonderful.  We came home and ate leftovers while Benjamin and I took a little nap, then we got ready to go out and run a few errands.  We went to Costco, then went to Blue Sky, our favorite little Chinese restaurant.  I had bought Benjamin a big ol' bag of frozen blueberries at Costco so I brought some in to the restaurant.  Oh my goodness.  He probably ate 50-60 blueberries.  It was insane!  He was just loving them because he hasn't had them since our frozen stock from last summer ran out.  He also inhaled tons and tons of chow mein noodles.  We had a great time with our little blueberry stained noodle eating crazy man.  We hit up WinCo afterward for some groceries and are crashing for the evening.  It was a nice end to the weekend and I wish we had another day.  I was supposed to go back to Idaho this week to visit with my family but details didn't align so I wasn't able to, so I'm kind of bummed.  But I know it'll only be a few weeks before I'm able to do so, so I'm looking forward to that. 

I'll wrap it up with a picture of Benjamin today wearing another shirt a sweet lady from our church gave him

I just love this sweet boy! :-)

Full Friday!

Today was sunny!  Today was sunny!  Today was sunny!

Sorry it was just a wee bit exciting.  This rain and cloudy stuff is getting OLD.

This morning Benjamin and I ate breakfast and got ready, then headed out to run a few errands.  We went to two garage sales and I found an Elmo for him for 25 cents.  He loves it and I was super excited to find a really nice one for so cheap.  I got a few other things, then we went to the Dollar Store for a few more items.  And since it was sunny (in case you didn't already know) we went to the park.

I didn't take any pictures at the park because I forgot my camera but we were the only ones there and it was fun swinging and sliding and walking with my little guy.  There was a dog there with its teenage girl owner and she asked if Benjamin wanted to pet the dog.  I said sure, picked Benjamin up so he was resting on my hip, and then I squatted down so Benjamin could see.  The owner told the dog to "sit" and so the dog did.  ON. MY. LAP.  Okay, really?????  It was a pretty good sized dog and I'm not really a dog person so yeah, you can imagine how fun that was.  It was completely on my lap practically pushing Benjamin away from me.  Oh joy, oh bliss.  Benjamin liked the dog.....me, well, I kind of have a personal bubble when it comes to dogs :-)

Anyway, we went home and played a bit more before lunch and I knew Benjamin was getting tired...

we ate a quick lunch then I put him down for a nap, and he slept 2 hours and 40 minutes.  He woke up cranky though but was in a much better mood after 15 minutes.  Daddy came home from work but was loading up his stuff because he was heading for an overnight fishing trip with the guys from our church.  They're going to a cabin in Clear Lake near Sisters and I think they're going to have a great time despite the fact that it may be a wee bit chilly!

Tonight I took Benjamin to EPIC.  EPIC is the new name for our girls group standing for Every girl Precious In Christ.  It was Fear Factor night and there were various "gross" games for the girls.  Or at least kind of gross.....these are girls, not guys!  I didn't do any planning for this one so I just got to enjoy it all. 

The girls seemed to have had a blast!!  Benjamin not so much.  He was fussy and clingy and whiny.  Everything was just dramatic.  So he wanted to be held and well, he's not a light boy.  I'm thinking he was just tired and maybe a little overstimulated?  I'm hoping he's not getting sick.  Part of the reason he was dramatic is he gets pulled around by some of the older kiddos because they don't realize he can't do everything they can.

Poor little guy!  Guess it makes him tough right?  He did have a little bit of fun with the toys though.

I got little guy to sleep about 1/2 hour ago and now I"m going to enjoy a movie maybe with some hot chocolate and an ice cream sandwich.  I'm glad Peter's not gone every night because it'd certainly be a boring way to spend late Friday night :-)  I kinda like my goofy other half.  

He'll be home tomorrow night, but I miss him.  And I know Benjamin misses his Daddy, they are just the greatest of buddies!

Tomorrow is a luncheon for the ladies of our church where we're going to hear from two gals that are into couponing.  Couponing is all the rage these days and I've done some, but it should be interesting to hear their tips/tricks.  Should be fun :-)  Happy weekend.

13/14 Months!!

Time has completely got away from me because I missed Benjamin's 13 month update and I'm even late on his 14 month update so I'm going to kill two birds with one stone(blog post?)

Height:  not sure exactly (you were 31 1/2 inches at 12 months) but I do know that your jeans are getting short!  Probably around 32 1/2 inches maybe?  We'll find out next month

Weight:  again not positive (you were 27 lbs at 12 months) so we're guessing about 28 1/2 lbs?  We love your chub :-)

Likes:  You love your books!  We went to the library this past week and you love having some new ones at home to read.  You love, love, love to be outside.  You walk in our neighborhood and soak it all in.  You also like going to the park, watching Praise Baby, playing the piano/watching mommy play the piano, stacking blocks, racing your cars on the floor, wrestling with Daddy, helping mommy sweep & vacuum, taking all the books and shoes off of their shelves, and of course you love Elmo.  You still love remotes and cellphones too!

Dislikes:  You no longer dislike the vacuum, and haven't disliked it for the past couple of months.  Now you play with the cord while I vacuum and I let you pretend to vacuum with our little dirt devil.  You do however, still highly dislike getting your face wiped.  It's so silly, but you just hate it and whine terribly every time we do it.  You dislike having to hold mommy or daddy's hand when we're walking somewhere where you need to be protected/guided.  As is most often the case with kids, you don't like when you are told not to get into something.  Mommy is working on being really patient as I teach you to learn to obey.

Eating:  You drink whole milk and boy oh boy do you love it.  You still also drink water and have only had juice about 5 times in your life.  This past week you tried drinking from a big boy cup on your own....it was sort of a wet failure but it's great practice.  You LOVE vegetables.  I usually give you more carrots, peas, green beans or peas than I serve to either Peter or I.  You just love them.  You also like fruit and now like mandarin oranges and pears too!  You also had your first fresh strawberries and you really liked those.  You're starting to like peanut butter more, you've tried raisins, you love pickles and olives, and you pretty much eat anything.  You're usually only a bit picky when you're super tired or when you're teething.  You also ask for "cookies?" after you're done.  Usually after one meal a day Mommy lets you have 5 chocolate animal crackers as your "cookie" dessert :-)

Sleeping:  This past month has been interesting because you've switched over to one nap a day on most days.  You'll go down for a nap at 1pm after lunch and you've been sleeping 2-3 hours.  Occasionally you'll still take a short morning nap if you were up really late the night before or were up in the middle of the night because of teething/growing pains.  You've been up a couple times in the middle of the night this past month but as much as it stinks to get out of bed, I don't mind at all the extra cuddle/comfort time I get with you.  I secretly love it!

Personality:  You are sooooo fun!  We just love you to pieces.  You'll walk around the living room just laughing at seemingly nothing.  You love to tackle and wrestle Daddy and he can make you laugh uncontrollable belly laughs like no one else.  You are very opinionated and independent.  You are starting to be a little sneaky too!  You will try to stick food from your high chair tray in your seat underneath your thigh.  I don't think it's because you don't want to eat it but more because it's a game.  You seem to love observing other kids but also play a lot by yourself.  You never stop moving!  Seriously, you are always on the go.  You're not a huge cuddler but you give the greatest kisses when you're in the right mood.  You're loud and talkative and spunky  and goofy and soooo lovable!

Highlights:  We celebrated your birthday again with a trip to Idaho, and you had your first overnight babysitting this past month.  You're now walking around super fast and can stand up on your own without pulling up on something.  You have 8 teeth now, maybe a 9th popping through?

Benjamin, these months are just flying by but there isn't a night that we don't go to bed just SO incredibly grateful to be your parents.  You make us laugh, you make us stare at you with such pride, you make us want to stop and enjoy the "little moments".  We simply can't get enough of you and we love you to the moon and back!

There's a new sheriff in town

Today I rediscovered our bin of dress up clothes in our play room.  I'm sorry for the insane amount of pictures of my adorable little cowboy, but well, it's my blog and I couldn't help it, ha :-)

 this is one busy sheriff!

 I could just eat him up!

 he was pretty amused with himself too!

 okay, so maybe the cowboy boots were a bit too big still

 Hi Yo Silver!!!

 he insisted on bringing his lightsaber around!  (he's been around his buddies Elijah and Micah too much, ha ha ha!)

 his goofy grin just kills me

 

 D-O-R-K!

 of course every sheriff must have the perfect accessory right?

 someone poisoned the water hole?!?!

 don't worry these cute cheeks won't let them get away with it!

 now that I have my hat, I'm off to bring justice!

 what seems to be the problem here?  I'm in charge round these parts.

I know I look like a softie, but when it comes to enforcin' the law, I'm all business

and don't come back you hear?  Another town saved, all in a day's work on the world's cutest sheriff!