Hello summer!

It was 86 degrees and sunny today, and boy did we have fun! We were very bad and skipped church. I know…not the best example for Benjamin. But, he was up a lot last night, and thus, so were we, He also has not shaken this cough/runny nose. So, we wanted to try to get him healthy before he starts at his new daycare tomorrow.

So, after we all slept in this morning, we drove over to a nearby park to check out the new playground. It was quite wet, thus, you will see Benjamin was quite wet in all these shots!

Here we were getting ready to leave. It was a tad cool this morning, so we dressed a little warmer than later in the day.

Benjamin LOVED the slides. The first one he saw, he dove down head first before I could stop him.

It is a playground for children of all abilities, so there were a bunch of fun things like instruments to play.

I just have to pause here and say that Benjamin is watching the video of his adventure on one side of the screen, while I post this blog on the other side. When I open the photo files, he pitches a fit each time, because it blocks his view of his adventure.

I guess I better hurry up!

There were some super big slides!

Look at me climb up the wrong way!

My Daddy is the best in the whole wide world! I cried every time he left my sight today, because I knew he was going to have to go to work!

 

Look! I can run so fast!

Peek a boo!

Look! Frogs, fish and ducks!

I smiled so much this morning!

Look at the flowers. Daddy showed me how I can pick them and put them in Mommy’s hair to make her look pretty.

I’m such a happy guy! I dance when I am happy!

 

Look what Daddy taught me to do!

We even climbed trees!

Then, we went bye, bye. Benjamin has now watched his adventure five times, and still has a fit when I move away from the screen. So, let me show you what the fuss is about. Here is the video of his adventure. It is rather long. http://youtu.be/Wcstky9g1e0

Easter Eggs!

We had a wonderful Saturday morning at Benjamin’s first Easter egg hunt. We stood on the sidelines so he would not be trampled, but here is what he got to see! We had to cut the clip down, but he kept saying “Car!” an pointing excitedly to the helicopter, which dropped the eggs just before the children were able to run to get them. Here is the link, since I couldn’t get the video to work from here.

http://youtu.be/UllJP8SrtnU

We made sure Benjamin got to hold an egg, so he didn’t feel left out.

 

Afterward, we played on the slide.

Benjamin cried when we left and he had to go back inside our house. He would prefer to stay outside all the time.

It was a great day as a family. WE got to take a walk, pick up the house a little and just enjoy some down time after a crazy few weeks.

Thank you to everyone who has helped us through this time when we were absent a babysitter. Linda still is in the hospital, and won’t be able to be treated for her cancer until she gets out of intensive care. But, she has been there a week now, so I don’t know what the plan will be. We have found a new sitter, and we start with her on Monday. Benjamin seemed to like her, so we are PRAYING extra hard that all goes well and he isn’t too anxious with the change. He has been having some difficulty separating from us, even during nap time or at night. He wakes up and freaks out when we aren’t there. So, we are hoping once things calm down, he will calm down as well.

 

Benjamin had a fun three days with his GG Sue. They played many games of peek a boo, and they had a grand time walking to the end of the street to see this display put up by our neighbors.

Benjamin giggles every time he sees it.

Here he is with GG Sue, who by the way, taught him to pound his chest when he coughs. I think he must have seen her do it several times, because now he pounds his chest quite often! It is so funny what he picks up.

Here he is helping me clean. I was vacuuming, and he followed behind gleefully sweeping with the Swiffer he pulled from the closet I had left open.

He also got a kick out of the corn on the cob we had for dinner. He kept saying it was hot, and holding his hands above it. He refused to eat it unless we cut if off for him. But, that’s OK. At least he likes it.

Feed me Mommy!

We will post a picture soon of Benjamin with the Easter Bunny. I was afraid it would be a repeat of the Santa screaming fit we had in December, but instead, he laughed and rubbed the bunny’s fur. It was perfect. He just grinned from ear to ear.

Well, that’s all for now. Tomorrow, we plan to stick close to home so Benjamin can kick this cold that all three of us have been battling, and he can get some rest before his big day on Monday. If we do anything fun, I promise to post more pictures.

Another great weekend

Benjamin and I got to spend all day Friday together, because I had to work Saturday. Since I was missing him and had a crazy craving for chocolate, Jeremy and Benjamin brought me a milk shake and came to tour my office. Benjamin ran loops around the facility, and oohed and ahhed over all the electronics. He kept pointing to the large television screens. I am in serious trouble with two of the men in my lives obsessed with having a bigger television.

Here are a few of the fun moments from this weekend.

When Jeremy got home Friday, he was tired. So, he laid down on the floor with his ipod, and Benjamin climbed aboard, demanding Jeremy share the technology.

Yes, We realize we have created a monster. But, isn’t he such a cute one?

Here he is sorting through the DVD’s. I let him play with the empty cases.  He kept bringing them to me one by one, pointing to the television, and then returning to his chair. He was not happy when I said “no TV this morning!”

Here is my cool dude after he stole my sunglasses.

And finally, here he is during our Sunday afternoon together. These all were taken during nap time, since somebody decided not to nap. It probably was because his schedule got all messed up with church. I had to help in the nursery, and church didn’t get out until 12:20. On a side note, a slightly older girl in the nursery kept putting Benjamin in his place. When he tried to hijack her Little Tykes car, she said “no no sheshben!” It was so funny! I have no idea where “Sheshben” came from, but she called him that all morning. “Sit down Sheshben! Stay here Sheshben.” She usually is the only girl in the nursery, and I said to her, “Aren’t those boys crazy?” She nodded emphatically, rolled her eyes, and calmly ate her cracker. The poor other visiting girl had to guard her crackers with her life, because the boys kept stealing them!

Sorry. No pictures of the drama.

Here’s my precious little guy soaking in the sunshine.

He was so excited to be outside. I kept trying to get him to smell a flower so I could take a clever picture. He wanted nothing to do with the flower, and instead wanted to see if he could turn on the outside water faucet, climb the stairs and find other ways to get into trouble.

He kept trying to escape, but couldn’t figure out how to get the gate to open. It was quite a frustration.

But, he quickly got over it.

We played on the swing for a short time, but then Mr. Curious wanted to run down the sidewalk…and into the street. The neighbors must have wondered what I was doing to the screaming and kicking child as I dragged him back to the house every time he tried to make a break for it.

So, to Target we went for something I knew we both would appreciate.

It is a dog/leash/backpack. I am constantly amazed at how much toddlers are like puppies. So, now I can take my toddler for a walk, and if he is extra good, I can pack treats to give him!

I will leave you with a funny video. This is something new Benjamin has started doing the past few days whenever he is frustrated…which is a lot of the time. We are hoping it is a phase.