HAPPY BIRTHDAY, BENNI!

Today is the BIG 33. I am blessed beyond words to have married THE CUTEST BOY EVER! Ben has more character and depth than I thought possible to be contained in one person! He's certainly a KEEPER (unlike that little fish he caught on a recent fly fishing trip!!) We've got ourselves an interesting day ahead of us ... but at the end of it all ... we will look back and remember how God held us tightly in His hands and walked us through this tricky patch. Benni .... not quite how I envisioned spending your 33rd birthday ... but we'll go on a LONG vacation VERY soon .... and enjoy LOTS of beverages with little umbrellas!

SOMEHOW ...

Almost six years ago, Ben and I got hitched. At the time, he did this for a living:
I understand the above. I get green grass. I love quiet. I enjoy riding around in golf carts. I like the stress of tournaments unless it's a playoff situation - say for the US Open qualifier - and yours truly needed to caddy for the above. I like fancy courses that have chefs on the 5th and 12th holes cooking up burgers and making fresh smoothies. I don't get putting and think that the entire game takes an incredibly long time (I'd change a few rules if it was up to me) ... but at least, golf and I "get" each other.
This, however, is something I don't get. I've tried. I was even given The Girl's Guide to NASCAR for my 30th birthday. I don't get ugly tracks and hot pavement. I don't get listing off nineteen sponsors before you can answer a question. I don't get the half coherent crowds cheering a flash of color blazing by on the track.

But somehow, the above is more appealing to a three year old than quiet, green grass. And because of that, this is what echos through the walls of our home:

(If the second part was hard to understand, he's saying: "This is going to be fun. All right. Reach up and pull those straps tight one more time. All right. All right. Boogity. Boogity. Boogity. Let's go racing boys.")

Oh ... and don't even get me started on the pictures hanging above Joshua's bed. Those of Joey Lagano, Tony Stewart, Jimmy Johnson and Jeff Gordon. Or the routine that consists of me viewing those pictures on a nightly basis and reciting their numbers to J. How ... who afterwards applauds me on my ability to get the numbers right!

People .... HELP!

Our New "Fountain" ...

A few weeks ago, I was strolling through Costco, feeding my children their dinner out of plastic sample cups when ... Joshua started shouting, "A fountain!  A fountain!  I NEED that fountain at my house!  Can I have that fountain at my house?  PLEEEEE-ZZZZZ!!"  To which I replied, "That is a cool fountain J How but I think we'll leave it here."  To which he replied, "Okay.  I'll call Cake (Ben's mom)."  Ahh ... so young and so smart :)  So for Easter ... the fountain magically arrived at our house ... THANKS, CAKE and PapPap!

The fountain is enjoying its new home amidst all the other primary colored plastic pieces that grace our front porch.  It's the current favorite and why wouldn't it be??

With a working faucet ... it entertains young minds while we do our share for the environment (it recycles the water ... I think that offsets the fact that it's made out of plastic, right?)

The only downfall to this new toy is that it seems to evoke a sort of Pavlov type experience for Eli.  Once his eyes behold the plastic wonder ... he looks as though he hasn't had liquid nourishment in weeks.

He feverishly hunts for any tool that will allow a drop of refreshing (and sometimes a tad old) water to hit his lips ... and while Joshua once thought this was a bit gross ... 

Eli is pretty convincing ... 

And so ... How took a leap of faith, deciding to pass on the use of extra utensils ...

And go straight to the source!  

And since the temperature is rising, Eli will make certain that you are well taken care of if you decide to pop by.  However, if I may offer a word to the wise ... he's not easily fooled by the "pretend sip."  Give me a heads up and I'll put some fresh hose water in there for you!

Cheers!

He's Eating ALL MY FOOD!

For almost 18 months now, Eli and I have had three daily battles: breakfast, lunch and dinner. I put up a good fight at breakfast but by dinner, I'm exhausted and have the battle wounds (usually some type of food product on my shirt) to prove it. As Eli screams, "Allll dun," I raise the white flag in surrender.

But the other night, we had a breakthrough. It was a breakthrough on a variety of levels ... one, I actually suggested making a picnic and taking it upstairs so my children could watch ... hold onto your hats now ... the NASCAR race. Ben was at the race and Joshua was dead set on watching the cars. Okay, not really. He likes the wrecks. Plan and simple. He's ALL BOY!
So ... I busted out my gourmet cooking skills and prepared a crustless PB and J sandwich, pear slices and blueberries ... on orange and blue plates.
The first miracle ... they're both sitting and not touching each other. And what's this ... Eli has taken a bite! I was actually content with one bite and would have considered that a victory but ...
Then something strange happened. Eli lunged towards J How's plate and began stealing more food. As if he'd been starved his whole life and this was his one opportunity to make a go of it ...
Hmmm ... there seems to be an added sandwich and a few extra pears ... and lots of blueberries on E's plate??
And Joshua's plate ... food kept disappearing. At one point Joshua yells out, "Stop E-why. You're swiping all my food!" To which I replied, "Joshua. The kid hasn't eaten in 18 months. I'll get you more. Let him swipe."
And so he did. He completely cleaned Joshua out of all his dinner ...
And licked the plate ... just to make sure all those crumbs landed in his tummy!

I now believe we'll be having a picnic ... EVERY night!

Ever Have One of These Kind of Weeks?

I Can Hardly Wait ...

To spend MANY evenings like this .... 

When these guys move to Mayberry!  Hurry up, will you??

They're Brown and Green and Sometimes Mean ...

Last week, while Ben was hunting down leprechauns in Ireland, Joshua and my mom went to the Dinosaur Museum.  Joshua requested that he wear a dinosaur shirt.  If you remember correctly, I am usually against adorning clothes with characters.  Characters should stay at their respective theme parks or on their television shows.  With that being said, I'm still not sure why we don't own a dinosaur shirt?  Perhaps I have this hidden hatred towards reptiles too?  I tried to convince him to wear a shark shirt (going with the whole leathery skin connection) but that didn't cut it.  So ... out came the box of felt and this is what he got:

Just like he wanted.  Brown and green and a "googly" eye.  Ahhh ... my days as a kindergarten teacher paid off.  (They were very numbered ... 6 months to be exact.  I couldn't hack all the nose blowing and whining).  Not bad, eh?  Plus, it covered up a nice red stain just left of the pocket!

Joshua was really trying to be brave ... but he wasn't digging the gigantic mammoth ... 

He picked this up and my mom said, "Joshua, look at that huge tooth!"  And this ten year old volunteer said, "Um .. That's a claw."  

And then he saw this ... 

And did this.  For days he kept saying, "The dinosaur tried to scar me!"  And I would say,"What did you do?"  And he said, "Don't worry, Johnny.  Dinosaurs can't scar you.  They're ex-inc."
Hopefully he had a bit of success panning for gold.  I just fell in love with a new pair of shoes at Whole Foods (did you know they sold shoes there??) and could use a few gold nuggets!

Thanks for taking me, Bella!  I had the best time seeing the "dinosaurus!"