Trick or Treat!

It is Bennett's first year for trick or treating and The Force was definately with him.

The day started off a bit "trickier" than we would have liked when Bennett woke up from his nap COVERED head to toe in bright red hives. As usual I completely freaked out, paging my pediatrician immediately and while Bennett was in Grandma's arms I flew out the door to buy more Benedryl. After picking our brains about anything he could have eaten new, we are pretty clueless what could have happened but thankfully he was quickly back to normal and running around like crazy.... Isn't Benedryl supposed to make kids tired?!?!

All weekend we had been practicing knocking on doors throughout Grandma & Grandpa's house and saying "Trick or Treat!" and he also quickly learned "More Candy!" When we first introduced him to his Yoda costume he hated it, screaming bloody murder. It took some getting used to but he kept it on long enough to see what the trick or treating was all about... what a fun night with cousin Reece!

Some tractor time helped brighten their moods after being not so happy about getting dressed up... perfect way to start the evening.

Our little Yoda

 Trick or Treating at our last house... Grandma's

We got to spend the day on Friday at Lattin's Cider Mill here in Tumwater with Jania and Charli. Other than Bennett almost getting tugged under the fence by a large hungry goat that was biting his hoddie... it was a blast :) We sure love our days with our Jania and Charli!

My Mr. Fix-Its

Apparently in boy world there was a toy in the mid 70's to mid 80's and maybe still today called a Stomper. Growing up in the girl world that I did this is all very new to me, but I have been told they are super cool and thank goodness my husband has some that he has kept since his childhood. This one has "TNT - JOEL" (whatever that means) written in marker on the back of it and I have heard that Bennett's Uncle Kippy has a whole box of them!

Tonight Bennett and Dada were working under the hood... He loves to use things like brushes, crayons and screwdrivers (in this case) as they should be used... loves to make believe and it is hilarious to the point of outloud laughter to watch his little mind crank... I love watching him learn new things and I love watching his Dad teach him... a great night.

Preschool at the Pumpkin Patch!

Today Bennett and I went to the pumpkin patch with his weekly toddler group. Fortunately it was rescheduled for today and this beautiful weather. But unfortunately, since it wasn't on its original date there were just a few toddlers that could go. Luckily one of Bennett's favorite little buddies was one of them and he had a blast.

As expected the pumpkin searching was a little overshadowed by the tractor ride and the farm animals. He has never been afraid of animals, big or small, and today was no different. He was trying to squeeze his chubby cheeks through the fence to kiss the goats... adorable!

Blog Book

Ok, So I am the first to admit that I am a little "blog crazy". I love to sit down at the end of the day, go through pictures and write a small account of how I see "our story" for that moment. I dream of someday showing it to our kids or even grandkids to let them into the world of being their mother. Even reading the short story of us so far brings back memories I know I would have forgotten already. They grow up way too fast and I just pray this will help me memorize every second, the good and the bad, I have had being a mom.

So here it is... Our first blog book, I plan on just ordering one and putting it up on the shelf, hoping that someday it will mean a lot to our kids. I am sure I will spend many hours thumbing through them myself just to remember how young they used to be.

Here is the link to preview the book

Our 2009 blog book

Happy Halloween

Because Bennett is not even two yet he has yet to embrace some of the holiday traditions that I have subjected him to over the last two years. Although this may have not been the breakthrough festivity, I think he had a ton a fun with his Mom, Dad and a big mess.

Dad was the carver and Bennett and I drew faces on the happy, or not so happy, Jack-O-Laterns.

I would love to say this is Bennett's scary Halloween face... but nope, just a kranky kid who wanted to start carving!

Happy 1st Evelyn Belle!

Our little niece turned ONE this last week and this weekend we celebrated! It was a great evening of amazing food, great family and one adorable little tutu wearing one year old. We love you Evie, you are a beautiful little delight and I can't wait to see you grow up! I must say, one of my favorite parts was dessert! Everyone enjoyed homemade Creme Bruele & amazing homemade Cupcakes (even though they looked like they came straight from Cupcake Wars).

These kids are growing up way too fast!

We had planned on letting Bennett stay up a bit past his usual strict bedtime of 7:30 but then it kept on getting later and later and before we knew it, it was nearing 11 pm and Bennett was dancing around. He loved helping the Uncles and Dada put together one of Evie's favorite birthday presents. I was feeling like an awful mother as I packed his tired little body into the car. We dont plan on making it a regular occurance but he did sleep in until a fabulous hour this morning and has easily bounced back to his regular schedule.

Daddy Daycare...

Joel has been a little anxious  to get Bennett outside and do all that little boy stuff. He has tried to convince me to let him go on a 4 wheeler, snowmobile and even hunting... and I am constantly reminding him that he is almost 2 not almost 15. But when I see those huge smiles on their faces I have learned to cave to compromise on a few things and let them be boys...

Here they are working together on some outside work... (at least Daddy knew to put some ear muffs on the kid)

1 year later...

One year ago today was a huge day for us ... Bennett got his Trach out!

It was a magical day after months of worry. My favorite part was finally being able to hear our little man's first vocal delight (Bennett's first giggle). So tonight we decided to celebrate! We had a mini party for the three of us to celebrate one year of Bennett getting his adorable voice back and breathing through his nose and mouth :) It is crazy sit back and think about where we were a year ago and where we are now.

Back a year ago, we didn't know anything different than watching our son grow up in and out of the hospital..... I am so thankful this is all in the past, we had no idea what normal toddler stuff was ahead of us and although sometimes I want to pull my hair out, every once in a while at the end of a really hard, tantrum filled day I think "how did we ever get so lucky!"

(yes, we dug out the trach they removed a year ago, Doesn't everyone have those in their kid's keepsake box?! :)

Some yummy Pumpkin cake... Yum!

Papa! Trac-tor!

As we all know Bennett has become ALL BOY, and with that he has a fabulous love for "things that go"

One of his favorite words is "Tractor" which he uses for everything from riding lawnmowers to highway construction equipment. Let me tell you, I am learning more than I would like to know about back loaders, diggers and excavators.

So a day where Grandpa Jones is right out the front window using the tractor all morning is a dream come true for Bennett and his Mama. Bennett is watching intensely, yelling "Papa, Tractor, WOW!" and I am just sitting back and enjoying this safe and low energy source of pure entertainment.

And then all the waiting paid off... Helping Papa wrap up the day outside...

What a week...

I was pretty sure it was impossible to worry about Bennett more than I already have. I thought that I had nearly hit the lifetime maximum amount of worry a little boy could cause his mommy. I was wrong but instead of some tragic post from the ER... this is just an embarrassed Mommy after her first call to Poison Control.
A couple weeks ago we cleaned out our laundry room cabinets because Bennett had been getting into a bit more than I would like, we put all of the cleaning products in our entire house in a single overhead cabinet... but to my surprise when I was cooking dinner last night he was right behind me and somehow quietly got ahold of the laundry soap cup that I had just emptied into the wash machine... Bennett took this opportunity to take a big gulp of the residual liquid soap (that in his defence smelled like wonderful candied flowers)... After some tears on both our parts and my frantic call to poison control where Phil informed me that it is fairly harmless, I sat back and thought "how the heck did I let that happen?!"
This laundry soap incident is right on the heels of a bee sting incident last week that led me to tears in the Albertsons pharmacy trying to purchase Children's Benydryl with a crying toddler with a swollen face.
For some reason I thought, "if I can handle 4 surgeries in the first year I can handle a little bee sting..." I am learning that Moms always worry...
Bennett and I took a well needed full day out with our buddies Jania and Charli today.

We went to this great park in Bellevue that had a small farm... So fun. I really think that if we make them hang out enough, they will fall in love and get married someday, right?!

Dear Fall,

We definately don't dislike you as much as we thought we would.

This week Bennett and I have continued introducing ourselves to more fun fall festivities. Bennetts favorite so far is playing the leaves that are piling up fast in our yard.

He also learned today what "Charlie Safari" is... that was a learning experience for Bennett and I, and I am not sure how Bennett did his running, screaming, laugh for that long but it was amazing! For those who don't know, it is about a 3 story jungle gym and bounce house warehouse, I wont be surprized if he sleeps until noon tomorrow (and I am secretly crossing my fingers that he will). Thanks Ryan and Emily for teaching us about his fun yet exhausting activity, We have to do it again really soon :)

October Park

There is nothing sweeter than my little man running around a park.

This afternoon we found a little park near our house. We were the only ones there and I sat back and watched him run around in the fall leaves. Part of me was still sad about summer being over and part of me was dreaming of this park with a layer of snow so that we could build a snowman.

Although it is cloudy and rainy most of the year here you can feel when the seasons change and they seem to be changing way too fast around here.

Date Night

Quiet night, Dinner for two, Dancing & a Bubble bath... Sounds kinda romantic... and in the end it was a perfect night with one of my favorite guys.

With his dad away for the weekend it is just Bennett and I, so we had a little date night. I would love to say this is home made, whole wheat pizza... but nope, it was Digiorno... and that is ok because it is Friday night and we are splurging on a fun night. We played Play-Dough, danced to the Wiggles and played lots of chase in the living room.

He loves practicing his words "on" and "off" by climbing up on the chair at the table and turning the light "ON!" and "OFF!" he does it many times a day, kinda annoying but still pretty cute.

Drinking his special Chocolate Milk Cocktail...

And that bubble bath...

Love you buddy... what a great date you are!