Lou's 30th

We took Lindsey to Benihana for lunch today for her 30th birthday, the boys enjoyed the California rolls, "China beans" as Aaron calls Edamame and then the pineapple boat and green tea ice cream for Dessert.

The Dunn's

On Saturday James had his much anticipated football draft night with a bunch of his college buddies so I took off work and we got to go out to the Dunn's for a fun night of swimming, playing, dinner and catching up. Ben loved going all over the pool with Uncle Lance, playing with his tools, checking out all of his big boy toys like quads and dirbikes and playing endlessly with sweet Elyse, it gave me a nice break to just be able to chat with Ginna. It also cooled off tremendously, rained a little, got some lightning and then there was a rainbow, Ben really enjoyed pointing that out to all of us!

Ben loves Jackson

Lindsey, Aaron and Jackson came over to play and have dinner and Ben couldn't keep his hands off Jackson, he wanted to be near him, hold him, kiss him and love up on that precious little baby. It was adorable!

Dear Friends

Our wonderful friends Camille and Paul came to see us (they had never met Benjamin) on the way back to CA from Sedona, we had lunch and took them to the airport, it was a lovely couple of hours that we got to spend with them, I hadn't seen them since our wedding and Camille has always been an adopted "Auntie" to me. Now Ben calls Paul "Pop" and seemed absolutely smitten with him. I hope it isn't another 4 years until we get to see them again, sure do love those guys!

"Cank you Mommy"

Lately Benjamin has been thanking us for everything! He thanks us for all of the refills of sippy, snacks, meals, fixing or giving or opening a toy, turning things on or off....you get the picture. So, I was thinking about this today after he "canked" me for taking him swimming and I just want to THANK HIM, for coming in to my life and filling it with endless amounts of joy, laughter, happiness and allowing my heart to be filled to the brim full of love. I remember the moment he was born and the nurse put him on my chest (after they got him breathing) and I thanked him for being born and told him I had always wanted him. The moment seems very surreal right now but couldn't be more truthful. He has exceeded all of my expectations of parenting, all of my dreams of being a Mother and although I always knew I would love my child, I never had any idea it could reach this magnitude. So, "THANK YOU MY SWEET, SWEET BOY, THANK YOU!"

New words for old things

I know that it isn't just my Son who comes up with these things, but it is so darn cute coming from him and it adds to so much laughter with me and James. We went to dairy queen about a week ago and Ben kept calling his "special tweet" an "ice cweem coat", no matter how many times he said it, it was never a "cone", it was always his "coat". He knows when he sees cakes that there is a party going on but for some reason it is a "Hocake", not quite sure why. He makes me laugh constantly and a lot of times he laughs right along with me, we've noticed the kid has a great sense of humor, just like his Daddy:-)

Hot Summer

It's been an awfully hot Summer and I don't just say that because we are residents of Phoenix, we have had heat advisory warnings repeatedly (meaning, do not leave your house). I preface this post with that because we have done a lot of swimming at the gym and I don't have an underwater camera so no pics have been taken, therefore my blog has been a little lonely, but let me assure you there are a million times I've thought that Ben looks so cute playing, kicking his legs, going after his "shissheess", asking me to go toward the "mushooom" and just being his adorable self, that I'd wish I had a camera. He has a funny little farmer tan from his swim shirt right now, his hair is lightening up and his body has a nice tan that I've never nor will I ever see, on my fair skin. Lucky boy. We swim for awhile then I take him in to play and can do my thing, works well for both of us. We've also been doing a lot of this afterward, getting worn out first. ZZZZZZZZZZ....

Precious new addition

We got to go over to the Postal's and visit them and meet their new baby, Jackson. He's perfect in every way and Ben thought so too. He wanted to kiss him, look at him and be near him, it was interesting to see just how gentle and loving he was with a brand new baby.