XOXO

Dear Benjamin,
I went to work tonight and you were constantly on my mind. I came home and you were still awake so we snuggled in your bed together and chatted, you hugged me so tightly and I knew you missed me as much as I missed you. I feel so lucky to be able to stay home with you during the week and work on weekends because our time together is so much fun and so very precious, just like you my beautiful boy. Your smile lights up the Universe and your interest and curiosity in different things, learning, asking "why", blowing me away with your memory and smart mind are all so fun to witness. I love you Ben, more than the moon, the stars, the earth, the air I breathe, more than anything and I continue to love you more and more with each passing day. Thank you for being my Son, it's the greatest blessing. You are my little muffin man and I adore you.
Love,
Mom

Best buds

Our best friends Lindsey, Jack and Aaron came home on Monday from being in Utah for the past month, we sure missed them and are thrilled they came home. We met them yesterday at the splash pad at Desert Ridge and then "Toddler Tuesday" at The Playfactory, our boys bounced to their hearts content. Today we went to Arcadia Tavern for lunch and then to play at their house, they add so much fun to our lives! Lindsey and I get a huge kick out of the fact that our boys act like brothers, have a hard time sharing and today even got into a little slapping fight that we had to stop. Ahhh, boys!

Thomas ANYTHING

I have to laugh at how Ben can find Thomas the Train things everywhere we go. This morning we dashed in to Walgreens and he immediately found these bubbles, luckily they were WAY cheaper than anything else Thomas related. He's been having tons of fun blowing bubbles.

It was SO BRIGHT

Ben just told me it was "so bright when I was born". Wow. Wonder where that came from?

Wheee

My shirtless boy loves his swing set and can really get some air, even though it's a hot one out there but we still like swinging and feeling some breeze.

Ranch

Ben told us that there was a Monster in the bathroom and his name was "Ranch", everytime James asked him a question about the color of his eyes, hair, skin, teeth and nails he told us he was "red". What a funny little imagination he has!

Laundry

Tonight was by far the most fun I've ever had putting all of our laundry away. We usually wash a few loads and then dread folding and hanging but my little helper put it away in the dressers with so much pride, high 5's and lots of enthusiasm! I hope this lasts for a long, long time, but I'm not optomistic. :-)

Proof

Lots of laughs

Thank God so many things that Benjamin does or says make me laugh so hard since he can also be a real handful or a cranky pants kid. I just changed his shorts after his nap but he threw the ones I was going to put him in (that matched) and he picked out a plaid pair that look absolutely awful with the green Sesame Street polo he is wearing, this might just need a pic for proof. My funny boy!

Taking turns

After the gym today we headed over to whole foods to grab lunch and out of the clear blue sky Ben asked if he could drive the car because "we should take turns"...hmmmm?

Float your boat

We went out for dinner last night and at one point I asked James if he thought Benjamin would like green tea ice cream, I do but James doesn't. I said that we would be going to the Asian market after dinner and could get some and he replied "Whatever floats your boat" to which our little man said "Mommy, can I go in your boat?"

I pod

Benjamin just walked out with my Ipod, he's actually pretty good on the Ipod and our laptop, think perhaps he gets that from his Daddy? He started playing a Mary J. Blige song and said "Mommy, look at your friend" to which I responded "you think she's my friend?" and he answered me so quickly, "yeah". He's at this stage where he thinks everyone is his friend, it's adorable. In California he told us he wanted to go see "his friends" and we told him that they were his Cousins so from then on he would tell us he wanted to go see his cousins. I think it's sweet he refers to people as "my fwends".

Escape the heat

We had been talking about whether or not we would go somewhere to get out of the heat since we were both off on the 4th of July (James started his new job today, on the 5th, yay! Hooray! So proud of him and hope he enjoys every moment of his first day!) and yesterday morning I told him how Prescott really likes to celebrate the 4th so we headed on up to the cooler temps, went to the Town Square where there was a huge Arts and Crafts show, food booths and best of all, grass and kids for Ben to play with. When we finished there we headed on out to the Fairgrounds to see if the festivities I read about online were happening but it was a ghost town, so we meandered up Mingus Mountain, through the pines and to Jerome (I scared James a little since he has been interested in this silly show "Ghost Hunters" and pointed out "The Asylum":-)) down the other side and stopped by Auntie and Uncle's house where Mom, Richard, Jenny and Mike were hanging out. Ben enjoyed the pool, sans clothes, with Grammy and when it started raining we all went under the deck and watched a beautiful Monsoon come through and cool us off. James loves Jerky from this little store in uptown called "World of Jerky" so we tried to get there before it closed but like Sedona does, they closed 10 minutes before the closing "time" so we went to get dinner, again closed before their "time" posted. Fortunately James made the great suggestion of Oak Creek Brewery in Tlaquepaque where we had burgers, beer and bangers and mash, a perfect end to a perfect day. This was by far one of the most fun 4th's I can remember, but everything is fun with my boys.

What a great Independence weekend!

Over the last month or so we have heard fireworks outside at the nearby High School for graduation and also at the JW Marriot down the way and both times we have stepped outside to see them, Benjamin couldn't have been more excited. I knew this year would be a lot of fun for him when we got to see fireworks on the 4th of July so we decided to go back to Cave Creek since we had such a great time there last year. This year Harold's Corral was having the band, food and fireworks and it was actually on the 3rd. The weather has been extremely hot, think 116, so we waited to go until a bit later but what we didn't foresee was the Monsoon we would hit driving out there. Power outages, heavy rain pouring down making it hard to see and of course the thought that there would be no fireworks. We parked our car in a nearby lot and ran through the storm to arrive to a bar packed with people, they had to move in when the storm came. I got a little claustrophobic but fortunately the rain quickly passed and we were able to go sit outside and see one big GRAND FINALE. I think that because they were worried about the rain coming back they set them off faster and it suited us just fine, I was just happy to see Benjamin's happy face watching them on his Dad's lap, made it all worthwhile.

Out of the mouths of babes

Last week I was hanging out with Jagger and Benjamin and as we were driving to Target to get some new toys I heard Jagger say to Ben "So Ben, whose YOUR favorite super hero?" to which Ben replied "Thomas" as in, "The train". Not quite the response Jagger was looking for but I chuckled, I just love the cute things kids say and even more so, listening in on them talking to one another. :-)