The cutest little sayings

It's been really fun hearing Ben talk about Halloween, he's very excited seeing the decorations in stores and knows that he's going to be dressing up. After hearing him just say "Halloween" over and over I asked him if he liked Halloween and he said "Yes!", I told him to say something about Halloween, if he looked forward to it, liked it or enjoyed things about it and later on I heard him talking to his Daddy and he said "I yike Halloween skuff (stuff)!" Cracked us up! He's really starting to form sentences. I heard him just a couple of minutes ago playing with his Elmo balloon and he said "Beeyoon make me happy". Ahhh, the sweet sound of his little voice, I love it when things make him happy! Especially because he has also asked us if we were mad and told us he was angry recently, new feelings and emotions from our sweet two year old that I am glad he is exploring and learning but really hope he has more good emotions than bad.

Schnepf Farms

Ryan and Elyse were on one of their school breaks and I wanted to do something fun with them, I had heard about Schnepf farms pumpkin and chili festival and knew that there would be some fun things for all of us. It was a lot of fun, our unseasonably warm weather was the only hindrance. We went on a Hay ride around the farm and stopped at some miniature deer to feed them, the driver told us some facts about the fully operational 300 acre farm, that was interesting. We got to ride the Carousel which was of course a treat for Ben since he thinks they are so cool right now. There were goats and other animals you could pet in the petting zoo but it freaked Ben out and he wanted nothing to do with touching the animals. Then the kids wanted to go on a train ride around it, that was nice, a little breezy too which helped. Then we stopped off at a little store and go sodas before riding a Bee ride, roller-coaster, swinging ride and going through the corn maze. We walked one last time through the pumpkin patch before ending by getting the best Lemonades Elyse and I had ever had. All in all, a fun fall activity that I would do again, as long as the temps are way below 95.

Zoo

Grammy came down and watched Ben so that James and I could go to the Jack Johnson concert, celebrating 4 wonderful years of marriage, we had a great time! The next day we decided to go to the Zoo and they just bought new paddleboats and we decided to try them out, that was quite a lot of fun!

Sister

It was pretty funny when we went to visit my girlfriend Amber who just had her baby Charlie and she asked Ben if he wanted a baby Brother or Sister, Ben responded just by saying "Lucy". He has a Sister, she just has 4 legs.

Charlie

My very good friend Amber had her second boy, Charlie, in the beginning of Sept. and we went to visit her and got to meet the little fella. What a doll. He's just calm and peaceful, happy and absolutely gorgeous. As you can see Benjamin really enjoyed being near him, did his usual wanting to be near and give kisses, he really would be an awesome big brother.

DJ Lance Rock

About a month ago we already started getting catalogs in the mail with cute kids Halloween costumes so I would show them to Ben and start talking about Halloween and what fun it is, how you get to dress up and trick or treat. We even went online and looked at all of the super hero and animal costumes and now at the store he is seeing Halloween things and telling me it's coming. At first he liked the Elmo Costume, then he liked Batman because I told him that it would be neat if he were batman since he has a Batmobile from his Grandpa and Grandma but as soon as he saw a DJ Lance Rock costume it was over. DJ Lance Rock is from one of his favorite shows, Yo Gabba Gabba, he is gay and he is black, now, I'm not racist or homophobic but for a 2 year old to want to be him for Halloween can only be compared to wanting to be the most flamboyant black man you've ever seen, but I'm not going to stop him! He talked about it and pretty much let me know that was what he wanted to be. We had gone to the Spirit Halloween store over the last couple of years to get his Pumpkin and Little Devil Costumes and I was anxious to go again, the place is full of all sorts of horrific Halloween props and is really quite an experience just to enter. We walked through and showed Ben the super hero costumes and all sorts of other toddler costumes but when he saw DJ Lance Rock that was it! He remembered it, wanted it and we went to put it on him and he not only liked it, was excited but didn't want me to take it off him. Luckily they let me pay for it while he wore it home. He didn't take it off all night and wanted to wear it to bed. One thing's for sure, he is the cutest little DJ Lance Rock there ever was!

Play house

We went outside in the morning to play around in Ben's playhouse and he had a blast opening and closing the shutters, playing hide and seek with me. I know he's going to enjoy the playhouse as much as I enjoy watching him happy and having fun in it!

Auntie and Uncle

We got to have Auntie and Uncle for dinner and Ben had a blast playing with them, dancing and wanting to sit and be with them. Of course I've always been nuts about them so it figures he would be too!

Pretty miss Shiloh

Tammy and Shiloh came over for a playdate last week and they both enjoyed playing the leapfrog, then they had a dance party with Brobee. Such cute little friends!

Grammy

Grammy came down last week and spent the night, we went to the Postals for a lovely evening of visiting. Mom hadn't met Jackson yet and thoroughly enjoyed holding him for hours. He fell asleep in her arms and it was pure heaven for her to have that experience. One of Ben's very favorite people in the world is Grammy, talks about her all of the time saying "Grammy's coming" and when we tell him she isn't he says "almost". Silly little fella. He also knows she lives in Sedona and wants to go there to see her. I know he ADORES Jackson and understands he's just a baby but I could also sense that tiny tinge of jealousy, just proud of him for not acting on it and knowing Grammy will always have arms for him too.

Too funny

This morning Ben handed me his "baby frog" which is what he calls his leap frog, the main thing he can do with it is color on it, either with a picture as a background or a blank page. It seems to entertain him, at least for a little while here and there. This morning he wanted help clearing his page and I decided to write his name for him., I said "What's it spell? B..E...N, and then drew a circle around it and he said "O". I then cleared the page and spelled M.O.M and he screamed "P!" He knows the alphabet but I must be a little silly to be trying to teach him to read already! :-)

Sedona

Luckily James was able to take a day off work so that we could go play in Oak Creek Canyon with Grammy and Papa and escape the heat for a day. It was exactly what the Dr. ordered for all 3 of us. Ben was a terrific little hiker, loved the water and rocks and showed no fear even though he did wipe out twice, just got right up, those rocks can be a little slippery. We started out having sandwiches at Garlands, a great spot in the canyon and then after our hike stopped at "World of Jerky" so James could get his craving taken care of. Afterward we went to Los abrigados park to see the ducks and play, there was a cool ginormous chess/checkers game board and pieces Ben liked playing with and a prayer labyrinth to walk with a peace pole in the center, we joked that Ben was cheating and not walking it correctly. We finished the day with some cold brewski's from Oak creek brewing company along with hot dogs, chili and Brats and had the nice surprise of Kris stopping by to say "hi", it's been way too long since we got to see her and Ben was definitely drawn to her, he repeated "buh bye Kris" more times than I can count.

Closeness

I feel very fortunate because all of my life I have had a close bond with my Grandma Bev. She and I just have a huge love for one another that has had no boundaries, whether it be distance (Minnesota to Hawaii or Arizona) or familial tension, there is nothing that stands in the way of our relationship. When I was a little girl I always got the best birthday and all sorts of other holiday cards from her with little slots for dimes/nickels/quarters and I always felt so excited to receive them, be it Easter or Halloween I felt honored that she thought of me and sent me a sweet treat. Speaking of sweet treats, Grandma Bev always had goodies in her kitchen, when I would fly back to visit my Dad in the Summer or at Christmas I would sit in her kitchen, on a red step stool and visit with her while eating some sort of delicious cookie or bar, even a graham cracker tasted better if it came from her. I always thought she was the best cook on the planet and could make any dinner taste absolutely remarkable. I tease her that she can open a can of creamed corn and it's the love that she has in opening it that makes it taste so much better than anything I've ever had. we continue to have our close bond, mainly over the telephone, although there isn't a time I don't go back to Minnesota and spend as much time as possible with her, her hugs are definitely second to none, no one has ever made me feel as much love with one hug as her, except perhaps my Dad. I try to give her a call at least once a month and when we talk time flies right on by and the next thing I know it's been an hour...or two. We have so much in common it seems, love of family, the tight bond you have with one or two girlfriends, home, deals and discounts and ways of saving money, cooking and growing things, making things and most of all humility and kindness.
I love the stories she tells about her childhood, her parents and brothers and sisters, the Great Depression and of raising her five Children. My Dad is the second oldest, the oldest boy and was always giving her a run for her money, in a very cute and funny way. Never lacked a sense of humor, my Dad would make my Grandmother laugh even when she should have been scolding him because of his wily ways. Today she told me a story about when she had cooked a venison roast that one of her brothers brought to her after he shot and killed a deer, she told the kids, who were all under the age of 4, that was what they were having and how they got it once it was set on the table with the other side dishes and my Dad exclaimed, and I can almost hear his little voice saying it now, "Well then who shot the potatoes!"
I adore listening to the stories my Grandma tells me and I miss the way she smells, the light in her eyes, the giant hugs that last for several minutes and the fact that, so similarly to me, some stories bring on the tears and she cannot hold back her emotions because they just come, she's very on the surface with her feelings and that's just another one of the many reasons I adore her.

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!