Happy 2nd Birthday Benjamin!

Yes, my sweet little baby boy turned 2 on March 17th! I can't believe it!

I had been telling Benjamin that his birthday was coming up for a few days. He was so excited! He would ask, "Can I have a cake?" and "Candles...can I blow them?" He would also ask if he would get any presents. It was sweet.

Well on his birthday, I took Ben and Derek to the park in the morning and we had a picnic. It was a beautiful day and the playground is one of Ben's all-time favorite places to go. He never wanted to leave. After Derek went to Kindergarten, Ben said he wanted to go to Walmart...so he and I wandered up and down the toy isles (he loves to do that!) and then I let him pick out a treat as we left. At 2, he's pretty low-maintenance.

In the evening we had to juggle around Parent-Teacher Conferences and Tyler's scouts, but we were still able to pull off the birthday stuff.

We of course sang to him and had cupcakes and ice cream...

Ben was too excited about the cupcakes...he didn't want to pose for a picture...

This is Ben and his big present with the very creative wrapping paper (i.e. Derek's blanket)! I didn't realize his jammies matched so well...

Benjamin LOVES basketball and could hardly wait for Kev to put his new basketball hoop together so he could play.

He was trying to make baskets before it was even vertical...

He was so excited to play!!! He loved "making shots" and "dunking"!

He is a sweet sweet boy and I can't believe how fast the time has flown....sigh.

Happy 9th Birthday Brooklyn!!!

How did my little baby girl get so big so fast!!???

We had a fun time celebrating Brooklyn's birthday! Because her birthday was on a Sunday, we celebrated a little bit on Saturday as well. One of the main things she wanted to do for her birthday was get her ears pierced! She's been talking about it for several months and I told her she could do it for her birthday! She was so excited!

Kev had been teasing her about it for several weeks just to "make sure" she really wanted to get her ears pierced. He told her, "It's just like going to the doctor to get a shot, but the shot goes all the way through!" All of his antics didn't seem to phase her, however.

So, on Saturday morning we drove down to the mall and went to Claire's to get them done. Her brothers (and dad!) were very nervous for her, but she didn't seem nervous at all! Brooklyn's cousins, Erika and Darci even came out to see the big event. It was fun.

Before we left for the mall...

Getting it done...

Afterward...

At Claire's after her ears were pierced...

On Saturday night, Kev and I took her out to dinner at Red Robin. It was nice.

On Sunday morning, I let her open one present before church...a new dress.

After church, she opened the rest of her presents...

...and then Brooke and I made and decorated her cake.

That night, we went up to my parent's house and sang Happy Birthday to her and Benjamin (whose birthday is 3 days after hers).

I told Brooklyn that she is done having birthdays now...I don't want her to get any older...especially not TWO digits old!

A Fun Family Night

We had a fun Family Night the other night. It was Brooklyn's turn to pick the activity and what did she pick??? Hula hooping! We had a blast! Ty and Derek couldn't do it very well, but they had a fun time trying! Kevin was determined to hula hoop well...and he succeeded! I was quite impressed. I even attempted (8 1/2 months pregnant!) to try, but didn't get too far! It's amazing how your brain can still feel like it can do something, but your body KNOWS it can't! It was a weird feeling...so thus, I ended my hula hooping career temporarily. In the end, Brooklyn schooled us all...she is a master hula hooper!

Ty's attempt...

D's attempt around his neck...he actually got it to go around a few times...

Kev hula hooping around his neck...

Triumph!

The Master...

Two Hula Hoops...she could go all night long...

Ben especially loved the Jello Jiggler treats...

No, there are no pictures of the pregnant lady hula hooping....you can just use your imagination....it will probably be more forgiving than the real thing!

Random fun pictures

Well here are a few pictures from the past couple of months...

On one of the first nice weather days of the year, the kids decided to get all dressed up in their baseball garb and play ball! They rode their bikes over to the park by our house and stayed and played baseball for several hours. They had a blast!

One day as we were all getting ready for church, I came out to the family room to see this...
Too sweet. Derek is such a great big brother.

We had a very minor snowstorm the other day...probably the last one of the year. Derek wanted to play outside in the snow all day! He and his little friend even made a snowman. The poor snowman slowly melted over the next few days until there was nothing left but a little snowball. Now he's all gone!

Sadly, this is the only picture I took of my birthday. I had a great birthday! When Kevin left for work in the morning, he gave a bag of decorations to the kids and told them to decorate the house for me. The kids wouldn't let me out of my room because they were decorating. I finally told them I had to come out. I was very surprised when I saw their work. They had ladders out (scary!) and everything! They were trying so hard. When Kev got home, he helped them finish. Here is the end result...

The other night, the kids were playing and I found them all laying on the stairs in their "feety jammies". I just had to take a picture...

Apparently, Benjamin didn't get the "pretend you're asleep" memo...

Benjamin is a sweet little boy

Well, I know I haven't blogged in a while...but I want to make sure I get this updated before our new little baby is born! Just about 2 weeks left. Yay!

Well, Benjamin is such a fun sweet boy. I just love his age right now. He says and does the cutest things. I should just follow him around with a video camera all day. Some of the cute things he says are:

As he gives me or Kev hugs, he pats us and says, "That's my dad" or "That's my mama". How sweet is that?!

When he's scared he tells Kev, "Keep me safe Dad". Then Kev picks him up and he just snuggles right up.

When he gets excited about something, he runs around and says "yee haw, yee haw!" I have no idea where he learned that!

When I have to get after him for something, he'll say (in a very low mean voice), "Be nice mom" or "don't be mean".

When he has a messy diaper, he'll come up to me or Kev and turn around, push his bum out and say "I stink dad" or "I stink mom". We just have to laugh.

He loves his siblings! When they get home from school, he's so excited to see them! He'll say "Ty!" or "Gooken!" or "D!" and then he'll usually say, "I need a hug" and then say "I missed you!" They love it and consequently spoil him with attention. He knows how to work it. ;-)

Well, those are just a few...he says something new and funny every day. I just want to freeze him right now and not let him grow up anymore!

I thought I would also post a few funny pictures of him...

Ben LOVES hats! If he finds one around the house, he will always put it on. In this picture he also found a little toy dog leash of Brooklyn's and used it as his seat belt!

He LOVES it when daddy comes home! He always gets so excited and doesn't let his dad put him down!

Ben LOVES basketball, much to Kevin's delight. He's obsessed with Kev's basketball and basketball shoes. For some reason, he also calls this shirt his "basketball shirt". Kev plays basketball at the church sometimes and usually wears a sweatshirt when he leaves. Every time Kev puts on a sweatshirt now Ben says, "going to play basketball dad?" So I think he thinks this shirt looks like Kevs.

Here's another one of Ben in a hat and with the basketball! Pretty typical!

What a sweet sweet boy! He has brought our family so much joy! I love this kid! Seriously, I could just eat him up!