vroom-vroom

all ben needs now is a black leather jacket, a policeman's hat, argyle socks and a pair of penny loafers and I think we'll be set....

and he's..... 32!!

As I was driving to the store for last minute birthday presents, the first song that came on the radio was Madonna's ... "holiday..celebrate" what a perfect song for today. I will try and come up with 32 things you might not already know about Benjamin, Benny, Benji, Benj, Ben...

1. he wakes up too early.
2. comes home from work on most days by 4:30. that's wonderful...
3. he makes me sing a hymn every sunday night.
4. he has spent a lot of money of tools.
5. he loves my pizza. {it is rather tasty!}
6. once he punched a guy in our van at 5 am in the morning. the dude thought ben was his friend ready to take him home. the guy was wasted and I was so proud of ben for punching him.
7. he goes through funny phases were he wants to build a house, or a boat..
8. he loves teasing.
9. he is a hard worker. you ask him to do something, he'll do it the best he can.
10. he is busy. always doing or working on something.
11. he just bought a motorcycle. seriously
12. he lets me get pretty much whatever I want.
13. he taught me how to budget, which is such a fabulous thing.
14. he got the cops called on him one time when he was taking Jacob out on a walk on a winter day. the caller claimed it was too cold for a baby to be outside.
15. with that said, he loves being outside exploring, hiking, camping...
16. when we got married he had money in his savings account, I had no savings account and debt.
17. he's taking me to WICKED in a month and he's so excited!! he talks about it all of the time.
18. after family prayer bens starts crawling down the hall and all three kids try and pile on his back. he ends up having to come back for ellie. she never seems to get on fast enough...
19. he's starting to look 32.
20. he's quiet, but not really.
21. he likes to play cards with me at night. we can never just stop playing after one game. because if I win first, he has to win the next...
22. i can't believe i have to think of 10 more things!
23. he's really a great help around the house. i remember always getting mad at him when we were first married because I thought he wasn't doing squat! so after approaching him about it one time, he just looks up at me and says "you never asked." so now I know to just ask. duh.
24. we love watching Psych and the Mentalist together.
25. he is excited to be a daddy to another sweet little girl especially everything that comes with little girls...
26. he has 7 sisters and 3 brothers
27. only six more things to think about..ugh
28. he loves the song Pokerface by Lady Gaga
29. every year for his birthday cake he wants a Black Forest cake. I don't like black forest cake. I try and get him to change his mind but he never cracks. sheesh!
30. he likes to surprise me and take a day off with out telling me.
31. he is a wonderful dad.
32. he is a wonderful husband. phew!

candy corn goodness

This tree lives in our neighborhood. I Love you tree. You make me smile and feel all warm inside when I see you. I love your color of leaves, it reminds me of candy corn {which by the way I can't stand} I love you and will cherish these last few days before your beautiful orange and red leaves start to fall to the ground. When I pass by you on a walk I will pick up one of your beautiful leaves and stick it close to my heart, for I love your leaves. I will be sad when they are gone and all you will be is a bare tree that will soon bare the burden of cold snow...I love you tree.

"mom, look at this!"

Evan came home the other day with his first school picture. Jacob had received his the day before and so Evan was anxiously waiting for his to come. When he came home from Kindergarten, the first thing he did was pull out his picture, drop his shoulders down and said..."mom, look at this.." I am going to label myself for a moment that I am a horrible mother because I looked at it and busted up laughing really hard! I couldn't help it., seriously. I love it. This is Evan for you. He looks scared and I think this is a true example of what he has thought of kindergarten so far. Oh Evan, we love you! don't ever change...

a sneak peak...

I am 25 weeks and 5 days today. On friday I went in to see the specialist, again...to see how things were moving a long. {some might not know, I have placenta previa..google it if you don't know what the heck that means.} The only thing I have really enjoyed about having to see a specialist is that I get to have an ultrasound of our baby girl every 4 weeks. It's fun to see how she's growing and it's comforting knowing monthly, that she's developing perfectly. I have come to really enjoy these quiet bonding moments with her. I am amazed that she can survive in all that fluid and junk around her. This last appointment the tech lady did some really cool 3d pics of her. I'm posting just one of them. The others were a little too freaky, with her eye's not opened.

Here she is, gettin' cozy with my placenta!

Mr. V.I.P

jacob was selected for the month of september to be his schools V.I.P. With this reward, yesterday he ate at the schools "special cafe". He ate cheese pizza, chips, a chocolate chip cookie and had water to drink. he was given this reward because he showed a good attitude for the whole month and he had good actions, worked hard and was a good example to other kids. He was pretty excited to receive this award as was I. Made me feel like a good mom. Like I'm actually doing something right. But then again, I have always felt that Jacob was born this way. ..close to perfect.

pickin' and lickin' and grinnin'

my friend jenny and her adorable kids {who WILL call me Aunt Emily someday} decided to go to the local raspberry farm and pick yummy raspberries. it was so much fun and we all had a great time, {well except my pregnant back..} it took us about 2 hours of picking and bending and squatting...but it was totally worth it. here is a picture of jenny. when you're with her you can't help but have moments like these....

my big helpers

i love this picture! look at their happy faces. wish jacks face didn't get cut off. they loved running in between the raspberry isles.

Get out of Town!

This last weekend we decided to take a quick trip south. Here are a few pictures from our much needed family time.

at the hotel

walking around the out door mall

evan's getting ready to sneeze!

holding there greatly earned reward...

I love this picture of Evan. Just sitting there watching the water fountain. Probably thinking about "how the heck does that work?"

Yes he's mine...and I'll keep him

We like to encourage our kids to find their own unique talents. I was in my room when I heard Evan playing his armantica {evan's word for harmonica} He was playing it like a true blues musician would play. So I came out to the front room to tell him.."evan, you are amazing! I love how you are playing your harmonica" Instead I came out and looked at him and started laughing! He is playing so seriously. I love this kid.