"Thank You" project

I listen to a radio morning show on my commute every day that is collecting Thank You letters or letters of gratitude for every single American soldier that is deployed outside of the States. I was touched by this concept and wanted Ben to participate as well. He doesn't quite get what a "soldier" is but I wanted him to know that it's good to do nice things for people. So I wrote a few things on some paper and let him go to town coloring. He drew some soldiers, and I helped with a tent, a witch, some smiley faces, his "name", we traced his hand... it was fun. It was good one on one time for us too. Here he is with two of his letters! I hope they mean so much to someone out there. If you are interested in participating, HERE is the link!

Awesome Autumn Weekend

It's definitely feeling Autumn-ish out there, and I love it. The best part of living in GA is the really fantastic Spring and Autumn/Fall. We've had a beautiful weekend. I don't remember what we did Friday night but it doesn't really matter. Saturday we got a call from our friends Jared and Kaela asking if we wanted to go with them and their daughter Aubrey to Lake Lanier to swim and hang out. Ryan hasn't been feeling great, so he welcomed the chance to get out and get some fresh air. Plus Ben LOVES playing with Aubrey and I love mine and Kaela's talks. :) On our way there, Jared called and said his dad happened to be up there with his boat test driving it after having had it at the mechanics. We were pretty excited, especially Ryan, because it's been forever since either of us have been on a boat. Ben's never been so it was an awesome surprise.

Ben's 1st boat ride

Me, Kaela and Aubrey went out on the ride first and then came back and then the boys went. Jared and Ryan then each took turns water skiing! I was so proud of my man! He hasn't been on a boat in like 20 years or something, and he got up first try! Yay! Ben enjoyed the boat ride but was ready to get off so he could play with Aubrey on the beach.

My man skiing!

Kaela and I enjoyed talking and philosophising while the 3 older "men" went on another boat ride and we just all enjoyed each other's company! It was a lot of fun!
Today we planted two iris and several Tulip bulbs for the Spring! It was exciting to see them coming up and growing this year and next year it will be just as fun! Ben helped us plant most of them. We also had the gang over for chili tonight and that was nice. Now, it's back to work... sigh. If only... Have a good one!

I Believe in Miracles...

We went camping! Success! Well… almost. As reported before… it always seems to rain the weekends we plan to camp. So this time we didn’t really want “plan” it just so we didn’t jinx ourselves. Our friend Jared told us about this convenient campground that he and his family always go to, so we thought we’d give it a try. It wasn’t a far drive, it was on Lake Lanier, and it just sounded nice. We also decided to make it just a trip for the 3 of us (and our dog Ally) so we could test out our new [HUGE] tent. So Saturday morning, Ryan declared that he wanted a clean house when we got home so we cleaned and cleaned and packed up the car. Ben kept asking us ALLLLLLLL morning long… “Are we going camping?” Right before we were to leave, Ryan got on the website for the campground and it said that all sites were full. Of course, we were pretty bummed. But I didn’t want to give up! I thought that we could drive somewhere… ANYWHERE and surely there would be a campsite open for us to use for just ONE STINKIN’ NIGHT! So even though Ryan was a bit of a grumpy bear, we jumped in the car and drove up to the campground we were recommended to just to see… maybe, just maybe if there was someone who cancelled or something. So we got there, and luckily the website was TOTALLY wrong and there were plenty of sites available. This made Ryan VERY happy. We picked ours out, paid the nice young men (wow I just sounded so old-ladyish) for the site and went to go get our food for the evening and breakfast. We got back to the site about 3:30-4pm and set up the tent and got settled in. Decided around 5pm to start making our chili dogs and well… our quiet time in nature ended. Nearby… not far away, a live cover band started playing at a house or a party or something. It was loud enough, that we could sing along with the songs. They proceeded to play for a couple hours… and then we thought they were done. Nope… they started up again and played until 11PM! They stopped and started so many times we thought “surely this must be it…” several times, and there were even fireworks involved a few of those times too… it was a little ridiculous when they started singing the same songs they’d already sung again towards the end. Also, since we were by the lake, there were several boats, several times that would play their choice of music quite loudly as they drove by. Around 8:30 Ben had had it, he was tired and being a booger head so I took him in to the tent and got him his jammies on and all settled in- and to my dismay and disgust heard unmentionable noises coming from our neighbor’s tent! I had to put my hands over Ben’s ear at one point! And it didn’t just happen once; it was two times… the second time with more graphic “instruction”. Yuck!!! (Ben was asleep for that one though, thankfully!) It was a strange feeling sitting in our camp chairs by the fire looking out at such beautiful scenery but feeling like we were sitting in the middle of the city with all the noise around us. It was actually more annoying than strange really. Ryan and I got tired, so we decided despite all the noise we’d go to bed- this was around 10:30, finally the music stopped at 11pm and we were finally able to go to sleep. However, we were woken up at 1am to the sound of fireworks somewhere also close by. Those were being lit on and off for about an hour, woke Ben up and everything. Then at 2am… I had to pee. And so did Ryan. So after we went, we sat up and talked and laughed for a little while. At 4am I heard the previously mentioned neighbor shout out “GET YOUR OWN SLEEPING BAG!” then quiet, then “Get off your butt and get your own *bleeping* sleeping bag”. SERIOUSLY?  (Quite a different sentiment than what was being expressed earlier in the evening!) Mister Yelly-Pants finally settled down, and I went back to sleep. But then moments later, heard their van doors shutting and then said van driving off. Went back to sleep. At 6am… heard a loud airplane and a boat (probably someone going early morning fishing). Then by 7 both Ben and I were awake. Weirdly… the neighbors were still there… We got up, and went to the restroom. We made breakfast (Ryan's favorite part and requirement) and cleaned up and went home! It was pretty chilly and windy anyway so playing at all was not particularly an option… plus our dog just isn’t a camping/outdoor dog and she was driving us crazy. So we camped! We didn’t really sleep… but we camped! Luckily Ben’s a trooper and all except for the fireworks he slept through most/all of it. He had a horrid sounding little cough though I worried about, but he seems to be fine. We are hoping to go again with some friends this weekend, but we shall see! Not sure if I want to go back to that campground but besides the noise it was a nice place and not far from home. I leave you with photos.

Labor Day Weekend- gone bust

Well, it pretty much kind of sucks when you have something planned and it doesn't pull through. Ryan and I both kind of have a hard time with that, we've taught Ben NOT to be like that which is good- because we both tend to pout a little. We had planned to go camping just ONE stinkin' night this long weekend... and well, a hurricane that was on the Gulf Coast decided to make it's way up to Georgia (after having been in a drought) ON LABOR DAY WEEKEND. (me sticking my tongue out at Hurricane Lee) We bought ourselves a brand new tent, since last time we camped the tent we had leaked from a rain storm and then the poles broke afterwards. This time we took our time searching for the perfect tent, a Kelty 6 person tent (that I got for like $100 bucks off might I add). It's HUGE, but will be a good fit for us for a long time to come. We kind of wish now in hindsight we would've just gone Saturday night, but we didn't- and well,  we tried to make the best of the rest of our weekend and here's what we've done.

Mafia at the Elton's

Friday night we went over to our friend's, The Elton's, for Mark's 30th birthday party ate yummy food and played Mafia (fun game).

Yesterday, we did a little shopping and then later had a cookout with the hotdogs meant to be cooked at the campground with some of our friends at home(no pictures...).

Today, we went over to the Terry's house to eat lots of junk food and play Rock Band! We got rained out of doing anything outdoors so this was our solution! Ben did pretty good (for a 3 year old) on those drums! I hope to have a musician of some sort on our hands! (There was even a tornado warning in the county the Terry's live in, Ryan and I stood outside and listen to the sirens going off, very eerie sounding, at the high school nearby. It was in the western part of the county though, so luckily we were not affected!)

Band name suggestions include "3.5" and "Little Benny and the Big Kids"

Well, goodbye summer time. Goodbye swimming pools. Goodbye splash parks. We have had a pretty fun summer! Fall is creeping in, the leaves are starting to change. And today, with the storm it just felt like all of a sudden Autumn has crept in. Which, I'm pretty okay with. As you all know, I LOVE the Fall. I love everything we get to look forward to in the coming months. I hope that Ben had a good summer. This seems to be the first year that he'll probably start remembering things, and I hope it's been good for him. Here's a recap in pictures.

Bicycle and Rain Boots- lots of riding his bike on the driveway and sidewalk

Angry Birds on the iPhone

hanging with friends!

(bad picture) Ryan & I got to go to Cirque Du Soleil- Dralion

4th of July!

Ryan turns 30!

Ben's first slip and slide!

Ally got a haircut

love!

At Morgan Falls park

lots of playing at the park

the beach!

Ben got to see his Collier cousins

visited UT

lots of swimming

Ben update

I'm not going to make this a long drawn out update... just some things I wanted us to remember.
-he says "ater-gader" for Gatorade
-lately things always happened "last night" instead of like yesterday or last week or whatever time period. Or even "a couple weeks ago"... as if he knows!
- he's such a good swimmer, he actually can get from one place to the other! He loves jumping in the water (with water wings).

-One Saturday morning when we got up we found him asleep on the couch! we think maybe his little "school bus" is getting uncomfortable for him.
-is a very sensitive and compassionate little soul. The other day we dress up as cows for Chick-fil-a's customer appreciation day, and I felt SO sick and couldn't even eat our free meal and he was SUPER concerned. He said "ahhhh! Mommy! What's wrong? You don't feel good?? (All with a high pitched concerned tone) It's okay Mommy... I'll come rub your back". He's such a sweetheart.
- love his flip flops, and because everyone has told him he's cute in them, he's now asking people if they think they're cute on him! haha
-tonight when I was putting him to bed after prayers (which he's been saying by himself really well lately) he wanted to sing a song I didn't know. So I had him sing it to me. Usually he gets shy and quiet and also distracted and doesn't finish or doesn't sound clear... but he sang this song perfectly and told me to sing with him. "5 little ducks went out one day, over the hill and far away..." with hand motions and everything. He went from 5 ducks, to no ducks with a sad face at the end. It was ADORABLE and I loved every minute of it!!!
-The other day he was sitting at the table eating dinner and was talking to himself, which is not unusual, and started naming the months of the year! "June, July, August..." I was totally taken back! I am so grateful he is learning so much at his daycare.
- as before mentioned, he's my little therapist. When I'm obviously frustrated with ridiculous drivers around me he assures me that everything is okay and that "they didn't mean to mommy" or "that car didn't know mommy" he-he I told him my stomach felt sick this morning and he said "did you eat mommy?" to which I replied "Oh! Good idea!" He's really going to be the balance our family needs, I can feel it.

-He draws the CUTEST amazing little people ever. (some with poop? I don't know... I just... don't know)
-we got him his first Vans... they are SO Ben. They make him look so grown up. Sigh...
-He says "That's what I'M talking about..."
I love this kid of ours. He is a special and wise little soul.

Utah Trip 2011

• The flight was good. It was a little boring for Ben and he was tired and wouldn’t nap and I was irritated with him, but overall he behaved. I unfortunately acquired a headache on the flight over, which is probably why I was irritated.
• I mention this because after we go to our hotel, the Luxor, we met up with Nichole and Chris Christensen and their kids. I’m grateful that we got to see them, and even though none of us felt that great we had fun! We went over to the MGM Grand to the Rainforest Café to eat. Cute place! Quite overpriced (thank you Las Vegas…) and we’ll never go there again, but it was good. Ben was SOOOO sleepy that he wouldn’t eat (the $10 kids meal we ordered… ugh). And Nichole also had a headache and their kids were quite tired as well. Luckily, we had the next morning to spend with them too- so at about 8pm we called it a night!
• The next morning we ate breakfast and watched the people who were STILL drunk from the night before walking around like lost puppies in the casino, went swimming with the Christensen’s and then went to see the Las Vegas temple with them as well. After we said our goodbyes we ate at In & Out and then headed to St. George to see my parents.
• Our rental car broke down on us on a steep desert hill in the middle of the Gorge right before St. George. It was 102® and we had no cell service. Luckily, we don’t have to have good reception for prayers to be heard- and I prayed a real big prayer after we were luckily able to pull over to the side of the road…. And after a few tries and us freaking out a bit- the car started back up and we were able to make it to my parent’s house just 16 miles away! We had the rental company tow us a new vehicle… that night! Ask Ben what kind of car it was and he will tell you “a minivan”! He kept telling everyone we had to get a new car and it’s a Mini-van. Haha (A minivan that smelled like a casino, blech)
• Saturday was also Ryan’s 30^th birthday! So we celebrated with pizza and brownies and swimming at my parents pool with the family. This was also our casual Father’s Day celebration.
• ·         Sunday we rode up to Utah Valley after Sacrament and spent time with the Green family and met in person, my BFF Andrea’s new hubby Matt and (now, just today!) Yay! They are cute and perfect for one another! And it was wonderful to be back in the Green home, brought back SOOO many memories. And Ben loved playing with all the kids!
• We had plans the next day of going to the Uintas, one of my FAVORITE places on earth… and well, seeing as though it was like 50® in Orem the day before and rainy… we decided not to go (50 in Orem most likely meant colder temps and snow in the mountains). Plus they had snow up there, and Utah is experiencing a lot of flooding this year. I was VERY bummed by this, I’d been waiting basically since we found out we were going to be up there and take my boys for the first time. But instead we spent time up Provo Canyon, which is also quite pretty. I also got a nice fresh Café Rio salad that day. J
• Monday night we went to dinner with the Webb’s (Kate & Ryan) and I got to see her cute little full-of-baby-girl pregnant tummy!  She’s adorable as a pregnant lady! We enjoyed spending time with them and kind of wished it lasted longer!
• Tuesday we spent the day with my brother Greg and his family, minus the oldest. She was at our Church’s Girls Camp having a blast. They have a fun little (free!) splash park about a block away from their house, within walking distance. And even though we didn’t have Ben’s swim clothes with us- it was pretty warm outside and the kids wanted to have fun, so we let them! Ben was soaked but he had a blast! I think his favorite part (and most hilarious) was punching and kicking the water spouts. I swear he was getting out a lot of aggression! He had fun playing with his cousins!
• Tuesday night me and another friend of Andrea and I threw a shower. It was a “Come Hither” shower and she got a lot of fun stuff!!! There weren’t a lot of us, and some people felt more comfortable buying things from her registry… but it was lovely! We ate dinner out and then enjoyed the backyard of her friend and opened gifts, talked and ate delicious ice cream cake! Oh and watched her open the fun stuff! Woo-woo!
• Wednesday we took off pretty early to get back to St. George. I don’t really think we did anything super special once we got there. I think we swam. Greg and his girls came down as well and so well just hung out with each other. That night after Ben went to sleep, we left him with Clau and Ryan and I and the kids met my dad over at the cemetery where my sister Shauna was buried. We all saved up and were able to purchase a nice sized headstone personalized just for her. The cemetery gave us permission to install it ourselves, mostly for sentimental value but also because it was much cheaper if we did it ourselves. So dad, Ryan, JC and Nico all dug up the spot where the headstone would go. Kind of funny sitting in a cemetery at night with flashlights while people are digging!
• Thursday we woke up early and headed to the cemetery. All of us were there except for my sister Delinda who couldn’t’ make it out and my sister in-law Clau who unfortunately couldn’t get out of working. The men of the family did most of the work, who am I kidding??? Did ALL the work. Ben and the girls all hung out in the cars… Missy and Alyssa hung out with him in ours and watched DVD’s in the back. After we got the cement in and the headstone properly set, we all took turns putting our hand prints in the cement (we did proxy for the two who were missing!). It looks a little cheesy, but I think it’s sweet and I know Shauna would’ve LOVED that. She was very sentimental and loved her family. SO now she’ll always have us with her. It only took us 3 hours to do everything! That afternoon we went swimming again at my parent’s pool. Then that evening after dinner we made tin can ice cream at their house. After a lot of shaking and spinning and moving the cans around, we had vanilla ice cream! It was yummy and something fun for the kids to do. The kids all played with each other and it was fun to see them laugh and run around together.
• Friday we spent time with my niece and took some photos of her, per her request. We got to walk through the St. George Temple visitor center and took some out near the red rocks which was cool. We basically hung out all day with Nico and Missy which was lots of fun. Got some frozen custard… went swimming again… Ben has a ball with these guys.  He thinks they’re pretty awesome. And they are really good with him. We spent more time with my parents and ate yummy Mexican food. That night we removed the form for the cement the headstone was in and cleaned it up.
• Saturday morning we said our goodbyes and then headed to the airport. I was pretty sad; I always get sad to leave my family. It’s not always easy living so far away from everyone. I wouldn’t want to live next door or anything… but across the country is tough sometimes. So I cried…. And Ben did too. He kept saying he wanted his “sisters” (which = cousins… still getting the relationship titles down!) I would get watery eyed… and one time he said to me pretend crying “mommy!? Are you crying too?” and I said “yeah a little” and he made a loud crying sound and said “me too! I sad!” I’m so glad he enjoyed his time with his family and hopefully he will have wonderful memories of the visit with them! 

We had a wonderful visit. I only wish we could've visited more people and done/seen more things- but... we will take what we can get! I also wish with all my heart I was able to have made it out to Andrea's wedding today, and her brother also a good friend and his wife got sealed yesterday. So bummed. I love them and I hope they know that! Pictures to follow!

I have a lot to catch up on and don't worry I will. We've been to the beach and to UT and some other things... so not to leave you hanging- but I'll be writing soon.

May Destin, FL Trip with friends

I'm backdating this... I wrote down a couple things so I wouldn't' forget. I don't want to bore you with details, over all the beach was wonderful as expected. We have really come to LOVE Destin, FL. The Gulf of Mexico side really is my preference when it comes to the FL beaches. The water is warm, clear, clean (although a lot more stuff in it this year than in years past) and the beach is just really nice.

• traveling with a potty trained child has proven a new challenge. Because when they say they need to go, they need to go NOW! A 6 hour drive isn't always condusive to that esp when you're caravaning. We had some funny experiences with that, and that is all I will say. 
• We had a lot of fun playing at the beach. We even burried Geoffy and made sandcastles. We had A LOT of cool beach toys this time. 
• Got sunburnt... even with SPF50 applied several times.
• On the way there... let's just say that Mapquest (I think) was not my favorite GPS system. SMALL ROADS IN RURAL ALABAMA ARE NOT ALWAYS FUN. (no offense) In addition the Love Bugs were O.O.C. (out of control) and literally sounded like rain on the windshield as we were driving these small, rural Alabama roads!
• This year there we some extra visitors to the beach; a school of stingrays and a SMALL shark, oh and some blue little jelly fish. I missed the shark but got to see the stingrays. *No one was hurt. 
• Ben watched Land Before Time with us and he loved it and it brought back memories for all of us. That was one of my fav's as a kid!
• Ashley celebrated her birthday while we were there! It's her last year in her 20's! hehe
• Ben and Savannah bonded. He told us she was his girlfriend, and she had her first trip to the beach!
• We swam in the pool some. We did an evening swim one night (while Ben and Ryan slept) and Jacob showed us his best "beached whale" impression. He also showed us how he could swim from one end of the pool to the other I think like 3 times (whoa) and then said "that's the way the whales do it!" Hey Ashley "I gotta get the ear out of my water"! hahahaha
• Me, Ashley and Jen went shopping at the awesome outlet malls. That was fun.
• Ryan made DELICIOUS Teriyaki Pineapple Turkey burgers. They were amazing. That is all.
• The last night we were there, we found a restaurant with in walking distance called Kenny Dee's and ate dinner there. It was fun! Pretty sunset, good food

Kenny Dee's

Happy Birthday Ash!

Clint's always gotta make a face at me. But truth be known, he loves me.

Mmmm, turkey burglers. Yes. Burglers.

tee-hee! so cute!

 

Pooling it up.

playing in the sand!

Look at that water! Not even color-corrected.

Sunburn Evidence! I sat under the umbrella a lot.

 

Saying goodbye to the ocean before heading home!

Yes folks, my child enjoys Dill Pickle potato chips! Yes!

On our drive home. I just love these old buildings in the small old towns in the South.

The drive home was non-eventful, except for that time I ran over a plastic gas can... unavoidable. Luckily it did no damage. It was a very fun trip! I love the beach. Ben loved it a lot more this time. 

(P.S.- sometimes Blogger sucks.)

Isn't it sad, how things/people seem suddenly MORE important or significant to you when there is tragedy in your or someone else's life? I just read a story on CNN (and watched the video) of a father doing a press conference notifying the media that his 3 year old son that went missing in the tornadoes in Oklahoma was found this morning, not alive. My heart sank to my stomach, he was Benny's age. I can't even imagine the heartbreak those poor parents are going through. Not only did they lose him, they lost their 15 month old son too. The poor mother is pregnant and in the hospital as well as their oldest daughter.
I go through life, with the motions every day. I'm a grumpy bear a lot. I'm tired from working and traffic and I get annoyed really easy. I get more annoyed and frustrated than I should... and I think it's my own fault. I forget to stop folding laundry or washing dishes and just sit and enjoy and love on and hug my boy. I forget to laugh and loosen up a little. I sometimes don't allow myself to stop and read him a book because it's an "inconvenient time" and because I'm busy. Laundry will get done. So will the dishes. But he's only going to be 3 for a little while, and pretty soon will be a teenager who doesn't want me to pay him ANY attention.
After I lost my sister, I realize just how fragile life is- and how at ANY minute, someone can be taken from you. I don't want to have to "remind" myself of these things- but I guess it's good to have reminders. I love my husband. I love my little boy. I love our family and would be so sad with out any one of them. So here's my reminder. Take a mine to LOVE. LAUGH. BE HAPPY. As mom would say "Put a smile on your face and a melody in your heart!"  And... get over it. :)

Ben update

I haven't done a Benny post lately. There are just so many things that he's been doing or saying lately that are hilarious and it's hard to keep up with it all!
-Lately, he's had this thing with Alligators. Supposedly they're scaring him. Early this morning (4am) he came in to our room crying. I got up to see what the problem was and ask him what was wrong and he held on to me so tight and said "I scared myself!" hahaha, not sure what he meant I asked him if he was scared of something and he mentioned an Alligator... and then a mouse? I don't know. He might've had a bad dream or something, but he also has a stuffed animal that happens to be an Alligator we got from IKEA and he's been sleeping with it in his bed lately. So took that out of his bed and he crawled in and went RIGHT back to sleep...random! He's also mentioned being scared to go poop in the potty because of the Alligators... again, random!
-He loves to shove food in his mouth lately. Like he has to hurry and eat it. I don't know why he's started doing that, but I guess that's pretty typical.
-Whenever anyone passes gas... or as we say "farts" he says "EWWWWW! Roll da window down!" even if we're in the house!

-He's really been in to playing outdoors which is great probably because it's getting warmer. I welcome it whole heartily. He's been enjoying drawing with chalk and blowing bubbles a lot, and especially when I can blow him REALLY big ones. He's helped me plant some of our plants we've put in the yard. We even bought a little seed kit thing from the store that had pumpkin seeds in it that you start and then eventually plant in the garden. The seedlings grew REALLY fast and he loved watching them grow everyday on the window sill in the front room. Then after about a week or so we went and planted them in the yard and I let him do that part. He has also as of late been enjoying throwing and catching the "bisbee" (frisbee), mostly with Daddy. Ryan taught him how to hold his hands up to catch it, and he does a really good job! He's got a pretty good arm on him too, I've mentioned this before. I hope to get him in to some activity like soccer or something soon.

This was him throwing to Poppy

-Whenever we ask if he need to use the restroom he'll say "I just went pee" or "I just went poop"... even though most of the time he hasn't. It's the "I just..." part that gets me!
-we were all cuddling on our bed just now and he likes to rub our backs when we're tired just like we do his. And so I said "Benny, rub my back please" and so he rubbed it for just a second and said "enough?" and I said "no" and so he did it a little longer "that good?" me: "no, more please" so he continued to do it "enough?"... it went on for some time and it was adorable.
-He’s taken to talking back… something that I want to get in check REAL fast, because that’s not going to fly in my home.

-He loves to dance to music. And he’s starting to remember lines from movies. He was playing with his Buzz Lightyear doll the other morning and he was quoting the part with Buzz's dad saying "FATHER!!!!" in a quiet little voice!
- there's a Christmas CD I made years ago in the car. And he said "ooooh Mommy, I like that CD can I have it?" and I said "no... it's mommy's. It's our Christmas music" and he said "mommy. We go see Santa at the church. You have to get your Church clothes on Mommy. We go to Church and see Santa and sit with him."
-If he likes something he wants or thinks looks nice he'll tell you. He's good at giving compliments. He even opens the door for me at his school! He's said to me "I like your haircut mommy!" or "I like your dress mommy, it's like a princess!"
-after I've gotten mad at him or he knows he's not my favorite person, he'll come to me and say "I love you mommy" and then puckers up and kisses me. He loves to kiss and grabs our cheeks. Daddy mostly appreciates kisses on the cheek or nose, but every once in a while Ben really wants to kiss lips! It's pretty funny to watch them. He's learning the art of manipulation with the whole loving mommy when she's mad thing though! I'm on to you kid..... hehe
-I've mentioned before he's really sensitive, but sensitive to people's moods and emotions. The other night I was kind of sad/upset about something, and we were sitting on my bed and he said "mommy, what's the matter?" and I told him I was sad and he said "it's okay Mommy. Don't be sad. I love you." He always wants to make people's hearts happy and faces happy by fixing whatever is wrong. I hope he stays that way!
-When we ask him what he wants to be when he grows up he says "BIGGER!"
-I think he's starting to shy away from naps. Sad day. He hasn't been sleeping well lately, I wonder if it's a growth spurt or if it's simply that he's having dreams now... possibly scary ones. 

-He's still pretty skinny. He's pretty finicky when it comes to food. He'll only eat veggies as long as they're baby food veggies. He's gotten taller... but he's still fitting in to his shorts he wore last summer. But I don't think that's going to last much longer.
-he's starting to be a little more precocious now. He's never been one to get in to things or to climb... and now all of a sudden he is. He still stays out of places where he knows he shouldn't be- but he's figuring out that if he pushes the stool to the counter in the kitchen that he can reach things we don't want him to have. Or that he can climb up the changing table in his room to turn the light on and off. Things like that.
-he still loves bath time and could sit and play in there for an hour if we let him. I can't wait to get him to the pool this summer.
-He's been doing some silly faces in pictures lately. Little Kung Fu moves and stuff.

I guess that's it for now. I'm sure y'all get bored of hearing all these silly details. Or if any of you that are around him enough think of anything else I need to add, message it!