So I Don't Forget...

Just a few things I've made sure to write down lately so I won't ever forget...these times are so sweet and I love our days together :)

The other day as I walked down the hall to pick Ben up at school, he sees me coming and shouts, "Mommy! There's my mommy! I SEE MY MOMMY!"  He had the biggest grin ever, and so did I.  Lately, all his papers that come home have his name on them (practicing for Kindergarten), and every time, close to his name, he has written MOM.  I love it that he is thinking about me at school!

We just turned Ben's carseat around to be forward facing. 
Here he is on his first ride, hanging on!  It was SUPER cute and fun!

"Anna Speak"  Anna has a precious way of talking, and I understand 99% of it.  To others, it requires translation, though.  Some of my favorites:

"Dit me downy here! Me weally weally tuck!!"
Translation:  Get me down from here!  I'm really, really stuck!

When Ben is hurt, mad, crying, etc: "torry, beebee. ah you otay?"  (Sorry, Ben.  Are you OK?)

When she doesn't recognize a sound: "dat noise , mommy?!!"

"Me what middie mose cub hose!"
Translation:  I (want to) watch Mickey Mouse Clubhouse!


Anna is such a sweet little girl.  She noticed once I had a Band-Aid on my foot and came crawling over on hands and knees to kiss my "boo boo".  She comes to find me whenever she has a poopy diaper, and when I pick her up, she always lays her head on my shoulder so sweetly that I hardly even mind changing it!  Just like this...except Uncle Tom is definitely not going to change a dirty diaper!!

Anna just made Uncle Tom's day!

Anna's eyes have been changing in the past year...they are getting a litle more hazel, and look a beautiful gray color most days, depending on what she's wearing!

My sweet peas...I love to hear them running wild around the house, giggling at each other, playing chase, so happy....sometimes ;)

New Christmas PJs

At the end of the day when it's bedtime, these two seem to unite against Mommy and Daddy to drag the routine out as long as possible! 

Ben's routine is we sit in his chair and if it's Daddy, Ben gets stories; if it's Mommy, he gets songs.  Usually these:  1. Twinkle Twinkle, 2.  Itsy Bitsy Spider, 3. the "friend song" (Silver and Gold from my Girl Scout days, ha ha!!), 4.  I love you, 5.  Jingle Bells.  I occasionally get asked for The Fan Song, a song that Daddy made up for him about air conditioning units (the latest obsession - we must count them everywhere we go!).  Then it's prayers and in bed.

For Anna, Mommy usually puts her to bed.  We hold her blankie and all her "friends" (Bunny, Bert, Minnie and Mickey, and hopefully no one else, ha!) and sing a little song.  Recently, she got the idea that mom takes requests ;)  So, she has started wanting the Mickey Mouse song every night (from TV Cartoons).  Every now and then (when she doesn't want to go to bed yet) she will ask for the Poo Poo song, doo doo song, poopy pee pee song or something similar.  Thanks to Dad for teaching them that one - ha!!  I just tell her I don't know that song!!

Then it's to bed, and we get up and do it all again at 7:00 the next morning.  Puzzles and more puzzles for Anna; marble runs and tinker toys for Ben.  Fun times with my babies that I never want to forget :)

Busy Day!

Fun times yesterday...crafts for Valentine's Day, homemade pizzas for lunch, and we must have worked 5 puzzles!  Now, what's left for our snow day today since school is cancelled??!  HA!

Thanksgiving 2013

We got crafty this Thanksgiving and made a turkey wreath for the door.  Ben named him "Tom" after Uncle Tom.  Not saying Uncle Tom's a turkey, or anything....ha, ha!!

We managed to get a pretty decent picture with the grandparents!

And, the whole family....I can't believe everyone was looking AND smiling!!

Ben and Anna both had fun things going on at school for Thanksgiving.  Anna had a sweet little special "dinner" in her classroom.  We brought turkey cupcakes to share and it was a huge mess.  Maybe we'll try that again in a few years :)

 

 

Ben's class and the other four year old class came together as the Pilgrims and Indians and shared a HUGE Thanksgiving dinner, "catered" by the parents.  He wore a cool Indian shirt he made in class with his name "Chief Bird Tracks" on the front.

One cold Saturday, I thought Ben would enjoying going to see his first movie in a theater.  So, we went to "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2".  Although Ben had fun, I wouldn't call it a complete success.  Despite my best efforts, his popcorn and kiddie size candy, plus a piece or two of mine, was gone 10 minutes into the movie (darn previews took 20 minutes!!).  After that, he wanted more - of course, I said no.  After that, he was pretty much ready to go.  The movie was not even half over!  We were at Reel to Real, the discount movie theater (ha!), and about that time, the movie skipped and the sound no longer matched the picture.  When it became clear they were not going to fix it (not suprised), I decided to call it quits!  Maybe we'll try again in a few months, hopefully we can hit a movie that will keep his attention :)

Mommy and Ben at the movies!

Our first big snow of the season was in November.  Ben and Anna had a ball!

Suited up to swing!!  Brrrrrr!!!

Fall 2013: Part 2

More Fall Fun!

We took a trip to the Knoxville Zoo on warm Sunday in October.  It was Anna's first trip ever!  And, Ben hadn't been since he was 2, so it was really fun to see how excited they were.  The highlight was getting to feed a giraffe! 

 

 

Anna didn't know what to think about the elephants....they're pretty big!

Ben was all about the petting zoo, but Daddy had to give Anna a little extra support to pet the goats :)

Yee ha!

We also had our annual family reunion "Sumner/Caldwell".  Ben had a BALL playing with cousins Hank and Tyler.

 

Halloween was super fun this year....Ben had the coolest astronaut costume, and Anna was a precious little lady bug.

Trick or Treating in Lake Ridge neighborhood with all our little friends...

 

 

Fall 2013: Part 1

Noteworthy happenings this fall....

Ben played his first team sport!  Number 11 on the soccer field:

Fun times watching Chandler's football games...

 

 

Of course, Fall wouldn't be complete without a trip to Fender's Farm!

 

 

 

Mimi came to visit ~ always a fun time :)

And Anna took a pony ride at a fun birthday party!

 

School Pics ~ 2013

I love school picture time!  Here are my babies, getting bigger and cuter every day!

Ben, Age 4

Anna, Age 2

 Melts my heart!!

Take 2: Anna's 2nd Birthday

Well, I'm not sure what happened with that last post - all pictures, no words! I guess that's what happens when tired Mama is working on the blog at 11:30 p.m. :). Oh well! Here are a few words to go with those birthday party pics!

Anna had an Elmo birthday party this year.  Elmo is her favorite these days...even more than baby dolls.  So to greet her guests, we made this Big Bird to stand by the door, welcoming everyone in.   

Other random Sesame Street props:

Her favorite ~ Elmo balloon wreath. She would point to Elmo and say "Anna", then point to Cookie Monster and say "Ben".  I don't have a clue why, but she pointed to it and smiled a lot, so that made me happy!

Giant Elmo / chevron birthday cake.  I loved the little lamp post on the side.  I wish I could say I made it, but I did not ;)

 

Our baby is TWO!

These brownie pops were Anna's favorite, even more than the cake.  I must have found ten of these, randomly scattered around after the party with the icing licked off, brownie still intact.  Culprit:  Anna Banana.

I had the best time making these favor buckets.  After the party, everybody picked their favorite Sesame Street character and filled their pails with goodies from the buffet ~ bouncy balls, Gold Fish, pinwheels, silly straws....you would have thought they won the lottery, ha!

Down in the basement is where all the fun was to be had....Abby's Dress-Up station was a hit, even with the boys!

We also made a Cookie you could feed cookies, and Oscar's Tattoo Parlor.  Anna and Ben had at LEAST eight Sesame Street character tattoos on their arms when it was all over!

Cake time!

Somebody had a great day!

The whole gang! (Almost....impossible to wrangle every single toddler, ha!)

We love our Anna Boo so much....there are just no words for how precious she is to us!  Happy Birthday, Baby Girl!!