Purple Popsicles and Puff Balls

The great thing about little kids?  Its the little things that make them so happy.  This fall Benny fell in love with purple popsicles.  I don't even think he cared all that much about eating them.  He carried most of them around (outside only) until they melted after only taking a few licks.  But, he was just delighted by them.  The other thing he loves?  Puff balls.  The dandelion puffs that everyone hates in your yard?  Hold your weed killer!  Those puff balls are one of Benny's favorite things.  He would ask to go on walks just so he could look for puff balls.  Here is a super sweet picture of my very happy Benny with his puff ball collection after a walk.  I think he just likes saying the words 'purple' and 'puff balls.'

The other things Benny currently loves greatly:
1) Elmo.  I think he would watch the youtube video of Elmo and Halle Berry teaching about the word 'nibble' all day long.
2) You can't have Elmo without Elmo's sidekick Abby.
3) Hiding.  A few days ago Benny woke up from his nap.  The first thing he told me was as follows: "Dada. Hide.  From Mama."  When Daddy gets home from work everyday, they go hide and I have to find them.  His favorite hiding spot?  Under the covers of our bed.
4) The song "The Wheels on the Bus."  We frequently have to sing it during dinner.
5) Bath Color Drops.  I think that is what they are called.  They are these tablets that color the bath water.  Everyday he is so excited to pick out a color for his bath water.
6) "Moo Moo, Neigh Neigh, and Bear!"  His favorite trio of stuffed animals.  He piles them all up and snuggles them.
7) French fries.  The other day I had the following car conversation with Benny.
     Benny: "The M!"
     Me: "Yup.  That's the letter M for McDonalds."
     Benny: "French fries!"
     Me:  "Yes.  They have french fries there."
     Benny: "Mami?"
     Me:  "I know.  Where's Grammie when you need her to take you to get some french fries."
     Once in a while Grammie and Grampie take Benny to lunch at McDonalds.  He likes that.
8) Backhoes.  Anything with the ability to scoop and dump he refers to as a 'backhoe.'  Our friend Adam cultivated the love for the backhoe.  He and his dad have some construction type equipment and we went over to show Benny one day.  He is still talking about that day.  There was an apple tree nearby, and Benny would put apples in the scooper and Adam would lift it up in the air and dump it.  Adam did the same thing with logs/pieces of wood.  Whenever we see a backhoe, an apple, or a piece of wood Benny and I's conversation goes something like this:
     Benny: "Adam!  Backhoe!  Dump!"
     Me: "I know.  Adam likes to scoop and dump the apples with the backhoe."
9) The mail.  This is another thing he looks forward to when Daddy gets home from work.  They get the mail.  Benny makes sure Daddy checks inside and outside.  No mail will be forgotten.
10) Storytime at the library.  He loves all the songs we sing each week.  His very favorite part?  At the end of storytime, all the kids can line up to get a stamp on their hand.  He's gotten very good at saying 'please' and 'thank you' for his stamp.  He always asks Mrs. L (our favorite storytime leader) for 'another one.'  Benny prefers a stamp on each hand.

Benny, don't grow up too fast on your Mommy.  I love that you love the little things in life. :)

Camping 2013

Nearly every year since Kevin and I have been dating/engaged/married, we have went on a fall camping trip with his family.  It is an annual event that I really enjoy.  This year we were able to go with Kevin's parents, grandparents, cousin Cassandra, and Chris, Angie, Faith, and Callie.  It was a gorgeous weekend!

His shirt says "Daddy's Happy Camper."  Faith is the best.oldest.cousin.ever.  She takes such good care of Benny, and Benny absolutely adores her.  On the drive to our cabins, Benny asked for 'Faif' as he calls her at least 1000 times. 

Grammie brought along a game of bocce ball.  We never played bocce ball.  Benny decided that we should all sit at the top of this hill and roll the balls down for a 'race.'

Strolling on the dock with his beloved 'Pampi.'

Glow sticks at dark!

So peaceful.

Aunt Angie still plays a mean ukulele.

An attentive ukulele listener.

Another one of Benny's favorite activities for the weekend....throwing rocks into the lake.

Song time.

The whole camping crew!

Think PINK

Its long time overdue to make it blog-official.   Baby #2's ETA is Jan. 28!  This time, we had a 'gender revealing  party.'  I thought it would be much more fun to find out if its a boy or girl with all of our family members than at the doctor's office.  At our ultrasound, we had them write if it was a boy or girl and put it in a sealed envelope.  I took it to a bakery and gave them the envelope.  They made a 'gender neutral' cake on the outside, but the inside would be either pink or blue.  It was so much fun!  Lots of our family came over.  We had dinner.  Then we cut the cake.  Turns out the inside was pink :)

The cake.  It was very tasty too.

This girl was definitely hoping for a pink cake.

Benny just seemed happy that there were pink and blue balloons to kick around.

Does that belly seem to say 'lets get girly' or 'lets drive a backhoe and get muddy'?

Everyone at the party had to choose to be on 'Team Pink' or 'Team Blue.'

The suspense is building!

Cheers for pink!

Benny got to eat the first bite.

It was decided that we should feed each other a bite, 'wedding style.'  Kevin shoved it into my face.  That's what you get after 8 years of marriage.

I'm sure Kevin will look good with pink bows in his hair and strawberry flavored lip gloss.

The main dilemma with Baby #2 (Kevin and I refer to her as 'Cupcake.'  Benny was 'Pumpkin' pre-birth)....  The website address for my blog is now all wrong.  It should be kevyanniebennyand______.  It was suggested that I should have 2 blogs, one for each of them.  That seems like way too much work.  I guess it will have to remain kevyannieandbenny.  Wasn't thinking ahead on that one.

Baby Clay

In mid-September, we got to fly to Minnesota to meet our newest nephew/cousin, Clay Matthew.  He was born on Sept. 5.  People always say it, but its so true.  He is the cutest, sweetest little guy.  Very sadly, Benny and I were sick for awhile during our visit.  We even spent one afternoon/evening in 'quarantine' so as to let our antibiotics to kick in so we wouldn't get the knew happy family sick.  Despite the illness, we had a great time visiting with family and celebrating Clay's baptism.  Clay's daddy happens to be a wonderful pastor, so it was a truly lovely service.

Here are some pics from the long weekend in Minnesota:

Checking out that sweet baby.

Mommy, Daddy, and godparents

Everyone!

Grammie and Grampie's grandkids

Love for the newly baptized Clay.

We managed to have some time for fun at the park with Cousin Caleb.

The hotel had a pool!  Benny is like his mama.  After a short while, he was shivering and his lips turned blue.  We stuck our feet in the hot tub to warm up.

What a wonderful weekend!  Lucky for us, Clay is bringing his mommy and daddy to come and visit us in early December.  We can't wait!  (Especially Aunt Annie, because I never got to hold the little cutie.  Yucky strep throat!)