Cuteness in Abundance

Benny and Claire have a love/hate relationship.  They can fight like crazy.  Truly...it drives this mommy nuts.  On the contrary, they can play so well together and be so sweet.  Today was one of those days where they were just preciously wonderful.  I prefer to remember the lovely...

Today Benny worked diligently designing these cars that he got for Christmas.  He was quite proud.  I'd say Santa made a good dollar bin find...

Benny created a parking garage complete with a ramp to drive the cars to the top.  In addition, there was an ENTER and EXIT sign he taped to each side.  Claire was only slightly sad that the architectural design involved using one of her favorite board books :(

Claire enjoys 'playing' the piano.  Before she starts to 'play,' she gets a hymnal down from the book shelf.  Gotta have a proper music score, right?  Today, she was playing away singing "holy, holy, holy, mercy, holy, holy, holy, mercy."  The Claire version of "Holy, Holy, Holy Lord God Almighty."

The book nook.  They hang out in the corner of the living room and look at books :)

Another favorite Benny + Claire activity...Playing in my bed...  The bed can be a cave, the ocean, a cocoon.  Truly, the imaginative possibilities are endless.  Then, if that gets boring, you can take the pillows out of the pillow cases and have sack races.  P.S. I have officially given up on ever having my bed made.

Tonight we took down our Christmas tree.  This is usually a somewhat sad event.  But, tonight the kids were rocking it out to the Pandora oldies station.  I think it was the most fun Christmas un-decorating I have ever experienced.

In sum, I *heart* my two cuties :)

Gobble, Gobble

Thanksgiving 2015 was a success!  A trip to Lindy and Stevie's house on a warm November day.  When I was putting Benny to bed tonight, I asked him what was his favorite part of the day.  He said giving the chickens apples to eat.  He said is was their "Thanksgiving day dessert."  That kid loves his chickens!

Fun in the haymow with Stevie.

Claire loves coffee.  I wish I was kidding....

The obligatory post-Thanksgiving Day dinner nap...

Benny's Boo Boo

Snipes and snails and puppy dog tails, that's what little boys are made of...  And the inevitable trip to the ER...

It was bound to happen at some point.  Thankfully, nothing too serious.  A cut under his chin requiring 6 stitches.  How did it happen?  Truly not a great story.  He was brushing his teeth, fell off his stool, and hit his chin on the counter top.

He was such a good boy about getting the stitches.  He didn't move a muscle.  I was holding him and told him to close his eyes.  He was honestly so still, I thought he might have fallen asleep.  (The advantage of getting your stitches at midnight...)

We made this video for our friends who wanted to see Benny's boo-boo.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AIxFwu67dfE

He got the stitches out yesterday.  Benny is all better!

Cousin Fun

Benny is at that wonderful age where having other kids to play with is TOTALLY AWESOME!  We are blessed that Benny has the best cousins in the world :)  Back in June, Caleb, his Mommy, and baby sister came into town.  Caleb + Benny = quite the dynamic duo.  My two favorite memories from the weekend:

1) Benny yelling from the bathroom---"Grammie, you need to come wipe Caleb!  He pooped!  He needs wiped!  I couldn't get it.  I tried."

2) Both of them running around the yard with their underwear on.  Benny might have been chasing after Caleb with the garden hose while poor Caleb was left in very soggy tighty-whities :)

One fun event while Caleb was in town was a trip to Kiddie Park.

Claire loved the rides too :)

Best. Picture. Ever.

At some point over the weekend, we climbed into Captain Al's fancy red race car.  KA-CHOW!

Claire was delighted with sweet Miss Katrina.

Grampie had a well manicured lawn :)

True cousin love is best expressed by sharing a popsicle...

and McDonald's french fries.

Sherwood Ohio

Two weeks ago, the kids and I set out by ourselves to visit Uncle Eric, Aunt Katie, Clay, and Alethea in their new home in the great metropolis of Sherwood Ohio.  By metropolis, I mean that they live next to their church and a family that owns a llama!  The biggest excitement on our 3 day stay was when some tractors and farm equipment drove by and when we went to the McDonald's playplace (we had to drive about 12 miles to get there, but it was well worth the trip.)

Sherwood Ohio might not make the top 10 list of most popular destinations, but it does in my book.  My kids and I had a great time.  4 kids ages 3 and under make for lots of fun :)  The best part?  My children slept.  Yes.  All night.  My children are notorious for sleeping downright terrible when we are away from home.  But not this time.  The farm-fresh air lulled them right to sleep.

I consider Sherwood Ohio the ultimate vacation destination!  We are going to have to go back sometime soon.  The next time Aunt Katie and I are going to take the 4 kids with us to the Bar.  That's right.  Sherwood Ohio is proud owner of the Dairy Bar :)

Could they get any cuter!?

A Summer Stroll

I'm convinced that I'm not biased.  She is adorable.  She spent the afternoon chasing Daddy and Benny around while they mowed the grass :)

https://youtu.be/D2ON3xGJ24w

Go Little Lady!

This past week, Claire loves to push this cart around.  She laps our kitchen/dining room/living room area over and over again.  Someone just needs to teach her how to steer :)

http://youtu.be/zqmz5S0xFnA

Easter 2015

I love music on Easter Sunday.  Terrific brass, organ, and choir music to celebrate the triumph of Jesus over death!  (Although, its probably the only Sunday a year that I feel stressed about church.)  Nevertheless, what a privilege I have to play music to praise our great God!  We had a wonderful family time too.  Here are pics to remember the fun :)

A chilly but sunny day for the community Easter egg hunt.

Chillin' with the Bunny

He's a big kid now.

Brooke wore this dress to our wedding nearly 10 years ago!  

Happy 85th Birthday Nana!

Here is our 3rd annual Happy Birthday Nana photo!  Here is just an abbreviated list of the reasons we love Nana:

1) She makes awesome pancakes and sausage---even made into the shape of Franklin!
2) She always has cookies!
3) Most of the time she has a bowl of chocolate candies in her kitchen.
4) Benny is really good at saying 'please.'  Thus, Nana is more than happy to give Benny above mentioned cookies and candy :)
5) At age 85, she still gets down on the floor to play with Benny and Claire.  (I hope I can do that when I'm 85...)

The list could go on and on...  Really, what's not to love about our sweet Nana!  Just yesterday, Benny got all of our sprinkles out.  I asked him what he was planning to do with all those sprinkles.  His reply?  "I'm going to go bake cookies with Nana."  Obviously.

This year features Benny spreading Birthday cheer!

http://youtu.be/CNA37y3RZK4

Mama's Little Cupcake

Today Claire Capri turned 1 year old!  She is certainly sweeter than sugar.  We had a 'cupcake' party for her to celebrate the big day!

My cupcake creation.  When I made this, I felt like I was on an episode of DC Cupcake!

Claire shares a birthday with this lovely girl.  Today Callie turned 9.  It was a combo cupcake/mermaid party.

Let me see here...

Not too bad...

Why does my mommy make me eat raisins, bananas, and green beans when we could be eating cupcakes instead?

My brother assisted with opening gifts...

Benny also assisted with toy operations...

Stevie and Lindy made it!

I'm only slightly biased, but this little lady is wonderful!  I'm blessed to be her mommy!

Fun Claire facts on her first birthday:

1) She still only has 2 teeth.

2) Crawling all over the place.  She will pull herself up, but gets scared and quickly cries for someone to come save her.

3) She talks!  I've caught her saying a variety of words including all done, hi, banana, and water.

4) She is getting more opinionated.  If Benny has something she wants, she'll put up a fight for it!  Likewise, he goes out of his way to keep Claire away from his things.  Sibling quarrels have begun!

Christmas 2014

The month of December never fails to be quite busy!  But, we managed to have a pretty grand time celebrating Jesus' birthday :)

Kevin's work has a breakfast with Santa each year.  Thankfully, both kids liked him.  No tears from these two!

Benny's big request from Santa for this year was a new Mickey shirt.  Benny wore it for 3 days straight.  I'm not kidding.  He wouldn't take it off.  He was thrilled :)

Christmas morning snuggles with Mommy.

Christmas morning snuggles with Daddy.

Trying out the new hat and tasting a candy cane :)

Claire got a new doll.

Benny got a new BMW.

Christmas day was at Nana and Papa's house.  Marian and John's family came with Buddy.  Benny and Claire adore this doggie!