Glimpse of her sweetness...

There is just something about little kids singing...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ebMPHssXZz4

Easter Joy!

 This Easter was particularly fun with two cuties who both were excited.

Easter egg coloring with Ella and Luke...

Claire and Luke helping out the bunny...

Our bunny always comes on Saturday.  He knows Mommy is awfully busy on Easter Sunday.  The Bunny selected these awesome sunglasses.

Community egg hunt with the bunny.

Her egg collecting skills have significantly improved this year.

A speedy egg hunter...


Easter Sunday cuties


The family photo.


Post Easter dinner at Lindy and Stevie's house=playing with chickens.



It is sort of hard to see in the photo, but Stevie and the kids made a kite.  Success!


My mom is a twin.  She and her sister celebrate their birthday tomorrow!  Birthday cake for dessert!

Happy Birthday to our Nana!

Happy birthday Nana!  I'm not sure how old our dear Nana is turning today, but she looks and acts to be around 60 I'd say.  Visit her in Florida, and she will still make you fabulous meals and chase her great-grandchildren.  She's a pretty spunky lady.

Below are some of the sorts of pictures you get when you tell Benny to look at the camera and smile:)

I think that this one is perhaps the best :)

Last but not least, here is Benny's 4 year old rendition of "Happy Birthday" for Nana.  We love you Nana!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CieJHt5xR_k&feature=youtu.be

BMW Race Car Party!

Hard to believe my baby turned four!  This little lad has been eagerly waiting for his birthday for the last few weeks.  Here are a few of the day's highlights:

Benny is so well loved.  We needed 2 cakes for his party :)

The cake baker...

Oil and oil filters...Not necessarily the standard party décor but just a few of Benny's favorite things...

Claire was just happy to snuggle baby Alethea.

Benny's beverage choice for the party--Motor Oil.  Aka...chocolate milk.

Benny thought the group was a bit slower to gather to sing and watch him blow out his candle.  He took matters into his own hands:
https://youtu.be/v_LPDmDOQzM

The 'official' happy birthday singing:
https://youtu.be/pn3kG0WW2Dg

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!