A few pics at last, and the latest going on in our lives...

Benjamin in his first (of what I fear will be many) encounter with 

john-johns and knee-highs.

 

Bath time. He's not nearly as fussy 

being bathed now as he was six weeks ago.

Naked Chub-Chub.

Well, we had a nice trip to Jonesboro. It was nice to see all six of the Bunch kids together, even if it was for a funeral. My dad is a twin, there is a set of twins 18 months older than he and his twin, and then there were two single births following. Benjamin is the 23rd great-grandchild, Harrison (see below) was 24, and number 25 was born just in time to have Grandmother's obituary edited on Wednesday. Violet Emerson Matthews was born in Houston to Frederick, the youngest son of JoAnn, my Dad's twin sister. 

Jenny's uncle used to be married to a lady by the name of Libby. She and her uncle went through a divorce years ago, although Libby is still very close with Jenny's side of the family. 

Last year, Dad's youngest brother Lewis married Libby, so now Jenny and I are double first step cousins. How's that for Arkansas. 

And Lewis' youngest daughter Ashley and I are six months apart. Ashley and her new baby Harrison are pictured in an earlier post. The two boys (who were born only hours apart) were together this weekend and it was amazing to note their resemblances. 

Needless to say, we're blessed with a large family, and it was great to see so many cousins and family members this weekend. 

Benjamin enjoyed his time at his Grammy's very, very much. Grammy buys much nicer baby things than what Jenny and I registered for, and he was immensely amused at her new swing. Note to all of you who are planning on having a child in the future. Opt for the baby swing that plugs into the wall. Who would have thought! I think ours was around 140.00 and it still doesn't have that function. In fact, I didn't even know there was such a thing. 

I spent our time in Jonesboro two weeks ago digging out about 24 shrubs that had been placed incorrectly when my parent's house was built. I purchased mom a Dogwood for Mother's Day, and got the beds in order. I thought I was through with my digging, but we purchased a Japanese Maple and I planted that before we left on Saturday. Hopefully this concludes this season's flower bed reformation on Old Dornick Drive. 

Ben has had a busy week, and we're looking forward to being home this weekend. We'll be headed back to Jonesboro in two weeks to see my niece, Abby Lynn, turn 4, and we're looking forward to attending our first ever Little Mermaid themed birthday party. 

Heading to Jonesboro

Well, we had been planning to head back to Jonesboro this weekend, we just didn't plan on a funeral being part of the trip.

My grandmother passed away early Tuesday morning. She had been in a nursing home for over 4 years, and had really gone down over the past couple of weeks.

She died with my grandfather next to her. He spent his last hours with her patting her hands and reading to her from the Bible. They would have been married 70 years in May.

I am speaking briefly at her funeral on Friday...sharing our good fortune to have had her on this earth for 88 years, and of course, incorporating some of her more quirky characteristics into the mix...including, but not limited to, always freezing half of a cake in case company stopped in, selling every known brand of door to door cosmetics, and her knack for perfect mashed potatoes and homemade hushpuppies.

More pics of Ben soon, I promise. We're so tired all the time we're not taking as many as we should. But all he does is SLEEP...

TB

Thursday, April 10

It took me three months to save up 80% of the price of the engagement ring. It took me another six months to pay off the balance. 

Followed by another three months to pay off the wedding band that Jenny at first assured me "didn't need diamonds in it..." If only.

It took our neighborhood jeweler less than a minute to saw right through both bands. 

Note to all my female friends and readers out in cyberspace: if your fingers became so swollen at 3 months into your pregnancy that you can no longer wear your wedding ring, one month post-partum is not a sufficient amount of time for your fingers to return to normal size. 

Jenny, as we were getting ready to head to Jonesboro, decided she would see how far she could get her ring on this week. (A process we have been engaged in since returning home from the hospital). Not long after it passed her knuckle, she realized she was in trouble. For the next 10 to 15 minutes we tried butter, windex, olive oil, ice, baby oil, and nothing - absolutely nothing - was going to make this thing budge. 

She started losing feeling in her finger and it was beyond red. In a panic, we called Roberson's Jewelers around the corner from our house. They were closing in five minutes, but they said they would stay open for us. 

Once we got inside, it took less than a minute to cut the ring off...and they didn't charge us anything. The jeweler politely suggested that Jenny wait a bit longer before coming back in to have it fixed...

Only in the Bunch house...

First trip to Grammy's; 1 Month Old

This weekend Benjamin made his first road trip to Jonesboro to stay at his Grammy and Granddad's. 

Grammy took the afternoon off on Friday to spend time with Ben. We went to lunch and were joined by my dad's older brother and his wife, my first cousin Donna (who just became a grandmother...the age differences in this family are insane...) and my dad's younger sister, Jackie. 

Friday night, after I spent several hours digging out my parents front flower beds and planting my mother's Mother's Day present (a dogwood tree) we were invaded. Again, my Dad's brother and his wife (Marty and Kay), my brother and my neice Abby Lynn, my Dad's twin sister JoAnn, and my grandfather (Pa Pa B.) , who is the original John that Benjamin John is named after. 

Pa Pa B. will be 92 on Tuesday, and he was THRILLED to see Ben. Pa Pa lives in a nursing home where my grandmother also lives (their 70th anniversary is coming up in May), but she is really in bad health and isn't able to leave the nursing home. We weren't crazy about Benjamin being in a nursing home at this point, so Pa Pa came to us. 

John Carl Bunch with Benjamin John Bunch

John Carl Bunch, Benjamin John Bunch, Abigail (Abby) Lynn Bunch, 

and Jo Ann Bunch Matthews (Dad's twin) 

Benjamin and Abby Lynn in Jenny's favorite chair at Grammy's. 

The little champ. One month old this weekend. 

4.12.08

Hopefully we will be going up every couple of weekends now that the weather is (hopefully) warming, golf season is picking up, and the pool will be opening the end of May...woo hoo. 

I would really like to get back to working on my golf game...hopefully this summer Dad and I can hack away. 

Just a couple of pics.

We've been trying to keep the little guy awake in the evenings so he sleeps at night, which is really working. 

The only negative thing about the kid is that he apparently loves hearing the birds in the morning. We have some that start chirping around 5 AM and he starts cooing and making noises at the same time. He's just the cutest little guy. Doesn't fuss, doesn't cry, just makes happy noises. 

Here are some pictures of him on his floor mat tonight. 

Latest Events...grab a stiff drink, put your feet up, and read on.

Just wanted to preface the following account of the past few days with the fact that I am unquestionably, undeniably, and unashamedly in love with my new son. 

He's a keeper. 

Asleep on my Shoulder. 

Well, the past few days have been eventful in and around the Bunch household...

Thursday, I came home early to let Jenny take a much-needed nap. After she woke and Benjamin ate, we went out to dinner...Jenny actually got dressed in something other than pj's...

After dinner, we decided to drop in on her mom and dad. After visiting about an hour, the tornado sirens started going off. We heard on the news the storm was in the Hot Springs area and headed for Bryant (where we were...) and so we jumped in the car and took off for home. 

(Now, at this point, it is important to note that...in a series of strange events and situations that could only happen in Jenny's or my family...Jenny's parents recently acquired a mobile home from Jenny's Dad. They will soon be giving the mobile home to her older sister. About 90% of their belongings from their condo in Maumelle are currently in storage, and they are staying in the trailer for the next few weeks, months, who knows..? Purely classic...only in our family, and only in Arkansas)

So - now that you have the above information - you realize the severity of our situation...we were in a 700 square foot trailer in a legitimate trailer park in Central Arkansas...with a tornado heading for us. 

Jenny's mom convinced her dad that it would not be wise to remain in the trailer, so they jumped in the car (thankfully, in Lary's brand new Nissan Titan...) and headed for Wal-Mart...the premier destination for anyone seaking shelter from an approaching storm. 

In the meantime, Jenny and I make it home. We turn on the TV, start noticing how severe this storm is going to be, and Bailey and Annabelle simultaneously head for the bathroom floor...never a good sign. 

Minutes later, the tornado sirens begin...Pulaski county is under a tornado warning. So, we grab Ben...still in his carseat, put him in the hall, close the bedroom and bathroom doors, get the dogs in the hall, Jenny settles in next to Ben, I pack the back cushions from the sofa around his carseat, slide the mattress off the guest bed to sandwich us in, turn the living room TV towards me, grab the remote and the cell phone, and settle in for the duration. 

Not long after, we begin to hear damage reports from Benton/Bryant. A car dealership near highway 5 was badly hit. Hmmh, her mom and Dad are in Wal-Mart...also near highway 5. Then the inevitable report comes in...a trailer park has been hit. Not just any trailer park...of course, the trailer park her parents are calling home at the moment. 

So, we panic. We finally get her mom on the phone, and by this time (still in Wal-Mart) they have received the report that there was a gas main broken and one corner of the park is engulfed in flames. 

Of course, with all the unquestionably reliable people one finds in the middle of a Saline County Wal-Mart at 9:30 PM when a tornado has hit, coupled with the infallible reports of other trailer park dwellers calling into every news station in Central Arkansas, we receive the report that their trailer has, in fact, "blowed up." 

A few hours later her parents arrive at our house...thinking they have lost "everything" (which in fact was only about 10% since the remainder is in storage...). It was sad, nevertheless, but in true Tidball and Bunch fashion, we immediately start laughing uncontrollably at the whole situation. 

While this all transpired, we had a tornado pass less than a mile from our house...right through Cammack Village...and we didn't so much as have one limb fall from our trees. Unfortunately, we did lose our power (and it stayed off for 22 hours). 

After a sleepless night with no noise, no air circulating, and mixed-emotions, we awoke to the report from Jenny's dad that - in the midst of the war zone that Hurricane Lake Mobile Home Park had become, theirs was still standing...virtually unscathed inside and out. Utterly amazing. 

They did lose Jenny's mom's car, however, which is funny in itself because she absolutely hated it! 

So, things started to settle down Friday evening. We all went out with Jenny's aunt and uncle (whose house Debbie and Lary are staying in until the power comes back) for dinner at El Chico's and continued laughing and reliving the whole scene. 

Saturday, I got to spend the whole day with Ben. Jenny and her mom, sister, and her aunt went to the Women of Faith conference at Alltel, and my parents dropped in for a couple of hours to visit their grandson. 

Saturday night we enjoyed the last of our dinners provided by our Sunday School class, and rented a movie. 

So, with all of the chaos that has filled our lives this past week, we have survived, we're gradually getting more and more sleep at nights, Ben's growing, and we head into what we hope will be an uneventful week. 

Right. Uneventful. 

So Long, Old Friend

Well, we said goobye to a dear friend this morning. Elsie, our Expedition, was sold to a nice family in Little Rock.

Elsie is survived by her mother (who named her...I don't understand naming cars at all...), father, one sister - Snowflake the x-Terra - and two dogs.

Always eager to fill her interior to capacity, Elsie carried us on Family vacations to Florida and Chicago, on countless trips from Waco to Little Rock and Jonesboro, to football games in Fayetteville with flags waving from both sides.

Elsie's engine always turned over, her stereo was always static-free, and her climate control system never failed.

We say a fond farewell to Elsie today, wishing her luck in this, her next life, and praying for her continued success on life's highways and byways.

Elsie enjoyed a good bath, and was always

said to have "cleaned-up nicely."

Elsie Bunch...2005 - 2008; 2008 - __?__