Lessons Learned...

Jenny has been away this weekend with friend a visiting friend b. I don't know how she has managed...Benjamin was with his grandparents on Thursday night, then Jenny left Friday before he came home. I mean, I know how she does it...camp every summer is three nights, so I've been through it. Still, she's the mom. So I'm not sure exactly how she's managing it.

So Benjamin and I have spent some quality time together. He's done really well for the most part. Still, there have been, shall we say, some teachable moments for me the past 36 hours.

1. When you "meet halfway" to pick up the child and you discover his two current movies of choice were left at the grandparents' house, you travel the rest of the way and get them. Especially when it's 20 miles away. That or you suck it up and head to wal-mart for a spare.

2. When the grandmother sends home the remnants of a bag of hostess powdered donuts, hide them from the child's view. He'll find them and be covered in white powder while you stop at Lowes, convincing other shoppers that his father must have had a drywall incident at some point in the recent past.

3. It's good to take the time to stop and smell the roses. Just remember that when you take the time to stop and sit on a riding lawnmower at the hardware store, you better have the time to sit on the other sixty that are lined up...that's just the way it is.

4. One will receive far less in the way of wayward glances from the morning crowd at shipley donuts if they will only choose to do a load of laundry rather than sending the child to bed in reindeer pajamas a week before Easter.

5. When playing the role of single parent, multiple doses of morning coffee are advisable.

6. Not all outdoor water features are designed with minimal overspray in mind. Case in point, Pleasant Ridge Town Center immediately outside Hallmark. Wet clothes on a very blustery day for a happy child do not make.

7. Purchasing Easter Cards for extended family members should always be done in the grocery store, no matter how overpriced and ill-worded they may be. A two year-old in a Hallmark store filled with bunnies, eggs, and other treats of the Resurrection Holiday variety makes for quite the spectacle.

8. Beware of imminent tantrums when in a retail department store. Not only is their carpet thin, but there is minimal, if any padding underneath. The backward head slam is apparently much more painful than at home.

9. When olive-skinned, dark-haired men walk out of a department store with a small, redheaded, Cullen-like child who is red-faced and screaming Momma Momma Momma Momma, multiple glances asking "is this an abduction?" will inevitably follow.

10. No matter how much you love the mommy, never tell her that you will gladly take child in search of items to complete his Easter Sunday ensemble a week before said holiday.

11. John Mayer playing in the kitchen makes scrubbing curdled milk from a sippy cup almost tolerable.

12. Our dogs have a great life.

Our Day Trip to Wye Mountain

The weather was beautiful today, and we ran with some friends over to Wye Mountain to take pics of our boys in the daffodils. Nothing like two wild boys in the wildflowers.

Making a Call to a Talent Agency

Think I should make that call?

photo courtesy j bunch photography

A First...And a Letdown

Thursday afternoon, we were preparing to leave for Jonesboro to see my parents. Benjamin had just finished a three+ hour nap, and Jenny and I had taken a short nap ourselves.

Ben was standing at the front door looking out when we heard a familiar sound in the distance...

The Ice Cream Man.

Immediately, Jenny exclaimed, "Ben, It's the Ice Cream Man."

At which point he began repeating, "Ice cream man...Ice cream man!" Though, of course, he had no idea who or what an Ice Cream Man might be.

After a few moments of waving him back and setting off our car alarm to catch his attention, he finally stopped a few houses past ours. Apparently (who knew???) the Ice Cream Insurers of America prohibit trucks from backing up. Safety first! It actually makes perfect sense with little ones trailing after. Still, it was interesting to us.

But I digress.

So, the Ice Cream Man stopped for us, and I ran back inside to grab some money from his Piggy Bank. Shameful, I know. But we never have cash. And I wasn't sure what ice cream is going for these days, so I grabbed a few dollars.

As I grabbed the camera and headed out, I see Benjamin, in his brand new navy keds, holding his Mommy with one hand and his balloon from Franke's Cafeteria in the other hand, walking down our street.

It may have been the cutest thing I have ever seen.

I caught up with them, and the young ice cream man was more than willing to be in our photographs. He even repeatedly "handed" Ben's selection to us to get multiple shots of this first.

We were so excited. Ben was so excited. I think the Ice Cream Man was even excited.

So, imagine the letdown when I turned the camera on last night to find that the CF card was not inserted.

Hopefully, the weather will be nice this week, our Ice Cream Man will return, and we can repeat the process as though it never happened.

Those are the breaks.

How We Party

We celebrated Benjamin's second birthday on Saturday, with a train-themed party for our family and close friends. We used the opening room in our children's building at church, and it made for a great space for our little guy.

Jenny has (seriously) been making things for his party since January. Giant confetti, banners, his outfit, party favor bags, etc. She has outdone herself.

Food table (before the food arrived).

Ben's party hat.

Speaking of outdoing themselves. The cake. Jenny's mom

went above and beyond for this one.

Notice his outfit. They're perfectly matched.

Buckets of M&Ms, Cupcakes to match the train cake...and cookies from

Grammy.

One of our favorite little guys, Spencer.

Yes, he wore his Choo Choo shirt just for Ben.

Ben trying out his party horn.

Helping Mommy blow out the candles.

Orange is his favorite color. Or so we think, since he

calls every color orange.

Apparently Spencer makes a mess when he eats.

So he eats without clothes on!

Checking out the Kek!

For days he has been saying, "Eat Kek! Eat Kek!"

Pointing out (see above) that the front of the

train has a "B" on it.

Hugging our good friend, Lila, after opening her present.

She's an older woman, but he can crush.

I'll admit that I was not the best at taking pics this time. We have a lot, but I didn't wear myself out like I did at his first birthday. I wanted to be able to watch him and visit with people, so I just shot some as I could.

I somehow missed seeing our friend Josh as he climbed into the play tent with the kiddos. For more on that story...read here.

Thanks to everyone who came to celebrate with our little man! If you don't see him out in public for a while, he's playing with his new backyard toys, sitting in his new chair, eating at his new table and chairs, dressing up like a pirate, riding his trike, laughing and dancing with his donald duck that sings "Polly Wally Doodle All the Day," playing with one of two pirate ships, making music with his band in a box, reading books, golfing, trying on new pajamas, or heading to Cupcakes on Kavanaugh for "MORE KEK!"

Changes

March 12, 2008

March 12, 2009

March 12, 2010

Happy Birthday, Benjamin John!

"Yo, Grease..."

Our Kroger has been attacked. All in the name of progress.

They're renovating the next-closest Kroger to us, so our neighbors to the south have moved in for a few months.

It's actually nice to see. The vintage VW van alongside the Rover. "NOBama" neighboring "GOBama." Granola topped with Caviar.

It's all very Lion and the Lamb.

Needless to say, the culture of our Kroger has changed, as I experienced firsthand tonight.

Jenny's sister came over for dinner and Idol, and after we ate, I decided we needed brownies. Nothing fancy...just Duncan Hines. So Ben and I ran up to Kroger. I skipped the carts and baskets because I only needed three items, and he will ONLY ride in the carts with cars attached to them. We ran in, darted down the baking aisle, I grabbed a huge bottle of canola oil (Plus Card price...2.49. Mom, tell Dad to stop forcing you to shop at Wal-Mart...it's not cheaper), a box of brownie mix and some instant frosting, and headed to the front.

As I came nearer to the end of the aisle, passing a family with multiple children in tow, I heard a child exclaim, "Yo Grease. Yo Grease!"

I quickly turned my head from side to side to see who she was yelling at, and more importantly see what someone named Grease must look like.

It was then that I discovered she was looking at me. I was Grease. More precisely, I was leaking grease. Up and down the aisle.

I may have to adopt this as a new nickname. Personalized license plates and all.

Becoming "That" Couple

You've seen them in public.

A few years ago you saw them in various restaurants around Arkadelphia. They were young, fit, happy, and ridiculously in love.

You might have seen them in Montego Bay, one of them perfectly tanned and the other perfectly white and under the protection of an umbrella.

You may have seen them walking their perfect chocolate Lab puppy in their newly-married days.

Some have spotted them unloading a U-haul in front of any number of residences, laughing and smiling as they begin yet another one of life's great adventures.

They might have brushed past you in Target as they scanned hundreds of items for baby on the way, both of them larger. One with an excuse...though both still sickeningly happy and totally in love.

They sat next to you in childbirth class. Surely they must have been the most adorable couple in the room, and clearly were to have the most adorably-perfect baby ever placed on the earth.

You vacationed in the condo beside them while they celebrated their fifth wedding anniversary...and you smiled at such a picture of togetherness and family harmony.

We've been that couple.

Fast-forward two years.

You see them in Wal-Mart. He's snapping at her, she's frantically checking her list, and baby is throwing goldfish.

You shake your head at them again in Home Depot. He's frustrated that the formerly-peaceful run to the hardware store has become a family outing. She's pushing the cart past the how-to magazines and dreaming of a new home with a modern kitchen, while baby is standing in the no-man's land of shopping cart territory, just threatening to fall head-first onto the concrete floor.

They sat next to you in the restaurant today at lunch. They tried to persuade baby to sit on his bottom in the chair. Frustrated and hungry, they contented themselves with baby walking endless circles around the table, bumping repeatedly into stranger after stranger's chairs. They offered every type of food to baby, who insisted rather on slinging his straw in and out of an adult-sized cup, spraying aforementioned strangers with droplets of soda.

Yes, they let their child drink sugar-infused soda. Can't they control their child?

Those parents.

That child.

Yes, my friends. We have become "That" Couple.

Birthday Prep

It's a good thing we'll never have the money to buy Benjamin a brand new car for his birthday...We are so excited over his piddly little party next weekend that I don't think we could handle the excitement...

{(***Sidenote...Jenny and I both have parents who have recently moved into the light. Jenny and I love Hondas...we just can't afford to drive one right now...Pilots are too much, and CR-Vs are too small. Anyway, both of our fathers were what you might call die-hard domestic drivers. In August, after YEARS of fruitless persuasion, dad bought this for my mom...

Today, Jenny's Dad bought this for her mom...

Though our driveway doesn't hold one now, we've had two since we were married. We feel like we should extend both of our parents a "Welcome to the Family." I know Honda owners everywhere share your excitement.)}

Back to the matter at hand...

We are just about to bust a stitch over his party and it's still a week away.

My brother has purchased him a Pirate Boat for the tub...he's been saying Arrrggghhh for six months. I don't know who will be more excited when he opens it...Uncle John or Benjamin.

My parents bought him the pottery barn chair with his name on it. Jenny's parents bought him a table and chairs. Jenny and I bought him a tricycle...it's like big boy present overload.

Speaking of the tricycle...Lois, one of our favorite people at our church...in the world, in fact...asked me last week if we had any ping pong balls for a SS lesson. (A former pastor refers to her as the Holy Spirit...she's that great)

I went up to the youth center, and all of theirs were smashed...go figure. So, last Saturday evening, after nine and a half hours of exhaustion from working the last day of Upward, I headed to West Little Rock to run errands and grab ping pong balls. Let me tell you...Wal-Mart doesn't sell them. Neither does Target. So I ran to Academy. While I was in there, for some reason I walked over to the bicycles and found this...

I was JUST about to order the same one online for seventy dollars. Thanks to Lois and her ping pong balls, I saved FORTY BUCKS. IT WAS THIRTY DOLLARS! The SAME exact Tricycle.

Jenny has sewn a Happy Birthday banner, party hat, hand-sewn treat bags for his few party guests, and of course made his outfit.

We can't wait to show pics next weekend.

It's so hard to believe it has been two years since this precious day in March, 2008.

We love you so much. Happy Early Birthday, Benjamin