Halloween 2010 Part One

Nothing says country like the annual Prarie County Rice Festival in Hazen, Arkansas (Jenny's dad is the pastor of First Baptist, Hazen). Tractor parades, funnel cakes, corn dogs and fried oreos. It's about the only time you actually see who lives in the town...I guess the rest of the time they're tuning up their tractors and harvesting their rice.

Small town life at its finest.

Ben waving at one of what must have been forty John Deere Tractors.

He loved meeting Smokey the Bear.

Later that evening, we got him all dressed-up for their church's annual Trunk or Treat. I love this pic. Carseat, bunnies, friendsley (what he calls his blanket) and his Elmo costume. Classic.

Ready to head into the action...

Jenny's sister dresses up as a Queen Bee, and her dogs as little worker bees. Yes, they stay in their "Hive" while she pushes them around. It's really a sight.

Ben's friend Noble. Jenny's parents have been friends with his grandparents for ages. Jenny and his mom, Jennifer were best friends for years. Did I mention Jennifer and I dated for a while? Small world, huh?

And Elmo with his girlfriend, Sophie. Sophie's grandmother is one of Ben's Grandmother's close friends in Hazen...and whenever Ben is there for a day or two, he has at least one date with Sophie.
Ben with his Pippi...Wilma Flintstone. The pic doesn't do their car justice...the wind had altered it a bit by this point. It was really cute.

Love that face.

We're about to head out for round two with some friends here in Conway. More pics later!

A Great Find...

So there is a children's consignment store in Jonesboro where we have been able to find some really great buys through the past couple of years.

Consignment gets tricky as little boys get older...their clothes look more worn and tattered, and your selection drops. When he was 6 months to a year, we could often find clothes still with the tag on - and from places like Janie and Jack and brands like Bailey Boys and E. Land.

Yesterday - while I was on my lunch break (we were in town for the Baptist state convention annual mtg) we popped in to see if they had any maternity items Jenny liked.

We browsed the clothes, with nothing for Jenny or for Ben. Then Jenny walked over to a round rack of coats. And we found Ben a mid-thigh length Kenneth Cole brown suede coat. Cutest thing ever. For 20 bucks. We tried it on him and he didn't want to take it off.

They also have a play area for the little tots to entertain themselves. We went in there to check on Ben when we hit the mother load.

The owner has a close friend who had purchased this set-up for around 750.00 from a boutique in town. She no longer needed it, and it wasn't selling in the shop because no one knew what it was...customers would see a "used" stroller and car seat for 249.00 and think, "Well I can get a new one in Wal Mart for that..."

Not these parents...we knew exactly what it was. If you're not familiar with strollers, let's just say Benjamin's set-up was like a fully-loaded Chevy suburban, and this is the Range Rover. Now, there are still others - I'll refer to those as the Aston Martin and Maserati of strollers - but this is a GREAT stroller and car seat set.

AND they had a second base for the car seat.

AND the owner had just marked-down the whole system from 249.00 to 200.00.

And Jenny loved the black with white polka dots, so we're in business.

I put it on hold, told them I would be back after 4 PM, and called my mom to tell her she had just bought Luke a present.

We had the dogs with us this trip, so we couldn't bring it home. It's safely wrapped and waiting in my parents' attic.

We're going to sell our Combi system (it also has two bases) on eBay, so if you're interested, hit me up. It's really cute and worked great for Ben, but we just couldn't pass this one up.

Twenty weeks tomorrow with our next OB appointment at 10 am. We'll pass on news if there is any.

Happy Wednesday.

October 15

October 15 is Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance Day. It's a special day to commemorate the blessings that God gives - and takes away - in so many lives.



Jenny and I lost a baby somewhere between 9 and 10 weeks in May of 2007. It was an incredibly difficult time for us - but our family and our faith got us through.



One of my closest friends from high school - Shelly - had a full-term stillbirth a few years ago.



And so many of you know the Rowe Family's story from the past 14 months. This year - as a tribute to Reese - the girls (Hillary, Suzanne, Jenny, Laura and Sarah) purchased shirts to honor her precious legacy and commemorate this special day. I think it is amazing - and just like God - to bring this day to light this year through Katie on her birthday, no less.

The front of the shirt - Reese Catherine Rowe.

The back of the shirt.

Eighteen weeks and 1 day.

Each month our church has a morning event for preschoolers and their families. This morning we went for our October Event - a trip to the pumpkin patch in Greenbrier. By this point, Jenny had taken off her white t-shirt, and it's a good thing. The absence of rain created one of the most dusty and dirty days I have seen in a while. We were covered in dust and grit by the time we left.

Mommy and Ben

Ben and some other kids petting a calf.


Ben kissing what might best be described as the world's most patient goat.

This is Howard. We love him.

Benjamin and Jenny went around and picked some large pumpkins to set around the children's wing at church.

Heading to the car with a load of pumpkins. Some more loud than others.

Thanks to Shanna - our former preschool minister - for continuing to lead this ministry to area children and families. It's a great outreach, and I'm so thankful for her and her heart for young families.

The Verdict Is In...

Weekend Fun

October is going to be a busy month, so I knew if we were going to have a weekend that was all about Benjamin, it was going to have to be this weekend.

We started off Friday with a trip to his Ear Doc. Not the kind of "All About Benjamin" he was planing, I'm sure. But the news was good. Tubes still in place, ear still looks good. The doctor is hoping the tubes will stay in place through this winter, so that's what we are praying for.

After the doctor, we met some friends at the zoo. This is the only halfway-decent picture we took of him simply because he never stopped moving.



Saturday morning, Ben donned his new shirt and we headed off to the pumpkin Patch in Mayflower.



Within minutes of arriving, he picked out the one he wanted...



He's holding the stem and yelling, HELP!



And while I just continued to take his picture he decided to take matters into his own hands.


A little bit later, he and his Poppa discovered the slides out back...

And then he found the baby goats. His Pippi almost went home with a potbellied pig.

Beautiful Day. Beautiful Boy. Beautiful Family.