Benjamin's new nap routine

Benjamin, for the most part, has always been a great napper! His new routine, however, has been to wake up after his 2-3 hour nap and then come to the living room to lie on someone's chest. It's one of the best feelings in the world! I'm especially glad that he'll even do this with his dadda now!!!

Make new friends, but keep the old...

I LOVE getting to meet up with old friends!!! Aubrey and I met up this past weekend at Mimi's Cafe to meet each other's kiddos and introduce them to each other. The kids did great, considering their age. Ha! Aubrey and I first met our Freshman year in college. We lived a few doors down from each other in the Hump Dump, we spend many all nighters together with our friend Sarah working on interior design projects, and graduated in college together. We even have back to back weddings (mine included a great commentary of the wedding decor featured by Aubrey and Sarah, btw) and our sons were born only weeks apart from each other. I hate that life sometimes causes friends to drift apart, but I alway LOVE getting to catch back up with them!!!

Hot fun in the summertime

Summer days in Arkansas get way too hot! And when you have two active kids that can't swim by themselves, the pool really isn't the best option, so we stay inside most of the time.

Luckily, they LOVE each other (most of the time) and can play well with each other!
This was right after Benjamin's bath...don't you love his 'do?

But you can only stay inside your own home for so long, so today we met Ashley, Davis, and Beth Ann at Chuck E. Cheese's. The kids, of course, had a blast! It's funny how it's different in a parent's eyes, though (worrying about where your child is, making sure you have enough tokens, and then remembering where you put the tokens, etc.)!

"Why is this big 'mou' in the car with me?"

Pretty impressive shot of all 3 of them together! Soon Beth Ann will be able to join in on the group shots.

Benjamin was in bike heaven!

And in "neigh-neigh" heaven!

They found some random gun/shoot 'em up game that we tried to convince them was broken. But they didn't care!

Back on the bus and on their way to school.

Sightseeing on their way to school. ;)

 Since we were at Chuck E. Cheese's at lunch time, we surely couldn't eat lunch there! One because we were out of tokens and didn't want to buy anymore, and two because the kids wanted Chick-fil-A...a Miss Ashley/Momma Dees improved place!

The Atkins left early, so we enjoyed some time still inside with ice cream (a golden way to get them out of the play area!).When we left, ME was already making a game plan for the next time we went to CFA. She said that next time we went there, she wanted to get an ice cream cone. I told her that she did get one, though. But then she reassured me that she JUST wanted to get the cone with "no anything in it". Can't wait to see how that goes!



Visiting Mama Sam

After we left the lake, we headed up to visit Mama Sam and her new place. ME and Benjamin had already been there once when Drew and I were in Mexico, so ME knew exactly where to take us.

As soon as we walked in, ME noticed that she, Drew, and Mama Sam all were wearing pink. So she thought I should take a picture because they match.

ME said that Benjamin and I didn't match them so we couldn't be in their picture. That's fine becuase we took our own picture!

Since ME was already familiar with Mama Sam's apartment, she knew EXACTLY what was in the kitchen drawers. Ha!

Lake Weekend 2011 (Part 2)

"Don't worry! We've got it all under control!"
Benjamin was helping by watching the other boats and saying "Go boat go!"

"Seriously! Let me show you how it's done!" This is where Benjamin was the happiest.

And this is where Davis and ME were the happiest.

We, of course, had to find the Disney Channel for the kids at night....a big change from our college days of listening to music or whatever else! Benjamin just couldn't get close enough to the TV.

Lake Weekend 2011

Drew and I've been going to my friend Ashley's lakehouse since college (actually I've been going there since high school with all of my friends). We, of course, have a blast everytime. It's just funny, though, how the "fun" has completely changed. It's gone from crazy college times to now crazy kids of our very own screaming/crying/scaring us becuase they're about to fall/etc. No matter who's there, there is always fun to be had!

Davis and ME didn't want any part of adult convo, so they got close and shared the DVD player nicely.

All of the kids (Benjamin, Davis, Mary Elizabeth, and Beth Ann)

ME insisted on having pigtails for the boat ride. This was both ME and Benjamin's first boat ride ever...they were grins from ear to ear the entire time on the boat. But once Benjamin got in the water and the life jacket started squishing his face, he really didn't care so much about the water and kept saying "Out! Out!" 

I guess they really wanted Beth Ann to come out and play.

ME is so excited to have another girl to play with.

ME kicked her legs like crazy and grunted/giggled until she realized that the life jacket would hold her up, or even better...her daddy held her!

Davis and ME watching Chopper throw out the anchor.

Cheap Thrills! They really thought they were riding the tube everytime another boat would come by and send waves our way.

"Hit it Benjamin!"

"Don't worry! I've been driving my whole life!"

"Those kids have nothing to worry about."



What could be more fun than lovin' on your daddy? ;)



Shakin' it up at VBS

I got to help with the 3-year-old class at VBS again this year. ME was in the class, which was fun for most of the time until some of the other kids wanted to sit in my lap, too. The theme this year was "Shake it Up" and it was all related to God's recipe for life. I don't know who had more fun...me or ME!

Each day began and ended with an assembly in the Worship Center. The kids loved dancing and singing! Yes, I said dancing at church...something totally new to this Baptist girl!

Each day the kids got to participate in an Art or Science activity. I think ME and Andrew really liked the Science day that they got to make homemade ice cream and eat it!

ME loved shakin' up the ice cream!

They couldn't get enough of it to eat with their spoons, so they eventually put their spoons aside and drank it.

They got to make chef's hats in Art class. ME couldn't wait to use it in her kitchen!

At the end of the week, friends and family were invited to see what went on during the week. LaLa and McKenzie came with me and the kids. McKenzie couldn't stop "shakin' it up" through all of the songs...she is a dancin' machine!

Benjamin spent his time in the nursery while I helped with the 3-year-olds. The nursery helpers said that he was great all week, but he just kept walking around pushing toys while repeatedly saying "Momma". So the last day of VBS, I took him to the closing assembly with me to sing songs with us. I think he enjoyed it waaayyyy more than ME did! He even tried to keep up with McKenzie's booty-shakin' at the family/friends night, too.

As you can see, ME was too cool for the dancing and siging that night. She already did it during the day. Ha! It's funny now, though, because we have to listen to all of the songs on the cd everyday now! I wonder how long we'll have to do that.

A truck!

Dandy pulled out his old Tonka trucks out of the attic when the kids spent the night with them a few nights ago. I can just imagine Benjamin's excitement when he saw them!

I'm sure it was "A truck! A truck! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA (that's squealing high-pitched like a little girl).

Even ME had to get in on the action.

Benjamin is already a pro with these things.

And he still loves to ride on everything, no matter the size!

ME is such a good helper! She helped Dandy wash all the trucks.

Benjamin is finally 21...

months that is! Besides showing off his awesome, sweet dimples constantly, his pesonality has totally come through now.

As I was setting up for Benjamin's monthly "photo shoot", I was so impressed that he just went straight to the corner to sit by the bear and patiently wait for me to get out the blocks. Well, obviously, I was way too impressed and didn't even pay attention to which blocks I pulled out. Did you notice that the blocks spell out 22? Not 21?





Sadly, I didn't catch that until this morning! But Benjamin patienty waited again and struck several poses for me again. Could he be a future model?


• He's completely a fish! And he doesn't understand why I won't let him go in the water at the pool. Sadly, though, he won't let me put floaties on him.
• One of his new favorite phrases to say is "C'mon" while he even cups his arm in the air, motioning for you to go with him (Ex: our first day in the pool this summer, Drew and ME were in the deeper part of the pool, while Benjamin and I were in the shallow part. Benjamin spotted them across the pool, stood up, and yelled "Drew, c'mon!" as he waved his arm at him, too.)
• Drew and Uncle Bebo have been playing softball for our Sunday School class this summer and we've gone to watch them play a few times (OK, actually just twice). Of course, Benjamin is all about it, too! I mean what's not to love for a little boy at the ball park? Dirt, hills to slide down, and "off balls". Ever since we've been to the ball park now, he calls EVERY ball an "off ball". Gotta love it!
• He has learned about guns somewhere. ;(
• He calls Daddy "Drew". I think this is hilarious, but Drew, of course, isn't so thrilled about it. Ha!
• He still "clucks" or "clicks" his tongue instead of saying "LaLa". 
• He might not be talking full sentences yet, but he mimicks a lot of inflections for various phrases. The two that we hear most are "I got it" and "Thank you". It sounds like he's humming...it's just too cute! Sadly, every time I am about to say I got it, I want to sing it now. For "Good morning", he says "mory!" Even though he's not clearly talking, his little sing-song phrases are the sweetest noises.



Benjamin absolutely LOVES his "sish"! He wants to be whereever she is or do whatever she's doing. As you can see, the feeling is mutual. Ha! Mary Elizabeth was more into watching Dora than sibling love.






Benjamin loves Bath Time (or even just playing in the water) just as much as his sissy did when she was younger. It's hard to get him out of the tub even after the water is all gone. "More please!"






"Ok, if you don't give me more water in the tub, I guess I'll just take my 20 second power rest!"

Risky Business

This summer the kids have been going to daycare so we can keep their spots for this upcoming school year. I have to admit that neither Drew nor I were happy about this new policy when we first heard about it, but I soon turned that into a positive thing for me. I instantly thought about all of the projects that I could get accomplished while they're at school or do whatever I wanted for that little bit of time. Ha! It's amazing how fast time flies!!!

Well, the kid's daycare is doing a theme called "Summer Road Trip" and is focusing on a different state each week filled with fun activites everyday. This week, they went to California and today they were supposed to dress up as their favorite celebrity so they could walk on the red carpet at the Chinese Theater in Hollywood. First of all, I didn't really want to buy anything for it. Secondly, I didn't want to send either of them as one of the famous tv characters that everyone else would be dressed as. So instead, I sent Benjamin as Tom Cruise's character from Risky Business. Am I terrible or what? But is just the cutest thing ever or what? All the teachers got a kick out of it after they realized why he didn't have pants or shoes on. :) ME, on the other hand, REFUSED to dress up as anything. So I finally talked her into wearing her Belle t-shirt that her Daddy got her when they went to see "Beauty and the Beast".

Never a dull moment...

As you can tell from the title, our lives are constantly filled with excitement. I'm not quite sure why either (yeah right)! The funny thing is that most of the pictures below are of Benjamin. Man, the saying that boys and girls are different is completely true. I guess I'll get to sit down in about 16 years when Benjamin goes off to college (sniff! sniff!).

Benjamin loves to play with anything associated with cars, even the keys. I love this look! It's like "Should I not be dong this? Is this wrong holding Daddy's keys while standing so close to the trash can?"

Benjamin carries his blanket everywhere in the house. And he still has to stop and take his 20-30 second rest no matter where he is. Will he continue this through his teen years? ;)

Never did I think we would have to put a lock on the toilet!

But never say never!

Mary Elizabeth is full of drama and style these days. She has an opinion on how I have to fix her hair most days and what she's going to wear. I'm just glad that I FINALLY got her to sit down for a few minutes for me to try to French Braid her hair. I was pretty proud of myself considering that it was my first time in a long time to do that and Benjamin was only inches away from us giving her "the look" (the one that says "I'm coming closer to you so I can pull your hair").