4 Already?

While we were in Portland we had an early 4th birthday family celebration for our nephew, Carter. Justin and I have been lucky to spend all 4 birthday celebrations with Carter.

Such good buddies -- notice the vacuum in B's hand. There are a million toys and he plays with the vacuum. Love it!

The birthday boy and his Spiderman cake.

B hopped on Carter's Spidy scooter and tried to ride.

My pictures are totally out of order, sorry. Here B is helping open presents.

Kennedy was right there helping Carter too.

Meet B's new BF, Jake.

Fixing the vacuum.

Happy Easter!

We spent Easter weekend at my parents house and had a wonderful time. Even though B was battling another double ear infection, he was in good spirits and loved playing with his cousins. I enjoyed spending time with my family and catching up with close friends, and so appreciated all the help over the past 6 days. Going home is such a nice break for me!

Family picture after church.

The three kiddos before Easter dinner.

B with his very special Godparents.

Swim Lessons

We started private swim lessons at our club a few weeks ago. B loooooves the pool and so far, as shown no fear of the water. He loves going underwater and giggles and laughs through the entire lesson (when he's not drinking the water). I have so much fun doing lessons with him. I'll try and get a picture this week with his shark swim cap on, but here are some shots of him and Justin at the pool yesterday.

Bribes

Okay, I'm not ashamed to admit it anymore. Bribes have become part of my daily negotiating technique. Maybe I'm wrong, but after talking to all my friends and fellow moms at school, we all secretly do it in one form or another! As Bennett gets older and gains more self confidence and independence, it's getting more difficult to get him to do certain things. Here's a perfect example of me trying to snap just one quick picture of him the other day and he would not sit still. It was the end of the day and I was exhausted. I decided to give B a thin mint so he would sit still for 2 seconds while I took a picture of him. Well, it didn't go exactly as I had planned......

First bite and still wouldn't look at the camera.....

Mmmmmm

Okay Mom, I'll look up but not smile.

Shoves the rest of it in......

And he's off!

Farm Party

We celebrated Annalia's 1st birthday party on Saturday in Julie's parents barn. Here are some pics of our fun day!

All dressed up for his girlfriend's party. Quite the dapper dude in his new yellow pants. BTW - Justin ripped on me for buying these Polo pants, but guess which kid was voted best dressed by all the parents? :)

Ready to go and running around the house.

I was taking too long, so B decided to read some books.

Outside the petting zoo and dying to get inside.

He called all the animals dogs. HA

B loved petting the goat.

Bunnies, ducks, chickens, pot belly pig -- the kids were in heaven!

Julie borrowed the red wagon for the photo opp area. B did not like sharing his wagon and kept trying to pull it away.

The birthday girl.

B got Grandpa to pull him around after dinner.

This mini John Deere tractor is from the 70's and B loved playing on it.

Grandma tried to put the cowboy hat on him, but you know B, anything on his head comes right off.

I Survived!

After 72 hours away from my baby, I'm happy to say that I survived! I had a fun, relaxing weekend in Tahoe with my high school friends. Sleeping in and spending time with great girlfriends -- life doesn't get much better. Thank you Michelle and Jules for letting us stay at your beautiful cabin! I was worried I couldn't relax being away from Bennett for 3 days, but he was in great hands. A BIG huge thank you to Michelle for watching Bennett for me while Justin was at work and for Aunt Dee for staying over Friday night to have play time with her favorite nephew Saturday. I know Bennett loved the special time with his daddy, grandparents and auntie.

Nicki (Seattle), Holly (LA), Katie (Portland) and me.

Healthy Baby = Happy Mommy

After 2 weeks of battling one virus after another, Bennett is finally feeling better and back to his old self. I can't tell you how good it feels to see him smile again!

Wrestling before dinner.

Splashing Daddy in the tub.