Bennett's 6th Birthday

On November 1, 2008 our first boy son turned 6! This is a very special day not just because we celebrate you, but also because God gave you to us 5 weeks early on the day before my mom, your Grammy Angels birthday. I know that this was all a part of his perfect plan, to have you to celebrate at the same time we used to celebrate my moms birthday. We had your birthday party at XRcade, which is owned by the YMCA. It had lots of jumpers, video games, rock climbing wall, and other fun interactive things to do. We also ate pizza, cake and ice cream. You had so much fun spending the afternoon with your friends and got many wonderful gifts! We love you so much and continue to be amazed by you! You are a wonderful precious gift, with a heart of gold, and we thank God for you each and every day. At six years old, you are in Kindergarten at Joy Christian School and love to learn! You are recognizing many sight words, you take Spanish at school and just informed me, that this is your least favorite special. You favorites being gym class, library, and art. Your teacher says that you are her best prayer warrior, however I did not need her to tell me that. Your prayers for a 6 yr. old are AMAZING just like you. You are still taking Karate and are about to be evaluated for your orange belt. Another thing you are enjoying, is learning to ride your new two wheel bike that you got for your birthday. You do quit well, but still need to work on your stopping skills :o). You are quite the genius when it come to all things electronic: computer, XBOX, Wii, Nintendo DS and love to rock it with Guitar Hero just to name a few. You love to figure things out, and don't stop until you know exactly how it all works. I guess that's the engineering side of the family coming out in you. You are also very conscious about how you look and your clothing. I guess you get this from your mom, as you always had to match from head to toe as a baby and young child and still to this day will not wear something unless it's Bennett approved. We pretty much let you choose all of your clothes and I must say you have a pretty good eye for style :o)! We love you Bennett and are looking forward to another amazing year with amazing little you!

Halloween, Parties, Haircuts, and more

Okay, so I was supposed to get this all finished some 2-3 weeks ago, but better late than never.

First up is Baylor who is now sitting proudly in his forward facing car seat. He loves his new view and does not scream as loud as before when he was rear facing. I guess he likes to see where he is going. I mean who wouldn't.

Baylor also got his first haircut. I know these pictures are out of order, but I did not feel like trying to figure out how to rearrange the order. Oh well, this is Baylor with Jessica. She is my hairstylist, and she did his little trim for me for free. Thanks Jessica!!!

We used a sucker for bribery. Sure this is acceptable for 13 months old, I mean don't you all give sugary snacks to your wee ones :o) This was his first sucker, and let me tell you he LOVED it!

Basically all we did was trim the back of his hair, so the bangs and sides could catch up to the length in the back. We are letting him have the "hippie" look in case your wondering why we left the front and sides to grow.

Baylor lovin' his sucker!

Daddy held Baylor for his trim.

Wow this sure is good, I can't believe my mommy left me have this.

Bruce giving me the evil eye.

Next up we decorated our pumpkins. This year we opted for these little plastic pieces that you just push into the pumpkin. They are like Mr. Potato Head pieces. You just press them in and presto your done! Now that's my style no mess. No really the boys wanted to carve a pumpkin the old fashion way and had to be convinced to do it this way. I promised next year we would do it the old fashion way, but I just could not manage a knife this year with my non-working left arm!

Brayden with his monster pumpkin. This poor sad pumpkin he choose had to be the worst looking pumpkin in the whole patch, and I think the guy at the patch felt sorry for us and just gave the pumpkin to Brayden. He loved his pumpkin when it was all completed and hated to see him go bye-bye.

The boys making silly faces :o).

Brayden and Bennett with their pumpkin creations. We finally found a pumpkin patch to take the baby to for fall pictures. There were not many pumpkins at all, especially compared to Hunter Farms that we had taken Bennett and Brayden to when they were little. I got some cute pictures and Baylor loved banging on the pumpkin like it was a drum.

I love this picture of him clapping for himself.

More clapping...

Bennett, Baylor, and Brayden

On 10/31/08 I took cupcakes to Bennett's class to celebrate his Birthday which was Saturday 11/1/08.

The kids from his table L-R, Paulina, Mackenna, Karsten, Mason, and Bennett. They are wearing their letter expert hats. Each child was given a letter to learn about and present to their classmates to help them become an expert of each letter.

Bennett pretending to blow out candles on his cupcake.

On 10/31/08 the pre-school classes had pajama day. I spent the morning with Brayden enjoying a fall party, crafts, and pumpkin rolling contest.

Brayden's pre-school class. Top row L-R: Cole, Addison, Kaylee, Steven, Brooke, and Sarah

Second row L-R: Katie, Gunnar, Brayden, Minseo, Chloe, and Gracie

For Halloween we dressed up as Pirates! Mommy and Daddy with Baylor

Bennett as Darth Vader

Arg... Brayden as a pirate

Baylor as an adorable pirate

Memories...

Yesterday, we celebrated the 6th Birthday of our oldest son Bennett, and today we remember the life of my mother Phyllis. Today she would have been 62 years old. I now know why God gave my precious son to me 5 weeks early. It is so incredibly special to me, to have his Birthday just the day before hers. I'm in the process of uploading tons of pictures from the past couple of weeks including pumpkin patch, Halloween parties, Trick-or-treat night, and Bennett's Birthday. Hopefully tomorrow I can get it all updated.