Friday, March 28, 2014

ben-almost 2

so ben is turning 2 in a month! he is a ball of energy and snuggles. he still likes to sit on my lap when he wakes up and have a snack and his drink (baa). he loves to be outside exploring, sitting on the lawn mower (tractor), banging sticks on everything, jumping on the trampoline. he recently perfected his 'seat drop' 
he also loves childcare and talks mostly about PE :) and when we get home he immediately asks grant if he will go play basketball 'shoot'
his ball of fluff air and his dimples still melt me almost all the time-although he has started experimenting with tantrums and is a master at turning himself into a limp noodle.  i am looking forward to warmer weather and more adventures with this little one!



Tuesday, February 25, 2014

basketball season 2014

2014 basketball had many great moments-so fun to watch them all grow in their skills and understanding of the game. i appreciate bobby's ability to foster every aspect-his energy and his love of teaching them is a gift. 






grant's skiing birthday and time travel

i am hoping this can be a new birthday tradition-skiing at snow creek for grant's birthday. the boys all took a snowboarding lesson inspired by the winter olympics. grant ended up switching to skis-so he could race down the hill like last year but roy and dale kept trudging away with the boards. thank you -to sharon for watching ben for the day (we could not have done it otherwise!)
-my mom who brought the boys up from oklahoma and was a tremendous help with making the weekend a success.



 can you believe he is 10 years old? i don't usually get too sentimental about birthdays-but 10 just seems like such milestone. i was reflecting back on those first days after he was born-the rocking and the feeding and the overwhelming joy i felt. i clearly remember sitting with him, holding him and realizing that this was what i was meant to do. i was meant to be a mama-and rock, and hold and sing and give love. it was a missing piece moment. i was filled up. 10 years of being a mama to such a lovely and wonderful boy. happy birthday grant!


and now to the time traveling reference. bobby and i watched a movie called 'about time' this past weekend. when the opening scene started with 'the luckiest' by ben folds i had a feeling it would have an impact on me-as that is one our songs.

maybe at another time it would come across as sappy, overly dramatic and a bit manipulative to the emotions-but sometimes those movies hit you at the right time and instead they seem to be deep and though provoking.

the take away message for me-
if you could go back in time and relive each day-what would you do differently to make that day better. ordinary days hold all these opportunities for special moments-how can you make those moments happen? how can you alter your attitude to actually be able to see those special moments as they are happening?

also
as our memory locks a moment in place one of the strongest forces that it hangs on is your attitude at the time-
if you can figure out how to place yourself in a positive attitude-then the memory becomes a positive one.

this is a lot from a movie-i think the whole 10th birthday is turning corners in my thinking.

so because i can't go back in time to relive each day-i have to use reflection on each day to change how i live the next one. most of the changes i want to make involve spending more time enjoying-
more time enjoying listening to emily and ben in the bath, more time enjoying watching anneliese teach ben how to jump into puddles.

now i have not been doing this long enough to figure out how i can clean the house, fix food, clean again, fix more food, edit pictures, clean again and enjoy all these moments-but i will start trying a little at a time to figure it out.



Sunday, February 9, 2014

snow days in 2014

we were out of school 3 days last week due to a winter storm that gave us about 8 inches of snow. it was not the best conditions as it was between 10-15 degrees outside-but the kids still braved it to hit the slopes :)





and my favorite thing about snow days is the extended amount of time for playing together. no basketball practices, no waking up early-just being together. this bear is one of ben's new favorite things to carry around. he says bear 'bun'-so it is very cute to listen to him talk about his 'bun'.



Saturday, January 11, 2014

another fan of snow

we have another snow bunny in the family. luckily the older 3 are getting more independent at putting on snow gear-although i am constantly looking for dry gloves and the snow board has been a novel and fun addition to the activities. ben was hiking up the hill without a problem and would have stayed out until his little cheeks were ice cubes. 
happy winter!



Thursday, January 9, 2014

christmas 2014


despite the stomach bug invading our lives and UPS failing to deliver 1/2 the gifts-it was a very nice christmas. my mom was the christmas fairy-and we actually made it through the gift giving with good attitudes and thoughtfulness. my favorite thing was the gifts the kids bought for each other at our local high school's 'joy of giving shop'. funny moment to remember was emily gave ben a small back scratcher "because his bottom is always itchy with diaper rash".
christmas portraits for 2014

tether ball at ryan's house

christmas eve service at bethany
christmas morning-girls working together to hand out presents!

emily gets a joke book

out of order-grant and emily had their piano recital right before christmas
anneliese's furby-she played with is for a solid 2 days and then on the way home she put it in the way back of the van and declared that it was 'starting to get annoying'

ben loves to color on most everything-sometimes paper :)
we had snow before and after christmas but the temperatures have been so cold that we haven't done as much sledding
mandatory new year's eve walk-a very cold one this year.
happy new year!