Wednesday, October 10, 2012

School Funnies

I have so much catching up to do and way too many pictures to go through for posts, but today I just had to post a little tidbit from our day of homeschooling. Ben and I started a unit on nests this week and we were talking about how birds take care of their babies. Our Bible lesson was about God taking care of us. So one of the verses we read was Psalm 91:14-15. After reading it to Ben, I began explaining how he could call out to God whenever he was afraid or in trouble and God would answer him and keep him safe. He has a pretty intense fear of dogs, so I told him he could remember these verses whenever he was around a dog. Ben looked at me for a minute and I thought he was about to comment on the verse or concepts we were learning, but instead he says "Mommy, why does gas come out of me?" Followed by "Will we have gas in heaven?" And that's the mind of a five year old boy for you!

Saturday, September 1, 2012

Sitting Up

 Love this smile!
So far Elijah is making things a little easier for me in terms of his motivation to move. He rolls around and turns in a circle, but for the most part, still stays in one place when I set him down. A couple of weeks ago, I thought he was not really even close to sitting on his own, but we tried working on it for a few days and in no time, he was sitting all by himself. He loves to sit and play and can now sit for five or ten minutes before he topples.

Friday, August 31, 2012

School

This week marks the official start of school for us this year. I actually did some with Ben last week, but this is the first week we've had a regular schedule. So far, it's been going pretty well and he seems to be listening and learning. The first two weeks of our curriculum are really a lot of review from things he learned in Pre-K, so we've doubled up some days. So our curriculum is broken up into units and this first unit is a bit longer and covers creation. Today's assignment was to go on a walk and look for things God had made and things man had made. After we kind of ran out of different things to point out, we started talking about different foods, buildings, and other things God made. I mentioned the Grand Canyon and asked if God made it, or if man made it. Ben was adamant that it was made by men. I finally gave up arguing with him and told him we'd just have to go see it some day. He asked if we got to shoot bombs when we went. I thought that was a little odd, but explained that we would probably never be shooting bombs. He said "well that what are we going to do with it if we don't shoot bombs?" Suddenly it became clear to me why he had been so adamant that the Grand Canyon was man made. He thought it was a grand canon.

Monday, August 27, 2012

Benjamin Funnies

It's been a while since I've posted any of these. I wish I was better about recording them because I think I could make a whole book.

-Saturday morning was Ben's first practice for soccer this fall. We were filling water bottles before heading out the door and this was our conversation:
Ben asked: Will there be vampires at soccer?
Me, a bit puzzled by the question: No, there won't be vampires.
Ben: Oh, those are only at football games.
Me: Oh, do you mean umpires?
Ben: Yeah, umpires

So, yeah, we are a bit confused about our sports, but we'll get there. And yes, I did explain that umpires were in baseball.


-Sunday afternoon we went to lunch with my family after church. Ben was, well, lets just say, very spirited throughout the meal. I seem to have suddenly become allergic to being outside and was feeling fuzzy headed and extremely tired. So by the time we left, all I wanted to do was crawl in bed and sleep. Ben was asking question after question on the way home and after answering a few, I finally said "Ben, can you please just not talk right now. Mommy's really tired." To which he replied "But I have to talk, that's how I breathe." Matt and I looked at each other and he said "Wow, that explains so much!" Ha!



-And then there was Sunday night. Ben was in our room with Matt.

Ben: Daddy, your bed looks really comfortable. Maybe someday I'll have a comfortable bed.
Matt: I think your bed is pretty comfortable too.
Ben: It's cold. Your bed is more comfortable because mommy is in it.

So essentially he was saying that someday he'll have a comfortable bed because someday he'll get married and have someone to sleep in bed with. :-)


Friday, August 24, 2012

My Five Year Old

It's hard to believe, but my oldest little man turned FIVE this summer! It really is true that if you blink (and even if you don't) they grow up crazy fast!

This year was Ben's first friend party and it was so much fun! I was super nervous because well, lets just say Pinterest has taken parties to a whole new level and I couldn't compete. But once I decided that kids were still kids and that they would have fun doing simple games and activities, I had fun with it and Ben had a great time with his friends. We've decided that friend parties will not happen every year, just to keep them special, but after this year, I feel much less nervous about future parties.

In addition to his friend party, we also celebrated with Matt's parents and my parents. It's so fun to be able to do that! Ben got some super fun toys and Matt and his dad built Ben an awesome sandbox in the backyard. The house often feels like a beach, but the sandbox has been a huge hit!

So, as a five year old, Ben is constantly amazing us with how much of life he takes in. He loves reading books and being read to. We read all of the Ramona/Henry/Beezus series by Beverly Cleary this summer, and also listened to numerous books on tape. I love that he is getting into chapter books now. I love a good story, so it's fun to introduce him to some of my favorites from growing up.

And by far the most exciting event of the summer was on June 24th when Ben accepted Christ as his Savior. For months before that, Ben had been asking some pretty deep questions about heaven, Jesus, sin, and hell. He had told us a few times that he wanted to be a Christian, but Matt and I questioned whether he was really understanding it, so we waited. But that night, we were reading about Pharaoh and his army being covered by the sea and Ben asked if Pharaoh got to go to heaven. When I told him that no, he didn't, Ben had a ton of questions that finally led to him asking me if he could ask Jesus to forgive him of his sins and commit his life to Him. My prayer for my boys has been that they would come to an understanding of their need for Christ at a young age and that they would have a strong faith for the rest of their lives. What a joy to see the first part of that prayer being answered. 

 Ben requested a monster truck Spiderman party. So we had a monster truck cake and Spiderman cups and then made super hero capes. (which I missed getting in a picture)

 One of the gifts Ben received was a slip and slide. So fun!!

 Ben insisted on everyone wearing their party hat like unicorns for his party with our families. Love this kid!

 Fun presents

Friday, July 13, 2012

Running Away

Yesterday was a fun day of going to the park, riding the park train, going to the fair, riding a few rides, and getting yummy fair treats. It was not a day of cleaning my bathrooms, my floor that is covered with sand (yay new sandbox), and picking up around the house. So today is the day for at least some of that. When Ben woke up this morning he asked me what we were doing today. I explained that since yesterday was a day filled with all sorts of fun things, today would be a cleaning and work day. He stomped his foot and said he didn't want to do work. So back to bed he was sent. He came back a few minutes later declaring that he was running away. I told him that I would miss him terribly. I was nursing Elijah at the time, so when I heard the front door open, I finished up as quickly as I could and went to take a look. He was at the edge of the yard with his pillow, his toothpaste and toothbrush, and a hand towel. He was telling the lady watering the flowers next door that he was running away. I came out and asked if he wanted breakfast before he ran away and he said he better pack some food. So this has been going on all morning and the list of things he needs to take is growing. He just left with his pillow, toothpaste and tooth brush, hand towel. a few toy cars, a coloring book (which he says is a map to Indianapolis), markers and crayons, his steroid cream for his eczema, and a half eaten sucker he's been slowly nibbling away on for over a month. He specifically requested a note from me before he left so he would know how much I loved him. So now running away has turned into more of a game and an adventure and less of a threat. I love my crazy Ben!!!

Wednesday, July 11, 2012

5 Months

Elijah is five months old today. Several people have asked me how that happened, and I honestly don't know. Seems like only a few weeks ago that I gave birth. I met a girl today who is pregnant and when she saw my car seat, she said "oh, you have a new one too." Then she looked inside and said, "oh, he's not new, he's a big boy." I suddenly saw him through her eyes and realized that he really is so big already. I'm treasuring each moment of this baby stage, but it's still going much too quickly for me. At five months. Elijah is getting better and better at rolling over and he loves to play with his toys. He reaches for everything that comes into his line of vision, so it's about time for me to put away my long earrings for a while. His smile, his dimples, they melt my heart every day. He's still kind of lacking in the hair department, but I think it just makes him look cuter. His eyes are still such a pretty blue that I'm starting to wonder if they will stay. I always joked that since Matt and I both have brown eyes, the only way we could have a blue eyed child was through adoption. And now I have two handsome blue-eyed boys, one by adoption and one by birth. Sometimes the blessing is overwhelming. I don't think I will ever get over how amazing it is that I have two children. I love them to pieces.
 I have a really hard time getting Elijah to smile when I'm taking pictures, so lately, Ben has been standing behind my shoulder and Elijah just lights up. He loves his big brother!

 I think this was the first time Elijah noticed his toes. He's been fascinated ever since!

 Mmmmm! Toes!




 Ben is getting him interested in cars early
Love these eyes!

Tuesday, June 19, 2012

Meeting More of the Family

We have not traveled just a ton since Elijah was born. It's a little more complicated with two kiddos and between that and moving, it took us a while to make it up to Marion. But a couple of weeks ago, when we dropped Ben off before our anniversary trip, we had fun introducing Mr. Elijah to his great grandma Hilliman and his Aunt Cathy and second cousin Jackson.
 Smiling at Great Grandma
 Not his first time meeting Aunt Connie, but the first pictures I have to post. I left my small camera at a friends house back in March and I still need to get it. :-)
 Hanging out with Jackson
Snuggling with Aunt Cathy

Tuesday, June 12, 2012

From Four Wheels to Two

A few months ago, Ben started talking about riding his bike with no training wheels. We got him his bike last summer for his birthday and about a week later, I started having morning sickness. Since we were in an apartment without the best places for bike riding without me there, he didn't get as much practice as I would have liked. So, when we moved to our house, he spent a lot of time riding his bike up and down the driveway and on the sidewalk. I still wasn't sure he was ready for no training wheels, but he was insistent, so I took them off and we gave it a try. Our first attempt was on grass, but he did so well, I let him go right to the road in front of our house. I got him started and after a few times of having difficulty balancing, he got the feel for it and took off. He's so grown up!



Monday, June 11, 2012

The First Roll Over

We have been so busy these past few months with moving and settling, and of course, caring for two little boys instead of just one, that I feel like I have not done a good job of keeping track of Elijah's firsts. First laugh was for my sister Rachel on May 5th. His laughter is still pretty rare, but he's doing it more and more.

Another first for him was rolling over. Elijah hates tummy time and is usually pretty upset within a minute or two of being put on his tummy. But on May 26th, he was in a pretty good mood, so I put him down and grabbed the camera. I was so glad I had it, because he rolled from his tummy to his back.




Of course, mean mommy that I am, I put him back on his tummy after he rolled over and I caught this sweet face.

Saturday, June 9, 2012

Graduation

Ben had such a great year at school this year. He learned a lot and made a lot of friends. We were all sad to see the year come to an end. Since he will be in Kindergarten next year, his school had a little graduation ceremony for all the pre-K kids. They sang some of the songs they had learned, recited Bible verses, and of course, received their diplomas. We are so proud of our big boy!

 "Oh be careful little eyes what you see..."

 Ben reciting his Bible verse with his classmates
 Getting his diploma from Miss Michelle
 Hugging Miss Cynthia
 His class

Friday, June 8, 2012

Chicago

A few years ago, we decided that for our tenth anniversary, we wanted to go to Hawaii. We've been saving ever since. But then God had an amazing surprise for us in the baby department and since I am currently a nursing mom, we decided to postpone Hawaii until we can go just the two of us. But we still wanted to get away. So Matt's parents were kind enough to let Ben stay with them for a few days and we spent a long weekend in Chicago. We shopped, relaxed, ate lots of good food, and spent an afternoon downtown. Traveling with a three month old is always interesting, but we felt refreshed despite the constraints of a nursing schedule.
 Elijah spent quite a bit of time in our Kozy carrier while we walked.
 Taking our own picture at Millennium Park.

 Dipping Elijah's toes in the water at the fountain in Millennium Park

 Stopping for photos in front of some beautiful rose bushes



 While we were walking to the restaurant we ate at for dinner, we saw this beach and I just had to stop and get Elijah's (and my) feet in the sand.
I bought this hat while we were shopping. I just couldn't resist! :-)