Like Father, like Son

We went to the park to celebrate "Baby La-La's" 2nd Birthday...

... and our son "Adventure Boy" had so much fun!

Take note of the fireman's pole to the left in the background....

Who taught him how to do this?  Not me or Adam!
We were rather surprised by his "go get'er" play ground personality!

So... ya know, it was a pretty typical playground, and the only people at the park were with the birthday party so yeah, we might not have been watching "adventure boy" every second as we were sitting in the shade on the picnic tables talking with friends ... that is until we heard the cry! {you know, the real cry, the "I'm in pain cry"}

The first thing I saw was Bennett crying and falling into the sand each time he tried to stand up and take a step towards us! It was about the saddest thing I've ever seen! As retold by Gunnar (and eventually Bennett when he calmed down) Bennett had decided to go down the fireman's pole but missed and basically just jumped about 4 feet down and then landed wrong on his ankle! He kept telling me, "Me jump, down, down, down!" {complete with hand motions of course}

The next couple days our sweet, usually fast moving, little man looked like this ... it was pretty pathetic {but still, so cute}

Harvesting Fun!

We always love to get an invitation out to the picture perfect Taft home and this time was no different! We had a great time with our sweet Shelton friends (and their families too of course)!

This was Adam's frist time on a horse since leaving Texas (he was 10 when he moved), and what a handsome "Country Boy" he is!

It took Bennett a few hours {no joke} to decided that he did in fact want to get on the horse. Up until this point he enjoyed looking at it, feeding it and petting it but every time someone asked if he wanted a ride he quickly responded with "No!"

But once Adam offered to get on with him ... I didn't even offer {I'm a really nice mom, I know} he changed his tune and finally said "Yes!"
So here he is, first time on a horse ever! YAY big boy!!

They had a bit of a ruff start getting the horse to even want to move but once they got it going Bennett and Adam were all smiles for their one lap around!

The horse fun of course continued and the funny {I mean sad} thing is this little guy is the horse he fell off of!

Jenny's family pretty much goes all out for anything so of course they had all the typical cuteness you would expect from a Harvest party all set up!

This picture is quite possibly the funniest family picture from the scariest hay ride {we for some reason kept going up and down hills} that there ever was! I can not get over my "city girl" pearls, Adam's "Country Boy" shirt and Bennett's Hillbilly "smile" full of cookie!
I seriously crack up each time I look at this picture!
{If we were doing Christmas cards this year, this one would be in the running! Ha ha!}

All the kids got marked down on the chart ... made me happy, 'cause this means it's going to happen next year too! :)

And what Harvest party is complete without decorating your pumpkin to look like a sparkly pirate! ha ha!
Bennett loves his pumpkin and tries to pick his "pun-kin" as his toy to bring in the car every time we go somewhere!

Taft family, thank you once again for a fabulous afternoon/evening full of great family memories!

We Heart DeJong's!

Last week my sweet friend Leslie, invited Bennett and I to join her preschool group on a field trip to our local dairy (they were doing a unit on where your food comes from). We have been to the dairy a number of times to buy milk of course and some times we get out and look at the petting zoo they have but this was our first time getting a really good look around and it was fabulous! I got to talk with lovely mama's and Bennett got to wear boots and run around and feed cows! ha ha! All were happy!

Who taught this kid to stand with his hands behind his back like that?!
Haven't seen that in a long time! 

Bennett got real brave and wanted to feed the mommy cows.

After the mommy cows we headed down further to the baby cows - all the kids LOVED the baby cows!
One baby cow even gave Bennett a big lick/kiss before quickly slurping down a bottle! Bennett is still talking about how the baby cow licked his shirt!

More cow kisses! 

Bennett told me later that cows eat grass but elephants still eat noodles! :) 

My sweet boy spent a lot of time talking with this one lonely calf. 

(Not mine of course, but so precious!)

After spending a good deal of time outside we headed inside to see how the milk gets from the cow to the bottles. It was basically an episode of Mr. Rogers and I was in heaven! (I still love the episodes where they went to the crayon factory and the cheese factory ... makes my heart smile) 

And then we went and feed the animals in the petting zoo and we even got to feed ourselves a bit too! (with a good hand washing in between those two activities of course!)

NOTHING better than DeJong's Chocolate milk! 

Thanks so much for inviting us Leslie, we had a great time!
If you have never been to DeJong's you MUST go! (It's in Wildomar off of Corydon) Their milk is fabulous and their chocolate milk will change your whole world! :)

Crackers...

It's such a shame when you can't keep your eyes open long enough to even get your hand in the box.

Frog Jacket

When we first got this jacket he would cry when I even tried to try it on him (it was a hand-me-down) but now he LOVES it and I am so so so so happy each time he puts it on!

Last week's rain was fabulous for so many reasons, but I think the frog jacket was at the top of the fabulous list!

Bed Time

Without really trying to Bennett and I have created a bedtime routine that I am rather in love with.

First we read a book or two or three... then we pick out people to pray for (said list can include anyone from Mommy and Daddy to Uncle Casey to his monkey or trains or even himself - I think it's pretty stink'n cute when he picks himself!). After praying for them we always sing the same two songs which are usually followed by requests for more books to which I kiss him and say, "You can read books but mommy has to go get ready for bed too and I'll be back to check on you." and without a doubt he's asleep within 15 min with a giant pile of books next to him!

The other night as I walked out of the room I was thinking, "Oh I wish I could get that on video so I don't forget how cute he is singing those songs." After a week or so of thinking that same thing each night I figured I might as well try and it worked perfectly! I was worried the camera would throw him off and he wouldn't want to sing but he didn't even notice that I set it on the edge of the bed and I captured a very typical evening with my sweet boy... this video makes my heart happy, I really could watch it like 100 times a day!!!

Love this face...

... and his sweet little folded hands too :)

for the love of puzzles

So Bennett kind of has a problem right now... he is obsessed with puzzles. Like he cries if I even attempt to put them away! At least 5 to 10 times a day I hear ... "Mom, help me puh-puh" and the funny thing is, he doesn't need my help at all! He really just wants me to sit with him and say "good job" every time he  gets a piece in the right spot (which is constantly because the kid is kind of a puzzle master)

Last week, Bennett wanted to spend time with Adam but Adam needed to work so Bennett brought his puzzles to Adam ... pretty creative solution I think! :)

A couple days ago, the poor kid (after skipping a nap to play with some friends) sat down to do "puh-puh's" and he totally fell asleep! Dedication, I tell you, dedication!

I finally captured a bit of the puzzle master in action a few weeks ago ... watch and enjoy the cuteness (I'm pretty sure we need to start math flash cards next week with him! ha ha!)

This morning I pulled out the camera after watching in amazement as he just worked his way right through a 48 piece puzzle. Granted he knows the characters well, so it wasn't like he had never seen the pictures before but still, I'm pretty sure he's off the charts in spatial reasoning skills for a 2 1/2 year old (proud mama talking here of course)!


By the time nap time came around, our kitchen table was full of "puh-puh's" that Bennett was soooo proud of! 

(You have to hear him say "sting -ray" he totally thinks its two words and it is sooo cute when he talks about his Sea-Life puzzle!)

Balloon Surprise!

Daddy brought home ballons the other night when he came home real late from Back to School Night.
Bennett found the balloons first thing the next morning ... he was a very happy man!

Tent boy

So, I wasn't in the room for this but my understanding is that while Adam was making the bed, Bennett got on it and said he wouldn't get off because he wanted Adam to make a tent. Sooooo, Adam, being who he is, just kept on making the bed. All I got was a hand motion from Adam of "come her quickly" and I grabbed the camera on the way .... this boy is just too much!