Red Day!

Bennett has shown an interest in colors for a couple of months. It has been funny to see him learn a new color name and then spend a few days or weeks proclaiming everything to be that color. Lately it has been "geen". Everything seems to be "geen".

My sweet friend Alli once told me that she did an all yellow bath for Chapman. They put in all his yellow bath toys and spent the bath time talking about yellow. I thought that sounded like a great idea and made a mental note to try it with Bennett.

Then I decided to take it a little further and so on a dreary, rainy Monday we celebrated Red Day. (Sadly, I'd left my camera at friend's house over the weekend so I only have grainy iphone pictures.)

The morning began with Bennett picking out a red outfit to wear. I planned to include strawberries in our red breakfast, but when I pulled them out I found them to be moldy so they went to the trash and strawberry yogurt (although pink) with the appropriate color bowl and spoon was an acceptable substitute. When paired with a red delicious apple and cereal that came in a red box we had a deliciously theme-y start to our day.


Ridge came over in his red attire and spent the day with us. We all had so much fun! I had the darndest time trying to get a decent picture of the three kiddos together. Bennett looks super-cheesy here but it's the best I could get. (Why is it impossible to get two toddlers to look at the camera at the same time? I'm not even asking for smiles...just facing the same general direction for but a moment!)


While Dayton napped I attempted a somewhat structured activity with the boys. A Red Race! I put items collected from around the house in two laundry baskets at the end of the hall. I assigned each boy a basket and instructed them to run down the hall, find something red and bring it back to me.


I might have been over estimating the instruction-following abilities of two year olds.

They got the running part right away. And on the second try understood they were to find a red object and not just push the whole basket down the hall. They never quite caught on to race aspect. Usually they'd find something, hold it up and then start playing with it or looking in the other basket or something. And the "found" item wasn't always red. But they tried and had a blast just the same. It was pretty cute.

They ran the race over and over again. I got a little bit of it on video. And then they wanted to watch the movie of themselves over and over. And over. And then one more time. They found themselves quite entertaining.

I didn't have a lot of red food options for lunch so the best I could come up with was spelling out "red" in ketchup for their beef franks and veggie lunch. Not a very appetizing picture, I know.


Bennett was so excited about Red Day that he didn't want to go down for his nap (something he usually asks for if I put it off too long). I had to assure him that it would still be Red Day when he woke up.

Ridge went home after nap time and we headed to the grocery store store where Bennett helped me "find" all sorts of red things...flowers, strawberries, balloons, meat. Jeff got home from work, changed into his red shirt and we used red plates and red napkins to fancy up our (un-red) dinner of fried rice and sesame chicken.

Chapman came to play Monday evening, of course wearing his red pjs! (Best picture I could get, sorry. I can't imagine why they didn't find sitting nice and still for me to be a fun activity.)


Our festive day came to a close, appropriately, with the idea that started it all, a red bath. (Well, the day actually came to a close with a fit about not wanting to get out of the red bath and then another tantrum while getting dressed and a consequence of not getting to read any books...but we'll not mention that.)



When I asked Bennett what he was writing/drawing on the wall he said "muh-mer (number) five". Five is his new favorite number.

We had such a fun time with our color-themed day that I think I might try to do a different color each Monday. I have a few ideas for other colors floating in my head - a nature walk to collect green items outside and reading "Green Eggs and Ham" on Green Day, for example. We could also listen to Green Day. Or not.

(Maybe I'll listen to Green Day during nap time. It will take me back to high school slumber parties singing "I went to a shrink, to analyze my dreams...". And then I'll remember when my dad confiscated the Dookie CD I'd borrowed, read the lyrics and then made me return it. I won't rat out which friend had such an unholy music collection. That would be tacky.)

Did I begin rambling off topic again? I do apologize. Bad habit.

Anyway...do you guys have any thoughts? I'd love any other suggestions you might have for toddler friendly color activities!

My Little Man

Bennett could not be more in love with his Daddy. He wants to be where Daddy is, do what Daddy does and even wear what Daddy wears. What a joy to watch their sweet relationship. Jeff provides such a contrast and balance to the parenting that our children get from me during the day. I love, love LOVE that Bennett has such an amazing man to emulate.

And speaking of being like Daddy, I did a super-quick (as in like, two minute, hurry-the-baby-is-sleeping-put-on-this-hat-let's-go) photo shoot of Bennett a few days after his birthday wearing Jeff's shirt and hat just like last year. I didn't get any shots that I love, but at least it is done and I haven't ruined the tradition already.



Something about the flip-flopped feet sticking out from under that huge t-shirt reminds me of a hobbit.


Last year I had my mom around to help elicit smiles. Not so much luck this time.




Even though the birthday balloon didn't fit my vision of a perfect portrait session, in coming years these photos will remind us of how the never-say-die mylar balloon was attached to B every waking hour for almost two weeks after his birthday. It was like a fifth family member.


And for fun, here is a sample from last year's birthday pictures:



(I'd totally forgotten about the kitchen utensils from last year! Maybe it will be tradition to have a prop - Bennett's current favorite thing - each time?)

I sure do love that little man.

This Is The Life

Saturday morning Jeff and I decided to take advantage of a lovely, if a bit overcast, day and participate in some family outdoor activity that didn't include pulling weeds. We loaded the kids in the stroller and took a nice walk to a shopping area not far from our house. There is an awesome bike trail that goes by our neighborhood pond (no ducks but a gorgeous blue heron and at least one huge turtle), through a wooded area, across and creek and right to the shopping center.




Gorgeous, no?

I have to be honest and also show you the less scenic part of the walk:


Apparently there are lots of hike and bike trails around here that we've yet to explore. I hope to check a few of them out this spring!

There is a fledgling farmer's market going on down at the shopping center on Saturday mornings so we stopped by and bought blueberry yogurt from a local dairy farm as well as a few potatoes and some plums. I didn't get any pretty pictures...but here are some potatoes!


After shopping we listened to some live music as we enjoyed a fantastic lunch at Potbelly's. Yum! What a fabulous morning with my favorite people!

The First Of Many Zoo Posts To Come

For Christmas my parents gave us a membership to the Fort Worth Zoo. "Why the Fort Worth Zoo?" you may ask, seeing as how we live significantly closer to the Dallas Zoo.

And to that I retort, "have you been to both zoos?". Because if you have, then you know why. Because the Fort Worth Zoo rocks. That, and because my parents will use any means possible to get their grandchildren into Tarrant County as often as possible.

It took until late March for us to actually get the membership activated and this week until we made our first big trip to the zoo. Dane and Aunt SheySha came along (I can't get over how Bennett says Gran and Lisa...I'll be so sad when he outgrows these precious mispronunciations).

This is what we found upon arriving in the parking lot.


Apparently it is field trip time around these parts. As crazy as it was outside the entrance with hundreds of preschoolers and kindergartners being sorted, tagged and assigned "special friends" to stay attached to, once inside the crowds weren't too bad at all.

This was also our first major outing for the double stroller. It is wonderful! So easy to push, comfy for the kids and it fits through doors. Hooray! (I am totally having one of those "when did I become such a grown-up, mom-person?" moments as I gush about my new stroller.)


Bennett absolutely loved seeing all the animals. He used all his noises to call out to elephants, apes, orangutans, bears, lions and birds. After getting his fill of viewing each exhibit he'd eagerly request "Moe! Moe am-mals!"

And this box of animal crackers was his treasured possession. He carried it with him all day, pointing out animals in the zoo that matched the pictures on his box. It's getting hard to find the old school circus boxes of animal crackers and my mom was told at one store they are going to be discontinued. So sad!


When we stopped to let Dayton eat Bennett discovered this fascinating vending machine. So many buttons! And a little door that swings open and closed! What fun!


Dayton was a sweetheart as usual.


We stayed for just under two hours, saw about half of the animals and left before anyone was too hungry, tired or hot. Perfect! The advantage of having membership is that we can come and go without feeling guilty for not doing and seeing everything. Tickets aren't dirt cheap so I could totally be tempted to force the kids past their limits in order to squeeze every last potential moment of fun out of our trip.

Hopefully we'll have lots more zoo trips in the coming months. I'll try to spare you detailed blog accounts of each and every visit. But I make no promises.

Give me a holler if you're ever interested in going to the FW Zoo!

And Then My Heart Stopped Beating

(I'll preface this story by letting you know up front that everyone is okay and no one had to call CPS.)

Jeff and I spent part of the day Saturday working on our poor, sad excuse for a front lawn. Currently, it consists mostly of brown grass, weeds and fire ant beds. I must say it is quite charming and inviting. If fire ants are your thing.

We decided a quick trip to Home Depot was in order to get a couple of small tools and something to kill the ants. Bennett wanted to "help" Jeff pull weeds so after a failed attempt to get Dayton to go down for her nap I tossed her in the car and we headed out. Since Bennett's car seat is installed in the 4Runner I'm usually driving it, but I decided to take our "little car" out for a change. The Sonata isn't decked out with all the baby gear like those little mirrors that let you keep an eye on your rear-facing kiddos. I checkED the rearview mirror a dozen times on the half-mile drive to Home Depot expecting to see a sweet baby reflected back but all I saw was the road behind me. I kind of forgot that is what rearview mirrors were intended for.

At the store I scored an awesome parking spot, popped the baby carrier in a shopping cart, picked up a few garden tools, was advised on the finest ant killer available by an extremely knowledgeable 12 year old employee (or maybe he just looked 12? does that mean I'm getting old?) and was ready to check out in record time. It is amazing how much faster errands seem to go without a two year old in tow.

Dayton was beginning to doze off as the cashier gushed over how cute she was and told me all about his four grandbabies. I loaded the car and headed home. Dayton didn't make a peep so I assumed she'd fallen asleep.

Driving up to the house I noticed my next door neighbors out on their front porch so I pulled in the garage, left the door up and stepped over to say hi. (It was only a couple of steps as our houses are about 36 inches from each other.) As my neighbor was introducing me to her sister I called out to Jeff to let him know Dayton was sleeping in the car and we should probably get her inside and in bed. I then resumed my small talk until Jeff interrupted.

Our conversation went something like this:

"Hey, Stacey. Dayton is not in the car."

"Shut up. Quit joking." (eye roll) It's not like our three month old is going to get herself out of the car.

"I'm not kidding."

(insistent) "You're kidding." Not a funny joke, dude.

(more insistent) "I'm NOT kidding. She's not in the car."

(slightly panicked) "Stop it. You're kidding!"

(beginning to look afraid) "NO!"

(full on panic, running to the garage) "YOU ARE TELLING ME I LEFT MY BABY AT THE STORE?!?"

My mind was spinning with a million thoughts. I pictured my sweet baby girl in a lonely shopping cart in the big, scary parking lot. I tried to remember putting her in the car. I heard the cashier tell me how cute she is. I envisioned a best case scenario of a sweet couple finding her, trying to wave down my car as I drove away and taking her safely inside the store. I simultaneously saw horrifying scenarios of a car running over the shopping cart or a scary stranger taking her away. I imagined how deranged people would think I was and wondered if they'd even let me take her back home. If we even found her.

I thought I was going to pass out. I thought I was going to throw up. How could I do such a thing?? I mean I've been known to be forgetful and somewhat scatterbrained but who leaves their DAUGHTER in a store parking lot??

Then Jeff said, "Oh wait. I was looking in the 4Runner."

Rainy Day

Bennett has finally had a chance to use his birthday gift of umbrella, galoshes and raincoat for their intended purposes. He's worn the boots multiple times, including to the grocery store and a restaurant...but those days were dry and sunny. And despite the lack of rain the umbrella is already slightly bent from overuse as Bennett has chivalrously protected Dayton and me from many an indoor rain shower lately.

At breakfast Bennett heard a curious sound. After learning "dat noise" is thunder he stopped at each rumble and would exclaim "hunner!" then look at me and ask for "moe". He seemed disappointed in my answer that Mommy can't make thunder. God makes thunder.

When the storms rolled in and the rain really started coming down Bennett clutched his "um-mema" and gazed longingly out the window. (aside: Um...is it just me, or does he look about four years old here?? Where did the chubby baby legs go?)


Although the downpour was a bit on the chilly side, I just had to suit him up and send him out. And take pictures. Of course.





We checked out the rain in both the back and front yard. He was content to stand just a few steps outside the porch and listen to the drops hitting his umbrella.

After a few minutes a bolt of lightning and startling clap of thunder made me nearly jump out of my skin. It was scary and I anticipated our adventure was about to end in tears. As I stretched out my arms to receive a scared, shivering little boy, Bennett turned to me and with wide eyes and in a low voice, full of awe said "Ooohhhh. Tunner."

The abrupt ending to his rainy day outing (hello, lightening!), though, did cause much weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Here's to hoping for some warm spring showers when we can dance in the rain and puddle jump to our hearts' content with no worries of electrocution.

Easter Sunday

Despite my lack of creative planning for the Easter, we did talk to Bennett about the holiday. Here he tells us what Easter is all about.

We attempted a family picture, but that is easier said than done these days. Bennett was ready for a nap so we posed for about 32 seconds before allowing him the rest he so desired.


(Please forgive my haggard look. I'm having a bad hair year and I seem to forget that make up is my friend until I'm looking at pictures of myself. Oh well, I figure in 10 or 15 years I'll look back on pictures of myself and think nothing but how young and thin I looked, right? Right?)

After a nap B did a little scavenger hunt to find his and Dayton's baskets of goodies. (Dayton's basket = Mommy's basket, except the teething ring...I'll give her that. But the chocolate? All mine!) If you look carefully you might see some little rabbits from last Easter. They have already been put away for next Easter's baskets as well. We have our fair share of stuffed animals already and another couple small bunnies would just lost in the shuffle. And I'm just cheap like that.


We tried to get a few pictures of the kids but Bennett's a tough one to catch looking towards the camera these days. He sure does love to kiss his "Baby DenDen" though.




I find her to be irresistibly kissable as well.

Easter Fun (Including "You've Been Peeped!")

I have goals of creating some meaningful and memorable Easter season traditions for our family that teach the little ones and remind all of us of the gift, the sacrifice and the miracle that is central to our faith. But I have a difficult time feeling terribly motivated when I feel like Bennett isn't yet at a place to understand or remember.

It is a lame excuse, I know.

So this year there were no resurrection eggs, no resurrection rolls or resurrection cookies. We didn't celebrate a Seder dinner or create a passion garden.

We didn't even dye Easter eggs.

Nor did I manage to bring a bag or basket to the preschool egg hunt at church. Oops! I did locate a paper sack moments before the hunt began. The lovely bag plus my child's cheerful spring tee shirt and sweat pants combo didn't exactly make for festive Easter-y pictures. I'm still kind of new to this mommy thing...I'll get better.





This week my mom came in town and brought all the supplies to make a fun Easter treat. Check out these darling, diminutive Easter baskets! They were yummy too!


I decided that despite my lack of planning I could manage to at least do simple Easter baskets for the kids. I was motivated mainly by wanting a good excuse to buy Bennett a few more matchbox cars and myself a chocolate bunny. I hit the dollar store for a couple of small treats and picked up a bag of sour candies shaped like bunnies and chicks. It made me giggle when I saw the package proclaimed that it contained approx. 12 PACKS! Approximately?


I laughed harder when I found that one of the (approximately) 12 packs looked like this:


That's what you get at the dollar store!

Easter Sunday afternoon we were hanging out at my parent's house, taking pictures of the kids and discussing Dad's fondness for and Lisa's revulsion toward Peeps when Jeff looked out the window and wondered aloud what was on the lawn.

And we discovered...


...they'd been Peeped! Colorful little bunnies and chicks all over the lawn!


Dad was thrilled.

Amazed

...and so very grateful. I hope you enjoyed a lovely Easter celebrating our risen Lord!