It's a Party!

I know it has taken me a while to post this and I'm sorry. I will spare you the excuses for my tardiness and move on to the fun stuff...Bennett's first birthday party!

Beginning months ago I had visions of celebrating our little darling's first year with a cheerful gathering of all of the people who love Bennett, a beautifully crafted professional-looking cake, thoughtful decorations and cute party favors all with a subtle but creative theme running throughout. But, alas, it was not to be. I had to keep reminding myself that it was OK not to achieve the "perfect" party and that the birthday boy wouldn't know or care or remember how much thought, effort and money I poured into the two hour shin-dig. The only remnant would be the pictures.

But oh, how I longed for those lovely pictures!

In the end the festivities were held at our condo in Dallas because we had relocated from Allen for a week due to repair work taking place at the new house. Because of the craziness going on with living in limbo with two mortgages we kept it a low-key affair with a few guests.

And we all had a blast!

I submit a few pictures as proof.

Decor was simple - butcher paper covered the tables and crayons were provided for the small ones (or whoever) to doodle, plenty of colorful balloons, because Bennett loves them so much and a homemade cake that vaguely resembled a stack of blocks. Bennett wasn't feeling great and had been cranky-spanky much of the day leading up to his party, but after a good afternoon nap his mood was quite improved and he was ready to greet his guests.

(I must include a HUGE thanks to my sweet friend Lisa without whom this cake wouldn't have even begun to resemble blocks. Thank you for all your help! I had fun being creative with you!)

Guests included my family, Jeff's family and our friends/neighbors/coworkers the Thomas family. We dined on pizza from Papa John's (only the best for our baby's party!), sang "Happy Birthday" and then tore into the cake.



At first, Bennett wasn't sure what to make of it. After one taste he decided he wanted more, but wasn't sure how to expedite getting the sugary deliciousness into his mouth. In the end he devoured his piece almost completely and without too much of a mess. He seemed much more concerned with getting all the food in his belly than smearing it around. That's my boy!







(Note to future first birthday planners: White icing makes for little cake-smashing mess. If you want great, colorful pictures of a cake-plastered baby go for icing with color...if you dare!)

Next, the gifts! I opened lots of wonderful, fun toys and cute clothes from our sweet friends and family, but B hardly noticed because he was so enamored with the first gift we ripped into. It contained a toy cell phone complete with ring tone, buttons that make noise and a recorded birthday message from Gran and Papa J. I'm hoping that it will continue to hold more allure than MY phone. Then we can both be happy and maybe I can finish a call without a baby climbing all over me trying to commandeer the phone. Here's to hoping!



It didn't matter that he wasn't terribly interested in helping me reveal the other treasures because cousin Haley and our little friend Charly were more than willing to assist in the unwrapping! It was quite the group effort.

All in all I am quite pleased with the first birthday party. It was bright and fun just like our big one year old. I figure I still have a few years to work on improving my kid's-party-throwing skills. In the meantime, I think Bennett likes me just the same.

To My Son On His First Birthday

Sweet Bennett,

The past year has been one wonderful, challenging, hilarious, fabulous adventure! I am incredibly humbled and grateful that the Lord has blessed me with the joy and responsibility of being your mother. Your dad and I delight in every day we get to spend with you.

I know that it is hardly an original thought, but it is such a wonder how much you have grown and changed since we first met you. I am amazed that I get to be a part of helping you develop and learn.

I remember clearly the exhilaration of the first night you arrived. It felt that we had waited so long to meet you - you had already captivated our hearts long before the day of your birth. But getting to see your sweet face and hold you close was a thrill so fervent it seemed my pure, overwhelming joy could light up the world. Dad and I laughed and cried and reveled in our new little family. We kept telling each other, "Can you believe it, we have a son!". Despite my exhaustion I wanted to stay awake all night just to watch you breathe and listen to your precious infant noises.


One short year later you barely resemble that pink, wrinkly little bundle we held so gently that first night. You are a hearty, curious, loving, active little BOY! It seems you find new ways to charm and amuse us every day. You are also finding new ways to stretch and develop our parenting skills as you become more independent and are forming your own preferences and opinions.



You seem to love to figure out how things work. You will open and close doors and drawers and flip light switches off and on over and over again. You love to push buttons of any kind, especially those on the TV (which is not terribly entertaining to Mommy and Daddy during a basketball game) and the one that operates the garage door.



You are also a gadget guy. Anything electronic gets your attention...the more expensive the better! Every morning you come in our room and set off on a hunt for your dad's iphone. You know just where he keeps it! Cell phones, lap tops, remote controls, your monitor and sound machine all fascinate you and seem to be much more entertaining than all your brightly colored made-for-baby toys!



You've enjoyed "playing ball" for months now. You love to push a ball around and chase after it and are really good at throwing a ball to Daddy or me. Of course Daddy can't wait to coach you further in ball playing skills from catching and hitting baseball to dribbling and shooting a basketball.



You have the greatest smile in the world. You bust out a huge, toothy grin when you see the camera. You also smile at every person that passes us when we are out eating or shopping. If the dazzling smile doesn't seem to get someone's attention or approval you show off by laughing or clapping until they look over and acknowledge you. It cracks me up.



You have been very healthy and happy your first year. You are a fabulous eater and have enjoyed trying just about every food we've put in front of you including pickles, onion, lemon and pepperoni. Among your favorites are avocado, cheese, strawberries and frozen peas. You aren't a big fan of cheerios or a plain sandwich bread. I love that so far you happily eat fruits and vegetables and are eager to try new foods. I don't look forward to the day you realize that I'm eating much different (read: less healthy) foods than I feed you. Yikes!


I could list a thousand things I love about you and hundreds of ways you amaze me and bring happiness to my life. Being your mother has taught me so many things already. As I love you in my imperfect, worldly way God has reminded me that I am His cherished child and He will always love me. As I grow in ability and understanding as a mother I am all the more humbled at how the Lord cares for me, provides for me and disciplines me in love.

As powerful and profound as my love for you is, it is but a pale, feeble representation of God's love for you. I pray that in our limited wisdom and aptitude, your father and I can point you to that love that will never fail you. It is the highest calling in our role as your parents to raise you up "in the nurture and admonition of the Lord". It inspires and terrifies me. But I trust that the God who gave you to me loves you more than I and will call you to Himself.

Happy birthday, precious boy. I adore you more than these limited words can express and I am so happy to be "Bennett's Mommy"!

love,
Mama

Spring?

Here's to hoping that Spring is here to stay! Old Man Winter sure did make a showy exit last week - dealing out sleet, snow and crazy wind in his final death throws. I remember learning in elementary school that March "comes in like a lion, goes out like a lamb" (or something like that!) and I think it might be holding true here this year!

One Week Ago:







Yesterday:

While we did enjoy watching the snow fall and going out in it long enough to take a few pictures, I'm happy to put that behind us. I much prefer long afternoon walks and meeting our new neighbors at the park. Yea for spring!

Rockin' Birthday

We celebrated Jeff's 30th birthday in rockin' style with a bash at our new place in Allen. Guests were asked to dress as a famous singer/musician/rock star and we sang karaoke and played guitar hero. It was a blast! Our friends went all out with their costumes and no one seemed to mind the lack of furniture or boxes piled in the corners that evidenced our half-moved-in-ness.

Child Labor

Now that we are living in a larger house I discovered I could use a little help keeping the place in order. In an effort to avoid having to hire someone I've been training my 11 month old to pull his weight around here. He seems to be catching on. So far his two favorite chores are sweeping and unloading the dishwasher. Occasionally he will also help out with the laundry. What a great kid!

Parenting x4

For Christmas last year all the employees at Jeff's work got together and gave Rob, the company owner, a weekend away with his wife. The plan was to pay for Rob and Haley to have a night at a hotel and give them some spending money for eating out and entertainment. One key to creating a much-deserved, stress-free night away was to arrange for free childcare for their children (for those who haven't been keeping up that would be Cobb - 4.5, Charly 2.5 and Ridge 14 months).

The answer to that dilemma: me and Jeff! Why of course we would watch them...we live close, we aren't total strangers and we have managed to keep our own child alive for almost an entire year. Truly, we were almost overqualified for the job.

Rob and Haley were gone from Friday afternoon to Saturday night so that gave us about 30 hours to try to keep four children from electrocuting themselves, burning down the house or falling down the stairs and splitting their heads open.

I'm thrilled to report that not ONLY did we manage to make it through the weekend without losing one of them, all kids were clean, well-fed and relatively happy when our shift was complete. Success!

Truly, the Thomas kiddos are absolutely fabulous and we had a great time with them. Cobb and Charly are a riot and Ridge is a wonderfully laid back and happy baby. They were great listeners, went to bed without a fuss and were kind to each other and to Bennett. They couldn't have been better.

Here are a few pictures from our weekend (I'm so sad to have not taken a picture of the four kids together!).

Bennett and Ridge getting clean. I'm sure they will thank us for these pictures later. Ha!

The little boys are such cute playmates.

I discovered I am completely inept at doing a little girl's hair. Sweet Charly was patient with me as I tried at least three times to get her little pigtails somewhat symmetrical. I never did get it quite right.

Sadly for us, Charly spent most of Saturday with at her cousins' house. It was nice of the family to arrange for us to have one less child to watch but we missed her!

These boys love to eat!

Cobb licks a yogurt lid and shows off his war wound from roughhousing with Jeff in the backyard. He so kindly described the incident to his parents as "Jeff accidentally scratched me with his shoe". This is a euphemism for "Jeff kicked me in the face."


Saturday afternoon was beautiful and so we took a walk to the park with the babies in the double stroller, Cobb on his bike and dog Mulligan in tow.

Jeff played with Cobb on the swings, slide and climbing gym while I tried to entertain two non-walkers and keep them from eating the ground cover.

I was not terribly successful. Oh well, extra fiber...right?

My mom called Saturday night to see if we survived our parenting experiment. She asked "do you still think you want four kids?". I'm not scared off yet. But maybe we'll try to arrange to not have four that are all under the age of five.

Wish us luck!

On the (Blogging) Road Again

I can't believe it has been almost a whole month since I last posted! We have been in the process of moving into our new house (yea!) which rendered us internet-less for two weeks (boo!).

I have quite a backlog of pictures and stories to share so in between taking care of a boogery, coughing baby and unpacking boxes I'll try to give you a glimpse into the last few weeks of our lives. To ensure your return here's a little taste of what is to come:

- We become parents of four
- Jeff turns 30
- Bennett cleans house
- Steak!