Cousins

Bennett has visited Atlanta 4 times and the Larson's come to MN twice and we had one other family vacation to celebrate Susie and Donny's anniversary. By far this was the best trip and it was very clear that we will be needing to make sure that Bennett sees his cousins a couple of times a year. They had so much fun together, the girls were so caring and loving with Bennett and he handed out hugs and kisses freely! When Bennett was born it was so much fun to watch the girls hold him and care for him, but now he really looks up to them and wants to be around them! He would intimidate whatever they would do, and he thought that anything that they did was the greatest... to sum it up - he thought they hung the moon! Since Bennett has no close cousins on Travis' side, it is even more important to make sure that they have a wonderful relationship!

Beach Fun

Our time at Destin was wonderful! We had great weather, awesome company and made tons of great memories! Travis and I have always said how we believe it is so important for Bennett to travel with us and it is so very evident now! Bennett was a great traveler and was so happy to spend time with family. He and the girls just adore each other and they have so much fun playing together. All three of the girls are also great helpers and playmates, which gives Travis and I a nice break. A few pictures from our time at the beach!

Drive Happy

The flight to ATL went great and Bennett was a real trooper. He did great on the flight and made both Travis and I proud of his travel ability... he even pulled his own suitcase through the whole airport. Then we hopped in the rental car at 11:00 pm and met Troy, Marita and the girls at a gas station 20 miles down the road. We hugged, talked and got B into his PJ's. We then buckled in for te 5.5 hour car ride to Destin. Bennett and Shelley hung out in the backseat and played some games, talked and were great travelers! They had a lot of fun together and at about 4:30 am we pulled into Ariel Dunes to Troy and Marita's condo! We were all relieved to be at the beach and ready for the fun to start!

Cultured

Nana with Vicki and Sue (her high school friends)

Watching Nana give instructions to the kids.

In front of the map... same picture for three years!

Today we went to Nana's school for her 35th annual Culture Fair. What a fun tradition!! I participated in the culture fair when I was in sixth grade and Bennett has been for 3 years now! The first culture fair B was only 5 days old! He really was able to realize what was happening today and he was a bit overwhelmed! All of the kids and the parents, but of course he loved it.

Thunderstorm

Tonight we got home from our meeting and the sky was starting to rumble! I talked to Bennett and told him about the rain, lightning and thunder. We then sat down on the couch and watched the lightning outside. He was crazy about it! It was so much fun to watch the excitement in his eyes during the storm. In true Bennett fashion, he kept saying "more lightning."

Baby House

Bennett got several great gifts for his birthday. Nana & Papa gave him his very own house and... he LOVES it! He still has a hard time pronouncing Bennett so he walks around saying baby house. He looks out the window and says baby house. Every night when we drive in the driveway he says baby house. It is soooo cute! Almost as cute as him playing in it - Enjoy!

He's got friends!

Bennett had his "friend" birthday party on Saturday. We went to Teddy Bear Park and after the rain, the kids had a blast! We had food, cake, favors and played at the park. It was a great time and Bennett enjoyed spending the day with all of his friends! Thanks to everyone who made this day so special!

The food table

Party favors

Mommy & Daddy with the TWO year old!

Bennett & Sam checking out what is happening
Loving the slide

Blowing out his candle
Bennett loves his new ball
Opening his doodler from the Olson's
B's awesome new mower from the Barr's

TWO

The day has arrived! Bennett is two years old!! What a milestone of a birthday :) Again, today takes us back to where we were two years ago on this day. As I mentioned in the last post I was induced and we thought we would be staying in the hospital over night and hopefully be induced in the morning but Bennett had other plans! When my water broke we played the waiting game for about 10 minutes until my contractions started. I was in labor for 12 hours and Bennett was born at 1:33 pm on May 22, 2008. He was 8 lbs 11 oz and 21 inches. His head was 15 inches :) He was a little sweetie and we were all so in love with him. We had lots of family visitors on the day he was born and then on Friday all of our friends came to meet Bennett. He was such a good baby and brought so much joy to our world on that day! We love you Bennett Jon - thank you for being you!

On the Eve...

Bennett will be two in just over one hour. Travis and I are still in shock wondering where the past 730 days have gone. A lot has changed since Bennett was born and we often think and talk about that. This morning as we were getting ready we talked about where we were two years ago on this day. We were both getting ready for work in the morning - Travis at VK and I was at Logomos. We worked a full 8 hour day though I am sure that between the two of us we maybe logged one hour of work. We were waiting... waiting for what was to come at 7:00 pm. We had told very few people that we were going to the hospital that night to be induced. We were still waiting to hear from the hospital if they would even take us. I had instructions to call in at 3:00 pm to see if they had room. I called and they said to show up at 7:00 pm. I called Travis, we met at home at 5:00 and headed off for our last dinner as a family of two. We went to Famous Dave's in Woodbury & I think that most of the dinner we sat in silence. If we did speak, I have no idea what was said. We were looking ahead to the unknown. Then dinner was done at it was 6:50. We drove to Woodwinds. I hopped out of the car and started racing into the hospital. Travis pulled me back to take a picture before we walked in. Not my most flattering picture, but glad that we have it. Walked into the Maternity floor and braced ourselves for what was to come. Once we got settled in the room (you would have thought that we were staying for a week) with all of the goodies that we brought. Then we called a few close friends to just give them a heads up that in the next day or two Bennett would be arriving. I was given cervadil and then we were just spending the night at the hospital and playing the waiting game until morning. We played skip-bo, watched a movie, ate some snacks and then my parents came over to visit after the softball game. We hung out until 11:30 and they headed home. The nurse came in to check on me before going to bed and she gave me a medication to help me sleep. I took that around midnight and we were just falling asleep - when my water broke...

For Nana...

In an adorable outfit from Jack & Jill!

Work

Tonight Bennett worked all around the house and learned lots of different household chores. We put down new mulch around the trees, planted pumpkins in the garden, watered the flowers, weed whipped the grass and swept the front porch. Bennett loves to help...

Getting ready to shovel

Tilling up the dirt

Laying out the rows to plant the pumpkin seeds

It is going to be a great Halloween with our pumpkin patch

Planting the seeds

Covering them with dirt

Watering them

Watering the new flowers that were planted!

Plane

The Lake Elmo airport had an open house last weekend. We went to see the planes! Bennett was in love watching all of the planes land and take off. It was just he and I so it was hard to get a picture of him looking at me with the plane in the background. Just as I was going to get him to take a good picture, he ran toward the propellor! Had to end that quickly.

Bee-Ball Dreams

Well, kind of! Tonight we went to the softball game to watch Daddy & Papa. Bennett had a lot of fun and is learning all kinds of new words at the game. Hit, Bat, Mitt, Strike, Ball, Out, GO - GO -GO! Tonight when we got home from the game B got a bath and went to bed. I heard him upstairs talking in his crib. I turned on the monitor and could hear him having a whole conversation about baseball. It went something like this:

Beeball, Papa..... Beeball, Daddy..... Mitt.... Ball..... Beeball!

It kept me entertained for about 10 minutes - he is so sweet :)

2 year pics!!

Today we took Bennett's two year pictures! He was kind of a little stinker, but of course Tamika was great to work with as always! He was so strong headed on everything that we were doing...

He wanted to be no where near Travis or I.

Insisted on holding his golf club and ball the entire time.

Would not smile to save his life.

Got in the golf cart & proceed to drive away from Tamika as she was trying to get pictures.

When he went on Trav's shoulder he flailed around wildly - Trav's neck still hurts.

About 25 minutes into the shoot, he was DONE!

I can not wait to see the pictures. Hopefully she got a few of our family and I know that she got some great ones of B.

Happy Birthday Chase

Today was Chase Broderson's first birthday party! Bennett was so excited for the party & to give Chase his gift. We wrapped it together and it looked soooo cute! He walked in proud as a peacock and was so happy to see all the decorations, kids and gifts. He had a lot of fun playing on the picnic table that Karen had set up with all of the goodies for the little ones. He ate pretty well and then came time for the presents. To say that Bennett did NOT like watching Chase open his presents would be an understatement. He wanted to open the presents - ALL OF THEM!! He was very confused why only Chase got to do it, which ended in a power struggle and Travis and I lost!! Overall, it was a great day filled with lots of good times.