I scream, You scream...

Bennett loves him some ice cream!

Mow! Daddy Mow!

Bennett received a lawn mower from the Barr Family for his birthday. To say that he is in love with it, would be an understatement. He is OBSESSED with it! Like all day, everyday all he wants to do it mow. Which means that I no longer need to ever remind Travis to mow - Bennett takes care of that for me. I think that Travis has been mowing every 5 days :) It keeps B entertained for about an hour and he is tired out after pacing through the yard pushing the mower up and down the hills. Once the mowing is complete, he is satisfied for a few minutes and then "Daddy Mow" starts up again! Here is the famed mower!

Watching to make sure Daddy is still mowing.

Getting sidetracked from mowing to pull some weeds! What a helper he is :)

Good-bye

This past weekend we said good-bye to Travis' grandfather. He will be greatly missed by the entire family, but we can be so grateful that he lived such a full life, he was able to be at our wedding and meet Bennett. We have some great pictures of the whole family and the two of them to remember him by. He will remain in our hearts and lives forever!

With his passing we think of all of the people that have been so important in both our of lives and who have had a hand in shaping us into who we are today... and in turn play a very important part in Bennett's life! We know that we will all be reunited one day, but until then we will share all of the special memories and pictures with Bennett.

Bennett has such wonderful great grandparents... Grandma Dorothy & Irene and Grandpa Johnny and Gerald on my side and Grandpa John & Grandma Marion on Travis' side. He also has a very special Tia Shelley! We love you all :)

Waterpark - Part Deux!

Well, not really but we made Bennett think it IS a waterpark!! He has said everyday since he came home that he wants to go to the waterpark. So, when I saw this at the store, I thought it might come in a close second to actually going to the waterpark everyday. Tonight was the first night that he played on it and he loved it!!! It also has a sprayer that shoots down the whale, but Bennett was not crazy about that so we left it off.

Infected

Bennett has an infection on his foot. It started while he was at the waterpark this week. Going up and down the stairs combined with some new shoes = bad blisters. It compounded over the week and it is looking pretty bad. So we have been soaking it, putting Neosporin and band aids on it. You can see a big difference - hopefully it will be better in a day or two. Of course, true Bennett fashion he never complains! He loves the soaking part :)

Circus, Circus!

Tonight was the circus. Wait, first was the waterpark this am. Bennett and I had a few errands to run in the morning and then we were off to the Hastings Aquatic Center. They have a small play structure for the little kids, a big slide, a drop slide, a baby slide and a few other small toys... along with a BIG pool. He and I had a lot of fun playing the day away. We came home for a bath and a nap. When he got up, Daddy was just arriving home. We then headed to dinner with Trav's family. After dinner was the circus!

The ponies...

Lots of treats to be eaten and enjoyed!

Watching the show!

The zoom zoom!

Riding the elephant!

Friday's

When Bennett was born, I was throwing around the idea of working 4 days a week. With my mom picking up Bennett I could work a bit longer each day and then be off on Fridays. Since September 2008 Kay has been watching Bennett every other Friday. Then I would stay with Bennett the other Friday's. When my dad's vacation time was restructured with 3M he had a ton of excess to use and has been spending almost every other Friday with Bennett. It is a great time for Kay and my dad to be able to spend time with Bennett and do all of the fun things that they do on these days. I go to work and get lots done and am very appreciative to them. I am however super excited to spend the day with Bennett tomorrow! We are going to sleep in, play, run a few errands, maybe go out to lunch and then we are headed off to the circus tomorrow night. It should be the perfect Friday!! The way a Friday is supposed to be.

We are officially on the countdown until the Larson's arrive. T-6 days until they will be in Minnesota. Tonight, Bennett was walking to bed and was saying Shelley, Ali, Bella - the whole way in to his room. He is so excited, he can hardly wait (neither can we)!!

PIctures don't lie!

We missed you like crazy when you were gone. We knew that Bennett was having tons of fun with Nana and Papa, but really did not know just how much fun until we saw the pictures!! He was the king of the castle for the whole trip and it looks like he enjoyed every minute. No wonder he did not want to come home to Travis and I.

Always healthy eating with Nana & Papa ;-)

Basketball in the pool... does it get any better then this?

This waterpark stuff is great!!

Loves the slide!

Looking like a drown rat!

Great Grandpa

So happy that you were able to meet... even if you won't remember him! We will be able to tell you the stories and show the pictures. We will miss you!

Dad's Day

Yesterday was father's day. Nana & Papa took Bennett to the Wisconsin Dells for a mini vacation at the water park. He is enjoying his time with them greatly. Nana has a two day break from jury duty, so she is relived.

Happy Father's Day to the daddy that we both love!! You bring so many great things into our lives! We love you to pieces!

Touch A Truck

Every other year in River Falls they organize a big gathering of all kinds of trucks... dump, fire, cement, tractors, ice cream, crane, the list goes on and on! 50+ trucks in all. Here we go --

Of all the things to look at, Bennett is interested in the hub cap!

Helicopter valued at 8 million dollars if someone were to purchase one today!

Bennett LOVED the school bus!

But, the firetruck was his FAVORITE!

Classic picture with the big tractor tire!

Chicken Fried

Friday night when Travis got home we decided to head right to Somerset, since the Zac Brown Band was playing at Country Splash. They are one of our favorite bands at the moment... all three of us love him! What makes it even more special is that Zac Brown got his start just north of Alpharetta (where Troy & Marita live). He is from a small town called Dahlonega -- where we have been many times. Travis and I talk about what it would have been like to see him as a starting singer in one of the bars around Alpharetta! Needless to say, now they are a huge hit and played tons of the songs that we love! Here is a picture of Bennett focused in on the song... Chicken Fried!

He's a star!

Bennett loves the camera. He may not love to do what you want him to do in front of the camera, but he still loves the end result. He enjoys looking at pictures of himself, watching videos of himself and looking through pictures of his friends. When Bennett was a baby he was so great at taking pictures. Even when he was tiny it seemed as though he was happy to smile for the camera. Then he got personality and the camera came out, so did the smile. EVERY TIME! Now, not so much. We are just happy to actually have a picture where Bennett is actually looking at the camera and not running away. In our last photo session, he refused to stand anywhere near Travis or I. We bring out the still camera and he normally turns his back to me, or refuses to do what I was trying to get a picture of. The same goes for the video camera. I take it out to get him doing something cute or saying one of the words that I love. He immediately stops doing everything and walks over to stare at the camera. He knows what is happening, so then he loves to watch the video after we are finished. This is one from about 2 weeks ago. I was trying to get Bennett playing Jenga, that lasted for longer then I was expecting. Then he noticed the camera... everything was focused on the camera from that point on. Oh well, it made for a cute video!

4 mouths

One may think that our family would have only three mouths to feed -- WRONG! We have four...