Nearing the End...

As summer is coming to an end, I have been thinking about the great times we have had this summer!

We went to Canyon for the fourth of July. It literally rained on our parade and the fireworks were cancelled, but we still had a great time with the fam.

We also got to go to Great Wolf Lodge. It was a total blast, and Ben keeps asking when we will get to go back! He could have stayed there a whole additional day, but the rest of us were wiped out!

I also did some interviewing over the summer and have accepted a new position within my company. I will be working from home starting September 7. I am excited and nervous about the new job.

Lanny and I celebrated our 8th anniversary and had an awesome date night while some super sweet friends kept the kiddos.

And, we went to the circus...Zing, Zang, Zoom!! I still hear those 'magic' words all the time!

Brandt'ler' as we call him, turned 1 year old...so hard to believe! We had a small get together to celebrate the little guy! His doctor visit went well, but we have confirmed that he has food allergies. I am still trying to figure that all out, but for now, I know that he is allergic to dairy, egg, and peanut. And, possibly wheat, sesame seed, corn, and soy. We will hopefully meet with the allergist soon.

As the summer comes to a close, a big chapter in our life is over and a new one is beginning. Ben starts kindergarten next week. We found out this week who his teacher will be, and we have Meet the Teacher night tomorrow night. He couldn't be more excited! I, on the other hand, am barely holding it together!!

Dance Party

I am so delinquent on so many posts from this month, but I had to pop in and share this:

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Family Circus, Volume 4

Ben:

Ben lost his first tooth! It was hanging on by a thread for a few days. I tried to pull it myself, but I chickened out. Lanny and I were both too scared to pull it for fear that it would hurt and Ben would have a bad experience with the first tooth. I also kind of got the heebie jeebies when I went in to pull it :)

So, thank goodness for a friend who grew up in rural Mississippi. She came over, saw the loose tooth, and just yanked that thing right out! I think she is used to that kind of thing ;) (Just kidding, Melissa!! And, yes, Melissa does have all of her teeth!!! :) )

He had a really hard time letting go of the tooth. The first night, he didn't want to let the tooth fairy come and get it because he wanted to keep the tooth. So, we told him he could keep it until he was ready to give it to the tooth fairy. He put it under his pillow the next night ;)

Ben also finished up another t-ball season. This season was SO much better than last year. We all enjoyed it so much more!

Lindley:

Lindley talks, sings, and dances, and talks and sings! Everything is a song. Here is what I heard in the back seat one day:

To the tune of "Are you sleeping"

"I want a snow cone, I want a snow cone, I want a snow cone! I want a snow cone!"

She is loving hats these days:

And, everything is "ferfect!"

I also get much encouragement from her when I use the bathroom, "Good job, Mommy!"

She is quite the boss (hmm, wonder where she gets that?)!!

I promise I do have many more pictures of her; it just seems like she is filthy in all of them!! I do NOT have a girlie girl!!

Brandt:

Brandt is all over the place now that he is mobile! He LOVES Ben's room, possibly because it is a forbidden place due to all of the toys with choke-able parts.

Lanny recently cut his hair, which was much needed! I was amazed at how much hair he had!

Before:

During:

After:

He is loving the finger foods, which is awesome. At first, he choked and gagged on anything that he put in his mouth. But, he loves it all now!

Lanny:

Here is Lanny on Father's Day with all of his kiddos! He is such a great dad!!

It has begun...

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Summer's Here!

The Graduate!

Ben graduated from Pre-K last week. I can't believe our baby is growing up so fast. There is no doubt that I am going to be a mess on the first day of Kindergarten. I could barely make it through graduation!! And, truth be told, I did tear up a little.

Here is the video of the walk across the "stage." Sorry it is way jumpy, I was busy waving, etc. at Ben!

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Summer 'do

Apparently this is all the rage with the 5 year old boys....




















Lanny has been Ben's barber for a while now, so yes, that is a kid's cape!

I like the cut much better than I thought I would, but I was really sad to see all that blonde hair gone!

Family Circus Volume 3

Ben:

Ben is busy playing t-ball and nearing the end of Pre-K! Lately, he has been entertaining us with his stories and comments. Here are a few recent ones:

Ben (after school one day): Maddie, the other Maddie, and Sydney are in love with me.
Me: Oh really! How do you know that?
Ben: They told me.
Me: Hmm. What does that mean that they are in love with you? Does that mean that you are really good friends?
Ben: No, Mom!! (like, duh!) It means that they are in love with me. Like, when you and Daddy got to be married, you got to be in love.
Me: Oh, okay! Well, did you know I'm still in love with your daddy?
Ben: (kind of embarrassed)
Then, Ben: But, I'm not in love with them....

Then, the other day, Ben was telling me that sometimes he wished that he could stay up and go to bed when his daddy and me went to bed. I asked him if he thought it was because we did fun things after he went to bed. He said that he wanted to talk to us, that it was like we were having 'secret conversations.'

Then, today, he was a little bit upset that we got to have Mother's Day, then we get to celebrate Father's Day, then my birthday, then Daddy's birthday. How come Mommy and Daddy get to have 2 celebrations?!? He was really sweet today, though, telling me that he liked my dress, told me happy mother's day several times, and was excited to give me my present.




















Lindley:

She is becoming more and more of a conversationalist. She constantly "meeds" something. She has also been making sure that I know how to say stuff. Like yesterday, we were talking about her Batman bandaid. She asks me, "Can you say 'Batman'?" So, I say "Yes, Batman." She says, "Good job, Mommy!"

And, she continues to delight us with her singing and dancing! It seems like I'm always posting videos of her singing...because that's all she does!!

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Brandt:

He is growing like a little weed! He is not crawling yet, but I don't think he is too far off. He still loves his mommy and loves to be held....all the time! He has two bottom teeth, and is about to turn 9 months old!! Time is just flying by!




















My favorite people and the homemade sign!

The Un-blogged

Things have been so crazy for us lately, and there are so many things that have gone un-blogged, unfortunately. Here are some highlights of the last few weeks:

Disney on Ice:

We got to take a field trip to Disney on Ice (i.e. really cheap tickets and great seats) and it was awesome! Then, afterwards, had lunch with friends and took a ride on the free trolley downtown. It is an old trolley that when you get to the end, you have to turn your seat around for it to go the other way. So fun!

Easter:

We spent Easter in Tulsa at my dad's. The kids hunted Easter eggs, and we got to see my aunt and uncle at Incredible Pizza. The "Easter Bunny" talked Ben into asking for a new Ice Cream maker, which the Easter Bunny was happy to deliver! ;) The Easter Bunny also left resurrection eggs, which was neat for Ben to open and talk about why we celebrate Easter. Although, we had already been talking about it so much. The night before Easter morning, Ben wanted a story before bedtime, so I told him the story of Jesus on the cross and rising on Easter morning. When I left to walk out of the room, he said, "Mom, you forgot some parts of the story. First of all, after the tomb was opened, the women ran back to tell some of the disciples. Then, the disciples raced back to the tomb to see." :)

(note to self: do not take picture of cute kid in front of a reflective surface)