Something that should never happen...

You should never look in a picture folder on your computer and see pictures of your family playing in the snow IMMEDIATELY following pictures of your family playing at the beach. But that is the exactly what you will find if you look in our March 2009 folder.
So Saturday we got hit by a blizzard. We woke up and there was no snow, none whatsoever. By the time Mike left for work at 9am it was just getting going. When Mike went to leave work around noon he was worried he might get stuck in the parking lot and he had to clear several inches of snow off his car. CRAZY! This was really the only snow we've had this year, we've had ice and freezing rain, but this was our first snow.
Mike took Benson and Grace out twice to play in the snow. Sabrina joined them the second time for a little bit. She wasn't feeling well and had a hard time making up her mind whether she wanted to play outside with Daddy or snuggle inside with Mommy. It was great packing snow, so they threw some snowballs and started to make a snowman which turned into a snow dog. Benson apparently has great aim with snowballs particularly in the facial region. They had fun and I was glad Mike was home to take them out to play in it! So our kids went to the beach one Saturday and played in the snow a week later. And it was all melted by Sunday night.

1 - The house across the street, notice the HUGE snowflakes, 2 - Ben and Grace trudging through the snow, 3 - Don't worry, he didn't throw it at me, he wouldn't dare, 4 - Just below 4"...we got another 1" to 1 and a half inches before all was said and done, 5 - Snowball Fight, 6 - Daddy educating Sabrina in the finer points of snowball fighting, 7 - Benson eating snow, 8 - Silly Gracie, 9 - Sad Breeny

Snow Dog close-up

Snow Dog full body

Spring Break

We had such a fun Spring Break that it has taken us all of this past week to recover. On Wednesday the 18th we hopped in the car in the morning, not quite as early as we intended, and headed down to San Antonio. The kids were fantastic on the drive. I almost read a whole 3 book series, that's how good they were. We stopped at the biggest outlet malls I have ever seen just outside of San Antonio. Oh how I wish we still lived closer to outlet malls! We shopped until we almost dropped and then got to our hotel just in time to get some sleep before our big day at Sea World on Thursday.
Sea World was lots of fun despite the unbelievable crowds. The lines to wait for food were at least 45-1 hour, sometimes longer and that was even at the stands that just had drinks. We first headed to see Shamu the Whale, "Shampoo" as Grace likes to call him. Benson was interested and entertained, Grace was amazed, and Sabrina was terrified. I think it was the music that scared her, but I don't think she has ever clutched my neck so tightly. I did eventually get her to turn around and watch and I think she did enjoy it. After "Shampoo" Grandma and Grandpa were kind enough to take the kids to do some stuff in the little kid area and to the dolphin show while Mike and I headed to ride some of the bigger rides with Aunt Jenny and Aunt Sarah. The rides were fun but I think I might be reaching the point where I can't ride them anymore. I felt so dizzy after both of them. I think Mike, Jenny, and Sarah loved them. After some more playing in the little kids area we went to see the Sea Lion show which has hilarious and my personal favorite. Benson was giggling uncontrollably the WHOLE show. Our favorite part was when they said "freeze" to a little otter and he raised both hands above his head. Hilarious! Mike was standing in line the whole sea lion show to get us food so after it was over we went and ate. My mom and I took the kids to a Sesame Street show that was there while everyone else rode on some of the big rides again. Then Mike took Benson to ride the log ride since he was tall enough and I took the girls over to the small water park which was totally packed. They played for a little while in the water and then we had to wait and wait and wait for Mike and Ben to get back, since they had to wait over an hour in the line to go on the ride. By that point everything was so packed, it was getting hotter, and we were all tired from a long day. We headed back to the hotel where Mike took Ben and Grace swimming and Sabrina took a long, late nap. It was fun to see that Benson hasn't lost any of his swimming skills since last summer and that Grace is as brave now as she was at the end of the summer, I was a little worried she might have to warm up to the water again. After baths and pizza (the kids ate a whole medium pizza and an order of cheesesticks all by themselves), we left them with Grandma and Grandpa so Mike and I could go eat at our favorite Mexican restaurant in Texas, Pappasitos. We must say thank you SO MUCH to Grandma and Grandpa, Aunt Jenny, and Aunt Sarah for letting us crash their vacation and helping us so much with the kids.


On Friday, Uncle John and Aunt Emily joined us and we headed to downtown San Antonio to see the Alamo. We watched the Imax movie of the battle of the Alamo (wouldn't really recommend it for small children) and then went to go try and see the Alamo but the lines were enormous just to get inside. So we settled for walking around the outside. We ate lunch and then we said good-bye to my family and headed to Houston to see Mike's family. Friday evening we had a yummy barbecue and then headed over to play at the park. The kids were so thrilled to be able to spend so much time outside in such nice weather.




On Saturday we had a relaxing morning just hanging out and then in the afternoon we headed down to Uncle John and Aunt Emily's so we could go to the beach. The kids had so much fun at the beach last year, we wanted to make sure we had the opportunity to take them again. It was a little chilly but they still had a blast. Benson headed straight into the water, Grace took a lot of convincing to go in at all, and Sabrina took a little while to warm up and then she was the last one out. I love seeing the stark contrasts in their little personalities.




We went to church and relaxed on Sunday and then got up early Monday morning, again not as early as we wanted, to drive home. On our way home we stopped at more outlet malls in the Dallas area and also went to a nice sit-down restaurant before heading home. It has been a while since we have taken the kids to a nicer restaurant and they were all impressively good. Now if it just wasn't so expensive we would probably do it more often. We arrived home Monday night tired and ready for bed. Mike and I were just going to skip Family Night (on Monday nights we set aside time to teach the kids about our church and other important life lessons and play games together) because we had had a lot of family togetherness already, but the kids (mostly Grace) insisted (read: threw a fit) that we needed to have Family Night. So we pulled out one of the new lessons Grandma Kathy had sent home with us and we had Family Night. I just wanted to record this because I'm pretty sure there will come a day when there will be fit throwing because Mike and I insist on Family Night rather than the other way around. Thanks to Grandma for helping us be prepared to teach our righteous little souls!
It was a great break from reality and we enjoyed seeing Mike so much since he has been putting in especially long hours at work lately.

Benson's Life in Pictures

Benson 0-11 months

Benson 1 year to almost 2 years

Benson 2 years to almost 3 years

Benson 3 years to almost 4 years

Benson 4 years to almost 5 years

High 5!

Benson officially turned 5 on Sunday. After church we headed to Grandma Stacey and Grandpa Jeff's house to celebrate. After a yummy roast dinner we had cake and ice cream. We had to be creative because I forgot to bring candles, so he got to blow out a candle with 3 wicks that had 2 matches stuck in it. Benson requested a Magic School Bus cake which is another one of his favorite things these days. Then we finally let him open his presents after making him wait ALL day long! He was excited.


Some things I want to remember about Benson at this age:
Benson's memory amazes me every day. He has recently learned all the planets (in order), the stages of development of insects, and he's working on the state capitals. He continues to progress in his reading abilities. He asks TONS of questions. When we read scriptures before bed he often stops several times each verse to ask what the words mean that he's just read. Benson has recently developed a love of chess and checkers. He loves the nights when his Daddy is home to put him to bed because he will play a game of chess and checkers with him after the girls are in bed. Daddy is also using this as an opportunity to teach him to be a good sport. Ben loves animals. He loves learning about animals and interacting with animals, especially bugs. Benson has gotten so tall lately! I don't know if it happened all at once or I've just taken notice but he just seems so huge all of a sudden. His teacher told me the other day how proud she is of Benson and how much he has matured.
Benson loves to hear the story of the day he was born and how excited Mike and I were to have him come to our family. It's hard to believe that it's been 5 years since we became parents. Benson continues to teach us and bless our family so much. We are so grateful that is our oldest child and to have his influence in our home. Happy Birthday Benson!

Anyone Can Cook!

This morning we had Benson's birthday party. His actual birthday is Sunday, but since today is the last day of school before Spring Break we thought this would be the best time.

I was pretty proud of the invitations. I really, really love photoshop!

Benson LOVES to cook! His favorite channel lately is Food Network, with his favorite shows being Good Eats and Chopped. So we thought a chef theme would be most appropriate. We started out at a local pizza place, Mazzio's, for a kitchen tour. Unfortunately when we showed up the workers there had no idea we were coming even though it had been arranged. I was worried we were going to have to leave without our kitchen tour, but then Mike showed up and saved the day. He eventually got an apology over the telephone from an area manager, and we got lunch for free! The kids were so good and had a great time. First we ate pizza, then they took us back for the tour. They let the kids play with some dough and showed them the machine that rolls it out. The kids each got to put toppings on their own mini pizza and then they put them in the oven. While our pizzas cooked they showed them the big mixer they use to make the dough and the big freezer. Everyone got to take home their own mini pizza.

1 - The kids enjoying their pizza, 2 - The kids again with more of them looking at the camera, 3 - The moms chatting and eating pizza, 4 - Playing with the pizza dough, 5 - Deciding which toppings they wanted to add, 6 - Taking their pizzas to the oven, 7 - Adding toppings, 8 - Grace headed to the oven, 9 - Checking out the big mixer

Benson, Sabrina, and Grace holding their mini pizzas

Then we headed back to our house. First, the kids got to decorate their own little aprons. My mom got a new sewing machine for Christmas and used this project to figure out the embroidering function, so all of the kid's names were embroidered on their aprons. (THANKS AGAIN MOM!) We had markers, paint with sponges, and iron-on transfers. They all turned out really cute. Then they each got to decorate their own cupcake. We put 5 candles in Benson's little cupcake and sang Happy Birthday to him. We finished up opening presents just in time for the kids to get to afternoon Pre-K.

1 - Decorating aprons, 2 - Several completed aprons, 3 - Benson and Mommy working with the iron-on transfers, 4 - Decorating cupcakes, 5 - More decorating cupcakes, 6 - Daddy lighting all 5 of Benson's candles, 7&8 - Benson opening presents, 9 - Benson's Cafe


Each guest got to take home a jar of chocolate chip cookie mix to make at home.


All in all I think we can call this birthday party a smashing success! Stay tuned for more birthday fun over the next few days. Happy Birthday Benson!

So cute!

So the other night, Benson, Grace, and I were watching a show on Food Network, our new favorite channel. Suddenly I became aware that Sabrina was not with us and was singing very loudly from somewhere. So I pulled out the camera and this is what I found.

She makes up songs like this and entertains herself all the time. I love her little voice (minus when she screams bloody murder!). So I decided to ask her some questions.

Just so you know, when I asked her who she loves most, I was pointing at myself. Little stinker likes to tease me.

Sabrina is such a sweet girl. Lately she will just out of the blue tell me that she loves me and give me kisses. Today during church she hugged me and then told me that I have such beautiful hair. I love my Breeny baby!

Seuss is on the Loose

On Monday night our local library had a party to celebrate Dr. Seuss' birthday. They had 3 guest readers come read a Dr. Seuss book. The favorite was definitely "Mr. Brown Can Moo, Can You?" The lady who read it was hilarious and the kids got so into it. Then they had several different activites. You could go fishing at the "one fish, two fish" station, make Dr. Seuss hats, see how many apple bean bags you could balance on your head at the "ten apples up on top" station, and my personal favorite, you could jump up and down on a small square of bubble wrap at the "hop on pop" station. They also had an awesome cake that looked like a Dr. Seuss book with a huge Dr. Seuss (red and white striped) hat in the middle of it, which was also very delicious. It was lots of fun and I wish I had brought my camera.

The kids modeling their Dr. Seuss hats

If your pajamas are too big...

you just might look like this when you wake up in the morning.




Sabrina insists on wearing these Christmas pajamas that are still a size too big for her. They are actually a little large on Grace. Usually it's just her legs that are not in the right spot in the morning, but this particular morning one of her arms was in the wrong arm hole and the other wasn't in a hole. She must have had a rough night!