If only...

If only I were 16 again, I would want a VW bug for my first car.

If only 3 car seats would fit in the backseat, I would want a VW bug for a car right now.

If only the trunk of the VW bug would fit more than 4 bags of groceries, I would want one for my "go to the grocery store" car.

If only I had extra money lying around to buy a "doing errands, going to the grocery store, totally impractical" car, I would want a VW bug.

If only I wasn't totally afraid of flipping a car over (and I have done this before) and not having a roof above my head, I would want a convertible VW bug so that Tate and I could ride around with the "shed" down.

As luck would have it, today we experienced the next best thing to owning a VW bug. Our neighbor bought one for his newly 16 year old daughter. He graciuosly let us take it for a little spin in the neighborhood. It is amazingly roomier than I had imagined. I also thought it would feel as if I were driving a skateboard, but it doesn't. It feels safer somehow than I thought it would and higher off the ground, too. It was quite the highlight of my day, maybe even my week. Cora summed it up with her two statements : "I excited, I excited!" and "Yay, mommy, yay mommy!"

A bug suits me, don't you think?

Lolly

Some of Cora's favorite things...

I like my favorite things lists so much that I am devoting a post to Cora's favorite things. Here we go....



1. Stickers, stickers, everywhere,
Stickers, stickers, in my hair...





2. Rainbow shoes (she can wear them with anything! And, she does!) (on a side note, these are almost too small so I have been checking at Target waiting for them to be clearanced, guess what? They were clearanced to $3.73, so I bought the next TWO sizes for her! The only two pair left in her future sizes! She can have RAINBOW SHOES for the next TWO years! WOOHOO!)





3. Bouncy Balls (She loves her ball, her bouncy ball! (If you watch Dora, maybe you remember the episode where Boots buys a bouncy ball only to have it lost to the gooey guyser or something like that? Not to worry, though, the ending is always happy. He finds his ball before it meets its doom.)




4. Pillows (preferably stacked all around her and on top of her but not to worry, I remove them while she is sleeping)





5. Blankies (her most beloved treasure - the more, the better. We don't leave home without them. If we do, we turn around and go get them. That's why we were late for Sunday School this past Sunday. There are a few places I can get by without having a blankie, church is most definitely not one of those places. Bedtime and naptime are the other two times I do not want to be missing a blankie.)





6. Her new (but actually it is a hand-me-down) sleeping bag.




7. Hairbows (Just kidding! She hates hairbows! She likes the idea of hairbows and will allow me to SOMETIMES put them in, but she ALWAYS takes them out either prior to leaving the house, in the car en route to our destination, or as soon as we arrive at said destination, or shortly thereafter.) I have ALMOST given up.

Just in case you are wondering, these never made it out the door.

Lolly

The Birthday Boy

It's official. Ben is five. The Birthday boy had a great time at his little party. We had typical party fare: pizza, cake, and icecream (plus I threw in a salad and fruit for good measure - I thought why not throw something a little healthy in!).

I must say he got some pretty cool stuff. A nintendo DS, DS games and accessories, yellow balls of all sizes, an assortment of sports balls, a BB gun, movies, monster trucks, the list goes on! I just don't remember getting that much stuff when I was five!

A little story to go along with why we gave him a DS. We always said we'd wait about a nintendo DS until the kids were older. No need to give them video games so soon. I had already bought Ben's birthday present months before (there was a great sale, what can I say?) Two weeks before his birthday he relentlessly began asking every day for a DS. Every day. Without fail. Now, you may be thinking so what? All kids do that. Not Ben. We always have a difficult time figuring out what to get Ben because Ben just goes with the flow which usually means whatever Tate wants, Ben wants. Or, whatever we suggest to Ben, he wants. This was the FIRST time that we can recall Ben actually coming to us with an idea of something he REALLY WANTED. We put it off, we tried to convince him otherwise, we relented and bought the Nintendo DS. He LOVES it! And, what is super cool to us is that he is the first child to get one, even though he is not the oldest child. You may be thinking, so what? Well, Ben is the middle child, the second boy so he pretty much gets all of Tate's leftovers, his hand-me-downs, his old toys, etc. So, for Ben to get something that even Tate has never had is pretty cool in my book. It's also about time! I feel bad for Ben sometimes because I feel like Tate and Cora get all the new stuff while Ben is "stuck" in the middle with the "old" stuff. (I actually get Ben more than I probably need to but still...). And, though I thought he might be too young to grasp how to use the DS, I was mistaken. He is now teaching me how to use the DS.

Yum, yum, yum, cookie cake.

Happy Birthday Ben!

Happy, Happy Birthday Ben!

Five years old today. Time flies. I can't believe Ben is five! Wow!


In my last post, I left you with Ben at age 3. Quick progression through the next 2 years...


(These were all taken in 2008.)



"uper strong" Ben... (Ben couldn't say his "s". So super strong became "uper strong" and he always raised his arms like this when he said it.)





Big 4 year old boy Ben... (at his preschool party)



Rock star Ben...




Chillin' at the beach Ben...





Disney Ben....






And, now onto the 2009 Ben....



Ben lost his first tooth...well, sort of. He actually had another one in the back to crack (he fell off a swing) and it had to be pulled. This one in the front was knocked loose from an incident on a teeter totter. A few months later, he twisted it out.






Some photos of Ben taken in the spring of this year...












And, Ben's first day of 4 year old pre-school. He looks really excited, huh?




And, that brings us up to date! Wow! The years have flown by! We love our little Ben and no matter how big he gets, he will always be our little Ben, our sweet Baby Ben. Happy Birthday, Ben!


Lolly

The Middle Child - Part V

Yes, Ben still had a pacy after the age of 2. But, so far, he has turned out ok. He didn't start pre school with them. No damage to his teeth or psyche as far as I know.

An Easter picture gone wrong. This was one of the first pictures we tried with all three kids without an adult. Ben is doing his best to make her laugh but she isn't having it.

Ben with his Easter presents....

Remember how much Ben loves, loves, loves his pacy? Well, here he is nearing the age of 3, yes, he is almost 3 and still has a pacy....but, you do whatyagottado when you have 3 under the age of 4. He has 3 in his mouth at this point. He must have been trying to enjoy them for as long as he could because he knew what was coming. Our planned trip to the zoo to give the baby animals his pacies.

Good-bye dear, sweet pacy. You have been a good friend to me. I will love you always. Or, something along those lines.

Lolly

The Middle Child - Part IV

Ok, so I seriously have some gaps in pictures. But, here is Ben in the spring of 2006. He is approaching the 18 month mark, I think. And, in my very unbiased opinion, he is getting cuter and cuter. He loved, loved, loved his pacy. He loved having more than one pacy at a time. He loved trying to put as many as he could into his mouth.

The summer of 2006 was full of adventure for us. Ben and Tate discovered wrestling which to this day, they are still trying to perfect. We went strawberry pickin'. Ben fell in love with a stuffed dog that we named Ralphie.

We took Ben to the beach for the first time. He didn't really like the sand, or the ocean, or much of anything except sitting under the umbrella on the rented chair eating snacks with his beloved pacy. We discovered he would play in the sand only if he were sitting on a towel while in the sand. We ate on a Pirate ship and with a big bull.



Then, before we could blink he was turning 2, and we were expecting baby #3.

Where, oh, where does the time go? This seems like yesterday but it was 3 years ago!

Lolly

The Middle Child - part III

Ahhh, Ben. Sweet Baby Ben.

By Christmas of 2004, Ben was finally filling out. Tate enjoyed being a big brother. We took them to see Santa. We had a hard time keeping Ben dressed because Tate liked unsnapping Ben's snaps and taking off his clothes. Ben adored him. Ahh, those were the good 'ole days.

Now-a-days, if they are this close to one another, it probably means they have each other in a headlock or worse.

By Easter of 2005, Ben had emerged as quite the happy baby. Most of the time, he was smiling and happy.

These may be my favorite Easter outfits. We all coordinated so nicely. It's really harder to do than one may think. Or at least it is for me.

How cute are they???

Evidently, we must have become very busy because for the next few months, pictures are few and far between. But, here he is Mr. GQ, himself in the summer months.

I learned a very important lesson on Ben's first birthday. Never, ever buy a young child a cake with dark blue icing if you intend for them to play in that cake. Dark blue icing is very, very difficult to remove. Thank goodness I was thinking straight when I stripped him down BEFORE giving him the cake with the very difficult to remove dark blue icing.

Our first trip to Burt's pumpkin farm. Ben was quite the helper.

Hmmm.....which one should I pick? Which one, which one, which one?

More to come on the next few years.... in the next few posts....

Lolly