Saturday, August 29, 2009

to my old work family: good luck

my posts are typically about my family; just cute little pictures & a few words about the kiddos for friends & family to see how they are growing. my mostly happy little world here for all to see.

yesterday, there was some news in our area that has just made me sick. i know it's this way everywhere, but now it has hit very close to home.

when i got out of college, i went to work in the quality engineering department at an appliance manufacturer. i don't think i could have dreamt of a better team to work with. i had some great mentors & made some friends that i will hold for a lifetime, all while learning important tools of being an engineer. 4 years ago, once mr. ben was on his way, daddio & i made the decision i would be a stay at home momma. i look back on my times at work with a smile on my face, remembering lots of good times & accomplishments.

the company announced yesterday that they will be closing the manufacturing facility here in 2010; sending over 1,000 jobs to mexico. i pray for the all the workers & their families dealing with this loss. the media reports that the 300 development/engineering jobs are still in limbo. i hope the company makes the right decision (in my opinion, knowing some of these folks)& doesn't outsource them.

slipping and a sliding

i bought a slip & slide on clearance. why, i don't know. our yard is compeletly flat. so not so much sliding.


ben was not impressed.

until....

daddio put it on the real slide. i said daddio's to blame.

i know, something not recommended.

but ben sure had fun. every slide down, he'd say "yeah, that's what i'm talking about!!!"

gracie did take 1 slide down with us holding onto her, but for once was not her usual daredevil self& kept her feet on the ground (thank goodness).

hope everyone's having a wet & wild weekend!

Thursday, August 27, 2009

halloween costumes

someone last week mentioned halloween & i realized the kids & i haven't even talked about costumes yet. so last night we started looking & talking. we received a magazine in the the mail just for the occasion. ben had several he wanted to be; a dinosaur, a bakugan man (he doesn't even know what these are!), a ninja. we then remembered daddio brought him & gracie home some gowns homes from japan last winter. costume solved for ben! i asked him to pose for a picture & this is what he came up with. he's balancing on a bilibo to show his expert samuri/ninja skills. i'm lovin it!


miss gracie has her heart set on being a choo-choo - just like this. i don't think anything else will do at this point.

Wednesday, August 26, 2009

watch out old north, here comes hurricane ben!



yesterday was my baby's first day of preschool. yes, i know it was time for baby bird to leave the nest at 3 1/2. this was the longest he had ever been a part from me since miss gracie was born & well, we all now how that turned out! (it was a bit traumatic for him & me both to be apart from each other, but we survived)

he woke up roaring & ready to go yesterday! the bad thing was, school didn't start till 11:45 (we are not typically morning people). so, i tried my very best to keep everyone entertained till it was time. momma had to pop a xanax to calm herself down. we were all a bit too anxious!
miss gracie smiling for big bubby's first day of school, she wanted to go too!

we got to school & ben ran straight up to the door & started tapping on it with another boy (it was locked). i asked him to come wait by him momma & sis, which i think embarrased him a bit.

when they did open the doors, we went right into his room, he said, "hi mrs.p" and was ready to play. i had to ask him to give me & gracie hugs bye & told him we'd be back. he said ok.

he didn't say too much about the day. you could tell it really wore him out. we were going to play on the playground with an older boy we had met earlier last week, but ben wanted to go home.

he said at preschool they did sing songs,played outside, there's another ben in his class, and that he had fun. i think he really likes his teacher, so that's great! he said he wants to tell his cousin darby ALL about it though. then i'll hear the juicy details. i do know a little one (not mine) got in trouble for not sharing & my little one was the onw that told. oh my!

he wants to go back today; actually he said last night he'd rather go 6 days of the week instead of being home with me. boo hoo!

Sunday, August 23, 2009

namaw & poppy's garden

namaw & poppy's garden is still growing lots of goodies! we went out there this morning with some bags to fill.......

gracie was thrilled at the abundance of tomatoes (or apples as she calls them) in the garden!

there were some mighty fine ones the kiddos plucked.

this one was sooo big, ben could hardly carry it!!

thank you namaw & poppy for the yummy goodies, we will enjoy them!

are you ready for some football??



this weekend was filled with lots of fun back at namaw & poppy's home. we went out to uncle rocky & aunt jane's to celebrate gavin's 12th birthday on saturday evening. lots of good food & fun as always out there. the boys, being boys, played a game of football. they included mr. ben in the game & he loved every minute of it! they were so good to not hurt him, but made sure he was a part of all the fun. his big cousins are the best!



miss gracie had a good time on the sidelines, blowing bubbles & charming the crowd with her smile.

damaw's cakes

just wanted to show what 50 candles looks like.. whoa, momma!

ben, gracie & daddio worked hard putting them all in place!

Sunday, August 16, 2009

a very special birthday girl

hip hip hooray, it's damaw's birthday today! 3 cheers for you!

you made a mistake by calling yourself "old" today... miss gracie picked up on that right away! now she points at you & says "old!" she says it in her sweetest voice though.

what a beauty you have always been inside & out. i love you mom.

Thursday, August 13, 2009

a fun day at the children's museum




we went to cmoe today with some friends. it was a great thing to do, as i wasn't motivated to get out of my pajamas.

the first area we entered was the ball area. ben did not want to leave. he was in heaven. balls everywhere. balls that float,
, balls to throw, balls to load, balls to dump, balls to launch,
you name it.

there's a section in the museum intitled big. there's a great big nose the kiddos can crawl through. here's miss grace inside that old nose.
the kids enjoyed pulling out a poor lady's intestines.


everyone's favorite part, was of course, downstairs, in the basement where all the balls go to. where the water is.... gracie ended up like a drowned rat; due to her need to fill up a basket with holes in it & carry it over to the large waterhole in the center over & over again. but, she had a good time. & we had a change of clothes, so no problem..
miss melissa makin some fog bubbles

after her water play, miss g decided to move on to bridge building. do i see a civil engineer in the future??


hope everyone is having a funtastic day!

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

teeshirts to tiedye for


ben was growing out of his tiedyed shirts, so it was time for a new batch. this year, i let them have free reign to color them all by themselves. (a very hard thing for me to do, knowing the color wouldn't be reaching into all the little nooks and crannies, but oh well).
i put rubberbands on several white tees & let the kids go to down. we had left over dye from joann's summer clearance last year. this stuff rocks. you just squirt it on; no ash dye to mess with, no pretreatment involved, you just get to squirting.
gracie's favorite canvas, was once again, herself (& me)

ben worked so hard on each shirt.

here is his favorite shirt. viola!

gracie thought this one was the best to relax on after all the hard artistry.

Sunday, August 9, 2009

hush little baby,

this is a picture from when my gracie was a baby & i didn't leave her sleeping there for long. but i love this picture of them laying together. the kids have their own beds, but have never slept in them alone through the night. we all end up sleeping together. i must say i enjoy the closeness. gracie in one arm, ben in the middle and holding daddio's hand. it's peaceful until i hear my husband start to drift to sleep & his motor start snoring. then i pick gracie up & we move to ben's bed.

well, anyways, this past week we had a fun-filled day at the zoo where the kids walked the entire time & were totalled exhausted. they were both cuddled between us watching "king of the hill" (not the best show for kids, i know, but we were tired). ben was holding gracie & it was sooo sweet. all of a sudden, he noticed she was asleep. he was soo proud of himself as a big brother getting her to sleep. he even woke up daddio to tell him the great news. daddio, in his semi-conscience state was of course thrilled & told him ben to try & get him to sleep. so that was ben's next goal. ben told me once he did that we could talk, just like grown ups do.

Tuesday, August 4, 2009

my rockstar in training

when we ask ben what he's going to be when he grows up, he replies matter-of-factly, a rock star.

it's entitled "oh little kitten" & get's a little wild towards the end. i don't blame you if you can't handle listening to it all!

Sunday, August 2, 2009

packing up for preschool



the other morning, when ben was putting on his good morning clothes all by himself, he decided to pack up his backpack for preschool. he was carefully thinking about what all he might need.
he packed the following:
* sunglasses to play in case it was bright outside
* 3 cars - 1 for him, 1 for alaina, & 1 for a new friend at preschool
* a book for storytime like at the library
* a block for building
* a keyboard for music time(but it wouldn't fit)
* a pillow for naptime (it wouldn't fit & he doesn't take naps)
* a ball to play with

he looks all set to me! i can't believe my little guy is 3 1/2 & getting ready to start preschool. it seems like yesterday he was just born. time flies by so fast.