Swim Lessons! :-)

Benjamin and I have SO much fun going to swim lessons twice a week! He does a private lesson with a teacher and a parent/tot class with me. The idea is that eventually Benjamin learns to roll over in the water and float on his back should he ever fall into water, and in the meantime we just have lots of fun getting used to going under the water and splashing around! These pictures are from the parent/tot class we went to about a week ago.

Okay, so you have to be patient with the video, this is the first time I've ever attempted to put one together! Thank goodness Jonathan was able to help me with it!

(Question for you all, our camcorder spent most of it's time at the pool having a shutter panic-attack, where it would open and close repeatedly every other second. It did the same thing with the snow, I assume due to reflection? Anyone know how to fix that in the future?)

Okay, here you go, I think this is super cute. ;-)

This 1st picture is one of my favorites, it was actually taken towards the end of the lesson, proving that Benjamin really does like his swim lessons!

Benjamin getting used to the water in his little baby wet suit. Despite the pool being kept around 90 degrees, Benjamin would be cold and shivering half way through his lessons! Poor kiddo is just about 7th percentile for weight and just doesn't have enough body fat to keep him warm! So the wet suit has actually helps. :-)

Benjamin floating, he usually doesn't love this part, but this week he started to relax and wasn't crying!! Success!

This is the "humpty dumpty" game, where we sing a song and then all the babies jump off the wall...

And down into the water!

Yea Benjamin!! :-) He actually doesn't mind going under the water at all, he does great!

Learning to kick in the water:

Another round of humpty-dumpty:

See?! Happy Benjamin! ;-)

More floating, Benjamin still has his lion toy:

In the water Benjamin (I'm humming, disregard the funny expression, we're trying to teach him to close his mouth and hum when he going under water instead of trying to swallow all the pool water... yuck! It's kinda working...):

He is actually looking at a toy that is off to the left...

All done! Just rinsing off, he's so stinking CUTE!!! Look at those baby legs, I love them!!

My Craft Night Accomplishment

This picture frame is the result of a fun filled craft night at Carlie's mom Louise's house. Carlie is my friend Jenny's sister in law. (Whew, there's a chain for you to follow!) I am SO happy with how this turned out! The scripture is from John 14:27. (Amidst all the crazy Cricut activity I forgot to cut out the reference, I may or may not add it later.)

When I was in YW one of my advisors (wish I could remember which so I could thank her...) gave us a little printed handout one Sunday with this scripture on it. It was taped to the wall in my bedroom next to my lightswitch while I was a teenager, where I read it multiple times a day for years... (people like young women leaders will never know the full scope of the positive impact they can have!) Anyway, it definitely became my favorite scripture, and I've been trying to find some way to display it for a while now with no success, so I am excited to have this done!

You may not be impressed, but if you understand and accommodate for my lack of vision and artistic talent then you will be! Everything is just vinyl lettering and designs from the Cricut that I transferred to the frame. Easy in theory, but again, lack of crafting talent means it took me a while!! (In fact it took me the WHOLE NIGHT to figure out fonts and text sizes so I could cut everything out, and I had to bring it all home and finish it on my own!)

Thank you, thank you, thank you, Louise!! I could not have done this without your help and generous sharing of your supplies! It truly means so much to me to have this! I love how it turned out!

Jack and Benjamin :-)

These two get cuter together every day, so much fun! Watch out Jack, here comes lovin!! ;-)

It is SO much fun to watch the puppy outside!

Happy Birthday to Everyone!! :-)

So I guess it's about time to get around to explaining the new "birthday theme" of our blog! It just so happens that during a fun-filled two week period, we all have birthdays! Jonathan's birthday is on Jan 31st, mine is Feb 5th, and Benjamin turned ONE on Feb 12th! If you count our individual families also, we add my brother Bryan and Jonathan's mom Mary (Feb 7th), my mom (Feb 15th), Jonathan's sister Liz (Feb 20th), and if we branch out to include friends the list just doesn't end! I don't know what it is about the month of May... must be something about not having to wear all those winter layers... ha ha! Okay, so moving on... ;-)

This is a little late coming, and I'm generally more of a "picture-poster" than an emotional one, but I have to say happy birthday to my wonderful husband Jonathan! I couldn't do it without your love and support! I am so proud of how hard you work, both at your job and at home. I love that I can tell how much you love our little Benjamin. I love that you're a sucker for his smiling face when he looks up at you. :-) I love that we can talk and talk and talk about everything there is, and that we often do. I love all of our memories of past projects, vacations and time spent together. I love sharing our ongoing adventures together as we continue to live and experience life. I can't believe how far we have come, both from the good experiences and the bad, and I hope that doesn't end, and that we can continue to learn and grow together. And perhaps most of all I love that you put up with my craziness and keep on loving me. You mean the world to me. I LOVE YOU!!

And here is the moment I'm sure you've been waiting for. ;-) Pictures of Benjamin's first birthday! I can not believe how fast this year has gone by. It has by far been the fastest year of my life. Benjamin, you are getting so big and learning so much! If you could slow things down in this next year, that would be good. ;-) (By the way, Benjamin's party was a "jungle animals" theme, hence the cute animal hats you'll see in random pictures! At least I think they're cute...)

Now this is one yummy birthday dinner, strawberries!

Jonathan and I made this cake together from scratch (it's a carrot cake) and then I decorated the animals. It's amazing to me that the brown monkey and the gray elephant both came from mixing different proportions of red, blue, and yellow. I mean, they must teach primary colors in what, first or second grade? But I still can't believe it!

Yum!! Cake, or in Benjamin's case, cupcake time!!

This is the best one: ;-)

Opening presents:

Despite the practice he got at Christmas, and on Jonathan's and my birthday, Benjamin still didn't seem exactly sure about his role in the "opening the presents" process. Noah however, is a pro, and was glad to show him how it's done! He he he!

I wish I'd gotten this picture from the other side, but this is Benjamin snuggling his new puppy. Benjamin is actually really snuggly with all his stuffed animals, he will "pat" them and lay his head down on them... very adorable. :-)

He he he, now this is one good present! A cousin to play with!

Do I get to keep him mom??

Lauren, Jack, and Michael (unlike Benjamin, Jack didn't seem to mind keeping his animal hat on!):

Random pictures of everyone hanging out.

Amy, Connie, Jonathan, Jim, Emily, Will, Benjamin, Mary, and Lady:

Jonathan, Connie, Benjamin and Amy by the yummy food:

Elaine, Jenny, Jona, Steve, Mike, Jonathan:

Jenny, Mary, Noah, Elaine, Connie, Lauren, Jack, McKell:

Amy, Lauren, McKell and Jack:

Here's cute Jack! See this spoon Jack has? That is JACK'S spoon!! Do NOT attempt to touch JACK'S spoon!! ;-) (It doesn't make him happy.) He carried this spoon around most of the night. I thought it was pretty funny! :-)

Jack, Benjamin and Noah playing:

And can you believe it, I got a picture of the whole group!! Thanks so much for coming everyone!! We had so much fun and we love and appreciate you all!

Ice Skating!

Okay, so I'm a crazy lady, Benjamin is not even one, he can't walk yet, and I took him ice skating. And I didn't carry him, oh no, I put SKATES on him!! But aren't they cute tiny skates?!? (They were actually huge, but they stayed on, and that's all I care about!) He actually went around the rink twice, and while I don't know if he really liked sledding, ice skating I DO think he liked! He would move his feet and everything, he's a natural. ;-) These pictures are thanks to Stephanie and Jocelyn, Stephanie who saved us from crashing flat into the ice within three seconds of stepping onto it for the first time, and Jocelyn who took the pictures for me!! (No pictures of the near death experience, you'll have to imagine those!) Thanks you guys!!

I must say that though it's been fun, I'm really done with winter. I've done the winter thing, really, we went sledding, ice skating, Jonathan's been skiing... we have experienced winter, I am now ready to move on to SPRING!! WARMTH!! SUNSHINE!! Any day now would be nice. ;-)

Monsters!!! ARGGHH!!

So it seems just about every child out there has these cute monster pajamas from Carter's, but Jenny and I thought our two little guys were so cute together that we decided to take pictures! Yeah, I know, we've NEVER done THAT before! ;-) We told Noah to hold Benjamin so he wouldn't crawl away, he's doing such a good job!! :-)

Truly, pacifiers are meant for sharing... unless you're the one with the pacifier in your mouth. ;-)