The Latest Happenings...

most recently, ben david had his first encounter with the ice cream truck that comes through our neighborhood. this was something we had been anticipating/dreading, as we knew it would prove both exciting, fun...and also slightly addictive for ben david. i always thought it strange that the ice cream truck rolled through right around 5:30pm. i mean, that is right before dinner time. i now, however, think it is an ingenious marketing ploy.

nothing like coming around to hit up mom's who are worn down and dead tired from a full day of taking care of kids. moms who are at there weakest...willing to cave at the slightest pressure if it might result in peace, quiet and survival for all until daddy gets home. i can now see how this can often result in the ultimate demise...feeding kids ice cream right before dinner.

we too fell into this trap at 5:30 last saturday. fortunately, ben was home and so i was not totally to blame. it was really fun seeing ben david experience this for the first time. here are some pics of him picking out and enjoying his special treat, a chocolate ice cream bar:

and here is a picture of what occurred when ben assured me that he was sure we could just explain to ben david that we would "put the ice cream in the freezer and let him finish it after dinner"(yes, i am a terrible mom for taking this but words would not suffice):

needless to say, dinner was not a great success that night. for all thinking we are the meanest parents around...let me conclude by saying that we did, in fact, return the chocolate ice cream bar to our son, as promised, after his 15 second dinner took place.

it is pretty hilarious now, as ever since this, when ben david hears the music (which is christmas music, mind you...strangely unseasonal) of the ice cream truck...he comes running pell mell from wherever he might be shouting something unintelligible at the top of his lungs in hopes that he might get yet another ice cream. hmmm...i think it's going to be a long summer.:)

meanwhile...james is just happy he's finally founds someone smaller than he is to play with! here he is...tackling his cousin annascott. he was determined to give her lots of hugs and try to swipe her hat in the process. i'm not sure annascott knew quite what hit her, but she was a great sport!:)

and finally...james' latest trick...sticking his finger in his nose. this was not a one time occurrence, though i wish it was. it happens quite frequently! telling him no only seems to encourage him and he just laughs at me.

oh well...

boys will be boys!:)

thanks guys!!

after a leisurely morning of sleeping in, i came downstairs to a wonderful mother's day surprise of starbucks coffee and a scone! in addition, there was this beautiful pink hydrangea, along with two wrapped gifts! one from ben david and one from james.

these little guys did a fantastic job picking out a pair of very cool rainbow flip flops and a great adias running shirt! this mom is going to be the hippiest mom around:)

in addition, i received the greatest card ever complete with two footprints from the boys:

i kept telling ben i did NOT want him to go and get anything for mother's day, as he has a tendency to get quite extravagant with gifts. he, however, kept telling me not to worry because, in his words:"why in the world would i give you presents on mother's day??? you are not MY mother!"

as usual...he found a way to circumvent the "no gifts" rule. ben david and james are totally responsible for this nice spread!;)

how blessed i am to be the wife of this thoughtful man and the mother of these two precious boys. i am daily reminded of how fortunate i am. what a gift to be entrusted with the little ones.

in addition to the above festivites...we had a fun "mother's day" cookout last night with my parents, annaliese, evan and their five and evan's brother scott. here are a few pics from that event:

the whole gang!

uncle ben and annascott

can you tell i never get this at home???

the grill masters!

a cousinly bear hug!

Does this count??

ben david caught on at an early age to the concept of folding his hands during prayer. more recently, we have added the whole "close your eyes" part. this picture captures the result...as you can see, it is a work in progress.
ben david will maintain this position for about o.5 seconds before re-opening his eyes to see if yours are still closed, and also if the meal in front of him is something worthwhile to pray over. we are trusting these prayers still "count"...i am pretty sure they do!:)

i told ben i thought taking the above picture was child exploitation, not to mention slightly sacrilegious.

here are a few pics of the boys enjoying the warm weather in our backyard! we love the new playset daddy built, especially the sandbox (which still needs a few bags of sand, but the grass inside is fun to play with too!)

"Splish, Splash...They Were Taking a Bath!"

we recently made the move to consolidating bathtime...two for the price of one!! poor james had outgrown his baby tub (about 2 weeks after his birth), so it was high time both boys got to splash around together! here are a few pics of the first time occurence.

as you can see, ben david made certain that james was fully initiated...bubbles on his head, water in his eyes and a big bear hug to top it all off! by the time we were finished...all of us (including me) were drenched!

A WEEKEND AT THE BEACH!

last weekend we took off for a VERY last minute trip to ocean isle beach with my parents, sister and her crew! we had beautiful weather and lots of fun. the highlights of the trip revolved around sand: digging a 3 foot deep hole in the sand that the kids loved, ben david rolling down a sand dune (on purpose) and james eating sand for the first time. there was even some jump rope action which ben david participated in! the grand finale was dinner at roberto's pizza...a favorite local joint at OIB. no seafood (lucky for uncle evan)...but the best pizza around!!

here are a few pics of our time:

"Are You My Mother??"

DADDY!










MOMMY!










nothing like getting called a rhino by your 2yo son. no, seriously! ben david is a man of few words these days...we are still working on building our vocabulary around here. he has, however, been pretty clear on who mommy and daddy are...that is at least up until last week. ben david was quietly watching one of his videos while i was folding some laundry in the same room. all of sudden, i hear him exclaim, "MOMMY!" with as much confidence and zeal as he could muster up. he even pointed (in case i could have written it off as a mistake). i glanced at the screen just in time to see that he was pointing at none other than a very large rhinoceros!
i gently (but firmly...very firmly) corrected him: "no ben david, that is not mommy...that is a rhinoceros!" no response from ben david.
later in the video...up popped another animal...a tiger. at that point, ben david loudly exclaimed (again pointing)..."DADDY!" once again...i provided the necessary correction, to which ben david seemed unphased.
i am not exactly sure what this all means and i am certainly open to suggestions (except from you, dan!). nothing in my child psychology background prepared me for what to do when your child mistakes you for gigantic, unattractive wild animal. all things considered...i do think ben got the better end of this deal. i think i would have prefered to be mistaken for a tiger!!

sweet baby james

showing off those first two teeth!!