Sweet Moments

my sister received a pretty fancy "real photographer" type camera for her birthday, and we have been her fortunate subjects as of late! she has a real knack for capturing some sweet expressions and moments. james tends to enjoy the limelight more than ben david, hence ben david's shots are taken "on the sly!'

here is some of her work:

(p.s...bookings are available:)

quite the ham!

amused by his cousins...

big bear hugs for kurt!
happy boys

Happy 3rd Birthday Ben David!!

on march 22, 2006...ben david entered our world, forever changing our lives! he surprised us by arriving a full 9 weeks early and weighed in at a whopping 4 lbs. 11 oz!. after a month in the hospital we were able to bring him home for good. we thank the lord for him daily and never take for granted the special gift that he is to us.

on sunday, we celebrated ben david's third year of life! we had a wonderful time with family and enjoyed a beautiful day outdoors cookout. after months of requesting a "cranky the crane" birthday cake, ben david pulled a last minute switch on me and asked for a "rescue man" cake. for those not familiar...this is a character of the "boz" movies that resembles a superhero of sorts. the closest thing i could find was a spiderman character that we put on the cake. many thanks to his daddy for adding the spider web!:) in addition, ben david picked out some thomas plates and elmo hats. quite the assorted birthday "theme" this year.

ben david received some super fun gifts...including a cool, remote control dump truck from his anderson cousins, a chain saw (not real...but very real looking and sounding:) and thomas shirt from mamie, deuce and kai, a fun ice cream playdoh shop from grandmommie and poppie, and a super neat magnet building set from marmie and poppy. he raked in quite the loot!! here are a few pics from the festivities.

the birthday boy!

"rescue man" cake

make a wish!

two little monkies!

lots of help opening presents

here annascott...let me show you how this works!

poppie and james

this picture and the one below are what happens when amy and i are not supervising ben and dan adequately:
kai learns to fly!

The Great Escape!!!

this past weekend, ben, myself, my sister annaliese and brother-law-evan made our "great escape!" we left the kids with their most wonderful grandparents (THANK YOU MARMIE, POPPY, GRANDMOMMIE AND POPPIE!!) and took off for a weekend of playing and relaxing. it all began with an afternoon of pampering at the grandover resort in greensboro, nc. while annaliese and i were treated to facials and a pedicure, the guys managed to squeeze in 9 holes of golf, a game of racquetball and some pool time. here is a pic of our luxurious hotel!!

we capped off the evening with a: delicious, quiet, no one throwing food, no one spilling their milk, no one needing their mouths wiped off, dinner!

the next day, we were off to chapel hill to watch the heels STOMP on georgia tech!! we had awesome seats and really enjoyed the game. our next stop was the franklin inn where we enjoyed being right on the "main drag" and feeling very "collegeish":). dinner that night was at four eleven where we enjoyed great italian food. again...no mouths to wipe, dishes to clean, etc. to cap off our adventure, we took in late movie...all staying out later than we had in years!;)

our awesome room!!

the next morning, we relaxed before eating one last yummy meal at sutton's soda shop. while the weather was bitterly cold and rainy all weekend, we truly did not mind a bit. we had a fantastic time!!!

Cheap Entertainment

james has a slight addiction to trucks. this includes: dump trucks, tractor trailers, the UPS truck, the FedEx truck, the mail truck...you name it, he loves them. he watches for them, hears them a mile away and runs to the window to see them. if he doesn't get there in time, he gets most distraught. i think monday might be james's favorite day as it is "trash day." that is when the biggest, most entertaining truck of all comes by. james will stand glued to the window to watch the giant "claw" pick up our trash can, our neighbor's...and everyone else's on the street for as long as he can see it.
yesterday, our buddies (and perhaps the boy's future spouses??:) stella and ruthie got to join in on this excitement. it seemed to be a big hit with everyone, and i think james enjoyed sharing his favorite past time.

Just Another Day...

james in a new hideout. upon closer examination of this picture, i think he is actually eating some of the playdoh ben david dropped. oh well...
the newest "hot spot" for a snack break

the latest fashion at our house:
t-shirt, undies and rainboots.
james...in a box

... and in the laundry basket

DADDY'S HOME!!

let the fun begin...

james and ben david, in their underwear (are you catching a theme here?), riding a four-wheeler, in my house.

this is the kind of moment where i pause while cooking dinner (and simultaneously dodging oncoming vehicles) and think, "is this really happening??"

indeed it is, and does every day.

it sure is crazy...but lots of fun!!:)

SNOW DAYS

so, for months now ben david has been talking about snow. he likes movies about snow, books about snow...pretty much anything about snow. you can imagine my excitement, then upon finding out we were actually going to have some in charlotte.

tuesday morning we awoke to a ground covered in white! i rushed ben david downstairs and told him i had a surprise to show him. he glanced out the window, turned and gave me a terrifed look and then BOLTED into the other room. puzzled, i went and found him and again, took him to the window to see the snow. he did not want to look at it and said, "no snow, mommy! no snow!" i tried explaining how fun it would be to play in, at which he declared he DID NOT want to go outside. for the rest of the morning, the word "snow" was rather taboo over here.

long story short...i think the bottom line was he felt a bit overwhelmed by how different his "world" suddenly looked covered in white. he did however gradually warm up to the idea of playing outside, and thanks to our cousins, he and james enjoyed some fun sled rides. our time outside was brief, but fun!:) on a side note, james found the snow quite enjoyable and laughed hysterically when he first saw it outside.

Christmas Festivites

this christmas was made extra special by the fact that we had our daddy home for a WHOLE WEEK!! in addition to letting mommy sleep in each morning and caring for the boys, he also planned a fun-filled agenda for each day!

we kicked off the week with a family trip to the "lazy 5" ranch in mooresville, nc. the boys were quite amused by this drive-through zoo of sorts. just a few pics...

ben david found this somewhat scary looking bird quite hilarious and fun to feed.

james making friends with a cow

the next event ben lined up for us was a day at monkey joe's! no pics this time, but we had a blast keeping up with two busy monkeys of our own.

christmas eve was spent at grandmommie and poppie's with the anderson crew. always fun to be had with this gang..7 kids + 6 adults = christmas extravaganza!!

movie break

ben david kept chasing james around with this food strainer while poppie and the other kids read the christmas story. hmmm...maybe next year they will sit quietly???

let the present unwrapping begin!!

remote control car for ben david

ben david and kurt had their own little table
and at the end of the night, we found james here. poor guy was just trying to find a quiet place to enjoy the lollipop from his stocking.


christmas morning brought more family fun with breakfast and lunch at marmie and poppy's with mamie, deuce and kai. there was present opening, lots of eating and even scooter rides for all!
a t-ball set!! atlanta braves, look out!

deuce introuducing james to the scooter

ben david and his marmie

WHEEEEEE!!!!

james and kai hanging out.

CONGRATS TO KAI who took his first steps on christmas day!

and my personal favorite...here are a few shots of the boys enjoying what i think might have turned out to be the best christmas gift ever. for his birthday (two days post christmas) ben was given a grill from the emmrich/wright/anderson and wray families.

while the grill was a HUGE hit...the large cardboard box it came in turned out to be an even bigger hit! ben made it into a great "house" that has proven to provide hours of entertainment.