August 18 - 24

For those keeping track, I think we had naps twice this week.

On Monday (no nap) Bennett and Daddy made pizza for dinner and then Bennett played in my craft room for a while.  After Bennett went to bed we started making some teepees for Bennett's party.


On Tuesday (no nap) Bennett discovered the teepee we left in the living room.  He loved playing in it and brought lots of toys inside.  After he went to bed we finished it up.

Wednesday (yes nap) after school Bennett watched Monster's Inc while I went for a run.  He saved his carrot  sticks from dinner but said he didn't want them for lunch for pirate week (next week).  Instead asked if he could bring them to Sturbridge as a snack

On Thursday (no nap) after school he played in the teepee some more and built a "sawmill" with blocks.

Friday (no nap) was another day of Bennett falling asleep on the way home from school.  I'd taken the day off from work so I made a second teepee, and worked on some other things for the party.

On Saturday (no nap) we went to Sturbridge.  Bennett helped saw a log and we went on the Pasture/Woodland walk (haven't done that one since pre-Bennett).  We also learned that there is a problem with the bake oven at the farm.  Hope they can get it fixed quickly!

After rest (remember, no nap today) Bennett played in the backyard while I did some cleaning up in the garden.

On Sunday Bennett hung out with Uncle Andrew and Aunt Gentry.  He thought he was going to be spending the night so he first said that we had to go to school to get a mat for him (we've borrowed a nap mat in the past that he uses when he spends the night at their house) and then he asked if he needed his suitcase, toothbrush, etc.  Finally I think he understood that this would just be a daytime visit.  Given his napping pattern lately I suggested that they not even try to have him take a nap, so of course he fell asleep in the car on the way home around 4:00.  I transferred him to bed, but he woke up a short time later very disoriented.  He seemed tired still but he didn't want to go back to bed, so we let him get up and a few hours later he went to bed without any problems.

While Bennett was away Daddy worked on finishing up our front stairs (he started replacing them a month ago).  They aren't quite done yet, but they're getting closer.  I ran errands and worked on a few things for Bennett's party.

May 19 - 25

Another older post as I slowly work to get caught up...

On Monday Bennett played outside while Chris started to remove a bush that we decided to get rid of.  I stayed inside (taking pictures) and making dinner.
When they came inside Chris and I started talking measurements of our old dishwasher (we planned to replace it) and was calling out numbers to me.  Bennett ran to get his tape measure as well and started calling out random numbers every time Daddy did.
After dinner Bennett played some imaginary friends, ran from a monster, and dyed imaginary Easter eggs.

I'm not sure why it took a month, but we finally got our proofs from Bennett's school pictures on Tuesday.  At this rate it will likely be another month until the prints come in.  Both poses are great though, although some of the backdrop choices are pretty cheesy.  In the past we've gone with the Spring backdrop, but this time we'll stick with the grey.

When we got home Bennett had fun playing outside while Chris and I worked more on removing the bush.  Digging out roots is a big pain!
Since we had been working outside for so long we had a late dinner which meant we skipped Bennett's bath.  The late hour apparently didn't matter to him because he stayed awake talking to himself for quite some time after going to bed.

Well the bush was down but on Wednesday it was time for stump removal.  We dug it out and Chris also tied a rope to it so that we could pull it.  Bennett thought this was lots of fun.  He climbed into his playhouse and back down again and started pulling on the rope.   

It rained on Thursday so we couldn't go outside to play.  Instead we stayed inside and Bennett watched Peter Pan. 

We don't really watch many movies.  We are more likely to put on an episode of Curious George rather than a full-length movie.  On Friday we finally open up American Tale, which Bennett had gotten for Christmas.  He seemed to enjoy it, but did find a few moments to be a bit intense and scary.  (Maybe this is why we don't watch movies- they all seem to have scary parts to them, even the G rated movies.

Saturday started with soccer. Bennett was not interested AT ALL!  We ended up leaving early.  Not sure what it was- being in a different field than normal, no time for running around at the beginning, getting hit by a ball... all combined to make him not want to do anything.

So we headed off on various errands.  We went to the garden center and bought some new bushes to replace the one we removed, Old Navy to get Bennett some new pants, and the mall to pick out and order a dishwasher.  After all of that it was lunch time and then nap.

When Bennett woke up it was time to go to Uncle Andrew's house!  Chris and I had a date night to celebrate our 11th anniversary so Bennett spent the night with Uncle Andrew so that we wouldn't have to worry about getting home late, etc.  Poor Bennett and Uncle Andrew though, because Bennett woke up numerous times overnight.



Sunday morning we met Bennett and Uncle Andrew at Sturbridge for their Wool Days event.  Bennett asked Dave where they keep the electric blankets for the cows and chickens (if this doesn't make sense, read Click, Clack, Moo) but Dave said they don't have any because they don't have a typewriter or a Duck.

Bennett also participated in the tug-o-war.  We'd tried to get him to do it the week before but he hadn't been interested.  This time, as soon as he saw the rope, he wanted to join in.

Back at home we did more yard work.  Hopefully we'll be done with everything soon.

And then after dinner we had cake from the same place as our wedding cake.  So of course I had to put our cake toppers on it.  Yup, that's Marge and Homer Simpson.

We also gave Bennett some new "Mr Smee" PJs which he was excited to find in his room after his bath.

April 28th - May 4th

For this week of catch-up we go back to the end of April/ beginning of May.  It was a week with very few pictures.

Monday
Proving that he has an active imagination, Bennett told me the story of Mr. Smee's closet, which is downstairs next to Captain Hook's closet.  It has sweaters (Smee was cold) and shirts.

Tuesday
Again with the active imagination, as we were about to leave for school Bennett started talking about how "hola" was in the garden.  It was only when he mentioned a snowman that I realized that he meant Olaf from the movie Frozen.  And then he talked about Frozen all the way to school, and again on the way home.

Wednesday
Grandpa picked Bennett up early from school.  The weather was kind of icky so they went back to Grandpa's house where Bennett created an art project entitled "house".  When we got home from work Grandpa brought Bennett home and stayed for dinner.  Bennett was quite the fan of the Papa John's garlic dipping sauce.

"House"

Thursday
Tonight Bennett gobbled up his steak and potatoes.  He tried asparagus and said he liked it, but then wasn't a fan of his second bite.  We'll have to try it again later.

Friday
Tonight was the Good Shepherd rummage sale.  Due to timing we ate dinner in the car and Bennett surprised us by how neatly he ate and also how much he ate.  Guess a growth spurt might be coming.  We picked up lots of good stuff at the rummage sale- some Duplos, movies, a Skippy John Jones book, a vintage Fisher Price stove, hose reel, and a puzzle (unfortunately it's missing a piece).

Saturday
Chris' Great-Aunt Elsie passed away so we went to her funeral in Connecticut on Saturday.  Bennett was a little unclear on what exactly was happening and what things were (what was the casket, what were the people doing with it, etc) but overall he was pretty well behaved.
Grandma and Grandpa Tedford had come up from Georgia for the funeral so since they were so close, they came up to our house afterwards.
Bennett napped on the way home and then for a little longer once we got home.  When he woke up we all went outside and did a little bit of yard work- putting in some edging around a couple of flower beds and started spreading some mulch.
For dinner we made one of our OSV recipes-- friccassee chicken white.  Not as good as when we went to the DCV, but still pretty good.

Sunday
Grandma and Grandpa came with us to Sturbridge for our weekly visit.  Bennett continues his now weekly habit of drawing in the dirt with a stick.  At least he's happy, right?

With Grandma and Grandpa in the Tavern after lunch.

Back at home, after nap we worked on spreading mulch but of course almost as soon as we started it started to rain.  I think it was a short-lived rain, but by the time we were cleaned up and inside again we had lost motivation to go back out and work some more.

April 14 - 20

Moving along with playing catch up....


Bennett was still a bit under the weather so on Monday we picked up some cold medicine for him.  He's not a fan!

Tuesday was school picture day.  We also did some vacuuming in the evening and Bennett got very excited about that.



Wednesday Bennett has speech.  For some reason he seems to sleep late on Chris' mornings to take him but not on mine.  This being Daddy's morning, of course he slept late.
When leaving school he and Grace held hands on the way out.  Super cute.
When he got home he asked to cut paper.  The little pieces were "tape".

Thursday he had a dentist appointment.  Things are looking good.  He's had some discoloration behind his bottom front teeth, but it wasn't as bad as the previous visit.  No idea what's causing it.
At school the kids got Easter baskets.

On Friday Bennett came home to find an Easter basket from Nana and Auntie Hanna hidden in the yard.
We also all had to role play Peter Pan.  He was Captain Hook, Mummy was both Wendy and Mr. Smee, and Daddy was Peter.

At soccer on Saturday the Easter Bunny came to say hi to the kids.  In this photo Bennett is walking away after just having got a high five.

After soccer we went to Sturbridge here he got another kiss on the head from Phil.  We also got to watch a sheep give birth which I thought was incredibly neat.  I discussed recipes  with Victoria and Katie (I think that they think that I bake a lot more than I actually do), Victoria asked to borrow Bennett to check for eggs, and she also asked if he could be costumed to be her helper for a day.  Guess I'll have to work on a costume for him.  :)

Quote from the day:
Bennett: Mummy, say "brrr"
Daddy: Brrr
Bennett: Is your name Mummy?

Not interested in photos before backyard soccer.

Sunday was Easter!  Bennett woke up early and came into our room to say that he had a coloring book in his room.  The Easter Bunny also brought him The Jungle Book, a toothbrush, some socks, and some Band-Aids.
We played outside in afternoon and then headed to Home Depot.

For those of you who might be squeemish, here are some pictures of the sheep having her lambs.  

In labor with the first lamb.  You can see the hooves starting to protrude.

First lamb half out.

While the mom was cleaning off her first lamb, the second starts to arrive.  She is oblivious.

Second lamb.

It was only when the second one finally bleated after a few minutes that Momma Sheep realized it was there.  She then started to clean it off.