Happy Father's Day

This week was pretty light on the photos until the weekend.  I kept thinking that I should pick my camera up but I just never got to it.

On Friday we went to a Father's Day cookout at Bennett's school.  It was an interesting dynamic of who talked to who, who left first, who stayed longest, etc.  Pretty much the infant families hung out together and left first.  Then the younger toddlers left, and then the older kids left.  We were there until the end (and pretty late!) just hanging out chatting and playing games/puzzles with one of the other families and with the teachers.  One of the teachers brought her teenage daughter who Bennett absolutely adores!  This was great for us because Emily got to try to corrall him to eat and then help him with the potty.  Good thing she was willing to help out!

The cookout is potluck with the school providing the burgers/hot dogs but then each family signing up to bring a side or a dessert.  Last year I baked these  cupcakes.  Apparently in the days leading up to the cookout various people were asking the director if I would be making them again.  Luckily she realized that they were a TON of work and that I likely wouldn't be making them again.  Instead I made cupcakes in ice cream cones.  I thought that they would be cute, but they didn't quite live up to last year.

Bennett helped make them the night before, and Friday morning he woke up asking to eat a cupcake.  We told him that they were for the party.  All day long he kept asking.  When we arrived at school that evening we had to put the cupcakes in the director's office so that Bennett (and the other kids) wouldn't eat them first.  He still tried running in there to get one though.

It was cute watching the kids eat them.  Many of them tried to lick them like an ice cream cone.  I guess it makes sense though since kids often only eat the frosting from a cupcake anyway.



A dad helping G eat her cone.  And then playfully shoving it in her face.  :)



I have no idea what this really is, but Bennett thought it was sunglasses.  Reminds me of Geordi LaForge from Star Trek: The Next Generation.



At least he was safe and put a helmet on, but now he just needs to look where he's going.

 On Saturday we went to Day out with Thomas at Edaville.  Last year we didn't go on many rides but this year we had a bit more time.  Bennett wasn't so sure about the carousel at first, but once it got going he loved it.  Of course it doesn't hurt that he likes horsies.

This video isn't sideways like the thumbnail would have you believe.

As we were walking past the hill with the gazebo Bennett surprised us by rememberding that it was where Sit Topham Hatt was when we visited 9 months ago.  Who knew it made such an impression!

I like his hands on the side holding on.  :)

As we came out of the gift shop we saw Sir Topham Hatt so we got into the line for a photo.  We weren't sure how he was going to do, but he did great.  Much better than last year where he ran away from Sir. Topham.



Maybe it's jus tme, but I think this Sir Topham Hatt looks a little creepier than the one last fall.




After taking the photo we got in line for food.  It was so slow!  Rather than make Bennett wait I stayed in line while he and Chris went on a couple of rides.  They rode the airplane and also went in a rocket.  Bennett couldn't figure out the control lever to raise the plane up, so he stayed down low.  Much easier to take photos though.  :)

After lunch we checked out a train engine that the kids could climb into and went on more rides.

The girl in the plane with Bennett must have younger siblings because she did really well with Bennett adn tolerated him wiggling the flying lever  back and forth.  And then after the ride she even undid his seat belt for him.

Soon it was time for us to go on our train ride.  The ride was fairly uneventful.  Last fall the coach had been empty except for us, but this time it was full.  After the ride we quickly got in the line for photos with Thomas.

Then we went on a couple more rides before heading home.  Bennett got a VERY late nap in the car and when we got home Daddy mowed lawn while Bennett played outside and helped water garden.  He also discovered that jumping in puddles is fun.

On Sunday we had a fairly un-exciting Father's Day.  We had a bunch of errands to run.  First stop was Brandeis for a little while.  Bennett decided that "Daddy make mess" so he grabbed a broom and did some sweeping.  What's funny though is that the shop was probably the cleanest that Bennett has ever seen it.  He also took some scraps of wood and threw them away.  When those were all gone he requested "Daddy cut wood".

We then had a couple more stops, another extremely short car nap and got home shortly before dinner.


We need to teach a corn eating method.  Lots of corn left on the cob when he was "all done".



After dinner we went for a walk.  I think the horrid nap was catching up to him because he was not in the mood to walk and kept asking to be picked up.  It was like pulling teeth to get him to walk.  If only Fiona had been there to take his hand and pull him along.

Back in the saddle again

On Monday Bennett had lots of accidents on Monday.  I knew this as soon as we picked him up from school and I saw him in this outfit of mis-matched plaids.  I think he wet through 4 pairs of pants that day.

Also on the potty training front, we started night training last week.  The main reason?  We didn't want to buy more diapers.  We've been using disposables at night rather than cloth since it's not worth doing frequent laundry and you don't want a diaper to be sitting wet for too long.  However, since starting we've now been doing laundry on a daily basis since we have to wash multiple sets of sheets.  Ugh.  Maybe in a month or so we'll be able to speak about night training in a more favorable light.  For now, it's pretty hellish.

It was time for the monthly photo this week.  We kept forgetting, so it was a couple of days late.

On Saturday Bennett spent the day with Uncle Andrew and Aunt Gentry while we did some cleaning/purging.  As I said when I asked if they could watch him, things are easier without a small child "helping".  Plus we did some rearranging of things in his room, and he doesn't do well if you change things while he is there.  But he's perfectly ok to go into a room to see them changed.

Here he is helping with the recycling.  Or at least that's what we're going to assume he was doing. 

He also saw a Mountain Dew bottle while he was at their place.  He pointed at it and said, "Daddy's soda!"

On Sunday in the car Bennett and I had the following conversation:
     Bennett: Uncle Andrew.  Book.
     Mum:  Did Uncle Andrew read you a book?
     Bennett:  Yeah.  Poop!
Thanks, Andrew.  Because the kid wasn't interested in poop enough as it was!

On Sunday morning we dropped off a bunch of things at church for the upcoming rummage sale.  This included some of Bennett's old books and toys.  If he hadn't been there when we dropped them off, he probably would have been fine adn wouldn't have even noticed they were missing.  But instead he very sadly whined about his "toys".  We explained that they were baby toys and that he's a big boy now.  He kind of understood that, because later he told me he was a big boy, but he kept asking, "toys, where?"  And he also noticed that he now has an empty bookshelf since we were able to consolidate things a bit.  "Books, where?"  Again, he wouldn't notice which books are missing, but in this case it's pretty obvious that they aren't there any more.
Other things Bennett has been saying lately.  These aren't exactly words he should be saying in polite company.
armadillo = dildo
horse = hor (whore)
blueberries = boobies

And not in the same category as the others, but toothpaste = toe paste.  Which just sounds really gross!

Finally, a few more pictures to share.  Back in 2010 we first noticed a horse appear in a field in Lincoln.  Since then, more horses have gradually joined the "herd".

Here it is in August 2010.  Just one lone horse.

And here's the field now.  8 horses at the moment.  I'd love to be able to add some horses to the herd.  Maybe I'll have to start scouring yard sales?

For a while now I've wanted to take Bennett to check out the horses, but although we pass them every day on our way to and from work, Bennett isn't with us at that point.  So on Saturday we made a point of stopping after we picked him up from Uncle Andrew and Aunt Gentry's.  He loved it!  He wanted to ride each and every one of them.  Unfortunately a couple of them were broken so he wasn't able to, but he climbed on the ones he could and rocked back and forth.

And when he was done with the horses, he went over to the fence and said loudly, "cows, moooo!"