June 2 - 8

I had to work late on Monday and then was stuck in some crazy traffic on my way home.  Meanwhile Bennett and Daddy were outside planting grass seed and watering.  When I finally made it home Bennett was super excited to see me, which was nice.  Especially since I wasn't that late.


No nap on Tuesday, but Bennett had a chance to run around for a while at home while Daddy mowed the grass and I watered the garden.  Due to our outside activities dinner ended up being a little late.  Bennett and I also got packages in the mail containing hats for our upcoming walk for Boston Children's Hospital.  Walkers who received over $450 by a certain date got the hats.

Seeing how on Wednesday it was my turn to take Bennett to speech, of course he dind't sleep late.  In fact, he even tried to crawl into bed with my while holding a bagel.

Coloring before speech and then he framed it on the fridge with magnets.

It was another day with no nap.  When we got home from school Bennett helped me wrap Rosaline's birthday presents and then he played with his Duplo train track and with the Lego fire station.

I got an exciting email asking if I would agree to film a short interview about the Children's walk.  Eek. 

On Thursday Bennett did nap.  Not sure if it was because of this or because of not getting a chance to run around, but he was awake until almost 10:00.  Because it was raining we had to stay inside and Bennett watched Peter Pan.  Then after it ended he pretended to be the crocodile and then he was Mr. Smee.  He also must have been hungry (still in that growth spurt?) because he ate almost as much as we did for dinner. 

On Friday after school and work we decided to load up the truck with the old bush that we took out a few weeks ago.  Luckily Andrew and Gentry are awesome and they were willing to let us bring the bush to them to add to their bonfire pile.  Unfortunately it won't be until next year until they can get a permit for said bonfire.  While we were there Aunt Gentry gave Bennett a camel that she got for him while she was in Israel.  Didn't you know that there was a camel that lived at the OSV farm?

Bennett also had fun climbing into Daddy's truck and then jumping out.  We tried explaining that this isn't allowed anywhere but Uncle Andrew and Aunt Gentry's house, so hopefully he remembers that.  This video was after he had jumped out a number of times, so I think he was getting pretty tired.

Saturday was the start to a busy weekend!

At soccer Bennett started off ok but then quickly lost interest.  We only have one more week left and I don't think we'll be signing him up again any time soon.

We then headed off to Sturbridge.

The first thing we did was head down to the farm so that Bennett could meet the calves.  They do this all the time now, but we thought he might like getting to get close to one.  Instead he wondered why there were ropes on the calves. 

Betsy's calf now has a name.  Her previous calves have both had theme names and they wanted to continue the theme.  Rainy was born on a rainy day and Summer was born on the solstice.  So the new calf is named Chance because there was a "chance of rain" the day he was born.

We were also excited to discover that they are now doing a 10am milking!  Betsy and Button are still being milked twice a day, but they've started milking Bonnie once a day at 10 so enable a different audience to watch the milking.  This is nice for us because we're never around at 3:30 as it conflicts with naps.

Bennett also got a chance to feed the chickens some bread dough scraps.

The fun part of the day was that it was the Antique Car Rally.  In OSV's early history one would drive throughout the village stopping at the various buildings.  So now, once a year, cars that are from 1946 or older are invited to come and drive around the village.

Bennett's favorite car was this truck that had been turned into a traveling market.  He told many of the interpreters that "my favorite car is the one with the fruits and vegetables".  Of course since most of them were working inside, they had no idea what he was talking about!

On the way out we stopped inside the firearms exhibit and Bennett pretended to be Phil.

In other OSV news, they finally have pigs again!  However, they are in a different pen and have actually dismantled the old one.  Rhys acknowledged that this messes us our farm at home.

We also learned which of the cows will be sold.  Summer and Rainy are being sold (one to a 4-H family, and one to the guy who drives the stagecoach) and next year Isaac and Chance will be leaving.  One will be sold and the other will be butchered offsite and the meat kept for the food program.

At the tinshop Bennett got to help Phil put together part of a lantern.

And we were impressed with one of the interpreters at the farmhouse when she spoke to Bennett by name.  We know her name (because she's pictured in the calendar) but we've never seen her that much.  Did she just pick up on us saying his name?  Do the various interpreters talk about us amongst themselves so she knew who we were?

And to prove how much Bennett picks up on, while we were on our way grocery shopping later that afternoon, Bennett drew a picture on his magna doodle of Rhys milking Bonnie and he included many of the things he saw.


On Sunday we headed into Boston.

Our first stop was the Make Way for Ducklings statue in the Public Garden.  Luckily we were there pretty early so not many people were around.  Later in the day I'm sure it would have been mobbed with kids.  And that night Daddy read this story to Bennett and pointed out the streets we had been on, etc.

Make Way for Bennett

Our reason for going to Boston though was for the Walk for Boston Children's Hospital.   Once again we walked with Fiona, Alicia, and John.  (But not John from Peter Pan- a different one.)

Team photo

Bennett is slowly starting to grow into the shirt.  You would think that at an event that has lots of kids they might have some smaller shirts for them to wear.

2014 - 2013 - 2012

We got there early, just before 9, and it was already HOT!  We did some activities like sitting in this giant inflatable chair, played with bubbles, and Bennett had his arm painted.

I also was interviewed for a wrap-up/promotional video that they made.  I had been contacted earlier in the week asking if I would be willing.  Sure!  I must not be a good interviewee though because my segment is really short.  Bennett decided to be shy but there is some cute footage of him playing with the bubbles.  He had taken all of the bubble wands, maybe about a dozen of them, and was waving them around.

We started the walk early.  Partly to beat the heat, and partly to avoid some of the swarms of people.  It felt like we finished much more quickly that we did last year.  In fact, we finished before they were ready for us- they didn't have the medals ready, lunch wasn't ready yet, etc.

Once again Fiona held Bennett's hand the whole way again.  Very cute, and it kept him moving.  Maybe this would help at Sturbridge to keep him from dawdling and constantly asking to be picked up.

 After lunch we headed home.  Since it was so hot we set up a pool in the backyard.  Bennett had a blast playing in it and didn't mind the chilly water.

Pretending to take a nap.

And to round out the day we we went out for icecream after dinner.

I'd say it was the epitome of good summer day- Bennett was sweaty, sticky, had grass stains on his knees, a scraped leg, and ice cream dripped on his legs.

Also, here are some random OSV stats for you.

• Our membership renewal date is May 31st.
• From June 1, 2013 - May 25, 2014 we visited 52 times.  
• We started weekly visits on June 22, 2013.  Assuming we also visit this coming weekend (either the 14th or 15th) we will have visited every week for the past year, not counting weeks that they only were open for paid events (Christmas by Candlelight).  Since we've also gone more than once on some weekends, this will bring our total for the year to 54 visits.  I'd say we got our money's worth from the membership!

May 26th - June 1st

Since Monday was Memorial Day this meant we had more time for the never ending yard work.  We finished putting in the new bushes (there's a picture of them later).  This proved to be a bit challenging as they were going into an area close to some trees so there were lots of roots to deal with.  During Bennett's nap Chris and I were outside working and we were quite surprised when we saw Bennett come outside.  (We'd had the monitor with us but hadn't heard him.)  Apparently he had looked out a window, saw us, put his shoes on, and then came out the back door to find us.

After dinner we went for a walk.  Bennett wasn't so much interested in that, but he did enjoy picking dandelions.

Tuesday was a little too chilly to play outside so instead we made pudding pops, vacuumed, and played with Duplos.



On Wednesday Bennett asked to watch American Tail again.  But what was funny was that at one of the scary parts he ran to find me saying, "Mummy, save me!"

Confirming our suspicions that he's in the midst of a growth spurt, we measured Bennett and he's grown an inch in the past month.



When we picked Bennett up from school on Thursday we noticed he was in different clothes.  Apparently he had a bit of an accident when he decided to try to pee standing up.  Daddy later gave instructions on how to do this without getting all of your clothes wet.  :)

 After dinner Chris took out the old dishwasher in preparation for the new one to be delivered on Friday.  Bennett got his tools as well so that he could "help". 

Every time Chris got a new tool we would have Bennett get his as well- screwdriver, adjustable wrench, etc.

On Friday the new dishwasher was delivered and of course now we want to redo rest of the kitchen.

We also got a couple of pink flamingos (at Bennett's request) for the area by the new bushes.  Bennett has named them Charlie and Charkie.  (Charlie from this book and Charkie is from Curious George.)
Bennett and I also planted the squash plant that has grown from his plant a seed experience at OSV on Mother's Day.

Bennett: Are you going to put anything else here?
Mummy: Do you think that I should?
Bennett: Yes. Flamingos. Pink flamingos.

Saturday - 31
Saturday was pretty busy.  It started with soccer, which thankfully went better than the week before.  Bennett was much better about paying attention and listening to the coaches.

After soccer Bennett and Daddy stayed home, played outside, and watched Peter Pan while I helped Grandpa clean some stuff out of the basement at West Street.

New safety gear arrived so now Bennett can make his Derby Car!

After nap Bennett and Chris joined me for a haircut (I was the only one getting a trim) and then we all went to Nana's so that Chris could help with a few projects.  I brought along my sewing machine and hemmed a curtain for Liz as well.

When all our tasks were done we had a little bit of time to kill before we went to dinner at Grandpa's house so we went to the playground up the street.

On Sunday we had our weekly OSV visit. Lately Bennett has wanted his picture taken in these cutouts.  I think this summer when all the cousins come to visit we're going to have to take a group shot.

As always, we stopped at the tin shop.  However, this time we brought our watering can with us as it leaked a little.  Turns out the spout comes off so it can be changed from a sprinkle to a stream of water, so short of soldering those two parts together we may have to deal with a minimal leak.

Since the weather has warmed up it means that this cow can be "milked" again.

Back at home we did more yard work.  I know, it's a shocker!  We're removing one garden bed so luckily Andrew and Gentry are willing to take our dirt.  So Chris took a couple of loads of dirt to their house while Bennett and I went grocery shopping.

And that wraps up our week!

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.

May 12th - 18th

Lately Bennett has been interested in signing himself in at school.  Normally he's pretty good about writing his name, but on this occasion he got the letters mixed up.  "Benntet"

Monday
After school we did some yard work, pruning bushes and a tree.  Bennett took one of the branches and called it his Christmas Tree and the flowers were ornaments.

Tuesday
Today was Daddy's last class and he was able to come home early!  He'd already eaten dinner so he just sat with us while Bennett at.  Bennett was very confused about why Daddy wasn't eating.

Wednesday
Nothing too exciting happened.  Bennett played outside for a while and then when he came in he played Cootie with Daddy.

Thursday
Today we were discussing the various things in the shed- rakes, shovels, wheelbarrow, lawnmower, etc.  I also mentioned that the Derby track was in the shed and Bennett remembered that it also had the "milk cow" track.  (Last year Bennett's BlastCar was a milk carton that had a picture of a cow on it.)

Friday
It was raining so we couldn't go outside to play.  Instead, when we got home, Bennett wanted to read books.  He would go up to his room, get a book, bring it down to the living room, "read" it to himself, and then go back upstairs to repeat the process.  He must have done this at least ten times.


Saturday
After soccer we headed off to Sturbridge.  This time they were demonstrating cooking with catsup.  In the 1830s catsup came in various varieties including tomato, walnut, mushroom, etc.  One popular variety was similar to today's Worcestershire sauce.
Down at the farm Lance and Henry were hauling some firewood to the Sugar Camp so that it could dry out and be used next year.  Bennett had a blast playing outside pretending to paint, etc.  At one point he started to use the milk pails as his paint cans and Victoria gave him some tin dish pans to use instead since the wooden buckets are a pain to clean.  I love that she was so accepting of his playing and giving him alternative materials.

When we went past the blacksmith shop Derek was working and Chris was able to talk with him about the hammer that he had made which we saw a month or two ago.  Bennett played with all of the various display items and also went outside to make "hamburgers" in the wet sand.

That afternoon we were doing some yardwork and came across this giant spider.  Any idea what kind it is?

And finally, to wrap up the day we went over to Nana's house for dinner.


Sunday
The day started off with a visit to Mimi followed by grocery shopping.  We got home in time for lunch and nap.  While Bennett was napping I got all of the veggies planted in the garden and then when he woke up he helped spread some mulch.

We also had made the decision to remove one of our raised garden beds as it never did well in the location we had it, but there wasn't a better place to put it.  But what to do with the dirt?  Uncle Andrew and Aunt Gentry to the rescue!  They were putting some raised beds in at their house so this would mean they wouldn't have to buy so much dirt.

On the drive over I tried explaining to Bennett that Aunt Gentry wouldn't be there because she was in Israel for work.  But I quickly got flummoxed not knowing how to explain how far away that was.

I also mentioned that they would be getting chickens and that he would be able to name one.  I asked him what he would want to call it and he said, "chickens".  And then he  told me that he would feed it leftovers.  What kind of leftovers?  "Leftover pie crust."  (That's what he and Victoria fed the OSV chickens a few weeks ago.)  He also said he would feed them leftover eggs (I clarified that they would have to be cooked first) and pudding.


Quotes from the week

We were looking for a light meter to determine how much sun certain areas of the yard/garden got.  Chris was looking for one at Home Depot.  Bennett heard Chris tell me that they didn't have any.  "Maybe other people bought all of them. They'll have to get more and then you can get one."


While driving through Worcester on Saturday there was heavy traffic and a large truck driving near me.  (I hate driving near trucks.)  Bennett was chattering away and I commented that "I can't process."
"Mummy, what can't you process?"
Daddy explained that Bennett was talking too much and that there was the truck there, etc.
"You should tell the truck to get out of your way.  Truck- Get out of Mummy's way!"


On Sunday, on the way back from Uncle Andrew's and Aunt Gentry's, Bennett saw another truck and again told it to get out of my way.  And then there was a van that he saw pull in front of Daddy's truck.  So Bennett proceeded to tell me the story of how he was saving Daddy from the van.  And about how he threw him a rope to hold on to him so that he could get him  away from the van.

May 5th - 11th

Monday
Since it was Cinco de Mayo of course we had to have tacos for dinner.  Luckily this is a meal that you generally eat without complaint.

But before dinner we worked outside spreading some of the mulch.  We came up with a pretty good routine.  You and Daddy (ok, mostly Daddy) would shovel the mulch from the pile into the wheelbarrow.  Mummy would hold your hand as we walked towards the street to dump the mulch in the front garden bed.  Then you would ride in the wheelbarrow back to the pile.  While you and Daddy filled it back up again Mummy would spread the mulch and then come to hold your hand to repeat.


Tuesday
Since Tuesday is one of the days of the week when most kids are at school (some of the kids are only in on select days) they held a Mother's Day breakfast at school.  The gifts this year were pretty fun- everyone got a pin, and then each class had a different gift.  Bennett's class painted mirrors.
When we got home I put the mirror on the kitchen counter.  Bennett said it had to go upstairs.  Later I found it on the bathroom counter.  Guess that's where he thought it belonged, but I have since moved it to my dresser.

.
After school Daddy had class.  Bennett was quite helpful with picking up toys so that I could vacuum and then he helped plug and unplug the cord for me when I had to move to different rooms.  Who knew someone could enjoy cleaning so much!

Wednesday
After school we worked some more on the mulch pile and then played outside for a while.
The evening was pretty uneventful until dinner.  Bennett took a bite or two and then threw up.  No warning whatsoever.  Other than that though he seemed fine.  I think he was really confused about what happened.  We explained that it meant that he was sick and he asked "where do I have to go to get better?"

Thursday
He woke up saying, "I'm not sick anymore.  I got better."  Considering there was no fever and no other signs that something was wrong we considered the previous night to have been a fluke.

When Daddy and Bennett came home from school Bennett "drove" the car, even buckling himself in.  He then played outside with Daddy while Mummy made dinner. 

Friday
Nothing too exciting.  He took a good nap at school, watched some Curious George at home, and then played with the Lego fire station.

Saturday
After soccer Bennett came home and worked on a Mother's Day craft with Daddy and then watched Peter Pan.  Meanwhile, I was at OSV for a talk about how the costume department recreated a dress from one that they had in their collection.

Later in the afternoon we went to the Bryant's for Davis' 9th birthday party, which was Harry Potter themed.

Cakes- snitch cupcakes and an acceptance letter cake.

Making wands

Playing quidditch

Awesome present- sent by owl post

I also love this photo as it shows how much DJ tolerates Bennett.

After the party we bought Bennett some new pants as all of his jeans had holes in them.  We were going to get the same size he had been wearing but decided to go up a size since with the weather warming up we wanted him to get more wear out of them.  So here he is in 5T pants and shirt- and they don't look big on him at all!  Although the pants do need to have the elastic inside to make them smaller since he has a super skinny waist.

Sunday
On Mother's Day we went to OSV.  Mom's got in free and the first 200 moms also were given a clay flower pot and a packet of seeds.  Bennett also had the chance to plant a seed and he chose an heirloom squash.  Assuming he gets any squash from it, he will be able to enter them in the agricultural exhibition in the fall.

Isaac and Beulah were in one of the fields running around which was fun to see.

And my Mother's Day gift?  Daddy is sneaky and he ordered and then stealthily picked up an OSV tin watering can.  Bennett is very excited about this and enjoys watering my garden- to the point that I'm not really allowed to do it myself.

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.