Birthdays, Birthdays, Birthdays, and Reunions!

What a busy weekend!  We started off with a birthday get together with a great friend of ours.  We enjoyed getting to see friends that we hadn't seen in a while, a great dinner at Scotty's, and a "return to our college days" with an outing to the Piano Bar (seems like those days were a LONG time ago)!

The next day found us heading south for another birthday party, this time for a handsome 4 year old!  He's the son of Andy's friend from college.  It was great to finally meet Kassie and her family in person (instead of just seeing them on Christmas cards) :)  Ben had so much fun playing with all of the kids!  I'm pretty sure I know what a certain little guy is going to get for his 2nd birthday...he spent HOURS playing with the trains and the train table!  I definitely see one of those in our near future.

The cute party hats...of course, Ben wanted the monkey!

In the evening, we headed down to the lake for another birthday party (are you seeing a theme here?).  This one was for a lovely 7 year old (the daughter of a great family friend).  We grilled out, ate cake, went on a bike ride, and enjoyed some great company!  I'm just sorry I didn't think to get any pictures...it was such a nice time.

Sunday found us heading up north for a quick get together with some high school friends.  I hadn't seen a few of them for over two years, so when Greg set it up, we went!  It was not only a mini-reunion, but it was also a trip down memory lane.  We met at the Riverside Park so the kids could ride the carousel and the train.  I can remember many, many times riding that those at family reunions, always hoping I'd grab the brass ring on the carousel.  Ben seemed to be just as happy as I was when he (OK, maybe it was me) snagged the brass ring on our second ride!  So many great memories, and it was so fun to catch up with some great friends!

Follow the leader

New buddies!

New Baby Keaton!  Such a cutie pie!

Getting ready to catch the brass ring!

Little Helper

Andy and I are blessed to have many, many wonderful nieces and nephews!  We have one, in particular, that LOVES to help us out with mowing.  He loves anything that he can drive, and the mower is a perfect machine for him.  He was over the other day and I told him he could swim while I mowed the yard.  Well, he begged me to let him mow instead of swimming!!!  How could I deny that request???

Township Fair

Here are a few scenes from the Township Fair this past weekend.  For those of you not familiar, it is a chance for the 4-H'ers to have a practice run before the fair.  They can bring in their community building projects and their animals.  Everything is judged.  The kids have a great time seeing how their animals and projects are coming along, plus it's a great time to ask questions and get some advice before taking them to the fair. 

 The newest "4H'er" in the group!

Just hanging out!

Enjoying the day!

 The rewards from all that hard work!

 Great job Ellie!

 Looking over the pop situation...making sure there's enough to go around!

 "Ok, I posed for the picture...now, can we go swimming?!?!"

 Getting some advice from the judge.

 "If only my pig would stand still!"

 "I think I'll stick with the smaller animals, Mom!"

Two buddies enjoying the pig show...best seats in the house!

Good Buddies

Ben has a good buddy named Popsie.  Popsie is Ben's great grandpa (on Andy's side), and he is such a wonderful man.  Ben enjoys going to Popsie and Queenie's house for a couple of reasons:

1.  He knows EXACTLY where the tractors, trucks and blocks are,

2.  Grandma Queenie always has some sort of sweet treat to find and,

3.  Popsie and Queenie love, love, love on Ben the entire time he's there!

Here are some pictures from our most recent visit :)

Fathers Day Should Be Every Day!

As I'm sitting here, I'm thinking about how lucky I am to be married to the man of my dreams.  I consider myself blessed to be able to wake up each morning next to a kind, considerate, sympathetic, patient (so blessed for this one), funny (ok, more sarcastic than funny) husband!  He is definitely more than I deserve. 

But, I'm even luckier.  How, you might ask???  Well, because my husband is a WONDERFUL father to our son.  It only takes a moment to see the love he has for Ben.  You can see it in his instant smile when Ben says "I wuv you daddy".  You can hear it in his gentle tone when he reads him a story.  You can just sense it when they're sitting side-by-side, or working in the yard, or riding on the tractor, or, or, or...you get the picture.  Ben is so blessed to have his daddy, and I'm so blessed to be married to a man who understands what being a parent is...the good, the bad and the ugly.  He takes it all in stride (usually much more patiently than I do)! 

It's so important to take the time to say thank you to those men who love their children and their wives, lead their families by positive example, and take time for those everyday moments with their kids.  So, for yesterday, today and all of the tomorrows...thank you Andy! 

Of course, I don't want to forget my dad, the very first man in my life.  Andy certainly has a lot to live up to because my dad set the bar high.  By no means is he the perfect dad, but he's pretty darn close.  The love that he has for his family is clearly evident.  This picture says it all.  It was taken a few years ago when we were remodeling our house.  It only took a phone call, and my dad (and mom, too) was right there...demolishing walls, rewiring, painting, etc.  When we put up the pool, he was there...built the deck, yep, he was there!  Most of my memories involve some type of project (gee...maybe that's the whole "lead by example thing"), and what great memories they are.  I love you Dad!

Family Tradition

Every family has traditions that they pass down from generation to generation.  We are not any different from most, but we do have one tradition that may be unique to some....this tradition involves a man named Jim the Barber.  Jim has a last name, and I'm sure he's proud of it...but, to us (and to many others) he's simply known as Jim the Barber.  Jim cut my grandpa's hair up until he passed away last month.  He cut my brothers' hair and my dad's as well.  I remember going to his shop up town and sitting inside watching Grandpa and my brothers get a trim, and waiting patiently for a piece of candy when he was finished.  His shop was the traditional barber shop; the place to get a cut and a shave (the straight razor kind of shave).

Jim no longer has his shop up town, he "retired" a few years ago, but he does have a shop set up in his home.  While we were gone on vacation, Mom took Ben up to meet Jim the Barber so that he could get a trim.  When I came home, it was as if I'd gone back in time...Ben looked like my brothers, years ago.  Jim the Barber still has the magic touch, and he still has that candy, which Ben sure did enjoy!

Keep reading...I did our Disney post today, as well.

Where, Oh Where Have We Been???

We've been missing in action for a while because we were vacationing in Disney World!!!  Of course, it's the most magical place on earth, so we had a blast.  Andy, myself, his parents and his sister's family drove down.  His parent's have always wanted to camp in the Disney campground, so this trip was the one!

We didn't think that Ben would enjoy two solid days in a vehicle, so we had Grandma Debbie fly down with him to meet us.  My sister and her daughter also flew down.  They all stayed with us for five days, before flying back home to cooler weather (Florida's coolest temperature was around 95)!!!

We stayed on for a few more days before driving back home.  I was missing Ben pretty badly, so I thought I would just check flights to Indy, and boy did I hit the jackpot...I found a flight for $78.00, which meant I was able to get back home to Ben a few days early!

We tried to take as many pictures as we could (which wasn't near enough)...between Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Animal Kingdom, Hollywood Studios, the campground, and Grandma Debbie's house, hopefully we were able to capture some "magical" moments!

 Ben watching the airplanes before they took off!

 Waiting for our dinner reservation at in Japan...tired kiddos!

 The whole gang at the Rain Forest Cafe

 Andy's whole family in Animal Kingdom

Ben, enjoying a DVD in the car

So sleepy...Mom said he slept the whole way out and the whole way back...that's a good little traveler!!!

Here are a few pictures of Ben at Grandpa Jim's and Grandma Debbie's house...he LOVES to be outside, so he was having the time of his life!  Plus, he got to ride on some tractors...nothing compares to that (not even Mickey Mouse)!