Come one, come all, to the circus event of the year!

Today, we celebrated Kyran's big day with a circus themed party!  Our little monkey (and our big monkey, Ben) had a fantastic time!  Lot's of friends and family were able to make it which made the day that much more special.  We loved celebrating with everyone!

 This amazing cake was made by our great friend, Kassie, who owns "Bite This Bakery"...so delicious!

 Kyran and Lucy bib buddies today.

 Say cheese!

 Kyran loves his Aunt Stacey

 Mmmmmmm...this tastes yummy!

 The whole family...I think you can see why these boys melt my heart.

 This boy likes his cake!

 All the kids were excited for present time.  Kyran had lots of help!

 Two of my best friends...my mama and my sister

 Just hanging out!

Ben the pirate and princess Lauren

Look who's ONE!!!!!

Happy birthday to our sweet baby Kyran!  Today, he officially left the baby stage and entered the toddler world.  I have to say, it was a bit easier with Kyran than it was when Ben turned one, but this mommy is still a little sad.  As I was driving to work today, I was thinking about this year and all that we've gone through with our little guy.  Come along on a little trip down memory lane...come on, you know you want to!

We started with a 24 hour induced labor that ended with a healthy 9 lb 9 oz baby boy!  That was short lived because we soon found out he had a hole in his lung, so we found ourselves in the NICU for a few days.  Kyran was a quick healer, because within three days, we were checking out and heading for home!

Two weeks later, things are going great until Kyran starts screaming after EVERY. SINGLE. FEEDING.  Good times in our household, let me tell ya!  After lots of crying, sleepless nights, a Riley visit, and a TON of help from my super supportive husband (I really think he kept it all together for me, because I was losing it quickly...ha ha), we figured out that he had tummy issues and we started him on Neocate formula.  It was gross smelling, it was super expensive, and you couldn't get it in any stores, but it was worth EVERY penny!

Three months later we're loading up and heading to Disney for our family vacation.  Kyran and his super expensive formula came along for the ride!  He did as well as we could expect for a baby that still had tummy issues and just wasn't an overall "happy" baby.  We had a good time, and made sure that Ben was having fun.  Kyran will get to go back again, I'm sure, so we'll worry about his "fun" on the next trip!

Woohoo, we've made it to six months!  Kyran is on normal formula, and my checkbook is breathing a sigh of relief!  He's still not a super "happy" baby, but he's loving life a whole lot better than before, and he's guzzling that formula like it's no body's business.

At eight months we have a crawler.  He's not just a crawler, he's a crawler, a roller, a wiggler, a squirmy wormy, and most times, he's doing all of those things at the same time.  Diaper changes are the worst part of our day (and they still are).  The thought of putting him into his car seat makes me break into a cold sweat, and of course, he's still not sleeping through the night!

Bring on the tenth month!  He's a walker now, he's still not a consistent sleeper at night, and on top of the that, he decided to get his first ear infection.  He's up to six teeth and he's actually turned a new leaf and I would classify him as a "happy" baby!  You have to work a little harder to get a smile out of my serious little boy, but when he smiles, it just melts your heart.  He doesn't have those killer dimples that Ben has, but he does have those sweet eyes that just draw you in and won't let you go.  He's my serious boy and he's definitely my boy with no patience, but every smile reminds me that he has a sweet personality.  I'm beginning to see that he'll be a more reserved child who will probably not wear his emotions on his sleeves.  This little boy is going to keep me guessing.

Any, here we are...birthday #1.  Guess what?!?! He's a great sleeper, he drinks so much milk that I think we should buy a cow (goodbye tummy trouble), he's got a giggle and a smile that lights up the room, he has the cutest little ringlets in his hair, and his "ma ma" just makes me fall to pieces!  Who would have ever thought that in one short year we would go through all of these hoops to find ourselves with this precious little boy.  He's certainly given our parenting skills a run for our money, he's pushed Andy and I to our wits end, he's deprived more sleep from my life than I ever thought possible, and yet he's brought so much joy to our family.

I remember when we got pregnant, and I looked at Ben and thought how could I ever share my love with another human being...Ben had stolen my heart from his very first heartbeat.  Now, I can't imagine how our family of three ever survived without Kyran!  We are truly complete, and I am so thankful that God chose us for this little baby who I now have to call a toddler...

Ben's princess

This post is a little late, but we have to make sure and blog about it.  The weekend before last, we were invited to go celebrate a special girl's 4th birthday...Ben's princess, Lauren.  Ben and Lauren have been the best of friends since birth, and we've never missed a birthday party for this special lady.  She is such a cutie and a sweet friend to our Benners.  Happy, happy birthday Lauren!  We love you!

Kyran and Nolan had a fun day too!

The BEST day ever!

I was looking through my Better Homes and Gardens magazine last week and saw that Lego Block World was coming to town, and I instantly thought of a certain four-year-old that would go CRAZY to see it.  So, we loaded up the boys and my niece (who is also a huge Lego fan) and headed to Block World.  We didn't tell Ben where we were going, just that he was going to get a surprise.  We made it all the way to the parking lot when a woman came up and asked us if we were going to the flower and patio show or the Lego show...REALLY, come on!  It didn't matter though, because as soon as Ben heard Lego, he was excited.

About five minutes after we got in the building, Ben turned to me and said "This is the BEST day EVER"...I'd say it was a success!

Go Wabash!

We had a fun time cheering on my cousin Andy and the Wabash Little Giants at Depauw tonight.  Ben especially had fun with Hannah...Andy better watch out, Ben may be trying to steal Hannah away from him!

Finding fun in this never ending winter!

Will this winter EVER end???  I don't think we've had one full week at school since we came back from Christmas Break.  This week found us missing school on Wednesday because of 10 inches of snow that fell on us Tuesday night.  We finished out the week with delays on Thursday and Friday, and I just saw we're supposed to be 15-30 degrees below zero tomorrow morning (with the wind chill), so I'm thinking another week with delays is in the works!

We're so sick of this weather, that Ben has resorted to finding fun ANYWHERE he can...as you can see from this picture.

Even though it's an endless sea of white out our windows, and our fingers and toes go numb just walking to the car, we're still getting out and about....as the saying goes, this too shall pass!  To occupy our time, we decided to take in some basketball this weekend.  Andy took the boys to see my cousin play some college ball on Friday night, while I was busy with Winter Homecoming at school.  Ben and his cousin Addie went home with Grandma Debbie and Grandpa Jim that night.  Earlier in the week, I asked Ben what he was going to do with Grandma Debbie...he said "probably bake some cookies".  I asked him what he was going to do with Grandpa Jim, and he said "probably holler (haul) some corn and beans in with the combine".  Ha ha, I think he was probably a little disappointed with Grandpa Jim for not getting the combine out!

Saturday night found us at my sister's, watching my niece Katie in the cheer clinic.  Of course, she was the absolute BEST one out there (I may be a bit biased)!  I didn't get any pictures of her cheering but I can tell you she is on her way to being a great cheerleader!

We all ended back at Stacey's, staying warm by their fire.  The kiddos came bouncing down the stairs about an hour after we got there, and they had this wonderful "show" for us.  I'm not quite sure what the official title of the production is, but I'm titling it the Circus!  These kids just melt my heart, and I can't wait until Kyran and Lucy are old enough to join in their antics!

Here are some pictures from the weekend, and the "circus" video is at the end...enjoy!

I definitely think Kyran and Grandpa Jim are look-alikes!  I need to dig out one of Dad's baby pictures and post it, so that I can really see the resemblance.

And now, for your viewing pleasure...

One for the books

I figured that I needed to write a quick summary of the month of January before I forget it happened.  This crazy weather has sure been something!  I wanted to make sure I have a record of it, so when I'm old and senile I can read about it...ha ha. 


We started off the first weekend of January with huge snowstorm that dumped about 5-6 inches on us.  The wind blew like crazy, and we were out of school for a week!  Thankfully the department of education gave us two of the days without a make-up because the wind chill was dangerously cold. It was so bad that Purdue even canceled classes for two days! 


Ben got snowed in at Grannie and Papaw's for two nights during that week because it was so cold that the tractor wouldn't start.  They knew that they wouldn't make it out in the vehicles, but I'm pretty sure Grannie wasn't expecting the tractor to freeze up, ha ha.  Oh well, Ben had a lot of fun, and by Wednesday of that week, Andy was able to get out in the truck and get him. 


We headed back to school and to work the 13th, and the weather has been up and down ever since.  That very next weekend we got another big snow which delayed our school day on the 13th.  We made it the rest of the week with no delays and no missed days, but by the 20th, we were back to freezing cold temperatures.  From the 20th-29th we had five delays and one day out of school, all because of frigid temps.  It was anywhere from 10 to 40 degrees below zero at night with the wind chill, and not much warmer than that during the day.


Needless to say, I think the entire state is ready to get back to a normal routine, and I know that we're going to be dragging at school for the next few days now that we're back to a normal start time...but, it's definitely been a fun month.  Lots of extra family time for us, which is always a plus!