Who's Counting?

Thursday was Ben's 32nd Birthday. It's hard to believe he was only 22 when I first met him. He was just a baby then, and now we physically and numerically consider him to be an old man('cause let's face it, he still ACTS like a little kid:-) Last year I did the Snickerdoodle cake for him, so this year I figured I do a Cinnamon Roll cake. He loves his mom's cinnamon rolls, but I wasn't willing to take 3 days to bake them, so I got this quick recipe from a friend. It takes less than an hour, and they are DELICIOUS! Thanks Laura.

His birthday gifts were a home-cooked meal, a picture book of the kids and their daddy, breakfast the next morning at Cracker Barrel, and going to the movies. He's easy to please, but his real present is his boys weekend to Cedar Point Amusement park in 2 weeks.

Happy Birthday Sweetheart!

Easter 2009

Since Ben had to work at the hospital this Easter, we decided to celebrate it the Sunday before while my parents were in town for Samuel's birthday. Before the first session of conference, my dad made a pancake breakfast and we had the kids find their hidden Easter baskets. In between sessions, we had a quick Easter Egg Hunt because it was so-o chilly & windy. Then we ate a traditional Castleton Easter dinner with ham and twice baked potatoes before my dad headed to the airport. The rest of the day was spent playing with toys, baking muffins, building an Easter House, and decorating some eggs.

Katelyn and Poppy with their laptops

Our Gentle Giant. She almost weighs 50 lbs and she's not quite 4 months old.

Oshkosh Be Gosh

Best Buds

Getting ready for the hunt

Samuel ended up being sick on Easter Sunday, but even though he was sick I still wanted some Easter pictures of the kids in their Sunday Best. So that's what I attempted, and this is the best I ended up with.

(Outfits courtesy of Grammy)

Midland Country Fair

As WT as it makes us, we were very excited for the fair to come to town so that we could take our kids. We took Katelyn 2 years ago and she loved it, especially the Caterpillar Roller Coaster. Her feelings were quite different this time around however.

On the way to the fair

If you can look past my double chin, you'll see how happy Katelyn is

She did fine on the merry-go-round, until they passed the carnie and she flipped out. That happened on almost every ride we tried to get her on. She's terrified of those carnies.

The slide and fun house were the only "rides" she would go on.

She kept wanting to waste our money playing the games

How happy she was when we told her "no more"

At least Ben got to have some fun. And yes, he was probably more excited to go for himself than for the kids. He's actually going on a "guy's trip" next month with his dad and brothers to Cedar Point Amusement Park in Ohio. Apparently, it's got the best or biggest roller coasters in the world. And apparently I have a ten year old for a husband:-)

Happy Birthday Bubba!

On April 3rd, Samuel turned one year old. My parents came into town to help us celebrate, but we ended up doing more shopping than celebrating. I had big plans for his cake but had no time to follow through, not like it would have made much difference. We were so excited to watch Samuel dive into his cake since Katelyn was seriously disappointing w/ hers. Even though Samuel did better than she did, it was still a tad anti-climactic.

.............Our cake to eat.................................Samuel's cake to destroy






The damage

New pajamas from Grandma & Grandpa

Big Sis helping Samuel open his presents

I hate to sound cliché, but Samuel has brought so much joy and excitement into our lives this past year. I remember being so scared to have some stranger disrupt our little family and come between Katelyn and I. And now most days I like Samuel more than Katelyn. Hee, hee! While it has been much more exhausting, it has also been so much fun this second time around. For some reason I've had way more patience with Samuel than I ever had with Katelyn, which is strange because Katelyn was a much easier baby. At least Samuel is FINALLY sleeping through the night (which started about a month ago) and he is off the boob. Yeah for me, but not for my boobs (or lack there of)! We feel extremely blessed and cannot ask for anything more:-)

Spring Break

We got to spend this week with Ben's family in Dallas. We stayed at Dave & Gillian's with Ben's sister Heidi and her family, and got to see Ben's parents. We shopped, swam, saw movies, hung out around the house, went to the Fort Worth Children's Museum, the dad's and big kids went to Six Flags while the mom's and little kids went to Jump For Fun, and of course we ate incredible food.


Katelyn loves her "Best Friend Claire" and trains!


Katelyn suckered Lauren into carrying her everywhere

Katelyn in front of the Cowgirl Museum



Katelyn with cousins Tate and Gabe

We had so much fun that we ended up staying an extra day. We can't wait 'till we get to see them again, whenever that will be:-) Thanks you guys!

I've Been Tagged

I was so afraid of this...

Here are the rules

1. Go to the 4th folder where you keep your pictures on your computer.

2. Post the 4th picture in the folder.

3. Explain the photo.

4. Tag 4 fellow bloggers

Our last family picture before Samuel joined us the following morning...April 2, 2008. Don't judge me:)

I tag Danielle, Jeffi, Meggie, and Sara G.