Sandy and Steve

Ok. So, I know that I have a lot of posting to do about Christmas and our trip. But, I just received this picture from Granddad and I had to put it up for you all to see. I am so in love with it. This is Steve with his mom when he was 7 weeks old. So cute. This is where my Ben Ben came from!! :O)

The Sounds in My House Tonight!

Oh what wonderful sounds are traveling through my little, tiny house!! Caleb is in his room teaching himself how to play his new harmonica. He is playing "When the Saints come Marching In." (Doing a very good job, I might add)

Or is that really Caleb? :O)

And then there is my little teenie bopper!! She is blasting "Love Bug" by the Jonas Brothers. She is in love with Nick. She told me that I have to write how wonderful he is in this post. :O) I think I will be singing this song in my sleep tonight.

And here in the front room are the fabulous oohs and ahhs from my little man. He is singing along with Mozart in his play gym. I love the sounds of a full house. Notice, there is one face missing. That does not mean that he is not making noise this evening. Oh no!! My husband is here and is being very Steve. As usual, he is sharing all of his thoughts and ideas!!! Would he be Steve if he wasn't? :O)

Tuckered Out!!

What a weekend this has been. We have been busy!! It all started with some Christmas shopping on Thursday night. It is finally starting to get a little chilly outside at night. So we have to do a little bundling before we go out now. Not much though.

The kids came on Friday night. We had fun playing with Ben. He is smiling SO much now. And he coos and tries to laugh a little. He LOVES his brother and sister. He just stares at them and laughs at them. Kennedy and I stayed up until almost 11 with him on Friday night listening to him laugh. It was fun! Last night we went to the Mormon Temple in Mesa to see the Christmas lights. They decorate it so beautifully. I love Christmas lights. Nothing gets me in the spirit of the season more than Christmas lights. And there were plenty to look at. They were everywhere we looked, even in the ground. Ben loved looking at them, too. He is really starting to become aware of his surroundings. Especially if his surroundings are lit up!! :O) He was so cute. We got some pictures of all of the kids. You can kind of see the lights in the background, but of course, the pictures do not do it justice. And then there is my family. I tried so hard to get a good picture of the kids with their Dad. Well, you'll see what happened. I was able to get a couple of good ones, but not many. Good ones just aren't fun enough for these goofballs, I guess. :O)

Trying so hard to give me a "normal" face.

I love this picture. She is so pretty.

And here it begins.

So Cute!!

All bundled up. It was really cold and windy. He didn't seem to mind though. Such a good boy!!

This is what happened tonight after Caleb and Kennedy left. Crash and burn under the Christmas Tree. My favorite gift. :O)

Our Trip to CA.

Ok. It has been a long time since I have added a new post. Well, I was in California last week, and I didn't get around to uploading any pictures. We had so much fun. Aunt Nancy flew down from Vegas so that she could help me fly with Ben for the first time. I know I am a huge wuss, but I was so scared to fly alone with him. I was afraid that he would scream the whole time and people would throw things at me. So, thank you, thank you Aunt Nancy for coming all the way to Phoenix to help us!! Ben was actually great on the plane. No screaming. But, he pooped both times. And let me tell ya, this kid can clear a room. With the recycled air in the plane, I'm sure the whole cabin was looking at the stranger next to them. :O) Any way he was really good both ways. Here is a picture of him on the way back. It is not technically his 1st plane ride, but the camera battery was dead for that one. :O(

He was a very good passenger. He even got to meet the pilot. We were the last ones off the plane. (easier that way) And I always love it when the pilot comes out when we are deboarding. I always love to be able to thank them for a safe flight. I am usually a little uneasy in the plane, and very thankful when we land!!!

We had a very busy week while we were there. Ben met a lot more of his family. I didn't get near as many pictures as I should have. No Gramps and Coco, no Grandma Paula, Grandpa Michael, Grandma Jennie, or Paula Faye. He even met some of my favorite girls, Tricia, Ashley and Kristin, but no pictures. I am really going to work on this picture taking thing at Christmas time when we are back. There are even more family members to meet. I am so excited!!

Playing with Uncle Phil

Uncle Ralph and Aunt Barbara

Uncle Joe

Another one of my favorite girls, Jamie.

What?!?! No one was holding this poor, ignored child?!?!?

WELLLLLL....... I guess we just better fix that!!!!

Aunt Nancy!!



Papa Paul

Uncle Phil and Auntie Erika

No, there was no lack of attention for the Noodle. I am amazed that he still allows me to put him down every once in a while. :O)

On a serious note, Grandpa Michael had a heart attack on Thursday night. We are so thankful that he is ok now. He had two stints put in his heart and he got to go home yesterday. He didn't get to spend much time with Ben, because he spent most of the week not feeling good. We are looking forward to seeing him. We might get a chance to see him next week. They may take a drive out here during his mandatory time off of work. I swear we might have to tie that man down. Rest and get well, Grandpa. We love you.

And then we came home, in time to go with Daddy to his work Holiday party. This was not a family event, like Steve told me, and no it was not a Halloween party. There were no other children there. But, there we were. Me and my baby, and this guy.....

See, this was the night that Movember moustaches were being judged. Ensemble mattered!! There were a few different categories. There was Best All Around Mo, Classiest Mo, oh I can't remember the others except for Trashiest Mo. This is the Mo that you would run away from if you faced it in a dark alley. This is the Mo that goes with Pabst Blue Ribbon and Wings in a restaurant with sawdust on the floor. Guess who won that category?!?!?

Bowchickabowwow!!!!

Oh, my husband in all his authentic Playboy shirt glory!! What a catch!!! :O) And now, he is off to pursue his career in adult films. No autographs, please!!! :O)

Family Weekend

We had so much fun with our family this weekend. They left too soon. :O( We wish they could have stayed longer. But, we enjoyed the time that we had with them. We hardly saw Kennedy and Andrea the entire time. (except when they put on shows for us) They are quite an act!!! They sing, they dance, they recite poems. What multi-talented girls we have!! Those two are inseperable once together. I wish we all lived closer together. But, despite the distance, I think they are going to grow up being best friends. :O) They adore each other! As for Caleb, well, poor Caleb ended up getting super sick on Friday. He spent half the day throwing up, and the other half of the day laying on the couch trying to get comfortable. Poor kid. He was better on Saturday though. Guess he just had a 24 hr bug. It was a nasty one. Of course it had to hit him when we had people here and things to do. I felt bad for him. Most other weekends we just hang around the house anyway. But, this weekend everyone went out shopping and lunching, and Caleb couldn't go. He really wanted to, but he was too sick. :O( I'm glad he is feeling better now. Here are some pictures of the family.

Gramps and Benny

Kennedy and Andrea

Caleb and Ash

Andrea and Ben

The kids

Gammy, Judi, Andrea, Ben, Gecky, Kennedy

Steve with a lovely stache :O), Ash, Uncle Troy, Caleb, Ben, Granddad

Ok. So, Steve has been growing a beautiful moustache for Movember. This is for a charity event to raise money and awareness for prostate cancer. You can read about it here. http://www.movember.com/

Some of the guys in Steve's office have been doing this. He has until next Saturday to harvest this magnificent facial hair. :O) Isn't he gorgeous??? (in a 1980's motorcycle cop kind of way) ;O) If you would like to sponsor him, this is how you do it.

To donate to my Mo you can either:

Click on the button at the top of this blog and donate online using your credit card or PayPal account. When the site comes up: click on donate. Then donate to an individual. Enter the registration # 1630291. Then click on donate next to Steve's name and follow the instructions.

or

Write a check payable to the ‘Prostate Cancer Foundation', referencing my Registration Number 1630291 and mailing it to:

Prostate Cancer Foundation
Attn: Movember
1250 Fourth Street
Santa Monica, CA. 90401

All donations are tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law. The money raised by Movember is donated directly to the Prostate Cancer Foundation which will use the funds for high-impact research to find better treatments and a cure for prostate cancer.

Did you know:

Prostate cancer is the most common non-skin cancer in the US with one in six American men developing the disease and more than 28,000 men dying of the disease every year.

African American men and those with a family history of prostate cancer are twice as likely to develop the disease and should have regular annual testing starting at 45. All other men should commence testing at 50.

Prostate cancer is 90% curable if detected and treated early.

Here's to your health!!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I think this has been the best Thanksgiving that I can remember. I am most thankful for that, especially since last year was probably the worst. That was when my dad was very sick and having surgery, and we weren't quite sure what was going to happen.
Well, thankfully, he made it through and has done very well over the past year. And what a year it has been! Among our countless other blessings, Steve graduated and found a new job that he loves. And then we grew and gave birth to our fabulous little Benny. We are now a family of 5 and the number suits us well. Caleb and Kennedy love their new little brother and are sooo good with him. They have definitely taught me a thing or two. We have had a lot of family come to stay with us since Benny was born. We LOVE that. We miss you all so much and we love it when you are here. After Benny was born, my mom put her entire life on hold and came and stayed with us for 2 1/2 weeks. She left her husband for that whole time and came and waited on us hand and foot. I don't think I could ever express how thankful I am for that. You are the best, Mom!

I am very thankful to Gramps, Granddad, Gam, Aunt Geckie, Uncle Troy and Andrea for coming to spend Ben's first Thanksgiving with us. This was also our year to have Caleb and Kennedy. So, we have had a full house and we love it. The only thing that could have made this Thanksgiving any better, would have been having Everyone together. I guess we will have to wait for Christmas for that. But, we did get to see everyone at Grandma's Paula's house over the web cam. Those things are so fun! I guess I am thankful for them, too. ;O)

Anyway, here are some pictures of our great Thanksgiving day! I hope you all enjoyed yours as much as I enjoyed mine!! :O)

A little nap with Gecky before the festivities.

This little turkey loves his Gammy.

The turkey frying set up. Notice Steve's turkey frying uniform!?!?!

After dinner, we went to Zoo Lights. The whole Phoenix Zoo is decorated with lights for the holidays. It is fabulous and I love it. It even rained on us, but it wasn't very cold. We had a very good time.

Happy Thanksgiving!!

All In A Day's Work.

Oh the life of my little Benny. He is such a good boy, and he is starting to have a little fun, too!

He wakes up and has a bottle. Sorry, I have no pictures of Benny eating. See, when he wants to eat, he means businesss. Mommy would need a few more hands if there was any hope of catching a snapshot during the feeding frenzy!

He is a happy camper once he has a full belly!

And so he plays in his gym.

Ok! We've had enough of the gym.

He gets changed.

A full belly, and a clean butt!! What more could a boy ask for? :O)

And so he sings!

I think he may be trying to yodel! He loves yodeling! I am trying to teach him. I love a good yodel! (no, I am not good at it. But that does not stop me from trying) :O)

At about this time, the frenzy begins again. This time he gets cereal in his bottle. Ooh, does he love that? Yummy!

And then he sleeps.

We now have a couple of hours before we go back to step one and repeat. Unless, of course it is nighttime. Ben is now sleeping through the night most of the time. Ahh, I can feel the bags under eyes getting smaller! :O) I love being Ben's mom!