Everyday Happenings

Early morning cuteness: Early morning sweetness: Early morning not-so-happy: We love getting pictures of Timothy...and Micah loves getting pictures of his beloved Mater.

We so wish we could have joined Timothy for his Cars party!  Have I mentioned how awesome Timothy's mom is?  Micah wakes up during thunderstorms absolutely terrified.  Have I mentioned we've had big, loud summer storms EVERY day this summer?  Lots of mommy + Micah snuggles necessary during nap times.  Jason brightened my day by bringhome chips + salsa from our favorite Mexican restaurant:  Ivory was anxious for daddy time when he returned.  They took of on a daddy-daughter date and enjoyed a snack + some fun by the bay. Doesn't this reading nook look amazing?  I thought we could make a super long, divided one along one wall to double as small beds for my munchkins.


Sadly my three were all too whiny + snotty for church one Sunday.  Here we are trying to stay happy + sane while daddy was at church. 
We snuck outside for a little outdoor play when the indoor whining grew to be a little more then mommy could handle... Micah felt yucky so spent a lot of time on mommy's lap--especially when the Barbie jeep came out.  He's awfully terrified of that thing.
So refreshing to enjoy a bright blue sky.
We loved getting pictures from our cousins!  Here is cutie pie Aiden.

Beautiful Anna + Ella showing off their Olympic prizes:

Anna made this Olympic maze:  So creative!

Love that all three can take baths together now!  So fun. Korban is super proud of his new skills--he's becoming quite skilled + confident.

Everyday Happenings

Princess Ivory + Dino Micah.  Ivory loves dressing like a princess + going to the palace with daddy where they dance.  Micah loves scaring us with his dinosaur. 

At night we give him his elephant and yellow blankie.  He smiles and says, "Uff, uff!"  "You want your doggie?"  Big smile + giggle upon receiving said dog.  Micah smiles and says, "oo-oo-aaa-aaa?"  "You want your monkey?"  Big smile + giggle upon receiving red monkey.  Micah smiles and says, "Rowr!"  "You want your dinosaur?"  Big smile + giggle upon receiving blue dinosaur.  Then, he hugs them all tightly and tries laying down...on top of them...so many stuffed animals he's practically sitting up...but oh so happy.  Adorable.
Today we went for a family walk where we enjoyed the brisk Autumn air.

Classic Florida: sweatshirt + shorts.

Korban loves being on his momma.  I put him in this carrier and he promptly konks out.  Don't mind the peanut butter crackers in my hand...I'm only a starving nursing mom.  Seriously, I feel ravenous 90% of the day.  So far I've only snuck a few middle of the night snacks, though.

The kids were SUPER whiny this morning.  The walk was a refreshing break from the whining...until we got home.  After a short stint of porch play time + tantrums (mostly tantrums) they both went inside for time outs.  Mainly just for their parents sanity.  The time outs worked wonders and they both came to lunch with fresh outlooks, and their parents with renewed sanity. 

Wild berries we found on our walk. 
Whispers of Christmas.  We are getting excited about Christmas--and so is Ivory.  She said she's excited about the presents and getting a Christmas tree.  Me too, Ivory!  But, Thanksgiving first.  It will be a very different holiday season for the Bennett family, but a good one that we're excited about!

New Swingset + Grandparent Fun

We were graciously given a new swingset this week.  And thanks to some transporting help from guys at the church and daddy + grandaddy's skills the swingset is operational and already being greatly enjoyed by our kiddos as evidenced below.

On Monday Jason and I snuck away and left all three kids (yes, I know--so fast!) with Grandaddy, Nana, Grandma + Pa.  We enjoyed dinner + a little birthday shopping for Jason.  Thanks for the date, ya'll!

Our kids are thoroughly spoiled by now...and so is their Mom.  When Grandma + Pa leave you just might find me rocking back in forthi n a fetal position wailing in self pity.  Maybe.  Until then we'll just enjoy them and all the excitement coming this weekend with my sister's soon arrival!!!

Fancy Ivory

Ivory posed herself. We received an exciting package in the mail today!  My Aunt Nancy graciously mailed us some clothes that my cousin Christy has sweetly passed on to our little girl.  Ivory is *such* a girly girl.  When she saw the package she could hardly wait to look at each item and wanted to try every piece of clothing on and either twirl, fly, or dance with daddy in it.  She was excited when I put one of her new skirts on after nap time.  So, of course we had to get a few pictures of her in her adorable skirt.  Thanks so much Aunt Nancy + Christy--we *love* the clothes!

Up to mischief on the front porch.  They were awfully mischevious tonight. Ivory + flowers = love affair Exercising on her excercise mat hand-me-down from Cassie...not too impressed that brother wants to join her.
Well, I better go now as Ivory is "reading" me library books and I should probably be more attentive...

The Jungle

My husband is an adventurer.  Read Wild At Heart by John Eldredge?  That pretty much pegs my man.  To cultivate this in our children he has been working on very small backyard "jungle" as Ivory calls it.  He has spent hours clearing it of poison ivy, snake homes, etc. so our kids can safely enjoy some outdoor exploration and fun.  He has grand plans of campfires, rope swings, and tree houses.  I know whatever he does the kids will love it.  Ivory already loves visiting the jungle.

Jason burned leaves for 3 days and emptied 2 truckloads.  This isn't counting the loads of brush, trees, etc. picked up by the city.

Brings back a lot of great memories of when I was a kid.  We spent hours and hours in the woods as kids.  I distinctly remember stepping over snakes and looking for ticks each night in the tub.  My mom was a brave woman.  And I'm so glad she was--such fun times.

So, here's to being a "somewhat" brave Mom myself--and thanks to my sweetie for clearing such a fun spot for our kids (it has also really helped cut down on the excessvie mosquito population)!

Bike Ride

Our friend Betty Jo found a good deal on this bike trailer and bought it for us--so generous and thoughtful that girl.  We thoroughly enjoy it!  Jason has taken the kids for several rides (major points with mom here!) and I even attempted to take them for a ride last Thursday when Jason has music practice in the evening.

The kids really enjoy it (well, Micah's happy as long as Ivory's not deciding to purposely bang her head into his...).  I know, I know, they need bike helmets--we don't ride far and are ride really slowly.  We are working on getting bike helmets asap.  We put pillows in for the ride now since the rides often lull them into a near sleep.  Perfect bedtime prep.

My sweetie getting us all set-up and showing me how to do it so if I ever want to set up and go when he's not around.  I am proud to say I figured out how to dismantle it and put it all away with ease. 

It hardly even feels like I'm pulling anything.  It's just that my leg muscles were screaming at me reminding me we haven't ridden a bike in years.

So, though our ride was quite short, it was a nice one.  I'm hoping to maybe make the next one last a good solid 30 minutes instead of my 15-20 minute ride (and I'm being quite liberal in my time estimate)...we'll see.  Thanks again, Betty Jo--we all love it!

Outdoor Water Fun

Daddy pulled out the water toys for more outdoor fun Sunday evening. Ivory enjoyed it for a short while, but Micah lasted longer.







The kids have quite the outdoor fun hook-up now with all the cool water toys and this outdoor kitchen set & baby doll stroller from Bella. Ivory is *loving* this ste-up. Thank you, Bella!


Micah Man finally ready to dry off and warm up.

I love my boys!


Micah discovering his fun refrigerator magnet while Mom attempts to make dinner.

He especially loves pushing the frog so the music plays and he can dance (bounce) to it. I tried to catch him doing it on video, but he was already done with that by the time the camere came out, of course.