Happy Father's Day

The phone rang around 7:30 a.m. this morning and I could tell it was Daddy-O! The boys and I were eating breakfast and Benjamin and I were talking about what he could tell Daddy today when he called.

Benjamin answered the phone, "Happy Father's Day!" He was, as usual, excited to hear from Daddy. They talked for awhile and Benjamin asked him if he got his card "The one with the blue stripe because I know blue is your favorite color, Daddy." Daddy hadn't received it yet but now he knows what to look for! I had asked Benjamin to draw a picture on the envelop of the card he was mailing Daddy and that's just what he drew, a blue stripe.

Unfortunately, Father's Day just kind of crept up on me this year. There is stuff in route to Don. But Don was so good about Mother's Day and sending cards and a present early... I slipped up. Oops. Well, in due time he will be receiving the photo I took last week of the boys (top photo above) framed as well as a couple other goodies.

I did sent him an e-mail last night though so he had it this morning when he got to his computer. I admire him so much as a father to our boys and I feel so blessed that he is the man God gave me to be their Daddy. I long for the day he can once again share in their laughter and smiles and I can only imagine how they will glow with delight in having their Daddy home to wrestle around with them.

I tried to capture a picture of Benjamin and Samuel together today after church. Easier said than done these days! I got a couple of photos of them being silly together then a couple of cute ones of them individually.


Happy Father's Day, Daddy-O! You are a wonderful Daddy, husband, and best friend. You are our hero! We love you!

Smiling Samuel

I have been posting a lot of videos of Samuel lately but I just find him rather entertaining these days. He is such a character and totally Mr. Personality... always thinking of new ways to entertain himself and anyone who is willing to watch!

He just has not been himself lately though. Fussy and more clingy than usual. I kept thinking he must be teething but every time I checked his mouth I just didn't see anything new. Well, this morning when I was dropping him off at Natalie's house I checked again. Finally! I found a tooth that popped through! Up until this point he has had 6 teeth (4 top, 2 bottom). Not sure if this happened over night or if I had just missed it in past peeks but it's definitely a new addition. Oddly enough it is not right next to any of his other teeth. He has skipped a tooth on the bottom and then there is one right in the middle. Hopefully the missing teeth are soon to follow. The way his teeth are looking at this point, I'm thinking we better start saving for braces already!

Anyways, tonight at dinner he refused to eat solid food so I gave him some baby food and eventually let him dig in with his own spoon. He loves to do this but got carried away and food ended up all over him. I thought it was cute. Messy but still cute so I snapped a couple photos. Then I cleaned him up with a clean cloth and set the cloth down. He picked it up and was entertained by it for a good long while which is when I snapped additional photos and video. I did NOT place this on his head, he did this all on his own! These are the kind of photos he's going to hate when he's older but are so cute right now!

I hope these photos and video clips make you smile as much as they make me smile. That's our Samuel... out to make everyone smile!

Climbing Hoop Star

Here are two videos I took of Samuel on Friday and Saturday. The first one is him demonstrating his basketball layup (with two balls in his hands).

And the second video of him climbing into a child's chair. Once he figured this out Saturday morning that was all he wanted to do. Seriously, the only toy this child needs is a ball and a hoop otherwise he's all about entertaining himself.

Unfortunately, my camera's memory card was full both times so the clips cut off kind of abruptly. Oh well.

Summer Is Finally Here!

We have had another busy but fun weekend. I have changed my work schedule so now I work Tuesdays through Thursdays and have 4 day weekends. Which has its perks but usually by the time Tuesday rolls around I'm really ready to head back to work! My job is definitely my outlet these days and, for the most part, I enjoy it.

This Saturday Benjamin had a birthday party to go to for a classmate. So, I had our babysitter come and stay with Samuel while I spent time with Benjamin at the birthday party. It was Samuel's nap time and it's definitely easier taking one child to parties than chasing after the lil guy the entire time.

After the party I had the sitter stay and we all headed up to the pool. It was hot with temps swelling and peaking at 100 both Saturday and Sunday. Which I hate to complain about too much knowing that our soldiers (including our Daddy-O) are out in temperatures well over 100 degrees on a daily basis. The boys both loved the pool and had a blast. Samuel is mostly glued to his pool balls the entire time we're there or watching the big kids play with the basketball hoop in the big pool. Benjamin has grown so much since last summer and can stay above water in the majority of the shallow end of the big pool. He loves to jump in over and over and over again. And it's fun to see him so excited and just loving life. After the pool I ordered pizza and bathed the kids then took the sitter home. It was a busy fun-filled day.

Today Samuel slept til almost 9 a.m. Phew! He must have been tuckered out because I put them both to bed at 7:30 p.m. last night. Gotta love summer and pool weather. Of course, Benjamin was up at 6 a.m. Don called around 8:30 a.m. Benjamin answered the phone. He had so much to tell Daddy. I was so surprised. Sometimes we talk about little things that we'll have to tell Daddy and how proud Daddy will be of him when hears this or that. And apparently, he was storing some of these things and just couldn't wait to share them with Daddy-O! So, he told him how he is now able to do his top buckle on his car seat, how he closes his own car door, how he found treasures in a sandbox at Emma's birthday party... a car, a blue car, his favorite color!, etc.

I think this book that I got from the library "My Daddy's in Iraq but I want him Back" really hit home with him. He loves it and he can totally identify with it. In the story the boy talks to his Daddy and the boy shows his Daddy his new toys over the phone but the Daddy can't see the new toys. And today Benjamin said to his Daddy, "Samuel got new toys." then he went on to tell him about them. It was cute and reminded me of the book. It really gets him asking questions about things which is great. It's incredible to see how their little minds work. And at the end of the story it says that the boys Daddy comes home and that the boy looks really close to make sure it's his very own Daddy. And every time I read that part Benjamin lights up like the fourth of July. It's great. I can only imagine how he's going to beam when Don is home again. Only four short months. Or about 120 days according to Don!

Don sounds good. He sent a photo this week of him at a modeling club that he and a friend went to. It was the first time he went and he made a model of a locomotive. He said he slept in today and ended up missing chapel. He must have needed the sleep.

Well, after church today we had a luncheon to celebrate the church's 20th anniversary. It was nice and they had a moon bounce that Benjamin thoroughly enjoyed but with the temps so hot it didn't take long before he was beat red and covered in sweat.

The rest of the day just flew by. We came home from church around 2 p.m. Took naps then were off to the pool again this time with our super neighbor, Katie. She adores the boys and is a huge help at the pool. For the most part she entertained Samuel while I caught Benjamin time and time again. He just loves that jumping! Today I relocated a swim vest that he wore last summer and it was awesome. He was able to stay afloat a lot better and I didn't find myself reaching out to him as much.

Overall, we had a great weekend and I'm so glad that we're finally able to get out and enjoy the weather (hot as it may be!).

Samuel and his Spoon

Samuel has learned a new trick!

He is now feeding himself from a spoon. He is doing pretty well with it. His hand-eye coordination has always amazed me so I guess it should be no surprise to me that he can get that spoon in his mouth so well (especially with his love for food!). He's a bit messy, of course, but with lots of practice he should be good at this in no time at all. I managed to capture these photos of Samuel on Monday, enjoying his yogurt, which he absolutely loves.

On another note, Don is doing well! We are down to about 4 months left before he returns and I feel a sense of relief that the end seems somewhat in sight. He e-mailed the other day that it was 119 degrees there. Hot. Darn hot.

If you are sending a package please keep that in mind and don't send anything that could melt or that doesn't take to heat well. And, if you haven't sent a card, letter or package but have been meaning to please do! Even though we have begun our countdown, I'm sure he would love to receive mail. We've been so busy lately that I'm sure his mail flow has slowed down a bit but I always try to have something in the mail for him (as soon as he receives something I try to drop him a postcard, letter or just pictures of the boys). And he's been great about sending the boys postcards. We have quite a nice collection of postcards from Daddy-O. All tucked into a photo album so we can see all the cool postcards of army vehicles, airplanes, etc. that he sends.

Weekend in the Philly Area

Last Thursday we headed to the Philadelphia area where our old neighbors and friends moved to back in December. It was about a three hour drive and we made it without any stops! Both boys had their moments when I thought I was going to have to stop but we got past it and they both napped (just at different times). It wasn't a bad drive, although I don't think I'll venture more than 3 hours from home alone with the boys anytime soon.

The kids were all excited to see each other. Their older daughter, Abby just turned 6, and she and Benjamin always have fun together. And their baby, Hannah is now 20 months and she and Samuel were just too cute together. Hannah called Samuel "baby" the entire time. If he was out of her sight she was asking "Where's baby?" But Samuel, at 15 months old, is already a little taller and definitely pudgier than her. They were so cute hugging each other and playing together all weekend.

We enjoyed visiting a couple of their local parks where the kids exerted lots of energy and we went to Chucky Cheese one night too. The boys both slept good especially Samuel. On Saturday I finally woke him up at 9:30 a.m. so we could get moving before the rain arrived.

It was good to see our friends and visit with them. There is still lots to see and do in Philly so hopefully we'll head back again after Don returns.

On Sunday we headed back right after lunch and both boys fell asleep for about an hour or so. We went straight to the kennel to pick the dogs up and I explained to Benjamin that the dogs had been at camp while we were away and that they'd be excited to see us. And Benjamin piped up and asked "What are their tents like, Mommy?"

"Oh Benjamin, they didn't stay in tents. They were more like cabins!"

And boy were Campbell and Loudoun dogs ever excited to see us! Samuel has a special fondness towards the dogs and he just lit up when the climbed into the car and Campbell snuggled up next to him.

Goodbye Blue Butterfly Friends!

Last Wednesday was Benjamin's last day of 3 year old preschool. He had an end of the year party which was a great send off to summer and a wonderful way to wrap up his first year of school. He loved his Blue Butterfly Class and teachers. He learned so much and had such a fun-filled year. I was sad to see the school year come to an end. I actually teared up a bit as we said farewell to his friends and teachers. But we look forward to his next year back at HOPE Preschool.

Samuel went along with me to Benjamin's end of the year ice cream social and had as much fun as the big kids. He has always tried to jump right into the classroom and get into the play dough, blocks or whatever he could when we drop Benjamin off but this time he got to stay and play! He really enjoyed the little kitchen they have set up in the classroom and actually came running out of it, toy pot in hand, and into the picture the other parents and I were trying to take of preschool class together. Not for sure what target he was going for with that pot but it seemed as if he was aiming right for his big brother's head.

The kids did a craft where they each put their hand print on a tote bag so they have a tote with all their Blue Butterfly friends' handprints on it. They turned out really cute.

At the end of the party the kids each received gifts from their teachers. (I don't quite remember all this fan-fare as a child). Each child received a bucket full of bubbles, sunglasses, a beach ball, and a photo album from their activities throughout the school year. It was all so very exciting.

They gave him a booklet that consisted of a few things they had done throughout the year. A survey he took at the beginning of the year that included this information:

My name is Benjamin and I am in the Blue Butterfly class.

I am 3 years old.

My favorite color is: blue.

My favorite food is: Poptarts.

My favorite song is: Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star

I have 2 dogs at home and their names are Campbell and Loudoun.

When I am not at school I like to play cars.

It also stated that he grew an amazing 2 1/2 inches since September!

The booklet is a special keepsake that I'm sure we'll treasure for years to come and look at throughout this summer as we get psyched up for heading back to school in the fall!