Moving day

I just wanted to say a big thank you to everyone who helped us move yesterday. We've never had anyone help us and I can't believe how nice it was to have so many bodies carrying boxes and loading items, and even providing an extra truck. To top it off it was 96 degrees here on the coast. What a day.

We just moved to the next little neighboring town into a home with a little bit more space and yard for a growing 2 year old.

My parents hate attention, but I especially want to say thank you for all of their help. They drove the 4.5 hours up and helped move a bunch of stuff, babysat, mowed the lawn, ran errands, and cleaned. My mom is going to stay all week to help me clean and babysit. And to top it off then my dad is going to make a second trip up to pick up my mom. I think this is a very, very nice thing for them to do, especially as this is not a fun trip for things like sight-seeing or relaxing.



Thanks again! Benny is sure happy to have had you come.

Happenings

Benny and I went to Utah for a family reunion and my cousin's wedding. It blizzarded in Idaho and dumped snow in Provo. Then it was sunny the rest of the time. Well, kind of. CRAZY weather.
We also celebrated my mom's bday. We went to the Cheesecake Factory (yum!). We drove A LOT. Can we say I can't remember when I have been so exhausted. And grouchy (sorry Mom).

When we got back I started a new job. I have been off the past 9 months except for a few days subbing here and there. It's about 16 hours a week and Benny is going to friends' homes to be babysat and play. So far it's working out Benny enjoys the friend time.
And then this week we are moving to the next town to get into a house with a bit more room. Right now I am supposed to be packing while Benny naps but I am too tired:)


Little Farm in Berkeley for a friend's bday. You can feed your own lettuce and celery to the animals. And it's free to go there. The kids loved it and we'll have to go again:

He LOVES these sunglasses, but even more, he loves wearing them upside down:

I bribed him into wearing them correctly. Big Ben thinks he looks like Bono. He does love music...

The biggest marshmallow I have ever seen. You only need one to make a full size s'mores.

He actually did a pretty good job watering my parents' plants in Lompoc and only got a little wet:

I just want to kiss that sweet face:

Mother's Day

I am sooo behind. I just wanted to quickly jot down a big thank you to my boys for really doing a great job this Mother's Day.
Since church is early, Ben did most of the Mother's Day stuff the day before on Saturday. I was awakened to breakfast in bed (which of course Benny wanted to help me eat). Then Ben cleaned the entire house including sweeping, mopping, vacuuming, dishes, and even dusting. I got to take a nap, and when I woke up, there were these on the table:

I love all lilies.

And we all just spent the day together. Ben also cooked Sunday dinner. He remarked how it was funny that on Mother's Day a lot of times moms want a break from their families/kids, but it's those little ones who make the day even possible. I am thankful for my sweet little boy who truly made me a mother. And for a wonderful husband who does his best to make me happy.

My grossest day ever

Not for the faint of heart!

I will spare you the pictures. Yes, Ben took some while laughing his head off. Our new landlords were also laughing their heads off. At least there was humor in the situation, even if I wanted to puke from the smell.

We met up with our new landlord to get the keys to the house and go over a few things. Benny has had diarrhea this week after our trip to Utah but he has been acting fine otherwise. So he was running around with the other kids while we talked to the landlord, so we didn't notice the smell until the end. As I lifted him to put him in his car seat, Ben noticed the brown streaks on Benny's leg. Uh oh, that must be a pretty bad diaper if it's running down his legs. I took him back down so I could line the carseat with paper towels so the leaky diaper wouldn't get everywhere. Then all h-e-c-k broke loose. As I lifted him back up to put him in his carseat, I kind of swung him over the edge of the seat. That small swing was all the momentum the poop needed to fly up and out the top back of the diaper, smattering my shirt, pants, shoes, the ground, the car seat, the car, the tires with nasty stinky poo! I stood there in shock not knowing what to do, where to move or how to breathe. I sent Ben into the house to strip Benny and rinse him off in the tub, but unfortunately I would just have to wait till I got back home to clean myself.
Now I have dealt with leaky diapers and accidents and puke, but the volume of this splatter was incredible. I have never seen so much poop in my life.

The reason for such a graphic post is to give background detail to precede the words which then came from this little two year old's mouth.
I found Ben and Benny in the bathroom and when Benny saw me, he said:
"You got lotta poop on you. Probably change clothes."
Uh... you think????