Living Room Paint

 After looking at an off-white wall in my living room for 6 years, I FINALLY got brave enough and got enough ambition to get my room painted!  It is a color called Parking Meter which is a sage green/silverish color.  I absolutely love it!  After the painting was done, I did alittle furniture rearranging too which also helped spruce up the room.  Here are a few before and after pictures. 

Before - Right side

Before - Left side

 

After - Right side

 

After - Middle

 

After - Left

Preschool

Bennett started 3 year old Preschool today at Zion.  He was pretty excited and had no problem with me leaving him.  His class has 12 kids which is the max that they would accept.  One of the nice things for me is that I know a good handful of the kids and parents in his class already.  I actually went to grade school and high school with 2 of the mom's!  And, his teacher Mrs. Aurich is a family friend of ours - she taught me piano lessons for years! 

His class is on Tuesday's & Thursday's from 8:30-11:00am.  During that time they will be doing individual and group play, projects, Jesus time, snack time and a theme for each week (this week's theme is about getting to know each other).  They are also being taught some of the basics about going to school like walking instead of running, walking in a line, raising hands, sharing etc. which will be great for him!  I got there a couple of minutes early to pick him up and peeked in on the 'walking in a line'.   

Like I said, Bennett had no problem with me dropping him off and leaving him.  Ashley on the other hand...  After I dropped off Bennett, Ashley and I were going to go to Target during the time that he would be at school.  For at least 5-10 minutes, she was in her car seat, almost in tears, saying Bennett, Bennett over and over again.  And then when we were on our way back to pick him up she kept repeating "Bennett up, Bennett up".  She has so much fun when he is around and she doesn't know what to do without him! 

I am really excited about this for him.  I think the socialization will be great for him.  And I'm excited to watch him continue to learn and excel!

 He was ready to go with his new Mater shirt and Thomas backpack. 

 

Mom, enough with the pictures - put the camera away!

Big Girl Bed!

I can't believe I'm writing this blog already!  Two weeks ago, at Ashley being 19 months, she got moved to her big girl bed.  I had Bennett moved over to a big bed too by this time but that was because I was pregnant and wanted to give him plenty of time to get used to a bed before I needed the crib again.  That is not the case this time around!

Ashley was a GREAT crib sleeper.  I would put her to bed or nap and I wouldn't hear a peep from her.  I didn't really want to disturb that routine and get her out of the crib yet but, I still set up her big bed - for two reasons.  The first reason was that she is a terrible sleeper in the pack n' play at my mom's house (more like she doesn't sleep - she stands there and screams to get out) and since vacation was coming up, I wanted her to sleep in a big bed for a couple of naps so that in case she refused to sleep in the pack n' play on vacation, at least she might be alittle used to sleeping in a real bed.  The second reason I set up the big bed was for Bennett.  He goes to sleep in his bed downstairs every night but during the night, he makes his way upstairs and in to our bed.  I tried to put him in her room a few nights to see that if he was upstairs by all of us if he would sleep the night and stop coming to sleep with us.  Well, it didn't work for Bennett - he still woke up, which in turn woke up Ashley! 

And Ashley, well she took to it very well that week before vacation and ended up actually sleeping the nights!  (And, of course, she slept just fine in the pack n' play on vacation!)  So anyways, I have a full-time, big girl bed sleeper.  The only disadvantage is that she is now waking up by 7:30 in the mornings instead of 8:00 or after.  Now, what to do with the crib until we need it again...

I also lucked out with her bed.  Since my brothers are both done with college and back home, mom ended up having an extra twin bed in her house that she didn't need and didn't have room for.  She offered and of course I took it!  And, I was able to get her really cute girly bedding - bedspread, sheets, pillow sham, curtains and some butterfly wall decals on a local garage sale website for $25!!! 

The big girl side of the room

The baby side of the room

More Vacation Pictures

Bennett got brave and wanted to go on the Iceberg with Kristen, David & Josh

Ashley "swimming".  She loved it!

The early bird catches the worm.  Mike was up really early to go fishing and catch this awesome sunrise (along with some Northerns)

Vacation Pictures

Mike and Ashley

This is called "The Point" which is a spot just yards away from the lake where they hold evening devotions for the campers.

Kristen, Bennett & Josh



Kristen, Bennett, Josh, Ashley & David

Vacation 2012

Last week we all took a family vacation to Lutheran Island Camp.  This is a Lutheran camp for kids but the week that we were there, it was Family Week.  But, we weren't really there for Family Week either.  Mom and Dennis rented out the Retreat House which is a huge house that with bunk beds in the six bedrooms, it could fit about 32 people.  We were almost there and had 16 people there last weekend!  This is our second summer coming here.  Dennis's kids Julie and Martin have been going here forever I guess and they are camp councilors again this summer.  This camp is ironically only about 5 minutes away from the resort that we used to always go to every summer.   

Anyways, from last Friday to Sunday we had the following people there:  Mary, Rachel, Mike, Bennett, Ashley, Jon, Laura, Chris, David, Josh, Kristen, Dennis, Lisa, Eli (boyfriend), Julie and Martin = 16.  On Sunday evening Laura, Chris and Jon left since they had to work on Monday and then on Monday, Mike, Lisa & Eli left.  I left to come home on Wednesday with Ashley and the rest stayed until Friday. 

They have a really nice lake and beach with lots of things to do in the water like a water trampoline and also kayaks and a pontoon boat which we have access to.  We spent every day by the water for a few hours and also did some fishing every day.  It was a really fun and relaxing time.  The kids had a great time and were soooo good!  They loved the water and sand.  Bennett is alittle timid of the water but was doing alot better by the end of the week and every requested to go out to the deeper water to go on the rafts and water trampoline with my siblings.  They still took their daily nap which was great and helped us all get through the day.  Most nights they weren't in bed until after 9:00pm each night so the nap was definitely necessary!  And they both did good too and slept the nights without any problems. 

I also want to say a quick THANK YOU to my family for helping me to take care of my kids!  They love you guys so much and you are allll so great with them.  I appreciate it so much.  And thanks for offering to keep Bennett there with you for those couple days when I had to go home.  I know he had alot more fun with you guys, than with me at home!  Thanks and love you.

Here are a bunch of pictures for your viewing.  Actually, I'll probably split this up in to two days worth of pictures since it might be alot. 

This is a picture of the back of the house.

 The whole group - Bottom to top:  Martin, Kristen, Josh, Julie, Lisa, Eli, David, Laura, Chris, Jon, Rachel, Bennett, Mike, Ashley, Dennis and Mom

 Bennett driving the pontoon with Chris

Ashley wanted to kayak

And to see what was in the front of it...

Everybody getting ready to go

Sleepy Ashley

We had a very very busy weekend a few weeks ago and it was catching up with Ashley. Here is a cute video of her trying to finish her lunch one day.


Also, a quick update (more for my records than anything else), Ashley had her 18 month checkup at the beginning of July. At 18 months she weighed 22 lbs. 9 oz. (25%) and is 32 inches tall (62%).