Better late than never...

Here is Ben hanging with Wyatt on April 8. I hoped that seeing Wyatt toddle around everywhere might encourage Ben to try walking on his own, but nope. He's determined to wait until HE'S ready.

We loved seeing Jessie and Wyatt and meeting Dustin. Jessie was Sophie's gymnastics coach for years and we miss her! It's hard to go from three times a week to just seeing her once every few months. I'm grateful for wonderful adults who help my kids grow and learn. What would we do without them?

Kate's Fifth Birthday

So many birthdays, so little time.

I will admit, last week just about did me in! It was full of great moments, but was certainly a little overwhelming. Thanks to a dear friend, I was able to finish preparations for Kate's party (miracle of miracles) and Saturday morning she had her Garden Party. She and 9 of her best friends celebrated by coloring, playing garden games, decorating flower cookies, planting pansies in little pots, and eating flower cake. Whew.

Mileposts like this one remind me how truly blessed I am. My little Kate is a remarkably kind girl. She was my first child to actually act as the child-raising books said children would act. Another of my children at four averaged five to eight timeouts a day. Kate averages one or two a month. She loves her family, art, reading, and music.

Not only am I blessed in my children, but I am blessed in friendship. On Thursday, I was a bit overwhelmed, and called a friend to vent. In an hour and a half, she had made the cookies for the party and brought them to my house to put in the freezer. The next morning, she called and said she would do all my shopping. She did in one hour what it would have taken me five to accomplish. She saved the day, especially as I ended up having the beginnings of mastitis by that afternoon. I love my friends. They are amazing people, and I appreciate the talents they have that I do NOT.

Ben's First Birthday

Somehow it's true...my baby is one. It's such a cliche, but time has simply RACED by. I swear it was just last month I first held him in my arms and tried to figure out how my heart had expanded yet again to love another little person as much as the others.

Our little sunshine Ben is a joy. He lights up the room with the most charming toothy grin. We love his hugs and kisses, his chatter, his love of ice cream, his singing, the smell of his head after a bath, his soft hands patting us. We love watching him sign "eat," "more," and "please" and hearing him say Daddy, Momma, and more.

His party was fun. He was scared to be given free rein with his cake (note the tears in the picture above) and we had to convince him it was ok to eat it. Sweet little boy.

So happy birthday, little Ben. I hope the rest of your childhood doesn't go by as quickly as this first year.

Ben's First Haircut

Last week was a bittersweet week for me. It began on Saturday and Sunday as Ben became more adventurous in taking steps (no more than two at a time, thank you.) Then on Monday we decided it was time for Ben's First Haircut. Oh, the emotions involved in trimming those golden locks...I am not ready for my baby to grow up!

Ben did not enjoy the experience until we shoved a red sucker in his mouth. Then all was well. Hooray for candy.

What a handsome BOY! I love his new look, but I miss the babyness of the longer, wispy hair.

The rest of the week followed, and I'll add pictures soon: Tuesday we got to see Jessie and Wyatt (fun!) and Stephanie Sharp (so exciting!), Wednesday Ben turned one (oh my), and Saturday Kate turned five. How does time fly so quickly?

Things That Have Happened Since Last I Posted...

1. The fish died. I waited 4 days after I was sure he was dead, just to really be sure. Yup. He was dead.

2. My computer finally crashed. It had been threatening to crash for a while (HEY, that's just like the fish!), but I kept hoping it wouldn't. So I went out and bought a Mac. Yes, you heard me. I'm a Mac convert. No more blue screen of death for me...

3. The weather got lovely, then it got ugly again, then it got semi-lovely, but I hear it's going to get ugly again. Come ON. Utah Spring is a piece of work. I will say that running when it's in the 50's is wonderful, but for any other reason, 50 is just a lame temperature.

4. I decided that I would fight my going-to-bed-too-late battle by making myself wake up at 6:30 am EVERY SINGLE MORNING. The thought behind this (not an original thought. I found it on a blog. That makes it absolutely true.) is that I will eventually be so tired that I will start going to bed on time. Day 1: super productive. Day 2: kind of productive. Day 3: not so productive. Day 4: mostly zombie. Day 5: I start screaming at everything moving and decide that the experiment must end to save all of us. Notice the time stamp on this entry? Yup. I still haven't figured out going to bed at a decent hour.

5. Eric and Christina put an offer in on a house LESS THAN A QUARTER MILE AWAY! I know because I keep driving by. And running by. Oh my goodness, it's absolutely amazing. I can't wait. Will and Kate will be in kindergarten together! And eventually, so will Ben and Ez! Super remarkable.

So anyway, I'm back, and I'm sure that if I keep staying up late, I'm likely to post more often.

By the way, I think that tagging just means you answer the questions on your own blog and then tag someone else. I'm new to all this, myself.