This past weekend we rented a cabin in the Poconos.  It was a great house with hardwood floors, a big kitchen and many many bedrooms.  There were ten adults and seven children.  The kids had a blast just being there.  Ben spent most of the weekend climbing up and down the staircase.  I guess since we live in a ranch this was exciting (go figure!).  The guys relaxed in the hot tub with beers and smoked cigars.  The girls had no part of that and hung out upstairs with some wine.  We rarely all get together like this so we ended up talking till way too late.  I have to say I got inspired by many of the conversations we had.  For instance: when I got home, I started redesigning the livingroom and basement, decided on some prints to blow up and hang on the walls, taped Baby Einstein (which Ben really liked - wink wink Beth) and tomorrow I’m going shopping!  On Sunday we spent some time at the lake.  It was cold and overcast but nobody cared.  We skipped rocks, threw a football and took lots of pictures.  I wanted to share this one photo of me and Ben.  I’m loving the fact I actually got one of us together.  I just love his big smile (thanks to Vesna for the jumping up and down trick).  This is just so Ben. 

The guys:

The girls:

The kids:

The weekend was truly great. With that being said…..did I mention that when we got there, I realized that I left my bag at home? You heard me. grrrrr.

This was waiting on my bed when we got home:

A few posts back I mentioned I would post more pics from the museum.  Well, I’ve been really behind on editing so I only have one for you today.  This is Ben making gigantic bubbles.  I thought it was cute because he looks like he is concentrating so much.  This was the first thing to do when you walked in and he was soaked for the rest of the day!  He even stepped in bubble solution with his new sneakers.  They were a soppy mess.

It’s been a while since I’ve posted and time has just been slipping through my fingers.  I have a lot of emails to catch up on and phone calls to make.  I started this morning and I feel slightly ahead of the game.  Today is gorgeous and when Ben wakes up, we are going for a long walk.  I love being outside and why not take advantage of all the colors and sun that is out there. 

Here is a memory of a few weeks ago that I’m so glad I captured.  Ben and Jack on the purple sled in Montrose, PA.  Their faces say it ALL.

Grandma signed up Ben for this class because the word Tango was in it!  It had nothing to do with Tango but it did have everything to do with dance, fun, singing and moving.  Ben was a bit reserved at the start but soon he was right in the middle.  At the end the teacher took out this bubble machine which made one zillion bubbles.  He didn’t know what to do. 

Total bubble overload!

Spent Sunday afternoon at my inlaws house.  Ben and Craig splashed around in their beautiful, HEATED pool.  Ben amazes me everytime he goes in the water.  He is fearless (which is pretty scary)!  This time he went down the slide (no floating device of any kind) from the halfway point and went under the water to come up again to say, “MOA  (more, his favorite word)?  He loved it! 

Ken (FIL) took out this string with two wooden rods at either end.  Ben was in the water with Craig holding one end and Ken was pulling him from outside the pool all along the perimeter.  He held his head up and kicked and smiled.  It was awesome to see.  I, of course, took a zillion pictures like the proud photo Mama I am.

Ben under the water:

Fooling around in the Cabana:

and finally an outside shower:

We wrapped up the day by meeting Harriet (MIL) and a couple of their friends for dinner. Thanks for dinner guys and thanks for a fabulous day!

Over the last few days, Ben has made the association that he=me.  We’ve told him to say, “me” many times and he does but never on his own.  I really never thought he got the concept anyway.  It was just something he repeated.  Now, it is obvious that he understands.  We’ve dropped reffering to ourselves in the 3rd person as much as possible (Thanks Craig for forcing me to do this).  It is so easy to just say, “Please give Mommy that 2gb card with 175 photos of precious memories of you playing at the beach on it” instead of, “Please give me that…”.  So yesterday, I put him to the test.  He was pointing to his Teddy Bear’s eyes and saying…

Ben:  Eye
Me:  How many eyes does Teddy have?
Ben:  2 (everything is 2 by the way)
Me:  How many eyes do I have?
Ben:  2 (pointing to my eyes)
Me:  How many eyes do YOU have?
Ben:  Me?  (OMFG, he just said me in the sense that me is him - Me and Craig rock!)
Me:  yes, you
Ben:  2 Mama

So there you have it.  Another success in our parenting book.

Marina is going to have another cup of coffee now.

I bet there are things you pass by every day and never notice. 

Today’s post was written by Craig.  Thanks Honey for your words.  They are so much better than mine.  pfft!

I love what you wrote and I miss you!

***

As I sit on this 5 1/2 hour flight to Vegas, I can’t help but think about my “Mr. Cookie” and my wife whom I left at 6am this morning.  “THAT KID!” I say to Marina almost on a daily basis.  My love for him grows everyday.  The way he holds his pencil and draws so meticulously on his pad of paper.  The way he says “DADA!” when he sees me.  The way he dips his pancakes into his egg yolk just like mommy and daddy.  How he says “Moooorrrreeee” to everything he likes to do.  His sweet temperament and the joy he brings me everyday.

Benjamin is everything I hoped he’d be — He just turned two but I can already see what kind of person he’s going to be.

Strong, kind and gentle. 

The way he says “Noooo!” and “Biiiiiig” and “JAAAH, JAAAH” (for Curious George) makes me crack up every time.  After every bath, he HAS TO slide, no SLAM the shower doors back and forth.  I say to him, “Must you, Mister??”.  He always responds with “ahhh” which means yes. We say to him, “Say YES!” …. ESSHH! is what we get. 

What can I say? I love that kid with all my heart and can’t wait to catch up on the hugs and kisses when I get back.

I’ve been driving a Civic for 10 years.  It is trustworthy and comfortable and I never thought I needed anything new.  Until….NOW!  We got a Subaru Outback and I freaking LOVE IT!  It is a total upgrade for me let me tell ya.  2009 baby!  It’s got leather!  I won’t go into all the features because what I think is so cool is probably totally normal for the rest of you.  For instance, it’s got the buttons to open the locks ON the key!  You see, you are making fun of me.  I won’t go on to tell you that it has a 6 CD changer that works and a radio that comes in crystal clear.  No, really, I won’t tell you about the dual temp control and fold down seats AND heated side mirrors.  Holy Crap, heated side mirrors!  I’m cruising in style now for sure.

This photo is completely unrelated but look at this little boy’s profile - CHOMP!

What a storm we had yesterday!  The sky just opened up.  Did anyone get hail?  We did.  Little chunks of ice fell.  Did I mention it was like 85 degrees out.  So weird.  After the crazy rain and wind stopped, I looked out in the backyard.  ALL OF MY TOMATO PLANTS WERE DOWN!  I shrieked.  You don’t even understand.  This is my first garden and everything is doing really well.  My heart just sank thinking that the plants might have been ripped up or broken.  We went out there and thank God we were able to salvage everything.  We tied all the plants up and secured all the stakes.  Whew!  It was a close one.  All during this mayhem…..little Ben peacefully slept.