Oh, where to start...?

Sometimes I really hate this blog. Seriously, I think I am all caught up, and then all of a sudden it is four weeks since the last decent post, and I find myself laying awake in the middle of the night thinking about all of the stuff that has happened that I have yet to blog about. So to relieve myself from this ridiculous anxiety, I am going to sit down and spend way too long making an entry about things that happened way too long ago.

Hang in there with me, or feel free to skip right over this whole thing. I don't really care. This is purely for me and my obsessive compulsive sanity.

Oh, where to start...? Here is a quick rundown of our basic week.

Monday I have Jace. The mornings are for Story Time, and Monday nights we have FHE with our FHE group, which I organized. Tuesday mornings I go to Zumba, because I joined a gym in June. It is approximately three minutes from my house, has fantastic child care, and makes me feel like I can still have some muscle tone even though I am a mom. Joining this gym also motivated me to finally throw away my gross high school cross country clothes and buy myself some "grown up" work out clothes and a yoga mat. I feel very adult when I go work out. Wednesday I have Jace and we have playgroup, which I organized. Sometimes we all go to the $1.00 movie with the rest of the toddlers in Copperas Cove. Thursdays are combat class (watch out, I can now take down a fully grown man in a dark ally without breaking a sweat. Stay on my good side.) And in the afternoons we will sometimes go to shows at the library. Like reptile shows, where Bennett has small fits of excitement and dramatic reenactments of the "nakes" and the "yizzards." Fridays I have Jace and Step class. Saturdays we do the yard. All. Day. Long. Sundays we cling to our sanity and go to church.

Also, every single morning I wake up to Bennett's face three inches from my own, telling me it is not nighttime anymore because now it is "rocket ship time"...except he puts a T at the end of the word "ship", which sort of makes me smile. So every single morning (except Sundays) we are joined for breakfast by the Little Einsteins. I have DVRd these episodes, so I know that we have watched approximately 81 episodes of this highly educational television show. Ugh. But Bennett loves it, and I get my hair done, so it works. Plus, Bennett can now tell me the difference between adagio, moderato, allegro, and presto, and he has developed a deep love of violins and trumpets. These are crucial skills in today's modern world.

So besides the basic, everyday stuff, there is the extra curricular, too.

In June, Bennett took swimming lessons every day for two weeks. He excelled at jumping in the water, going down the big slide, and kick-kick-kicking. Other than that, he still has no idea how to swim. If you ask him though, he will tell you he is just like the Alligator on Little Einsteins, and he doesn't need any help from Mommy (a direct quote from my confidant two-year-old). I am practicing my life-saving techniques...

...as did his swimming instructors.

Bennett with his class. He was much younger than everybody else by several years, since most two-year-olds stay with their moms in a Mommy 'n Me class. Bennett, on the other hand, was ready to assert his independence. Honestly, he could care less who has him in the water, just as long as he gets to get wet.

Jumping to Miss Kat.

Doing "windmill arms" with Miss Megan and Miss Kat. He really did learn a few things.

Standing in line for the water slide. There is actually a 42'' height limit on this slide, which Bennett in no way reached. But since he was in the class he got to do it anyway. This picture cracks me up because Bennett is so short next to everybody else.

Bennett in his ducky towel. (P.S- you know how some kids will develop an attachment to a special blanket? Bennett has that kind of special bond with towels...not just one towel, but ALL towels in general...)

A post-swimming-ice-cream-cone-interview for Daddy...apparently...

On to July.

Bennett got a bike! I found this baby at Goodwill for six bucks. When I went to Wal Mart to get training wheels for it (which I installed myself, thank you) I saw the same bike for $48.00. Gotta love that Goodwill.

So obviously the fourth of July was a big day. We traveled down to Mary and Wayne's for the holiday and the next day as well, and had a great time hanging out with family, eating good food, swimming, and riding our bikes. However, because we live where one stray spark could send the entire state up in smoke, there was a fireworks ban in effect and nothing was celebrated with matches. :(

Before we ever left to San Antonio, I put our own flag out in our front yard. Bennett was fascinated with this concept, so I started talking about the flag a little bit, and what it means, and how we should treat it. I didn't really think Bennett was listening, but the next day we were walking out our front door and Bennett stopped and put his right hand over his heart. I asked him what he was doing, and he said, "My daddy flag. My daddy Iraq." It was one of those sweet, tender moments where your child teaches you more than you could ever teach them. I guess he really does listen to me...sometimes.

"My Daddy flag."

When we got to Maimie and Pop's house we were lucky enough to be present at the homecoming of Matt's brother, Joe, who had just graduated from Coast Guard boot camp. They are stationed in Florida now, and we can't wait to have family permanently on the coast to be able to visit! Yay Joe and Kim!

Grilling up some hamburgers and sausage

Sharing the ever popular corner of the kitchen. I was in charge of helping make the condiments tray...which is about as close to making a vegetable tray as you can get...which has been my job at almost every major event since I have married into this family. I am just that amazing at cutting vegetables. :)

We also celebrated Uncle Nathan's birthday, who was born in Boston on the Fourth of July. Can't get any more patriotic than that. Here is Bennett giving him his birthday card.

Bekah and the birthday boy.

After dinner we rode scooters and bikes

Bennett on Maimie's bike. He is a good bike-rider.

And we played on Pop's tractor. Just so you know, that is Bennett's microphone. He sings beautiful songs in that thing every time we come. I think when I took this picture he was singing a rendition of Justin Bieber's "Baby, Baby." Bennett sings a lot of cool songs like that, because he is with his mom a lot, who is also very cool.

And we ate fudgecicles

Something really bad must have been happening in this picture...

And we went swimming with Aunt Bea.

And we had a great time overall. The next day Mary and I went shopping for secret project number 72. Just so you know, my house is looking a-mazing right now. I love it. I really, really hope Matt loves it too, since I have done quite a bit to it since he has seen it last, and without his input. By the way, I repainted my kitchen from Caribbean blue to...you'll just have to wait and see. But it is NOT brown...and I LOVE this house!!

Just a video clip of Bennett and Jace being buds. I really can't tell you what they were doing here, but it was pretty cute watching them.

The most recent even in our lives here is that Bennett just got to spend his first few days with his Maimie and Pop alone. That's right, Mary and Wayne very wonderfully offered to take Bennett for a few days so I could have some time to myself. And I readily agreed, although I will admit that watching Bennett drive off without me was harder than I thought it would be and I may have shed a few tears...but I got over it fast. First, I did my toes. Then I switched into "project mode" and accomplished more in a two day period than I have ever accomplished before. I got at least seven projects completed that I had wanted to get done for awhile, but just couldn't do with our overly involved little boy being so overly involved. So while my break wasn't very relaxing, it was so, SO wonderful and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Bennett loved it to, since when I picked him up he talked my ear off about what they did and what they played and what they ate and where they went and who was there...it was pretty cute. What a big boy we have!

OK, so there you go. That is a very basic run-down of our last month or so. There are a lot of little things I left out, and some things that I would have loved to expand on more but didn't for the sake of time. But that's about it in a nutshell. And I promise to try harder to not get so behind next time. But at least I can get some sleep now!

Whew! I feel so much better. Don't you?