Birthday Parties

Birthday parties are so fun!  I love getting together with my friends who have small children around Bennett's age.  It's really fun to see them interact and watch them grow.  It's really hard to believe that we have toddlers now and a really close friend is about to welcome their 2nd son in about 5 weeks!  So exciting!!!  So Sunday we went to Noah's 2nd birthday party!  2 years old already!  It was a great time and I think the birthday boy had a really good time- he sure did get some great gifts!!

Here are a few snapshots from the party:

And here is a group picture with some friends I have all known for a really long time!!  From Left to Right: Melissa  with her daughter Maddie (2 years), Kathy and Noah (2 years), the birthday boy, Kristy and her son Parker (17 months), then on the bottom, Melissa with her 2 girls Izzy (almost 3 years) and Charlotte (3 months) and then me and Bennett.  3 girls and 3 boys, soon to be 4 boys once Kathy has baby Collin!  Now someone needs to have a girl to even it out again.  ;)

Picture Time!

Still is hard to get these pictures but we managed to get a few that turned out good.  At one point I stood him up in the chair just to see if he would be happy that way.  :)  You can really see how long he's getting in those.

426 days

It has been 426 whole days since Bennett was born!  Seems like a lot!  Bennett is getting more and more fun each day!  He loves to explore places that we don't normally let him go in, like the kitchen, our bedroom, the refrigerator, kitchen pantry, our master closet.  Usually we keep the kitchen gated off and our bedroom door shut, but if he hears any of those 2 things open, he makes a bee line for it!!  If I'm in the kitchen doing something I'll let him in there with me to play.  He loves to pull my pans off the kitchen cart and play with them.  Yesterday he took 2 steel pot lids and used them as cymbals.  :)  It was really cute!  He's not quite walking yet.  He'll take several steps every now and then but just can't seem to get enough courage to keep going.  (Either that or he knows he can get there faster if he crawls)  :) 

Lately, when he's had enough to eat, if there is any food left on his tray, he will move each piece of food to the cup holders on his highchair tray, one by one.  It's the funniest thing.  He'll be eating and all of a sudden he decides he's done and it's like he's cleaning his plate off.  :)  I guess I should be happy that he's not throwing all his food on the floor!  :)  He loves to feed himself with a spoon though.  I'll help him dip the spoon in the food and then he'll take it and put it in his mouth.  Won't be long before he won't need my help at all to eat.  He loves to eat though!!  He loves just about everything.  His favorite is still cheese but I try to limit that because he's easily stopped up.  :)  I bought him different flavored applesauces at the store last week.  He's loved all of those.  He loves green beans and black eyed peas.  Still loves bread and pasta!!  He's not too keen on lima beans or watermelon.  :) 

I'm gonna try to take his chair pictures tonight!!  I feel like he's really grown a lot this past month though!

Step by Step

So tonight we saw Bennett take steps all by himself!!  He's been so close for such a long time and we finally caught him!!!  The other day he took 2 side steps.  :)  Wish I had it on video so I could share it but unfortunately Mommy was not ready.  It won't be long now before he's walking like a champ!!

He ate shrimp tonight for the first time and he seemed to like it ok.  He ate 2 or 3 pieces of it without spitting it back out!  :)  He also ate some broccoli and didn't make a funny face like I expected.  I'm trying to branch out and give him different stuff besides the stuff I know he loves.  In a couple of weeks he'll be 14 months!!

Here's an update on Mommy and Daddy:
I'm still working full time at Dr. Markowitz office.  I work in the lab drawing blood and then run the tests on it.  I also call patients back with their tests results and update prescriptions if they need it, depending on how their tests turn out!  :)  I've been there for 3 years now and it's been a good job.  We are currently being acquired by Palmetto Health, so I'm expecting some changes around the office.  Hopefully it won't be too drastic!!  I work pretty good hours- some weeks I get in early at 7:00 and other weeks I'm there at 7:30.  Monday through Thursday I work til 4:30 or 5:00 so that on Friday I can leave by lunch time.  I love having Friday afternoons off- it gets the weekend started early!!

Daddy works at Jarden, formerly known as Shakespeare.  He's been there for 6 years!!  He's been in a few positions there but right now he's a process engineer in the Military Antenna department.

We live in Lexington, SC in the town limits.  I love our home, it's so comfy and I just love it.  I'm so glad Bennett has the opportunity to grow up in this house, in this city.  I LOVE Lexington!!  We are so close to lots of stuff- WalMart, Target, Lowes, Home Depot, TJ Maxx, Kohls, Ross, KMart, lots of restaurants and just 10 minutes from Harbison, where there's a mall and tons of other shops.  We are close to downtown so if we wanted to go down there, it's not far.  We are in the middle of SC so that means we are a short distance from the mountains and the beach.  I love the cul de sac we live in, we've got great neighbors!!  Bennett is zoned for a very good elementary school that is just 1 minute away.  And there are many preschool programs around that are great!  I guess I'm going to have to start thinking about that in just a couple of years!!

We currently aren't a member of a church family.  We are trying to find one that fits our likings so we have visited a few around.  My hope is to find one that we can grow with so that Bennett can have strong faith as he grows up.

Jason and I are getting ready to celebrate our 6th wedding anniversary!!!  6 whole years!!  Life sure is so different!!!  Can't believe we have already reached this stage in our lives!!!

Popsicles are good!!

Popsicles ARE good, especially when he's almost 100 degrees outside!!  Jason found some sugar free popsicles at Walmart the other day.  After dinner I thought Bennett would like a little cold dessert outside in the sun!  I just grabbed the first one out of the box, which was pineapple.  He seemed to really like it after he got over the cold shock!  :)  I had a few licks myself and thought it tasted yummy, but I love pineapple! Next time we'll try another flavor and see which he likes best.  :)  Of course, I had to take a 100 pictures of the event.  ;)

It's COLD!

Maybe we'll try another one tonight!!!