5 Years Ago Today

 I married my best friend five years ago today.

June 30th, 2006



In some ways it seems like it was just yesterday that Matt & I got married, but at the same time it feels like we've been together forever. We started dating when we were 17, so I guess we kind of have been together forever.

We've grown together so much and I can't imagine going through what we have in the last five years without Matt.

I truly have the most kind, gentle, thoughtful husband. He loves me so much & He shows and tells me everyday. He works so hard for us.



I love you, Matthew. Happy Anniversary!

Wedding Weekend

We had such a great time at the wedding this past weekend! We just got back Monday night & I'm a day off now. The wedding was on Sunday & I think that's what threw me off. Anyway, it was really good to see some friends that I don't get to see very often. 

(Left to right, top then bottom) 1. Kristin, Anna (&baby), Me & Sarah after the wedding 2. Anna (& baby), Kristin, Me, Kevin & Sarah 3.The whole group- Anna&Brandon, Kristin, Matt&Me, The new Mr.&Mrs., Sarah&Justin, Trevor&Kim 4. The obligatory goofy picture



The wedding was at the chapel of the college that I went to for a semester and Matt went to for a year. It's called the "Marble Chapel" and it's beautiful. The college buildings used to belong to a monastery, so it has gorgeous stained glass windows & confessionals in the back, which are used for storage now since it is not a Catholic school.





1. Trevor & Kim on the trolley 2. Kristin & I 3. Matt & I outside of the reception hall 4. Kim ouside of the reception hall 5. Matt & I on the trolley 6. Gobs of kids blowing bubbles while Kevin & Anna danced

The reception was about 25 minutes away in Galena, IL. The hall was up a huge hill (there were about a million stairs to get you up the hill) that didn't have much parking, so they rented a trolly to take us from the post office in Galena to Turner Hall for the reception. Anna & Kevin are so cute & obviously in love. They started singing together before they started dating and sound really great! Towards the end of their reception, they treated us with a few songs. I took some video, but for some reason neither Youtube or Blogger will upload it. I guess you'll just have trust that they are super cute.

We stayed at a hotel in Dubuque, so we went back there after the reception. Trevor & Kim stayed at the same hotel that we did, so Monday morning we had breakfast together and went for a swim in the hotel pool. It was fun to actually get in the hot tub and deep end. The last time that Matt & I stayed at a hotel together, I had just found out I was pregnant with Bennett, so I couldn't get in the hot tub. After all that, we met up with Anna & Brandon back in Galena. We walked around all the cute shops and had lunch at Vinny Vanucchi's Little Italy. We were really confused about how to even get into the restaurant and it was like 3 levels. We were the only people on our floor. The waitress kept running up the stairs carrying our food and drinks. She was crazy.


1. Matt with a door mat he found in a shop 2. Bacon toothpaste & Baconnaise...just a small sampling of the bacon items a lot of the stores were selling 3. We definitely ate all of this popcorn on the drive home. YUM! &check out that sky! 4. Matt outside of the Galena Canning Company after he'd tried a bunch of hot sauces.




1. The building in the way back is the restaurant where we ate lunch 2. Decor at the restaurant 3. Matt with his "sangwich" 4. More decor 5. My raviolis (yum!) 6. Matt & I at the restaurant 7. An awful picture of me that Matt took 8. Group pic at the restaurant 8. Duplicate pic, sorry


Bennett stayed with Matt's parents while we were gone and he had a great time also. He was really tired when we picked him up though. He went to bed at 8 that night and slept until 11 the next morning! I wonder why (haha!)?



Someone loves to swim. A lot.



Random Quick Updates

We got back from our little trip to Dubuque last night and have spent most of the day resting and getting caught up on some things around the house. I've got a post about our weekend coming tomorrow, but I thought I'd do a quick update on some other things we've had going on.

Bennett had his 15 month well child appointment on Friday. He got one shot at took it like a champ... a little whining while the needle was in and then he was done. He is 23lbs (up one lb from his 1-yr appt) and 31.25 inches (or was it 32.25? well, anyway it's up one inch from his 1-yr appt. I wrote it down.). According to the clinic, this puts him at just under 30th percentile for weight and just under 50th percentile for height, but according to the Gerber child growth tracker online, he's around 50th percentile for both. Whatever, it doesn't really matter. I'm a little surprised at how "small" he's getting, though, since he was at about 80th percentile for the majority of the first year of his life. The dr. said he's either hit or surpassed all of the milestones they check for.

In the last week Bennett's learned several new things. He now says "more", nods his head "yes" and can make a monkey noise. It's crazy to see him just learn so much so suddenly. He also really likes to climb on me now. If I'll lay on the floor or ottoman he will crawl on top of me and cuddle up. Love.

We had a really great day today. Matt had today off and took Bennett for a jog while I got ready this morning and then we all walked up to the town square to take the dog to get his hair cut. The poor thing couldn't see anything because his eyebrows were over his eyes. He looks much nicer now. Matt & Bennett took a nap. Well, Matt fell asleep while he was putting Bennett down for a nap. I snuck in there to take a picture and found Bennett squirming on Matt's lap because Matt had fallen asleep. I didn't end up getting a picture because I had to save Bennett. I put him in his crib and sent Matt to our bedroom to nap. I guess the weekend wore both of them out! We filled up Bennett's little baby pool and then he played in it for a while after supper. He didn't really want to sit down, but it was pretty cold. He had a great time just filling up different toys with water and putting it in a bucket.

The TV is on while I am writing this post and my least favorite commercial was just on. This stupid commercial was on years ago and I haven't seen it forever. I really, really hate it. Like I have to turn away every time it comes on. I glanced up to see it and turned to Matt and said, "WHY is that stupid commercial back on? What the heck?!" I thought I was rid of it. ARGH! When I looked it up on youtube, it said it was posted 3 years ago. It's time to retire it!

Indy Car

We had to run to HyVee yesterday to mail a letter and there was an Indy Car in the parking lot. There's a big race in town this weekend and they were doing some PR for the racer. We saw the car on our way into the store, and I didn't think we'd go look at it since it was just Bennett &me, but there weren't too many people by in when we came out, so we decided to check it out. Bennett was curious, but a little scared of it. The guy who was there with the race car was nice enough to take our picture. I didn't figure that Bennett would be brave enough to get in the car by himself.

He looks so excited, doesn't he? Ha!

Exciting Weekend

I'm so excited for this weekend! Our dear friend, Kevin is getting married Sunday!


Soon-to-be Kevin & Anna Bradford

I'm not just super excited for Kevin & Anna, but also super excited to see some good friends that we haven't seen in a while. Matt & I grew up going to church with Kevin and he & I went to high school together. Growing up, our friends from church were super close, like family.


Here is our awesome picture from 6th grade. Kristin is on the left and then it's me, Kevin & Anna (not the Anna that Kevin is marrying).

This is us being super cool before we graduated high school. Sarah, Kristin, me & Kevin.

Sarah, Anna & I the summer after graduation.

Anyway, like I said, we were all really close in school and then we got together over the first few Christmas breaks after graduation and been together at several of our weddings, but haven't really all been together since. It still won't be our whole class, but it's going to be so good to see so many friends again!

Also, the wedding is several hours away, so Bennett gets to spend the weekend with his grandparents. It's the first time that we've gone away just Matt & I since Bennett was born, so I'm pretty stinking excited about that as well. Enjoy your weekend!

Father's Day present reveal

The presents from the Father's Day Project have all been officially opened, so it's safe to share the final products. Although, it's not a whole lot different than what you've already seen, so I hope those of you who have been on the edge of your seat waiting for this post (ha) won't be too disappointed. Also, I didn't get a picture of the one we gave to Matt's dad.



 This one is Matt's.  We just bought some cheap little 8x10 canvases at WalMart and let him paint them, but seriously, Bennett is so proud of them. When Matt opened his, Bennett was beaming! He totally remembered painting it and actually held it in the van all the way to church so Matt could put it in his office. Matt really likes it, too.

This is my Dad's. Bennett refused to smile nicely last night when we were trying to take this picture, so this is the best one I have. You can see the dots on this one from when he used the paint brushes as drumsticks. Again, he was so proud of himself when my dad opened this. He really didn't want my dad to take it with him. I think I'm going to have to get some more and let him paint them to hang up in our house.

Oh, and the post I wrote yesterday about his crazy napping habits? He didn't do it at bedtime last night or at naptime yesterday. I think he might have heard me talking about him.

Naptime

Bennett has been taking pretty regular naps for a really long time. When we figured out his regular schedule, he took 2 naps for like a month. After that, just one nap was all he needed. So, for the last 5-6 months he's been napping from roughly 1:30-3:30 or 4:30 every day. It's been great to have a reliable couple of hours to waste time on the Internet get stuff done every day.

The past week or so, I've been laying Bennett down (as usual) & he talks and sings to himself for a while (as usual) & then it's silent for a while (as usual) and then I hear him talking & singing to himself again. We're talking 20....30....40....60....sometimes even 90 minutes later!   E v e n t u a l l y   he goes to sleep and then sleeps his usual 2-3 hours. This means that sometimes he's in his bed for 4 hours in the afternoon! There have been a few days that I've laid him down at 1:00 and he hasn't wanted out of his crib until 5:00! Ridiculous.

Contrary to what the picture above shows, he doesn't have any toys in his crib. He has his blanket and his mini pillow pet, which he uses as a pillow. I have no idea what he does in there for the hour or so prior to falling asleep. I kinda wish I had one of those fancy video monitors just so I can see what Crazy is doing to keep himself entertained.

Now that I'm thinking about it, he's doing this at bedtime also. It doesn't matter if I let him stay up later, either, so I don't think it has anything to do with him not being tired. I'm glad he likes his crib so much, but darn it, I miss him when he's sleeping the whole afternoon away.

Happy 15 Months, Bennett Isaiah!

I can't believe that it's been 15 months since I first held you, little boy. You are getting so big! Here are some fun facts about you being 15 months old.

*Bennett has his 15 month well child check up on Friday, so I'll post how much he weighs and all that after his appointment.

Bennett Likes...
Spinning in circles until he falls over
Animal Crackers
Sleeping in
Putting clean clothes (especially underwear) on his head
"Helping" mommy load the dishwasher
Putting the dog food in the dog's water dish
Straws
LOVES milk
Bathtime
Swimming
Reading books
Being outside
Going places
Jumping on trampolines
Pushing buttons


Bennett Dislikes...
Being laid down to go to sleep
Waking up
Missing out on any fun
If someone else gets hurt
Being told it's time to go "night night"
Spaghetti, oddly enough. It's been a favorite until this month.


Triumphs This Month:
You know what a dog and a lion say
You have been screaming less when you don't get your way
You've started playing with puzzles
You learned to "fist bump"

Struggles This Month:
Sleeptime. We missed several naps and this messed up your schedule.
Throwing your food on the floor when you are done eating made a return.
Not pushing buttons on electronics

Guest Post by Bennett

Mommy meant to have me write this post yesterday, but the day got away from us. Yesterday was Father's Day & I love my Daddy! He is awesome.



Daddy holding me for the first time.



Before Mommy & Daddy had me, Daddy didn't really like other babies. He didn't like to hold them or anything, but I changed all that. When he changed my diaper for the first time, he didn't even have help. He just decided to do it!

Daddy does lots of fun things with me.



He makes me laugh...a lot.



He makes funny faces.

 

He helps me swim.



He wrestles with me.



He encourages my love of music.



He helps me do things I can't do by myself, even if it means he is uncomfortable & dirty.



He teaches me about things.






He misses me when I'm gone.





He makes a great pillow.



He keeps me safe & warm.









I want to be just like him.

Also, Mommy wanted me to tell you that my grandpa's are awesome daddies too.



My Daddy with his Daddy.



Mommy with Uncle Travis and their Daddy reading books.

Goodbye Party

***This post was written to be posted last Friday &somehow it was saved as a draft and never published.***

As I alluded to yesterday, Bennett and I went to a little goodbye get together for our friend Ashley. Like we usually do whenever we have to make a trip to Des Moines for something, we packed the day by seeing lots of people. Poor Bennett didn't get a nap (I hate it when that happens.), but we had a really good time.

We started the day at Erika's house for our last hurrah. We spent most of the time outside watching the kids play.

Bennett wasn't entirely sure about the tire swing...or maybe just not sure about Miss Erika & the tire swing. I had to run out to the van several times and I think Bennett kept thinking that I was going to leave without him. This triggered lots of fake-cry whining.

He was more okay with the awesome Radio Flyer trike and liked having Ashley push him around.

 Annnd we still weren't so sure about the tire swing, even when I was on it.

Like a true (almost) 2-year-old, Erika's son, Colin, wasn't so sure about sharing his toys with Bennett. Although, judging by the color of this lawn mower, I'm not thinking it was Colin's to begin with. It's tough learning to share. Although, maybe he just wanted a ride...hmm...

Lucy wasn't very happy that we brought Elliot (our dog) with us, so this is really the only picture I have of her from yesterday.



Bennett loves music. He played the piano at Erika's and then again at Grandma & Papa's house later.

My mom is hosting an "Auntie Ann Camp" this week for my little sisters-in-law and their best friend. Wednesday, yesterday and today they are doing all kinds of fun activities. They have done crafts and taken a couple of field trips so far. We crashed the end of their camp yesterday and played outside with them.

Bennett loved sitting on the swing watching the bubbles with his aunts.

 

Then he played in the sandbox with Aunt Lizzie and Grammy. He hates the feel of the wet sand, but really wants to play in it.

We stopped by Bennett's other grandparent's house for a little bit before heading home.