I love my buddy!

This was, obviously, prior to the aforementioned balloon incident.
I just love him! :)

Bye, bye balloon!

Well, tonight we had some drama in our house over a helium balloon. Ben's great grandma, Angy, brought him a Dora helium balloon last week that was leftover from a family birthday party. He loves balloons and has been "playing" with it all week (carrying it around, hitting us in the head with it, etc). Today we made the mistake of taking the balloon outside and well, the inevitable happened....he let go! Below is the whole traumatic event caught on film... :)

"Gosh, I love my balloon. This is so fun."

"Dad, when is my balloon coming back?" (Can you see it WAY up there?)

So long, Dora...

"Come baaaaaaack!"

The realization that the balloon is actually gone for good!

Sorry, this video is a little over a minute long, and please excuse the big cough at the end, but I just got a kick out of his thought process. :)

Happy Birthday, Rossy!

Today is my little brother Eric's 21st birthday! For as long as I can remember I have called him "Rossy", but I haven't the slightest idea where that nickname came from?! I just know that it's caused much embarrassment for him over the years when I would refer to him by that name in front of friends or while cheering him on at a football game or something (or posting it on a blog for the world to see). :)

Anyway, in honor of his b-day, I just have to share why I think he's great. He's the kind of person that everyone likes and wants to be around. He's funny, smart and a very hard worker (which would explain the 4.0 GPA he's maintaining in Mizzou's accounting program right now?!). He's a great uncle to Ben and an awesome little brother. He always makes me feel loved when I see him, usually with one of his hugs. :) Don't get me wrong, there were plenty of times over the years when he drove me nuts (little brothers seem to have a real knack for this) and for awhile I wondered if he would ever "grow up"...but when I look at him today, I am just so proud of the person he has become/is becoming. He's just a really good kid who strives to live his life for Christ...and that is what impresses me the most about him. :)

Happy Birthday, little brother! I hope you have a great day! Love you!

Uncle Brad, Christina and Forest!

We had fun visiting and hanging out with Mike's brother, Brad, and his girlfriend, Christina, for awhile this weekend. Ben, Uncle Brad, and Forest (Brad's dog) spent Friday night "hunting wildabeasts" in the backyard and shooting each other with the Nerf gun. We always like when Brad is around because there is never a shortage of laughs. :) I threw in a couple other pictures from our weekend too...just for fun!

Happy 30th anniversary to our parents!

My parents and Mike's parents were married just one week apart from each other in late April of 1978 and are celebrating 30 years together this month. Below are their wedding pictures. I just love old pictures (especially the hairdos and outfits!). We are so thankful to have such wonderful parents and role models! We love you!Lee and Kim Moser - April 22, 1978
Al and Denise Schweiss - April 29, 1978

For God so loved the world...

I figured if Ben could learn The Pledge of Allegiance, then he could start learning some Bible verses, so for the past few days we've been practicing John 3:16 (I accidentally taught him the King James version...I guess that's the version I must have learned when I was little??). Trying to tape him saying it today was almost impossible because he is ALWAYS on the go! I tried to record this probably 10 times and finally had to stick him on top of our washing machine to get him to stay put...even then I couldn't get him to look at me or smile. Oh well....he's still cute, if you ask me (I'm not biased or anything?!) :)

Weekend fun!

We had a fun weekend! On Saturday we headed to Peninsula, Ohio for a bike ride on the Towpath. Ben and I biked about 17 miles, while Mike got his big run in for the week...10 miles (his longest run yet!). He is training for a half-marathon in Cleveland at the end of May and has been diligently following his training plan (right now I max out at under two miles...so I'm really impressed!). It was a really beautiful day and so nice to finally get to do something fun outside! Afterwards we ate at the Winking Lizard...one of our favorite places...yum! :) We headed to Barnes and Noble that evening and Ben got his weekly thrill of playing with the Thomas train table. Today we went to church, took a long family nap, and then went out for ice cream and to the outlet mall with Papa and Nana (Mike's parents). I'm so glad SPRING is finally here!Biker Ben! Aside from his constant (although somewhat endearing) requests to stop the bike so we could throw rocks and sticks in the river and the occasional sticking of his hands up the back of my shirt...he was a great biker!
Please disregard my ugly t-shirt and bad hair...I just thought Ben looked cute in his little seat. :)

I love his smile! :)

Fun with the Thomas train table!

"Going fishing" with Papa at a toy store at the outlet mall.
Ben and Nana...just hanging out!

Ben and Papa having a good laugh!

P.S. I just put Ben to bed as I began working on this post. He's interrupted me about five times now yelling/crying from his bedroom..."I have snots, Mom...wipe them with a Kleenex." Looks like a cold is coming on....great!? I still have to use the little nasal aspirator he had when he was a baby because he can not seem to figure out the whole concept of blowing (when do they learn this?!). He HATES it! As I was just up there using "the nose sucker" on him, as we like to call it, he was crying and sniffing out the words...."Mom, you are making a mistake. You are making a mistake." What in the world...making a mistake?! Of course I had to tell him that I love him and that I'm only trying to help him feel better....but I couldn't help but feel bad for the poor kid in his pathetic, snotty state tonight!

Funny comments Ben made this week....

- Ben and I were out on the deck one night this week and he was playing with his police car and lawn mower. I wasn't paying that close of attention to him, but I looked over just as he was crashing his mower into the police car sending it flying and tumbling across the deck. He went over and picked it up and said in a matter of fact voice... "This police car is out of commission!"

- My father-in-law watches Ben every Friday. Today he called my mother-in-law at work to tell her that he took Ben to a local ice cream shop and they sat on the wall outside and shared an ice cream. My father-in-law told Ben it was time to go and Ben said..."No, I just want to sit here and watch the cars go by." Then he looked across the street at a tulip tree and told my father-in-law it was "gorgeous." :)

- Last night when I was putting Ben to bed, the moon was shining through the blinds onto the carpet in his bedroom. He was so fascinated with it and kept asking me about the moon and the stars and the design the light was making on the floor. This morning I walked into his room because I heard him talking and the first thing he said to me was... "Mom, I didn't get out of bed last night and bother the moon shadow." Apparently he was really worried that he might disturb the "moon shadow" if he climbed out of bed??

How can you resist a face like this?

So, I haven't really said much yet about the canine member of the family - Lucy, our almost four year old boxer. Whenever we found out I was pregnant with Ben, Mike insisted that we buy a puppy right away. He claimed that it was child abuse to not have a dog and he wanted to have time to train her before Ben arrived. She is a VERY loving dog and loves to find any excuse to sit on you, lean on you, or have a paw on you at all times...even when you would prefer she didn't. I've never known a dog who likes to be under blankets and covers like she does...she loves to be warm. If you can't find her, you can bet she is standing above the heat vent in our kitchen wrapped up in the curtain to keep warm. She's weird, but we love her. Ben refers to her as "Sissy Lucy" and all I have to say is, if she can take the abuse she's recieved from him, she's a keeper (ear pulling, smacking, being crashed into with the Tonka truck, and so on!) .Ben and Lucy when he was 3 months old. :)
Checking each other out (Ben is 4 months old in this one).

Ben and Lucy playing a fun game of "I'm going to kick you and then you're going to gnaw on my leg and make me laugh..." Doesn't it look like fun?
Look at her...she's laying on his lap, UNDER the covers...like she's some kind of baby or doll?! She even looked at me and posed for this picture. :)

I pledge allegiance to the Flag...

I just took this video today....enjoy! :)

Trip to MO (4) - Maureen's wedding

Last night was our final night in Missouri and we headed to St. Louis for my cousin Maureen's wedding. It was so much fun! It was at the Chase Park Plaza and was pretty incredible. We had a lot of fun dancing and catching up with my Dad's side of the family. Ben was CRAZY! He was running around like a wild man for most of the reception, but finally crashed at about 10:30 pm. Maureen was a beautiful bride!Me, my cousin Erin, and my cousin Chris (nice face?!)

Ben kept asking me all through dinner... "Mommy, when are the instruments going to start playing?" Once the live band started playing, this is what he did. :) My Grams! She is almost 90 years old. Isn't she cute? :)This is what happens when the wild man runs out of steam!

My little brothers!My Dad and Maureen I just thought this picture was pretty funny. We (me and my brothers) were all caught "busting a move" in this one.

I think I have a pretty handsome husband! :)

Trip to MO (3) - Elephant Rock Park

On our second day we decided to go to Elephant Rock State Park for a picnic and walk. Ben had fun climbing on the huge rocks and swinging on the swings.

Trip to MO (2) - Just hanging out

Our trip to Missouri to visit my family was lots of fun. Ben has flown many, many times since he was born, but this was the first time I actually took pictures in the airport. I thought they turned out pretty cute. He LOVES going on airplane rides and pulling his Lightning McQueen suitcase through the airport. It's a pretty quick trip from Cleveland to St. Louis, and most of the time the two of us fall asleep and wake up when we touch the ground in St. Louis (of course only after we've spent an adequate amount of time looking out the window at the city and the cars and the houses, etc)!

We spent our first day in MO just hanging out at home (it was rainy and cold). I think I had my pj's on for most of the day....nice! Ben had a fun time taking a long bath in Grammy and Pops big tub, playing with the toys my mom kept from when we were kids, throwing ping pong balls down the basement stairs, playing foosball with Daddy, and snuggling and watching Pinnochio with Grammy. :)