I'm no longer a 20 something...

I turned 30 on the 30th....I feel old! :) Mike and I went on a date on Friday night, while Papa and Nana watched Natalie and Ben (Thanks!!). It was a fun evening of Olive Garden, Starbucks, Barnes and Noble and a terrential downpour. :) Mike bought me a Pandora necklace for my b-day. Have you seen these? He started me out with a cross charm and now I'm excited to fill it with more!

On Saturday evening we took Benny to see the new Disney Pixar movie UP. It was in 3-D and he LOVED it. It was a really cute movie and the three of us had fun hanging out together while Mamaw played with Natalie. I took the picture below of Mike and Benny last night after the movie and the one of him and Nattie this afternoon. He is a good Daddy. Can you tell that they love him? :)

Just a few of my favorite little baby...

Finally, a couple from this afternoon. We went for ice cream with Papa and Nana. They gave me money to a jeweler in town so I could buy some charms for my new necklace...perfect! :)

My chunky monkey...

or Fatty Nattie (whichever you prefer!) had her four month check up yesterday and I was blown away. She is in the 97th percentile for height (26 1/4 inches), 90th for weight (15 lbs 6 oz) and 90th for head! It just makes me laugh. I know that no two kids are alike, but her and Ben couldn't be more different in terms of how they are built. Ben was off the charts in the other direction. She is so much fun though and I just LOVE, LOVE, LOVE her! She is not all the into laying on her tummy still and she hasn't rolled over yet, but we're working on it. She does a lot of jabbering and giggling, so that's fun and she's normally a super happy, smiley little thing. The pediatrician told us we could start feeding her cereal now and introduce other baby foods after that. I fed her a whole little bowl of cereal last night and she gobbled it right up. I had to stick her pacifier in after each spoonful to help her figure out how to swallow it down instead of spitting it back at me! :) I don't think we'll have any eating problems with this one! :) I love her just the way she is...perfect!

My buddy is four years old today!

I can hardly believe that Ben is four years old today. The time has literally flown by. It has sure been a fun four years though. We celebrated his birthday and Memorial Day at the park with family (and our friends, the Hurrle's!) yesterday afternoon. He had a blast, as always. We (along with the great-grandparents) bought him his first real bike. He is a great little rider already and can go really fast. Papa and Nana bought him his first real train....a Lionel Polar Express. He thought it was really cool! It was beautiful weather and a fun day.

As I was tucking him into bed tonight, I said a prayer and thanked God that he gave me him four years ago. After we were done praying he said, "Mom, what did you name me when I was born?" Hmmm...I guess all the sugar from the cake and cookies caused a temporary brain lapse!? :) I love my buddy!

A few more pictures from the party. The Moser men sure are cute! Oh...and how do you like Uncle Kevin's tattoo? It's a monster truck...so cool! :)

We just hung around the house today and played with some of Ben's new toys. He and Daddy hit balls in the backyard and Nattie hung out on the deck with me. She had a blowout that resulted in me stripping her down to nothing but a diaper. It was warm enough to hang out "in the nude"...I just love those rolls! :)

Busy day!

This morning I hosted a bridal shower for my soon-to-be sister-in-law, Christina. It was primarily family (you count as family, Cheryl!), so it was pretty laid back. We had brunch together and I didn't make anyone play any cheesy bridal shower games. :) Instead, each person wrote marriage advice on a notecard for Christina and Brad. Mike and I are looking forward to their wedding at the end of June. We are both in it and Benny is the ring bearer. I was planning to use the wedding as motivation to lose the rest of my baby weight...but I've given up all hope of that happening. I just need to get a little sun before the big day...tan fat is better than white fat...right? :) Anyway...I hope you had fun and felt loved this morning, Christina!

Some more shower pictures...

The rest of my day was spent slaving over the annual Benny birthday cake and cookies. I can't believe he is going to be FOUR years old! This year he wanted a monster truck party (even after the debacle!). I don't think my cake turned out as well as last year's Scooby...but he loved it and kept telling me it was "so cool." I guess that's what matters! We are having his party at the park tomorrow...more to come!

More family...

I love this picture of Ben and Uncle Eric in their striped shirts.

Eric and Mike ran the half-marathon in Cleveland this morning. It was Eric's first and he did a great job (1:41). Mike is trying to convince him to run the Akron marathon this fall. I don't think he has him convinced just yet! :)

Natalie got to snuggle with both her Nana and Mamaw today...

Family!

My mom arrived to our house last Friday to spend time with Benny and Natalie and we were so thankful to have her here to watch our kiddos, since it was a pretty busy and emotionally draining week for me and Mike. Thanks for all of your help, Mom...we really appreciate it!

As Mike was dropping off my mom at the airport yesterday afternoon, he picked up my little brother, Eric. He and Mike are running the Cleveland half-marathon together tomorrow morning. Eric's been busy finishing up his junior year at Mizzou, so this is the first time he's been able to spend time with Natalie. We are glad to have him here for a visit...even though it's just a short 48 hour stay.

I realize more and more everyday how grateful I am for family....my own and Mike's. We are so lucky to have been blessed with very loving, giving families....this week was a reminder of that...in more ways than one.

We love you, Papaw!

Mother's Day was a hard day. We spent all day at the hospital with Mike's family saying goodbye to Papaw. He found out in January that he had cancer all throughout his body and had been fighting it for the last four months. He was making all of us laugh right up until he took his last breath. He is home in Heaven now and we are so thankful he does not have to suffer anymore. When I told Ben that Papaw went to Heaven to live with Jesus his response was... "Awww, cool!" I just love a three year old's perspective...he can teach us a lot.

Papaw... Thank you for being such a wonderful grandpa to Mike (me too!). I loved how you would bring me a raisin bagel every Thursday morning because you knew I liked them...or how you would hug me and tell me I was pretty....or how you would read Mike and I crazy stories from the newspaper on our way out the door in the morning...or how we'd come home from work and find something in our house, that we didn't even know was broken, fixed. :) The one thing I will miss the most though... is the special role you've played in Benny's life. He loved each week over the last four years when you and Mamaw would come to watch him. You played with him and loved him and you and Mamaw made it much easier for me to go to work because I knew he was in good hands. I'm so thankful that Natalie got to meet her Papaw too. You are so loved and will be missed more than you know. Thank you for blessing our lives. We love you and we know we will see you again!

Benny's preschool program...

Ben had his end-of-year "concert" at preschool last Thursday. I'm always interested to see what he'll do on stage. He has been singing several of the songs around the house for the last couple of weeks, but when he got on stage he apparently wasn't in the mood to sing?! Half the time he just stood there and waved at me. :) At one point he yelled out from the stage..."I love you!" He made my day! I was glad I was off work so I could see him in action. I just love that crazy kid!

Just a few more random pictures of my cutie pies....

I can't stop...

...taking pictures of her. I feel like Natalie is growing and changing so fast that I have to do a photo shoot of her at least once a day to make sure I don't miss anything! :) She just has such a sweet little personality. All you have to do is say hi to her and she smiles and coos at you. I love it! (Oh..and the random Mike/Ben picture was thrown in just because I thought it was cute!)

Oh...and this picture sums up how Ben felt when I told him he had to come in from playing outside this evening. He was mad and crying until he decided that watching Dumbo might be fun too. Have I mentioned that this child LOVES movies?

I haven't told any funny Ben stories lately, so here are a few goodies....

- We've had some recent potty accidents in public. He has been fully potty trained since this past Fall (yes...it took forever!)...but we still have an occasional problem when he decides he's too busy playing to take the time to go. On more than one occasion he has been playing in a fastfood playland and has pooped his pants in the tunnels because he just couldn't bear the thought of coming down and taking time away from the fun to go. GROSS! Not too long ago he pooped his pants in the Chick-Fil-A playland and I had to clean him up in the bathroom. I ended up having to throw away his underwear (seriously...who wants to carry around poopy undies in their purse!?). Anyway, we were planning on going to the mall after that, so Papa took him straight to the kids section at Macy's to get him some new underwear to put on. As they were checking out he told the lady..."Hi...I pooped my pants at Chick-Fil-A, so I needed some new underwear." Wow...nothing like being honest, Ben. :)

- On the way to preschool last week Ben said to me from the backseat..."Mom, why does Daddy always call you a grouch?" Like a good wife and mother, I told him that Daddy was mean for calling me that and I have no idea why he would say that. :) He said in response, "It's ok Mom...Daddy's a whacko." Nice, Ben...way to make me feel better! (By the way...I am not grouchy all of the time...I promise.)

- For the last month or so anytime I ask Ben to do anything that he doesn't want to do he'll say in response..."I can't, Mom...I'm too frightened." What a weirdo!

- The other morning he and Natalie were in the bathtub at the same time. He noticed her girl anatomy and said..."Natalie doesn't have a pee pee, Mom." :) I then proceeded to explain the difference between boys and girls...which he already knew, but was apparently just confirming. Anyway, he proceeded to name off various friends, family, and neighbors by telling me whether or not they had pee pee's! Great conversation! :)

My sweet girl...

Just some more of my girl! You know how people always feel sorry for second and third children because there are never as many pictures of them as the firstborn...yeah...I don't really think Natalie has anything to worry about. :)