Five Years!

Five years ago...

we got married.

Thinking of that day, makes me happy. 

I am truly blessed...

I won't forget the moment when we were in the front of everyone during one of the hymns we had chosen...and it hit me...

that I....ME...got to marry him...BEN.

Oooii, it was one of those moments that makes me smile and almost cry even yet.

Five years later...

I still feel very blessed..with two additional blessings, our two little boys!

Ben and I enjoyed celebrating by spending a day doing what most people wouldn't find enjoyable or "romantic"...shopping. Shopping at home improvement stores mostly. It was actually quite productive and even enjoyable. We also got to go to a few stores that I wanted to go to...ate at PF Changs..and went to a piano bar...which was very entertaining!

I'm sure glad I met this guy...

End of School

Ben finishes work for the year Friday! YAY :)

We went up on today to see him at the end of his last class for just a couple minutes. 

AND...we went to Freddy's to celebrate!

We are all looking forward to having Daddy around more during the summer. 

Mothers Day

A special day to celebrate all mamas...it is sweet.

Although for some...bittersweet..and for those my heart hurts. 

It makes me miss my Grandma..and how I wish she could be here to see my boys...and how much it must make my mom wish she was here too.

It makes me think of Ben's Grandma Betty...how this is the first mother's day without her here to celebrate with...and how that must be hard for Diana.

It makes me think of all the mamas that I know or have seen through work that have either lost a child/baby...or are trying so hard to become mamas.

This isn't going to continue being sad...but that part is also reality.

Now, as far as today goes for me...it was a wonderfully good day.

We went to church. And this handsome fella, was loving on my before we left (I will never turn that down).

It was too funny, how much Christian's tie matched Ben's shirt...so he put it on to see. 

Classic.

After church, we went to John & Chris's for the traditional treat of having our Mother's Day noon meal there. It was unusually cool, so we changed into warmer clothes before going. 

We had a delicious meal ...I had two servings of lasagna :)

I took a picture of Diana with her boys and my boys...but it was with her camera...just know it was cute. 

And then here are the two little loves of my life and me...

they really do make my heart happy...very happy!

On the way home, I took a nap in the back seat of our van (which we got a about a month ago...and I love!)...and the other three boys took naps when we got home. I woke them up so we could go over to Mom and Dad's for supper. We had grilled pizza and some salads, and angel food cake with strawberries.

It ended up being a gorgeous evening. So we played croquet in the front yard. 

I am terrible at croquet...every time....but I still play, and I still like it :)

Mom in action....

nice form...even with her new knee!

Mama MJ

Brent had tried to hit another player's ball, so he could have another turn...but I think the play didn't turn out quite as planned...and Mom isn't holding back her feelings about it.

Attempts at taking a photo of the three of us...

A very random picture of Kade...but it was too cute not to include :)

This woman amazes me...

I'm proud to call her my Mom,

and blessed to call her my friend.

Random visit

During our ride home from WIchita both boys fell asleep.

We had been talking about what we would do the rest of the day. It was looking like the clouds were getting darker, and it was a little too wet to work outside...so we decided to go to Topeka and see Ben's parents. Very random.

We got there around 4:30, and met his Dad and brother at the house they are working at fixing up. It looks nice...the yard, the inside, the location....it's a good one. Then we went to their actual house..and Grandma H. was there. It turned out to be a sunny day there...beautiful actually. So we went outside for a bit.

Christian liked to look at the fish in their pond...and feed them.

Daddy and him played catch

Uncle Sam played with him....with the tow truck (he always remembers they have a tow truck at their house!) and this time there was an alligator (a large plastic one...that he REALLY liked playing with).

And Noah was happy being held by Grandma H.

I love these pictures with his hands like they are...

We went out for pizza and then had to head back. 

We had a VERY full day....but a VERY VERY good one. 

I think it was a personal day well spent indeed!

Personal day

Ben took a personal day...and I'm glad he spent it wisely...with his family :)

But for real, I am glad that he wanted to do something just for the fun of it, because we had ourselves a full, big day. None of it was necessarily planned, since we didn't know what the weather was going to do...it was supposed to rain. 

We headed to Wichita to go to Botanica...

it was just lightly starting to sprinkle when we got there...but we decided to go anyway. And it was just overcast the whole time..nothing else..which was actually just perfect.

Christian loved running around..he was running back and forth from the big water fountain. We decided to go "backwards", so we could see the flowers first before going to the children's center. Noted...we will do this again in the future..it worked out well.

Some of the flowers were beaten up by some of the slaps of the late "winterish" days...but there were still more than plenty to ooooo and aaaaah over. I love the tulips...so mnay colors...so vibrant...so PRETTY. 

I loved all the shades within this orange kind...

and these...deep purple, dipped in white.

Noah did well. We brought the stroller...but he wanted to be out, seeing the flowers.

He is quite "grabby"...those tulips were almost done for by his quick little hands.

All kinds of lovely in these pictures....

Then we got to the play area. I went up the tree house and down the crawl space with Christian. He loved it. He banged on all the outdoor instruments...climbed on anything climbable...jumped off the ladybugs...and he's SO proud he's big enough to hang from the rainbow bars (just like his big cousins!!).

We had such a good time. 

We then went to Freddy's for lunch (YUM), tried to go to Lowe's to pick out tile for the bathroom (that just needs to be a separate trip), stopped at Target...and headed home.

Well...we thought we were going to go home.....

instead we headed to Topeka to see Grandma and Grandpa H. 

Perfect Sunday

This was just a good day...

started with church with these two handsome fellas...and their daddy.

And this one...just as sweet as can be.

The weather was perfect...the dandelions were in full bloom (well, maybe that's not a wonderful thing...but they certainly are ALL over our yard).

Lots of digging in dirt today..getting our garden ready.

And then this was how we ended our day.

A pretty sunset...and Christian running through our dandelion "field".

Days like this are some of my favorite...simple...but perfect.

New Red Chair

Fried Chicken Night is the first Thursday of the month at Waters Edge....it is a family style served meal...and it is g-o-o-d. It just so happens that Great Grandpa John has a liking for food...and he happens to know that Ben (especially) also has this same appreciation. So, we have met him to eat for the past 3 months on Fried Chicken Night. It really is a special treat :)

This last Thursday, after we were done eating he had something REAL special to give us....

a child sized rocking chair.

It was made/given to them when their kids were little from Great Grandma Betty's brother. He had it reupholstered for us....and it turned out SO nice!

It fits Christian just perfectly right now....he is so proud to have his own rocking chair!

Thank you Great Grandpa John!!