Welcome Toben!!!

Welcome to the newest extended family member! This morning, Dave called us from work to let us know that he had just heard from his mom that his sister, Anitra, was about to give birth to her latest baby boy, Toben Keen Edney. I couldn't wait to meet the little man so the kids and I grabbed our things and loaded into the car to head to Bryan. It was quite an adventure as I was distracted somehow and missed the giant sign saying "HWY 6 to Bryan/College Station." Now, I've seen this sign on each of the five thousand trips I took to and from Austin while I lived there and yet I still managed to get all the way to Brenham before realizing I had passed it up. I must have been handing out french fries to the back seat at the time. Either that, or I was sandwiched between two eighteen-wheelers while being blinded by the sun making its way down to the horizon. I'm fairly certain it wasn't just because I was dangerously scatterbrained and daydreaming with three precious children in the car. So, after getting further instructions from Kevin about how to go down a few farm roads to get back on track, I misunderstood him to say, "It'll take fifteen minutes to go down Farm Road 50," rather than, "It'll take FIFTY minutes to go down Farm Road 50." Two minutes onto 50, my gas light turned on. I didn't fret because I figured I only had about 13 miles to go until hitting the bigger town. 35 miles later, I started to get very concerned that I was about to be stranded in the middle of "Aggie Farmland" in 95 degree heat with three children and no gas. At this moment, I decided it was time for a little prayer, "Dear Lord, please let my last one-tenth of a gallon mysteriously carry me down the road the next twenty miles to a gas station." Well, he pulled through because soon after I came to Farm Road 60 and the best-looking gas station I've ever seen. It was like a mirage in the desert... but, praise God, it wasn't a mirage! So, we finally made it... now on to the info you really want to hear. Toben is 7 pounds and 5 ounces of cute! He looked around and smiled and it was great to hold another little bundle. I'm thrilled that Dave has two more siblings that are yet to have kids. I figure I have at least ten more years of babies to come. Will and Molly thought he was great. Will was sad that we couldn't "keep him" and wanted to know if we could have another baby. He's quick to forget that just a week ago, he told me that being a big brother, in regards to Molly, was "Great," but in regards to Jack, "not so much." When I asked why, he said, "Well, I DON'T like the crying, but I love HIM!" He's such a sweet kid with a wonderful "soft side." He loved holding Toben. Molly wanted to also, but I told her we'd wait until Toben was home and I could cuddle up on the couch next to her and help her. We're all very proud of Aunt Anitra who is such a great mom and does a fantastic job bringing her babies into the world! Proud brothers and sister are Cade Sullivan, Hutton Caleb, and Callaway Lucy-Marie. Congrats Edneys!!!

Let's All Jump Around Like Fools at the Rodeo!

Yeehaw! What a week this has been. It is VBS week at our church and the theme is "RoundUp." Several months ago, when we first registered, we were given a RoundUp CD to listen to in the car. It has become my kids' favorite music. They particularly enjoy the first track, the RoundUp theme song, mostly because of the last line: "Let's all jump around like fools at the rodeo." At that point, my car begins hopping around the road because my kids have started bouncing around like a rubber ball inside a glass box. When this occurs, I assume it's either time to go to VBS or time to pull in to the closest hospital to have them treated for Shaken Baby Syndrome. But this week, it finally arrived. And let me tell you, if I thought two kids bouncing around my car was fun to watch, you should see about 500 of them react to that song! It's just plain crazy! Needless to say, the kids are having a blast. We've come home with hats, vests, concho key chains, western picture frames, and a purple clay cactus with spaghetti needles. Tomorrow will be my favorite craft: 400 stick horses which took about 20 women two days to assemble because they are just too darn difficult to ask a four-year-old kid to put together. I'm on the craft team and my friend Christi likes to laugh at me because I make very sure that my little girl comes home with a respectable looking craft. No stars and fringe in the wrong place for me! The funny thing is that I stuck some green clay in my pocket all morning long until I had Molly's class for Crafts because my child was not going to have some crazy neon cactus. I mean, c'mon, who's ever seen a neon pink cactus in the wild!? But, did you notice I said earlier that we came home with a PURPLE cactus? Yup, that's my girl, she's just too creative for her mommy's green cactus. Now don't go saying I should start letting her put her dollhouse furniture in the wrong rooms too! The toilet does not belong in the living room, people! But, I digress. We've also had a friend of Will's come home with us in the afternoons. Will has been so worn out that the other evening, he went down for the night at 5:30 and still asked me for a nap on the way to VBS the next morning. On to what you really want to see... the pictures of my little cowkids!

Deputies Will and Molly at your service!

"The Big Show..." not your momma's VBS!

The kids excited about a picture with a real celebrity.

Jumping Jack at home with his craft from the day.
I'm not sure where to put a GIANT kitchen tile but it sure is cute!

A Rainy, But Full Day

It's a good thing that we have rainbows to remind us that God has promised not to flood the whole earth again, because I might be a little scared otherwise! I cannot believe what a rainy summer we have had. On the bright side, the rain has kept the heat under control, so the house isn't as hard to keep cool. Yesterday, we had an eventful day. In my attempt to keep the TV watching at a minimum, we had lots of projects. We painted with water colors and squeezable paints. We picked out someone we love and made cards for them. Will chose Benjamin Newton (because he knows Ben LOVES Spider Man!) and Molly chose Granddad. We turned the radio on and Will and I danced a little around the living room, and we made a pie (one that consists of peaches, cherries, and bananas since we didn't have enough of each one to make a whole pie) When Daddy got home, it was time for "Mommy and Son Date Night". Will chose to go to Whataburger and then to Half Price Books. We had a great time. He was so sweet because he kept picking out books for other people. "I think Molly would like this Hello Kitty Book. Do you think Jackson would like this book? Look, it's really soft. Oooh, Mommy, it's a Star Wars book for Daddy!" I told him we'd shop another day for everyone else, but today was his special day. We did get Molly two books that were too cheap to pass up, but Will settled on a dinosaur book, a NASCAR book, and a Transformers book. Afterwards, Poppy had a surprise for him, so we stopped by their house. Poppy gave him his telescope - not just any telescope, but one with an 8 inch mirror, several eyepieces, a camera mount and camera that works with it, and many other neat things that we haven't figured out how to work yet. So, if it ever does stop raining, you are all invited over for Astronomy Night!

Will decides on his next subject.

Jack prefers more organic substances to paint with... like peas and carrots.

Picasso takes a bath after his masterpiece is finished.

Will and Molly pose with their cards. Molly even signed her name... "Moyll."
Good thing we aren't Jewish or that would be pretty scary for Will!

Jack is trying to figure out how to crawl and loves to get himself into strange places.

Back to the Hello Kitty Nightmares

Perhaps I should have had a dream about this guy... (If you don't know what I'm talking about, see the Hellocousinitkitty post below).

First Crushes

I remember vividly my first crush. I was in Mrs. Plunkett's Kindergarten class and his name was Steven Faulkner. He was really cute with brown eyes and brown hair. My parents even took me to his house once for a play date. But, then he got the chicken pox. Apparently, I was easily freaked out by infectious diseases and the crush ended right there. I'm fairly certain that there were other crushes along the way, but I don't remember another boy until I was a teenager.

So, that brings me to today's post. William may very well be the object of a first crush. Her name is Aubry and she lives next door to my parents. She is an adorable little girl. On my mom's birthday, she came over to swim and play with the kids. They swam in the pool and played in the playroom all day, ate dinner with us and then watched TV for a little while before Aubry went home. This week, Aubry went to my mom's and asked her to set up a get-together to play with William again. Later, my mom talked to Aubry's dad, who said she had come home the other day with a starry-eyed look saying that she was "so happy" and that William was her boyfriend. So, William is over swimming today and my mom took this picture of them. You'll notice that I will only admit that William is the object of a first crush. And while I remember mine being in Kindergarten, I'm quite happy believing that he is just too young to be sweet on anyone other than his mommy! When he's sixteen, you may be allowed to try to convince me otherwise, but for now... ignorance is bliss!

A Week's Worth of Vacation in One Day

The kids are in bed and the sand is scrubbed off, so I am ready to blog... and then promptly go to bed! Last week, I said that we were going to Dinosaur Valley for a few days of our mini-vacation. Well, two things caused us to change our plans. First, the dinosaur tracks are on the riverbed and the riverbed is currently overflowing with river from all the rain. Secondly, as I mentioned yesterday, Dave's two-day theory was disproven and we ran out of time to be gone for several days. So, we decided to change our plans to Galveston for the day and we all had a blast! We started out at Moody Gardens, where we went to the Aquarium and then experienced all of the dinosaur attractions. Will and Molly both went into the "RideFilm," "IMAX 3D," and the "Special FX 4D Theatre" with a great fear of the unknown. It took some handholding and a lot of "Don't worry, it's all pretend and Mommy is right here" whispered in the ear, but they ended up enjoying everything and asking to go again. Nothing like a giant T-Rex growling its big gnarly teeth at you from what appears to be two inches from your face. I have to say that I was pretty impressed that they didn't just run screaming from the theaters! My babies are indeed growing up. After Moody Gardens, we went to the Rainforest Cafe for dinner, the highlight of which was the "Volcano" dessert. Will asked for it every two minutes through the entire meal. When it came, all twelve dollars and ninety-five cents of it, he promptly took three bites and declared that he was just too full! After dinner, we walked across the street to the beach and played in the sand and water. The kids really enjoyed watching the hermit crab we caught try to venture out of his shell. Jack passed out in about one minute after returning to the car. Will put up a good fight but eventually gave in to the exhaustion but Molly was still going strong when we got home. Mommy, however, is off to give in herself right about now...

Watching the fish and keeping an eye out for the shark!

This giant guy was much less scary than the one on the 3D screen.

The only picture of me I may ever post. ;)

The "VOLCANO!"

"I am so about to pelt you with this sand."

Jack Meets the Ocean

Princess Dirtypants

Seriously. Just look at 'em. That's all I gotta say.

And, my man. Sweaty and dirty, but he's still hot! ;)

Goodbye Floaties! Hello Confidence!

What a day! After taking a bit of a break from our week of organizing and cleaning (Dave's two-day theory was disproven, by the way), we visited Nanny and GG and went swimming this evening. Will and Molly got brave and started to jump from the diving board using the foam noodles and kick board. One time, the kick board slipped and Will started to swim after it. His arms kept pushing the kick board farther away from him. Before he knew it, he had made his way across the pool. From that point on, he began jumping without any flotation device and swimming around the pool! Go Will! I'm very proud! Molly is fearless and will probably not be far behind. Jack enjoyed the boat for a while but decided he'd much rather be in Mommy's arms enjoying a bottle. What a fun time - it's great having access to a private pool. Thanks Nanny and GG!

"Look Mom! I'm doing it!!!"

"Me too! Me too!"

My Sweet Swimmers

"Mom, I know I take great pictures. But, I'm a little perplexed. Can you get me out of this thing so I can contemplate the meaning of life over a bottle of warm milk, please?"

"I'm gorgeous. And, my daddy's a photographer. "

"Can I try out for the Olympics now?"

Memories of My First Baby Boy

Having Jackson is wonderful for many reasons. First, he's his own little man. It's hard to imagine our family without him, which seems odd since we'd only ever planned on having two children. Even as an infant, you can sense the different little nuances each child has in their personality and it's exciting to watch them bloom into the little people they become. I'm soaking up every moment my of last child and enjoying it so much. Secondly, watching Jack, I'm constantly remembering fun times with my first baby boy. I'll see an expression that reminds me of Will or the sight of Jack's chubby thigh will remind me of how Will would giggle when we would tickle the inside of his. It's hard to believe that seven and a half years have passed since I laid eyes on and fell in love with that gorgeous child. Five million kisses later, I'm completely in love with two more. I can hardly wrap my head around all the blessings I have. So, I guess I'll have to wrap my arms around them instead.

My first little man in his walker.

My newest little man in his walker.

Jackson enjoying some fresh fruit.

Backyard Fun!

It has been so rainy here for weeks and the kids are exploding with energy and ready to be through with "inside" time, so we braved the 100% humidity today and ventured into the backyard. Dave fixed the baby swing, so this was Jack's first time to swing with the big kids.

All My Babies Swinging Together

Will Swings High

Molly Flashes a Smile

Jack Isn't So Sure

Daddy Makes it Fun!

Will Pushes Molly

Mommy Gets Some Slobber Kisses

Daddy Kisses Away that Pouty Lip

My Links and Technology Today

Good Saturday Morning! We're at home nursing Will back to health this morning after he began vomiting while my parents were babysitting last night. Thanks guys - sorry you were in the trenches of grandparenthood last night while we were out watching Optimus Prime kick some Decepticon rear end. We enjoyed getting a trip back to our childhood during our date though before our vivid (and stinky) reminder that we are indeed the parents of three children.

So, I wanted to point out a new link today. You will see "Parenting Solved" listed under my links. This is actually the blog of Dr. Bryan Vartabedian, Jack's Pediatric Gastroenterologist. He was also the doctor that helped Will grow from a "failure to thrive" baby to the strapping young lad he is today. I have found it endlessly fascinating to read his blog, both because of its content and because I've found this to be a cool new dynamic to the doctor/patient relationship. How often do we get beyond where our doctors went to med school or what kind of bedside manner they have? I think it is interesting that there has historically been such a disconnect between doctors and their patients that it can actually feel like you're bordering on the voyeuristic just by reading a blog. So, you may want to check it out. And, while you are at it, maybe you can come up with a reason to help him talk his wife into buying him an iphone.

Have a great weekend!

Hellocousinitkitty

Okay, so I'm going to preface this by saying that if you subscribed to my blog to get information about my adorable kids, you will not be disappointed. But, rarely (very rarely, I promise), you may have to listen to me share something completely off topic. Such as in this case. I can justify it though with two reasons. First, it's hysterically funny (well, okay, to me anyway). Second, it may not be COMPLETELY off topic, since I'm fairly certain that I would never be having dreams containing Hello Kitty if I didn't have a three-foot-tall Hello Kitty Fan Club President under my roof. So, here goes. Right before Dave woke me up this morning, I was having a TERRIFYING dream, a dream involving half-human, half-Helly Kitty ghost creatures. We had gone up to some caves and were warned of stirring up the creatures. But, we pressed on anyway, and lo and behold, we woke them up and they came after us. We ran crazy fast and screaming through the caves and breathed a giant sigh of relief when we came out into the warm, bright sun. Safe at last, as we drove home the old gold Volvo that we had borrowed from Jack's GI doctor (weird side note, don't know where that came from, pretty sure the man drives something better than an old Volvo). Anyway, we get back to the dorms we are staying at and nervously laugh about our close call. We walk to the community bathrooms to take a shower and open the door. Standing at the mirror is a girl with long, long blond hair covering her entire face. Weird. But, then we notice IT. The hair-covered head is WEIRDLY OBLONG and there are bright white Helly Kitty EARS sticking out from underneath. AAAAAAHHHHHHH! Hellocousinitkitty has followed us!!!!!!!! (*wake up here*) For those of you that are visual learners, I've included a picture of just how frightening this dream was.

Oh, the ways in which we are changed by our children.

Fireworks Afterall

Well, we ended up watching some fireworks last night. Our neighbors, the Willifords, had some friends over and invited us for burgers and a great firework display. By the time we blew them up, Jack and Molly had already asked to go to bed. So, Will joined us outside. He loved them... until... one fell sideways and started shooting big balls of light into our other neighbors yard, setting off his car alarm. He got over that and decided it would be okay to hold a sparkler. But, then Connor's sparkler got to close to his hand and apparently burned him. So, Will threw down the sparkler and refused to participate any more! This picture is Will before "the incident." You can see from the look on his face that he isn't very pleased with the whole idea to begin with.

So, I know you want some pics now...

So, I'll indulge. Jack is starting his first solids. Here's what he thinks of them...

Mmm, this new stuff is pretty good.

Okay, maybe not.

And, here is William representing TeamKid soccer in our Fourth of July parade at the church.


He was a good sport - we were there practicing for SIX HOURS on Saturday! When it was time for the actual parade, he was very excited. He thought it was very cool when Poppy got to stand up during the procession of the flag representing the Navy. Afterwards, there was a veteran's reception, then we all ate chicken sandwiches while listening to live blue grass, jumped in a bouncy obstacle course, and watched the fireworks. Molly still isn't a big fan, but Jack stared at them in awe. And, Will, being a boy, likes to watch things blow up with his daddy!

The Pressure Was Too Much

Well, the pressure got to me. After visiting theedneyfamily.com, davebennettphoto/blogspot.com, and theloweryblog.com, I realized that there has to be one for the Bennett family as well (well, one that contains information about the kiddos, not just fascinating information about mountain bikes, along with the occasional sweet nod to the wife - thanks honey, you're my best friend too), So, here it is. Long awaited and much anticipated, I'm sure. What better day to start than the birthday of our nation! I'd like to tell you that we are all dressed in red, white, and blue, with sparklers in hand, on our way to some exciting display of gunpowder blasts and talented renditions of the Star Spangled Banner, but we did that over the weekend. Today, were relaxing at home, taking naps, wrestling in bed (with the kiddos, nudge, nudge, wink, wink), and playing Cars, the video game. I should be using the free time to begin cleaning, but I'm procrastinating since Dave is taking the week off next week to help me with my list of things to get done in the home. He's sure it will take just two days to clean and organize every room in the house, down to the baseboards, recaulk the bathrooms, shampoo the carpets, get caught up on my babybooks, do the yardwork, powerwash the house, and get rid of the army of fireants planning the next assualt on humankind from my backyard (by the way, they are allying with the wasps, so watch out!) I'll let you know how his two-day theory goes. After that, we are off to dinosaur valley to walk in the dinosaur tracks. That should provide some fun pics to post. The more pictures and the less rambling from me is all the better! Thanks for reading. Enjoy your fourth!