First Day 2009

I know I'm skipping over about 5 months of blogging and I'm hoping to catch up on all of my summer events soon, but for now, here are my sweeties on their first day of school 2009:

Will outside of his classroom. We weren't allowed in. And... when I went for the goodbye kiss (on top of the head - I know better than to kiss his sweet face in public), I got ducked. Sad mommy. He was very excited this morning. Got up early and was all dressed and ready to go. He's also excited that his new teacher, Mrs. Youngblood, just bought the house two doors down from us in our cul-de-sac. Saturday, he asked me, "Mommy, can we clean the entire house tomorrow and invite Mrs. Youngblood over?"

His annual "holding up the fingers" picture. We discussed this morning how he was going to have to hold his fingers when Mommy is taking his picture outside KHS in the 11th grade.

Molly at her new desk in Mrs. Putscher's class. She seemed a little nervous but was excited too. Mrs. Putscher called the house yesterday just to talk with Molly. She thought that was very cool!

Daddy's little girl. He prayed for them as we left the school. I may be the one crying, but I know he's a big ole' softy too!

My first grader with Allie, the school mascot.

Hope everyone has a great first day!!!

A New Day

I thought I would update my blog for those of you that don't talk to us on a daily basis. This Monday, Dave was laid off from Falk Photography after over 10 years of service. While I'm fairly certain most folks are never thrilled to find themselves without a paycheck they can bank on, the lay off has brought us the opportunity for Dave to pursue his own photography business full time. On Wednesday, we looked at some studio space at 107 W 1st St. in Humble. It was the right price and was the only space we've looked at that allowed us to go month-to-month rather than signing a scary 5-year lease or 2-year lease at a higher rate. This week, we will be knocking down a wall, rebuilding another, painting, reflooring (hmmm, seems we were doing a lot of this last year at this time!), and setting up shop. I can't wait to post pics of the finished product. We feel very blessed both to have this opportunity and for the amazing kindness, support, and love of our friends and family. I'll look forward to updating you as our business grows! Visit www.studiobennett.net if you haven't before.

Busy, busy boy...

Jack keeps me on my toes. He is forever doing weird things and getting into everything. Dave likes to think that our other children weren't this nuts during the "terrible twos." I'm convinced he is in denial. But, I do agree that Jack is much more, um, creative in his antics... and, I'll admit I find him quite fun.

Jack finds a new way to have fun with the DVD jackets. I didn't see a warning on the covers that said, "Warning, do not allow children to put on their heads," so I'm wondering if I should sue.

He didn't have nearly as much fun when I made him take it off. I'm sure the fact that I took the time to take pictures of all of this says something less than wonderful about my parenthood.

And, finally, a little story from last night... We had to buy raisins for one of Molly's school projects. I normally don't do many raisins because I hear that the kids need to brush their teeth every time they eat them because they cause tooth decay. But, Molly needed 100 raisins for her school project, so Dave bought the big box. Apparently, the kids really like raisins since they don't get them often because they were all about the raisins when they got home from school. Over the course of a few hours, the box of raisins was spilled on the floor three times. Well, the last time, Jack proceeded to start eating as many as he could before I threw them away. As he grabbed the last one, my mom started to yell, "NO!" and reach for his mouth. Too late, the "raisin" was gone. Turns out, it was no raisin. It was a spider. Nice. I'm going to have spiderbaby nightmares for a month.

My Boy Scout

Since I included some pics of my Daisy Girl Scout yesterday, I had to upload some pics of my Cub Scout too. William is really enjoying Scouts this year and has his Blue and Gold Banquet this Friday, where he will be receiving his Bear badge.

They made masks and musical instuments, wrote a song about scouts to the tune of "Twinkle, twinkle, little star" and performed for the group.

Will participated in the Pinewood Derby. I do believe he may have been to only kid to make his car all on his own. I was very proud of him and he won "Most Colorful Car."

Pic Overload (Including Fearless Molly pictures)

I've been pretty busy lately so I'm finally uploading pics from the last two months. Hopefully, I can manage to get them in order this time!

Just a good morning smile from my happy boy.

We had our 2nd annual Wii New Year's Eve party. They are playing Rayman Ravin Rabbids TV Party - the dance minigame. Dave has skills!

Happy New Year! If you've never tried sparkling pink lemonade, it is some good stuff!

We went on Grandview Fellowship's marriage retreat and had a great time. This is the view from our room at South Shore Harbor Conference Center.

My girls on the Amazing Grace.

And the boys too.

Dave and I. The Bogars have a beautiful boat (and home too!)

This is Dave learning to ballroom dance. I really must upload this video. It is great. But, I worry that he'll take revenge by uploading mine. As I mentioned, he has skills. I do not.

Molly is a Daisy Girl Scout. We just finished our cookie sale. This was our first field trip to the plant nursery. She's planting a flower and practicing saying, "photosynthesis."

The girls on the plant walk, smelling all of the herbs, or as we learned to call them, "pizza plants," since there was plenty of basil and oregano.

The daisies, troup 5675.

Molly loved the monarch caterpillars.

This weekend, we went to visit our friends, the Newton's, at Camp Tejas. It was Ben's birthday and the first time we've been to visit them at camp. We had a blast. Jack wanted to wear his "hat" and climb the wall too!

He also enjoyed driving the tractor. He particularly loved turning the blinker on over and over. He kept telling me, "key, Mommy, KEY!"

The hay ride.

This is about a 50-foot tower. Notice how little all the people are. My baby girl (and her daddy) were about to jump off of it.

Dave gets clipped in as Molly watches. I still thought she might chicken out at this point.

Obviously, she didn't.

Daddy and Molly finish the zip line and swing down together.

My brave girl. I hope she was half as proud of herself as her mommy was of her!

It's been a fun January and February!

A Small Glimpse

Tonight, I can't sleep. I have these nights every once in a while and one of the things that I love to do rather than lay in my bed tossing and turning and feeling frustrated is to go upstairs and climb into bed next to each of my children for a few minutes and listen to them breathe and admire them and then cover them back up with the covers they've all inevitably kicked off, kiss them, and head back downstairs. Usually when I do this, Molly will be so sound asleep that she doesn't stir at all, Jack will move a bit but not wake, and William will wake just enough to give me a half smile with his eyes still closed and throw his arms around my neck. I love that. Tonight, I got the response from each child that I have come to expect. But, while Will was giving me his twilight hug, I thought about the beautiful gift that he gave to me the day he was born. As children, we know the love of our parents but we don't understand it from their perspective, only from our own. We grow to love them because they first loved us and because they care for us, which is how I also think about my love for God. When we grow up and meet the person with whom we will build our lives together, we are drawn to them first by their personality and physical appearance, but then fall in love with those things that make up their character. As we know them more, we fall more in love with them. Again, that is how I think of my love for God. But, when we have our first child, we discover a new love. It isn't grown. It exists deeply and unbreakably immediately. Our love for our children has nothing to do with what they've done for us. Indeed we love them before we even know them, before they've revealed who they are to us, before they even know who they are themselves. And that is how I view God's love toward me. What a precious gift to us that He can give us just a glimpse of His great love. He loves us not because of what we've done. He loves us before we've made any acknowledgment of Him. He loves us before we understand who we are ourselves, if we ever do. There is nothing that could separate my children from my love and there is nothing that can separate me from the love of my Father in heaven. What a beautiful picture it is and what a beautiful reminder as I lay beside my child, admiring him. He may not have picked up his room today. He may have given me attitude or been unkind to his sister. But, none of that floats in my mind as I delight in him. To me, he is beautiful. To me, he is joy. To me, he is my greatest accomplishment. Wow, that my Father would think the same of me.

Granddad

Last Friday evening, Dave received a call from his mom that his grandfather had passed away. It was less than a year ago that we all got together to celebrate his 90th birthday and we were all together just a few weeks ago at Christmas, celebrating with him at Dave's parents with all of the grandchildren and great-grandchildren. He was a man who loved his family. He sent us birthday cards and Christmas cards every year that always encouraged us and told us we were doing a great job with our beautiful family. Somehow, his approval meant the world. He adored his wife in a way that gives me great inspiration and hope for my future with Dave. Their love was beautiful. Meme passed away about nine years ago when I was pregnant with William. There was never a time that we visited Granddad that we didn't hear stories about Meme. He used to make coffee for her every morning and they would sit in bed and have their coffee and talk before they started their day. Their gorgeous Victorian home was decorated with artwork designed and made by Meme and he loved to take them off of the wall and show them to you and tell their story. She loved butterflies and butterflies still greet you throughout the house. Her perfume bottles are still out and her handmade dresses still hang in the antique wardrobes. Oftentimes, when we would all visit, I would see him watching the family and catch his eyes welling up with tears. I guessed that he felt a mixture of feelings of great joy while he watched his great-grandchildren play and of sadness that he wished Meme could be sitting next to him as they watched together. I imagine that the moment he greeted her in Heaven was glorious. But, the time he continued to live without her on earth was not spent only in grief. He continued to give back to his community by serving with the Bread Partners and with the Historical Society. He supported a local theatre and still had notecards for tours of their house sitting in all the rooms. In fact, when he passed, he was on the back porch, dressed up, waiting for his friends to pick him up for a Historical Society meeting. That seemed to fit him, dignified and peaceful, delivered into the arms of his Creator.

We love you, Granddad, and look forward to the day when we will all be worshipping together in the presence of Jesus.

If you'd like to read more about Granddad, you can click on the links of Dave's sisters' blogs to the right.