7 Completely Random and Unrelated Things That I Need to squeeze Into One Post

Thing #1

Last Saturday was an annual family reunion on my mom's side of the family.

There are always fun water related things for the kids to do.

This year there was a little, blue, sprinkler inflatable thingy that Ben got such a kick out of.

This was just pure heaven to Ben.

 I would say that Ben spent about 80% of the reunion running around in the water...and Dad, Grandma and Grandpa (especially Grandpa) spent that same amount of time out supervising him in the hot sun.  Bless you all!

At the end of the reunion the owner of this water toy came up to us and asked us to take it home with us since Ben enjoyed it so much.  It was super nice of her.

Thing #2
 (Okay, so this one is not totally unrelated to #1.)

There is always an auction at the above reunion.
Mom made the niftiest little patriotic table topper.

I knew I wanted to get it.  I was prepared to go kind of high for it.
However, everyone else thought I should have it since my mom made it and so they didn't give me much competition.  I got it for a mere $25!  I felt kind of bad that it didn't go for more but I'm extremely happy that I got it :)

This is the best I could do out of my garden for a red/white and blue bouquet...it's really pink/white and purple but I tried.

As if that wasn't good enough...

For my birthday I asked Mom for a table runner to put on my dining table.  She did such a beautiful job and I'm thrilled that it's now sitting on the table.

Isn't it beautiful?  I love all the different colors and I think my favorite part is the triangle border.

Mom just recently started learning machine quilting and she's pretty hard on herself but I think is does an amazing job.

I need to get a smaller basket to put on my table so I can show off more of this quilted beauty.

Thanks Mom!  I really, really love it!

Thing #3

Ben had his first day of preschool.  It didn't begin as I had planned.  For some reason I had it in my head that it started later in the morning but at 8:10 a.m. I got a phone call from the bus driver saying that they were just down the road and would be there in a few minutes!  Ahhhh....Ben was still asleep so I told her that I would just bring him that morning.  I hurried and woke him up and tried to throw some sort of keto breakfast down him.  I got us both dressed, grabbed his cute little backpack and rushed out the door.  We got there right as class was starting at 8:30.

I tried to have him sit down at the rug with the rest of the kids but he wanted to follow me around while I talked to the head teacher about some things.  Things like 'would they understand his sign language', 'not to feed him anything except the snack I packed in his bag for him', and 'he's been really grumpy lately so I'm sorry if he gives you much trouble'.  He acted interested in some things at the table we were standing next to so the speech pathologist tried to engage him while we talked.  The teacher asked if I could pick him up at 11:00 since he wasn't supposed to ride the bus anyway since we didn't have his health plan in place yet.

I left as Ben was not watching which I didn't know if that was a good thing or not.  I drove home with a lot of worries and to top it all off I realized I hadn't given him his morning meds in the rush of trying to get out the door.

I had two hours to myself...well, the other kids were there so I guess I should say I had two hours without my little guy needing me most every minute for something or other.

I felt guilty enjoying the time he was gone...mainly because I wasn't sure if he was having a good experience.

I got so many things done...cleaning, paying the bills, putting away laundry etc...

I felt extremely productive.

The time came for me to pick him up.

As I arrived at the school I saw the line of children getting ready to board the bus.  

One of the teachers brought Ben to me and he immediately started signing "bus" and pointing.  He was so excited and wanted to get on.  He was so disappointed when it drove away without him.

I was happy to know that he wanted to ride it as that was one of my main concerns about him starting school.

They all said he did really well...cried a little at first but then was just fine.  They asked me what a couple of signs meant.  I asked them if they had figured out the helmet okay and if he fought it when they had to put it back on after snack time, did they ever have parent volunteers in the classroom and were they legally allowed to change diapers.

Answers:  Yes, No, No, and Yes (as a matter of fact, they have plans to start potty training...great if it works but I'm not getting my hopes up :)

I could just tell that he was happy and had enjoyed those two hours as much as I had.  I felt much less guilty looking at his cute little smile.

When we got home I wanted to take a picture of him by the front door with his backpack like I do with all the other kids on their first day...one more thing that got neglected in our frantic morning.

This was his reaction:

He usually likes getting his picture taken but he would not cooperate in the least at that critical moment.

Grandma got him laughing though so, though it's not the traditional "first day" pose, I did get a cute shot or two.

He loves his backpack and wears it all around the house.  He points to his back to let us know he wants it put on.  It's adorable!

Since it was such a good experience for both of us I'm thinking of talking to the teacher about having him attend two days a week instead of the originally planned one for the summer :)

Thing #4

Abby and one of her cousins are pen pals for the summer.

It's cute to read their letters back and forth.  In the last letter, Abby's cousin told her that she was as cute as a rainbow!  I thought that was the cutest thing!

So this was Abby's reply...

"Thanks for saying that I'm as cute as a rainbow!!"

Love it!

Thing #5

I'm amazed at Ben's ability to put together all these beads.  He diligently works at it until they are all strung together...

then he takes them for a ride around the kitchen floor.

Cute! (notice the backpack)

Thing #6

Abby has become super helpful lately at feeding Ben.  Since I'm always fixing at least two separate meals she will often feed him while I get the rest of the family's food ready.

Ben doesn't seem to mind the transfer of responsibility much :)

Thing #7

We did something today that we haven't done in a long time.

We went to the park/zoo with Grandma O.

Always, the favorite thing is buying the food pellets and feeding the ducks and fish.

Note Ben's happy face.

The kids were quite excited when they saw a duck on the loose.

I thought these baby Emus were so cute.  They were quick little runners darting about everywhere.

Love it when I see things like this.

Always, we have to stop for a while at the playground.  I helped Ben up and down several different slides and the kids (Matt, Josh, Abby and our friends that happened to be there at the same time) fought to see who would catch him at the bottom.

Life is good :)