First Day of School 2009

Benjamin's first day of kindergarten and Danny's
first day of 2nd grade. Don't worry, Benjamin didn't wear the Indiana Jones outfit into the school - and he still survived! :)

Morning Benjaminisms

My darling baby boy, the sweet spot of my heart, has a "wonderful" habit of waking me up in the morning as if the night of sleep had just been an interruption of a very important sentence. Erin seems to think that this is because he usually falls down from exhaustion around dinner time, sometimes face first on the living room floor after 12 straight hours of sound and movement, and so he probably does think he was in the middle of saying something important and then....wow, how did it get to be morning?!
So, my wake-up call each morning is varied and different each day...sometimes aggravating, usually entertaining, always too early. This week, my favorite went like this...

(Darkness, quiet, 6:45am)

Benjamin: (loudly and with purpose opening our bedroom door) Where is it?
Me: zzzzzzz
Benjamin: Where is it?
Me: (muffled under covers) Where is what?
Benjamin: My diesel!
Me: (amazing myself with my powers of recall, obviously culled from years of this)
Daddy put it over there - you left it on our bed
Benjamin: (smiling) OH!
Benjamin for the next 5 minutes: CHOO CHOO!
Me: Benjamin, please be quiet
Me: BENJAMIN, BE QUIET
Me: BENJAMIN, PLEASE LET US SLEEP!
Benjamin: I want a corn dog

Arggghhhhhhhh......

He is SUCH a ladies man :)

My darling Benjamin always has a girlfriend or two...this is the latest, Maddie :)

My Deere Danny

I just had to put this on here for posterity :)

Spring Benjamism

Yesterday, spoken to a latent daffodil blossom under on of our trees:

"Come out! It is SO summer!!!"

Danny's "News-eum"

Next time you all come visit the sights in DC, please stop by our latest exhibit - Danny's
Bedroom Museum. A little eccentricity of our little genius, it is an exhibit of his truly
precious possessions and creations. He even had a sign with an arrow that he glued to the
doorway and a box with a slot - for donations, suggestions or tickets, I haven't a clue. But
we removed that - so come on down!

Surviving Thanksgiving

Well, things went better than expected and everyone was in one place and got fed - a plus for me at holidays! It was so nice to have all the kids (and EJ) here for Thanksgiving and see Diane's family for brunch before we left for Johnstown on Friday. My real holiday started when the dishes were washed, the house was clean and we were all packed in the car on the road to PA :)

Just hanging around

Even though I already sent this to everyone, I had to post this picture of Kelly rock climbing with her group at Lake Ruth somewhere around Utah. She is - and this picture is - just awesome....

How's everyone feeling?

Well, I got back from my second trip to the doctor's for Danny this week and got my results - Danny has strep throat. After his fever and rash last week, he was really getting worse and worse until he was begging to go to bed every night at 7pm and by Wednesday the lymph glands in his neck were the size of golf balls-literally. The quick strep test came back negative Wednesday, but the full culture came back today as positive - so I wanted to let you know to be on the lookout for fevers, rashes, sore throats and "golf ball neck". So sorry about this, everyone! We do always seem to bring some sort of illness with us when we come up to PA, don't we?! Well, the important thing is the Danny has been on antibiotics since Wednesday and is once again bouncing off the walls saying Mommymommymommymommymommy....oh, joy. Happy December! :)

Danny's idea of organization

After piling all his toys in a single "tornado" pile in the basement playroom, this was Danny's version of "cleaning up". Nice try - except that now Erin has no way to get into her room.

By the way, do you think the boys have enough toys - considering this is only ONE of the rooms of toys in the house? :)

Puckety Underpass

If someone can please explain this wording on an illuminated temporary highway sign we passed last night on our way back from Pittsburgh, please let me know. I'm assuming it's a Pennsylvania thing, but George is just as baffled as I am!

Just for the record, our family power chant, courtesy of life with Danny:

WE NEVER SLEEP!
WE NEVER STOP!
WE WON'T GIVE UP
UNTIL WE DROP!

DO SUMPIN' ELSE!
DO SUMPIN' ELSE!

The Daily Show

Conversations at our house:

Danny: Heymommyheymommyheymommyheymommyheymommy!
Me: Yes?
Danny: (long silence with scrunched up mouth)..ummm....
(Repeat this endlessly)

Me: Goodnight, Benjamin. I love you!
Ben: I.......love.......Toy Trains.....
Me: Yes, I know, dear. I love you, anyway!

Benjamin's favorite words: Yep. Nope. I....LOVE...TOY...TRAINS. Mommy. Baseballbat (this refers to a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. If you don't understand this, Google "peanut butter jelly time" to find his favorite dancing banana who sings this song :) He also has about a million other words now and can say anything!

Old McDonald had a cow...and a handy man

Darn these digital cameras - none of them has a shutter speed to beat the speed of my boys!

Happy Halloween!

Some songs say it all

https://home.comcast.net/~lvarga/onlinestorage/What_We_Gonna_Do.mp3

How did that train get in the picture again? THOMAS!!!

Well, here's another picture of our family - with adopted son Thomas the Tank Engine, of course! We surprised the boys with another trip to Strasburg, PA, for a "Day Out with Thomas" and had another great time. Both the boys loved it and Benjamin was in full "talking mode" and naming the train, tracks, signals, and everything the whole time we were there. It was so much fun! We plan to go back next year and stay at the "Red Caboose Motel" down the street from the Strasburg Railroad, where your room is a converted railroad car. The boys will love it!

Air Free Danny

Danny blissing out to "Veggie Tales" songs on my laptop.
Too bad the image he's so enthralled in is just the laser optic designs on my Media Player! And it keeps him busy for hours...hmmmm......should I worry?

Well, I'M counting it as his first sentence!

Here's darling Benjamin after his latest Mommy haircut...doesn't he look handsome? The only way I could get him to sit still long enough for a picture was to put on Sponge Bob Squarepants, so that explains the confused look on his face!

Anyway, today was a big day! While we were riding in the car, Danny said he needed more juice in his cup and Benjamin must have realized he wanted juice as well because he started looking around for it. When he couldn't find it, he said, "Cup...juice...mine?" I guess technically that's his first question, but I was so thrilled my little genius put 3 words together already. SO smart! :) Wait until he sees Thomas the Tank Engine in Strasburg on Sunday!!! Tee hee...

Isms for today

Dannyisms of the week:

Mommy:  Do you like tuna?
Danny: I don’t like two-nuts, I like peanuts!

Hey, I’m dot com-ming! (while trying to get his computer game to work)

Benja-minimalism:

     Train clock! (which we hear every hour when the train goes off!)

Back-ards (while walking backwards or pushing trains backwards – is he smart or WHAT?)

Oh, and by the way,

     Happy birthday, Maggie and evan!!

…and George has viral bronchitis and has been laid up for a week…just wanted to pass that along (

Crazy tired

Well, you'd never know it to look at this adorable two from pictures on Wednesday, but they are dead tired today. I think Danny is still catching up on some "healing" rest and recovering from starting school this week. Right now, he's just laying in bed watching TV and not in any hurry to go anywhere. Poor Benjamin is teething like crazy and cut two teeth this week (lower incisors I think - the ones next to the middle teeth that have been overdue to come in for almost a year!) Along with teething, or maybe because of it, he's got a killer diaper rash that is made worse because he's pooping 5 or 6 times a day. He comes running to me after he poops crying "boo-boo, boo-boo!", so I know it hurts so bad. I have been giving him baths to let him sit in the warm water and covering it with diaper cream, but haven't been able to stop it yet.

So - it's been an eventful week for the family in Ellicott City! Wish us luck!

Maybe it's time for Hines Ward to retire?

Well, believe it or not, this is Danny in an actual cast at 9:45pm Tuesday night. First day at school - fell off a pole at the playground. They sent him home with a bandaid since he didn't have any scratches....but after a 2 hour nap in the car while I carpooled around, he was in such pain from his "boo-boo" I took him to the Urgent Care center and - voila! - he has two buckle fractures in the distal radius and ulna (forearm bones). Unbelievable! We call the orthopedic guy tomorrow to get a real cast to replace this fiberglass one he got for tonight. Maybe football isn't his gig?