Hi gang. This is Jake. I just wanted to brighten your Holiday spirits by providing this little video. Mason can be so cute sometimes he just makes me laugh out loud. When I laugh, he laughs back and says "money" (his version of funny).

I don't even know where he is picking up all these words now. Often Steph and I will look to each other as if to ask, "did you teach him that?" So far it has never been a bad word but some words seem a bit rare for him to just learn on his own.

I am trying to teach him ornament now. He says "nunamimn". Oh yes and poinsettia too. There are no letter to describe the word he states back to me for that one. We will keep trying.

Mason is much more interested in snow now. We went out and shoveled the walk together. Well, I shoveled and he ran into the garage and got a broom. He then pushed it all over the snow in the driveway. Then he jumped in the slush and got all wet. We made snowballs and threw them till our hands were cold (translation: My hands were cold).

He seems to be waking up every morning saying "Kuhlure" (Color) like a million times in a row. It would seem that he wants to color with markers and crayons every waking moment and probably every sleeping moment as well. He really likes it when I take his hand, put a crayon in it, and help him draw something like letters, shapes or numbers. We keep a very close eye on him when he has his coloring stuff. He will try to hide it because he wants desperately to color on the walls but he can never do it while we around. He is very forward thinking. He plots. That is scary. :( He thinks about 3-6 hours ahead for now but soon it might be days in advance. I don't know if I can keep up with that.

Thats all for now. I hope everyone has a fantastic Holiday.

Peace

Fun with Dad

Every year Jake gets Omaha Steaks for his birthday and every year he gets ridiculous amounts of joy out of filling the kitchen with the "smoke" that dry ice emits when in water. This year he got to share this pleasure with his son and found out that this already enjoyable adventure is made even more enjoyable and funny when you add a 1 year old. Mason loved every second of it until the end when he started yelling "Eye! Eye!" That's when we wondered if maybe having him a foot from the dry ice might be a bad idea. Not to worry though, we did what all good parents would do. We backed him up a little.

Is it too late for a Thanksgiving post?

Our Thanksgiving was awesome this year. We only had to drive 8 miles, I only had to make deviled eggs, and the company was great. Favorite cousin in the world hosted it at her house and we had a small group of our two families and our parents. She posted pics of the festivities here.
Mad props to Jen for pulling off a beautifully decorated and tasty meal.

The day after Thanksgiving also happened to be Jake's birthday. We sure did celebrate it this year! Yep, we got up and went shopping at home decor places and then we hit a matinee of Twilight, which he loved even more than shopping. To assert his masculinity he chose Outback Steakhouse for his birthday meal. We watched Boise State finish a perfect season and then went home to fresh apple pie.

On Saturday we went downtown to Festival of Trees, which Mason really enjoyed. Since I canceled Christmas last year he really hasn't seen many decorated trees so he was pretty impressed. I will say that we have put our own tree up this year and aside from the initial fascination, he has left the ornaments alone.

It seems like December is just flying by. It's always hectic for us at the end of a semester because Jake has to study more than usual but he does have the encouragement of this being his last semester in a very long time to get him through. 2 more weeks!

I can't get pictures to load and Jake has gone to bed so it looks like this will be a photoless post.

Haircut

I decided we should get Mason's pictures professionally done again since he is the big one and one half. Convincing Jake that this would be a good idea was a little more difficult than I expected. If you'll recall we had a ridiculous time trying to get him to stay still for his one year pictures and Jake wasn't looking forward to the workout. I had a great coupon for Kiddie Kandids so we took a little trip to the mall. I had never been to this particular Kiddie Kandids and let me just say it sure does help to have a photographer who at least pretends to like kids. She had Mason laughing so hard that we actually had to wait for him to calm down a bit to get a picture because he would throw his head back and laugh so hard he just looked crazy.

One problem I had was his hair, I can't believe how fast it grows and that I now have to budget 2 boys' haircuts every month. I would love to just buzz it, but all stylists I have consulted with say that might not be such a good idea. Plus he's a little scared of clippers and I try to minimize things that traumatize him. So right after we got these pictures taken I got him an appointment for a haircut. I called Jake and said "Mason has a haircut at 6:30 tonight". Jake says "Uh, no, he won't be able to get his hair cut this evening". I say "Why?" Jake says "Well, because he climbed on top of his changing table and got the Vaseline". It should be known that the Vaseline jar was of the industrial Costco size and he managed to get more than half of it out and onto his body, his hair, his changing table, the carpet, his clothes...

When Jake found him in his bedroom he stood in the doorway stunned at what he was looking at, never saying a word. Mason immediately started crying and handed the Vaseline to Jake. He's a very sensitive boy. I'm pretty sure he would have a complete breakdown if we ever raised our voices at him.

I googled "Vaseline in baby hair" and saw that baking soda and dish soap were the preferred methods of removal. Back into the bath he went (Jake had already given him 2) where Jake made a nice baking soda paste on his head. No dice. At this point I came home and had to take him to get his hair cut. I tried to rationalize that it didn't look that bad but secretly he looked like John Travolta in Grease. The stylist said "Oh did you just wash his hair?" Uh no, it's actually dry with a whole lot of Vaseline in it. She said we should have used dish soap. I will file that tip away for next time. Anyway, she cut most of it out and now he looks like a clean cut little boy, albeit a naughty one.

Such A Clever Boy

Hello everyone, Jake here. I have noticed that Mason is growing up so fast that it takes several videos to show it all. He is speaking more these days. He said to me today, "stinky" and then promptly pointed to his bum. He was very... VERY correct. It was the first time he had ever said "stinky" but he used it correctly when he did choose to say it. That is how most every word goes. It feels like he is listening to get the meaning of a word before he try's to say it out loud.

This seems backwards to me. It seems logical to say the word when you hear it over and over; this lets you get comfortable sounding it out before you try to use it. This just isn't Mason's style.

He is very contemplative. He is thinking all the time. When he sees new people he will look them up and down and not make a sound, just looks them up and down. Then he usually decides to go do something else or play with this new person. I think it might be weird to be on the receiving end of that kind of scrutiny. Once, at a restaurant, he did it to the waitress. It looks exactly like some creepy guy leering at a pretty girl. It was funny.

We will tell him to do stuff and he will pause and just look at you. Then, off he goes to do what you told him. I would say he successfully completes tasks given to him 60% of the time. Well, unless you tell him to throw something away, then it is 100% successful. Conversely, if you ask him to pick up the flashlight and bring it to you, it is 0% successful. I think he just does not want to go get it. He can be stubborn that one.

He is clever to the point of shocking me. He is now showing problem solving skills that are awesome to behold. I don't know if this is normal for 18 month old babies but I think it is pretty advanced stuff. Watch the video and judge for yourself. He gets into things that I would have thought impossible before I witnessed it first hand.

We have to take extra precautions with the treadmill now. You'll see why.

Happy 1.5 Bobo!

You can click on the picture to make it bigger. I would also like to add that his word list is not all inclusive but we had to cut a few out to fit on the page. Jake and I collaborated on this little digital scrapbook page and I must say that he is definitely the more artistic of the two of us. I just kept saying "Symmetry Symmetry Symmetry!" Anyway, I think it will perfectly memorialize Mason at 18 months. Enjoy!

Halloween... 2nd Post!

Hello everyone. This is Jake. I am posting the video of Mason's Halloween. Great stuff.

Halloween

It's no secret that I am no lover of Halloween. I don't even like the word, ever since I was knocked out of my second grade spelling bee for not capitalizing it. But I digress...

Having Mason makes every holiday exponentially better. Especially since he is ridiculously cute and very communicative. He was actually excited to get in his little turtle costume this year. In fact, he's still wearing the little feet because I can't get him to take them off. We weren't sure how the whole trick or treating thing would go so we decided to just take him to a few of the neighbor's houses and see. The first house we went to he just ran right up to the door and knocked on it while saying "knock knock". The dad came out and put a huge bowl of candy in front of Mason and told him to take a piece. While hesitant at first, he took a sucker and put it in his pumpkin. He then wandered around their porch for a good 5 minutes before we got him to go to another house. The next house gave him several pieces of candy so as soon as he got out on to the sidewalk he took it all out and handed it to me. Such a good boy. We went to one more house and called it a night.

We came home and handed out candy to the trick or treaters, which Mason loved. He would put a sucker into their little bags and then shout unintelligible baby speak at them as they walked away. One time a big kid in a scary mask came and Mason tried to shut the door while I was giving him candy. When he couldn't get the door shut he ran to the kitchen and shouted "No No!" while pointing at the door.

Last weekend Mason and Jake carved the pumpkin, which basically consisted of Jake carving the pumpkin and Mason eating the guts. It was both disgusting and heart warming.

I had to go to New Mexico for work a couple of weeks ago and all three of Mason's babysitters happened to be unavailable so we put him in a day care center for the day. I was worried that he wouldn't be good/miss us terribly/think we abandoned him. We had already visited the center once before we took him there because I couldn't just drop him off at a place I had never seen. Anyway, his teacher called me that morning to tell me that Mason is a very cute and well behaved little boy and he is having a lot of fun. I called after lunch to see how he was doing and he was taking his second (what?!) nap of the day and had just finished arts and crafts. When I got home that evening he gave me my very first (of many, I'm sure) art project, which was a pumpkin plate he had finger painted and colored. What did I do? I cried, naturally, and then I told Jake "I don't care what I said before, I am keeping every single thing he ever makes me!" I really don't think my heart could be any more full of love for that little boy.

Just a Random Day

Sometimes I think that we are only supposed to put funny, weird or meaningful videos on the blog. This time, I would like to present a snapshot of a regular day. It is just Mason doing Mason things. It is a random day in the life, so to speak. After editing this, and seeing him exploring his world, I appreciate him so much for who he is. I can't imagine my life without him. He is so very dear to me.

A Time For Joy And For Laughter

Well, it is time again for a video post. This is where I say, "here, have a video", and quickly excuse myself so I don't have to type anything of substance. You know, blogaphobia and all that.

This is Mason mowing the lawn and playing with dad and something special at the end...

Livin' in the Wild Wild West

We celebrated our 4th anniversary earlier this month and in keeping with our tradition of going someplace in Idaho for our weekend getaway, we chose lovely Coeur d' alene (I feel sorry for anyone who has to spell that on a regular basis, I have to look it up every single time). Anywho, we flew into Spokane and visited the site of the 1976 World's Fair, which is now a lovely park. Interestingly enough, this is also where my parents honeymooned. We headed over to Idaho and spent a lovely and relaxing weekend by the lake. Four years we have vacationed in our own state and every year we have been amazed at the beauty of where we live. It also helps that it's October, when the leaves are changing and it's not super hot.

Special thanks to Jen and the gang for keeping "May May" for the weekend. It's so nice to not worry a second about our baby because he is with his second family.

Speaking of baby, Mason is making serious strides every week. I made the mistake of letting him stand on a chair while I made cheesecake the other day. This gave him the idea that if he pulls a chair over to the counters he can get on them and make his own special messes. Jake has now tied all the chairs to the kitchen table. He is saying lots of words and now says please when he wants something. He even strung some words together this weekend in Park City when he was scared by a Halloween decoration. He said "no more pease!" So cute.

Blog Block

For some reason I have had a real aversion to blogging lately. Not just blogging, the computer in general. It's not that nothing is happening, a lot is going on at the Bennett house right now. Mason is getting more mischievous by the day. What used to be an accidental opening of a door is now very deliberate. His independence has also been declared so it takes a very long time to get things done, like dressing or eating a meal. It is so fun to watch him discover things though and we are enjoying every second of our time together. Since it's been snowing and in the thirties here we decided to post some summer fun, which was actually filmed about 3 weeks ago.

To market, to market

Mason and I have been going to the Farmer's Market on Saturday mornings and it is fast becoming a favorite activity for both of us. Mason is very content in his stroller, except for when we pass a booth that is playing music. Then he simply must get out and dance. When he is done he climbs back into his stroller and we continue. We go early in the morning, before breakfast, and fill up on samples. Last week the two things Mason just could not get enough of was the elk meat and tiny sweet tomatoes. I ended up having to buy a bag of those as he would not leave the sample lady alone. He has been eating fresh tomatoes and cheese curds all weekend.

In other news, we got our absentee ballots in the mail a couple of weeks ago. Jake says he could vote right now and be done with it. I think it is crazy to vote a month before the election but I also have no idea who to vote for.

That's all for now.

A Wonderful Weekend

We were in Phoenix this past weekend to see Kyle and Sarah get married. I had been worrying about the plane ride all week and was advised to give Mason some Benadryl for the ride. I could not, in good conscience, give my child medicine for no reason other than to make him sleep so I said "If he actually had some symptoms I wouldn't hesitate to give him something, but as long as he's healthy we'll just have to deal with him". Somebody was listening as Wednesday morning he woke up congested. Now I would never openly delight in my child being ill, but I have to say I said a little thank you under my breath. Strangely enough I still didn't want to give him any medicine so we just gave him a half dose. Big mistake. It kept him right at that "I'm so tired but I am going to fight sleep" stage the entire trip. When we went to sit down and the man in our row saw we had a baby, who was screaming already, he jumped up and said "I'll find somewhere else to sit so you guys can have the whole row". That was nice as he just went between both of us and really didn't scream much at all. He did have everyone within earshot laughing though when he said "Mommy?" at least fifty times in a row. He sounded like a broken record, albeit a darling one.

Friday was the rehearsal and we got a first glimpse of just how hot it would be on the rooftop. Mason was very happy to have the flower girl pull him down the aisle so we figured that was how it would go on Saturday. Not so much. He was having a rough teething day and was only not crying when someone was holding him, preferably Jake or I. He also did not want to wear his tux jacket. As we were waiting in the wings I tried to put it on him and he stepped back and tripped over a ladder and hit his head. We managed to get him to stop crying and got most of the dirt off of him but there was no way he was going to walk down the aisle. We convinced him to walk in between us while holding our hands. We were told our little family was darling and I will post some pics as soon as we have access to some.

The wedding was very beautiful, despite it being over 100 degrees. Kyle and Sarah read letters they had written to each other and took time out of the ceremony to thank their parents, which I thought was a nice touch. We had a very nice dinner afterwards and then we danced. We even managed to get my parents out on the dance floor! Special thanks to Cam and his friend Josie who came to the hotel and watched Mason for a couple of hours while we were at the reception. We put Mason's bed in the bathroom and when we came to pick him up Cam said "We heard some knocking noises and realized he was hitting his head on the bathtub, so we moved his bed". Sure enough, he has a nice bump on his forehead in a red honeycomb pattern because of his bed.

We came home yesterday and since Mason had a very runny nose and coughed in the night I felt ok giving him Benadryl once again. Only this time I gave him the full dose. He screamed twice, grabbed his blanket and then proceeded to sleep the entire flight! So...I may have to rethink the whole "must have symptoms before medicating" theory. As a side bonus, it also cleared up that runny nose and cough. How great is that?

All in all it was a very hectic but fun weekend and now Kyle and Sarah are in Cancun enjoying their honeymoon. If I were them I seriously would have wanted a nice cruise through the polar ice cap or a trip to Antartica, but whatever.

I will post many pictures as soon as I get them, stay tuned.

Hot fun in the Summertime

Alright, I know it has been an extremely long time since we have posted anything of real substance, though we have enjoyed the politics of the previous post immensely. This really has been a crazy summer for us and won't slow down until we return from Phoenix this coming weekend where we will be attending, and participating in, Kyle and Sarah's wedding. We spent Labor Day weekend in Bear Lake where they had an open house in my parent's beautiful back yard. We spent Friday at the lake in 90 degree weather and Monday morning in the snow. Sarah loved the snow, as she had never seen it actually fall out of the sky. Mason? Not so much. I, of course, had only packed him summer outfits and it was in the 30's and snowing so my dear mother broke out a Christmas outfit with bears and red and green trees on it so he wouldn't freeze.

Jake started another semester and it's always hectic around here at the beginning and end of every semester. We juggle around babysitters and schedules until we have the perfectly planned week, and then we hope nothing comes up to screw it all up. This semester my job has allowed me to go to a 4 day work week, giving me Mondays off. I was super excited to spend the whole day with Mason and we had so much fun. We went to the park, the gym, swimming, and over to Jen's house to hang with the kids. I was so tired at the end of the day I seriously asked myself how stay at home moms do it. The last time I stayed home with him was when he was 0-6 months. He's a little different now. But I can't wait to have those days for just me and my boy.

Speaking of the boy, and of speaking, Mason literally started to talk overnight. Last night, actually. He's always said a few words but I was getting worried because he really only said about 10 words (which I guess is normal, but I compare him to his friend Jack, who talks like a 5 year old). Anyway, this morning he woke up and asked for a banana, which he does every morning, incessantly, and then he said "cracker". Throughout the day he said socks, shoes, pooh (as in Winnie the), book, please, bottle, car and several others that I don't recall. Apparently he's been storing these away and decided today was the day to break them out. So, needless to say, he's progressing nicely and still the cutest thing we have ever seen.

Since we have so many photos from the summer, we decided a slide show was in order. Enjoy!

Rockin' the Vote

A Different Kind of Post

I have been mentally adding up the things I would like to teach Mason as he grows up. I was cataloging them all in my memory, storing them away until I got to a computer where I would unload them in to a single document. I had come across many ideas and many action items. Ideas that were profound and poignant. Even the most common of activities would spark an idea that I would want to teach Mason.

Sadly, if any of you know how poorly my mind works when used as a notepad, you will know that it was lost moments after “cataloging” it. So time goes on, and ideas are born and lost in the Bermuda Triangle that is my mind. It is likely that these lost ideas were so thoroughly misplaced, it was like they never happened at all, causing them to go full circle, becoming reborn as original thoughts later. It was like adding a book randomly to a library but never writing down where you put it.

The solution was to give the ideas to someone else and have that person catalog them. Well this would be great if I hadn't already forgotten all of my great epiphanies by that time. So, I had to enlist my friends help for more than cataloging. He also had a list that he had been adding to over the years. It was nothing huge, but it was a starting point. So I asked if I could collaborate with him on his list to make it more robust and to one day make it my own. While we were able to agree on many items outright, people’s personalities and the way they perceive their reality diverges at some point. So the list split into two lists. Each of us adding things we held important to us, comparing it to the other list and talking about the changes for hours.

I am writing this post because it became obvious that we had a greater resource than just the two of us. We had you, the reader of this blog. I submit to you the list and I make a request. If you think we are missing something, make a comment. If you think we need to reword something, make a comment. If you think we are way off base, make a comment. If you agree completely with something, make a comment. There are two lists so I will be providing another blog address in this post. The second list is here or at least it will be shortly. It resides on my friend Cody's blog.


Without further ado:

Things I would like to teach my kids in no particular order:

Leave things better than when you've found it. Even the smallest improvement is enough.

Balance - Everything in moderation.

Who you are being will speak louder than anything you could ever say.

Keep your word, especially to yourself.

Suffering is optional. You are in charge of your own state of mind.

Reality is merely perception, and you're responsible for what meaning you give your perceptions.

Your words have power. People perceive what you are saying now, from what you've said in the past.

If something seems impossible, you just haven't discovered the first and often the simplest step.

Apologize like an adult. Recount your mistake aloud, address the offended’s feelings and give your word that this mistake will never happen again.

You play a part in everything you experience. Good or bad, it is your responsibility for that experience.

Choose your habits wisely or they will dominate your actions.

Build a habit of evaluating new information, confirm it against things you already accept as fact. Do not be afraid to question what you hold to be truth.

Take care the lives that are entrusted to you. Recklessness at the expense of another’s safety is unacceptable.

Nobody's perfect - What's important is to recognize our shortcomings. Do not hide them from yourself out of shame or embarrassment. Be able to talk about them to at least one person close to you.

Let others make their choices and if that choice is wrong, be at peace and let it stay wrong.

Believe in people to be self-sufficient. Help only when it is requested or the situation demands it.

Distractions

I know it's been a while since I have blogged but various things, like the Olympics and a certain set of vampire books and the everloving cuteness of my baby boy have kept me otherwise occupied. We went from not watching one minute of television to watching 4 hours of it a night when the olympics started. Since we no longer have a DVR, we are forced to watch it in real time which is both suspenseful and a waste of precious time. Not to mention I am dog tired at work in the morning because I was up until nearly midnight the night before. I don't know how the people on the east coast do it! But seriously, is there any better reality tv than watching Michael Phelps? We have our first gold medalist here in Boise, a cyclist named Kristen Armstrong (no relation to Lance). One of my favorite parts of the local coverage about her was when the news asked a 7-year-old if he wanted to be an olympic athlete like Kristen and he said "Uh, that's a lot of hard work and I don't really think I am up for it." I hear ya kid.

And now, some pictures of Mason...

Here he is going to work

And here he is in cousin Syd's pajamas

His tongue is almost always out and to the side because he is now growing some eye teeth.

I forgot

I was not able to get videos to upload to our blog when we first started but I now have that ability. I only just remembered that none of you have ever seen Mason when he was one... day old. So here you go!

Exciting yes?

All because 2 people fell (and stayed) in love...

These are my grandparents Portela. I have way too many memories of them for this blog. Some highlights include fishing with my grandpa and having him say "Stephanie, keep your voice down, you're scaring all the fish away!" He has always had a secret, or not so secret, stash of candy. We will barely sit down to play cards and he'll get the one pound Hershey bar out of the drawer and plunk it in the middle of the table. He doesn't like to lose when playing cards, and he will bend the rules a bit to keep that from happening (though it rarely works against grandma). When we were in Vegas and I was under the legal age of gambling, he came to our hotel room door at 6:00 a.m. and yelled "Who wants to play the nickel slots?!" He would make sure I moved around a lot in the casino so as not to get caught. That rarely ever worked and I was kicked out of several casinos. If I recall, they were also kicked out for allowing me to gamble. He would take us grandkids up to the gas station and buy us lottery tickets. This is also the man who broke up with a boyfriend for me by saying within earshot of said boyfriend "Well shoot Steph, it's too bad there is no spark between you and Will and you are going to break up with him. He's a good lookin' kid." The look on Will's face when he came out of the bathroom Grandpa knew he was in...priceless. That was one awkward ride from Phoenix to San Diego.

On to my grandma...my earliest memories are of her saint like patience while trying to teach us to paint. I am no artist and was easily frustrated, but she would hold my hand and practically paint my picture for me. I cranked out some pretty amazing paintings. I have no idea why they are so similar to the paintings my cousins painted. When I had to stay with them when Tyson had cancer she would let me eat Lucky Charms and promised not to tell my mom. My grandma was the first person I told when I decided I wanted to find my birth mother. She was very understanding and interested in the process. She taught me how to play video poker, until we got kicked out. She didn't just hit the dollar once on the wheel on the Price is Right, she hit is twice. She taught me to pack snacks for later when visiting a buffet because when they say all you can eat, they don't give you a time frame for which to eat all you can. She taught Jake how to play hand and foot and I can hardly beat him. She says words like "Gadfree and Skaliwag". She is the leader of our family "ya ya" sisterhood and still says things like "I would be nothing without your grandpa".

We recently went to Bear Lake to celebrate their 60th wedding anniversary. It was the first time in many, many years that the whole family came together. I do find it mind boggling that from these two people who made the choice to get married 60 long years ago came 5 children, 15 grandchildren and 5 great grandchildren. Add in all the spouses and that's a whole lot of people. Doyle and Helen know how to have fun, love with everything that they are, and will forever be my heroes.

She's so easy!

It is Stephanie’s birthday and this is a special occasion. I just wanted to say it has been a great birthday so far. First, Steph did not want a gift. This was weird at first and I can’t help but ask about it again and again. Then, the night before she says, “cards are nice. I like cards. I better be getting a card for my birthday”. I am now thinking of places that are open at midnight that sell cards. I guess I will have to slip out of bed and… whatever, I fell asleep. Morning comes and I have temporarily forgotten it is her birthday. I sleep in until 9am. I get up and Mason has been playing non-stop with mom for hours. I could tell she was very happy. It occurs to me as I am getting some breakfast (cereal), that it is the big day. I remember that she wanted me to make her breakfast. Hmmm, this could be dicey. If she has already eaten her breakfast and I bring it up, I could be in for an earful so I brace myself and ask her what she would like for breakfast. She tells me in a super sweet voice she would like an Muff McEggin. No sweat. I crank that out and next is the odd request of… cleaning. Yes, that’s right, she would like me to help her clean the bathroom and bedroom. This is all so, um, odd. Whatever, it is her birthday. I clean the tub, shower, launder/fold/hang cloths etc… All the while I told her I was on diaper patrol. I keep Mason clean and fresh while we clean and then later while she plays with him till noon. Then she wants to take a nap. I put her to bed with a kiss and I play (quietly) with Mason until his nap-time at 1:30. When he goes down, I get on the computer and I make a custom card via Photoshop. When she wakes up she gets her card and cries a little. Just another Sunday really. Nothing new at all. I am pretty sure I have the lowest maintenance wife on earth. I love her so much and it is a joy to be with her and Mason both.

Random Update Time!

We recently got Mason a little picnic table which he helped Jake put together. We have kept it in the house and he will push it around, with a fair amount of grunting, to a particular place in the house that he can't access because of his height. He has definitely spent the majority of his time on top of his new table. It's actually quite amusing to see him problem solve, though I think we are two shakes away from a disaster.

What else? We took Mason to get his 1 year photos this past weekend. That went the opposite of well. He was only interested in the camera and the various objects in the room that had nothing to do with getting a good photo of him. Jake and I were sweating at the end of the session, which was well over an hour. The results? About 4 good shots. I'll post them when they come in.

I guess that's about all for now, we're all just plugging along!

WANTED

Any information leading to the positive identification of the person (it appears to be the hand of a man) who gave my child some ice cream sandwich on June 30, 2008. I know there were plenty of witnesses at this particular pool party in Utah, and I'm pretty sure the photographer was my mother, though she will give no clues as to the perpetrator who is trying to introduce my child to the delight which is sugar.

"Grandma, please don't take a picture, my mom is going to be mad! Oh, and I don't like chocolate on my face."

So UnAmerican

We got our boy back last Wednesday and although he screamed (not cried, mind you, screamed) most of the two hour ride home, I didn't care one bit. Jake, on the other hand, tore up an entire paper towel and stuffed it in his ears "to take the edge off".

My friend Erin has come up over the 4th of July 3 years in a row now, and this year she got the pleasure of giving Mason a haircut. He has desperately needed one as we was sporting a mullet in the back, but I wanted to wait for Erin to do it. She did a fantastic job and actually cut herself because Mason was constantly turning his head to see the scissors. He looks like a little boy now and I am coming to terms with the fact that he is more toddler than baby.

I didn't feel like trekking downtown for the fireworks this year. They don't start until 10:30 because it's still light at 10, which means we would have to wake up Mason and roll the dice on whether he would enjoy the fireworks or make us regret ever waking him up. Our neighborhood was having a block party and when Erin and I returned from dinner the entire neighborhood was at the house across the street from ours. I had forgotten about it completely and didn't really want to party with the neighbors anyway. As a side note, we are known as the "antisocial Bennetts" because we spend a lot of time inside our house or in our back yard as opposed to our front. It should also be noted that almost every one of our neighbors has children between the ages of 4 and 8, which means they are always outside with their kids.

Yeah, so, as we pulled up around 7:00 my neighbor said "Hey you guys, come on over!" I waved from the garage and then put the garage door down. We never left the house again that night. Everyone pooled their fireworks and I was annoyed by the sounds of them for over 90 minutes. My disdain for home fireworks is another blog entry entirely. The next morning Jake was out front and one of the kids said "Why don't you guys celebrate the 4th of July?" Jake told him that we do celebrate it, just in a different way, inside our house. Later the same day, the 4 year old neighbor girl said to me as I was getting the mail "My brother says you don't believe in the 4th of July, don't you love America?" Ok, so I think it's safe to say that we've taken anti-social to a whole new level.

I miss my boy...

Last week my mom came up to help take care of Mason while I had my third and final kidney surgery. Yippee to that! While she was here we took Mason to the zoo, which he loved when he could actually see an animal. He also got to hang out in his pool and we went to a Luau on Friday night, where he discovered the sand box and spent most of his time.

My mom offered to take him back to Montpelier with him for the week since his babysitter is in Hawaii and though I initially said no, I finally caved and said that she could take him. I thought of all the things we could get done and all the fun we would have being baby free. Well let's just say I shed more than a few tears on more than one occasion on Saturday and Sunday. The house is so quiet! And although I enjoyed reading the Sunday paper in 30 minutes without it being ripped out of my hands and torn to pieces, I just want my monkey back. I had no idea it would be this difficult to not have him around. We pick him up on Wednesday, so I think I'll survive.

I was tagged a while ago by my cousin and never posted so here are the answers to her tagging...

List 3 joys, 3 fears, 3 goals, , 3 random surprising facts about yourself.

3 Joys

1. Spending time with Jake and Mason. No other joys even come close to this one. I don't care what we're doing, I just love doing it with them.

2. Working. I occasionally feel guilty about this one, but I do like my job and I enjoy using my adult, educated brain.

3. Going out to eat. I like when someone else cooks me a really good meal. I especially like going out with girl friends that I haven't seen in a while because then I get good food and good conversation.

3 Fears

1. Mason getting seriously hurt.
2. Losing my job.

3. Hydroplaning/sliding on ice to my death.

3 Goals

1. Be completely debt free by the time we're 40. That's everything, mortgage, student loans, etc.

2. Be a size 8 or 10. This has probably been a goal since I was 16, but one day I'm going to make it happen. You'll see!

3. Spending at least a summer, and possibly 6 months, traveling the world with our children when they are preteens. I would like to focus on the humanitarian side of things, visiting some third world countries helping the less fortunate. I would also like to visit some of the true wonders as well.

3 current obsessions/collections

1. Spending the least amount of money possible, which means I spend about 2-3 hours a week finding sales, coupons, etc.

2. Being the high scorer on the Wii bowling and WiiFit games.

3. Carmex and mini charleston chews.

3 random surprising facts about yourself

1. I love to make garbage. I get a rush when the milk is gone or a box of cereal runs out because then I get to throw out the empty container. I spend serious time on the weekend combining almost empty containers of things or going around the house looking for stuff to throw away. Love love love it.

2. I am an excellent shooter and really like to shoot guns. When Jake and I used to go to the range, I would smoke all of the other guys there. I graduated number one in my FBI firearms class during private investigation school, which consisted of 10 men and one other girl.

3. My favorite television show of all time is Deadliest Catch. I've seen every episode at least twice and actually caught a marathon while I was in labor with Mason.

Video Stuff Again

This is kind of old but we dug it up and are posting it for all to enjoy!

Couple of Things

You know the saying (or the Cinderella song) "Don't know what you got 'til it's gone"? Yes well, I have experienced this phenomenon with tomatoes. While I appreciate that every store and restaurant is removing them from shelves because they don't want to be liable for the Salmonella poisoning I may get, I really, really miss tomatoes. Now I can still buy them on the vine at the store, but no restaurant is serving them. I have discovered that I don't like salad without tomatoes and this evening I ordered a BLT and when I remembered that tomatoes were not an option and told the sandwich maker that I would like to change my order he said that it was too late. So I had bacon and lettuce on bread because I like a good juicy tomato instead of any kind of sauce. Please bring back my tomatoes, preferably Salmonella free.

A couple of months ago Jake said he wanted a PlayStation 3. I said he would have to sell his worldly possessions because that was definitely not in the budget this year. So, he sold his gun and PlayStation 2 and proudly reported that while he had enough money to buy the PlayStation 3, he would rather buy a Wii. So that's what we set out to do last Wednesday. We wanted a Wii and a WiiFit, which are not so easy to come by. Many thanks to Joe, who called every place within 20 miles of our house. We actually saw an area we had never seen before, downtown Nampa, when on our quest. Anyway, I'm not sure how we lived without a Wii, and more specifically the WiiFit. It's fun and exercise. What?! I always thought those terms were mutually exclusive. I honestly never thought a little gaming unit could be so fun. We actually haven't watched TV since we bought it and anxiously look forward to putting Mason to bed so we can get some solid Wii action. I highly recommend this device to just about everybody.

Oregon Wrapup

As promised, here are some photos from our recent week long trip to the Oregon Coast. Mason had so many firsts on this trip. First time swimming in a pool, first carousel, first time swimming in the ocean, first time piloting a Coast Guard Cutter, to name a few. He absolutely loved the ocean, every part of it: the sand, the waves, the shells, the water. He was so cold and yet would not stop running full speed into the waves. He didn't even care when they washed over him. We may have left him in just a hair too long though because as we were walking up to the beach with him naked and bundled in towels he looked to the sky and said "doggy! doggy! doggy! doggy? doggy!" He must have said it at least a hundred times and didn't stop until he was lying in a warm bath. We both just looked at each other and decided that we would pull him out of the ocean before he lost color in his face and his lips turned blue. Give us a break, we're new at this.

Anyway, although it was cold and rainy most of the time there were a lot of cool things to see on the coast, my favorite being the Tillamook Cheese Factory. There is an observation deck where you can watch 40 pound bricks of cheese being cut and packaged, really quite fascinating.

We really appreciate Grandma and Grandpa Portela for taking us all on this wonderful vacation.