Benton's Birthday Party

Finally, 2 weeks later, I'm getting some pics up from Benton's birthday!
We went to Branson for the weekend, along with both sets of Benton's grandparents and his aunt Amanda and Uncle Isaac.

 On the train ride wearing his conductors hat

 Party time!

 Almost time for food!

 Cute decorations I ordered from "Parties by Hardie" Etsy shop

 The water bottles said "chugga-chugga" and the napkin rings said "chew-chew" :)

 Mazzios wins some sort of best pizza award from this family!

 The cake was AMAZNG! (It was strawberry and came from Sugar Leaf bakery)

 Loving having everyone sing to him

Finally into opening presents this year!

The "party" was a train ride through southern Missouri into Arkansas (since Benton is LOVING trains these days, as you all know) and then some pizza and cake back at the cabin. He loved every minute of it, as did all of us! But I still can't believe I have a two year old! He's growing up way too fast, I just want to hold onto every moment.

Today I just really, really, really, REALLY, really really really miss my husband. Like crazy. I really don't know how I'm going to get through 3 1/2 more months of this. Hey, at least I don't have to say 4 months anymore, right? Ugh, this is going to be the longest summer EVER! (And not in the way I used to dream about summers lasting forever)

Happy {Belated} Birthday, Benton!

I can't believe I'm the mother of a two year old! It makes me feel so...old! Benton had a WONDERFUL birthday and birthday party weekend, I'll post about that once I get the pictures on here. For now, here's what's been going on with Benton now that he's two:

Benton is ALL boy, through and through. He is definatly a little ornery (he get's that from his grandpas :) ), but mostly he LOVES to be silly. He has this deep belly laugh that melts my heart, it is just so sweet! Benton's favorite food these days is: cereal! I think he'd eat it every meal if I'd let him. The upside is that he's getting to be really good with grown up utensils.
Benton is learning new words almost daily it seems like. Most of them are what I lovingly like to call "Benton-isms," such as "Mimi" for Thomas the train, "Wee" for park/slide, and "Dee" for cookie. I have no clue how he comes up with them (well, I get the wee one) but I'm learning his language and trying to teach him ours. He knows all of his body parts and most of the animals. He really is a smart kid.
Benton's favorite toys are his Thomas trains, but Thomas books, movies, his Thomas tent, etc all come in at a close second. He also loves Buzz Lightyear a lot. My favorite thing is when Benton comes to me and gives me a big hug and kiss, without me even asking. It is the sweetest thing!
Benton is still a little small for his age, but I'm in no hurry for him to get big. Small is just fine with mommy! Most of his teeth are in and he LOVES to brush them with his Cars toothbrush.
Benton is loving getting to hang out with his Uncle "I" (as Benton calls him) while Chris is gone, but his face really lights up every time he hears his daddy on the phone or gets to talk to him on Skype. I can tell he misses him.
I adore every ounce of two year old Benton, and seeing him grow every day is the best part of being a mom.

Poor teens....

For all of you out there who haven't seen this yet:

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Yeah, becuase we are just THAT awesome :) Go ahead, be jealous of our awesome dance moves.

My partial facebook fast

Dear fellow facebookers:
While I seem addicted to loging on to facebook with you 3, 4, *cough* 27 *cough* times a day, I've decided enough is enough when it comes to this self destructive behavior. I'm breaking up with you, our facebook relationship must come to a close. It's not you, it's me. Maybe we can still see each other from time to time as friends.
Love,
Me

Okay, so I'm not totally giving up facebook altogether. I may still post a status from time to time, and I'll log on every so often if someone sends a message or an invite. Mostly I'm giving up the news feed, primarily because just about every time I log in it loves to flood me with reminders of how about 95% of my friends are pregnant and I'm still not. I know, I can't live in a bubble. But I also don't need to torture myself very time I have nothing better to do than see what every acquaintance I've ever known has been up to lately. So, I may be out of the loop next time you ask me if I heard the latest news or saw so-and-so's latest status. But I think this will be a good thing for me. Until I have some good news of my own, or I'm better at dealing with things,  you'll just have to tell me in person what you think of the weather or how your lunch with your mom was.

I left my heart in Oklahoma

Well, here we are: the first day of Chris living in Oklahoma and me being here. Last night, while I was doing some packing to head home and Chris was getting ready for his first full day of class I was doing great. I was pretty sure that he would be the one to really have trouble because he kept saying "It's going to be so weird coming home to an empty apartment." I kept reminding him of how much he can get done and enjoy quiet time, something that I now simply dream about. This morning as I was driving home, I kept thinking of how quick the next 4 months was going to go, and how I was looking forward to this weekend when we will see each other in Branson for Benton's 2nd birthday party (AHHH, I have so much to do still!!!) Mostly I was just feeling excited about everything.
Then I got home. Waterworks. It's just me and little B. For four months. How am I going to do this? How am I going to keep a "normal routine" for my two year old with all the craziness? How am I going to stay sane? And my house? Yikes, it's bound to soon become a dump.
The only upside right at this second? It's the 11th, which means we only have 3 months and 30 days to go.

Oklahoma City, here we are!

Well, we made it down to OKC without a hitch.

Oh yeah, except for the fact that I've been bedridden for 3 days with the stomach flu.

Oh, and that Chris's classes are on hold while we wait for the government to decide wheter or not its going to shut down tonight.

And that this apartment seriously has a funky odor to it.

Otherwise, life in OKC is just dandy :)