Apple Picking 2010

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fall has won over my heart.  I think it might just be my favorite time of year!

First Homework Assignment

Aly was assigned her first project of the school year this morning.  She got a blank crayon and had to decorate it to represent her family and her personality.  She was so excited to do it she could not wait until after I got home from school...so we started it while I was still on lunch and finished it as soon as I walked in the door from school tonight.  

She wrote her own name (twice actually), drew a picture of our family,(I love how  she is the tallest and Dan is the shortest), colored everywhere and covered it in Disney Princesses stickers.  She also had me draw a tennis ball and racket and write that she loves music and our dogs names.  They wanted us to put a picture of her at the top of the crayon, but she insisted we also put a picture of her and Hannah.  Here is the finished product:

And, because it is not due until next Monday, was completed 7 days early!!  I hope her enthusiasm for homework continues all the way through her school years!!

alySSa

Although she has know how to spell here name for some time, she would never attempt to write more than 'Al' or 'Aly' because she wasn't sure if she could make her S's right.  She is a perfectionist and has an acute fear of failure...I have no idea where she gets that from ;)  But, sometime in the last week Aly has realized that she can, in deed, make an 'S' and her confidence is soaring.  Now she is unstopable, writing her name on anything and everything.   Even though her lowercase A's look a little like uppercase Q's we are so proud of her!  A kindergarten teacher we know noticed her writing the page below at a YL dinner and praised her developing motor skills...

**P.S.  I am trying to get her to not make the little circle on top of her A's.  It all started because she ran out of practice pages in her writing book where they give you the letter to trace with a circle starting point, so I made up a few pages on my own for her to work on...now she thinks that you have to put that little starting point at the top of all the A's.  Go figure.

Bleeding Scarlet and Gray...

Gotta start 'em young to raise true fans...Go Bucks!!

Venus and Serena Have Nothing...

on Alyssa!!  She had been talking about it for months...and got a tennis racket for her birthday from Emily and Kevin, so I finally signed Aly up to take tennis lessons in New Albany.  She loves it!  She just goes once a week, but her class is really small so she gets a lot of attention each time.  The clinic is supposed to be for 3-5 year old kids, but she is the youngest and the only one who has not has previous tennis experience.  She is also the only girl.  Despite that, she has come a long way in just a few weeks and is getting pretty good!! 

Working on some shots:

 

Following through...start low and end high. 

She loves volleys, but can't quite figure out the foot work...

 

A high five from Coach Ryan!

 

Hannah is such a goof while Aly is practicing!  She will randomly run out on the court to tell Aly she loves her and loves to help pick up all the balls!  I think she will probably be playing with Aly next year.  Because, of course, she wants to be just like her big sister!  Maybe they can be doubles partners...

  

Hannah's ball collection.

Neither one of us ever played tennis, but we kind of hope Aly decides to stick with it.  It seems like a fun sport for her and she really seems to enjoy it!!  She is so stinkin' cute!

2,920 Days, and Counting

Last Tuesday, Dan and I celebrated our anniversary...eight years of marriage.  Most of you know that Dan and I went to high school together.  But, because the school was so large, we never actually met until our senior year at  Young Life Campaigners.  Almost 11 years ago exactly.  And, in all 11 of those years we have never been very 'good' at celebrating anniversaries...this one was no different.   

Wednesday our dryer stopped drying.  While I have wanted to get a new washer and dryer set since we moved, it was not on the list of 'must haves'.  A new couch, a deck, a trip to Disney and a new car all took priority over laundry.  But when the dryer stopped we had to readjust that list.  Of course we didn't have to get a new washer, but it hasn't been working that great either and after moving it found that it had been leaking.  So we thought we would stop at HH Greg to look around before going out on our date Friday night.  Little did we know it would take almost 2 hours...and I can think of a lot more I would rather do with $1,600!!!

We were so hungry by the time we left we couldn't decide what sounded good to eat so we looked at a few menus.  After deciding to go to Brio - our usual - we put our name on the list and sat on the benches to wait until our pager went off.  We waited a while and then went to see how much longer it would be because it was already 8:30 and our hopes of catching a movie was ruined.  The women, very rudely, told us they had paged us several times {No, she didn't...} but managed to find a table for us to sit at.  After sitting down we decided it was not what we wanted and took off for Bon Vie.  I know, we are the most indecisive people in the world!  Anyway, we should have just ditched it all and got a pizza or Chipotle because what we chose was not good and our server was less than attentive.  In fact, to top off the whole night, when it was time for her to bring us our bill she asked us if "it would be one check, or two"!! Really?!?! LOL! Apparently, we didn't look like a couple who has been married for 8 YEARS!! And, it is not that she thought we were so young because she didn't card me for my margarita...

While we were eating our mediocre dinner with non-existent service all we could do was laugh at the situation.  Dan asked me if I was disappointed in how the night played out...I said I wasn't, but there was a little part of me that was. So we started talking about how the movies portray this event. It's funny, because Hollywood makes you believe anniversaries should be the most important day of the year in a marriage.  With extravagant gifts, perfectly romantic candle lit dinners and exotic vacations.  As if, that single date is the litmus test of whether you love each other or not and is the deciding factor between happiness and divorce.  And if everything is not expertly planned and executed then it is a failure.  By this definition, I guess we fail.

What a lie.

An anniversary isn't just about that one day...it is about everyday.   Everyday is the most important...when you are in 'the trenches', living life together.  Good times and bad.  In sickness and in health.  That is why you can't base success on one romantic date.  A marriage is so much more than that.  And it isn't always perfect...or romantic.  Lucky for us ;)

That's why, even though nothing went like we had planned, it was still a great night.  We got to be together and celebrate all the days we have had over the last 8 years...all 2,920 of them.   

And, here are the gifts we bought each other...

Isn't that romantic?!?!?  Ahh, that's what marriage...and life...is all about.  Every single day.  And that, I think we are pretty good at.  I guess our romantic getaway to Bora Bora to stay in a floating cabana, on the crystal clear ocean will have to wait at least one more year...or 20.

In the mean time, we are going to have some really fun days, enjoying each other and the family we have created! I love you, Dan Bender!  Thank you for loving me everyday! ;)

Last 'First Day'

Today was Alyssa's last 'first day' of pre-school.   Despite what she told Emily a few weeks ago, she has been looking forward to this day for weeks!!  She has had her dress picked out at least two weeks and has asked me what her classroom looked like every 5 minutes since I met her teachers last week!  I took the morning off to go with her and got to take some really cute pictures.  Poor Hannah thought she was going to go to school too...talk about 'all dressed up and no where to go'! 

They were so excited!  Hugs and kisses for the first day of school:

Then, Hannah found out she was not going with Aly...she was not happy about that :(

A 'good luck' kiss...

Too cool to hold my hand or walk next to me...

 

Hard at work.

 

In front of the sign!  It's amazing to really see how much she has grown in a year.  Look at where her shoulders are in the picture from last year and then look at this...

Her teachers, Miss Lynne and Miss Sue, seem great!  I think it is going to be a really good year for her!  We are so proud of our little school girl!  I can not believe that at this time next year we will have a kindergartner...and it will be Hannah who is having her first day of pre-school.  Scary thought...poor teachers ;)  Where, oh where does the time go?!?!?  

Two for One

Teri and I have been best friends for almost 18 years.  The kind of friends who were always together, get mistaken for sisters, went on vacations with each others families and were each others maid and matron of honor.  We have been there for each other in some really hard times, have laughed until we cried and shared too many great times to count.   We didn't know what life was like without each other.  After we graduated high school our friendship started to evolve.  We were in different places in our lives.  Sometimes I wondered if we would always stay in touch, but somehow time has held us together.  And even though we went different colleges, have experienced many seasons of life apart and continue to live in different cities we can still get together and talk as though we haven't missed a beat. 

One things I was really looking forward to was experiencing motherhood together.  Last summer Teri finally joined me on that journey when Caleb was born.  I guess she felt like she needed to catch up because only a few moths after he was born she told me they were expecting again!!  I could not wait until she found out the sex.  I knew she was wanting another boy, but having two girls I was secretly (or maybe not so secretly) hoping for her to have one too. When she finally called to tell me I was not at all expecting to hear, "It's another boy...times two."

Twins. 

Due in August.  

One month after Caleb's first birthday.

Oh. My. Gosh.

I know all the things that went through my head in that moment so I can't begin to imagine what was going through hers.

As luck would have it, the twins were born when we were on vacation.  Then school started shortly after so we didn't get to go see them.  Finally, yesterday, we got to meet the twins and we got to spend some time catching up on life.    

They are beautiful and perfectly healthy.  The girls were so cute with them too! Hannah wasn't really sure what to think and Aly loved helping my feed them.  However, they both let us know they did not want one of their own :) It was surreal to see her with THREE babies and watch her balance them so skillfully.  She is such a great mom and has way more patience than I do!  Thankfully she also has an amazing, involved husband who loves her and doesn't just sit back while she does all the work!   

It was refreshing and exhausting all at the same time.  Unfortunately, we didn't take any pictures because we were to busy talking and feeding babies to do that...or even order pizza.  But, hopefully when they come up next weekend we can at least get together for a shot of us with our 5 CHILDREN!

Now that both of our families are complete, we talked about the future.  Hopefully that includes more time with our families together and some Bender-Petit vacations!  I am so thankful for our friendship and the time we got to spend together last night!  And, Teri, remember the house behind us (and beside us...and across the street from us) is not sold yet...

Sweet Compliment

Hannah loves her little princess dolls!  She takes their clothes off and carries them around with her all over the place.  Her favorites by far are Belle and Ariel.  In fact, she knows the  words to the entire Belle song from Beauty and the Beast.  I actually was able to secretly record her  singing it in the car, but I have to figure out how to download the video because it is too big to send via email.

Anyway, a few weeks ago Hannah was playing with her princesses under the kitchen table.  She was holding one in each hand and looking back and forth between them saying, in the sweetest voice, "I love your pony tail!"  It was so sweet, but then she saw us listening and the moment was over.