Happy Birthday to YOU!

I feel like I am always starting out my blog entries with "It's been really crazy this week." But....it has been really crazy this week! The kids are I are knee-deep involved in "Discovery Days" at our church, kinda like vacation bible school, and we are loving it! The kids, the volunteers, the love for God...it's been an amazing week. Jesus wants us to have child-like faith and where better to learn that then by surrounding yourself with 64kids for a week!

Before all the craziness started with did have time to have a backyard BBQ for my mom's birthday. We had a beautiful day to be outside and also pose for special pictures like this one of Nana and Bumpa with their girls :)

The boys took time to decorate the cake and the house for Grandma Gail's special day.

This picture was classic because the boys beat Grandma to blowing out her candles.

So we had a re-do...or a take 2!

We tried (again) to get a family photo. Jacob will give you a wink and a nod anytime!

Zoo-tastic Time

Yesterday we spent the afternoon at the zoo with Grandma Gail, Auntie Bethie, and Cousin Izzy. We had a fun-tastic time!

The boys somehow got everything they asked for on this particular zoo trip. (It helps to have a gracious grandma and an awesome aunt along with us!) We enjoyed a train ride, soft pretzels, popcorn, and blue slushies all afternoon!

Of course we hit our favorite "hot spots" at the zoo. Tyler has to see the Bongo, Haley now likes to see the Monkeys, and Jacob always needs to visit the Tiger. (By the way, Jacob lost another tooth on the bottom!)

Every time we go to the zoo we see something that we haven't see before. Whether that be the strange/loud noise a zebra makes when he's mad or checking out the hyenas "off stage" in their cages, we always see something pretty cool at the zoo.

That being said...we didn't expect the Tiger to jump off the tree and fly through the air towards the glass window!!!! He also leaped out of his wading pool and came over to the window to shake off all his water onto the glass. The kids went wild!!!! Izzy jumped into Grandma's arms! Haley was frozen in fear and the boys cheered.

"Get in my belly!" "Yum....lunch!" .......said the tiger. The zoo keeper said they call the shelf the boys are sitting on "the buffet line."

Haley wanted to be right up there with the boys but would never, ever take her eyes off that cat.

Here are some relaxing times with the girls. Izzy watches everything that Haley does. Now that Izzy can crawl she likes to be right were the kids are.....in the middle of the action, so to speak.

In a sing-song high pitched voice..."I'm not in my stroller. Nah, nah, nah."

Check out Izzy's teeth!

She took her zoo trip in stride and loved every minute of it.

The boys enjoyed their spoils of blue slushies. Check out Jacob's rolled back eyes and Tyler rubbing his belly. Ummmm.

Bye for now! Have a great weekend!!!

Cleaning out the Clutter

The weather here has been very chilly lately. We found ourselves dressing for October temperatures in the middle of July. But we took advantage of this crazy cold weather to spend some time indoors cleaning. Now, the boys run in the opposite direction when I even mention the word but when I said that I wanted to clean out their toys, they were right there to help. Sort of. We (Brian and I) decided that we needed to downsize the collection of toys throughout the house. The boys (Tyler and Jacob) were not on board with this idea.

If you look closely there are 3 kids and a husband in this picture. All the kids thought it was great fun finding old toys and bringing them back to life (new batteries.) Even daddy put on the clown nose to boost everyone spirits.

Oh, here they all are! See the looks of excitement and fun! And their Grinch sized hearts when we told them we were donating their toys! Well ok...we are still working on the whole "giving with a gracious heart" concept.

The other exciting part of our weekend was when daddy caught two bunnies in his live traps. Those rascally rabbits will not eat our garden this year!

The three boys took the rabbits to a near-by park and released them into their new home.

Well, I am still overwhelmed with toys and clutter but after the 1st of many trips to Goodwill we will clear up some much needed extra space in this house!

Discovery

Life with a 2 year old girl has been a brand new experience for us. Haley has a humongous vocabulary and understands almost everything we say. That being said here is the conversation we had the other day....

"Mommy, I have boobies."

"See!"

Yep, I see them. Hee Hee.

"Boobies fall!"
Now that is something I know all about!

Life with a toddler with two older brothers is waaayyy too much fun!

Have a great weekend!

Nana Stacker

Well, sorry to say, but I am back to blogging. My humorous hubby did a wonderful job keeping up with the pictures while I was away. :) Haley and I just returned from a long weekend in Florida visiting Grandma Stacker or "Nana Stacker" is what Haley decided was her name (too cute!) My mom was also visiting but arrived a couple days before Haley and I blew in to shake things up in the retirement community!

The gangs all here, four generations of girls! I know that I will treasure this special photo. Haley really made herself well-known by sprinting up and down the halls, saying "Morning" to anyone who would listen, and racing into the elevators to push the buttons.

She drew lots of attention everywhere we went! Everyone would stop by to see the princess and talk with her. She found it interesting that there were lots of "Nana's" and "Bumpa's" all over the place!

Haley really took to Nana Stacker! She wasn't shy about giving hugs and kisses!

Everywhere we went Haley took her new pink purse with her. Stuffed with only things that she knows about, she shared them with Nana Stacker. Grandma Stacker just laughed every time we tried to take a picture...Haley ALWAYS says "Cheeeeessseee!" Then gives the camera the "scrunchy" face

On one cooler (89degrees) evening, Nana Stacker joined Haley and I at the pool. I snapped this great picture of my mother with her mother. Pretty neat, isn't it.

Haley showed off her swimming skills.

Her jumping in skills. (I call this "no fear")

Then her great snuggling skills. :)

One afternoon G. Gail, Haley, and I headed out to the beach to chase some birds.

We looked at the copper colored water and washed off sea shells.

We spent lots of time at Nana Stacker's house and just relaxed....with a 2 year old.

We did have to say good-bye yesterday but we have lots of great, wonderful, and long-lasting memories of our vacation.

FORE!!!!

WARNING - The husband is writing a post again on behalf of his better half.

So let's set the stage here. Mommy and Haley are relaxing down in Port Charlotte, Florida this weekend as they visit Great Grandma. The last time I talked with them, they were going 18mph on their way to the local Cracker Barrel at 4:30pm for dinner before heading back to watch some riveting episodes of Matlock?!?!?

Anyways, we with the Y chromosomes decided to have our own relaxing weekend. And what is more relaxing than golf. Yes, me and my boys set out for a day of 54 glorious holes of miniature golf. OH YA!

Although I discovered I am not raising the next Tiger Woods (yet) or even a poor man's Shooter McGavin, they had an "awesome" time and are begging to go back tomorrow. Which just might have to happen. For who am I to squash the dreams of a 6 year old.

Here is a shot from one of the holes on top of the hill. I was just pleased no one tripped on the railroad ties as they raced the balls down the hill.


Don't mind the change of clothes, it is still within the same day. We just had to take a break at the Benes clubhouse for lunch and a new wardrobe.

Here is a photo of Jacob after his HOLE-IN-ONE on the longest hole of the course. He drained it like a little pro. (Albeit with a little help from the bricks on both sides and the end, but in putt putt it all counts the same)
Not to be outdone, Tyler drained his own HOLE-IN-ONE on a tough little water hole.


This next photo is about the moment that it became GAME ON! Jacob was being constantly reminded in a nice brotherly fashion by Tyler that he was not making his putts. It was amazing, something clicked in his head and he started taking the next strokes with a pro's precision. Check him out, he is trying to read the greens to drain his putt.


And of course we had to do some gross boy stuff while Mommy is gone.



And the weekend is only half over! :) Yee Haw!

C.A.M.P.I.N.G

WARNING - This post is being written by Brian Benes (the guy who married the most understanding, beautiful, and forgiving wife of all time)

So what does CAMPING really stand for?
Can
A
Mommy
Please
Ignore
Naughty
Guys

Over the holiday weekend, the boys and I set off to our favorite campground to meet up with Grandpa Andy for a 4 day weekend of dirt, fires, lakes, rivers, mud, bugs, fishing, uncleanliness etc... and I thought I would give you a quick recap of some of our activities.

The first day we arrived, the boys were greeted at our campground by 3 kayaks and a canoe. They were really excited to see them and picked out the ones they wanted to ride within seconds. Since neither one had ever been in a kayak before, we decided in our own logical minds that the best way for them to learn was to put them in the kayak and push them out onto the lake to fend for themselves.

Amazingly they did awesome and got the hang of it within seconds. After that they tore off on the lake with Grandpa and Daddy chasing after them.


The next morning Uncle Tom came out to join us and we headed off to the Milwaukee river to test out their skills a little more. Again they did an amazing job and didn't tip once during the 4 mile journey down the winding river.


At the end of our river adventure, we waded out into the river and caught a few crawfish. You can see Jacob is very proud of this one.


The boys thought it was hilarious when the crawfish used his pinchers to get Grandpa.


They had so much fun, we went back to a different part of the river and caught a bunch more as "pets". (Yes, we were using our hats to catch them. Pretty resourceful if you ask me!)


Another favorite activity was catching daddy-long-legs spiders at the campsite.


And digging in the dirt with shovels and rubber mallets.


Don't forget about some fishing. Check out the monster that Jacob caught. We thought about having this one mounted.


Check out Tyler's "Sunny" fish.


And yes, sometimes it is just WAY too conventional to fish from land.

We did get saved during the 3 hour rain storm by Haley and mommy with the DVD player in the mini-van! Super mommy to the rescue! (We had Jacob, Grandpa, Tyler, Haley, Grandma, Mommy, Daddy and cousin Izzy all crammed in)


All in all it was a great trip with minimal bruises, scrapes and bumps. Can't wait to do it again soon!