Like Big Brother, Like Little Brother

Like big brother, like little brother......at least that is how it is in our household.  Bennett mimics everything Trenton does.  It was hilarious today when he stuck his sais in the back of his shirt.  Trenton always tucks swords/weapons back there and to see Bennett do it today while playing alone was hysterical!  He found it to be quite funny himself!

 What?  Isn't this where they go?

 Hiya!  Hiya!  Famous Bennett words these days.

Gotcha!  Gotcha!  The other infamous words from our baby boy!  He is running towards me with one pair of sais in the back of his shirt and another in his hands.  What a delight he is!  I love playing with him!

Roswell Park

As I lugged the double stroller out of the truck, I heard a holler.  I turned to see my friend who is on maternity leave, Katie, parking next to us at Roswell Park.  I got to meet her new little fellow, Grant, and catch up as we walked the trails.  Trenton and Bennett then played afterward.  What a pleasant surprise on a Sunday afternoon! 

 Trenton played in the sandbox as Bennett......

 climbed and slid.......

 rode and had a good ol' time on all the playground equiptment.

Walking at Roswell Park.  Katie's momma, Susan, was with her so she chatted along the way, too. 

Swirl and Sip

My parents had the boys for the night and we hosted a wine tasting party in honor of Valentine's Day.  Some of my friends from Brumby joined us as we sampled red 10 wines.  It was a blind tasting.  Every couple brought one bottle of wine under $10 (some entered two bottles.)  It was brown bagged and randomly numbered.  Each bottle was tasted, commented on paper, and rank.  In the end, you picked your two favorite wines.  Votes were calculated and winners were announced.  All types of reds were entered from Cabernets and Pinot Noirs to berry flavored, sweeter dessert reds.  It was completely based on the flavors and tastes you preferred.  However, the results were interesting.  Every one of the 10 wines had votes.  The wine with the most votes, hands down, was ironically, Two Buck Chuck (Trader Joe's Charles Shaw), the cheapest out of the bunch (less than $3!)  There is actually a long story behind Two Buck Chuck, and isn't made from cheap grapes.  Rumur has it that it is priced low due to a nasty divorce and getting back at the other person.  Regardless, it surprised us all since several wines were $9.99, and the Trader Joe's wine was just thrown in last minute to make it an even 10 wines to taste.  So, since it was just one of ours, we awarded the wine stopper prizes to the 2nd place wine, Megan and Allyson's!  Even though the 10th place wine had a vote as a favorite to someone, they were declared the "stick to beer" 6 pack.  All the in between wines had practically 2 votes each.  We had a great night with good friends and look forward to doing something like this again in the summer with cool, refreshing whites.  

  

 Ready for our fun night of sampling red wines with our "Valentines."

 The result sheet.

 Glasses are ready!

 Bags, numbers and string are situated.

 The tasting begins.  Brian and Patrick get comfortable in Bennett and Trenton's Pottery Barn chairs.

We are glad the new mommies could join us for a night out without their babies.

 Kelly, Stephanie, Megan (back row) Lindsey, me, Allyson, Cassie (front row).......Jess had already left.  Sorry girl!

 The winners and losers.......but everyone wins at our house!

 The bottles from the sampling.

The note cards to track your wines. 

Our Little Sponge!

Remember the days of mischievous Trenton? ......because I do!  And Bennett is now in that stage.  He watches and absorbs.....EVERYTHING!  I heard a banging noise and followed it to find him like this.

 He had pushed a chair over to my bulletin board and was hammering the pushpins.  Oh, his little mind!

Good Knight v. Bad Knight

The boys were at Granna and Opa's house playing today.  When they dropped the kids back off at our house, we played knights.  They love swords!  They got the bad guy (AKA Opa) and jumped right on him after he fell to the floor.  The have the best imagination and are so fun to play with!

 We got him!

Milk break and a little Team Umizoomi. 

Super Bowl Sunday

We went to early service, came home, had lunch, napped and then went over to our friend's, The Filers' house to watch the super bowl.  We only stayed until halftime, but hey, that's what you do with kids.  Lucky for us, we only lived 5 miles away! 

 Even in church clothes, the boys climb around. 

Trenton played upstairs with Tyler and Paige.  They wrestled and played hide and seek.  Paige is counting by the wall.  Trenton and Tyler are under the rack of clothes.  Bennett watches it all. 

Bennett takes it all in.  He then goes to the wall to count and run to look for people.  It's precious!  Trenton was a sweaty mess from playing with his older friends.  So much fun!  When we left, he said he was calling Tyler, and picked up his pretend phone.  :)

Momma got her baby fix with little Logan, Kelly and Brian's new baby.  Bennett liked to say "shhhh" and watch Baby Logan as he slept in my arms.  I still got the bounce to put those babies to sleep!  Bennett and Trenton copy "the bounce" all the time with any stuffed animal or doll.  It cracks Kevin and me up!

Firepit and S'mores

We have been talking about a firepit since Thanksgiving.  Well, we finally had time this weekend to shop for stones, and while we were at Home Depot, it was Kids' Workshop Day.  (The 1st Sat. of the month has a project for kids to built, paint, etc.)  This time, we made a wooden racecar.  Kevin picked out and loaded the stones, and the boys and I sat on upside down buckets to build.  I might not have been the best with the hammer, but all 4 wheels are on and the parts are attached.  I also successfully managed to not let Trenton paint his car blue and orange.  Gator colors, really?   

Not only did we shop for stones, but Kevin successfully built it in just a few hours.  We also managed to have our first burn in the same day!  Daddy is so handy!  We love that about him and look forward to family time out by our campfire!

He dug the hole and leveled the ground first.  Then filled it with 4 bags of sand, followed by 4 bags of gravel.

The boys woke from their naps and helped work outside.  Timber....T uses his chainsaw and B drills a hole.

 Bennett made himself at home inside the firepit to work some more. 

The boys really did help.  Trenton carried probably half of the little, in between stones, and Bennett dug out the initial hole and carried dirt to the wheel barrel in his itsy-bitsy shovel.   

 Trenton insisted on taking our picture.  Then, of course, Bennett had to take one, too.  Trenton posed for him.  

 1st burn!

 We weren't prepared for the firepit being ready tonight.  Granna and Opa came to the rescue and brought over Hershey bars and marshmallows for s'mores.

 It was a fun place to gather around.

 Roasting marshmallows.

 Trenton was in charge of the marshmallow bag.  I think that was because he could sneak a few in his mouth whenever.  :)   Bennett found some toys in the basement after a trip inside.  What a fun night!