my kid rocks!!

I've been wanting to get Bennett to the Japanese Gardens for months... today was the day!! I was meeting some friends to shoot a Christmas card picture and talked Bennett and Brad in to tagging along. I'm pretty pleased with pictures I got in just 15 short minutes :)

I'm trying something new with the pictures - trying to group them for a little more variety... how does it look??

We are having a great weekend at our house. The rain held off all day, allowing us to not only spend time at the Gardens, help mom move some furniture, get our tree decorated (ok, that's indoors...), get some dinner at Don Pepe's and do our grocery shopping. We are looking forward to celebrating Brad's birthday and Thanksgiving this week - and Brad leaves on his mission trip to India in just 6 days!! Should be a busy week!

Mostly treats...

We had a wonderful Halloween yesterday! I hope you did too!!

Here are a few pictures of our fun times :)

Here are the 2 pumpkins that Bennett designed:

The pumpkin on the left is Anakin Skywalker from Star Wars. The one on the right is Brad, complete with drawn on glasses and cross necklace. In case you are wondering, I am learning to give up control one step at a time... the pumpkin designing this year was a step in that direction :)

We had a wonderful time with our neighbors at our annual hayride - it was cold, but it was fun!!

In years past, there has been a guy with a chainsaw that has induced terror in our hayriding clan. This year, the kids were ready. They talked about him all night long. Bennett called him the 'Chainsaw Master' and was ready to defend us with his light saber. The Chainsaw Master never showed up... this year, he was able to bring plenty of fear with just the anticipation of his arrival :)

As you can see, we are still having issues with Bennett's 'smile' face. Remember this?? This crazy-smile-and-crazy-eye-thing has been going on for quite a while. Sometimes I am lucky enough to get some really good pictures (like these) and I think that this phase is over. And then, I am confronted with moments like last night...

I'm learning to just give up, though. I'll look back on these pictures one day and remember this awkward time, right?? His sweetness makes up for his lack of a picture face :)

Super Thursday!!

Wow! What a super day!! A super, big, exciting day!!

We have been planning for the last week for the Boosterthon Fun Run at school. Bennett has personally called every relative (or emailed, in the case of Uncle Chad, who is overseas :) getting pledges - he called. Not me or Brad. He was SO excited!!

Here are some pictures of the big event (which, by the way, occurred in the rain - and resulted in these mediocre quality pictures... but you'll still get the idea!! :)

And... he's off!!

First lap down... gotta get the shirt marked...

The first of many water breaks...

The American Idol lap (air guitar!!)

I love the Boosterthon!! Bennett completed the whole 35 laps!! Now he gets to call everyone and tell them how much money they have to pay up :)

After school, we rested for a little bit and then Bennett had his red belt test at Tae Kwon Do.

Here he is focusing before the big test...

His form...

One Step Sparring... (He's chopping that kid in the neck - Go Bennett :)

Preparing for the board break...

He broke it!! Yippee!!

Congrats!!

Putting on the new belt...

He did it!!

Bennett totally NAILED his test!! I mean, 100% confident. Not one mistake. He did great! I am so proud!! He is so proud. There is something so wonderful in seeing your child succeed after trying and preparing so hard. Such a blessing!!

Trunk or Treat fun...

Long, long ago...

Well, actually, back before school started this year, Brad and Bennett hatched a plan for our 'Trunk' at our church's Trunk or Treat celebration... The theme?? Star Wars, of course!!

Bennett began planning right away and has thought of little else since that day about 2 months ago. He's drawn pictures, planned costumes, drafted family members, and talked and dreamt about it. It really has been so fun for me too. To see him so excited it priceless.

So, here's our trunk...

Bennett drew a scene and picked out his figures and vehicles to complete it...

And... the costumes...

Han Solo, Luke, and Leia

Can you tell that we REALLY love our son??? :)

and Luke and Padme :)

(Gigi really loves Bennett too!!)

And, this is how we ended our weekend...

I can count on one hand how many times Bennett has fallen asleep without being told to.

I guess that the Carnival at Nana's church yesterday, church this morning, a baseball game, and then Trunk or Treat really wore our little man out.

We are such a lucky family :)

the grand reveal...

Did you even know that we were remodeling our master bathroom??? Well... we were!! :)

Our bathroom has needed work since we first moved in to the house - remember that 'cultured' marble with the gnat sealed for all eternity in the counter top? Lovely as that little gnat was, I was ready for him to go...

You can imagine my thrill, uh, I mean, dismay, when our shower began leaking into the basement. Being the opportunist that I am, I jumped on the chance to make some big changes...

Here are the before pictures:

I'm sparing you the pictures of the disgusting mold and mildew that lurked below the floor...

Mr. Gnat lived, I mean died and was buried, right there in the corner of the countertop...

Turns out that the bathtub is the only thing that we kept...

Ok, and now for the after... I know you can hardly wait!!

Look at that nice clear (non-frosted) shower door!! And that front on the bathtub!! Oh, and that nice new wall color?? (I do miss the brown, though...)

Look at that beautiful tile... no more mildewy fake marble!!

One of the major challenges of the old set-up was that we had no storage - namely, no linen closet. Poor Brad had to give up his closet space for a sweater-organizer-turned-towel-holder. See that corner cabinet on the bottom? The one that spins around?? It houses all our linens!! AND....Look at that AWESOME corner cabinet!! I've got my hairdryer and all our toiletries in there. It is so great!

(and there are no gnats in that granite!!) :)

You can't really see much in this picture - but I wanted you to see the pattern of the tile on the floor... it's so pretty :)

So, that's it. Our new bathroom...

Lessons learned:

1) It may seem like a steep price when the estimate comes, but rest assured, you will want to spend more as the project gets going...

2) Having a picture to show the lady at the tile store makes all the difference...

3) Having a sister who find the 'inspiration' photo makes even more difference :)

4) A good contractor is hard to find - but I found one!!

5) If Brad's current job doesn't work out, I think that I might recommend plumbing. They get paid well. Or tile. Or painting.

6) Construction dust is gross. It gets everywhere. You must vacate the area within 50 feet of the construction area.

7) Brad will let you have the space in his closet once taken up by linens for the excess shoes in your closet. He's that kind of guy :)

So, if you come over, I'll let you try out our new shower. I think you'll like it!! :)

The Pros and Cons...

I've been reminded lately that with every pro, there is usually a con. Take, for instance, Bennett's love of drawing and writing... This time last year, as we were just getting started in kindergarten, Bennett would barely consent to holding a pencil or marker in his hand, much less enjoy it. Each time a paper came home with something that I could recognize, I saved it, wrote the date on it, and hoped that one day he might be able to draw a person with not only arms and legs, but also all of the features of the face.

Well, once his interest was sparked, in typical Bennett fashion, he took off. He started drawing. All the time. This is definitely a pro - I love to see his creativity in action!

He's drawing constantly. Really. It is so strange to me, but now he asks to draw in between tasks. I love it! Here is a picture of his drawing desk...

And here, you can see that the sides of the desk are filled with pictures as well:

His favorite subjects? Star Wars, of course. Sometimes I get a Scooby Doo or a Charlie Brown. And, every once in a while, I get a family portrait... the problem? Well, sometimes, he draws very realistically:

See how tall and skinny Brad is? Very true. See me? Although I am obviously very happy in the picture (I am jumping up and celebrating), I am noticeably, well, let's just say I'm wider :) I'd count this as a 'con'.

Let's turn to his prolific writing... He can write and read just about anything now. His interest in this was just like drawing - it came over night and seemed to take on a life of it's own. Suddenly he was reading signs all over the place (pro) - and we couldn't spell things in secret any more (con)!

Another 'pro' is that things are clearly labeled in our house:

I've explained several times that 'EXIT' has an 'I', but he continues to tell me that that's not how it's done where he sees it. Interesting.

But, the biggest 'con' to this writing ability came to me very early on Sunday morning. Bennett got up before the agreed time (5:32 to be exact - a full hour before the agreed upon time) and I told him that he could lay on the floor (we've made him a pallet on the floor for these frequent occasions). He continued to talk to me - 'What time is it?' 'Can I get in the bed with you?' 'Is daddy here?' 'Can you feel my loose tooth?' 'When will our Halloween costumes get here?'. I finally responded with 'You are making me angry. Please be quiet' or something along those lines and he got quiet. I awoke a few minutes later to find this note on our bed:

In case you can't read it, it says "Dear mommy and daddy I have decidid to stay in my room all day becos noone loves me any more. Your Son Bennett Ray Steenwyk"

Definitely a 'con'.

Just in case you were wondering - he came out of his room about 10 minutes later to make sure we had seen the note. He didn't return to his room.

Oh, and he knows that we love him very much! :)

Fall ball

So, Bennett decided that instead of playing soccer this Fall, he'd like to give baseball a try. Since we are committed to Tae Kwon Do, there was no way that we could sign up for 3 sports, so we've given soccer a break, went on a shopping spree at a local sporting goods store, and headed across the street to the ball fields.

Keep in mind that the last time Bennett had a bat in his hand, which was about 2 years ago, this picture allowed me to create a scrapbook page titled 'shiner'...
:)

Anyway, he has been SO excited about playing baseball. I've been assured by my well-intentioned friends that Fall Ball is laid back and so much fun... I bought in, and we signed up.

Well, fast forward through 3 practices (one missed because of some mystery illness last week, and 2 others that had me cringing as the ball kept whizzing past the bat - oh, but he swings with all his might!!)... and you come to today. The first game of the season.

He got dressed and looked SO CUTE! He was ready to play. He felt no pressure at all. He never does. I feel it... he doesn't. I breathed a sigh of relief when the first one on our team struck out. At least Bennett wouldn't be the first to strike out...

He got up to bat. Look at that stance...


The coach pitched the first ball...
and he hit it!! Look up there at that picture!!! HE HIT IT!!!

And he ran like the wind for first base!! (I have pictures of each base, but I will spare you :) He ran to second with the next batter - then stole third!!

And here he is... a sort-of-slide into home!! He made a run!! (is that what you call it?? :)

And you know what??? He did that SAME EXACT THING the next time that he got up to bat!! I'm tearing up as I type this!! HE DID IT!!

Look how proud he is!!

And, then, at the end of the game, Coach Mark called the boys together and talked about how each boy did such a great job. He got the game ball out - and gave it to Bennett!! I was so proud! My heart was so happy for my little boy.

This whole game has really got me thinking... I went into that game just hoping that he wouldn't be too discouraged when he struck out. After all, he really didn't hit the ball many times in practice. I had heard about how they were playing with only 3 strikes. How will he do it?? I left that game beaming with pride for my little boy. I am just so happy that he is happy...

Being a mom is such a great job -and a position that God uses to teach with over and over!! I can honestly say that I am amazed each and every day!! Yes, there are some days when I'm complaining about being stuck at home with a child who is 'sick'. Or I'm wondering if my oh-so-talkative 6 year old to could please not talk non-stop for just 1 minute. But those aren't really complaints - they are just me thinking about me and what I want. Most days I'm just so thankful that God has given me this little boy. The little boy that never ceases to amaze me. And proves to me that I need to stop thinking that I already know what is going to happen and just wait and see. Wait and see that the LORD is good!!