Outdoor Fun!!!

It was finally warm enough and nice enough to spend some time outside as a family! Here are some pictures I took of our big boy. He wasn't too sure about crawling on the grass because of small sticks, grass, bugs, etc. but we'll keep trying. Enjoy the fun!

Kleenex

A few weeks back our big boy got a hold of a tissue. What fun he had! Check it out!





Of course, Mommy and Daddy cleaned it all up...at least, until next time.

3-Day Breast Cancer Walk

I have taken on a new challenge. I have made a commitment to the fight against breast cancer by signing up to participate in the 3-Day Breast Cancer Walk in the cities. All participants will be walking 60 miles in 3 days. That's quite a challenge! The event takes place in September and training has already begun. For a little over a week, a friend and I have been walking for 1 to 1.5 hours everyday. Of course, Benjamin enjoys the walks too. Also, on Mondays and Wednesdays, I participate in an hour long water aerobics class at a local high school. It is definitely past time to get myself back in shape and it's great to have a new goal! I am psyched and training hard to get myself ready for the big event in September! Thanks to my husband who is supportive and willing to take care of our son for 3 whole days by himself (with some help from willing congregation members, I hope....Recruiting will start in the next couple of weeks).

I ask that you support my efforts by keeping me and the rest of our team in your prayers. I have never participated in a walk of this magnitude before and it is going to take much discipline and encouragement to get myself ready in time for September. Please pray that God will continue to motivate and encourage me and that God will keep me healthy so I can participate to make a difference.

As you can see, there is a new, bright pink widget at the top of this blog. As is usually the case for walks like this one, I need to raise a minimum of $2,200 as a walker in order to participate in September. If you would like to donate money towards my walking in the 3-Day Breast Cancer Walk, you can click on the "Donate" box of the bright pink widget to get the process started. Since I just joined the group yesterday, I am still waiting to receive my handbook and other forms in the mail. As I get more information, I will pass it on. If you are interested in participating in a 3-Day Breast Cancer walk in your area or would like more information regarding the event, please go to http://www.the3day.org/.

Also, it is my plan to keep you updated on my training progress. I have added a section on the left side of this blog where you can check on my daily training progress. It is also my intention to post any stories or tidbits of information pertaining to the upcoming walk. Please check back often for updates and to check up on my progress.

Thanks for taking the time to read about my new endeavor and God's Blessings!

More Birthday Pictures

We celebrated our big boy's 1st birthday one last time. Uncle Andrew, Aunt Amanda, and Cousin Noah joined us for the fun! The boys had a great time playing next to each other and exploring each others' toys. Thanks for coming to celebrate our big boy's first birthday! He loves to dump the MegaBloks all over the floor! What great fun! Enjoy.

First Birthday!!!!!

Today is our big boy's 1st birthday! I know everyone says this, but I can't even believe that it has been a whole year since his birth. Where did the time go?!? Our big boy is having quite the birthday bash! Actually, his birthday is "extended" and being celebrated for three days. Since Grandma and Grandpa King had to leave early this morning, we had a small celebration yesterday. Grandma and I decorated the dining room (Veggie Tales theme, of course) and finished preparations for his first taste of carrot cake cupcakes with cream cheese frosting. We opened a present, ate lunch, opened a couple more presents, and "tasted" some carrot cake and frosting. I say "tasted" because he barely tasted his cupcake. He touched the frosting and then disgustingly looked at his hand, looked at us, and consciously worked to not look at the cupcake again. The only taste he had was from Grandpa and Mommy sneaking a piece of cake and a dab of frosting into his mouth (unsuccessful). Grandma, Grandpa, Daddy, and I had never seen anything like it before. We were all prepared to see him mash it up and wipe it all over his face, in his hair, and on his shirt. Oh well. We'll try again at his party on Saturday (third birthday celebration). Maybe he just needs to warm up to the idea. Although he did not eat or mash up his cupcake, our big boy still took his birthday bath because he managed to get a little icing in his hair (and because he loves his baths soooooo much!). That's about it for yesterday's celebration. Today, he opened a couple of cards and another present from us. Daddy and I took him to ABC Read (it was very special to have a social event on his birthday) and he took the first ride in his forward facing car seat. We are planning to celebrate more later today by going to Dairy Queen to try some ice cream. We'll see how that goes! Here are some pictures from the first two celebrations. We'll make sure to take more pictures on Saturday....check back!

Easter!!!

I realize that Easter has already come and gone, but I wanted to share some pictures with everyone. We were blessed to have Grandma and Grandpa King come to visit for Easter this year! They drove up from Missouri (leaving 60 degree weather) up to Minnesota in blizzard conditions. It snowed all day Good Friday and I think we had 4-6 inches of snow. And, yes, it flurried Easter Sunday. Although the weather outside was not what we were used to experiencing on Easter, the church looked beautiful! Here are a couple of pictures of the Easter lillies.


We celebrated Jesus' resurrection with two church services. Easter sunrise at 7:00 and Easter service at 10:00 in the morning with breakfast served by the church's youth in between services. Our family all worshipped at the early service. It was such a blessing to have family to sit with at Easter. Thanks again Grandma and Grandpa King for watching our big boy while Mommy sang! What hope God gave us in His Son at Christmas! And what hope Christ gave us through His death and resurrection! Our relationship with God is no longer broken. We have been given the undeserved gift of hope. The hope of spending eternity with our Father in heaven! He has risen! He has risen indeed! Alleluia!

Our big boy took at 20 minute nap on Grandpa at the end of the breakfast and then he was up and ready to go when we got home. So, we decided to use this time for his first egg hunt at home. Grandma and I had dyed a dozen eggs the day before and we helped Benjamin find two. He did a great job! He found the first egg, grabbed it, and sat down to crawl towards the next one. In the midst of crawling for egg number 2, the first egg cracked. This was a shocker. He stopped, momentarily looked like he would cry, and then refocused on egg number 2. He found the second egg and broke the shell of that one too! Oh well. That's the way it goes when you crawl around everywhere (but he's getting awful close to try walking without help - Don't worry, we'll let you know when it happens!). After finding the eggs, we looked in our Easter basket and watched Veggie Tales "An Easter Carol". What a joyous and blessed Easter!

We also sported our Cardinals outfit on Easter. Go Cardinals!!!!

Special Delivery!

Today we received the last two presents we ordered for our big boy's upcoming birthday. Of course, he immediately gravitated towards the box in which they were shipped. Once we emptied the box, we let him play with it. This one's bigger, so we put him inside to see his reaction. He loved it! Daddy made his smile even bigger by taking him for rides in the box. Check it out.

After he was finished going for rides with Daddy, our big boy stood up and was reaching for one of the toys he had thrown into the box. Unexpectedly, he "dove" right in (face first). As it happened, I found myself wishing that I had the camera in hand. It was priceless. Once again, our big boy gave us something to laugh about. He, of course, is fine and didn't even cry. His main concern was to continue to grab his toy. Great job mister! We love you!