one picture

There is so much about this photo that I never want to forget. I snapped it just because I thought the spiderman ring he wore to bed was cute, but now I notice so many other little details.... like the teddy bears and stuffed animals surrounding him, as usual, with Teddy Bear #1 in his arms, of course; the crazily non-matching pajamas he insisted on wearing; the Thomas sheets; just a little of his blankie in the picture (he likes to use it to snuggle with, not to cover him up); how peaceful and beautiful his face always looks when he is sleeping; his hair perfectly curled on his forehead. I think this is why I love pictures so much... because sometimes you don't even realized what a special moment you are capturing when you are taking the picture, but later... you can notice and appreciate so much more about the photo than you did in the "real" moment.

Birthday Cakes for Lincoln (8) and Jayna (5)

I had the pleasure of creating fun cakes for my niece and nephew this weekend. Their requests were "gymnastics" and "Lord of the Rings". Their birthday party was today and we had a great time celebrating with them in St Cloud. Joel was nowhere NEAR ready to leave and cried most the way home about it, so clearly he had a REALLY great time. I have a feeling we will be back to visit Lincoln and Jayna again soon.

Lord of the Rings sword and shield

Build-a-Bear

Copeland Buhl (Jeff's work) took all the kids and moms to Build-a-Bear workshop this weekend and sponsored the outing... a teddy bear (and all the fun of building it) for all 16 kiddos in attendance. This is our second Saturday morning outing with the moms and kids (and a couple brave dads actually) of Jeff's coworkers. I think it's brilliant, myself... get the moms and kids out of the house for a fun Saturday morning, spend a little money on them, and what happens at Copeland Buhl on a Saturday morning during tax season?... you have the employees working hard, being productive, WITHOUT the pressure from spouses/kids to PLEASE hurry and get home for family time. End result= moms and kids have fun and employees are working longer on Saturday, being more productive. Sounds like a win-win for all:)Grant, in line, with his teddy (whom he easily named "Joseph"). Grant is so shy at events with lots of new faces. Although I know he had lots of fun and he went along with all the other kids, I am certain he did not crack a smile the entire time we were in the store:) He can be such a shy little boy sometimes.

Joel's choice of bear, whom he originally named "Benson" ,but then changed his mind to just "J". :)

The train of kids heading back to build their bears. The employees were a riot with the kids. You could definitely tell they had led groups of them once or twice:)

Smooshing their bear's heart in their hands before putting it into their bear. I can't remember exactly what the employee said they were doing... smooshing love into it or something?... I'm not sure...

Giving their finished teddies an air bath and "fluff"

Finished Timberwolve Bear and Soccer Bear. (Funny that Grant insisted on picking the soccer outfit, since that is one of the only sports we DON'T talk about around the house)

Copeland took us all to Big Bowl when we were done for some yummy food. The boys didn't love their "chicken nuggets", but the moms sure enjoyed it:)

Dasterdly Deeds at Yoursin Mine

After 2 solid months of practicing nearly everyday after school, Mitchell took the stage last Thursday night with the Junior High Drama Club, as the charming "Ubiquitous", a hero of sorts in the production of "Dadterdly Deeds at Yoursin Mine", a melodrama of magnificent proportions:)

Posing, after the play...

Mitchell and his love interest :)


Mitch, playing a second part, as Bone Appetite, a last minute additional part.
Audience members, Grandpa and Grandma Benson

Mitchell's little sister Anna even made it all the way from Elk Mound, WI... and appears to be looking at her brother like,... "why do you have make-up on!?!"...

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I was lucky enough that my dad was flying out of Mpls on the night of my birthday, meaning that my parents arrived at our house (with a cake, of course) on the afternoon to celebrate with us. Thanks for making me such a cute and delicious cake mom:)My sister was on spring break this past week, so we were blessed with her presence as well. Joel and Grant enjoyed chilling with Aunt Kelly all afternoon. They just love spending time with her... especially since she is more willing than mom is to "chase them, chase them, chase them!" all around the house again and again and again:)

102B Girls

To save time, I am just going to copy Steph's post for our girls night. She is a better writer than I, anyway, and I couldn't say it any better:)...

I got to spend a much needed, much anticipated night out with my 3 best college girlfriends on Friday! Our ever crazy and ever lovin' friendship began back in the fall of 1998 when we moved into an apartment (#102B) together on the UMD campus. We have seen each other through it all, and while we all live in different cities, states, and even countries (Desi is a Norwegian citizen now!) everything just seems to fall right back into place when we do finally converge in one location. The last time we were all together was the summer of 2007. We each have more kids now (7, and still counting), more crazy motherhood stories, and seemingly even more in common than ever before. I am SO thankful for their friendship and presence in my life. Love you guys!

Our Drama King

Last week, Mitch again had the opportunity to be part of the Prairie Fire Children's Theater production of "Sleeping Beauty", with a modern twist. After just 3 days of rehearsing, they managed to put on the performance of quite a lengthy play. Very impressive. I honestly don't know how they do it. Mitch was the "Sheep Wrangler" in the story. As always, he possessed a natural ability for his role and he did a very nice job. Jeff and I personally thought (although we may be a little biased) that he should have had a much bigger part, as he seemed to be much more talented that some of the others with bigger parts, but being that the entire audition process is about 20 minutes long, I guess I can see how they made some mistakes:)

We decided to bring Joel and Grant along this time, and found out that Joel is apparently a BIG fan of the theater! He loved it! Grant, however, was a much bigger fan of the drinking fountain that was in the lobby, as he cried/whined for me to take him out there about every 5 minutes during the performance. He may NOT be invited to watch Mitchell's next play... we'll have to see:)