weekend and birthday party

ebbie and aunt steph at TCBY with bennett on saturday.. he loves them.. he just wasnt ready to leave his daddy! 

 miller at the 3 amigo's birthday party!!

daddy and i got into the mustaches {and margaritas}

my camera was acting up here :( the pics turned out dark, but still too cute...

 happy birthday a, b and k!

'momma save me from all of the babies!!!!!!!!!!!!'

trying to get out!

the sweetest profile i have ever known.

bennett partied so hard that he fell asleep on the way home!

then he and daddy made it to the couch for some good snuggle time.  

i hope everyone has a great week!

sarah

knowing what to do

if you are like me, you look around and sometimes think... 'this child is actually ours??!!.... and that means we are responsible for teaching him right from wrong?!' then i think how with almost everything in life, if you are going to take on a responsibility, you first are given the proper training. like with my job, when i learned to drive, when i was in school, etc. the one exception is parenthood. no one trains you on how to raise a child, the right way. so, i decided to write down some traits and characteristics that i would love for bennett to possess.
i found that it is pretty simple what i want for him... and as my boss always says "simple, but never easy" and that phrase is very applicable here. there are a few main things that stuck out in my mind when i was thinking about this.. i want him to be kind above all else. i want him to be respectful and caring. i want him to say yes mam and no mam, i want him to be responsible with his choices. i want him to be just the right amount of cautious and to know that bad things do happen, but to not be paranoid. i want him to love God. i want him to be a sweet husband one day like his daddy.... the list goes on and on...
the problem is i have no idea how to achieve teaching him all of these things!! i look at how i was raised and how jared was raised and it was very different and we both turned out to be ok i think ;) one thing that my dad always said and he said it at my rehearsal dinner and i will never forget it, was that they may not have always done everything exactly correct, but that they raised us based on love, and i have never heard anything more true. i remember my childhood vividly and never once did i feel like i wasn't loved more than anything in the world. of course there were times i was mad at my parents... and i think i remember packing a bag and trying to run away on my go cart a few times, but i knew that they loved me and my sister above all else. there would be days that my dad would catch a 5 AM flight to get to chicago or california so he could get all the way back home before we went to bed. seriously, he would fly to california and back in a day. when i would be in trouble at school, which happened a few times ;) my parents would always defend me. even if i was wrong, they would defend me. this is something that is probably controversial, but i agree with it... if bennett ever does something wrong, i will still defend him in front of others. yes, he will have to make it right and apologize.. and yes he will be taught a lesson, but i will defend him no matter what. i think that made me realize that i could do anything (within reason) and my parents would still love me and be there for me. it taught me that people make mistakes. it taught me to forgive, because i was always forgiven.
in this book i am reading (above), she talks about how discipline is different from punishment and how we should never embarrass our children because of something they did... she talks a lot about raising confident and capable little people and if i added 'kind-hearted' to that list, i would be happy with those traits for bennett. i thought i would recommend it to anyone out there in my same boat.. we all want these things for our children... and this book has taught me a couple things to use along the way. it is the first book i have read on parenting... i read all of the what to expect the first year, etc but this is the first book aside from learning basic skills of caring for them. i am sure there will be many more, but i think this was a good one for me to start with.
please pass on any other recommendations!!!
xoxo-sarah

reasons to celebrate!

our precious nephew, charlie, turned FOUR on April 10. We celebrated on his birthday with presents, pizza and of course, cake. we got him some water toys, a new blow up pool and the above car raft (which he popped part of within 3 minutes)... and he thought it was pretty cool until mimi and poppy got there with the lightning mcqueen you see below... ha! i think the one they got him is similar to the race cars you see at lokomotion, the ones you have to show your drivers license to ride.... im pretty sure it goes faster than my company car! he had a fantastic day! we love you charlie, so so much. you'll always have a giant place in my heart, i love you like you are my own!!

last saturday we headed to eli's house to celebrate his bday! and i didn't even get a pic of the birthday boy! not sure how that happened.... but bennett was super excited to have his own piece of pizza!me any my boy.. this pic made me laugh because my knees almost look like huge boobs.. i can assure you that is a false image. ha!

our ali and miller. love them so so much!

after eli's birthday, we headed to charlie's birthday party at boingo bounce! it was 'charlie's chocolate party' and my sister made it so so cute and special for him. he and all of his buddies had a blast!!

bennett and daddy had fun jumping too!

our adorable nephew, oliver

baby emerson was in from chicago! it was so fun seeing him! i think he and bennett have a lot of similar features! isn't he a doll??

blowing out his candles!

earlier this week, we went to our friend's box at the baseball game to celebrate knox and brooks! they turn one today!!!! michelle and brandon wanted to do a boy party for them and then a girl party for ava, so we of course attended the baseball party! we will be celebrating all three of them tomorrow at their birthday bash!!!

even though bennett didn't attend ava's princess party, he asked me to drive him to get her a present ;)

i handed it to him and he carried it inside to her.... melt my heart.

and here she is modeling her new outfit. we love you ava! you are a stunning little angel and we can't wait to watch you grow. i hope that you keep all of these boys in line for years to come!

one year pics

from newborn to a year.......

happy weekend!

sarah