May 25-30

What a wonderful week we've had!!

May 25: New Bike
M needed a new bike. We let her pick it out and she loves it so much. Each evening after dinner, we take a quick walk around the neighborhood.

May 26: Hard Time Sleeping

M had the hardest time sleeping this week. She couldn't settle down in the evenings and was waking up super early. Twice she fell asleep in my bed with the lights on. Tonight, she had the drawers from my jewelry box on the bed and the jewelry spread all around her.

May 27: Field Trip

H took the afternoon off so we could take M on a field trip. We went to Dauset Trails and Indian Springs. We had a great time together, exploring something new. M loved discovering new things and asked a million questions about everything we saw. At one point, she went up to a sign and said, "This is the coyote cage." We had fun looking at the picture and spelling the words.

May 28: Our first daughter: Mocha

This is our 9 year old daughter, Mocha. She loves to go outside when we go out to play. After sniffing all the new smells in our yard, she'll find a sunny spot to rest until we force her to go inside.

May 29: Promise of the Pool

I promised M if she'd sleep through the night in her own bed, I'd take her to the pool. Woohoo!! For the first time all week, M slept her normal 11 hours and woke up in the most precious mood. We had a blast at the pool!

May 30: Sweet Friends

This picture was actually taken May 31, but it works for Sunday, too. We're part of a small group that meets every other Sunday. This sweet girl's parents host the families at their house. M and GW love each other and enjoy spending time together.

May 31: Swimming Lessons

M enjoyed her first day of swim lessons. GW is in the group next to her and a little friend, T, is in her group. She did everything her swim instructor asked of her and waited patiently until it was her turn again. I loved being able to spy on her when she was in a learning setting, under someone else's authority. I'm thankful they let parents stay today. I'm as eager as she is to see all that she learns in swim lessons.

May 2010

April flew by in a blur of first-weeks-of-pregnancy-ness. I think I'll chose only 7 pictures from the entire month and do one layout instead of trying to fill in so many gaps. I just didn't feel good most of the time and lived in survival mode. I'm emerging slowly and ready to re-dedicate to Project Life. May is missing a few days--but luckily friends and my students' parents took some pictures to share for those days.

May 1: A Picnic with Friends

These three M's have been friends since they were babies. How fun to see them romping around, playing, laughing, teasing...all the things friends do.

May 2: Strange Foods

I'm not really craving anything too odd, but things just sound really delicious to me. I'm completely in love with toasted bagels and flavored cream cheese. This morning it was pineapple cream cheese. Some days, strawberry. Some days, regular cream cheese and salsa.

May 3: Ice Cream Sundae

M LOVES ice cream sundaes. She helped me concoct exactly what she wanted, which included sprinkles, of course.

May 4: Busted Through

When I picked M up from H's office, he laughingly pointed out her old tennis shoe. I knew it was getting a little small, but I had no idea her toe was about to bust a hole through!! New tennis shoes were needed ASAP. We went on a search and found cute white tennis shoes with laces at a very reasonable price.

May 5: Missing in Action

I have no idea what happened on May 5th...perhaps pregnancy brain??

May 6: 12 Week Appointment

The whole Benson family went for the 12 week appointment just to make sure all was well with Baby Handsome. "His" heartbeat was incredible and we had a great visit! This is one of the doctors I'll see during my pregnancy. He offered to take a picture of my cervix for Project Life. I politely declined.

May 7: Annie

We happen to know and love one of the actors in this picture. M wasn't feeling very good, but we were able to go for an hour to see his play. We loved every minute of it.

May 8: Car Wash!

One of the youth fundraisers was a car wash. Kids of all ages had a great time. Everyone is so sweet to M. She enjoyed washing the cars, but really enjoyed getting wet.

May 9: Happy Mother's Day!

Maybe my favorite picture EVER!! Being a mom is my favorite job in the whole world. I'd give up everything else to spend more time with this precious girl.

May 10: Mama's Hat

This is not a new hat in our house, but M has discovered it and is having a love affair with it. She wears it all the time!

May 11: Again...missing in action. Have no idea what went on!

May 12: Arrested

I was arrested to the MDA today and taken to "jail," which actually was a very nice place with delicious food. I raised over $500 to help local families who live with some type of MD diagnosis.

May 13: My Class Picture

For obvious reasons, I'm not going to post my class picture here, but it will go in my album.

May 14: Spring Fling

A parent sent me the cutest picture of her little boy and M at Spring Fling. I'll put it in the album.

May 15: Backyard Paradise

M and I went to visit my parents for the weekend. I didn't take a picture Sunday, so I'll use both of these. We had such an incredible time, relaxing and playing. M loved spending time with her cousin, who is almost 2.

May 17: Bathtime Pedicure

M loves to give herself a pedicure in the bathtub.

May 18: Driving Practice

As soon as we turn into our neighborhood, M asks us to let her help drive. In the van, that means hanging her head out of the window and waving if we see anyone. I think she actually helps H drive in his car. I've never actually seen that happen.

May 19: Girl's Night

A picture of some of the girls at a local restaurant.

May 20 and 21: End of the year brain...nothing. These were two of the most exhausting days of my life. I'll journal about them without a picture.

May 22: Happy 60th Birthday!

We helped host a birthday party for one of my sweetest friends who turned 60. We all dressed up in our formal attire and played casino games. It was a blast!

May 23: First Pool Visit

Exhausted after 3 hours at the pool! We had such a great time. We can't wait for next weekend when the pool opens for the entire summer. This year, we'll spend lots of time at the pool, cooling off and spending time with friends.

May 24: Outside Fun

In my attempt at cutting down on our television watching, I've instituted "outside" time. We did pretty good today...we stayed outside for over an hour, drawing on the driveway and playing on the tree house. We'll see how we do the rest of the summer.

March: Catching Up

I've been fairly diligent about taking a picture every day. Uploading and journaling? Not so much. But this is Project LIFE and I'm not going to beat myself up. A picture a day. A few words as I can get to it. That's what this is about.

March 19: Impromptu Poker

Poker was on and off all week. Finally, Friday afternoon, several guys committed to coming over that night to play with H. They didn't get started until almost 10, but it sure sounded like everyone had a good time.

March 20: There is no picture today because I spent the day in Atlanta with a college friend whose husband was in a terrible automobile accident and is now paralyzed from his sternum down. Being with her was important and a special time for our friendship.

March 21: Make your own pizza and have s'more funA church family hosted the youth tonight. We made our own pizza and then made s'mores in their firepit. M loved every minute of it!

March 22: In celebration of Mema's 80th birthday, everyone in our family took a picture holding this 8 and 0. Dad put together a card for her. She loved it!


March 23: Cookbook Committee The cookbook committee came over for dinner and a brainstorm session. We got tons of work done and enjoyed an evening together.

March 24: Waking up to donuts Sometimes after H has a meeting at church, we wake up to donuts! It is one of our favorite things!

March 25: No picture...it was a super stressful day. School, rushing home to pack, several hours on the road, arriving at my parents' house very late.

March 26: Proud Police Officer Because I didn't have a picture yesterday, I'm going to include two pictures today. This is my brother Zach. He was sworn in as an official police officer today. He earned the top award for physical fitness improvement. We couldn't be more proud of his accomplishment!

March 27: First Easter Egg HuntThis was M's first Easter Egg Hunt of 2010. She had so much fun rushing around finding eggs in Nona and OB's yard. Uncle Zach kept throwing his eggs on the ground, much to M's delight. She finally gave up her basket and started shoving eggs in her jacket pocket!

March 28: Have information from a restaurant in Hilton Head.

March 29: A Day at the Beach

M LOVES the beach and loved this day even more because she spent all day on the beach with her cousins.

March 30: All I got accomplished

The only thing I accomplished today was running the dishwasher. The rest of the day was spent snuggled on the couch or in bed with M. We were so exhausted after our long weekend that we stayed in our pj's and watched TV all day.

March 31: Hunting eggs with friends

I took this picture at our friend Andrew's house. His mom invited us over for an Easter egg hunt. After hunting, the kids played on his swingset and then we had a picnic lunch.

April 1: Spring is here!

FINALLY! Spring has sprung! YEAH!!!

April 2: Storytime at Barnes and Noble

We go to Barnes and Noble all the time. We went this morning for story time and ran into several of our friends. I think we'll try to do this often during the summer.

April 3: Tattooed

M loves stickers and tattoos. She tattooed me with her heart stickers. I had one on each cheek. She wanted me to wear them all day and was upset when I took them off.

Project Life: March 7-18

The past two weeks have flown by in a blur. I've got to make an effort to slow down.



March 7: M LOVES my glasses

M loves to wear my glasses and pretend to do "mama" things. She'll read my books, play on the computer, wash dishes, etc, when she's got them on.

March 8: Pet love Mocha and Gretel love each other so much! We'll find them playing and cuddling together all the time. They even get in trouble together! Gretel loves to unroll the toilet paper roll. If she's having trouble getting it started, Mocha will nudge it with her nose!

March 9: A girl and Gretel M is a great mother for Gretel. It kind of stinks being a "grandma" at 32, but it's so much fun to hear M say, "Mama loves you, Gretel-girl."

March 10: No fear! Gretel has fallen in the bathtub three times now and is still not intimidated by the tub! We can't keep her out of the bathroom or away from the tub. I thought cats were not suppsed to like water?!

March 11 and 12: No photo for March 11. Have some material from an important meeting to include. March 12, keeping private for my family.

March 13: Harlem Globetrotter's Game We took the youth to the Harlem Globetrotter's Game today. The weather was FREEZING, but the game was AWESOME. We all had so much fun!

March 14: Sneaky Kitty

Gretel has a strange fascination with the laptop. It must feel warm to her paws because we can't keep her off of it.

March 15: Decorating for Bunko

M and I decorated the house for Bunko today. She loved helping me take down the curtains and hanging St. Patrick's Day flags instead.

March 16: Bunko!

Green boa on the chandelier. Shepherd's Pie and Pineapple Lime Salad for dinner. Everyone seemed to have fun!

March 17: Happy St. Patrick's Day!

March 18:

We rewarded ourselves for making it through the week with a quick trip to Moe's. It was deliciouos and filling and just what we needed!

Project Life: March 6

March 6: Outside, finally!
The weather today was glorious. M was feeling much, much better. After swining for at least 30 minutes, she decided to have a concert with lots of stick banging, drum thumping, and vocal screeching. I'm sure the neighbors were thankful when I forced her to come inside for dinner.

Project Life: March 1-5

I just can not believe March is already here! I'm noticing a few things about my photography:

1.) I apparently love dark shots with lots of black! I'm so ready for spring.

2.) I also apparently love grainy shots! I need to work on some technique to figure this one out. Love the picture of M reading before bed, but it was rather dim in her room, so I cranked up the ISO and the pictures are still super grainy. I'm using it because I love it, but I'll have to play around to figure this one out.

March 1: Shameless Love
We are shameless pet owners. We talk about our pets as if they were our children. We could not love Gretel anymore. Funny Gretel things: she's gotten in the bathtub with one of us TWICE and she's not bothered by it at all. She climbs on everything! She loves Mocha and H the most.

March 2: Happy Birthday, Dr. Suess! Read Across America day. This year, each class made a Dr. Suess inspired hat. My kindergarten class used a fishing style hat and sewed One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish stuff around it. I took a picture with each child wearing it and will give it to them at the end of the year.

March 3: Reading before bed M is really into reading a bedtime story. Sometimes she wants someone to read to her and sometimes she wants to read to one of us. Tonight she wanted to look at her Hide and Seek book, which she's done hundreds of times.

March 4: Winter Jam 2010 I love this picture of the lead singer of Newsboys descending in the air. I love the spotlight on the crowd with the shadow on them. We went to Winter Jam tonight, which is a Christian concert with a variety of artists. We took a few friends with us and had an incredible time. We all agreed that the Newsboys were our favorite performers.

March 5: Happy Birthday, KK!

M is sick today, so I had to cancel my Girl's Night here at the house. H cancelled his plans, as well. I was sad to cancel my original plans, but enjoyed going to dinner to celebrate my friend KK, who had a birthday this week. We went to one of our favorite restaurants, Bonefish Grill. Delicious!