After months and months of waiting...

the day finally arrived! Ben started preschool today. We showed up at school, he waved and said "bye mom" and that was that. Three hours later, we picked a smiling Ben who said he can't wait to come back to school. 

I haven't forgotten about you

life has just been very busy lately

Doesn't get any better

Last weekend while in Fresno, the boys had a blast playing in the backyard with the hose and sprinkler attachment. Ben is very hesitant when it comes to the water while Jack just goes for it.




and how can you resist this. I just want to squeeze it :)

One of Ben's favorite books

Ben reading b is for bulldozer from Stacey Hanson on Vimeo.

Not many books get read...

when we do story time together in Ben's bed. Usually, it's just Ben and I (or Ben and Drew) reading together in his bed and he'll lay there for book after book. When we put Jack in there with us, they just want to play and be silly. 

Ben in action

The fair

We all headed down to the county fair a couple of weekends ago. It was so hot there, and crowded, and so not our thing but the boys had fun.

A busy busy July

It's going to be a on the go kind of month for all of us. We had one week of calmness but that all changes tomorrow. Drew leaves super early in the morning to catch his flight to Ft. Leonard Wood in Missouri and will be there for the next 15 days. We have to keep ourselves occupied while he is gone so that is what we are going to do. Saturday morning we will head over to Ben's last tee ball game. You might remember me posting last month about not wanting to take him to a game on my own but I really have no choice. It's the last game and he'll be getting his trophy there. I can't deprive him of that now, can I? After the game, we are driving down to Fresno for a few days. We'll be back in time for our normal weekly activities. Next Saturday, my dad is flying up here so that he can drive down south with us. I don't feel comfortable driving  down there with just the boys and I so my dad offered to help us out. How awesome is that? I will feel so much better having him there in the car and he can drive us through the LA traffic. That would definitely give me an anxiety attack if I was driving. We will spend the week hanging out with the fam and trying to keep ourselves sane while the cousins have fun together. We haven't seen Luke in four months and I can't wait! After a week down there, we will head back home. My dad will drive back up here with us and then fly home the next day. When we get home, Drew will be waiting for us :) The month will end with a trip to the beach for the weekend. Loree and Cary will be staying there for a week and invited us to come spend some time there with them. It seems like the perfect way to end a hectic month. And it's the last weekend before Ben starts school. That is if he's peeing in the toilet by then. Another story for another time.

A normal lunch at our house

July 3 from Stacey Hanson on Vimeo.

T-ball

I find it all pretty humorous

A gift we can share with all of you

Today we opened up a very awesome birthday gift for Drew and I from Loree and Cary...

a new video recorder!

We have only begun to play around with it but we can already tell that we are going to love it. And all of you are going to enjoy it too because it means lots of videos on the blog. Here is a compilation of a few of them...

June 24 from Stacey Hanson on Vimeo.

Our weekend

We all had a wonderful weekend 

It was just what we needed, a little time away

with just the four of us

We headed down to Monterey on Saturday

upon checking into the hotel, we were given chocolate chip cookies

as you can see, Ben very much enjoyed his

we were also given a treasure map to guide us on our own hunt for treasure

Ben is studying it carefully

He's ready to starts searching for that gold

but first we walked over to fisherman's wharf

the boys liked looking out at the water

we were trying to figure out how they got that cover on such a huge boat

if Drew's around, these two can be found together

looking at the sea lions 

next time you see Ben, ask him to show you his sea lion impersonation

Jack wasn't too happy that he had to stay in the stroller

when we set him free, he ran off

how could you not love this face?

I'm telling you, he was constantly running off

we took turns chasing after him

but we didn't mind since he was having so much fun

loving each other at dinner

Jack woke us up at 6am on Sunday

so we got an early start to the day and played at the Denis the Menace Park

no words needed for this one

this park is huge and Ben and Jack had so much fun exploring it

right after I took this one, Jack slipped and landed on his backside

didn't phase him and he got right back up 

I love that he is old enough to stop and pose for pictures now

still having a great time

once we got back to the room, Jack opened up the drawer and climbed in

after checking out, we headed up the coast to Santa Cruz

we met Pam and Jim (my aunt and uncle who live in Colorado) for lunch

it was great catching up with them and I know they loved seeing the boys

to end our time there, we went to the beach

it was Jack's first time in the sand and water

both Ben and Jack loved chasing the waves

they would have stayed there all day playing if they could

seriously???

Jack enjoyed walking over to other people on the beach and going through their bags

after the beach it was time to head home

it was a great weekend and we enjoyed all the time we had together

I can't help but love my family more than anything :)