So you think you can dance...

He gets his dance moves from his father....

Hold My Rock

Caleb loves rocks. He totally loves 'em. As I was following him around on Sunday morning, I watched him as he collected 3 perfect rocks. Large, round, oval, smooth rocks. He carefully held them to his chest as he played, ran and jumped in the puddles. It was time to climb the stairs and he needed at least one of his hands to hold on to the rail. He turns to me and places one of the lovely rocks in my palm....

"Hold my rock", he says.

"Ok, baby, I'll hold it", I say. I am so proud of him. I can't wait to see who he becomes. I love watching him learn and grow and love.

My baby. No longer a baby.

My big boy.

Not the way to spend a Saturday...

I just spent alllll day writing a paper for my psych class. Allllll day, like 12 hours. So not fun. I just couldn't get it out on paper. I better get an A. Betcha I don't though. My teacher is tough. :(

I got my period today, too. Phooey :(. This month makes it 1 year since we've been trying for baby #2. Why can't i get pregnant? What does God have in store for me and my family? Another baby as wonderful as the one He's already given us? Maybe, maybe not. But I hope so. I hope so soon. This stinks. 1 year. {sigh} We waited 2 years for Caleb. Those were 2 very, very hard years. Thank God for Caleb. He brings me pure joy. I am so lucky to be his mom. 1 year. {sigh, again}

Bennett Family Photos 2009

I miss posting on my blog!... I have been so busy with my online class that I haven't had time to update. I'm really trying for an "A" but I have a feeling it's gonna be a "B" instead. My teacher is really hard. I study alllll the time and get good grades on my quizzes but he totally jacked me on my essay (got an 82 when it should have been more like a 92). :( Oh well. Just 2 weeks left and then I start a 5 week Chemistry class in January.

Our Thanksgiving was wonderful -- we spent it at my parents' house and John's family came over to celebrate with us! We have great families. It is so nice that they all get along. We have so much to be thankful for!

These are our latest family photos. My baby is growing up so fast. I love him more and more every DAY! Enjoy!

Wish me luck

so.... i got into the online psychology class that i need as a pre-req for the nursing program. it starts tomorrow. it's a short term course which means that all of the material you would normally get through in 18 weeks is crammed into 6 very short weeks. i've heard that it is A LOT of work and requires many, many, many hours of studying. i'm a little nervous because i don't know if i'm going to have the time to study properly. in addition to taking care of my wonderful and amazing (but also very busy) toddler, this week i start watching my 3 year old neice 3 times a week. i guess that means i'm going to have some late study nights ahead of me. i'm excited about this class but a little bit nervous. i graduated from UCR in 2000; it's been almost a decade since i've been in school. i'm hoping for an "A"!!! wish me luck...

Halloween Costume 2009

Ride 'Em Cowboy!!!
Seriously, could he get any cuter??

I love his costume this year!!! It's totally adorable but the best part is that it only cost $11.00!!! I love hand-me-downs. :)

Slacker

Caleb eating his morning "bay"

he climbed into the bathroom sink. look how proud he is. he can climb anything!

sitting on the potty reading pooh. lol.

here he had climbed into his high chair and then got down on his own and was saying "stuck! stuck! mom, stuck!" but i had to grab the camera before helping him free. hahaha.

.....i have been a total slacker with my blog. what have we been up to? well, my beautiful baby neice, alana, was born on 9/23! she is gorgeous just like her sisters. those girls have my heart! :)

what else.... i tried to crash a chemistry class (one if the pre-reqs i need for the nursing program) last month but was unsuccessful. there were so many people wanting to add and nobody wanted to drop! i was seriously disappointed. i just want to move on with my life; get things going, you know? i'm trying to get into an online psychology class (another pre-req) that starts at the end of the month. i'm 2nd on the waiting list but no word back yet if i'll be able to. BUT... i love the place i'm in as john's wife and caleb's mommy. so if now is not the right time to go back to school, then no big deal. i'm gonna enjoy every moment i have with my guys!

still no luck in the trying-to-conceive department, of course. we'll be coming up on a year in december. i have to say that it does suck but it's not as bad as last time. i'm ovulating so i guess we just have to keep trying. i know it will happen in God's timing; in God's plan. waiting isn't easy though.

we are seriously broke. broke as a joke. no money, honey. no tengo dinero. it. sucks. big. time.

no further progess on the potty. still just sitting on it 3-4 times a day. sometimes i'll find him sitting on it, diaper on, with a book in his lap. i'm going to try "potty training" when he's 22 months. someone told me that that is the perfect age to teach kids. so we'll see.

he amazes me every day with how much he knows! the other day i walked in on him "reading" the Little Drummer Boy singing "bum, bum, bum, bum". it brought tears to my eyes. he actually knew what book it was and remembered the words. his vocabulary is shocking too. he told his grammy "I DO IT!" the other day and when i asked him "where's the moon?" he answered "right there, mom". he can climb anything. we had to put our knife block on top of the fridge so he can't get to them. crazy kid! scares me half to death!

i love him so much.

Introducing the Potty

We started introducing Caleb to the potty this week. We definitely haven't started "potty training" yet but his doctor said that he's old enough to start introducing it so we did. He sits on the potty about 3-4 times a day. I can't believe it but he actually sits there and lets me read to him... AND he's peed on the potty 4 times!! It's pretty cool and he is so proud of himself when there is pee-pee in that potty. My big boy.

hmmmm...... i gotta check this out...

is that MY pee-pee??

yep, i'm a big boy now.

Camping '09

Last weekend we went camping at Lake Perris with our small group. We had a really good time. Here are some pictures that were taken at the lake....

Thanks to all of our small group members for spending such a great weekend with us! We love you guys!

Road trip: San Jose & San Francisco

We've been really busy these past couple of weeks. We drove up to San Jose for cousin Leiola's 1st birthday luau and then took the train to San Francisco. It was so fun and Caleb did wonderful the whole time. He is quite the traveler! Enjoy some pics from our road trip....

This picture is out of order (it should be at the bottom since it was taken on the pier in San Francisco). I love it. John is such a good daddy.

We were privileged to watch some amazing hula dancers. Cousin Kanoe dances beautifully... she is awesome!

There's the birthday girl! It's my party and I'll sleep if I want to! Leiola is a wonderful little baby. So happy!!

The family!

Caleb loved the sea lions on the wharf. They are such cool animals.

A family pic on a San Francisco trolley. I love my guys.

Party Kingdom

Today we met Brixie and the girls at Party Kingdom and we had a blast. We bounced, bounced, bounced, and slid, slid, slid, and then bounced some more. Derek, Shannon, Kaia and Leia went with us too! Caleb had a great time -- we all did! Here are some pictures of our day...

Brix and the girls.... I wish we could hang out more often!

Mommy and Caleb on a horsey

Kaia and Caleb --- woooo!!!

Derek and Lei Lei -- whoa, slow down!!

Bounce, bounce, baby!!

Mommy and Caleb on the biiiiiggggg slide! He wasn't scared at all!

This one's blurry -- could it be that they are just going way too fast?? :)

Marriage Retreat 2009

Every year our church puts together an amazing weekend getaway for married couples. We didn't go last year because Caleb was still pretty young and was having reflux issues. But this year, it was a MUST! We stayed at an incredible resort in Palm Springs and truly enjoyed ourselves. We loved it and can't wait to go to next year's retreat. Caleb stayed with Nema & Papa and although I missed him sooooo much, it was nice to get away with my hubby. It was the first time we had ever been away from him overnight and this was for TWO nights in a row! He did really good though because he loves his PapaNema so much. John and I probably missed him more than he missed us. :) It was a wonderful weekend!

Say Cheese!!

My Auntie Gladys flew in on Friday for my sister-in-law's baby shower and as always, we've had a lot of fun together. Today we went cheese-tasting with her and my mom and dad. Yummmy... gouda... :) There were lots of cows and a couple of goats, geese and a llama. The animals were Caleb's favorite part of the trip!

After all of that cheese we went to lunch at Lucille's. Say Cheese!

Auntie Gladys says that she looks better behind the camera (I disagree!) so unfortunately, we don't have any pictures of her from today. Above is a picture of Nema, Caleb, myself and Papa standing with the cows behind us.

Caleb really liked this llama.

Lunchtime!

Friends and a Fever

Today Caleb and I went to visit my friends Chrissy (who is having twins - boy & girl), my friend Steph and her 3 kids (2 of which are boy & girl twins), and Jamie and her 3 kids. It was a lot of fun seeing them and I wish we were able to get together more often. Caleb had a fun time too!

He started feeling a little warm but i thought it was because he was running around playing but he felt hot when we got to my mom's house (had plans to have dinner over there tonight). He was running a 101* fever so I gave him tylenol and we went home. He conked out for a couple hours, woke up to have a couple bites of food and read a few books, and then wanted to go back to sleep. His fever was up to 102* so he got more tylenol and now he's snuggled up with his daddy in bed. I hope he feels better soon and that this fever doesn't mean another ear infection.

Speaking of ear infections... I cancelled his surgery for tubes. Well, it would have been cancelled/postponed anyway because the day of his "wellness" checkup, he woke up with a slight cough. The doctor emphasized to me that when he has his surgery he must be 100% healthy meaning no cough, no runny nose, no sneezing, etc. So anyway, even if I hadn't cancelled it, it would have been put off for a while. My reasoning for cancelling it was because the last time he had a really bad runny nose he didn't get an ear infection so I thought that maybe he might have outgrown his tendency to getting them. Plus, we are going to be switching our health insurance soon since John got a new job and I want to make sure that if and when he has the surgery, that he stays with the same doctor for all of his follow-up care. So that's that. We'l ljust have to wait and see now.

Update

i've been really lax about my blog lately. part of me is in a funk and i haven't felt like blogging. the other part of me has just been too busy to blog. i've been spending a lot of my free time looking for jobs online but nothing has come through. arrrrgh... i hate it. everything on the internet is a scam! anyway, i'm thinking that maybe i'm not supposed to get a job. maybe that's why nothing has come through for me. maybe i'm supposed to start school and maybe john's new job will be the answer to our prayers (it already is!). on top of all this, i am sad that pregnancy has not happened for us again. it has been 8 months since we've been trying for #2 and nothing. in a way it's good that i haven't gotten pregnant because our finances/job situation is so iffy lately. but as a woman, still, the idea of a baby in my belly is so desirable. we want to grow our family. life is complicated right now. God has a plan. Be patient, be quiet, be still.... He is in control. i know this.

now... on to the fun and more important topic... my Caleb! he is so much fun to be around. he amazes me everyday. here are a few things that he has been up to lately...

... when i sing the ABC's he tries to sing along (just humming/babbling but it's so cute) and at the end when i say "next time won't you sing with me" he will say "wit me". i love it.

... after we say his prayers he will say "amen" but he says it like "MAYMEN!" all loud and with feeling! you go, baby! Praise the Lord! :)

... tonight he was looking for the moon and we were asking him 'where did it go?' and he put his hands up in the air as if to say 'i don't know?'. it was soooo cute. (we found the moon a little later and he said 'moon! moon!' - except it didn't really sound like "moon" but i knew what he meant. ;)

... he knows what sounds animals/things make! he knows dog, cat, duck, frog, owl, monkey, cow, sheep, horse (sometimes), lion, bear, car, train, and more! he can also point out almost any animal in a book that you ask him to.

... he calls every bug he sees a bee. ladybugs, butterflies, flies, doesn't matter. they're all bees to him.

... he loves to chase birds and looks hurt when they fly away as he gets closer to them. he says "bir, bir!" and runs to see them. he always points out pictures of birds in every book we read.

... he is an eating machine. he eats more than any kid i know. for instance, the other day he ate: a whole banana (or "bay" as he likes to call them), oatmeal, cheerios, pretzels, mandarin oranges, sweet potato "fries" (with ranch of course - he loves to dip!), 3 helpings of broccoli, 1/2 a cheese sandwich, yogurt, a handful of blueberries, string cheese, crackers, spaghetti & meatballs, chili beans and bites of whatever anyone else was eating! i swear he has hollow legs!

... he can climb up on my very tall bed without any help. he turns his blue toy bucket upside down and puts it at the foot of the bed. he then holds onto the bed frame and pulls himself up. he is always so proud and gives himself a round of applause. the first time i watched him do this i think my jaw dropped to the floor. thank goodness he's not climbing out of his crib yet!

... he hits people when he gets frustrated. oooh, that is so unacceptable! we are working on it but, man, this better be a very short phase. he will sign "sorry" when i tell him to and sometimes he'll do it on his own. he knows that it's not ok to hit.

... he knows his body parts. eyes, ears, nose, mouth, tongue, hair, fingers, toes, belly button, etc. i have yet to get a good video of him doing it though. when the video camera comes out he decides that he will not perform. "i'm not your puppet, mom!"

there are a million more things that he is doing and every day is an adventure with him. he is the best. i look at him and can't believe that he is mine. i just love him to pieces! :)

Random, Spontaneous, FUN Day!

Every time we hang out with the Olsons we have a good time. Yesterday we had plans to go up to Big Bear with them and rent a pontoon boat and then grab some pizza at Paoli's. When we got up the mountain there were no pontoon boats left to rent until 4:15 which meant we had several hours to kill. All of a sudden we heard loud rumbles coming from the sky.... Was that THUNDER?? Whoa... and LIGHTNING? Yep, down came the raindrops and soon enough we were in the middle of a downpour! It was so random because it came from no where and we had been experiencing 100*+ heat and very sunny skies back at home (which is only an hour away). So we headed to lunch early since our plans on the lake seemed to have been cancelled by the weather. After eating some yummy pizza we decided to head back home. As we passed the rocks on the lake, John spontaneously decided to pull over and take a look so we all went down the trail to the lake shore. When we got there it was still sprinkling and kind of cold but there were a few people jumping from the rocks. John and I had done some rock jumping there before but we weren't planning on jumping yesterday. After some back-and-forth discussion, we decided to jump! It was sooooo fun and we all had a really, really great time. Here are some pics... Jason, me, Madison and Alexis when we first got to the rocks

(John had already jumped at this point!)

There's John halfway in the water after DIVING HEAD FIRST from the top. I think he was trying to give me a heart attack.
"Lucky, Lucky, Lucky!" We were all chanting her name to get her to jump. After the first time she had no fear and jumped from the top!

There's Maddy and Jason doing a father/daughter simultaneous jump!

And yes, that's me. I can't believe I'm putting a full body picture of me in a bathing suit on here...

Lisa and Caleb hung out on the shore and took pictures of us. I wonder what Caleb was thinking as he saw his mom and dad rock jumping!?!

After rock jumping was over we headed down the mountain where we browsed around a motorcycle shop (Caleb already wants one - he was sitting on all of the quads and bikes saying "vroom-vroom". Sorry baby, no motorcycle for you!). Then we grabbed some burritos at a yummy mexican restaurant and headed back to the Olsons' house. When we got there Lucky started pulling out her dirt bike and quad so we hopped on and rode around the hills by their house. I held on to John for dear life. And after that we went in the Jacuzzi and ate ice cream. It was such a spontaneous, fun day! Caleb was such a good boy the whole time. He loves hanging out with the Olsons -- we do too! :)

It is so stinkin' HOT!

i love California because of the weather and the fact that there is always something to do. we don't have to worry about snow storms or shoveling driveways or driving in ice and stuff like that. but this week, wow, has it been hot! i would welcome a snow storm on days like this.

since i do not possess the power to make it snow, maybe reminiscing on colder days will help. these pics were taken in january on a snowboarding trip to Big Bear. we had such a good time and it was sooo COLD!!! on our way up the mountain...

here we are posing with our boards.

this is me and my bestest friend, kaelia. we are pretty much on the same snowboarding skill level so i was really glad her and her hubby came with us. john goes way too fast for me! on this day he was teaching her son elijah how to snowboard. he did awesome!

6 YEARS!

today, July 20th, is our 6 year wedding anniversary! it has gone by so fast yet at the same time it feels like we've always been together because that's just how it was meant to be. we've sure come a long way in the past 6 years. look at us now, all grown up in our 30's with a kid and trying for a second. sure, we're in a tough spot now with money being tight and jobs being shaky but we're together and we'll get through it. my friend jason always says "if all your problems could be solved with money then your problems aren't that bad". it's so true. i tell myself that every day. we have our health, we are in love and our son is happy and thriving. we are so blessed in so many ways. we'll get through this together as a family.

Happy Anniversary, my Love! Here's to another 60 years!

Field Trip & Last Day of Swim Lessons

Today was a big day for my Caleb! He had his first "Field Trip" and his last day of Swim Lessons today. He is a rock star. The field trip was with our Stroller Strides group and we had a blast. He even got his own apron. How cute is that?? "Okay, Mom. I got my apron on. LET'S DO THIS!!"

Time to add the dirt... he dumped the whole cup all over the place!!

Concentrating on adding the seeds

All done!! Look at what a good job he did!

Here we are with the rest of the Mommy & Me class. Caleb is like a little fish now. The difference from his first day of Swimming Lessons to his last day is amazing! He can float on his back, get a toy from the bottom of the pool, kick & pull, blow bubbles, "frog dive", and grab the edge of the pool on his own!!! I am so proud of my little guy. He is a rock star.