Benjamin |

Benny’s graduation

Ben graduated from PreK (again)…ha, well actually I think this year was called Transitional K, an extra year before Kindergarten. I’m so glad we waited, he has grown so much this year and it’s been neat to watch his confidence and friendly leadership abilities soar.

He did a 4/5’s program at a church about 10 minutes from here.

His teachers did an excellent job of encouraging and pushing him *just* enough. He went from saying “I can’t” to “watch me, let me try” which has been really cool. I also love how they combined academics with manners, kindness and biblical principles.

Yay, Ben!

This is my can we please stop taking pictures now, smile.

There was a super cute carnival/party afterwards.

And ice cream sundaes!

“Look my geen gummy bear Nonna!”

I think two of my favorite pictures for the day actually came from cell phones though! Ben, we’re so proud of you and excited to see what’s next!

We love our Legos!

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Is the plural of Lego, Lego? Legos? Either way, we’re pretty serious about them around here. Ben follows the directions and puts sets together all by himself. Cassidy needs a little help, but still holds her own. But the best creations are all the random stuff they come up with!

Randoms

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It’s been a while since I’ve done a “life update” post, but I just wanted to share some of the things that have been going on around here.

I signed Ben up for Kindergarten! He had his screening last week and I had the parent info night tonight. I’m SO glad we waited, he seems perfectly ready this year. It’s been neat to watch him turn into a little leader and build his confidence over the last few months. I even had another mom come up to me at the playground and tell me since Ben had befriended her son in class this year, her little guy has really come out of his shell.

Cassidy has entered the “terrible three’s” a few months early :) She’s not really that bad, just moody and screamy sometimes. Poor Ben never knows what mood his sister is in these days, I feel for him. She still loves counting things any chance she can get, her princesses, dinosaurs and all the books.

I’ve started working at an organic farm! Just Wednesday afternoons and then when the season picks up, early Friday mornings before Andy leaves for work. I love it! It’s something I’ve always been interested in and sometime down the road would like to pair with graphic design. Agritourism, agricultural education, farm marketing…there’s something in there for me. These are just some first steps :) Right now I’m working in the greenhouse planting seeds, lots and lots of seeds!

Andy officially registered a DBA and has been doing a lot of side engineering projects. He’s also been working really hard on a set of gorgeous oak stairs we’re putting in our front entryway. Seriously who replaces the whole stairs in their house? Ours are just 60s style boards with no backs though, they’re falling apart and not supported well at all. Andy’s been staining, polyurethaning and sanding like a madman in preparation for his parents coming this weekend to help us tear out the old ones and put the new set in.

Our church has a new home! We’re renting out the Victor Sports Academy and it’s been working great for the past month. Sure church is held on astroturf, but considering how much it’s taken to get us here, we’re thrilled! The kids get to have children’s church on tumble mats in the gym, which they love. Andy helped set up all the tech equipment and screens too.

We are thiiiiiiis close to paying off my student loans. I didn’t think it could happen this year but it’s looking like it might! Stay tuned for updates! Afterwards, money will be allocated to pay off Andy’s truck and then we can start saving for land/a cabin/acres in the woods. Or, something like that. We’d be open to staying here if we had a cabin in the woods to escape to. Or if we could find a house with 5-10+ acres around here, that could work too. We love Victor (especially since Ben will be in school here) but would consider Macedon, Bloomfield or Farmington too. The Bristol and Naples areas are beautiful, but with Andy working in Greece it’s a bit unrealistic for us to live there. Maybe a cabin there though? Who knows, we’ll see what happens in the next few years :)

I turn 30 next month! And we’ll have our 10th wedding anniversary the month after that. Whaaaaat? 20s have been great, it’s been awesome to have started life with my best friend by my side. Add a house, a couple of kids, real jobs and two cats and you could almost call me an adult :)

Maddie Turns 1!

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We celebrated Maddie’s first birthday last weekend. HOW can she be one already? Becky and Jared picked a Minnie Mouse theme for the party and now Cassidy wants to bring all her Minnie stuff to their house. It was such a nice afternoon celebrating a super sweet little girl :)

Maple Weekend 2016

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Our friends Chris and Melinda run a local maple farm and were a part of NYS’s Maple Weekend.

We visited their open house on Sunday and enjoyed the all you can eat pancake breakfast. Andy also enjoyed the sausages ;-)

The kids got to drill and tap a tree and learn how the process starts out in the woods.

Ben was convinced the syrup itself was coming out of the tree, not the sap.

We also toured the sap shed where everything is boiled down into the usable product. It’s a 40 to 1 ratio, 40 gallons of sap to make 1 gallon of syrup.

Chris built and welded the evaporator in the sugarhouse.

There were some history, equipment and of course tasting stations inside as well.

Before we left we visited the monster truck and tractor.

The kids also loved the animals that were outside.

Thanks Chris and Melinda for sharing your farm and a part of your life with us. You guys are passionate, hard working and have a pretty awesome production going on! I’m proud to know you!

And just because I get a chuckle out of it, this is OUR maple syrup production. We tap two maple trees in our side yard. They’re not even the right kind of tree (silver maples instead of sugar maple) but it’s fun!

Spring!

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Spring is here :) The kids and I made bird feeders this week with pinecones and peanut butter.

Ben has been wearing this bracelet from Ms. Sylvia everywhere, haha.

We hung them up outside. I don’t think the birds are interested in them at all, but the kids had fun.

We played in the mud too. Ben actually slipped and fell and was VERY upset he got dirty, but I tried to not make a big deal out of it and eventually he went back to playing. He’s so funny about stuff sometimes, wants to explore bugs but gets grossed out. Wants to play in the mud but not get dirty.