The weather was beautiful today so we headed out for some geocaching. Andy wore Ben who was all too happy to be carried on the trails. It was such a perfect day!
by Heather
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Fall geocaching
by Heather
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12 months
Ben you’re 1 :) You say “ah dah” (all done), “dug” (dog), “kiiiiiiiii” (kitty, always squealed), mama, dada and nana. Although mama and dada probably aren’t real words, more just sounds. You have 5 teeth and numbers 6 and 7 are going to come in soon. They’ve been bothering you a lot lately and you’re chewing on everything again.
No walking on your own yet, but you’re a speedy little crawler. You also like to walk behind your little hippo walker toy. You love pushing your toy cars around and know exactly what buttons to press on other toys to get them to make noise. Who knew all these toys I thought needless and silly would actually entertain you!
Pizza is your favorite food, bananas come a close second. You’re starting to get a little picky, but anything mashed in a banana goes right down.
You’re still a pretty mellow dude but definitely get excited for kitties. And now when daddy comes home from work you get to crazy waving and are all smiles.
Playing with your cars.
Not quite ready to let go.
So handsome!
by Heather
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Outdoor Fun
Our neighbor lets us pick apples from his trees. We juice them to make cider and Ben was our little helper this year :)
They weren’t the prettiest.
But sure are tasty!
Afterward, Andy found a little friend for Ben.
Ben may have been getting a little too friendly.
Such boys :)
by Heather
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Pumpkins
A few weeks ago we headed down to Corning to watch my friend Becky run a marathon. After the race, a tired Becky went home, but a few friends and I headed to the Corning Museum of Glass for a field trip. I’ve been there a few times before, but this trip my friend Tracy and I did a glass blowing class and made glass pumpkins. That sounds super exciting, right? Well, truth is we actually just picked the colors out and blew air into a tube, filling up the glass at the other end. The CMOG workers actually did the “real” work of making the pumpkin. It was a neat experience though and I think it turned out great.
This is the part where I disclose I didn’t follow directions and actually ruined my first pumpkin attempt. I blew too hard and didn’t stop when the lady told me to, so my first pumpkin came out too big and thin and she said it wouldn’t survive (too brittle) so we tried for number two. Mind you, 5 year olds were able to follow these directions…
After the class we just wandered around the gift shop for a bit and were fascinated by the huge pumpkins that “real” glass artists made!
The staff member got some molten glass from the kiln. (Totally butchering terminology)
I picked my colors (white and yellow for the body, green for the stem) and she rolled the glass goober in the flecks of coloring. Then she dropped it in the mold so it took a pumpkin shape. Afterward she brought it over to me and I blew through the tube, filling up the hollow pumpkin with air. No pictures of these steps, I was a little busy :) After the pumpkin was done, she added a little stem to it.
Pumpkin with a stem! It still had to harden over night so they shipped it to me later in the week.
My finished pumpkin!
Some kids in the class were choosing crazy colors! There is a kid blowing air at the other end of the tube (can’t see it in the picture). While the staff member kept the glass moving and pumpkin shaped.
Giant pumpkins in the gift shop!
So pretty!
by Heather
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Happy birthday!
Ben had his first birthday party yesterday. The theme was “numbers” and celebrating 12 months of Ben.
I created the invitation, I figured since I’m a graphic designer I ought to. It was a lot of fun, but I think it means I’m kind of required to for future birthdays too. Hopefully I don’t run out of ideas :)
15 or so people came to our house to help celebrate. Sorry for some of the faces you guys are making in this pic!
We didn’t go overboard with decorating or anything. Just some balloons and a few other little things. We did pizza and some food that family brought (thanks guys!)
My friend Tracy made these awesome cupcakes that matched the invite. They were SO yummy!
She even made a smash cake for Ben!
He very methodically picked off pieces of frosting for testing.
He never really dove into the cake, I actually had to cut it open so he could get to the goodness inside…but he loved it and couldn’t stop grinning!
There were also lots of presents to be opened! Toys, clothes, books and all sorts of goodies. We had a slideshow going on the TV during the party too, featuring 12 months of Mr. Ben in all the pictures I’ve taken.
Lots of love from Aunt Danielle.
And from Andy’s mom too! Wish I could have gotten everyone’s picture with the birthday boy, but it was so nice of everyone to come. Thanks for all your love, guys :)
by Heather
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See Becky Run
My friends Tracy, Sandy and I headed on a mini road trip to watch our friend Becky run her 3rd marathon. I’d never seen one before and I have to say it was SO awesome. The weather was horrible (40s and rainy) but the spirit and drive of the runners was so exciting. Even complete strangers ran by and thanked us for coming out to support them. Becky did great, it’s quite an accomplishment! She ran by us at one checkpoint though and muttered “I hate running!” Haha Becky, you’ll be signing up for marathon #4 soon enough :)
