Teddy Bear Picnic

The gang post-cake and ice cream, Amelia reclines while Ethan passes out.

Amelia & Ethan

Amelia and Ethan shoveling cake (the cake was supposedly shaped like a bear (which I think looked like a pig (and so did Amelia and Ethan, obviously (I mean look at the way they are cramming all that cake in their faces)))).
Amelia squealing with delight
Family Portrait

Happy Spring/Easter

After a long cold snowy winter the first flowers bloomed right around Easter. We were very happy to see color come to life in our yard. Every year these bulbs bloom and they remind us of our first Fall when Abbey was born. Marcia came to see her new grand baby and she planted these flowers. Spring has brought new blooms every week. As one set dies, another blast of red, orange and yellow pops up.

Easter with Daddy. We have been so busy these last several months. I guess it is all relative. Talk to any of Ben's siblings and ask if WE have been busy. I know it will just get worse. So we took time out on Easter Sunday while Amelia was asleep and took a picture before Abbey had a potty accident or pulled out her cute hair do completely.

As soon as Amelia woke up we took this photo and dashed off to Kevin and Melissa's house. Our last dinner with our dear friends before they abandoned us for BYU.

Amelia's picture was taken at Kevin & Melissa's house. Sorry Amelia, being second child really does mean photo ops are fewer and farther between. You really do look cute though (even if you are not sitting out in the green grass on a nice sunny day like abbey and dad).

Family Fun Day!

Ben has been working two jobs lately. He decided to figure out how to finish basements. He started with our neighbor's back in December and has already completed....almost half of it. We'll have to get a picture of the progress. But he has been working there Saturdays and the family has been missing their daddy. Soooo Ben decided to surprise us with a "FAMILY FUN DAY." We just started driving south on I-71 and none of us (but Ben) knew where we were going. 2 hours later we pulled off a bit before Cincinnati and there was TONS of traffic. We thought maybe the traffic was for the Gun Show. NOT the family fun day surprise I wanted. But as we got closer to our real destination the traffic got worse. There were police officers directing traffic in the rain....

Then I saw the overfull parking lot. Then I knew... We were going to the new IKEA in Cincinnati! There were soooo many people. We were not allowed to park because the lot was full. There was no where to go. This place was surrounded by farm fields. So we (along with hundreds of other people) circled. We finally just parked semi-illegally and went in. So crowded! Worse than Disneyland.

But as you can see we still had fun. Here we are waiting in line for a Swedish Meatball dinner. Amelia was surprised to find it was not in Ben's ear but on the amazing (and cheap) highchair.

We limited ourselves to $50. That still seemed like a lot to me. By the end we spent around $75 for gas, food and amazing new home decor. My personal favorite were these "Great Big Huge" Ronnbar Plant Pots only $6. (Some day I'll learn how to get photos from the Internet onto my blog so you can see for yourself. Or just go to http://www.ikea.com/ and put in Ronnbar Plant Pots) It truly was a Family FUN Day!

Dirty Dishes

The other day after breakfast Amelia was particularly dirty so instead of merely wiping her hands I would rinse them in the sink. Well one thing lead to another and she had pulled herself into the sink. She is stronger then me.... Her sister saw how much fun she was having and decided she wanted to play too.
I decided the kitchen sink is way better than the tub.
Less water.
No bending.
No reaching.
They can wash dishes while they are in there.
More Safe?














Not quite. Amelia is not as easily contained as her sister.



She tried to climb out several times.

Abbey and Michelle Finally Meet and Shake Hands

Usually we are ridiculous on this blog, but today may be a slight exception. We have taken advantage of the Democrats interest in Ohio the past three days. I went to see a very unanimated Chelsea Clinton speak on campus, juxtaposed to a very exuberant but somewhat generic Hillary Clinton the day after. This afternoon “d”, “double a” (or the “A Team”) and I heard Michelle Obama speak. Her approach was more candid and unscripted. Although we are never sure about any party or politician when it comes to this stuff, there is something about the Obama duo that is unique and authentic, more so than what we hoped to find with Romney and McCain. Abbey did squeak out a “hi” as Mrs. Obama asked Abbey “Do you know this guy?” suggesting that I was some homeless man that grabbed a stray little girl for a near perfect photo op. She also complimented Abbey on her pretty jacket, still doubting if I was the father by saying, “Someone needs to check this guy out.” Unfortunately Abbey’s follow-up question, “Will Obama represent another tax and spend liberal bent on making a big government bigger and expanding government programs, programs that have 1) no incentives to be efficient, 2) no evidence of effective implementation and 3) no results of lasting meaningful change?”, went unaswered as Michelle, rattled, looked on.

The Contest

Dani once the front runner, loses lead to a series of design flip flops and structural gaffs.














The field narrowed to two, Ben runs on his years of experience, whereas Alex runs on a platform based on "change."













Ben's result represents a well manicured suburban dreamland and Alex...















...reality