4-day weekend

I've been cutting Benjamin's hair for a while now, and I decided the other day that he really needed to go back to see a professional for as least one visit because let's face it, I'm not that good at it yet.

I was running late in town (after an OB appointment I believe), and I found out that Josh already had a haircut for himself scheduled, so we crashed his appointment (with the permission).

Before:

After:

She did an absolutely fantastic job on it, and I'd be lying if I didn't say I was paying close attention to help me along in my at home endeavors.  Among other things I noticed that I really need to work more on thinning his hair and blending.  In the meantime he might end up with more professional haircuts before things like picture day.

Afterwards we went to Buffalo Wild Wings for dinner.  I enjoyed a lovely Cherry limeade.  God sent us a beautiful, fluffy white snow that evening.  It wasn't enough to stick to the roads, but it was enough to soak everything to the point that our freezing weather would make roads unsafe for the next day.  Alas, school was closed for Friday.

 Benjamin enjoyed extra time home with me while Josh went to work.  I spent Friday and Saturday doing an overhaul on my messy closet.

Athena helped me fold laundry.

 Sunday morning we went to church where Benjamin decided to wear sunglasses for most of Sunday School.

After church we grabbed some lunch and headed for an overnight trip to Gatlinburg.  We stopped at the Kroger in Sevierville, and Benjamin loved the car shopping cart.

 

We had a fantastic dinner that evening.

I love my sweet boy!

The next day we went to the Salt and Pepper Shaker Museum, Ollie's (in Knoxville), and Litton's (in Knoxville).  Pictures to come later.  It's time for bed!

Da Bubbles!

It's neat, and kind of funny, to go back and look at incomplete posts on my blog that have just been sitting in drafts for a while.  Here is one from back in June of Benjamin playing with our (at the time) relatively new Bubble blower.  

I'm pretty sure I was modeling a new haircut at the time.  My hair was cooperating much more then in the summer months versus our cold dry winter months right now.

Catching up

Apologies for being so very absent on the blog for over a month.  

A quick one for the evening to show how much our boy is growing.  

This was pre-haircut this evening:

 And post-haircut:

Yes, he is getting some length to him.  

He's in about the 85% percentile for his height and 50% for his weight.

We love this incredibly strong-willed, stubborn boy.

Miss me in May?

  Beware of a Looonnngg post. ;)

I got a little lazy, and I thought I would take a post to play catch up on the first half of May.

Here is a candid of Benjamin talking on his toy phone on the way home.

We were able to visit Tinsley park one day early in May.  It was a cool morning and the very nice, fairly new, playground  is shaded.

Grammy was along for the trip.  Benjamin wasn't much into swinging.

Josh came by as well.

Benjamin loves slides.

He was getting tired and nearly wouldn't smile for the picture with me.

Candid of my cutie playing under a chair.

This was one of our mornings in Sunday School.  Benjamin starting going to Sunday School on Easter.  I just have to stay with him since it is technically for about 3 and up.

The teacher gives treats for listening to the story and answering questions. He gets a lollipop almost every week.

Going down the church stairs with his Daddy.

I decided to try my hand at cutting his hair.  I bought some Wahl electric clippers , guards, and some scissors and gave it a go. His hair just grows so fast; I knew it would be cheaper in the long run if I could learn to do it at home.

Before:

 

After.

Lessons learned were:

1) Stay away from his bangs with the clippers because I don't like them really short.

2) Use a longer guard since I like his hair a touch longer.

3) Let him run around outside in between cutting.  He screams like someone is killing him otherwise.  The game apps on my phone helped big time.

We met Grammy at Smoothie King one of the following days.  I don't recall why, but he had been fussing.

I also got some pics of him playing outside later that day I believe.

We were outside on a different day...Notice he made a tomato cage into a basketball hoop.  I was halfway through weeding the back garden to prep for planting.

We have experimented with propping his head while sleeping in the car.

I met up with my parents and sister at Gardener's market before a trip to Sevierville one weekend.

I again experimented with comfy head positions for him...lol.

We had a great weekend with Josh's parents and Mamaw.

We tried to let him ride a kiddie ride at Dollywood without Christianna.

It was a bad idea.

After they stopped the ride just for Benjamin to get off. Bless him. We thought maybe he would do better riding a ride with me. After all, he had ridden with Christianna before and not been traumatized.

He was not amused. And said, "No, no, no, no, the entire time.

Later, he tried to chew on Papaw's Jazzy; Josh's dad had a double knee replacement.

We went to Old Time Pottery on that trip.  Benjamin enjoyed a "pop," as he calls it.

We came back before Josh's family did, so we stayed at their house a night.

Benjamin enjoyed some pork rinds.

May I take your order?

Benjamin enjoyed running around in their yard. 

A random pic from a shopping trip to BiLo

I thought this was funny.  He picked up his milk and drank while he was still sleeping.

We had some more fun at church.  Here he is in the nursery.

Josh plays the drums for the church.  Benjamin took a turn one day after church.

He took a nap later that day.

And that's about all for this post.  Look for more posts in the coming week.