baby steps

So yesterday I went and put Benson down for a nap...45 minutes later, he was still playing in his crib with his stuffed bear. I went in to explain to him that he needed to nap and he just looked up at me and put his arms out for me! It was his first time to reach out towards someone....It made me feel like a million bucks.

Santa Baby

This post goes out to my dear friend who is expecting a baby sometime soon. Her due date isn't for another few days but I made a prediction that the baby would come today...so

dear baby,
please come today. We are all very excited for you to come and we are all just waiting to meet you...and if you don't come today my husband will never forget to remind me how I didn't guess the right day. Your dad took his last final so he has free time and your mom doesn't want to go back to school...Pleassee Pleassee come today!
love,
Gini, Scott, Benson

Tis the Season

Tis the season for hussle and bussle, for getting things done, and trying to remember the Holiday spirit.

Things always seems to get crazy this time of year and it definitely has for us. It started with our boiler breaking...and after 20+ hours, seven different repair men, three space heaters, two flooded carpets, one melted bucket and a blow dryer..we believe it is fixed. they are coming today to check on it and hopefully we will never hear from Manwill Plumping again!

Thank goodness that great food comes along with the holiday traditions and Benson is just old enough to enjoy it. He has now tried pumpkin pie, pears, bananas, yams, and avacodo. He loves them all! I'm very grateful for Scott's parents idea of buying a highchair for their grandkids and then leaving it behind when they left for Hong Kong...Benson loves being in it!

We are celebrating this Christmas at home and my parents are flying out today to spend it with us. They live in North Carolina and wanted a white Christmas this year.

After the holidays I will start my student teaching! I'll be teaching US Government and World History...I am so scared! but very excited to finally finish school!

So, if the postings start to slow between now and April..you know why. I'll be up to my elbows in grading and lesson plans!! Wish me luck!

Play Date

Benson had his first play date this last week and it was soo funny to watch him and his cousin play together! Benson can't quite sit up on his own so I think when he can the play dates will be a lot of fun! They were so cute we couldn't help but take a few shots. Thanks for the pics A!

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving
This year we have a lot to be grateful for. The last couple months have seemed to have some dark hours but each time we have been blessed with tender mercies that have pulled us through the hard times.

Here are things that we are grateful for (not in any order):

- Family
- Scott's job
- Ice Cream
- Our home
- A healthy baby
- airplanes
- gchat
- Friends
- King size beds
- Pacifiers
- Dishwashers

Happy Birthday

Dear Mom,

Happy Birthday!!

Hope its a wonderful day and I just wanted to say thanks for being such a great mom to me and a great meme for Benson. I hope one day I can be as great as a mom as you are!

We love you even though we tease you about being from Oregon and being a tree hugger...and shuffling your feet...and your garden that you know more about then your own child....

its raining, its pouring...

After being out of town for a long weekend, we came home to this:



a flooded dining room. The radiator pipe that is outside on the balcony busted while we were gone and it leaked into the apartment. Luckly, our personal handy man took the long drive up from Provo on a late Sunday night to help us out.

Thanks Todd (and Lori of course) for coming to help us out...by the way, can you tell Todd's got a new pair of jeans?