Ben's Feminine Side

When I arrived at Ben's daycare this afternoon, I found that someone had put a little pony tail in his hair. It's really cute, and he is very proud of it! When I asked what it was, he said, "It's my pony. My pony tail!" Here he is showing it off...

Catching Up: The Farm (Part 1)

So it's been far too long since I've updated the blog... apologies to the three people who tune in regularly for updates. ;-)

There are three new entries, the most recent is first, so be sure to keep reading!

We spent a week at the Farm in Georgia and Ben had the time of his life! Here are some random pictures. I will post another entry with some additional photos (of more family members) when I get them from CeCe (we didn't bring a single camera on this trip... oops!).

Ben enjoying ice cream on the porch:

Splashing with Anna and Graham!



Papa helped Ben catch his first fish! (I think Ben looks more like a kid than a baby in this photo.)

The catch!

Ben and his Papa:


Lounging on the hammock:

Ben LOVED the play structure Papa built...


Playing along with the player piano...

Napping with CeCe:


Tire swinging...

How's that for a smile??

Fearless on the slide...


Our attempts at a family portrait:
Jonathan feels something rolling up his back...

Yup, that would be a truck...

Here's the best we could come up with:



This might be my new favorite photo. Remember Charlie Brown's friend Pigpen? He ain't got nothing on Ben!

Catching Up: Ginny and Mark's Wedding!

In late June we traveled to Currituck, North Carolina for my best friend's wedding. Ginny and Mark have a beautiful daughter, Ellie, who stole the show all weekend long. Ben came in a close second, and I basked in the compliments we received on how cute and polite(!!) he was. Here are some photos taken by a truly wonderful photographer and former high school student of Ginny...

Ben loved playing on the tractors at Ginny's brother's house during the rehearsal dinner (a pig pickin'!):

The beautiful bride...


Ellie's spontaneous participation in the ring ceremony was incredibly sweet...


My maid of honor speech... in which I cited Beowulf (in the original Anglo Saxon) and made myself cry...

Mr. Ben enjoyed the lawn games and art table after the ceremony!

Catching Up: Coco's Visit and Katie's Graduation

In June, Coco came to visit and to celebrate my graduation! Ben had a wonderful time with Coco, though we managed to only snap a couple of photos of them together. Here's one:

Coco is constantly taking pictures, and Ben became obsessed with her "cammer" (camera). So Coco bought him his VERY OWN digital cammer. Here he is taking the first of hundreds of shots of his own fingers. But he loves it and it's been fun.

What I love most about visits from friends and family are the photos we get of ourselves! We rarely remember or take the time to get photos with Mommy and Daddy with Ben. So here are a couple, the first of which I absolutely love (I know, I'm not mother of the year!):


Here we are reading one of this household's favorites, Llama Llama Misses Mama. A classic, for sure!


I (FINALLY) finished my Ph.D. after (WAY TOO MANY) years in UCD's English Department. I'm happy to be done, and I was so glad to have my mom and husband there to celebrate! We left Ben at home with our friends the McReynolds, which proved to be smart since the ceremony went on for almsot 3 hours!


But we came home to find homemade banners decorating the yard. They say "CONGRATULATIONS Dr. Rodger, aka Mommy, aka Katie!" It was a very cool thing to see. And they were, of course, decorated by the kids.

This cake proved to be the richest chocolate I've had in my life. It actually kept me up that night due, I believe to the caffeine content! But soooooooo good!


Our little family...

The Dynamic Duo!

The day began innocently enough. Elliot came to spend the morning with us while his sister was in preschool (accompanied by her mom)... The boys seemed happy doing some basic finger painting in the back yard. While enjoying some banana muffins.


I went inside for just a minute, and when I came back, both boys had managed to get more paint on themselves--and in their hair--than on the paper!



They played.


And climbed.


And played some more.


It was a great morning!

Ben and His Horn

A couple of weekends ago the UC Davis Marching Band was at the Farmers Market. The players welcomed kids (and grown ups) to come check out their instruments between songs, and Ben was particularly fascinated by the horns... The first instrument we bought for Ben was a recorder, which he still calls his "horn," and we think (and hope) he's definitely going to end up playing someday.

Needless to say, the largest horns were the most interesting for Ben, and we spent quite a bit of time watching him explore. One of the band members was particularly friendly, and even showed Ben how to blow into the mouthpiece (which Ben didn't want to do). But it was clearly the highlight of Ben's morning!

Spring Has Sprung!

The weather has been very spring-like for the past couple of weeks (though as I write this it's raining again!). We've had lots of fun outside... playing with friends, working in our garden, and hanging out at the park. Here are some random photos:

Ben "hupping" me trim the hedges. Note that he's using his plastic toddler-friendly scissors. He became very frustrated when they wouldn't cut very much!



My recent favorite photo. He's sucking on a "wa-pop" (lollipop).


Flowers blooming at the park! (Wa-pop in his mouth.)



Ben loves the sand box at the park...



We go for a wagon ride almost every day around the neighborhood. Here Emma and Elliot join us!