Tuesday, December 1, 2009

Catching up with the Bennights....part 1

Halloween:


They were cute. This was the girl's first year to actually make it for trick or treating.

































































Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Somewhere...just south of crazy!

Yes, I have not blogged in ages. Yes, I am a horrible blogger. I started this blog to keep family and friends who live far away (and some near) up to date with our ever growing family. (And I mean growing the sense of getting bigger NOT adding another person). We have started a new year, with new changes for everyone. Here are a few updates on everyone-

J started 4th grade this year. I can't believe he will have just one more year of grade school before entering Middle school. That just seems crazy to me. What else seems impossible? He will be 10 in 2 days. It feels like yesterday that I was waiting 4 more weeks to meet my baby boy when a semi-routine Drs appt caught PROM (water broke too early). My brother was there with me at the time. They couldn't find Jacob's dad since he was at work and not answering the phone. Brendan and niece Hannah (only 8 weeks old) kept me calm during the transit to the hospital and L&D department while I waited for the rest of my family to get there. It seems like yesterday. Has it really been 10 years?
He is growing like crazy and hoping to start up swim team again, and play baseball in the spring. His foot is bigger than mine, and he could probably wear my clothes. I think next year at this time he will be bigger than me. His new area of interest is in acting. We are currently looking for acting classes and hoping he enjoys acting on the stage as much as he does at home.

Brad-
Brad started 2 new jobs this fall. One as a teacher of Harpsichord at UNT (he's done that before) and the other as a part-time stay at home dad. The girls love him! They have really developed strong relationships with him that make me feel very good about our new family life. He is better than me at helping Jacob with homework after school as well. I lack patience in the area of teaching numbers...but Brad has a way with getting though to students. Oh wait....THAT'S why he is the teacher in the family, and not me. Ha!
Our schedules are pretty opposite. I come home from work and on three days out of five he passes me in the driveway on his way to teach. I miss him very much, but we have started having date night and lunches. Balance will resume one of these years.

Isabel is growing up WAY too fast. She started pre-school for the first time this year and can already recognize all letters of the alphabet (lower and upper case) and give you an example of a word that starts with the letter. This blows my mind. I have never seen a young 2 year old with this knowledge. I know they exist, but believe me when I say we have a bright one on our hands.

Emma is in year 2 of pre-school and has finally come out of her shell. She loves going to school, and seeing her friends and teacher. This year we moved schools so her and Iz could be at the same school. Every Wednesday she has chapel and twice a week they go to computer lab. E says her favorite part of the day is computer. Her class also memorizes Bible verses. They have a Bible bead bracelet and they get a bead when they say a verse. She said the first one flawlessly, and she is already prepared for this Friday. I can't wait to see both of the girls in their Christmas show this December.

As you can see, we've had some changes. I will try to get some pics of the kids up soon. Come back and see us!

Sunday, September 13, 2009

First week?

So, how did we do?

How can you really measure. I managed to get to work every day. Brad survived with the kids. In fact, the first day of work I came home to a clean house and prepared dinner. I could totally get used to that!

I may have not mentioned that the day after I was given the position at my new company, Brad was contacted by UNT asking him to teach harpsichord. He of course accepted, but the juggling of children has really been a nightmare. I only took my job with the intention that Brad would be home with them. We are looking for a permanent solution to the problem of every other Tuesday and every Friday morning. Every other Tuesday he teaches down at Baylor and the girls don't have school. I was hoping to be able to interview sitters at some point and find a great solution, but the idea of bringing a stranger into our house is daunting. Dad has agreed to help in the short term. I would like to eventually have someone to relieve him though so he can continue enjoying retirement. We also need someone every Friday morning for Isabel while Brad is teaching and Emma is at school.

Speaking of school....I LOVE the girl's new school! They attend a Christian Academy much like the school I attended as a child. They attend M/W's and E also goes every Friday. It goes from toddlers up through 8th grade. We have entertained the idea of moving Jacob over as well. It would be hard on him in the beginning, but he makes friends easily. I firmly believe I had a superior education afforded to me by attending a private Christian school. And I did attend public high school...so I DO know the difference. Night and day.

Isabel had a great first day of school (it was the first time she had ever attended). I peaked in the window after we dropped her and she was actively engaged in what the kids were doing. Emma was a little different story. We arrived late and she has chapel on Wednesdays. The kids were all packed into the theater singing songs and clapping. She seemed quite shy to let go of my leg. Her teacher came over and reassured her, and she was off. It was a good day for all. They are right across the highway from my office, so it helps knowing they are less than 5 minutes away if they ever need their mommy.

We are all exhausted with our new go go go schedule. I usually leave the house by 7 am and get home just after 4:30. I wake Jacob up on my way out, but Brad has to get the girls up, fed and ready for school. Tomorrow will be his first day completely on his own. I am starting to appreciate the weekends more than I have in a long time. Now if I could just figure out how to provide healthy home cooked meals for my family and fit in my workouts....there just aren't enough hours in the day.

Friday, September 4, 2009

3 isms

Today while visiting a potential pre-school for the girls (whose mascot happens to be a Lion) I asked E if she would like to go to school here and be a (name of school) Lion.

She answered deliberately:
"I don't want to be a lion, I want to be a flamingo".

Thursday, September 3, 2009

No fear

I didn't mean to scare anyone by the last blog post. We just have a lot going on here in the household.

First of all, I decided back in June I wanted to go back to work. Monday I was offered a position at a software company in the Sales and Marketing department. For now it is "temporary" filling in for someone on maternity leave until March 1 of next year.

The catch is that it is full time. I have been home with my babies since they were born, and we will all need a period of adjustment.

Brad has eagerly accepted the challenge of being a (mostly) stay at home dad. This week we are looking for a loving and nurturing Christian pre-school to allow Brad to teach his harpsichord lessons as needed. The school E attended last year has no openings this year for their age groups. And both girls will need to be cared for.

Changes changes changes. Must trust in God.

Wednesday, September 2, 2009

Has it really been this long?

Wow. I didn't realize the blog had fallen of the face of the web. We went on our annual beach trip, came home to no internet for a week, then the hussle of birthday parties and school starting has made time for blogging non-existent.

The beach trip was wonderful as usual. It rained more than it did last year, which made me sad (being the beach bum I am). But it didn't really affect the girls. They weren't really fans of the beach.
Here are just a few pictures.















As for the rest of life...things have gone crazy. You'll have to trust me for now and just pray that our family is easily adaptable. I will post more about these changes as they become more clear.
God bless!