Bennett Turns One!!

Bennett Alfred Sharpe, 1 year old
Weight: 25 lbs (80th%)
Height: 33 inches (>97th%)
Head: 19 cm (90th%)

My baby boy turned one on August 30th. We spent the day before at the State Fair, which seemed totally appropriate being that I went into labor with him after walking around the fair the year prior!! Let me tell you, I was much more comfortable this year!!

Bennett is a joyful, happy, sweet, busy little boy. He is not yet walking, but crawling faster than a run, if you ask us! He doesn't seem interested in walking because he is such an efficient crawler! It seems there is NOTHING he can't get into, either. He's tipping over lamps, getting into the toilet, knocking books and puzzles off of every shelf, etc, etc. He is basically a destructo-matic right now, but boy do we love him!!

Sibling Love...

A few cute shots of my three loves.....

Hayden Jonathan, 7 years old
Erica Rae, 4 1/2 years old
Bennett Alfred, 1 year old

My Three Loves...

....at Bush Lake Beach the other day~

Date Day

Jon and I enjoyed a fantastic date day in Minneapolis recently. We started out the afternoon by walking around the Farmers Market near the Guthrie & Mill City. We enjoyed great music, some yummy food, people-watching and just perusing & holding hands.
After this we headed in to the Guthrie Theater to see "Dollhouse," which was such a treat.
Next up was a walk across the Stone Arch Bridge for some more great people-watching & some beautiful sights of downtown & the mighty Mississippi.

What an amazing day.... :)

Chicklets!

Here is Bennett at 9 months...showing off his pearly whites...aka chicklets! He currently has 6 teeth-- 4 on top, 2 on bottom. He didn't get his first tooth until 7 months, and then they just kept coming! Poor guy!
He is also showing off a bit of skin in this photo, as it was tubby time...which he LOVES!
He continues to be such a joyful little soul, and is just so much fun to have around!

I can't believe we are already coming up on his 1st birthday. :(

First Boat Ride of the Summer

We thought we finally found a nice evening to take our first trip out on Minnetonka this summer, but Mother Nature proved us wrong! The clouds started rolling in on our way out to the boat, and by the time Jon finished his first wake-board run, it was lightening in the distance. Argh!

We did manage to get a little wind in our hair, and a few photos of Bennett's first boat ride (other than in my belly, that is!)

I love this one of our three lovelies:

Bennett's Baptism Day

Bennett Alfred was baptized on February 13th at Mount Olivet Lutheran Church in Mpls. It was such a joyful day! He was baptized by Pastor Kurt Kalland, who married Jon & I, and also baptized both Hayden and Erica as babies, as well. He is an amazing, kind, caring & funny man who we feel so blessed to have as part of our lives.

In our move, I somehow misplaced the christening gown that Hayden and Erica wore. Nana Sharpe to the rescue!! She found this adorable white outfit at Childrens Place for him to wear on his big day! Such a handsome lil' guy....

We chose Jon's cousin Christy and her husband Ole to be Bennett's godparents. They are such wonderful people, who love and respect one another so much. We figured they would be great role models for Bennett as he grows up.

Pastor Kurt Kalland with our family
and our whole crew after the Baptism service:

After the Baptism, we headed over to Nana & Papa Sharpe's home for a delicious brunch.
It was a wonderful day with family & friends celebrating Bennett.

Guess Who's Four????

We celebrated Erica Rae's 4th birthday this past weekend....and it was an all weekend party, let me tell you! Friday night was a party at Nana and Papa Sharpe's house. Saturday the 20th was her actual birthday and we celebrated by spending the day at the Water Park of America. Then Sunday was her Super Sledding Party with her friends. It was an awesome, fun-filled weekend celebrating the life of Miss E!!

Here we are at the water park, thoroughly enjoying ourselves!
(Bennett stayed home & spent some quality time with Nana Smith)

And a few from the sledding party:

Nana Sharpe saved the day on the Unicorn cake request, as we looked high and low for unicorn decorations, to no avail....

No party is complete without the birthday song...

Happy Birthday E.Rae~ You are such an amazing big girl!!
We could not be more proud of you~

Our Love Bug...

At the end of this month, Bennett will be 6 months old already. I can hardly believe it is true, even as I type it right now. He has brought such immense joy to our lives, and it has been SO much fun to watch him grow and learn to explore his world a little more every day.

He is such a good-natured, mellow, little dude--and is just so easy to be around. He sleeps through the night, rolls in both directions (when he feels like it), chews on everything, LOVES his exersaucer & his feet, and started eating cereal recently.

Knowing this is our last baby...we are just trying to enjoy and cherish every step and every moment along the way. We love you Mr. B!!

Family of Five....

The first few weeks after Bennett's birth were a little crazy, but we seem to really be in the groove now. It's really hard to remember life before he was a part of our family. We truly feel complete now. I guess we were always meant to be a family of five...who knew?!

Getting a good photo of the five of us, however, was a different story! Zoiks....it was quite the stressful process! Jon and I were both sweating by the end of the photo shoot, and luckily 1 out of 7 photos turned out "good enough!"

Little Miss Erica Rae, 3 3/4 years
&
Our Kindergartner--Hayden Jonathan, 6 years

He Smiles!!!

Happy Halloween.....

....from the Sharpe family zoo!!

All About E.Rae

It seems the last number of blog posts have been all about the boys in my life. I figured it was due time for Erica to get a post all about her. After all, I do not want her to have "middle child syndrome" or anything!

Erica is your typical, feisty 3 1/2 year old these days. She is very strong willed, and is pushing every limit there is to push. When not pushing limits (or in the time out :)), she is still our loving, caring, sweet, talkative little girl.

She is adjusting to being a big sister, and not being the baby anymore...but it has been hard on her. Don't get me wrong...she LOVES her baby brother, but the changes have definitely affected her behavior these past few weeks. She doesn't like that the attention has shifted away from her....but she's coming around! :)

Here are a few photos of her loving up Bennett--she always says "Mom, take my picture with baby Bennett":

Lounging in the couch, watching Dora together:

Yesterday she asked if we could go get her hair cut. She informed me that she wanted it "cut short & beautiful--like yours, mom." She has asked me this before, but I have always been hesitant to cut too much off. This time we went for it, and here she is with her adorable new bob--I just LOVE it (& so does she):

Little Mommy, helping to feed Bennett:

Erica is still going to Janet's daycare, two doors down, two days a week--just to keep her routine up a bit, and to give her play time with friends. I think this really helps her not to resent me so much for all the attention that I need to give to Bennett right now. Once I go back to work (the last week of November), both Erica and Bennett will go to Janet's 4 days a week--which I am so thankful for.

In October, Erica will start her Lil' Flipsters gymnastics class, which she is ecstatic about. I will post pictures once she gets going in this.

Well, that's it for now.....stay tuned!

Look-A-Likes??

Sometimes it is a little deja vu for me when staring at Bennett. It takes me right back to when Hayden was a baby. To me, they look so much alike, especially when he is wearing baby clothes that Hayden used to wear--which is most of the time! Here are some comparative photos of the two of them. What do you think? Do you see the resemblance in these two handsome gents?

Hayden Jonathan, 10 days old:


Bennett Alfred, 7 days old:

Hayden Jonathan, 12 days old:

Bennett Alfred, 2 days old:

Welcome to the World Bennett!!

Big Changes for Hayden

Hayden has had a big couple weeks, with lots of change, and lots of excitement!

First and foremost has been becoming a big brother again--which is a job he takes VERY seriously! He is in love with his little brother, and wants to hold him any chance he gets. When I was pregnant and asked him whether he wanted a brother or a sister, he would respond, "a healthy baby." He is happy to tell you now, though, that he truly wanted a brother all along! He reminds Erica and I all the time that "now the girls are out numbered by boys!" He thinks that is pretty great. Below are Hayden and Bennett snuggling:



Secondly, on Wednesday 9/9--Hayden started Kindergarten!!
It was a much anticipated day, as he thought he was ready to go last year, but missed the Kindergarten cut-off by one week. When the bus came to pick him up on Wednesday morning, he didn't even look back....he was so ready to go, and be a big boy. He will be doing full day Kindergarten, Monday-Friday--which we think will be so good for him, and challenge that big brain of his. We are looking forward to seeing him blossom over this next year.

Here he is with his friend Gabriel at the bus stop,
and boarding the bus for the first time!

And finally on September 10th, Hayden celebrated his 6th birthday!
It was only his second day of school, but I had talked with his teacher ahead of time, and had arranged for him to bring in birthday treats--so they celebrated his birthday all day at school that day. We also celebrated that evening when he got home with dinner of his choice (which of course was McDonalds) & gifts from Mom, Dad, Erica & Bennett.

The weekend prior we celebrated with the entire Smith crew. Here is Hayden with his birthday cake from that party:

And (below) with his gift haul from that party. I told my sister-in-law that H had requested a Nerf blaster/shooter, and low and behold.....everyone purchased him a Nerf gun. So, we now have 4 Nerf blasters of varying sizes & all their darts hiding behind all of our furniture, etc!!

A few photos from his Sharpe family party where he got to pick the menu of fish (bass and sunnies caught up at Isle O' Dreams by he, Daddy & Papa), macaroni & cheese, green beans, bread, salad, and home made ice cream cake for dessert.

A few of his favorite gifts from that party:

A knight costume including sword and shield from Auntie Ali,
and a pirate costume from Auntie Katy:

And finally, last Sunday we had a big party for him at our house with all of his friends...complete with a surprise guest....a magician!! Hayden was completely surprised, as were all of his friends. They had a great time, and were in awe of the magic tricks--which even included a live bird!

Part of the crew-- we had 30+ people at our house, 17 of which were kids.

Here is the birthday boy participating in a rope trick:

...and finally blowing out more candles. Think how many wishes
this kiddo got for his 6th birthday!!

Happy Birthday, Hayden. We love you so much, and are so proud of the big boy you have become!!