The Benson Family Goes Skating!

We were invited to go skating today with some friends from church. Yes, roller skating rinks apparently still exist! AnnaGrace has been skating with school a couple of times, but Brinlee and Josie had never been so we thought it would be fun to take them. Maybe Saturday wasn't the best day to go because there was a TON of people that had the same idea we had. After we payed, Brinlee decided she isn't even going to put a pair of skates on her feet. AnnaGrace, Josie, and I all get our skates on. These are the same kind of skates that I skated in 20 years ago. If it were the same rink, I would think they were the exact same skates. After AnnaGrace gets her skates on, she chickens out and will not even go onto the floor. Josie is very excited, but she is confused and thinks that this is our Disney World trip and she keeps asking me where Mickey is. She does go out onto the floor with me and she is actually pretty good for a three year old. It took us about fifteen minutes to make one trip around the floor, but hey we did it and no broken bones! I am upset that Clint didn't get any pictures of me doing back flips in my skates. No, I didn't do any backflips, but I took a few trips around the floor by myself with no falls and I am very proud of that! For only $11, we had a great time. And you can't beat the music that you get to hear at the skating rink!

Winter is "SNOW" much fun!

In honor of MLK Day, the Benson family had the day off! We decided to take the girls out to eat at Olive Garden and to Toys R Us to spend gift cards and money that they got for Christmas. When we got in the car to leave, it was snowing! We watched, as we were eating in Olive Garden, the snowflakes get bigger and bigger. Being a prepared mom, I had my camera in the car. I made the family get out and take pictures in the parking lot. They were certainly not happy about it, but the pictures turned out well. The only one who didn't complain was Josie and she tried to catch the snowflakes in her mouth. After the pics, we had an enjoyable trip to the toy store and the mall! Now we just hope and pray that it keeps snowing and we can miss school!!

Happy Birthday Josie Cate Benson!

Well, it is official, our baby is three years old. We had a little party for her at the house. We ate the cupcakes that she and AnnaGrace helped me make last night. As you can see from the pictures, she got a little shy when we sang Happy Birthday, but she got into it when she got to open the presents. The only thing that she really wanted for her birthday was Playdoh. As a busy mom, I'm not a huge fan of Playdoh, but when it is the only thing they ask for...you kinda have to get it for them. You can see her playing with it making a snowman in the pictures. Click on the collage to make it bigger.

 

Listening to her talk tonight makes us realize how big she is getting. She opened her first present and said, "I think it's clothes, mama." She sounds like a little grown up talking. It just seems like yesterday we were bringing her home from the hospital in the snow. We are so blessed to have three precious girls! I have attached a video that I made of Josie's first six months. I cry every time I watch it. Enjoy!

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Happy ALMOST 3rd Birthday Josie!

Josie will celebrate her 3rd birthday tomorrow. We are going to have a small family birthday party in the next couple of weekS when everyone recovers from the holidays. Her BIG birthday will be when we go to Disney World in February, which she is beside herself excited about meeting Mickey! We started the celebration tonight by making cupcakes to take to NanNan's (Mrs.Elaine, Josie's babysitter) house tomorrow and to have tomorrow night. Clint and Brinlee are both in the bed sick with the stomach flu so they did not get to join in on the action. Josie is so excited and she kept singing Happy Birthday to herself. You will see some of her funny faces in the slideshow. I cannot believe that my baby is going to be 3 tomorrow! It is certainly bittersweet. I want her to stay little forever, but I know that is not going to happen. She is becoming such a fun little person to be around. She likes to have conversations and she asks a million questions and we wouldn't want it any other way! Here are some pics from our evening...

Good Times, Good Friends

This past Saturday, I was able to meet up with two old friends, Jill and Katie. Jill, my cousin, who was also my college roommate has always been one of my closest friends. Katie is a friend that we met at Faulkner and we were inseperable from the moment we met her. Katie also married one of Clint's close friends, Jason Obert. I have seen Jill and Katie here and there, but last night was the first time we have all three been together in years. It was fun catching up on each other's lives and laughing about fun memories.

Tara, Jill, Katie

Goodbye 2008...Hello 2009!

What better time of is there to start a family blog than the beginning of a new year! So, I finally figured out that I am one of the last moms on the planet that doesn't have a family blog. Well, not anymore! I figured since I don't scrapbook and I don't put pictures in photo albums the least I can do for my poor children is try to log some of their childhood experiences on the computer. And now I can officially be one of the cool moms! I don't pledge to add to this blog every day, every week, not even every month. I just pledge to do the best I can! Here are our girls...

Anna Grace turned nine in October. She is involved with softball and academics. She is definately the mommy of the three. She helps keep me in line. She enjoys school and studying. We are very proud of the precious young lady she is becoming.

Brinlee will be seven in March. She is our carefree, happy-go-lucky child without a care in the world. When we asked her if she wanted to play softball, she replied, "Why would I want to do that?" She is definately not going to get involved in anything that might cause her to break a sweat! She makes sure that no matter where she goes, she is having fun.

Josie will be turning three in about a week. She is a mixture of the other two girls. She is very inquisitive like Anna Grace, but likes to let loose and have fun like Brinlee. Being the third, she definately gets away with a lot more than the other two. It doesn't help that she has Anna Grace and Brinlee wrapped around her finger. I hope that Clint and I don't pay for this later on!

We are very blessed to have three precious daughters. Here are a few pics from the last year...