First Tooth Fairy Visit and Posing for the Camera

Olivia lost her first tooth last Saturday. She pulled it herself. She talked about it for at least an hour afterwards! She is very proud of herself - and she should be! Here is a picture of her right after she pulled it.




Not to be left out, here is Anika posing for the camera. I think she's been watching too much of "America's Top Model" or whatever it's called.

Funnies by Anika

Two recent funny, well we found them hysterically funny, conversations at the Bennett house. Keep in mind, the kids have a mother and three grandparents, both Mark's parents and my mom, who are nurses! My kids are subjected to lots of medical mumbo jumbo!

#1 Picture our family at the dinner table.

Anika: "I figured out that the baby is going to be a boy!

Me: "Wow, Anika, how did you figure that out?"

Anika: "I could feel his p_ _ _ _ through your belly?" (Baby is now big enough to feel body parts and we have been talking about feeling feet/knees/butt)

Olivia: "I don't even know what a p _ _ _ _ is!" (Denial)

Anika: "You know, it's that thing that hangs down from your bunkie (Mark's family nickname for bum) and when you're a boy, you go pee with it."

I am really surprised Mark and I didn't choke on our food, we were laughing so hard!



#2 Prologue: At my last OB app't, two weeks ago, my blood pressure was 130/96 (I'm fine), my legs were swollen (they still are), and I had protein in my urine (I know, more than you wanted to know, but these are all signs of pre eclampsia). Because of this, I had to collect my urine for 24 hours and deliver it to the hospital lab. I couldn't really hide it from the kids because I had to keep the container in the fridge. So, when they asked, I just told them the truth about what was in the container. Life went on and everything was A-OK (and still is, my blood pressure is down now).

Anika woke up just after 7 a.m. yesterday. We could hear here walking around upstairs for awhile before she actually came downstairs.

Mom and Dad: "Good morning, sweety. What were you doing upstairs?"

Anika: "If I tell you something, do you promise not to get mad?"

Mom: "Nope, I won't get mad. What is it?"

Anika: "I'm collecting my pee for my collection." (She likes to collect various things, but pee is a new one)

Mom and Dad (trading glances at each other): "Oh, really? What are you collecting your pee in?" (knowing I had an extra container in my bathroom cupboard)

Anika: "The bathroom"

Mom: "Yes, but what kind of container? What did you pee in?"

Mark is sitting next to me trying to control his laughter, as am I, but I want more information.

Anika: "You know that Target bag that you put Adam's (baby cousin) present in?"
Mom: "You peed in a bag? Where is the bag now?"

Anika: "It's on the floor in the bathroom. It only has one little hole in it."

Then I kindly asked her to go move the bag into the bathtub. The rest is kind of a blur since I started laughing so hard.

Then I went up to the bathroom and there was the bag. It was no joke. Olivia reported when she woke up that Anika actually made her first 'deposit' the night before when getting ready for bed. That makes 2x she collected!

Shrek the Third

We went to Shrek the Third yesterday. It was great. What was not great was the money we spent on popcorn and soda. I can't even bring myself to say how much we spent. We even snuck in our own candy! It was a good thing we had 2 free tickets for the movie itself.

School Years

Well, Anika's last day of her first year in preschool was today. Everybody met at the park and we had a few hours of play and socializing interspersed with eating the snacks we packed! I am glad it's over. Next year won't be so easy.

Olivia had her music program last Friday before we left to go camping. I only cried once when they sang "What a Wonderful World." Not bad for a hormonal pregnant lady! After the music, they had a short graduation ceremony, complete with caps and "diplomas." I got the cutest picture of her walking down the aisle with her cap on, wiggling her loose tooth (I may post it someday, I have to download it first)!

Two more weeks and Olivia will be done with kindergarten. I can't believe how fast this year has gone by. This summer, we plan to sleep in, well, Olivia and I hope to sleep in anyway. Anika is an early riser. She'll climb into bed w/ me and look at books while I doze a little while longer. We'll go to the library once a week and will frequent the local swimming pool a few times a week. We'll have park days w/ Anika's preschool classmates once a week, too. I think we'll stay plenty busy.

So It's Been Awhile.............

I guess it's been awhile since I posted! Nothing too exciting since last post. I am feeling really, really good these days. Wish it was going to last, but I know it's not. Olivia now has 4 loose teeth, she should be losing that first one any day now. It will probably happen while we are camping this weekend! Anika has been keeping us laughing with her witty sayings. School is out in a few weeks and I couldn't be more relieved! We are planning on hanging out at the pool and the library this summer, maybe a few "field trips" to different places.

We are going on our first of two camping trips this weekend and everyone is VERY excited! I don't know who is more excited, the kids or Grandpa! Olivia is disappointed thought that we only get to stay for 2 nights. The weather should be great; it's looking like it'll be in the upper 70's!

I am looking forward to seeing Shrek the Third, as is Mark (and the kids). We will probably go see it next week.

Oh, I almost forgot! We had 4 (maybe 5) bull snakes (aka gopher snakes) in our back yard last Thursday. At the same time. Two of them were rather long at 4-5 feet each. The sprinklers had been on and I think they came for the water. They must live on the other side of our fence. It is nice to know they are there. I guess they like to eat rattlesnakes, which have also been seen in the field behind our house, as well as our front yard!!!!!!!

Snack Time

Anika found a recipe for Applesauce Muffins on the Nick Jr website she printed off and requested that we make today. They are just about done baking and are smelling rather delicious!

Here's the recipe:

2 c all-purpose flour
3/4 c sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
1 lg egg, lightly beaten
1 c unsweetened applesauce
1/2 c butter, melted

1. Preheat oven to 375 F. Grease of line 12 cup muffin pan.
2. Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon and salt in medium bowl. Whisk to blend.
3. Add egg, applesauce and melted butter. Stir until just blended. Spoon into prepared pan.
4. Bake until puffed and a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, 18-20 minutes. Transfer to wire rack and cool 5 minutes. Invert and cool completely.


Ok, so they are done and they are really tasty. Anika talked me into putting frosting on hers saying that, because they are in liners, they are cupcakes and they have to have frosting. Oh, and because she is wearing a shirt with a great big cupcake on the front, she also needs frosting on her muffin so it will match the cupcake on her shirt.

It's been a fun afternoon. Olivia put up a sign in our front window that says "The Yummy Shop." I'm on call until 7 PM tonight at work, but it doesn't look like I'll have to go in - KNOCK ON WOOD! Now it is time to get ready for dance class!

The Answer to "What's for Lunch?"

Olivia says to me, "Mom, you're not going to fix us lunch today. WE are going to fix YOU lunch!" Right on!

Olivia prepared a bowl of vanilla yogurt with a side of red grapes and a glass of cold Chai tea.

Anika put butter, plums, milk, Pepsi, and some grapes into a pan. Then I helped her warm it up on the stove. She was very excited about her conconction. Olivia whipspered to me a few times "Mom, I don't think that will taste very good."

We warmed it up a bit and melted the butter. We tasted it, well, Anika and I tasted it. It was kind of like sweet, fruity butter. I thought it would taste worse than it did, but Anika decided it wasn't worthy of eating (or drinking). I took pictures I will try to post later.