Monday, November 12, 2012

Happy Birthday, Clint

We were recently blessed with a spontaneous visit from Clint, in Chicago. He chose his birthday weekend to take a bus from Chicago to Kansas City. The boys had so much fun with him on our vacation, they were thrilled to have him visit us in Pittsburg.




This wasn't Clint's first visit to Pittsburg, but it was one of the best weather weekends. He's been here int he hot, hot summer and ice storms of winter. So a mild Saturday afternoon was perfect for a walk and playing with the boy and of course Dash, outside.

Monday, October 29, 2012

SEK Soccer Academy


 This fall, Braden upgraded from YMCA soccer, to SEK Soccer Academy.......and LOVED it! The coaches were awesome, and the players were very good, which helped him step it up! He was one of the younger guys on the team, but saw lots of field time and even scored a few goals. The oldest kids were 12, and we were so impressed that he wasn't intimidated!





Mason's first round of Flag Football








Before & After

 

For those of you who haven't been to Pittsburg in a while....or ever.....our living room got a facelift this summer. Yes, I just found the pictures, to share. While Blake and the boys were soaking up the sun at Busch Stadium, I painted our living room! It has only taken 6 years, to decide I couldn't live with the "peach" the previous owners seemed to adore.




Thursday, September 20, 2012

Monday, September 10, 2012

London Trip Never Happened!

Nothing like having your email account hacked to start off the week! We've never been to London, and no one has been shot. If you want to send money we'll start planning our trip now! Sorry if you got a crazy email from my Yahoo account! Below you will see a message that was sent from my yahoo email account, but it is not from me. Again, I apologize.

Thanks for your patience!
Christel Benson


Monday, August 27, 2012

Dog Days

Now that we are the owners of Dash, we could participate in the end of summer dog swim. Our local aquatic center invites dog owners to bring their dear pets out for a swim before they drain the pool. It was an experience to say the least. Dogs of all shapes and sizes, nice, yappy, aggressive, calm, hyper...mixed all together in a pool, with a few kids thrown in.

Braden did an excellent job with Dash, although he kept wanting to let him off his leash. Mason did an excellent job swimming with the dogs. He never quite grasped that this was about the dogs swimming not the kids.










The picture below even made the Morning Sun photo gallery:


Back to school, preschool and work!

I can honestly say our boys have had one of the best summers ever. If not just the best, definitely one of the busiest! Braden had an amazing baseball season, and Mason's first round of T-Ball was everything he expected....except a trophy, like the one Braden won. After float trips, tennis lessons, golf lessons, day camps, swim dates, baseball tournaments, Cardinal baseball games, running the bases at Busch Stadium, our Cruise, and a tourist trip back to Flippin.....it's finally time for the boys to start back to school and Mom back to work!


Mason is going back to PSU Little Gorillas Preschool, and starting his first semester of preschool at The Center where he also goes to daycare. So he will be at PSU three mornings, and in the Dolphin Preschool room four afternoons. As hard as it is to believe this little guy will be starting kindergarten next fall.

This picture is of his first meeting with his teachers in the Dolphins, and he did a nice blue and red hand print with Miss Alicia.





 I think this pictures looks a lot like younger pics of Blake that I've seen. Not just his blond hair, which we have to explain at least once a week, but his expression.

 Braden seemed to enjoy Preschool open house, too! This kid just hates having his picture taken!



 The night after Mason's open house, Braden had his "Meet the Teacher" event, where we got to drop off his supplies and meet Mrs. Lawson.



 Unloading his supplies, out of his new Cardinal backpack. This has been the backpack that Blake has loaded with supplies, bottled water, snacks and the camera on their St. Louis trips, but Braden decided he wanted to use it for school this year.


  Monday, August 20, 2012 | Braden headed to third grade, Mom headed to PSU, and Mason headed to his first day in the Dolphins.