Celebrating Benny!!!

30 years ago, on November 25th, 1979 Brad and Patty Sass brought this little guy into the world. They named him Benjamin Daniel after they saw it on a graduation card. His pictures all say Benji on the back. He says the nickname never stuck, most people call him Benny now. I call him Daddy a lot so that Deacon will, when I call him Benny all the time Deacon starts calling him Benny and he doesn't like that much.

9 weeks old, trying cereal for the first time. I see a lot of both of our kids in his face. Rowans face is shaped like that, both boys have those ears and Deacon has that full mouth.

I have seen that smile on both boys faces. He sure was cute, and bald. Deacon and Rowan both had more hair than Ben had.

He looks so serious here. I would love to see who is to the left of him in this picture, what is making him concentrate so hard?

Showing off his muscles! He was about 3 1/2 months old in this picture. Brad said he took most of the pictures of his kids when they were young, which makes sense, he's still snapping pictures all the time and has an awesome camera. Benny's baby pictures look so much better than mine do. No offense, Mom. I think Brad just has an eye for photography.

His eyes got blue really early. They are still a super light color of blue.

This was at about 6 months old. Deacon is having a hard time with these pictures, he keeps fighting with me telling me they are of Brother and not Daddy. I don't think he understands that Daddy used to be little like him.

At about 9 months old, I'm not sure if he is actually walking or holding onto a railing, but he sure is cute!

So, this is where Deacon got his love for the toothbrush! I have never seen a kid ask to brush his teeth as much as Deacon does! He probably requests a tooth brush 3 times a day.

Love the teeth! This looks like Deacon did at about 1 year.

Two year old Benny playing in the leaves, he couldn't remember whose yard this was in. I can still see that baby in his face.

Awww, he had a trading card! Playin socker when he was 10. Now, that's the Benny I know. He sure was cute back then! That smile has not changed one bit, just got more hair around it now! Happy Birthday, Benny! I love you!

Happy Birthday Travis!

My older (and only) brother, Travis, turned 32 on November 21st and we had a little party for him that night at my parents house. The party was supposed to start at 6 but Travis and Brook were doing the Tour de Tucson (I have no idea how they get the motivation to do those things) and some of the people they were helping out by transporting their bikes were super late getting done so it made them late getting out and back home. We ate dinner before he got there but waited on the cake until he could be there to blow out the candles.

WOAH! That's a lot of candles. Will, Charly and Deacon were impressed by the number of candles that were on his cake, and the fire was even more impressive, Jack was totally mesmerized by it.

He contemplated his wish for a while, I wonder what he ended up going with. Does he get to pick something out of the treasure chest now?

And that would be a homemade German chocolate cake, thank you very much. None of this mix stuff for Travis. He has always had a German Chocolate cake for his birthday, for as long as I can remember. I am not much of a fan, it's a coconut thing, weird texture to me. I always had a pumpkin pie for my birthday. Yes, pumpkin pie in July! :)

Charly and Deacon playing with the mice that were purchased at a yardsale for Saffron. I wonder if Saffron ever got to see his mice, the kids loved them!

I will be kind enough to not post the pic of Brook's poor sunburned face, she forgot to wear sunscreen and by the time we saw her after her 66 mile bike ride her face was pretty red. Ouch. Jack didn't care though, he was delighted to see his Mama and share her piece cake with her.

Rowan listened intently as Papa gave him some much appreciated advice.

Miss Charly shared her Daddy's cake and I think she had a piece of her own too! Happy Birthday, Travis!

Pin Cushion

Is that cute, or what? My mom showed me a pattern she was working on to make some pin cushions and I told her how cute they were and I wanted one. When she picked us up from the airport after our MN vacation she gave me this. It's nice and big and fits every pin I have in it. I didn't even have a real pin cushion before, just one of those magnetic plastic things. I love this little thing, I know, silly thing to get excited about, what can I say, I am easy to please.

This is the bottom side of it, just as cute as the top. I guess either side could really be the top, though. Thanks, Mom! :)

The Hole in the Backyard

A while back we started having some trouble with our plumbing, the kitchen sink would not drain and when I used the plunger to try and get it to work stuff came up in the bathtub in the hall bath! NOT GOOD! I tried to get Ben to have someone come out and look at it but we really did not have the money for a plumber. I suggested we ask my brother for help (since he worked for a plumbing company) but for whatever reason he would not let me call and get Travis out here. He FINALLY managed to convince his friend Andy to come out and look at it with him, first they snaked the pipes and unclogged whatever was in there and then they dug down under the house and up to the pipe under the bathtub to see if there was a crack or if we had clay pipes and they collapsed. They found all the piping below the house in tact and a couple days later refilled the hole. During the digging Deacon insisted that he needed to help and he played on the growing pile of dirt the entire time they dug.

That's Andy in the hole doing the dirty work. It was quite a hole, they had to go all the way down below the foundation, underneath it and then back up to where the bathroom pipes are. Didn't seem like much fun to me, so I left it to them.

Deacon after "helping" with the dig. he was covered, head to toe in mud.

Had a little sample of the dirt, just to see how it tasted. I'm thinkin not so good.

He insisted on showing me his feet after he got them out of his muddy sandals, the little dance he did was pretty darn cute too.

He REALLY wanted me to see his feet! Maybe because that was the cleanest part of him. I stripped him naked outside and carried him to the tub. He left a lovely dirt ring around the bathtub after that bath!

Some Pics of Rowan and Deacon

My sister made this adorable tie onsie for Rowan while she was here, he wore it to Time Out For Women. He was our token male. No kids were allowed except nursing infants. I was rather surprised at how many of those "nursing infants" required a bottle.

OK, so ignore the fact that Deacon is naked besides a diaper and that he still has the remains of his peanutbutter sandwich from lunch on his face. I was trying to get a picture of Rowan in the Bumbo seat and Deacon came up and sat down right in front of it so I couldn't see Rowan at all. I tried to get him to move but he just kept saying cheese so this is the best I could get of the baby.

Here's a better one of Rowan in the Bumbo seat. I love that thing, it was a lifesaver with Deacon and Rowan is just now getting big enough to sit in it and play with some toys on the tray (not pictured). It's great for when baby is holding up their head but can't quite sit on their own. He's wearing his Halloween pajamas.

Deacon loves doing everything just like Daddy does, he must have found the socks on the floor in our bedroom or the bathroom, I didn't help him get them on either, he came to me and said, "Look, Mama, I Daddy!" I didn't get a good pic of the time he put on one of Ben's work shirts and he came in and told me he was going to work, picked up the fake car keys and started heading for the door. He even came back to give me a kiss goodbye!

This little cutie is Octane. He joined us about 2 months ago. We did not actively seek out this hound and I was completely against getting another dog, he showed up on the neighbors doorstep one morning with a buddy and the neighbor asked Ben if he wanted to keep him. Ben knew I did not want another dog so he asked me about it first and initially I said NO! I actually met the little guy though and I could not stop thinking about this poor little puppy and what would happen to him. He was very sweet and seemed pretty chill and he reminded me of Turbo way too much. So, I called Ben and asked him if he really wanted to keep the puppy, he said he did so I told him to go pick him up when he got home. Somehow another neighbor had him and the ones who originally found him did not know if they were going to keep him or not. They brought him over later that night and he has been with us ever since. He was kennel trained within about a week and he's been a great little dog. I actually like him quite a bit, he's my little buddy, follows me all over the house, I trip over him fairly often and I joke with Ben we should have named him Tripp. He's getting bigger and his head is finally starting to get that Pit Bull split down the middle, this time though, we are getting him neutered, no mor dog pee all over my house!!! Welcome to the family, Octane.

Hangin Out At Nana & Papa's House

My parents went down to Mexico on Labor Day weekend and brought back my newly pregnant (and very sick) sister and her daughter, Molly. A few days later her son, Alan came up and was here for about a week. I think Cam initially intended to go home after a week or so but ended up staying for 5 weeks! So I took the kids over there a few times to play and we had family dinner one night with everyone (except Ben & Greg). We had ice cream and Nana's famous chocolate chip cookies for dessert....

The 5 year olds, Alan and Will. I can't believe how blonde my nieces and nephews are! My kids have the darkest hair in the bunch!

The 2 year olds enjoying dessert, this is one of the few times you will see all 3 of them sitting still in the same spot. Deacon, Charly, Molly. Amazing how motivating a chocolate chip cookie and a bowl of ice cream can be for a 2 year old. These guys were all born within 3 months of each other, Charly is the youngest but also the biggest.

Jack-Jack is not shy about food at all and he will let you know when he would like to eat, you better hurry too or you will get yelled at! He prefers to feed himself also, thank you very much.

The Streaker! Miss Molly has a naked fetish, she strips whenever she can and I think she would stay naked all the time if her darn Mommy would let her! She ran all over the back yard just giggling away in all her naked glory. Nothing cuter than a streaking 2 year old!

Here they are again! They love the wagons and trikes at Nana and Papa's house, along with the entire closet full of toys they can play with. Nana just added some dress-up stuff and that is way too fun for all of them. Deacon even likes to play dress-up with the princess dresses, one night he wanted the fairy wings on so bad, I was reluctant to do it and turn my boy into a "fairy" so we called them butterfly wings instead. He thought that was way cool. Didn't get a picture of that one though.

Jack-Jack loves to climb onto the table, he does it all the time at his house. His Mom and Dad have had to resort to removing the chairs from around their kitchen table so he can't climb up on it. He's so darling, how could anyone say no to Jack?!

So, Which one looks like Ben?

We just went on a trip to Minneapolis, Minnesota to visit Ben's family. I asked his Mom if she had any pictures of Benny when he was a baby because I could swear that my little Rowan is a Baby Michelle and Deacon was the compact version of Ben. I was quite surprised to see that my Mr. Rowan actually resembles his Daddy quite a bit

This is Benjamin Daniel Sass at 5 months old, pretty cute little guy, huh? He did have a little bit of hair but it's so light it's almost white and you can't see it.

This is Baby Deacon Bradley Sass at 4 months old. Chin, cheeks and ears are all Benny, those eyes are a different shape though, so he DID get at least one thing from me. I think his cheesy little grin now is from me too.

And Rowan Benjamin, that forehead is all Ben, I could tell that from about the second he was born, it's so cute when he concentrates and crunches it up and it gets all wrinkly. The eyes are shaped more like Ben's and the cheeks are definately his too, the ears are mine, I think and the chin is definately not a Sass chin. I think the nose is Ben's too, Rowan makes this face and crunches up his nose and I see Ben. They were joking that we went through a catalog and picked out what parts we wanted our baby to have. Nope, just got lucky. :) What is with the crazy hair on this kid, he has a bunch of hair for one of my babies at this age, I play with it all the time, it's so soft.