Houston Rodeo

Bennett's first trip to the Houston Rodeo coincided with a horribly blustery cold Houston day, so we didn't get to do as much as we would have liked, but we still had a great day...and most importantly, our little Texan got his first pearl snap shirt, his first Wranglers, and his first boots!
Hamming it up while eating dinner on the floor. That's country!

Playing farmer

First boots

Cotton candy grin--Thanks, Misty!

Where's Elmo?!

Sesame Street Live was our first test to see how Bennett is going to do at DisneyWorld in May. He has not been known for his patience during previous sit-down excursions, but he passed the test with flying colors. I guess the key is to find something that interests him. Bennett is not a Sesame Street fan; he rarely watches the show. However, he has a Sesame Street CD that he loves and many, many Elmo books and characters. He started liking Cookie Monster after I got this hoodie in a swap and we started singing 'C' is for Cookie, but his heart is all Elmo. Of course, the battery-powered light-up spinner that we bought definitely helped hold his attention. Everytime Elmo disappeared off stage, I would hear "Where's Elmo?" When I would explain, Bennett would follow it with "Why?". So it went something like this:
B: Where's Elmo?
A: He's behind the curtain.
B: Why?
A: Because he was tired and needed a rest.
B: Why?
A: Because he needed to use the bathroom.
B: Why?
A: We all have to use the bathroom sometimes. Elmo does too.
B: Where's Elmo?
So, you get the picture. Just replay this conversation about 30 times and you can tell it was a fun-filled evening! On top of that, I've included what happens during intermission. You see that guy carrying all those Elmo balloons--yep, it doesn't matter that you just spent $15 on some Elmo spinner...oh no, that's not enough. Now the capitalists break out the Elmo balloons at $10 a pop. Luckily, Bennett took No for an answer when I explained that the kids in line were kids whose parents didn't fork over the cash for a spinner...only non-spinner kids could have a balloon. I'm wondering at what age these rationalizations won't work, but for now, phew! It was a fun night and well worth the money (as long as it didn't include a $10 balloon), and Bennett had a blast.

February in Fort Worth a.k.a. F U Punxsutawney Phil

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow. OK, STOP SNOWING AND TURN OUR POWER BACK ON. At first, the heavy snowfall was interesting to all of us, but it quickly turned into the weekend from hell when we didn't have power (or heat) for 3 days. Our friend Jodi let us crash at her house each night, but we would return during the day to start a fire so the dogs could warm up a bit. By the end of it, the house was down to 51 degrees. Where is spring?!



Snow or no snow, Bennett got the proper attire for Valentine's Day. Due to the power outage and our babysitter's power outage, we had to forego our Valentine's Day plans, but Arty and I were off for President's Day that Monday, so we shipped Bennett off to daycare and celebrated President's Day with a candle-lit lunch and movie.


After Snowpocalypse 2010 (I'm borrowing that phrase from my Washington DC friends who really got it much worse than us, but for Houstonians to experience cold like that--it was probably the same effect), Misty and McKenna came up for a visit while Arty was down in Houston visiting his family. At first Bennett wasn't too fired up about sharing his stroller, but how could he say no to McKenna's smile?!

Saturday, we visited the Fort Worth Museum of History and Science which has recently reopened with an exciting children's museum. We are members and this winter, it seems like we have visited at least twice a month. It keeps Bennett busy, helps us retain our sanity, its heated, and Bennett takes a good nap afterwards (usually--he didn't after this visit).

Better late than never...

Cousins at Christmas

Bennett got to spend time with most of his counsins this past Christmas. (We saw Jonas at New Years.) Our annual visit from Mike and Ashley was back on and the entire Wheaton crew was in town for Christmas eve and day.

Enjoy...

Dance Dance Revolution

Watch as Bennett gets down. Good thing his old man wasn't playing, he would have totally showed me up.




Check out that new hairdo.

Austin

Took a trip to Austin last weekend and visited the Austin zoo. Here is Bennett on the train.

Puppy Love

These pictures were taken by a friend of a friend over the summer and we just got them. Absolutely beautiful. We wanted to capture Bennett with the dogs and I think the photographer succeeded. Enjoy!