Happy Birthday Bender Family!

(I wrote this post back in April before we moved -- so here you go) First, in January, we had Nick's birthday. It was very simple. We did dinner, pie and ice cream and gifts.

Next, we had Aaron's 1st birthday party. That was more eventful. We had a few friends over. We did dinner, and had cupcakes for dessert.












Last, it was my birthday in March. Nick came home early from work, which is always a nice surprise. We went to dinner alone, because Scott and Andrea watched Aaron for us and we had ice cream cake from Dairy Queen -- which is my FAVORITE!

Playing Catch-up ~ January 2010

This past month we celebrated Nick's 29th birthday. For his birthday, I surprised him by getting a babysitter (Uncle Scott) and taking him to dinner, just the two of us. It was such a nice, peaceful dinner. Even though we weren't gone for very long, it was nice to get to spend some quality time with Nick.

Nick requested a pie for his birthday. I couldn't decided which kind to make, so I made a chocolate cream and a banana cream pie. They were both very yummy!

At first Aaron was very intrigued by the candles. We used trick candles, so when they relit the first time he laughed, but when the trick candles kept relighting he started to cry. I don't think he cared for the smoke much either.

I got Nick a book that detailed the history of the University of Oklahoma College of Law. The year Nick graduated was the 100 year anniversary of the law school. It is interesting to read and learn about the people that went there before he did.

Aaron's gift to his daddy was a painting titled "Even Superman Needs a Dad" by Liz Lemon Swindle. My dad was given this painting when my brothers were young. I have always loved it and thought it would be a nice addition to Nick's home office. I think the story behind the painting is what really makes it so special.

Liz Lemon Swindle explains the inspiration behind the painting, "Driving through a parking lot, I saw a boy and his father coming out of a store. The boy was imagining himself as a mighty hero, but he looked at his father with more admiration than any hero is likely to receive. Right then, I knew I had to paint "Even Superman Needs a Dad."This father took an interest in everything his son had to say. Every moment seemed magical. While this little boy looked a bit out of place dressed in a Superman cape and red cowboy boots, his father could not have looked prouder. Who was the real Hero? Who was more in awe of whom? When I look around at the thousands of Supermen who play alone each day it breaks my heart. Looking at these two I remember a wonderful father who took the time to be there for me, who taught me by example what a father should be. I enjoy watching someone look at the painting for the first time. Their gradual smile tells me they understand the feeling that brought about this painting. For a brief moment they forget there are bills to pay and work to do. They forget their worries and remember for a moment that life is wonderful. That is the joy in painting."

Aaron has been doing very well with small foods. He loves avocados, bananas, cheese and bread. Well, he loves ALL food, but those are the foods he eats most often.

One afternoon Aaron had gotten into my purse and found the Yogurt Bites. They hadn't been closed properly so when he shook it, the crushed pieces flew everywhere. Aaron LOVED it! He proceeded to eat every small piece he could find.

Aaron started walking in December, and has become more mobile since then. Unfortunately, I don't have a room that Aaron can play in and be completely safe. So, we've made a temporary blarricade of recliners, a couch and a kid corral. When I am in the kitchen and Aaron is supposed to be playing with his toys, he sometimes gets bored and wants to come find me. He squeezes through the barricade as best as he can and comes looking for me.

Grandma Bender's brother, Uncle Mike, stopped by the other day. It was such a treat to have him stop by. He is always so good about coming to say hi when he is in town. We had Aaron do all his tricks on command. Aaron loved all the attention from Uncle Mike. He also loved "driving" and rockin' out in Uncle Mike's Mustang.

Excuses, excuses, excuses...

Long time no see everyone...

My only excuse for not blogging lately is that my monitor doesn't work. I have to wait until Nick gets home from work, which isn't the most convenient.

So looking back over the past couple months we have done some fun things. Brandon and Liz came down to Arizona at the beginning of November. Liz was supporting a friend who was walking in the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure.

She is so creative and made this really cute sign!

We have to take everyone to this cute ice cream shop that I love! It is called the Sugar Bowl. My parents introduced it to us. It isn't anything fancy, but I love ice cream. So come to Arizona and we'll go have some ice cream!

Even though he didn't get any ice cream he still had a GREAT time!

For Thanksgiving we headed to Utah and spent the weekend with Nick's family. We had a very yummy feast! It was lots of fun spending time with Carolyn and Tenielle while baking and cooking.

Harry took care of Aaron while we made our Thanksgiving feast. He made him his first fort out of a cardboard box -- he loved it!

Peek-a-boo!

Aaron was testing out the duribility of drawer... just making sure it's sturdy.

This kid loves to chew on everything. He puts everything in his mouth. Who knows what he has eaten?

He also loved to "play" the piano.

DJ Aaron

Our last evening in Utah we ran down to Temple Square to try and get a family picture. We had to hurry because we had to take Nick to the airport. We were literally there for fifteen minutes. It was freezing!

Harry and Carolyn snuggling up close.

Our big happy family!

Aaron did amazing. He kept his hat and gloves on and even let us cover him in blankets.

He even gave us this huge grin! So stinkin' cute!!!

One month down, two more to go...

Halloween Weekend

Well, we are doing great here is sunny Arizona. We just had a record high today of 96°. That is why it is okay for Aaron to occasionally crawl around in his diaper (see below). Nick has been working for a couple of months now as an attorney, but as you can see from the last post, he was just sworn in this past Thursday. He works a lot, but is enjoying what he is doing. Aaron and I are enjoying our time together at home. We have his nine-month check up on Friday so I will update you on all his stats then. He is currently eating anything I hand him. He crawls about a million miles a minute and is also cruising along the furniture. He can wave bye bye (see video), give kisses and dance. He also knows exactly what to do to melt my heart.

Last Wednesday Nick had a couple softball games that Aaron and I enjoyed watching. Well, this particular night it was somewhere around 40°. It was freezing! Especially when we are used to temperatures consistently in the 70s and 80s. Poor Nick had to play in basketball shorts and a t-shirt because we figured when we moved to Arizona we wouldn't need our winter clothes. Hopefully this weekend we can get a few things out of storage. Aaron, on the other hand, was bundled up in blankets.

For our ward party, we dressed Aaron up as a bat, Nick was a vampire, and I was a witch. Because Aaron takes after his parents, his hood with bat ears wouln't fit his head. He still looked very cute!



On the afternoon of Halloween we went to Nick's work party at the zoo. We had a fun time. They had a stingray exhibit that Ben and Nick enjoyed. I didn't really care to touch the stingrays. I just watched and took pictures.

Aaron was a trooper. He only had a short nap before we left. He held in there while we had lunch and walked around the zoo.

Near the cheetah exhibit there was a radar gun. So Nick had some fun running past it. It reminded me of The Office, when Michael and Dwight compete to see who runs faster. Michael claims he ran 31 mph, when the radar really just registered a passing car. It makes me laugh just thinking about it.

Nick just posing for the camera.


Aaron thought the flamingos were interesting. He was very sweet to let me take his picture.

We were beat by the end. We knew we still had a long day ahead of us. We had to find a garage to fix our car (it wouldn't start) and get ready for Halloween!


Later that evening we sat outside and handed out candy. I guess they do that here because the weather's so nice. Tons of people were outside handing out candy and having block parties. Scott came down and hung out with us. I tried to hand out all our candy as fast as possible because we wanted to watch the World Series and go to Cafe Rio. It was so worth it! I love that place.

Nick was really good at guessing all the costumes. He was very sweet to compliment them as well.

I carved the pumpkin on the left and Nick did the one on the right for his company pumpkin carving contest. Nick also made lots of gravestones for our ward party. They turned out great, so we displayed them around the yard with some candles in front of them. He is very creative. It looked very spooky.
Just for fun, here is a picture of Aaron from this morning. Just laughing!


Aaron gets a little video camera shy. He just stops whatever he is doing when I turn on the camera. At the very beginning he waves bye bye and the rest of it he just fake laughs.