Dudes Lunch

Our church meets in missional clusters.  We belong to the Greek Cluster which means we are pursing the Greek Students on the OU Campus.  We get to meet with students weekly and encourage them to live a life modeled after Jesus.  It is so encouraging to see God move through them and be a part of their lives.  One of the other great things is how much our kids LOVE the students!  The boys in our cluster have been named the "Dudes" by Port.  If they come over, our boys are completely confident that they came to see them and play the Three Musketeers.  (Thanks guys!)

This week some of they "dudes" called to see if they could hang out with Port.  They came and picked him up to take him to the park and have lunch.  I didn't tell him until Wednesday, but we talked about it ALL week.  Port had so much fun, before he took his nap he was telling me his plans for the next time.  He asked if Haynes could come next time!!!

Thanks Mark, Collin, Emery, and Scott for spending the afternoon with Port.  You are planting  seeds of what a man of God looks like to him.  We really appreciate your genuine love for our kids!  We are blessed beyond words by you guys!  Love you!

Ella tries Cereal

Tell us how you really feel...

Haynes just had to try some!

We can't hardly believe it, but Ella is four months old!  

We are slowly introducing her to food starting with rice cereal.  Her reaction was completely genuine...she thought/thinks it is AWEFUL!  Haynes was really excited to try it, until he actually tasted rice cereal and water.  We laughed at her dramatic facial expressions.  It is amazing how fast time flies when you are having fun! 

Baby Buttons Is Here!

Mommy and Asher Hugh Benton

Grandma's with Asher

Greek Family waiting to meet Asher

Our close friends Brooke and Alex Benton had their baby on Wednesday night at 8:04 p.m.  We were so excited to meet the Asher, Brooke's water broke on Tuesday night.  She did a great job!  They didn't tell his name until he was born and we LOVE it!  

Port named the baby Buttons since they wouldn't tell his name.  I think Baby Asher will go by Buttons for a while in our house!

Asher Hugh Benton

February 18th, 2009

8:04 p.m.

7 lbs. 7 oz.

21 inches

Thank you Jesus for a healthy baby!  What a blessing!

McKenna and Port

Smile...first bloody nose!

Buddies...no matter what!

Port and I go to BSF (Bible Study Fellowship) every Wednesday.  We go on a Breakfast Date to Panera, it is sooo fun!  After our class is over we head to JuJu's to pick up Haynes and Ella.  Usually McKenna, Kai, and Marce are spending the morning with JuJu too!  Port is always really excited to get to play when we get there.  

This week McKenna accidentally hit Port in the face with a bucket.  We couldn't figure out what had happened because both of them were crying SO hard!  I actually had to climb in the tree house and carry McKenna down because she was so sad.  We finally explained that Brian would be so proud that Port had his first bloody nose and it was really funny that it came from his "girl friend."  Fun memories!

Redding Trip

Mustang Memories

In-And-Out Burgers...Brian's Favorite

Ella's First Plane Ride

Brian and I took a weekend trip to Redding, California to visit Bethel church.  We took Ella with us, so this was her first plane ride...she was amazing as you would expect.  We were blessed to spend a few days loving on just her.  We have discovered that she LOVES to talk!  We don't remember the boys doing that, so this is the first of many realized differences between boys and girls.

We rented a Mustang (in memory of my first car) and drove from Sacramento to Redding.  We had a really refreshing weekend.  It was super exciting to see what God is doing in Redding!  The downfall of our weekend was that it rained the ENTIRE time!  We plan to go again, but we will probably go spring/summer time!!

I am super blessed to love traveling with my sweet husband.  Through out our trip we commented on how much we love our family.  Each of our children are amazing and I love my more husband all the time!  Thank you Jesus!

The Noles in Norman!

Play Date at the Mall

Dinner after Celebration

The Noles family has moved to Norman and we are SOO excited!  The boys love playing together.  It can go from calm to crazy in about 10 seconds!  We ate dinner at Rudy's after Celebration on Sunday night.  The boys decided to play hide-and-seek while the adults talked.  Thank goodness we were the only people in the restaurant!

It is super encouraging to see the Noles family responding to what God is speaking to them.  A move to Norman from Edmond has to be difficult, but we are so blessed by their presence in Norman.  We start soccer next week...Dax, Braxton, Sutton, and Port all on one team!! Uh-oh!  Good luck coach Daddy!

Valentines Day

Valentine's PJ's

Ella's First Valentine's Day

This year for Valentine's Day Brian and I will be in Redding, California.  We decided to celebrate Valentine's on Wednesday night before we left.  We started with a candlelight dinner in the living room.  The boys favorite dinner is a "Pizza Picnic" so we tried to make it a little more special.  Over dinner we went through each member of our family and gave different reasons why we love them.  

After dinner I planned a treasure hunt through the house.  We had a few gifts hidden...a game, paint set, and some blocks.  After the boys found the gifts we played with each one of them.  The last gift was new PJ's...so it was bath time!  

Brian and I are constantly commenting on how good God is!  We feel like our family is so blessed and we love having a fun family night.  Although I hate being gone from the boys on Valentine's day, I know they are feeling loved well by their family at home.

Valentines Cookies

We decided to make some Valentine's sugar cookies on Tuesday afternoon.  The boys LOVE to help making cookies, it is always quite an experience.  Haynes likes trying the dough...no matter what part of the recipe we are in.  Port thinks he is completely capable of making cookies without my help!  It was a lot of fun and they loved eating the dough!  

At one point I had to explain to the boys that they needed to be patient.  Port looked at me and explained that I needed to be patient too!  What's great is that he was totally right!  I am thankful that God uses my boys to speak truth into my life.  

Ella Rose is 4 months!

Ella is 4 months old today!  She is such a blessing, we can't imagine our lives without her.  Each day we get a little more insight into her sweet personality.  She is the happiest baby...freely gives smiles away to anyone.  She is loved abundantly by her brothers and her daddy thinks she's the prettiest little girl he's ever seen.  I daily feel blessed that God gave us a daughter, I know He has great plans for her.  This afternoon we were waiting for Brian to come home and trying to help Ella enjoy some tummy time.  They were so cute all laying on their tummies laughing at each other...and she rolled over for the FIRST time!

Greek Cluster Retreat

Haynes praying with the "dudes"

Mark and Ella

Thomas lost!

This weekend we took our cluster to the lake house for a retreat.  It was full of games, worship, eating, and relaxing!  Brian taught the guys how to farkle...My kids loved getting to spend time with all the students.  I can't express what a blessing it is to see them love on my kids! Our family loves being a part of this community and being  a part of these students lives!  It's so exciting to see and hear how God is moving in their lives!

SnOw DaY!

Haynes Cole

Port Robert

Boys with Hartley

Tuesday morning it SnOwEd!  Port absolutely loved it!  He played in the backyard for a little bit.  Since Haynes wasn't feeling great, Port got to go to JuJu's to play with his cousins in the snow.  After a few hours of "Musketeer Playtime" Port got to go sledding with Lolli and Champ.  They have a great hill for sledding and Champ sold sleds at the store.  Thanks for a fun day of snow memories!

STITCHES

Home from the E.R.

OUCH!

What a great patient!

Tuesday night we had our friends over for dinner.  I was making cookies for dessert and Haynes REALLY wanted to help.  He moved his stool behind me and somehow fell on his chin on the tile floor.  Thankfully our friend Jacob Bauer, a children's nurse, was there to confirm that we needed to head to the emergency room to get stitches.  Haynes was a great patient...we were pretty surprised!  He sat perfectly still while they took his vitals, cleaned out the cut, and while we waited.  Once it came time for the shots and sewing it was pretty awful.  He got two little stitches on the bottom of his chin and a ton of Nemo stickers from the great nurse!

We were super thankful for a great group of friends that we could leave Port and Ella with when we quickly left our house.  We were thankful that we were able to get through the E.R. quickly with great doctors and nurses.  Haynes is quickly on the road to recovery...if only he would stop jumping off of things! :-)