Memorial Day... many posts behind!

We've been having some upload/download speed issues with our wireless connection, so I just haven't been able to do much with photos this last month. Jason's pc is good now -- so hopefully I'll catch up today.


Jonah spent the night last night. Ben's getting big enough that he has specific requirements about his guests. He asked last night that I take Owen into our bed and let him and Jonah stay in the two beds in his room. It was after 11PM when we got home anyway... so they were pretty much already asleep. This morning I heard Jonah in Ben's room saying IT IS TIME TO WAKE UP BEN! This pic was right after they got up...

Now we're playing outside. Jonah's on the trampoline and my boys are in the sandpile. Jonah has asked Ben several times already "why are you so bossy?" I remember bossing other kids just like Ben is ... but I am wondering how do I turn it off with him. Ugh!


We went to Bruceville and Vincennes for the weekend. It was a very busy weekend ... Jason wen to Vincennes on Friday night for Jonathan's graduation and then back later that night to Greencastle. We had soccer on Saturday morning and John and Judy and Laura came up for that. Then Laura, Ben, Owen and I headed for Bruceville with some shopping stops on the way and later, I took Laura home after dropping the boys off with my mom.


That night was bday dinner for Pappaw Kaiser... you can't see it in the photo but we had a "Transformers" bday cake. We also had curly straws and later, spray string! Grandpa ended up taking the spray string and turning it on the boys. Ben didn't like that as well.


Then the highlight of the day... playing in the dirt. We didn't play long in the morning b/c we had to get ready for Jonathan's graduation party. The boys had fun at the grad party (we met Jason there... he came down again on Sunday after church in Greencastle)... but got a little too hot. They are definitely not equipped for summer yet. Maybe Owen's hair needs cut... not sure that is going to happen anytime soon though! I enjoy it too much!

Later in the night it was back to play in the dirt. We had a "picnic" (took dinner to Dad in the fields -- and so we took some out for the boys first). Owen announced when we got there with food "I NOT eating!!" He did eventually eat of course -- he just didn't want to stop "working."



Oh and we also took a trip to visit a couple of cemetaries in Knox Co... to see the graves of Grandma Mengedoht and Grandma McCarter... as well as Grandma and Grandpa Kaiser at the Bruceville Cemetary. I had to keep reminding the boys that the tombstones were NOT for climbing.. but the trinkets on them made them think they were toys somehow. Hopefully other than the broken flag on Grandpa's site (which still had enough stick to poke back into the ground) we didn't leave any remnants of our visit. I remember going with Grandma Mengedoht and Aunt Mary Moore to the cemetary all the time as a little girl... to put flowers on the gravesites. This was a new experience for my kiddos though... so hopefully no one minded the rowdiness out there!

See the rest of the pics from May at:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=21656&l=45ea6&id=518670535

and

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=21649&l=46ea9&id=518670535

Owen loves Walmart!

While the average person cringes at the thought of venturing into a Walmart, my youngest LOVES the place. Everytime we drive by he starts on the Walmart requests, prompting Ben to ask me to find a new way home from the sitters!

So he's very used to me saying "no" when he asks to go to Walmart. This is the usual pattern. Today however, he went for a new approach.

Owen: "yes, walmart mommy. yes. go there. yes."
Me: "no, not today."
Owen: "please. please. please please please. please Mommy! yes walmart!"

I told him we'd go home, I'd change and we would go back. We went to Dollar General first though, and bought little trinkets there. I told him there'd be no Walmart if he got the 4-wheeler he wanted. He said okay.

On the way home from Dollar General it is necessary to drive past Walmart... "please please please Walmart again!"

I promised we'd go there tomorrow!

Greetings from the Huff Family... our Christmas newsletter from 2004!

I'm cleaning up my drives at work and came across this... I'm thinking, what do I do with this? It's electronic... I probably don't have a copy at home. Hey, I'll post it to my blog! So this is a step back in time... verbatim from Christmas 2004!

(note: Just noted that the pic is 1 yr after the newsletter... enjoy anyway - even though they don't "go" together!)

Greetings from the Huff Family!

It has been quite a year at our house… new baby, new house, new job (for Angela) and friends moving in to live with us! For certain, 2004 will be a year to remember!

As most of you probably know, baby Benjamin Stephen arrived three weeks early in February. Saying that Mom and Dad didn’t quite have things ready would be an understatement – no bed, no clothes – even the car seat was in Vincennes when we realized that the baby was coming. With lots of help from family and friends we finally got things together – the baby room was cleared out, painted and organized for baby Ben and we had just started getting the rest of the house back in order when…

April came along and Kathy Willer called me to tell me about a house for sale east of Greencastle. I told her the same thing that Jason did when she mentioned it to him days earlier – that we weren’t in the market for a house. As it turned out, Jason and I decided that it wouldn’t hurt to look at the place and the morning after we did, we made an offer. Impulse shopping at its greatest! We actually had to call my dad to come up and look at the place early on the morning that we made the offer to make sure that we weren’t buying the house from ‘The Money Pit!’

Boy packing and unpacking with a baby presents a whole new set of challenges. Jason and I have both moved a lot over the last 10 years and I have it down to a science. Everything wrapped, boxed and labeled well in advance of the move and unpacked and put away or hung within days of the actual move. Well not this time! When our moving crew arrived I was still throwing things into boxes – and unpacking… well I’m still working on that! We had so much work to do in the house as well – we pulled up carpet, scraped off wallpaper, painted, and cleaned and cleaned and cleaned! Fortunately we had great friends and family supporting us in these activities as well – and literally several members of my family came and stayed for days amidst the mess to make this all happen quickly before I had to go back to work in June…

I changed jobs within Lilly. Not a big deal to do this at Lilly but I’d been at the previous job for 7 years – so a lot of stuff to wrap up and hand off. I did get the new job lined out before I started back at work and set up the expectation that I’d be working from home 2 days a week. It’s been hectic – getting to work earlier than usual so that I can leave much earlier than I used to (no more 60+ hour weeks for me!), being on the road 2 hours a day when I drive in, and getting home in time to pick Ben up from the babysitter’s…

Though speaking of babysitters, we’ve been so blessed. We spent the summer with Kayla, a neighbor and friend from church, watching Ben at our house 3 or 4 days a week. My mom and dad come up at least once a week (versus the 2 times total that they came to my house in 2003) to spend the day taking care of Ben and Jason ‘s parents come regularly when they are in Indiana. After Kayla went back to school, another neighbor and friend from church, Hope, started watching Ben. She adores Ben and he loves her and her three kids. We couldn’t have asked for a better situation!

Backtracking to July – some friends of ours, Brad and Heather, bought the land next to us to build a house. They sold their house very quickly and due to constraints with Brad’s job, were limited on options for living while the house was built. They moved in with us during Putnam County fair week and will be continuing to live with us for at least a few more months while their house is constructed.

In August we started hosting a Home Fellowship Group in our home on Sunday nights. Now if you know my domestic skills (or lack thereof) – this is particularly interesting. I am not a great house cleaner or cook. While we do have pitch-ins to support the group of at least 12 adults and 4 kids under the age of 2, I am regularly cooking, baking and cleaning the house to make it presentable for this weekly activity. We love our HFG and love having our friends in our home so it is well worth it – but what a total change in habits for me!

Ben’s first Halloween and first Thanksgiving were great joys. We had a Harvest Party at church for Halloween (see pictures at: http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/babybenhuff/my_photos) and had friends and family at our house for our Thanksgiving celebration.

As the year comes to an end, we are getting into the routine of being parents, working full time and managing to keep on top of this house (2 ½ baths to clean – yikes!). We are loving every minute with Ben – he grows and changes daily! He’s jabbering – ‘dadadad’ all the time, ‘MOM!’ when he’s mad (among others), getting his first tooth, and is probably weeks if not days from walking. He started really pulling up on things during the week of Thanksgiving and has fallen countless times in his attempts to let go and walk since then. Oh and this week he started climbing STAIRS – yeah! He does have a bit of a temper, but also so much personality – he’s just a joy! It’s funny – this time last year I just never anticipated how life would change so much with a child – nor did I imagine how wonderful the whole experience would be! We’d love for you to experience Ben as he grows as well – so we setup the Yahoo! Photo album mentioned above and will post pictures there regularly for you to enjoy.

Well, I hope your experiences have been as amazing as ours this year and that the coming month, as we all celebrate the birth of Christ and a ring in a new year, will be joy-filled for you and your family. For everyone that we don’t see often enough – we keep you in our thoughts and hope that the coming year will bring us more opportunities to share our lives with one another. We’d love to hear from you – stop by, write, call or email us at (email) anytime!

With Our Love,
Jason, Angela and Ben



P.S. Better late than never? Just about the time the baby announcements came we were in the process of moving – so most of you don’t have one yet. I couldn’t let them go unsent forever, so I’ve enclosed an announcement for you. Also, some of you didn’t get thank you’s for baby gifts yet – please know that they didn’t go unappreciated – just didn’t get the spare moments to get them all out. I’ve enclosed some thank you notes for those previously missed as well.

Our Weekend... the first of May!

Saturday morning we had soccer again. Ben played well... kept up with the guys with the ball pretty well. It's funny, Ben is actually the 5th youngest on the team. Usually they start the 4 youngest on each team and his friend Scot, who is one week younger than him, goes out with that group. When that happens, Ben goes out with the bigger group and it's pretty hard for him to keep up with them. In fact, he usually just runs well behind them and doesn't worry about the ball too much. Saturday they started him in the youngest group. I didn't realize that he had even noticed if he started or not, but he was pretty excited when he came back out. Later, due to the rotation and getting a 9th kid in, both Ben and Scot ended up in the game with the 2 big boys on their team. Apparently deciding that they couldn't keep up, they were on the field holding hands! Melissa (Scot's mom) and I thought it was very sweet. The dads thought it was less cute that their 2 soccer players were walking down the field holding hands!

Owen wore a really cool shirt to church... under his jean jacket. It was mine when I was about his age. This pic is of both boys before we left for church...

This one is actually after church - we had to go to Rockville to pick up Jason's truck - that got worked on this week. The back of the shirt says "ANGELA" - Owen got a lot of attention at church for the shirt! One of my friends that had him in the nursery said that she was taking his jacket off and noted the name on the back... she said that she had to turn him around thinking "I thought I had Owen..." Jason had driven to chruch separately or I might not have gotten him there in a girl's shirt! He overheard Annie talking about the shirt and just shook his head!

I was changing the boys to go outside. I had Ben's shirt off - so he decided to do his "muscle" pose.

Then Owen wanted in on the action... this is his "muscle" pose!
Owen enjoyed being without his shirt! He thought he was very funny.
Ben strikes one last pose!
Owen usually won't wear a hat. I got one out thinking it would keep the hair out of his eyes... it did, and he wore it b/c his big brother was wearing a hat. While we were home for a couple of hours Sunday afternoon, we all worked in the yard. The boys enjoyed riding in the back of the truck.

Sunday night we had our last HFG meeting of the semester... the last one with childcare for awhile anyway. We (adults) roasted hot dogs, ate and talked while the kids were at their classes, then we brought them out to join in on the fun. The 2nd pic below gives you an idea of how many kids we have amongst us, but I should note that several families had already gone home during this time. They had a lot of fun running around and later, throwing things into the fire. The moms stood off to the side and tried not to watch as the dads allowed/encouraged the stick throwing!

Fun at the Zoo -- LONG with lots of pics!

Yesterday we went to the Indianapolis Zoo. It was actually Owen's first trip there! Our last trip was when I was just about a week short of having Owen - aos Ben was just a little older than Owen is now. Frankly, Ben's only been twice prior to yesterday. He and I are on the same track with zoos... see an animal, move to the next. I remember the last visit in 2006... very HOT day, I was very pregnant, and we got there with Ben wanting to see a giraffe (actually on THAT trip Ben was calling the plural of giraffe "giraffUs" -- so he JUST wanted to see the "giraffUs"). When we found the giraffe he said "what do giraffUs say?" (as I recall we did not have an answer for that!), and then he was ready to move on. Lions, tigers, elephants... same story. And in all cases, the animals were hard to see and when Jason and I did see them in the distance, we couldn't really describe it to our then-two-year-old who didn't understand "to the left of that tree!"

So anyway, I've been reluctant to go again... but yesterday was a whole different story. Very enjoyable for us all!

I worked in the AM from home so we didn't leave Greencastle til 11AM. When we got to Indy and drove toward the zoo, the line of school buses in the White River State Park area was incredible. I hadn't thought about the field trips this time of year! So the entry was FULL of kids at noon...we decided to go to Mug and Bun which is a 50s style drive in on the West side of Indy for lunch instead of fighting the crowds for substandard and expensive food at the zoo. Owen slept through lunch. After his initial confusion over us eating IN the van and having a tray hooked to our window (he wanted one hooked to his as well), Ben enjoyed the experience.

Owen woke just as we were arriving at the zoo, but wouldn't eat his burger or fries. (Keep track of what he ate during the day... so NOT an impressively nourishing combo for him yesterday!) It was 1PM as we hit the ticket line and realized that the zoo CLOSED at 4PM since it's so early in the season. That made us have to go on HIGH speed for the visit, for sure!

A couple of quick stops later we hit the Ostriches. One walks right past Owen and he starts yelling at him to come back in our direction. "Come here, come here! Back, back!" Ben has other plans and says to his dad "we should've brought a gun!" Jason: "Ben, this is a zoo." Ben replies, " but we could have some ostrich boots!" I couldn't hear all of this from where I was standing, but then I heard Jason trying to explain that it was better to let the ostrich die of natural causes and THEN make boots!

We picked up some popcorn along the way, so Owen had his first snack. I tried again to push the burger and fries that we had carried into the zoo, but a bite into the sandwich he declared "I don't like that" and spit it out. Jason, who was the ringleader on the popcorn purchase, got none as both boys devoured the stuff.

The next eventful stop was at the goats. Yes, goats. Owen LOVED the chance to get in with the goats and pet them. Like every goat IN there had to be petted! He was even hugging the goats. Ben was less impressed and stood back for a bit, touching a goat here and there. He then climbed on the goat boxes, which was a no-no, and after we told him to get down, he was ready to leave the goats behind. Owen STILL stayed in there. Lots of cute pics from the goat visit.

The same area had some cows and pigs, which were a highlight, as well as a spider and some small snakes. Owen was frustrated not to be able to pet the cows. Then came the horses... oh how Owen loves the horses!

Jason and the boys got in line for the pony ride. I headed to the ticket kiosk to buy some rides. Pony rides are apparently $2.75 each (and we thought gas was high!)! The zoo has swapped out their attendant that sells tix in the carousel and pony area for an ATM of sorts where you have to use a debit or credit card. After finding that none of our cards would work (the machine was actually messed up), I went back over to tell Jason and the boys. Fortunately there was a kind attendant as the next machine was FAR away and the rides were about to close. She gave the boys a free turn and you'll see in the pics how much they enjoyed the ride! Owen decided that a "no-hands" approach was the best. He didn't stop smiling the whole time!

After the pony ride, Ben measured up against the horses (he's 10 hands!) while Owen took another look at the ponies. And another and another... We had to literally tear him away. He wanted me to take this pic of the ponies... and I did in the bargain to move him away...

Next up was the dolphin show. I didn't get a pic of Owen's face in this one b/c I had to hold on to him the whole time... but he LOVED it so much. Ben liked it at first but then put his head on Jason's lap and tried to rest. Owen had a grin from ear to ear the entire time and just kept clapping. When a dolphin would jump and splash the kids in the splash zone Owen would yell "do again, do again!" It was very fun to see how much fun HE was having. Absolutely LOVED it!
The giraffe stop... the boys really liked being so close to them.

We also got a close look at the lions and once again, Owen was bossing the animals. He kept saying "pet him, pet him" and "back here, back here" which made the folks around him laugh (and thus encouraged him even more!). A boy claimed to have gotten hit with lion pee (which I hear CAN happen) while we were standing there, so we made a quick exit...

Owen was a good walker the whole trip. Ben preferred to ride in the stroller most of the time, but at this rare moment they were both walking AND holding hands.

We enjoyed the elephants for awhile. All of the boys were able to locate and identify elephant poop ... Ben had some questions about why it floated in the water. Good thing we had a vet handy. Ha!

The meerkats were also cool - for Ben, because we had watched Meerkat Manor on Animal Planet. Owen just thought they were fun - he said "WOW" several times. The boys liked the snakes more than I did, but I don't think there's much chance that Ben will ask for a snake as a pet. Owen, on the other hand...

This pic was in the aquarium... Ben found the eel to be pretty fascinating.

Then finally, the last stop in the aquarium and the highlight of the day for both boys... petting sharks! The tank had probably 20-30 sharks in it. Ben was a bit uncertain at first... knowing that sharks "bite" he wasn't sure he wanted to put his hand in. Owen would have gotten IN the tank if we'd have let him! They both got a chance to pet several as the zoo attendant shared with us that there are over 400 breeds of sharks and only 10 breeds have ever hurt man.

In a rare moment at the end of the zoo trip, both boys posed for a picture! Of course we were headed to the gift shop and they both wanted souvenirs... which probably weighed into their compliance with this picture.

Oh and for those tracking the food for the day... Owen had a few bites of ice cream before we left the zoo. Jason did not buy the kind he/we ordered, so he stole some bites from his brother (who DID get the right kind) -- not well-received! After leaving the zoo I offered Owen the chance to pick what kind of drinks we got -- he picked "sweet tea!" (of course Ben wanted a frozen coke... so he had a frozen coke from BK and Jason, Owen and I had sweet tea from McD's). We did get some nuggets from McD's (it's like 4:30PM by now!) and Owen ate 2 while in SAMS. An hour later both boys had popcorn AND pretzel gold fish from Target. Then at 8:30 PM... finally -- supper at Red Robin. So much for food that "makes you grow!"

It was a long but fun day -- Ben's recap focused on the sharks, the shark tooth from the gift shop, the "nice" shark he got from the gift shop, and his new shoes (NOT from the zoo)! Owen's - the sharks and the dolphins... oh, and the pony. Good thing we ventured out of Greencastle yesterday and expanded our horizons at the zoo. Where can you take a $2.75 (but free for the people that can't work the ATM thing) pony ride in Greencastle?

SEE ALL THE PICS @ http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=19680&l=7f448&id=518670535