A Boy and His Vacuum

Good afternoon everyone! Once again, I apologize for being a blog-slacker lately. I really have no excuse other than the fact that the only time I can really blog is when Ben is napping....which happens to be the only time I can do A LOT of things. So, I guess the "other things" have been winning out lately.

Not a whole lot has been going on here lately. The weather has finally taken a turn toward the spring-like, which has been quite refreshing and glorious. And now that daylight savings has come and gone, I'm looking forward to running outside in the evenings instead of on the dreadmill. Woo hoo! Speaking of which, this past Saturday, I decided to do a "trial run" on the trail I'll be racing on in a couple of weeks. The trail is in a rural area with lines of trees on both sides and then open meadows beyond the trees. Every mile or so you cross a country road with a couple of houses, but other than that, it's pretty isolated. Pretty much a serial killer's dream come true. Which is why I don't run on it very often....and when I do, I make sure it's on a Saturday afternoon when I know several other people will be on it. Oh, and I run with my car keys in prime stabbing position. I'm sure I look very menacing.

Anywhoo.....this past Saturday I was enjoying the beauty of the trail when I noticed a large pile of horse poo (the trail is also a horse trail) which I quickly dodged, then a few seconds later I was passed by an oncoming elderly cyclist wearing a short-sleeved, button-down plaid shirt, polyester knee-length shorts, black socks pulled up to his knees and shoes that I'm pretty sure should never be worn while bicycling (I should mention it was 45 degrees out). Then, a few seconds after that, I passed a tractor-crossing sign (how a tractor could get through all those trees is beyond me, but whatever). Does that all scream "I live in Nebraska" or what?? Maybe you had to be there, but those events in close sequence of one another made me chuckle.....as if I'm some sort of "city-slicker" myself.

In Ben news, he has discovered the joy of vacuuming in recent weeks. He loves our daily vacuum time and does a good job of helping me out. The problem is, he usually throws a big, ol fit when I put it away. Soooo, I decided to buy him his own toy vacuum so he can have all the vacuuming fun he wants without me having to do the work :-) The only problem is, I looked EVERYWHERE and couldn't find one.....except at Wal-mart. The catch? It's pepto-bismol pink. Do you think that stopped me from buying it?? Ummm, no. Greg was thrilled as you can imagine. In fact, he made me promise I wouldn't post a picture of it on here. Ben doesn't care what color it is though. And that's good enough for me. Below is a picture of him with one of our real vacuums.....

Taking a break from all the hard work....

Ben has also been struggling with his two-year molars recently. I feel like these things have been trying to come in for FOREVER!!! Now, I can finally see the two bottom ones poking through. Once those babies are in, he is done teething until he is 6!! In the meantime, the pain makes him a bit crabby from time to time as I'm sure you can imagine. I was taking his picture a few days ago and he was getting mad at me because I wouldn't let him hold the camera and I captured this beauty.....

Is that a face or what?? The best part is, when I showed him this picture of himself, he started laughing hysterically. It was sooo funny.

And below is a sweet picture of him hugging his cobra.....

And a picture of him looking very grown-up. I just love how he holds his hands in front of his body when he poses for a picture....

That's all I have for today. I'm cooking up another "Tales From the Farm" post. I'm sure you're thrilled. The good news is, there will be no stories of dying animals in the final posts. And I'm only planning on doing two more as I fear I might be giving you all nightmares. Have a happy Monday!!!

Love,

Brooke