Fourth Anniversary!

WOWZAS! It's been 2 months since I posted!! However our lives have been jam-packed with great blessings! 

The biggest blessing that we've celebrated was our FOURTH ANNIVERSARY! We didn't have anything extravagant planned, especially because Samuel became sick a couple days before our anniversary. Knowing that we really wanted to celebrate, we enlisted a couple sweet friends to come over and hang out at our house while the boys slept so that we could go out for a little celebrating!

So Jessica and Mark Stucky gladly came over for pizza and alone time while we ventured to my very favorite restaurant of all time: STONEFIRE GRILL!!!!

We didn't actually get a picture together, but we took some of each other :) Love him.

This is to represent our child-free anniversary date ;) What's funny is that by the end of the date, we were both missing our awesome boys! We truly are so blessed by God.

Again, my FAVORITE! We both weren't STARVING so we just got a small salad and breadsticks to share! We left stuffed and satisfied. 

One of the best things about Stonefire is their BBQ sauce! We love it on everything :) This picture was Joshua's idea! I LOVE IT. I love the food, I love the sauce, I love the # of years God has faithfully blessed us, and I LOVE the hands and wedding band :)

After dinner, we were going to go to BJ's for a Pazookie but we just got so tired after roaming the mall a bit and decided to go home. It was great because then we got to fellowship with our dear friends for a while!

Thankful for four years married to the best husband in the world!

Here's the song that I walked down the aisle to. We still listen to it and marvel at God's faithfulness to us! 

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Happy Birthday, Benjamin!

Our precious little Benjamin is a whole year old! This year has flown by us, yet so much has happened in the past 12 months! Benjamin has been such a source of joy for us and we praise the Lord for giving us such a pleasant and happy little guy. 

One year ago today, we made our way to Norton Suburban Hospital in Louisville, KY (boy, do we miss that place!) to induce labor! We were so anxious to meet our second son and welcome him into this crazy world! Since we had been so very blessed by God giving us Samuel, we were that much more excited to add another little one into our lives! Who would have known how blessed we really would be! 

We have learned that Benjamin has a very different personality than his big brother! It's been fun, over the year, catching things that they do differently and some things they do the same. One thing that is different is Benjamin's "Stranger Danger" mentality. Samuel has always gone to others with such ease, but not so with little B. One thing that is the same is their love for music! Benjamin LOVES to dance and bop to almost any type of music (we even played some reggae and he bopped to the beat!)

I wanted to give a little year-in-review to remember what a precious time this past year was! Join me in praising God for Benjamin Henry Clutterham!

 Our precious friend, Melissa enjoying newborn Benjamin snuggles!

Being explored by big brother!

First time meeting Aunt Jen!

First Christmas Morning ;)

Staying with our friends, The Ginns, while transitioning to CA!

Enjoying one of the many parks in SoCal!

Taking a bath in the sink in our 300 sq ft home! :)

A visit from Grandma and Grandpa...in person!

First Dodger's Game!

What a fantastic year of milestones, memories, and changes! We are thankful to God for all the joy that this little life has brought to us!! What a blessing!

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Benjamin is 11 Months old!

Ok, I say this every month, but seriously?! Where did the time go? I can't even believe that my little second baby is turning one in a month! Sigh. We'll cross that bridge when we get there.

But for this month, I'll focus on my sweet boy being ELEVEN MONTHS OLD! He is such a character! This kid cracks us up with his Stevie Wonder head moves and insistent personality! He LOVES to dance, follow Samuel around, and chew on Abba's shoes (I know, gross.) He loves to eat and will pick anything up from cheerios to nickels (we try to limit his intake of those). He is generally happy, but is not afraid to let us know when he is frustrated! Benjamin fights hard against diaper changes and very much dislikes being left alone anywhere. BUT, this kid brings us so many smiles and so much joy! Benjamin is calm and friendly, sweet and smiley!

Benjamin still only has 7 teeth (4 on top, 3 on bottom), but eats like a champ! He drinks solely from a sippy cup which is bitter-sweet! Less pieces to clean, but means he's growing up at a very fast rate!!! He sleeps pretty well for naps and is my early riser (6/6:30am!) He's exceptionally sweet, tender, and cuddly after a good long nap. I love it!

This month seems to be a short update. Next month will be a recap of the year and will probably make mama weep a whole lot of emotion! 

We are so very thankful for this guy and love that he is a part of our family of 4! We are BLESSED!

(This was funny and gross. As I was shooting some pictures of Benjamin we noticed a very strong smell...that kept getting stronger. We looked and found some serious leakage. We continued to shoot a couple more pictures, but Joshua needed an efficient (and clean) way to transport B to the next site. HA)

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Benjamin is 10 months old...Samuel is 28 months old!

Today, I'm hitting the blog with a double whammy! Samuel is 28 months old (2 years, 4 months) and Benjamin turned 10 months old a few days ago. I'm late in posting Benjamin's monthly "report" because both boys came down with a NASTY bug that kept us pretty dormant for a long couple of days. We are mostly back to normal, taking walks, playing outside, and seeing friends! In their sickness, I meditated on Psalm 121:3-4

He will not let your foot be moved; he who keeps you will not slumber. Behold, he who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.

What got me seeking comfort in those verses was the fact that I literally could not do anything for my children while I slept and sought rest for the night. I found myself worrying that their fevers would spike or that they would get sick in their beds. I had to trust that the Lord would watch over them even while I slept. He never sleeps nor slumbers and cares for my babies better than I ever could. It was a comfort to lay my head on the pillow and rest in God's sovereignty and wisdom to know what to do what, when.

So, on to the updates!

Benjamin and Samuel are growing RAPIDLY! I mean, Benjamin is barely eating any pureed foods anymore! He would rather feed himself table food and enjoy the meal like the rest of us. He chews and swallows great so there is little concern about choking (though, I'm still careful! :)) He also LOVES, LOVES dancing, but especially to Jamie Grace's "Hold Me." We have caught him, multiple times, busting a move or two. Samuel loved the same song and danced to it too! So funny!

Benjamin is getting bigger physically as well and moves around so quickly. He is currently only army crawling, but can pull himself up and loves standing. I bet he'll be making strides towards walking by 11 months. Crazy! What a joy he is!

And Samuel...oh Samuel. How we love this little dude! He definitely keeps us on our toes and knows exactly what to do to push our buttons...and make us smile! This little Joshua-look-a-like has such a huge personality. No matter who he encounters, he enthusiastically shouts, "HI" and proceeds to interact. He is surely our outgoing child! What I have loved most recently about my little guy is his sweet compassion towards others. Whether it's asking if Benjamin is "okay" after taking a fall, or stroking his momma's hair after a long afternoon, this precious boy shows that he loves and cares for his family. (As I type this, Samuel is picking up puffs and feeding them to his little brother. Very sweet.) I pray I never take that sweet heart for granted. What a gift!

Thank you, God, for making me the blessed mom of these awesome kids!

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Mom&Dad's Visit: Day 1

This is the first post from my parents' visit to Santa Clarita, CA. It was SUCH a great visit and we loved our time with mom and dad! It had been a long while since we had seen my parents, but it didn't seem like that because we do FaceTime with them almost everyday! It gives us something to do during the day and we all love it! 

Mom and dad arrived on a Thursday night and stayed overnight in L.A. They came to us as soon as they could and immediately basked in the awesomeness of their little grandbabes! It was fun to watch them goo and gah over each other. I love how my parents love our kids so much and how our kids adore their grandma and grandpa! What a blessing to have grandparents that love them SO dearly even when they live over 2,000 miles away!

My in-laws were out of town the week my parents were here so it worked out perfectly that they could stay over there. We all stayed a few nights together and then let them have the house to themselves half way through the week. Each morning we would meet up and decide what fun things we were going to do that day. The first day was PACKED as we drove to the Getty Museum, Santa Monica, and Malibu! Here are a few pictures from the first two full days with mom and dad!

Samuel just loves being with his grandpa! (whom he affectionately calls "humpah"...love it)

Tickles!

They adore each other!

Wearing one of abba's old snow hats from when he was a little guy! While we were at my in-laws' we went through a couple boxes that had a lot of Joshua's clothing and toys from when he was little. It was fun going down memory lane and picking out clothes that we thought would be fun for the boys to have.

Such a sweet face!

Benjamin smiles at grandma ALL. THE. TIME!

Lovey!

While staying at Grandpa's (Bill) house, Samuel just loved playing the piano! And driving his trains on the keys, too :)

Grandma made a great big breakfast for everyone on the first morning together! 

Yummy! Thanks, grandma! :)

This helped get us all over SoCal! The whole time, Benjamin tried to strain his neck so that he could see what Samuel was watching. He's going to LOVE being in his forward-facing carseat in just a few months!

Waiting for the tram to take us to the Getty Museum in L.A.

More waiting...

By the way, Samuel did SUCH an awesome job being schlepped all over the place with little naps. There were many cranky times, but overall, he was pleasant and fun. Again, blessed we are!

The start to our day of walking! Everyone was a trooper (especially mom who had a BROKEN TOE!)

Just about nap-time!

The Getty in gorgeous! The last time I was here was when Joshua took me the first time I visited him in CA. It brought back lots of memories and was amazing to see how far the Lord has brought our little family in such a short time!

3/4 of my favorite men in the world!

Messin' around. I wanted to see what I really look like when I take pictures, so I had my dad do this. I'll have to post one of those when he passes them on to me :)

Yay! It was so bright in the courtyard, but such a fun place to run around and get some energy out!

Joshua went into the Sketching Gallery where they gave him paper and nice pencils to sketch paintings, or sculptures, or even photographs.

He chose a painting.

And did pretty well if you ask me!

Love love love! Photo credit: MOM!

Parents with the L.A. Skyline

I love my family.

After spending some time at the Getty, we drove to Santa Monica and walked around a bit. We stopped at P.F. Chang's for a late, yummy lunch!

Banana Spring Rolls. So good.

Benjamin enjoyed some, too, after he woke up from his nap in the stroller. Samuel was still sleeping, so we won't tell him what he missed ;)

Pigeons on our walk to the Santa Monica Pier. I thought this photo turned out pretty cool!

The houses down there are pretty extravagant...and...colorful!

Beautiful scenery. Really, CA is such a pretty place!

The Pier!

YUM YUM ice-cream!

Monkey and Abba...Samuel's two favorites!

The beach was crowded and beautiful!

In the arcade area of the Pier, they had a basketball game and FLORIDA GATOR balls! I felt like a piece of home was there on that pier :) GATOR NATION!

FUN!

A short photo-shoot of the little man, while Samuel and Abba walked in the arcade!

Thought this was a cool one, too :)

Happy boy!

Eating feet. That's the life!

After a LONG day of fun activities, we drove down the PCH listening to the Beach Boys and looking for the moon! It was SUCH a fun start to my parents' visit to CA!

More to come...

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