Being a Briscoe means . . .

. . . that you are competitive; that you are determined; that you don't care too much about appearances; and mostly, that you are ready to have a good time.

Here are some of my favorites from our "minute to win it" competition at the Briscoe family reunion this summer!

Paper airplanes can be folded while in a cast
Look at Andrew's expression in the background.

The Many Faces of Benjamin Pace

Sleepy

Surprised

Sad

Happy

Angry

And just plain cute!

Wanderings

So today I decided to do a little exploring so I loaded up Benjamin and we took a little drive. On our wanderings I happened across what is probably the coolest (and best maintained) city park ever. It starts off with a skate park and basketball courts and tennis courts. Then there is a full golf course. After the golf course are all kinds of pavilions and picnic areas along wooded paths surrounded by bridges over the streams that run through the park, but the main attraction is this . . .

This is one of FOUR playgrounds in the park and each has a different theme. This is the largest one and is a castle theme. So so cool! I found myself wishing Benjamin was a few years older so we could run all over it together. I'm sure this will be a frequent attraction while we are here in Bloomington.

And here is my son doing his superman pose - one arm showing off the muscles, the other ready to take flight.

Truly Blessed

This was a wonderful weekend thanks to an incredible husband. On Saturday, we woke up bright and early and went to the local farmer's market. There are quite a few Mennonite communities around us so the farmers had all kinds of delicious produce to sell. We got some raspberries, peaches, and peppers and bought some yummy cinnamon rolls for breakfast. Then we hit the grocery store for some other things we needed before heading home. At home we managed to make some raspberry peach freezer jam, banana bread with our over-ripening bananas, vacuum the house, do the laundry and get Benjamin fed and down for a nap all before noon. That left us with time to take a much needed nap, read and just relax.
We had stake conference this weekend as well. Since the adult session was from 7-9 on Saturday night which is Benjamin's most difficult time of the day, we decided one of us would go and one would stay home with him. Cameron lovingly interesting insisted that I go and get some time to myself while he watched the kiddo. Conference was wonderful and Elder Holland gave some very uplifting council for going through hard times. I returned home to a frustrated, but still loving, husband who had just spent two hours with a crying baby. Benjamin had finally fallen soundly to sleep 5 minutes before I walked in the door.
At the Sunday morning session of conference we were packed into the building like sardines. Benjamin slept until the last 15 minutes of the conference and was never fussy. It was a wonderful conference and we spent the afternoon enjoying time together as a family and talking over the internet with family and friends. I am so so blessed to have such a wonderful husband and such an angel of a son.

A Proud Father

It just makes me smile . . . Whenever we take Benjamin somewhere, Cameron loves to show him off. "How old is your baby?" asks the lady at the farmer's market. "One month and he's bigger than 95% of kids his age!" answers his father in a "my baby could beat up your baby" tone. The cashier at the grocery store, the teller at the bank, the lady walking her dog - they all know that our son is "bigger than 95% of kids his age." Here's to a great husband and father!!

A Church-going People

Well, we did it. We went to church and stayed for the whole three hours with the kiddo. It should have been a piece of cake since he usually sleeps all morning. However, I think he just hit a growth spurt because he woke up right after sacrament meeting and boy was he hungry. During Sunday school he managed to spit up on Cameron's shoulder, and then somehow down the front of my shirt. We met the bishop and chatted with him for a while. Then it was off to Relief Society for me and Benjamin. He was fussy but we were doing okay until the last twenty minutes when I heard and smelt the explosion. In the bathroom I uncovered him to find poop all over his cute church outfit, his blanket and anything else that touched him. Ah, the joys.
Here are some pictures of him in his cute church clothes. I had to wake him up to get him dressed so if he looks annoyed and sleepy, that is why.


Here's him when he finally got full and fell asleep this afternoon. The boy is a bottomless pit. Luckily if you can fill him up, he's pretty happy.

A few more Pics

Indiana, and life with just mom and dad around, is a whole lot to adjust to when you're two weeks old. Benjamin is doing great so far. Here are some favorite pastimes.
Sitting in his rocker chair

Tummy time chat with Mommy

And taking baths. I don't have pictures of this yet since it takes two of us to keep him from diving all the way into the water. He likes to wriggle down as far as he can and we have to both work to keep his head above the water. I think he'll be a great swimmer.

A New Kind of Productivity

I never realized just how much time it takes to care for a baby. I figured you feed them and they sleep and you have all this free time since they just sleep. Feel free to laugh at my naiveté.
Yesterday I thought I would take Cameron to school, run to the dry cleaners, do the laundry and finish organizing the kitchen and bathroom. Nothing much, and it really shouldn't have taken more than a few hours. How did the day really go? Cameron was dropped off and we managed to make it to the dry cleaners before a major fit was thrown on the way home. I'm not sure where the rest of the day went but at 9 pm I finished putting the rest of the laundry away and all three of us went to bed exhausted. The kitchen and the bathroom are still a mess. Today's goal is simply to make it to the grocery store - or at least figure out what we need from the grocery store. Oh, and maybe I'll do my hair as well.