A new favorite picture

Okay - this is gonna be one of my new favorite pictures of all time. Unfortunately, it isn't the kind of picture I can blow up and display on the wall. Still, a favorite! Annie scampered away while I went to find her clothes and, by the time I returned, had already put on her boots and was going for a ride on her big green tractor!!

The Force

Aaron has become quite the Star Wars fan in the last year, and Ben has, of course, latched on to some parts of it as well. Aaron will occasionally pretend as if he is using "the Force" on me, saying such things as, "You will make me a milkshake" while he waves his hand in front of my face. Admittedly, I don't know much about the Force, but so far I have not been been affected by his attempts at it (at least not to my knowledge).

So today at my grandparents', Ben wanted to walk or ride his scooter a few houses down to where Katie was playing. I had already told him a couple of times that he was not allowed to go down the road without an adult, so he decided to use the Force on me. He looked in my eyes, waved his hand in the air and, very seriously, said, "You will let me go down the road."

Laughing on the inside, I told him, "No, I won't let you go down the road. I will let you get in the car so we can go home."

I should have told him that mind tricks don't work on moms!

Updates

Okay, here's the latest (in no particular order):

1. the RRC women's retreat in Charleston was much fun - thanks to BJ and Adrienne (what were their stage names? I can't remember)!

2. our old riding mower is still sitting over the hill where it died a slow death last summer, and we knew the push mower needed some TLC - we just didn't know how badly. The tire just fell off while I tried to mow the grass for the first time this season!

3. Annie is not the least bit afraid of being outside and she will even walk down our road a little ways (which terrifies Ben). I guess all the times we walked the hill this winter caused her to think that's the way to go!

4. a winter trip to the cabin was fun with snowboarding for some and sledding for others! (this is my sister Tabby and my niece Addy taking Annie down the hill with them)

5. coloring Easter eggs is a tradition at our place - a messy tradition, but fun no less. Annie got to sit in her high chair and put stickers on plastic eggs this year so that she could participate, too!

6. Ben can dress himself (which thrills me) even though he often gets clothing on backwards or on the wrong feet. Hey, if it doesn't bother him, it doesn't bother me!

7. oh, and I had bright red highlights put in my hair (thanks, Yvette) which I really love but my family is not so sure. I think they're getting used to it. No really good pictures - sorry!