thebynumfamily.com

This year Hank played on his first T-Ball team. It has been quite the experience! A 3yr old T-Ball team, is maybe the funniest thing ever! When we started 5 weeks ago, none of the kids really could do much that looked like T-ball. They found a lot of worms, spotted airplanes, and pick a lot of flowers. No one could really hit, catch, or throw the ball. However, I am proud to say, all the kids on Hank’s team have really done a great job and are even starting to look like a little team!

They are just the cutest! Next up… Soccer Season! And guess who is going to be Hank’s coach??? His Daddy! Should be tons of fun!

Well, The Bynum Family has good news…We are expecting Baby #2 in November!

I am just about 12 weeks along and we have gotten all good reports from our doctor. We had this ultrasound done at 8 weeks, everything looked great, and baby measured perfectly! Then last week we heard the heartbeat! This little one has a heart rate of 168-170, which is GREAT! We have started spreading the news and really letting ourselves get excited! If morning/day/night sickness is any indication, we have one healthy baby.

We, also recently told Hank about the good news and he is still trying to understand what is really going on. Though, he is quite adamant that he is having a Baby Sister!

Big Brother

We are so thankful that God has chosen us for another round of parenthood!

We have ben very busy lately, with nothing special, just life in general. From my work (always crazy), to Jason’s work (getting very busy), then Hank had Spring break, started T-Ball, Laura came to visit and help Jason out with some photography work, and it just seems like life gets busier every day. However, in the midst of our little busy lives, we are really enjoying this season together. We decided to take a little time out for some FUN with our friends!

So, on Friday we surprised Hank, Julia, and Soren with an overnight trip to The Great Wolf Lodge! The Great Wolf Lodge is a huge indoor water park and the best part is, it is only about 10mins away from our house! Part of the deal with The Great Wolf is that you have to stay in the hotel to use the water park and it is pretty pricey, which is why we have driven past it daily for 2 years and have never gone. So, we got together with the Dalans and decided to make a little get-away out of the experience.

Excited and Ready To Go!

We stayed in a really fun room that had a “Kids Cabin” inside the room! So Hank, Julia, and Soren had their own cabin to camp out in!

Inside the cabin

The Water Park was a BLAST! There were some very neat parts of the park but those parts were very splashy, so our pictures are limited to the areas we knew the camera would survive. Lots of water dumping from giant buckets in the celling all day long, makes everything more fun!

Splash!

Cute kiddos!

Julia on the "Big Slide"

Hank's Turn!

Best Friends in the Pool

FUN in the Waves!

So Much Fun!

Hank LOVES the water!

We are all looking a little tired after 2 days of Water Park

Hank, Julia, and Soren

Tired Kiddos!

Saying Goodbye to The Great Wolf Lodge!

Hank has been doing GREAT at the Montessori School. I was a little worried that it would be too fast for him and he would have a hard time adjusting, but, of course, he has soared! He loves it and they love him. The one thing we were not prepared for was the “homework”, I mean he is 3! Most of his homework assignments consist of “family art projects”. Usually we let Hank glue some beans or noodles on whatever he is supposed to turn in (we are kind of busy, and he’s 3!). When Hank brought home an assignment to make a Zany Zoo Animal for the Zany Zoo Animal Parade, he immediately said “I want to make an Elephant!” The assignment suggested using recycled material from around the house to create your animal. So, Hank and Momma got to it! It took a couple days and some hard work, but Hank was so proud to march with his Zany Zoo Elephant in the Parade!

Nothing better than painting in underwear

The Zany Elephant

The tail is my favorite part!

The finished project!

Happy St. Patrick’s Day! It’s my favorite day of the year and Hank is learning to love it too!

This year Hank and I threw a little surprise party for Daddy on his 29th birthday! We invited a few families over for dinner and cake, we stayed up way too late, and had a great time! Happy Birthday to the BEST husband and Dad, we are so blessed to have you!

Surprised?!?!

A Big Yummy Cake was surprise #2!

Blowing out candles

For his birthday, Jason asked to spend the day in Seattle. He wanted to take Hank and me to the Experience Music Project, which was amazing and so much fun, especially for Hank and Daddy!

My Boys in Seattle

Experience The Music Project

In the Piano Room

In the Guitar Room

In the Drums Room

The Drum Table

...And more Drums

The Seattle Space Needle

What a view!

Hold on Tight!

The 2 cutest boys in Seattle, waiting on the train

L.O.V.E.

More L.O.V.E.

I love our little family!

We love our friends The Dalans! They are great people, tons of fun, and always good for laughs. Not to mention, our kids are Best Friends and play so well together that they basically take care of themselves (very nice perk to friendship!) We all got to together for a little Superbowl Party at the Dalan Home, an easy choice given their new flat screen! Check out these cute Packer fans!

Besties!

Representing the Titans in WA

Prettiest Cheese Head I know

Love these two!

Aaron also makes a very pretty Cheese Head

We had a very fun snowy season in WA this year. One morning we woke up to 5-6in of snow! It was so pretty and so much fun! What better way to enjoy the winter wonderland, than with our buddies?!?

Ready for sledding!

Go, Julia, Go!

Gena and Julia

Hank LOVES sledding! Down he goes...

...right through Daddy's legs into the brambles

...and the bleeding starts!

...Hanks first sledding head wound (I envision many more in the coming years)

Ready for more!

FUN!

Daddy's Turn

Go Daddy!

Snowball Fight!

Watch Out Kids! Ms. Gena is ruthless!

Our Snow Bunnies!

Snuggles on the couch after a fun afternoon!

We had a blast! Looking forward to Spring here in the Northwest!

Once again, I have taken a too-log break from blogging. As many people know, our family has had a hard winter. The loss of Granddaddy, Jason’s Dad, in late December was so difficult for us all and we have needed a little time to process and heal. Jason and I agree that we would love write a little something on the blog about what a wonderful and special man Granddaddy was to us all. We also agree that we are not quite ready to do that now.

So, I am just going to pick up with the current happenings in our little family life. Hopefully you haven’t forgotten about us!

I think everyone knows where we stand on the whole Santa issue. This year has proven to be very interesting, as Hank has started asking questions. Or, more like making statements…things like “When Santa comes to my house…” or “I hope Santa will bring me…” or “Is it almost time for Santa to come?” Every time I try to respond in a loving way about how Santa is something fun that we talk about, like Spiderman, but he is not REAL. And then try to direct the conversation towards Jesus in some way. Hank seems to respond positively and we talk about it all, but inevitably it comes up again only hours later.

So, this morning our dear friend, Ms Gena, who is Julia and Soren’s momma, invited us to a breakfast with Santa. Ms Gena teaches at our local high school and is the Key Club advisor, so this breakfast was to raise money and toys for Toys For Tots. And since she had a lot to put together for this day, we actually got to hang out Julia and Soren all morning. Needless to say the kids had a blast with breakfast, crafts, and of course, Santa! I tried to keep the explanations to a minium as to avoid a huge “Santa’s Not Real Debacle”. And, as we were driving away Hank was relaying all of the important topics covered while sitting with Santa. He told me that Santa was going to bring him a Woody, a Spiderman, and a Batman guy! When I again (for the 600th time) reminded him that Santa was just for fun and not really real, Hank looked at me with a very stern and serious face and said “Mom! Santa IS REAL! I just saw him and he told me that is his name!” HA! I think it’s safe to say that we are all learning as we go!

Julia, Hank, & Soren with Santa

Julia would like "Hello Kitty"

Soren might actually be bigger than Santa

Hank and Santa

Pancake time!

Christmas arts & crafts

Christmas Fire Truck

Dimples!

Hank wanted to tell Santa "One More Thing" before we left!

We had a great time with our friends and with Santa!

We were so blessed this year to have my mom come all the way to WA to spend Thanksgiving with us! She came, even knowing that I was going to cook the meal!

Hank & Nana doing puzzles

Hank & Nana with Hank's home-made place mats

The Turkey

Ready to eat!

The Finished Masterpiece!

LOVE.