Mommy's Little Helper

Look at my little helper. He is such a curious guy. And very smart. This is Ben helping me put together a desk while Daddy was gone to training.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN

We had a great Halloween! Ben was adorable as you can see from his pictures. Mom and Dad didn't dress up this year but we had a nice time at church. We figured ben is a little small for trick or treating. Maybe next year!

Visit to Petit Jean State Park

Jonas and Ben had so much fun together. I know Jonas can't wait until his lil' sis gets big enough to play with too.

Ben and I spent the night in a cabin with my sister and her family at Petit Jean. We went hiking on the Cedar Fall Overlook trail. It was a short trail (1/4 mi) but that's about all I could handle with two dogs and a 6 month old baby. Ben was great but Lucy almost didn't make it back. :) It was nice to spend some time with family and show off my state. Arkansas truly is a beautiful state.

Weekend with Nana and Papa

We spent the weekend at Nana and Papa's house in Bella Vista, AR. It was so nice to spend some time with them and Granny. We sure do miss them. Here are a few pictures from our trip.

Splish, Splash!

Hi, Daddy! I miss you.

Mommy and I miss you very much. Come home soon. Sending lots of hugs and kisses.

Buddies

Ben and Pooh have become big buds. Pooh likes to lick him in the face. Ben thinks it's pretty funny too. Lucy could really care less about attention from Ben but she is very protective. She sleeps in his room with him.

Is that a little K-STATE fan I see?

SSG Joseph (Joe) Weiglein

My good friend Joe was Killed in Action on May 29, 2007 while he was deployed to Operation Iraqi Freedom. His anniversary to his wife was this past Labor Day so we met them in Washington D.C. at the Arlington National Cemetery to pay tribute to him and his wife Jen. Joe and Jen’s parents were able to make it, a friend of Jen’s, and old friend of ours Bobby and his girlfriend was there too. It was very difficult but his wife is an amazing, strong, loving woman and it was great to laugh and cry together. He will be greatly missed but never forgotten.

We were also able to see the Vietnam Memorial and Korean War Memorial. It was a very humbling experience. Thank you to those Veteran’s in the past that may not have gotten the support that we do today. I salute you. CPT BENJAMIN J. VINCENT

Vietnam Wall Memorial

More Pics from Kansas

Hello everyone! I am at Ft. Chaffee, Arkansas for the next few weeks doing some training. I saw that Cheryl posted some pics earlier of ben on a 4-wheeler. What a stud. I get so excited just seeing him. Even if he was trying to eat the steering wheel. I guess we will have to work on that. Anyway, here are some pics from my end. I had to make some room on my camera so I have a ton of pics i need to add to the blog. I hope everyone is doing good and I look forward to hearing how you are doing too.



Love, BJ

4-Wheeling with Mike and Sandra

Guess what we did this weekend? Ben and I went to help Uncle Mike put out corn for the deer at the cabin in Cord, AR. Ben got to ride in the Ranger with me and Sandra and even got to ride the 4-wheeler with Mike and Tanner. As you can tell, we had a great time. Ben's growing so fast. He loves being outside. Pretty soon he'll be hunting himself.

More pics from Nicole.

Couldn't them all to download at the same time. Here's some more pictures from KS.

Pictures from Aunt Nicole

We had to share these pictures. They are from when we were in KS last weekend. Aunt Nicole sent them. Aren't they great!?!?

PICS OF BEN

Ben's 1st Tooth

Ben got his first tooth today. How exciting is that? Mommy thought there was something in his mouth. Low and behold...it was a tooth. 4 1/2 months old and he already has a tooth. Man, he's growing so fast. Every day is a new adventure for him. We started him on solids last week. Well if you count runny rice cereal as a solid...then, yes he's eating solids. We are truly having so much fun being parents. Ben's such a happy baby too.

HOT OFF THE PRESS

Here is a link to B.J. in the newspaper....

http://www.thetd.com/freepages/2007-08-29/news/story4.php


Bonus Question: What movie is this quote from:

"I'll make you famous."

New member of the NEWMAN family!!!

SHE'S HERE!!! Eden Kaylynn Staples was born yesterday (Aug. 27, 2007) at 3:10 p.m. weighing in at a whopping 7 lbs 7.8 oz. My sister, Autumn and her husband, Kenan sure do make pretty babies. As you can tell, big brother, Jonas likes his new little sis very much. We can't wait to meet her. Congrats to the Staples family!!!

Update on BJ

Well, it's official. BJ will be heading back to Iraq. I know, I know...that really sucks. He received word yesterday that he'll definitely be returning to Iraq early next year (2008). We are planning several trips back to Kansas in the next several months. We will try to keep everybody posted on the dates so we can try to see everybody before he leaves. Christmas may be a good time since we will be there for a week or so. Let us know if you want to head our way too. We have plenty of room...ok, so we don't have "plenty" of room. Ben has taken over the house but we do have a spare bed.

For those of who didn't know...BJ took command of a National Guard Unit out of Walnut Ridge, Arkansas this month. He's worked so hard for this command. We are so proud of him. All Army officers dream of taking their own command someday. He's going to be an awesome commander. Wish him luck and pray for us and his soldiers.

Ben's New Chair

Look who's sitting up...with some help. :) These pictures are from Ben's first over night stay without Mommy and Daddy. He spent the night with Nana Merry, Papa Dale and Grandma Midge. They had so much fun with him.

Visit from Grandma Rhonda

Here are some pictures from when Grandma Rhonda came to visit in June. She got to stay with us for a few days. We had such a good time. As you can tell Ben's pretty fond of his grandma. He really likes it when she sings to him.

Sorry it's taken so long to update our blog but Ben keeps us pretty busy. He's growing so fast. These pictures are a little old so I'm going to be posting more recent ones as soon as I get caught up. :)