Holidays, Here & Gone

Happy 2009! I hope this post finds everyone healthy & happy in the new year. It's amazing to me how quickly the holidays came & went this year. You spend a month preparing & in the blink of an eye it's all over. We actually had a very laid bck holiday season this year. Dylan still doesn't quite grasp the concept yet, but he had a great time ripping into all the gifts he received. Which was way too much for any 18 month old. The funny thing is out of all the toys & clothes he received his favorite thing was the $2 pack of hockey cards from Papa & Nana Ginestet. Go figure. I will post pictures of him unwrapping gifts as soon as I collect all of them.

New Years was pretty quite for us. We had planned on making the trip up north to celebrate with the Blackwood Clan but germs over took us & we were all sick with nasty colds. Unfortunately we had to stay home. But we didn't ring in the new year by ourselves, Chris Kristi, Mr. P & Chris's Polish friend Andy joined for the evening. Now let me just give you a little background on Andy, he is from POland speaks very broken English & had us in stiches most of the evening. If you want to have a visual of Andy just think of Borat, the look accent everything. We really lost it when Ben handed him a shot of the polish vodka he brought & Andy says & I quote "Very Nice", I thought Borat was in the room. Next our cat Oreo ventured out from the back of the house, she is in need of a hair cut so she is quite furry right now. When Andy saw her he asked us if we had a fox. I had to leave the room becuase I lost it right then. & the fun littel comments continued until they left. So needless to say it was a very entertaining night.

The Blackwood bunch has also discovered another love, Guitar Hero II for Nintendo Wii. I just want to say this game needs to come with a disclaimer, "will cause severe body ache & discomfort". My neck hurt so bad from rocking out that I thought I was coming down with meningitis. Obviously I was being paranoid. Anyhow we are officially addicted to this game. So for anyone who wants to challenge our band BRING IT ON!

One last note, this past Tuesday while Dylan was at daycare, he ate a whole can of Beefaroni for his afternoon snack at 3pm. I was utterly shocked still am. I thought everyone would get a kick out of that fun fact.

Check back for an update on Baby #2!

And Baby Makes 4.........

It's been an exciting few months for the Blackwood Bunch. We found out in November that we are expecting baby #2. We are very excited. I am due around July 19th, I am schdeuled for an Ultrasound on January 7th to confirm our exact due date. We had a very nice Thanksgiving this year, Dylan loved the Mashed Potatoes & Turkey. Ben coached his team to a victory at the Thanksgiving Tournament in St. Clair Shores that weekend. It was a huge boost for the kids!

Dylan is growing like a weed. Last weekend his daddy took him for his first hair cut & visit with Santa. Needless to say neither one went over very well. He is crying in all the pictures that Ben purchased. Oh well, this is what makes memories. He is also obssessed with Ernie & Elmo. We runs around all day yelling Ernie & Elmo, we have worn a hole in our Elmo in Grouchland DVD.

We are looking forward to a great Christmas & New Years. We hope this post finds everyone well & we will keep you posted on any new baby news!

Whirlwinds

Hey Everyone, this one is for you Sara!
One of my bestest friends has been chastizing me for not updating my blog. So here you go. Lots has happened since my last entry in August, wow, it has been a while since I have posted.... anyway. Where do I begin, Dylan is walking like an expert now, well really he runs, or tries to anyway. He cracks us up. He experienced his first weekend stay in a hotel back in September. Ben's hockey team traveled to Holland, MI for a tournament. We didn't win one game, but the kids had a blast, Dylan discovered that he loves swimming pools, & would cry if we took him out. At one point he wanted us to let him go so he could swim with the big kids. All in all it was a great weekend.

October 3rd we welcomed a new addition to the Blackwood/Ruth families, my sister in law Valerie gave birth to a beautiful baby girl at 7am. The little bundle of joy is Alexandria Mary Ruth, she was 6lbs 8oz 19 1/2 inches & cute as a button. Congrats Val & Karl!

This past Sunday Ben & his buddy Tommy ran the Half Marathon in Detroit. They finished in under two hours! 1:55:29 to be exact. We are so proud of you guys!

Dylan has also discovered his love of hockey, which makes his daddy so happy. He runs around the house screaming hockey while holding his plastic stick. He recognizes hockey on the TV too, Ben had to turn the channel the other night becuase Dylan was getting way too worked up about the hockey game & it was very close to his bed time.

This will be Dylan's first Halloween where he can actually participate in the holiday, Dylan loves his puppy Bella so we though that it was only fitting that he dress up as a puppy for Halloween. We will be taking him to a few houses, not sure how far we will get before he gets restless, so we will keep you posted on that. We carved our pumpkins on Wednesday, it was actually a much better experience than I anticipated. Dylan did not like sticking his hand in the the pumpkin goo, so mommy had to take care of that part. He helped me make a few cuts for the eyes, but his idea of carving a pumpkin was banging on the insides of it with his spoon. At least he wasn't throwing the guts all over the kitchen.........

Birthdays & Anniversaries........

Hey Everyone, I know, I know, I am bit overdue for an update. So the last two weekends were fun filled for the Blackwood Bunch. The weekend of the 16th & 17th was Ben's 30th birthday, Happy Birthday Baby! He kicked off his big birthday weekend by flying out on Thursday the 14th for a golf weekend at Devils Head Golf Resort in Wisconsin with his long time buddy Paul. He returned home late Saturday to his birthday present waiting for him in the garage, & no it wasn't a sports car, but a Kayak, which he has been talking about wanting all summer. Although he still has not had a chance to get out & use it yet. On Sunday the 17th, we had family & a few friends over to celebrate the big milestone. Ben seems to be settling into being 30 quite well. I guess we'll know the truth in a couple months if he comes home one night with his hair dyed a different color, his ear pierced again & a convertible sports car. I believe that's what they call a mid-life crisis! Love you Babe!

This past weekend proved to be action packed as well. Aside from the fact that Mr. D did not sleep this weekend. Friday night we hit Hamlin Pub in Shelby Township with some of the Maverick Parents to watch a fellow parent play in his band. The band was good & the drinks were flowing, felt good to get out & interact with adults, even if it was only for a couple hours. Saturday afternoon we met up the Shupe family at Pump it Up in Taylor for Justin & Jake's birthday party. Let me tell you this place is not just for kids, adults have a great time too. Ben had a lot more fun than he thought he was going to. Dylan had his first experience going down a moon bounce slide, he didn't like it too much at first but by the 4th time down, he was starting to enjoy himself. Ben & I raced through the obstacle course & I would have won, had he not pushed me off the ladder on the final stretch of the race. Saturday night we meet up with our friends the Koziara's for their twins bowling fundraiser for their travel hockey team. Had a great time, although we didn't win squat on the raffle prizes. Finally we ended our night at Hamlin Pub in Chesterfield, where Kris & Andrea were hanging out for Andrea's birthday. We had a few drinks there & called it a night!

Sunday the 24th, Ben & I celebrated our 6 year anniversary. Quite an accomplishment, I know. We decided to have a relaxing day at home since we were out every other day that weekend. We grilled up some steaks for dinner, our friends Kristi & Picaso joined us for dinner, we topped off the fabulous meal with a trip to Coldstone. It was a perfect ending to a great weekend. Hope you had as much fun this weekand babe as I did! Thanks for the 6 wonderful years of marriage XOXOXOX!

Love to all......

BUSY SUMMER......

Like Sara said, thanks to her I now have a creative way to keep everyone informed & up to date on the Blackwood Clan over here in Chesterfield, MI. The last month has been insanely busy for our little family. One of the biggest mile stones is that Dylan is starting to walk. He still resembles a little drunken sailor after a long night of throwing back Grandpa's cough medicine but he is walking, & making his mother a nervous wreck most of the time. But he will have the hang of it here in no time, then look out world! A week ago, while I was changing Dylan's diaper before daycare, he reached down & grabbed himself & looked up at me & said "pee-pee" then smiled. He was quite proud of himself, he is definitely his father's son!

In July we celebrated the marriage of my other best friend Kim to a wonderful guy named Trevor. The wedding took place up in Traverse City. It was a weekend long event, & so much fun. It was exactly how I envisioned Kim's wedding. We are still waiting for her to post the pictures from the Photographer, don't know if they were able to capture when Ben fell off the swing though...........

After July started to wind down, August picked right up for us, this past weekend we celebrated the up coming birth of my sister-in-law Valerie's baby. Anne (our other sister-in-law) & myself hosted her baby shower. It was a dentist's dream with candy displayed everywhere. Let me give you the explanation behind all the candy. Val's married name is Valerie RUTH, hence she is having a baby RUTH. So we themed the shower around that. Everything turned out even better than I expected, the parents to be received a ton of great stuff, & the mommy to be is the cutest pregnant women you've ever seen, Love Ya Val!! We have about 7 1/2 weeks to go until the little peanut arrives. I can't tell you how excited I am to be an Aunt.

This Sunday the 17th Ben turns the big 3 - 0. Not quite sure how he is taking this, but he seems to be doing well so far. He left this morning for a golf trip with his buddy Paul who lives in Chicago. Sunday we will have a house full to celebrate Ben's mile stone. More to come on the trip & party next week........

And finally the following weekend Ben & I will be celebrating our 6 year anniversary. We've been together for almost 10 years though. Some days it feels like 20, doesn't babe!

As you can see life never stops over here...... More to come soon!

Peace out!

Welcome To My Blog

Again, thanks to my wonderful, bestest friend in the whole world, Sara.........I now have a blog so that everyone can keep up with our family. We have lots of exciting things to share with you. So if you are ever wondering what Dylan, Ben, or I are up to, you have come to the right place!! Until next time..........