How much is that ...

... kitty in the window?  

Not that we approve....but she sure is cute.

Amy was taking photos of Xander on the couch and when she got up to to change angles she spotted the little girl in the window.  Before scolding her, as we normally would, we had to get photographic evidence of the offense... At one point she couldn't figure out how to escape her self imposed jail, she scooted backwards across the window ledge and determined that she couldn't get out that way... finally...

Freedom!!  

Husky Opener vs Eastern and game 2 vs Hawaii

For many months, it seemed like football was never going to get started again.  With the NFL lockout lasting 4 months and the Mariners being competitive until their 17 game losing streak in the early part of the summer, college football was kind of lurking in the background.  But as the calendar turned to August the Beneezee's started to get jacked up.  

The first game was against Division II National Champ Eastern Washington.  It was a trap game....no win situation.  If we won, everyone would be like who cares.  If we lost, we are a laughing stock who cannot beat a D-2 team.  Well on this beautiful Seattle day, the game was very close all game long.  

Amy and Anthony got new t-shirts at the Bellevue U-book store, a book and mini Dawg for Xander among other things.  Both t-shirts were sported at the game.

This TD was the 1st of the year for UW and went to the fullback.  

The Chris Polk show continued with him getting over 100 yards with a knee that was at best 80% healed.  

The Dawgs were up at the end and Eastern was driving down the field.  Desmond Trufant fortunately made a great play and intercepted the ball to clinch the win.  

Game 2 had the Huskies offense playing much better at the beginning.  We scored 3 TD's and had a ton of yards in the 1st quarter.  The game looked like it could be a route but Amy warned Anthony that it was really early.  

The coaches and players were celebrating all over the field.  It was different to see them in white pants with the purple jerseys.  

Dubs was probably quite hot running around out there.  

Coach Sark had a hand in the selection of the helmets we wore.  This was to commemorate 9/11.  

The Chris Polk show was on again.  He still isn't 100% but he is getting closer.  

This catch by Austin Safarian Jenkins was the clincher.  It was an excellent catch.   Not bad for a Freshman!

All of us dressed up in Purple to support the Dawgs!  This was Xander's first game... even though he didn't get to go, he wanted to show his school spirit!  He knows he's going to UW eventually, so he's just preparing himself early!

30 Surprises for 30 Years...

Amy, being creative and crafty, decided that she would have 30 birthday surprises for Anthony's 30th birthday.  Some were small, others gigantic......... Anthony's big day was on Saturday August 13th and on the 12th, Amy surprised him with a small gathering at the house.  Jere and Samara's dog Macy came and ran all over the yard prompting some to worry that Anthony wouldn't be surprised if Macy was seen when Anthony pulled into the driveway on his way home from work.  No one had their cars on the block so Anthony had no hints.    

It was quiet and Xander was at Gigi's house even though Amy said he was upstairs sleeping.  Sommer was over all day and Amy told Anthony to go outside to see Sommer who was enjoying the nice weather.  In reality, there was a whole surprise lurking behind the closed blinds.  As you can see from the picture below, Anthony was quite surprised.

There was a whole bunch of food, snacks, beers, etc.  Nick worked the grill to serve up salmon burgers and corn on the cob.  

It was gorgeous out that day and it was really fun being outside and enjoying our yard.

Anthony relaxed a ton and drank a few beers.  

Amy bought a 7 lb chocolate cake that was, as Jeremy said, "intense."

The next day around 9am, Anthony heard a knock on the door.  Being tired from getting up in the middle of the night with the bubba, he stumbled downstairs without a shirt and with his shorts on backwards to answer the door.  With eyes still blurry he looked thru the window of the door and saw a boy.  His first thought was "why is a boy selling girl scout cookies so early in the morning?"  After a few seconds to process, Anthony opened the door and was monumentally surprised when he saw the Acostas in the door way!  Amy had helped fly them up to Seattle for the weekend which was the biggest surprise of all so far that weekend.  We, of course, relaxed and caught up and introduced everyone to Xander.  The Acostas were clearing their face book page nightly because they were in town for a few days prior visiting their family and didn't want the surprise to be leaked.  No one except Lynnette knew of this surprise.  Amy kept it from Anthony, her parents, and everyone else we knew for 3+ months.

That Saturday night Lynnette and Scott McEuen came over to watch the Acosta boys, we dropped Xander off at Gigi's and the 4 of us went out to Flying Fish for an all adult dinner.  We each got a different fish dish and the food was excellent.  It was a restaurant Amy and Anthony had never been to and it was fun trying a new place.

With Birthdays come presents... so to add to Anthony's growing baseball collection, Nick got Anthony a Randy Johnson (who had a really weird signature when he got into the league) and Nolan Ryan autographed baseball.  

A whole bunch of other gifts such as a new watch from Utah, some Oregonian whisky, books, and a ton of other good loot was attained.  After Anthony was done opening all presents, Amy pulled out 1 more.  

Suffice to say that the Dan Marino autographed helmet was an amazing end to a milestone birthday.  Anthony had wanted this since he was 13 years old, so this was a long time coming.  It is now at Buffalo in a protective case.  

The next day the Acostas and Beneezees went to Mercer Island to swim.  

Heather and Ezra hung out for a while and swam a bit.  The weather was perfect typical Seattle August and it was nice to cool off in the pool and relax in the jacuzzi.  

Once home, the Acostas and Benezra's did what we do best.....nothing but sit, chill and play with our phones and Ipad.

I think we have this pose of Heather in Utah, Washington, Puerto Rico and Las Vegas.  She heart's her tech gadgets and games... hella...

Jack has grown so much.  It is amazing to think that Xander will be this grown up some day soon.

Overall, it was a pretty incredible weekend all thanks to Amy.  She is a sly and sneaky lady and planned all of this before Xander was born.  Thanks Ames!  Love you!

Xander - the boy turned luck charm celebrity

This past Saturday was Fan Appreciation Day at Safeco... that's the one day a year Amy is a lock to go to the M's game... all other games are more torture than they are worth to her; she's a fair-weather M's fan fo sho...

So, needless to say we took the whole family to the game.  We'd started the day of sports by watching the Husky game at home, but Amy and Xander didn't wear their Husky gear, so obviously the Huskies lost...

We got the Safeco a little early and on the way in we scanned all the extra tickets Anthony had collected over the season in an effort to win a prize (for once).

As we waited inside for the tickets to get scanned (the benefit of the third base D.C. entry) we got a certificate for Xander that marks the date and game information as his first ever attended M's game; pretty cool!

He also got the Moose's trading card... that's gonna be worth a fortune someday after the Moose retires... we'll try for an autograph next time so Xander can sell it and put himself through college.

We were able to upgrade our seats to Diamond Club - woo hoo! - so Anth and Ames had some grub while Xander chilled in the Baby Bjorn and eventually had some milk - his favorite meal!  Everyone was in their M's garb, including Xander - he was sporting his "My 1st M's" t-shirt and beanie from Grandma and Grandpa Brelsford.

Finally it was game time and time to get to the seats.  Our tickets were for the third row but the whole second row was empty, so we jumped on that action.  What's better than row 3?  Row 2 of course!

So as we're watching the game we're also checking our ticket stubs against the prize winning ticket numbers that are being announced.  Some prizes are way cooler than others, and we never win... ever.  So it came as a total shock when one of our tickets was called!  Anthony won an hour of batting practice at Safeco field for himself and 10 friends!  The date hasn't been scheduled yet, and we aren't sure what exactly it entails (a pitching machine, totally empty field, tarps over most of the area so we don't mess it up OR a total game-day experience with a real live pitcher, total field access, etc... we're not holding out too much hope for the latter).  Way to go, Anthony, for winning the prize!  And thanks, Xander, for being our good luck charm.

As we sat in out seats it dawned on us that maybe we're on TV because we are so close to the action and in the line of the camera's sight.  So we asked our good friends Wil and Laura, who we assumed were watching the game, to let us know if this was the case and sure enough they sent us text message pictures of us on TV.  Xander's first TV appearance!!  It's a little hard to tell, but in true Benezra family fashion... Anthony is checking something on his phone, Amy is looking like she doesn't love watching the M's loose no matter how good the seats are, and Xander is totally digging the whole hand-in-the-mouth thing.  Priceless.

This was shaping up to be quite the night for the little guy!  But the evening wasn't over yet!  Time for more prize giveaways... no chance of winning to things in one night after never having won before, right?  WRONG!  Xander won an autographed jersey!  Ok, so it's for our backup catcher... but it's an AUTOGRAPHED JERSEY!  Come on folks, let's focus on the bright side here... duh, winning!

Of course Dada is going to have it framed for the little guy (probably with Mama's help doing it on the cheap as it's only the backup catcher and all...) and he'll keep it in a safe place for him (his office at Buffalo) until he's old enough to decide if he wants to hang it up in his room (at this juncture, Mama doesn't want to give up precious wall space in the nursery for it, and quite frankly she doesn't want to see it every time she's in there... sorry boys).

Wow.  Xander's first Husky loss - no bueno... but from there, the day just got better and better for the little guy!  He didn't even poop himself at Safeco (something Mama and Dada were both dreading a bit).  We sure had fun together, our little family sitting together taking photos of all the excitement, getting the perfect shots, making memories.

Some more photos...

Mama got Xander to sleep after his bottle while we were still inside at the Diamond Club... so he basically spent a little while hiding/sleeping under Mama's jacket.. this was when he poked his head out for the first time... Welcome to Safeco!!

Eventually it was time for Xander to sport the ear protection... we never wanted to be the kind of parents who drag their kids to things that they need ear protection for, but sometimes you gotta just live life!

Xander with Dada...

Xander with Mama...

And of course, once it got cold enough, it was time for Xander to sport his personalized "lil' neezy" All-Star sweatshirt, courtesy of the aforementioned Wil and Laura soon-to-be Lavaris.  Thanks guys!

Bartender...

Looking for a nightcap in the Beneezee household?

"Bartender," said Xander, "I'll have a warm milk, in a bottle please..."

"Make that two warm milks," said Dada, "but can you steam mine and put it in a glass?"

"Make that three warm milks," said Mama, "but steam mine too and add two shots of decaf espresso!"

Mmmm!  Milk!!  It does our bodies good!