Don't forget about the kitties...

Gotta show the kitties a little love and give them a blog post here and there.  These were taken during Xander's 4 month photo shoot:

How much are those kitties in the window?  Pretty pricey... first we'd never part with them for money, and second, you wouldn't WANT them... trust me... little miscreants... 

Sup, I'm Sark, I'm a smooth operator... can't you tell?

Uh, what, huh?  I'm Mute, I don't pay much attention to anything other than that which I want to...

Sometimes we look the same way, do the same things...

Other times we don't...

When I work at it, I can be pretty well mannered and I'm always easy on the eyes...

And I was born cute, or so my Mama told me, so everyone puts up with my Diva attitude because of the cuteness factor...

4 Months - strong and growing!

4 months old... time for another of Mama's famous photo shoots!

Who can resist taking hundreds of shots of this precious face?

This one documents a first for Xander... this was the first time he intentionally grabbed something with this hand!  He stared down the camera strap, focused, got his hand to go the right direction and PRESTO!  GRAB!!

The next day it was time for a couple of belly shots.  He doesn't LOVE being on his belly for too long at a time, but when he's cool with it, he's SO cute!

Chillin' on the landing of the stairs with his Mama and Dada's picture looking over him...

His 4 month appointment went awesome - vaccines taken like a champ and officially in the 50th percentile or higher for all the important stuff... way to GROW buddy!!

Beneezee's 4 Year Anniversary

For our 4th Anniversary, we wanted to go to the TD206 restaurants that we haven't been to yet.  TD206 is what we call Tom Douglas's restaurants.  We started off at the Palace Kitchen.  We had a drink and appetizers including a salmon corn chowder (a non-traditional chowder, more like a soup) and olive poppers (SO good!).  

After the Palace Kitchen, we went to Dahlia Lounge.  We ordered a raviollini dish that Amy was skeptical of (but admitted later that it was the best dish of the night) and an ahi dish that was very tasty.  

Finally we finished by going to Lola's for some kebabs. We got 1 salmon kebob and 1 fig and halloumi cheese kebob.  We were Kebob-ing, and we hope you like kebob-ing too.    

It was fun to go appetizer hopping at the TD206 restaurants, we highly recommend it, and was a cool way to celebrate our anniversary.

It is funny how fast the time flies by.....

Doesn't feel like this was that long ago.  Next year is a bigger milestone.  Bring on #5!

3 Months Old & Getting Cuter Every Minute!

Since Xander is already 4 months old, we thought we'd just share a few choice photos of his third month here on Earth...

Dude can really rock a hat!

And the serious face...

And the smile that reminds Mama of Grandpa Brelsford...

And he sure does love his Dada!!

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!