Happy Birthday Grandpa!

Peanuts, Turtles & Trees

We braved the frigid arctic air to watch the tree lighting at the Marietta Square last week.  Little Miss "C" loved listening to the school choir sing and asked later if she could be on stage and sing one day.   :-)

We had a friend over this week and Mommy had the bright idea of letting the kids play in the styrofoam peanuts that had come in a box that day.  It was hysterical!!!  By the time we were finished playing in the "snow" there were little pieces of white all over EVERYTHING - kids, cabinets, hair, walls, potty.  What fun...and thank goodness for canister vacuum cleaners!

 Little Miss "C" and Daddy had a special day at the Aquarium today!  Here are a few pics from their day.

 Breakfast with Santa at school this week was great, although I don't think Ben had a clue!  Little Miss "C" has told Santa that she wants a pink clock (and Santa didn't know that until this week...he thought he was finished shopping). 

Our little Elf.  Joy.

 

Next adventure - a Tree.  Mommy insists on a REAL Frasier Fir, and that's what Daddy picked out.  But when it came inside our house tonight at 8:45, Mommy insisted that it didn't SMELL or LOOK like a Frasier Fir.  After much protest a Douglas Fir (argh) tag was located.  The impostor tree is currently being returned and one very tired and frustrated Daddy is looking for ANOTHER "perfect" one. 
Sorry, honey.  I love you!

With Thanks

I sat down last night and wrote a letter to both of my kids, telling them just how thankful and blessed I am to be their Mommy.  It may not feel like it in the moment sometimes, but they truly are a special and long-awaited gift.  Here are some photos from our November  - can't believe it's been a month since we posted some! 

Little Miss "C" loves her whiteboard - here's another fun drawing!  She enjoys making pictures for our grandparents and sending them in the mail, too.

 Ben with "B" in his mouth...typical day in the life!

 All dressed up and enjoying a beautiful Fall day outside.

 Funny little man...he's just learned how to say, "One....Two....Threeeeeee!"  Also, "Thomas" is a new favorite and he thinks Thomas (the Train) must be on TV all the time.

 Me and my beautiful baby girl enjoying Thanksgiving with Daddy's family on Thursday.

Trick or Treat

Little Miss "C" had a fantastic time tonight - she was beyond excited to both get and give out "treats".  Here are some photos of our Lion & Scarecrow!

Before the festivities...and celebrating 16 months!

Before we have photos of tomorrow's dress-up to post, thought I'd take a few moments while Super Why is on (thank you, PBS Kids) and glimpse back at the past month.  Especially since our little guy is officially 16 months old today!

Ben enjoying a cooler day out in the front yard, scooting around the grass! But GOOD NEWS....he started walking on Thursday afternoon!

Little Miss "C" with her hat and safety goggles, out in the back yard helping Daddy with some work.
 

Little Miss "C" had some fun days at school this month, including Spider Day. Don't know if you can see it well, but this precious hat has eight long legs sticking out from around the headband. Too cute! She's all into writing notes & lists these days (only some of her letters are legible) and carrying them around the house. Any "project" with markers and stickers is also a fun past-time.

While Daddy was in the woods for a few days, we took off to the mountains to visit Papa & Nana.  Little Miss "C" had Scarecrow Day at school the morning we went, so she left her scarecrow costume on to "scare" Papa when we arrived at his house.

  Nana & Little Miss "C" in their funny hats having a good time coloring.

 As for Ben, he's a picky eater but he DOES like spaghetti! 

I imagine that over the next week Ben will gain strength and start walking more than scooting, which will be a welcome thing for me (I think)!  He's adding more words to his vocabulary....on the way to Nana & Papa's house, he spent about a mile of the journey "meowing" for some reason.  He says "choo-choo" and is very interested in trains now.  My friend Carrie says he's all boy because I complain that he goes from completely happy to pitching a fit in a matter of seconds.  We'll see how that all plays out!  He was pretty ill during the middle of October and awoke a lot at night with cramping & fever.  For some reason since then he's waking a lot during the night and crying - usually the bouts of crying are exactly 1 hour apart and last about five minutes.  Last night it was 12:45am, 1:52am, 2:56am and then 6:01am.  Don't know what's up, but Mama is getting SLEEPY!

We've got a busy day tomorrow going to Church, carving a pumpkin, playing in the leaves and getting dressed-up.  Can you guess what one of the kids will be????

Fall

I'm embarassed at how much time has passed since I threw some photos up here!  We've been hunkered down for three weeks fighting illnesses - from runny noses to runny bottoms and everything in between.  Daddy is in bed today with a fever, Ben is napping and and Little Miss "C" is upstairs (supposed to be napping) on her 3rd outfit change of the day crying, "I need help!!!"  Welcome to our afternoon, folks.

Ben trying his hand at coloring back in September

 "Caroline Appleseed" came home from school a few weeks ago

 Farmer Ben at Cagle's Dairy Corn Maize

 Only $15!

 He's a keeper.



The Beach 2010

Here are some fun photos of our family's vacation at the beach the week before Labor Day! 

Ben wasn't a beach-lover at first...he'd scoot across the sand and when he got tired of it, he'd point (and then scoot) towards the stairs back to the condo.  I watched one time to see what he'd do if we didn't take him back, and he scooted all the way to the steps, crawled up them, and started scooting across the boardwalk.  He meant business!  By week's end he was more interested in the water and willing to play a bit more in the sand.

Little Miss "C" is a beach gal.  She skipped and sang and played in the surf and sand like it was something she'd been doing every day of her life.  The funniest thing that happened is at the condo - one day she decided that she needed/wanted to get her bathing suit on while out on our deck.  So that naked little girl stood outside and struggled with her suit...that day and EVERY day afterwards!  Hysterical...

The best we could do getting everyone to smile and look at the camera!!

It took a while for Little Man to get used to the beach!

Listening to the sound of the ocean in a shell

Ben's 1st "taste" of the surf in the ocean!

Our 1st attempt at a sandcastle

Sippy cup in the sand....yum

Hurry up, Mom, so we can get these hats off!!!

Little Miss "C" without her hat - wild hair girl!

Being Sweet

Ben's Turn

Bennie, Ben, Ben....that's what we say around here!  My little guy isn't so little anymore and it's taken me until almost 14 months of age to get some 1 year photos online...sorry kiddo.  Second child and all...

Proud Little Man

Definitely a Mama's boy!

LUVS his Binkie, too!

Here's some of the latest things going on in his world:

*Still scooting around instead of walking, but will walk if his hands are held.

*Crawling up the stairs and learning to come down backwards (with my standing guard of course,  Grandma's)!  He's thrilled with himself.

*Finally getting that pesky 4th front bottom tooth!

*Drinking mostly from a sippy cup now, with a bottle at bedtime.
*Riding your riding toys around the house - learned how to go forwards this week!  Most fun is banging into objects over and over.
*Still fascinated with wheels and cars.
*Says "car", "whee", "No", "Ba" (bottle), "Bi" (Binkie), "roun, roun" (round & round).  Talks all the time...in his own language!
*Climbing and going down the little slide in our basement into the ball pit.
*Climbing onto/sitting on the large play table - actually, climbing or sitting on anything he can (books, toys, games...)
*Really good at playing by himself most of the time
*VERY bad separation anxiety with Mommy for a few weeks now! 
*"Chasing" his big Sis around the house with high-pitched screaming ("girl screams") from both of them.  Hey...at least they're not hurting each other!
*BAD temper when you don't get your way...we've got to work on that.

Wonderful days - they'll be gone too quickly!  Love you Baby Boy.

Happy Birthday Baby Girl!

Three years ago today Little Miss "C" was welcomed into our family.  She was knit together by our Father's hands and all of her days have been ordained by Him even before one of them came to be.  We are honored to be given the opportunity to spend each day with her.

You are loved, baby girl.  Happy Birthday!

Little Miss Independent

Little Miss "C" had a swimming lesson this morning at our community pool, which is a quarter mile or so from our home.  As we were getting in the car, she decided getting in wasn't an option for her.  So I pulled the 'ole reverse psychology and told her, "Okay. Then don't get in.  Do you want to walk home?" 

"YES!" she said.  Of course. As I backed out of the parking space she was smiling and waving, "goodbye Mom!" 

I drove about 10 feet ahead of her and kept my eye on her behind me, on the side of the street (with many prompts from my car window), and that little darling walked all the way back to our house....happily.  A concerned neighbor even asked her if she was lost, not knowing I was in the car piddling down our street (glad to see we have some observant neighbors!), so I had to explain what was going on.

Should have known....she pulled the same thing back in July or August and wanted to walk home from the neighborhood next door.

My Dad reminded me that she "gets it honest."  When he was a boy he was telling my grandmother how much he loved his friend's house.  She finally told him that if he loved it so much, maybe he should live there.  So he packed up his things and walked down the street.  Funny.

One more funny (Gran, hope you enjoy reading this!) that happend last night when a teacher friend of mine was visiting with us.  She was trying to find a game to play with Little Miss "C" and asked, "do you have Go Fish?"  To which Little Miss "C" replied, "Yes, we have chocolate goldfish and cracker goldfish."

Ben, you're next buddy.  Mommy will share some of your 1 year photos that we finally had done - right before the HFM (more to come).

Ohio

Last week we took off on our 1st long road trip!  Nana, Papa, Mommy, Little Miss "C" and Ben braved the open road for 7 days to visit family in Louisville, KY and friends in Mansfield, OH. 

We ate frozen custard on the way....OH YUM!

We sat on an awesome back porch swing...

and looked out at the pond of a 5 acre farm every day.

We drifted on a Tom Sawyer raft...

and got up close with Alpacas down the street.

We rode a gorgeous carousel...

and ate the most delicious (and nutritious) food thanks to our gracious hostess and host!

Let me just tell you that low temperatures and humidity made it THAT much better!!!