One Year Ago

Thanksgiving 2010

Andy, Ben, me and Jack

Thanksgiving 2009

Jack, Andy, me and Ben

Oh, my word. How much changes in a year!

The boys are walking. They're saying a few words. They're sleeping through the night and soothing themselves to sleep (for naps, too!) They're climbing on couches, running through hallways and building towers with blocks.

Yes, so much learning for one year.

Busy, Busy, Busy

I have been so wrapped up in life that I haven't updated my blog! Here are some snapshots of some of our most recent exploits in the past month or so.

Jack and Ben are now 18 months old and are learning like crazy! They say a few words (including more, uh oh, all done, this, ball, leaf and trees) and can make just about every animal sound imaginable. They are such a joy and I am so grateful that I am able to stay home with them.

Ben and Dad play with their new cell phones. Except Andy's is a Droid and Ben's is a calculator :)

Ben and Jack scroll through the photos on Daddy's new Droid.

Jack's got some pretty big shoes to fill.

Jack and Ben play in the sink while Mommy makes dinner. Those boys LOVE to play in the water!

Jack and Ben's newest favorite activity is playing with blocks. And of course, if one boy wants to go in the playpen, so does his brother. I got rid of the second playpen because they always seem to want to be in the same one!

Playful Jonathan

Ben enjoys finding the sticky side of his sticker (another favorite activity.)

Ben demonstrates how to blow his nose (except the sound you hear is coming from his mouth!)

Jack and Ben play with the water bowls while (again) Mommy makes dinner. They LOVE pouring the water from one container to another. Whenever they see a Tupperware cup now, they run to the sink and fuss until I fill it with water.

Ben made this tower all by himself! Love that face.

Jack (below) and Ben (in highchair) play peek-a-boo.

Ben and Jack do somersaults off the side of the couch. At least it's onto the cushions, right? They've just begun rolling onto the floor now. Yikes! That gives Mommy gray hairs!

Me and Andy with Jack (L) and Ben (R) on Halloween. Our little monkeys: "Monkey See" and "Monkey Do." We go bananas for our monkeys!

Visit with Family

My cousin Cristin came with her beautiful family to visit us this past weekend! I was thrilled they were able to make time in their busy schedule to visit. Harrison is two years old and little Gianna is five months old. Aren't they adorable? We had such a great time catching up!

Gianna - such a doll!

 

I loved the four of them in this shot: Cristin with Gianna and Harrison with Mary, his grandma :)

Most of our clan! Andy with our nephew, Matthew, Mom with Ben and Jack, Great-Grandpa Dave with Evan, me, Cristin and Gianna and Mary with Harrison (Joey was taking this photo for us!)

Matthew enjoyed playing with his cousins, too!

Harrison and Jack, almost exactly one year apart :)

Jack with his Nana

 

Cristin and Joey <3

Harrison loves his daddy! Can you tell?

 

Gianna and her grandma

Aunt Linda and Uncle Ian came to visit with us as well!

My dad had told Ian he looked like James Taylor, so he decided to ham it up to Matthew, singing, "How Sweet it is to Be Loved by You"

Cristin and I with our boys! It's just amazing how fast time goes. Seems like just yesterday we were little, having sleepovers and people thinking we were sisters! Love you, Cristin!

On a Hot Day

Andy had the day off on Monday, so we took advantage of the heat to set up the pool in the backyard! Poor Andy was the one to manually blow up our kiddie pool... thank God he still had breath to spare!

Ben seemed to really enjoy playing in the water!

Don't let this warm photo of Andy and Ben fool you - that water was cooooold!

Jack preferred to run around in the grass. Can't blame him there - I put my feet in the water and that was good enough for me!

Benjamin

The photo above was taken right after Ben fell back-first into the freezing water. Here, he giving the water a good stare-down.

Jack enjoyed playing with the hose more than he did playing in the water. All that power!

Benjamin

Daddy and Ben watching Jack from inside the pool. What a good daddy!

Two Handed Clapper

Andy and I were playing with the boys tonight when I had one of those I've-got-to-get-the-camera moments. The boys were playing with two little flashlights we had gotten for free at a convention a few weeks ago (talk about the simple pleasures!) They would run around the room, swaying their lights around their hands and occasionally, they would fall to the floor. Seizing the opportunity, the boy who had managed to hold onto his flashlight would immediately run to steal his brothers'. Human nature can be an ugly thing sometimes. But Andy and I got so excited when the boys would run to pick up the fallen toy and hand it to his brother! "Yaaaaaaaay!" we would yell, much to the boys' delight. Then we started clapping. This was definintely something we wanted to reinforce.

Ben got so excited about the fact that Mommy and Daddy were clapping, he would join in, too. The only thing was that he couldn't clap very well clutching a flashlight in one of his hands. So we watched him gently set the flashlight on the floor and rise to continue clapping. It was so cute I had to catch it on video! Of course, in the video we're chanting to get him to clap again, not necessarily to encourage the behavior. Still, I had to do it! :)

Fourth of July

We went to my sister's and my mom's house to celebrate Independence Day!

Jack (L) and Ben (R) take a break from playing to drink their bottle. They usually hold their own unless they're either too lazy or too tired. Here, both applied :)

Jack and Ben during an (admittedly rare) moment, playing together.

Benjamin especially liked this cube and the toys that fit inside.

Marissa layed down on the floor and Matthew came over and kissed her on the cheek. So sweet!

Matthew put the hat on his head by himself. Can you tell? :)

And then he tried putting it on Jack.

Nana and Grandpa with their grandchildren! Ben (red shorts,) Jack (white shorts,) Matthew and Evan - all born within ONE calendar year!

Can you believe this beautiful baby (Evan) is only four months old?

Grandpa with two of his grandboys... Matthew and Evan

Marissa and Dan with their nephews! (Ben, Jack, Matthew and Evan)

There were four... and then there were four MORE! :) Dan seems pretty happy with this sharp increase in testosterone. He was pretty lonely there for a while. heehee. We just LOVE our boys!