We're still here!

This week I realized that it had been 3 months since I had blogged ANYTHING and decided I better get busy. Plus, the memory card on my digital camera was full and needed to be downloaded and cleared.

In early September we all headed to Oklahoma. Michael took a 6 week class at Tinker so we all tagged along. We loved being able to spend such an extended time with our family. Amelia misses her family so much but we're trying to stay busy here to survive the dark winter in high spirits and with our sanity intact.

It will take me a few days to share all the pictures but are here are a few from the early part of the trip to wet your appetite!

Ben LOVED playing with this toy at Memaw Sharon's. He'd lay on his back and pick it up and try to play with it. One day I noticed he had a lot of red marks all over his face. It was from his favorite toy knocking him in the face and he hadn't cried once! Michael's 33rd Birthday. Yep, that was the best picture of the three of them.
Ben getting his first taste of icing. Later he spit it up all over his mama. She really appreciated the quantity of icing Daddy had let him have...
Can you tell who's possessive of her daddy?
All those little piggies! He's such a ham! This was the 2nd week of September and he still wasn't sitting up great on his own. Three months later he's pulling up and toddling around on the furniture! Ham! Amelia discovered popcorn this summer and PaPa Harlon got it out a little too early one night so she got to have a "late" night snack before bed.

Amelia's First Day of School!

div>Amelia started pre-school today. She goes two days a week for 3 hours in the morning. She seemed to enjoy it and even took a good nap this afternoon after waking up so early (and she did NOT stay up till 11 p.m. tonight because of the nap)! If you know about our nap hassles that is a HUGE accomplishment. Here are a few pics from her first day. She was very tired at breakfast so she was slow consuming it so even though mommy got up when her alarm went off and didn't dawdle over anything...well, we still had a mad rush out the door so her hair is still a little damp from her daily curl-taming. Some people brush their children's hair...we tame curls.

Update

Ben and Amelia watching Saturday morning cartoons! For some reason Amelia was dressed really early that day but Ben is still in his pj's.
We've started giving Ben baby food. Let's just say he did NOT like peas. Michael even talked me into the Organic version because they were "sweet" peas. We've moved on to green beans and he likes those a little better. I'm sure he'll love the yellow and orange veggies and of course fruit.

We pulled out the exersaucer a couple of weeks ago. It's been so nice to have a safe place to put him without worrying if Amelia is going to sit on him or tackle him while I'm not looking! She's really a good big sister but she has her moments like any young kid.

Ben loves playing on this mat because it has some fun toys that hang down. He's now strong enough to pull them off, though. He rolls and scoots all over the place, though and I found him like this one evening when I was cooking dinner (I have him where I can see him and hear him)! He was chewing on the plastic piece. Yesterday he grabbed a hold of one end and had it pulled over his head...I guess it's about time to retire the play mat.

We finally saw another moose behind our house. We hadn't seen any close to our house since Sharon and Harlon were visiting in March. We were out front when our neighbor came by and told us it was out back. I grabbed the camera and we finally had our photo op with a moose. When our lap top is fixed I will post a video!

He rolled over!

Ben rolled over for the first time today. This video is from his 3rd attempt. He was getting tired so Michael pushed him to his side and then Ben finished himself...so fast that I almost didn't get it on video!

Random Summer Pics

Ben chilling while we're eating dinner!

This is a work of art called: Momma's first night off! Brian fixed grilled chicken, corn on the cob, and fingerling potatoes with tomatoes and basil (all the ingredients were bought fresh today at the Anchorage Farmer's Market...yumm!

You can't see it but Michael is reading a bedtime story to Amelia and Ben (the bib is for his major drool problem!)

Amelia's first go at corn on the cob. She enjoyed it.

Little boy or a weed?

Sorry it has taken so long for an update! Our family is doing well. Ben is now 4 months old and Amelia is 2 1/2 plus almost 2 months. Ben is growing so fast. Some of his 3/6 month clothes are already getting small. Amelia is a good big sister and really enjoys playing with Ben. She has also taken to correcting him if she thinks he's doing something wrong...like chewing on his fingers/hand. She gets corrected for it so shouldn't he?
We started feeding Ben cereal last week and he really enjoys it.
I spent 2 weeks in Oklahoma with the kids and we had a blast. We're gearing up for the next round of visitors and are so excited to have company. Enjoy the new pictures of the kids!

Pumping some Iron!