Sunday, July 29, 2012

Sweet Brothers

Hooray for being almost caught up with blog posts, this is my 3rd one tonight!  It's easy to catch up while watching the Olympics I guess.

Lately I have just been really enjoying my boys.  And enjoying watching them grow closer to each other, and interact more and love each other.  As exhausting as having two boys can be sometimes, I just adore watching my boys be brothers.  It's such a simple joy in my life and one of my favorite things.

Here are a few pictures of some simple, sweet moments between two adorable brothers.
 Ben woke up right before I took a picture, but they had both fallen asleep on Ben's bed while I was at worship team practice one night
 Benjamin says "you be this guy, and I'll be that guy"
 Benjamin loves to climb into Jonah's crib when he wakes up in the morning
 morning playtime
 playing trains together after naptime one afternoon
Jonah decided to join his brother who was swimming one night
playing tractors together on a lazy Saturday



Mortons came to town!

5 days after we got back from San Diego we were lucky enough to have some of our favorite visitors, the Mortons!  Peter's sister Jennifer, her hubby Kris and her 4 kiddos had a family reunion in Cannon Beach so they came our direction afterward and we were SO excited.  We truly wish they lived closer, they are just that fun to be around.

They arrived on Sunday and we just had a great time eating and catching up.  Uncle Pete and Aunt April sure do love you Josh, Caleb, Hannah and Jason!  Benjamin had a blast playing (showing off) with his cousins, and Jonah just ate up all the extra attention.

Monday morning we went to Silver Falls State Park for a little hike behind the water falls.  I didn't take a lot of pictures since hiking with a 6 month old and a 2 1/2 year old is no small chore but it was a fun morning.
 Hannah, Jason, Benjamin, Caleb, Peter, Jonah, Kris
 we walked right behind this waterfall
 Hannah was a great help with Ben
 Jason loved climbing everywhere....
 ......so did Josh and Caleb!
 another set of waterfalls
Josh giving Benjamin a lift......good early training for fall sports huh Josh?

We ate a picnic lunch at the park, then played at the playground, threw the frisbee and football and let the kiddos splash in the river.  The sun wasn't out the whole time (it is Oregon) but we really enjoyed the day.  I'll have to steal pictures from Jennifer since I forgot to get my own camera out.

We came home that evening, stuffed our faces with hamburgers that Peter grilled for us, then we headed to our local pool for a night of swimming.  Josh had really been wanting to find a diving board on his trip and he was finally able to jump away at our pool.  Josh and Hannah dove over and over again, Caleb and Kris played basketball.  Jason and Benjamin swam in the big kiddie pool and Jonah swam around with Aunt Jennifer.  It was Jonah's first time swimming and he loved it.  He is such a little fish!

We came home, put the kids to bed, ate some more oreo ice cream dessert and just talked until we finally decided we'd better go to sleep.  We ate a lazy breakfast and then sadly had to help them pack up their stuff together because they were heading back to Idaho for a few more days before heading home to Ohio.  It was really sad to have them leave but we were so grateful they came for a visit.  I will always smile thinking of those couple of days.  Thanks for coming to visit Mortons, we love you so much.  Hope the little goodie bags didn't cause too much of a sugar high for the kids Jen!  :-)



Knott's Berry Farm

Our last full day in San Diego we were so excited because we were going to go to Knott's Berry Farm.  We had talked about whether or not we were actually going to be able to go, and whether or not our kiddos would like it, but let me tell you.....I am SO glad we went.  It was a blast!

Benjamin had never been on any type of ride before so we weren't sure how he would do.  Luckily, he is really tall for his age so he was able to ride almost all the rides, and alot of them by himself. 

Here he is on his very first ride.  Daddy went with him to calm the nerves he had at first.  But as soon as he got off he wanted to "go on another one!"


doesn't Peter look ginormous?  Ha!

For the rest of the night the kiddos raced from ride to ride and loved every second.  Katie and Jack fought over who got to ride with Ben, and he just got braver and braver.  Honestly, it was a bit sad to see that he was actually big enough to ride rides at all, let alone by himself at times.  But he was so excited, and it was the best part of the day to watch him have so much fun.

 he rode this one several times
 loved the trucks
 his favorite, the airplanes
 it was his first time on a ride that went up in the air, his observant face was priceless
 Katie and Benjamin on the hot air balloon
 Katie told him to put his arms up so he did and didn't put them down till he was done, it was adorable
 Benjamin & Jack
Katie & Jack

Since I'm not a fan of roller coasters at all, I volunteered to keep the kiddos occupied....

while Peter, Anita, and Nate rode this.....

The Xcclerator?  Ha ha, yeah right!  I'd rather keep 5 kids corralled which is definetly saying something.  They had a blast though.

Jonah was once again a complete trooper.  I think he just loved people watching and playing with his toys.  Actually all of the kids were awesome and only the 2 youngest fell asleep before we left the park after 10pm. 
 must. eat. toy.
 my first baby is growing up
 someone was a wee bit excited
 Anita with her two oldest on the ferris wheel
 Benjamin was always trying to pick on poor Mandy
 Nate cruising with Jack
we had fun watching him have fun

After we had dinner Anita and I took turns taking the kids on rides while Peter and Nate left to go on the "big boy" rides.  They were able to go on several roller coasters and had a great time, Peter loves roller coasters.

The kids fell asleep almost instantly in the car and we grabbed a Starbucks to keep us awake for the drive home.  We got back super late but the kids were good as gold and we had such a fun day of wonderful memories.

The next day we went swimming in the morning (Benjamin is now also swimming by himself - with floaties of course - but still!  When did he grow up?).  Then we finished packing, and celebrated Anita's birthday again before we had to leave for the airport.  Her birthday wasn't until the next day but we wanted her to know how special she is to us.  Happy Birthday again Anita!

We may or may have stopped by for one more Chick-Fil-A sandwich before we got to the airport, and then we headed home.  Both boys were wonderful on the 2 flights.  Benjamin wanted to go on more and more airplanes.  We were so grateful for safe travels and boys that traveled well. 

We got back home around 11pm and all slept good that night.  Benjamin was sooooo wiped from all the activities that he literally slept until 11:15am the next day.  I couldn't believe it, I checked on his multiple times.  I think it was the tell-tale sign of a wonderful vacation.  We had such a great time.  It was fun looking through all the pictures again for my blog posts, it makes me want to go back. 

Thanks for such a fabulous trip Larmores......same time next year?? :-)





Saturday, July 28, 2012

Ruth's Chris

This particular evening of our San Diego vacation deserves a post all of its own.

For this particular evening we were treated to one of the greatest things ever....

a dinner out without kids.

And if that isn't enough to make you giddy, realizing that you were getting a dinner out without kids at an amazing restaurant that you'd never been to, was the icing, sprinkles, cherry AND hot fudge on the cake.

Yep, we got to go.  We got to go to Ruth's Chris.

AH-MAZING!!

As I'm sitting here recalling the details of that night, I swear I can taste how good it all was again.  The salad was wonderful, the vegetable sides were great, the bread was fabulous.  The sweet potato casserole.......OH WOW.  Seriously.  It was so, so, so good.  I could have eaten the entire dish if I wasn't sure Nate would have smacked me across the face for not sharing.  It really is that good.

And the filet mignon.  *chirp chirp chirp*  Yes, you hear the birds chirping because there are no words that can describe how delicious they are.  They sizzle when they bring them out and it just melts in your mouth with such an amazing flavor.  Peter also got a lobster with his and it was to die for.

It was my sweet SIL's birthday dinner and they SO graciously included us in on the fun.  We had a blast enjoying a fun night out knowing our kiddos were sleeping peacefully at home with a sitter.


Thanks again for such a wonderful treat Anita & Nate.  We had a great time and after looking at this picture I am quite certain I need to go there again soon.  YUM!

Wednesday, July 25, 2012

What I'm Loving Wednesday

I still have a few posts to do from our San Diego trip and then there's the posts about all the life we've lived since then (why oh why do I ever let myself get behind?)  But today I thought I'd do my favorite WILW link up! 

*  I'm loving the almond poppyseed muffins from Costco.  They're super cheap so I pick up a pack and keep them in my freezer.  About once a week (because they are not exactly healthy!) I enjoy one for breakfast and they are so tasty when they're slightly warm with coffee.  Delish!

*  I'm loving my PartyLite aroma melt warmer that I found at a garage sale for just 25 cents!
*  Benjamin is loving the awesome farm vehicles he found at a garage sale too, all for only $1.50.  Score!!  He is obsessed with the harvester
*  I'm loving that last night was the Design Star season finale, hopefully I can watch it today while the boys nap!

*  I'm loving that Jonah is now eating some solids and seems to like most things so far.  I love the chunky legs he's been getting.....the eating multiple times a night?  Yeah, not so much :-)  Eek!!!  I just looked at the date and realized he is 6 MONTHS today.  6 MONTHS???  Oh man, time just needs to freeze, now!  No more growing up.


*  I'm NOT loving the new Ben & Jerry flavor called Bonnaroo Buzz.  I read the description quickly and saw caramel, english toffee and I thought YUM!   I got it home and read that it was whisky caramel.  WHAT?  The alcohol is cooked out but I could definitely still taste the whisky flavor and I am not a fan!  Blech!
 


*  I'm loving that we're having great summer weather this week!  The sunshine is awesome

*  I'm loving that Benjamin got to have his friends Haddie and Micah stay the night yesterday.  He had a blast.  They all slept in the playroom together and Benjamin was just beside himself.  Love these kiddos!
 popcorn & the 3 stooges clips on the Ipad
 popsicles and the 3 little pigs
 too cute!
 all tucked in for bed!
2 minutes later Micah was out like a light and Benjamin was wired!!

*  I'm loving that Jonah will grow up with a built in best friend in Nehemiah who is 2 1/2 months older

*  I'm loving the smores we made in the oven yesterday.  Heating the choolate so its nice and soft is always the missing ingredient in campfire smores.  Sooo good!


*  I'm loving that Benjamin held Jonah's hand the entire time during our morning walk today, soooo sweet!

*  I'm loving that we found an old school Nintendo at a garage sale a few weeks back.  It has a blinking red light, but I'm hoping my little bro might be able to get it to work since he's super good at that kind of stuff.  I'm not a big gamer at all but I loooove the first Nintendo machines, especially Mario Brothers 3 and Mario Brothers 1

*  I'm loving that I'm planning a visit home to see my family really soon!

*  And I'm loving my sweet hubby Peter....he is my best friend and I'm so grateful I get to spend each day with him

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