Thank You Abby!

Abby, for your wonderful thoughtfulness at Safeway yesterday.....Benjamin just wanted to say.......

THAAAAAAANNNKKKKK YOOOOUUUUU!!!!!

He loved his sweet treat that he picked out with his "monies" and *bonus* it helped serve as motivation to clean his dinner plate :-)  Thanks Abby!

New skills

Jonah is just growing and developing like a crazy man.  It seems like he's learning something new every other day, getting taller by the minute, and dare I say cuter by the second???  Oh we love him.  Here are a few things we want to remember....

*  Sunday, September 1st Jonah said Dada for the first time.  I was able to capture him saying it over and over again on video.  And now he says it all.the.time.  He pretty much adores his Daddy and trust me, the feeling is more than mutual.

*  He is officially mobile.  Though he doesn't stay up on all fours the whole time, he does this cute one armed crawl in combination with getting up on his knees.  He can get to wherever he wants.  He has mastered the start of the bear crawl, its pretty cute.

*  He's a pig.  He eats so much food.  He is hilarious because he still doesn't like to feed himself.  He gets frustrated when he can't get it into his mouth fast enough to meet his appetite.  He can feed himself, he just prefers to be catered to.  Unfortunately for this banana, this was one of those times he decided to give self-feeding a try :-)

*  He's rockin' the big boy pajamas just like his brother

*  Yesterday he started clapping.  It is sooo cute.  Yes, I realize that only parents can get giddy excited about these little milestones, but that's okay.  We still think it's adorable and we're not ashamed, ha!

We love watching you grow and learn Jonah Caleb :-)

Funny Benjamin

I wanted to remember a few cute, funny things Benjamin did this week.

He was playing outside one afternoon before dinner and he was sitting by the garden, which was nothing new.  He likes to play in the dirt with his excavator.  This time however, he was sitting down and looking so intent.  Peter looked closely out the window and realized what he was doing.

He was picking our green beans and shoveling them in his mouth.  Apparently, he couldn't wait for dinner!  It was so sweet watching him from the kitchen window, we had to stiffle our giggles.

Later, he wanted me to watch his guys that were jumping off the diving boards.  I thought to myself, "diving boards?"  When I turned the corner, I saw what he meant.  Clever, little cutie!  Always finding new ways to use spoons :-)

ABC's of Summer

For some reason I've been feeling incredible non-creative when it comes to blogging.  I have a bajillion pictures to post and we've had lots of stuff going on, but every time I go to type it all out my mind goes blank.  But fall season is a'comin and I don't want to forget some of the memories we made this summer.  And practicing writing the letters of the alphabet with Benjamin inspired the format of this post.  A complete random, hodge-podge of summer thoughts to the ABC's.

A - Auntie Amanda.  Not only did she visit this summer for a few weeks but today is her birthday.  HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!  We all love you and can't wait to see you again soon

B - Blackberries.  My boys love, love, love them.  I've only had a few because I seriously can't pick them fast enough for my two guys.  Hurry for being able to pick them for free in our neighborhood.  Yum!

 

C - Crawling.  Jonah is sooooo close and wants to crawl so bad.  It will be any.day.now.  2 mobile boys?  I'm doomed!  :-)

D - Date night.  Peter and I went on our first date without either of our two little guys.  Our friends watched them for a few hours while we had dinner, and walked around a downtown area eating gelato and drinking coffee.  So fun to spend time with my handsome hubby!

E - Energy.  I spent a huge chunk of the summer finding ways for this adorable 2 year old to burn off his endless amount of energy.  Love him.

F - Family.  We spent around 50 days this summer either enjoying family in our home or enjoying time with them in theirs.  Considering the closest family is 8 hours away, it's a big reason why our summer was full, busy, and blessed.  Wonderful memories.

G - Garage sales.  Benjamin quickly learned how fun it was to garage sale on Friday morning so Mommy could find him "something special".  I just love finding a good deal, so going to garage sales is one of my fav summer activities.  Here's Ben and Jonah enjoying one of the fun deals I found for $2.

H - Hugs.  I will always remember this because when I told Benjamin I wanted to take a picture of him and Jonah, he immediately wanted to sit behind him so he could wrap him up in a hug.  Too.stinkin.precious.

I - Ice cream.  You gotta have it in summer right? 

J - Just Us.  Last weekend we had a lazy Saturday morning complete with pancakes, bacon and eggs.  We stayed in our pj's and enjoyed sweet time as our family of four.

 

K - Knute.  Storytime with Uncle Knute is the best!

L - Legos.  Just the best daddy in the world building lego busses with the cutest 2 year old I know.

Pete is cute even with his eyes closed!

 

M - Micah.  Benjamin just adores his best little buddy.  They fight like brothers too, but Benjamin always wants to "go see his friend".  We tried to let them hang out as much as they could during the busy summer

N - Nighttime routine.  We love stories before bed in this household

O - Overtime.  Peter has worked quite.a.bit of overtime this summer.  It's made for some looongish stretches at times, but I love how hardworking he is.  Though to be honest, sometimes the crazy hours make us both feel like this....

P - Pajamas.  On the rare day where we didn't have somewhere to be, we most likely spent the day playing at home in our pajamas.  The other day I went to get Benjamin in the morning and I had a fleece jacket over my t-shirt and pajama pants because it was a little chilly in the morning.....Benjamin sees my jacket and immediately asks "where are we going???"  Note to self:  get dressed before the kiddos wake up at least once a week, ha ha.

Q - Quiet time.  Quiet time doesn't really exist in my house but we did have some quiet playtime one morning when the boys played and read in their "fort"

R - Redecorating.  I decided to make the little cubby under our stairs into a fun "tunnel" as Benjamin calls it.  I'll post more pics of this later.

S - Slides & Swings & Sunshine.  We spent a lot of time in our backyard, at the park, and anywhere we could enjoy the summer sun.  Because we Oregonians know the "reason why our grass stays so green" is coming quicker than we want it to.  I have such great memories being outdoors with my cuties

T - Trouble.  It certainly wouldn't be a summer with a two year old without a little bit of trouble now would it???

U - Undressed.  Oh how I love my sun kissed, blond haired, blue eyed, cuties in all their glory in the tub.

V - Vivaldi.  Okay, so it probably wasn't classical music but he sure did like it anyway.

W - Wishing time would just slow down.  Sometimes I'm so taken back by how fast my boys are growing up.  Cue.the.crocodile.tears.

X - X-tra large hat on a little cute baby.  A-dor-able.

Y - Youth group.  Our summer ending/fall kickoff event has happened and we're back to bi-weekly events.  Praying God works in big ways again this year.

 

Z - Zero.  Zero things on this earth are more precious than these three boys.  They make my summer and my life so full of blessings.