Teaser

Here are just a few pics that I downloaded quickly to tide you over til I can do a full post....hopefully tomorrow.  Being away from the blog for this long means lots and lots of photos and video, so hang on....they're comin'!

These two have so much fun playing together.  Now that Megan is such a confident stable walker, they love to chase and wrestle and play all the time....though there are often squeals and squawks from TOO much "love" :).

We started homeschool pre-school and it has been so much fun getting to experience the joys of new learning and discovery with Ben.  Sometimes we partner up with Jen and Wes and get to have friends when we do our school.

We saw a firefighter outside on the street one day so Ben had to grab his hat and cape (didn't you know that firefighters wear capes?!), boots, a stick (for his axe) and a "mask" (which was really just the plastic packaging from a toy, but he walked around breathing into it and "saving" us all morning!

Ben is IN LOVE with baseball.  He wants to play it all the time, talks about it, reads our two baseball books over and over and over again (so now we all have them memorized)--and he is actually really good at hitting with the bat and catching and running the bases!

Megan turned one and we finally have girly toys in the house!  And it didn't take her long to figure out how to walk with a purse (and a little strut!).

Happy 1st Birthday Megan!

Crawling, Turning 3, and Making Memories

 Family dinner outside on our patio!

 

We got to spend a fun night out on our dear friends', Nick and Sarah, sailboat.  Ben shocked us all and LOVED it.  He was a regular sailor, walking all over the boat, learning from Nick how to work the ropes, and sticking his face in the breeze!  He was so brave and we loved watching him have so much fun!

 At the beginning of July we flew down to Texas to visit family.  We had a wonderful time hanging out with the cousins and the whole family, playing with the kids, having a little birthday party for Ben, visiting the Lego store for the first time (and fueling a building passion in our little guy :), and making some special memories.

 For Ben's birthday we really played up the "big boy" idea and gave him a helmet and a bike in exchange for his pacifier.  That's right--we are pacifier free!  He is such a big big boy now!

 Ben also got a tent to play in and a couple new trucks.  We have had picnic lunches and fun playtimes in that tent!

 Ben's present from Wes and Auntie Jen and Uncle Drew was a new hat--a black top hat.  Ben is in love with hats and continues to wear them all the time, whether they look good, match or are even supposed to be hats!

 And Grandma and Grandpa gave him a chef's hat (handmade by Grandma!) and books.....about trucks!  Can't get much better than that!

Making the birthday cake!!

"Is it ready?  Can I eat it?!"

Happy Birthday Ben!

Here's a video of Ben telling me about all his trucks.  He sure does love his trucks--every day there is a new favorite that goes with us everywhere, but Tow Mater usually gets to be favorite most days.  It is so much fun watching and hearing him play with his cars and hear his little stories and voices that he acts out with them.  Independent big boy play! 

And here are some fun videos of Megan learning how to crawl!  She learned how to crawl, pull up and cruise all in one weekend, just two days before turning 8 months!  And then the week after that she got better and better at crawling and started trying to stand occasionally without holding on.  She is a mover and a shaker!  It is a bit scary for this momma, because my own freedom is disappearing!