Benji is TWO!

I cannot believe that Baby Benji is two -- TWO!  He is not a baby anymore, but I can't help but still refer to him as the baby.

At two years old Ben weighs in at 29lbs, 7oz and is 35 inches tall (68th and 75th percentiles, respectively).  He wears size 2T clothes and a size 6 shoe.  He loves hot dogs, cheese, yogurt, yogurt smoothies, waffles, and gummies.

Benji is a wild man with a loving heart.  He can be super cranky one minute and giving kisses the next.  He loves to throw balls or hit them with his bat.  He loves anything his brother loves, which means he is really into trains right now. 

Ben can jump with both feet off of the ground and climb up and down the stairs with ease.  I love that we can tell the boys to go upstairs and play and we don't have to worry.

Benjamin loves his brother Luke.  They fight all the time, but love each other at the same time.  I tend to call Ben "Pete Repeat" because he repeats everything Luke says whether he knows what it means or not.  When not in repeat mode, Benji is talking up a storm in full sentences.  He can sing his ABCs (LMNOP is still a little garbled) and Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star without any help.

Benji we love you so much and thank God daily for giving you to us.

We love you to the moon and back!

Ben specifically asked for a cookie cake for his birthday and never once wavered.

He reminds me of my brother in this picture

November Photo Dump

November came and went.....here are our snapshots!

"I a trail doll"

 We sent good morning pictures to Daddy when he was in West Virginia

 The boys needed new shoes and they chose Dusty!

 Benji in a nutshell :)  He makes my heart smile!

 Birthday dessert at work

 Another park picture

 We stopped for ice cream after ICE!

 This was what I got when I said smile :)

 Jacob!

A trip to the dentist!  It was Ben's first time. 

 He did GREAT!

 A quick car nap in between our Thanksgiving lunches.

 Shanequa's going away party

 Ben was cold one morning and wanted to be covered up.

S'mores

The day after Thanksgiving we decided to roast marshmallows in the fire pit to make s'mores.  The boys really enjoyed watching Daddy make the fire and we all enjoyed spending time as a family around the fire.  After eating all of the s'mores and extra marshmallows, too, the boys jumped on the trampoline to burn their energy.  We had a great night and I can't wait to do it again soon!

Thankful, Round 2

After spending time with my family we headed over to Grandma and Grandad's house for round 2 of turkey day.  This year was extra special because (Great) Grandma Blum was in town.  The boys were  so excited to have her here and wished that Grandpa Herb could have come, too.  We played the thankful game and Luke was super cute coming up with things that he was thankful for, typically following someone else's lead, i.e. thankful for clean milk to drink -- too cute! 

I am thankful for my second family and how they have wrapped their arms around me and love me like their own.

 

Luke wanted to exercise after eating. He always takes his shirt off to exercise :)

Thankful, Round 1

I think that Thanksgiving is one of my most favorite holidays.  While it is good to remain thankful all year long, it is nice to have a day dedicated to thankfulness.  This past year was the hardest year to date, but I still was able to reflect and find the many blessings in my life -- just to name a few: my husband, my boys, my family, the last 10 months I had with my dad, my faith, my country, my job, my house, my friends..... I think I could go on forever.  We spent some time talking about being thankful with the boys.  Luke was thankful for Mommy, Daddy, Ben and the park.  Benji was thankful for play-doh and the park (Aunt Becky had played play-doh with him the day before so it was fresh on his mind).

This year we started out Thanksgiving at Justin and Stacey's house.  I love that I have a large family and that we get to spend the holidays surrounded by people that we love.

Happy Birthday to ME!

A couple weeks ago I celebrated my 33rd birthday!!  Our entire family had the stomach bug the week before and I had only had it the day before we celebrated with my family.  Thankfully, we were all finally healthy and able to celebrate as planned.  My mom made me my most favorite dessert - peanut butter pie!!  Despite not really wanting to eat much, I did manage to enjoy me a slice of the pie.  I really love birthdays, especially my own, but I dislike having a stomach bug right before it.  Thirty three is an EH number so I suppose that it was fitting that the stomach bug made its appearance this year.  Happy Birthday to Me!!

 I love the way this kid always manages to end up with his clothes off :)