Benjamin

I just thought I would post about Ben this time around. Ben is such a great baby. He is a "smile on demand" baby as our friend Matt says. He's easy to make laugh and my first baby that loves to cuddle. He's a busy guy and loves to demolish anything the girls have built. He's into sticking his tongue out at me and is the biggest Mama's kid I've had so far. However, among all of Ben's great qualities, he has health issues. He throws up all the time, he's been sick more than half his life, he has tubes in his ears and still manages to get infections, and the boy can't gain weight for the life of him. In fact, Joel ordered his medical records and while going over them, I saw for the first time our dr. had put in them he is "failure to thrive" right now. He is in the zero percentile for his weight. His height is like 30% or something. We love having him with us but I sure hope someday, all the sickness goes away. Here are some pictures of our great Ben!!

He loves to crawl into the dishwasher while I'm doing dishes. Usually he pulls dishes out but he likes to crawl inside as well. I'm pretty sure I have gotten a safety violation from Abigail about this.


Here's him sticking his tongue out at me:



And just 'cause he's soooooo cute!

Yeah, Summer finally feels here!

Today the kids and I went to the pool with our neighbors. It was the first time so far that I've really felt the excitement of summer here. It was a fun day~ the kids swam in the pool, played at the splash park, flew down the slip and slide, and jumped in the jumpy houses. When we got home we had a picnic on the lawn with our neighbors. It was just great to be outside enjoying the day. Here are a couple pictures from today~


Here are me and Ben-his first time at the outside pool. He really did like being around the water. I was amazed how quickly he went crawling around to play with all the water spouts.


Abigail took this picutre and asked that I put it in the blog. Here it is:


And here is Collette, albeit a cropped photo, I had to get her in!

Crazy squirrel part 2

So, this squirrel that lives in our backyard that sometimes torments us just loves it when the girls leave food outside. The other day I was getting on the kids case about not being able to find all the sippy cups in the house. Abigail finally found one. She had left it outside. This is what happened to it because the squirrel found it first~

Collette's Party

On Saturday we had Collette's birthday party. It was a really nice party. Great for the kids and great because the adults really got a chance to chat and enjoy company. The weather worked great for us and it was a nice day in general. Here are some highlights from her party:

This one is pretty obvious but Collette wanted magnifying glasses as part of her party bag. She was pretty happy with them...


Here's Abigail trying out her skills as a pinata breaker. She was close but didn't quite get it there.


So this is a little sad but kinda cute~ Collette wouldn't hit her own pinata for awhile because she didn't want it to break. She didn't mind the other kids were having fun but she certainly didn't want to be the reason it broke. She sat out for awhile and then finally gave in and tried it out. Oh, she's pantless because her pants got wet during a water balloon toss and she wouldn't put them back on till they dried. Just so you know...


Here are some of the kids picking up their goodies



And here's Ben just because he's so cute.

Drawing at CPK

We're out to lunch after going to Folsom stadium for Bolder Boulder.

The girls are coloring their menus and complimenting each other on the beauty of their artwork. It is wonderful.

Would like some milk with that?

Yesterday Collette asked me if she could have some chocolate. I said yes, but that she would have to wait until after we had lunch. I went upstairs to get Ben from his bed and came back downstairs to see this:




Apparently after lunch was much too long and this is the only place she knows where chocolate is. So she took it upon herself to get her fix. I had to laugh and take the picture.

Happy Birthday, Collette!

Just wanted to highlight some of today~ Collette turned 3 today. Her number one request for a present was a "pink car seat." She wanted a booster seat like Abigail's. She got it and a few more things. Minus having to spend 2 1/2 hours at the doctor's office for a sick visit for Ben, it was a great day. Here are some pictures to highlight it~

This is how it started out...


She loves tiny things. So Joel and I got her a tiny elephant. She loved it. Do you like how Abigail is in the background opening up her next present. That's how most of the present opening went.


Here's her new car seat (sitting on Dad to try it out)


Abigail got her a Dora sprinkler thing. It was a warm enough day to try it out. They loved it. Even though it looks like Abigail is about the bite the dust~she actually doesn't--just a side note I thought I'd put in there when I noticed her semi sideways appearance.


I know what you're thinking... That looks like the most professional cake I've ever seen. Don't worry, I did it myself. Give me a break~ my baby is sick and I was trying to do it one handed!!!

Meeting Stephenie

So yesterday was a great day. I got to meet Stephenie Meyer~author to the Twilight saga books. She came to Denver~ one of only 10 cities that she's currently touring to promote her new book~ so I went down with the whole family to hear her talk briefly and to have her sign 3 of her books~one of them had to be The Host, her newest book.

All in all it was great though uneventful. When it was my turn to go up there my shirt was commented on so we talked briefly about the shirt. Then I quickly said to her, "You know you've made it when you are part of Mormon forwards (there is an email out there with her in it). She said, "Oh yeah, my husband saw that and said, look Steph, you're spam!" Then it was my turn to move on.

My shirt was definitely original. There were lots of people wearing their allegiance shirts but mine was one of a kind (see past post to view shirt). There were a lot of people there. It was at a high school auditorium. Joel kept pointing out that I was one of the oldest people there to have my books signed. Whatever. And to Alisa, I'm somewhat saddened that I wasn't invited on your trip!! This is the next best thing, I guess...

Here are some shots of the event:

Here is the discussion portion of the evening~

Here is me talking to Stephenie~not a great shot because Joel didn't know he wasn't suppose to be taking the picture. Someone stepped in front of him and then they yelled at him for taking the picture. I'm grateful!
And here's my Twilight book signed.

Kill 'em, Dad

This is literally what Collette said to Joel. Why? Because last Saturday morning the girls and I were outside playing. We were sitting at a table outside and the girls asked for a snack. So I went and got a bowl of nuts, raisins, and some M&M's. I noticed a squirrel in the tree making a barking sound and I thought, there aren't any other squirrel's around, what is he upset at? Well, apparently the answer was us. He started coming down the tree barking and running across the lawn towards us. I told the girls to run inside and next thing I know, he jumps up on the table and starts in for the nuts.
Collette has not really wanted to go outside since that incident. She is quite sure the squirrel is rabid and wants to eat her for lunch. So Joel wanted Collette to come outside and she just stood in the doorway and said, "Kill him, Dad." He was currently no where in sight.
Here is a picture of our new outside pet~