Park!

Late afternoon trip to the park on another beautiful day.

1 Year Old!!

I know this post is a little delayed, but it's been a long weekend/few days. We headed to STL on Friday and stayed through Sunday. It was filled with family, fun and lots of activities. We started the journey by visiting Momo (my grandma) since she couldn't make it to his party and he had a great time walking around her house and playing peek a boo with her. Then we headed back to my parents to settle in and play with his cousin Ella who my parents were watching for the afternoon. The two of them had a blast following each other around and playing.

Saturday morning we headed to my nephew's baseball game which Ben was fascinated with. Despite my hoping that Ben wouldn't like sports just to spite Brian, it so far seems to be the opposite of what I hoped. Anytime sports are on he freezes and he watched just about all of Danny's game except when his other cousins were playing and it distracted him. Then we headed to my cousin's wedding which was beautiful and the day couldn't have been more perfect. Our first nice family photo. For the reception I had one of my good friends Pam watch Ben and put him to bed. Luckily he was so worn out from the day he went down like a champ for her which was nice.

Sunday brought on Grant's farm where Ben couldn't get enough of the goats drinking from bottles. If we learned anything it's that he should love Deanna Rose and that is on our list for this summer now. Sunday afternoon was his party where he got to see all 8 of his cousins. He loved watching all of them play and the turtle races were a great time in my parents front yard. Yes, they found two stray turtles and tried to have them race - I didn't see any side bets so that's a good sign. He had a cupcake, moose cake and ice cream. Apparently I have to explain the Moose Cake since most people are a little perplexed. We have a moose statue on our mantle and for the longest time he kept pointing to it and wanted to touch it. It became a ritual. If you ask him where the moose is, he will find it and point to it so I thought it only fitting that while he can't vocalize what he wants I can choose for him before we end up with all the sports cakes. And come on, the moose is cute!! He got lots of great toys from the fam including his own personalized 'Ben' size chair, water table (which we've already used every.single.day), inflatable pool with a slide, blocks and a gumball machine toy with balls that he loves to play with. Pretty awesome toys that he's loved playing with this week. Can't wait to blow up and fill up the pool!

I don't have a 1 year pic since it's impossible to get Ben to sit still so here's a slideshow for the pics of the past month and this weekend. Click on the pic below.

Playdate

Most of the husbands are out of town this weekend so we all decided to have a playdate.  It's been a while since we've had a true playdate with this same group - oh say, about 7 months.  But nonetheless, it was a great time with a twin addition.  Yep - Erin had the girls and Jack in tow with the help of Julie.  They are so stinkin cute and perfect little girls.

Kate                                                  Julie & Mallory

As for the rest of the crew, they got along pretty well.  They still aren't able to really play with each other, but they were stealing sippy cups from one another.  They loved watching each other and seeing what everyone could do and enjoyed playing with.  The biggest hit was the cozy coupe which was fought over between Milo, Ben and Jack.  Of course Jack had an advantage being a year older and more self sufficient, but everyone got their turn and loved the ride.

Milo & Jack

Nicola & Ben (Future love connection?)

Annabel watching the other kiddos

Frankenstein & Basketball

Odd combination for a title, yes. To start with Frankenstein - that is his new nickname at daycare. They told me this on Friday afternoon and it's all I could think of all weekend long when I saw him walk. For some reason he holds his arms out in front of him when he walks now and it's hilarious. I guess it could be for balance, but he's able to hold things while he walks which just makes me extremely nervous so his balance is actually pretty good. For instance, this weekend he insisted on carrying his mini tv/music thing across the room which is half his size. He fell down a lot and got really frustrated, but eventually made it. Then he wanted to head back.... ugh. Walking is now his primary choice to get around (unless he wants to get there in a hurry) and he is able to get up from the floor so all bets are off. Here's a video that sort of shows you Frankenstein with a basketball.

Speaking of basketballs, Ben is fascinated with basketballs and hoops. His dreams will be shattered eventually like Brian's were when he realizes he's too short to ever really play, but hopefully that's a long ways off. He loves putting the basketball through the hoops and can even walk around with a full size basketball in his arms. Crazy strength - almost superhuman. It just doesn't look right. And why we have 3 basketball hoops at our house is beyond me, but at least there's always one handy. Here's some pics from the weekend.

Walking

I think we can officially say he's walking.  He has been taking a handful of steps on his own for a while, but now he's walking across rooms.  Ben will lose his balance still, but has gotten much better about steadying himself as he goes.  I'm sure it won't be too terribly long before that's all he does.  Yesterday he was even able to stand up on his own from the ground rather than pulling himself up on things to get standing.