Merry Christmas!

Another year and another Christmas has passed by way to quickly.  Ben had a blast with his cousins and now is really adamant about wanting to play hockey or anything else his cousin Danny does.  Santa was really good to him and of course Ashley as well.  We started the festivities by making cookies with Deebo.  Let's just say the cookies were made with a lot of love despite the outcome.

Then we went to Momo's house for Christmas eve and he got to play with all his cousins and my cousins kids as well.  He loved playing with Hadleigh (my cousin's little girl) and they chased each other in their own little game for way too long.  Ashley enjoyed seeing everyone as well and wasn't scared to go to others when they wanted to hold her although she does crawl around until she finds me.  She is definitely a mommy's girl.

 

Christmas day was fun and although there weren't a ton of presents it was hard to get Ben to open more than just a couple.  He did like all he got, but most of all enjoyed his new truck that holds his hot wheels, a jumpy house for inside and a play garage for all his cars.  Ashley got some good gifts as well although she always tries to play with anything Ben is playing with.  She has a new purse with fake lipstick!  A little young, but she likes it nonetheless.

Then today we went over to Brian's parents house to celebrate and both kids loved hanging out there.  Ashley crawls everywhere to find Grandma just about as much as she crawls to find me.  It's nice to have a replacement around so I'm not the focus sometimes.  Ben had fun playing with their cars and watching their speedy choo-choo go around their tree.

Mr. and Mrs. Claus

It's that time of year for another great photo op of our kids with santa.  It's Ashley's first year to meet Santa and the Mrs. and in good sibling fashion, she was not a fan.  Not quite the scream fest Ben had from last year (see pic), but she was working up to it.

I was not able to make it with the kids to see santa this year since I was sick, but Brian was feeling better from whatever bug we both caught and took them.  The story is that Ben wanted nothing to do with Santa and was running off until Ashley sat down on Santa's lap at which time Ben ran over to sit down as well since Ash was doing it.  Once Ash realized she was not with one of us she started to cry though so no good pic of the kiddos this year.  Hopefully one day we will get two smiling kids with the Mr. and Mrs.

We definitely play this tactic to our advantage at home with Ben and it seems to have worked for Santa this time, although I'm pretty sure he will catch on soon and not give into the 'peer pressure' we use to persuade him.  For example, after he is done playing with a toy here is our dialogue:

Me: Please pick up your toys so we can play with something else.
Ben: NO!
Me: Ok, I'll just pick them all up by myself then.
Ben: No, I want to do it.

And then he does it all himself with allowing me to help.  Don't ask me how this works, but so far it does.  It also works with meals.  Ashley is going to get applesauce cause she ate all her food.  He typically then proceeds to eat his food to get applesauce as well.  I'm sure the peer pressure I'm enforcing now to get him to eat and clean up toys will later on come back to haunt me in the teenage years, but for now I'm ok with that.

Ash is fully mobile and pulling herself up onto things now.  She loves to stand and in fact that's all she ever wants to do.  We've tried to get her to use the walker and not much luck yet, however she has much better balance than Ben ever did and can manage to stand with the walker without falling over or making it move.  Quite impressive actually.  She's even able to safely fall on her bottom when she wants to get down and crawl somewhere else.  Although she does tumble at times and her cries lead you to believe someone is poking her with a needle and not that she barely bumped her arm on the way down.  Brian calls her his little tomato cause he says she bruises like one when she falls.  I don't think it's quite that bad, but I'm sure he'd disagree.

Pics from Ash's 9 month and stats from her checkup coming soon.

Happy Thanksgiving

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving with Brian's side of the family.  Ben had a blast running around and playing with his cousins, but Ash wasn't too sure about the large group.  Here's a lot of pics to show the festivities.

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Ash turned 8 months old a few weeks back and is fully crawling now.  It took her a few weeks of tumbling to get it down and still falls over when she gets too excited or distracted, but can get to her destination pretty good at this point.  She is definitely a mommy's girl and lights up when I walk in the room which is a good change from Ben since he was all about daddy.

Ben is hitting the terrible two's which I'm hoping is a little late and won't last long.  He's starting to test all limits, but within these tantrums are the cute moments that he throws in to keep us from locking him in his room.  He's doing really well with all his colors and can count to 10 although sometimes he starts with 2 and misses a number or two in the mix.  He's a great big brother to "Ashey," but he's starting tp get possessive about all the toys in the house claiming they are his.  I'm sure this is just the beginning of some struggles and tantrums, but at the end of the day he always hugs and kisses her goodnight.

Ash is 8 months old

We had quite an adventure last weekend taking the train back to St. Louis for my cousin's wedding.  Overall the trip too longer than driving, but Ben enjoyed it much more since he was able to get up and walk around and play with his vehicles in the dining car.  Ash was about the same - napping and enjoying the scenery.

Ash turned 8 months old last week and she is basically crawling.  Over the last few weeks she has gone from lunging or rolling her way across the room to taking a few crawls before tumbling.  She definitely can get to the place she wants without any help even if it takes her a little bit to get there.  Overall she is still the happy, easy little girl that I love to have around and lights up when I'm in the room.  She is a mommy's girls which is a nice change from Ben since he was a daddy's boy.  Although I could do without her crying when I leave the room for a second without her.  Since it's turning colder she has a constant runny nose and cold of sorts, but it doesn't seem to bug her too much and for the most part is sleeping really well most nights regardless.  Again, another nice change from her brother.

Ben is really starting to turn into a little boy before my eyes.  It surprises me how much he knows or is learning and when I look at pics I see a kid and not my baby that I've known the last two years.  I like to think he's smart, but he's pretty much in line with other kids his age on his knowledge.  He can count to ten, knows his name, knows the street we live on, knows the colors of the rainbow and then some, knows almost all transportation vehicles as that's his favorite toy and loves to make his sister laugh.  It's so cute to see his reaction when she giggles at him and it makes him want to try harder to make her laugh.  He brings her toys when she cries and looks out for her when she tries to grab things she shouldn't.  I love to see his protectiveness of her and only hope that continues through their teenage years and beyond.

Trick or Treat

Happy Halloween!

The past six weeks have been pretty crazy so this may be a little long and have a few pics, but who can't get enough pics of the kiddos?!  I know Deebo and Papa can't so hopefully this cures their itch until we see them again.  We went to the pumpkin patch a few weeks ago and was able to get quite a few good pumpkins this year.  Ben enjoyed all the fun things at Johnson Farms like the kid maze, animals, tractor/train ride, and full on pumpkin patch with picking pumpkins off the vine.  Ashley was along for the ride and enjoyed what she could.

Yes, Brian took the ride also....



tractor ride out to the pumpkin patch!



There's a pumpkin!

This year Ben picked out his own costume and wanted to be a cow and Ashley is going to be a monkey.  We will have two cute little animals in tote tomorrow night for trick or treating around the neighborhood.


MOOOO!

As for kid updates let's start with Ash.  She is doing well and seems to be getting bigger/longer.  She can sit pretty well, but still will tumble.  Although she has been getting on all fours and rocking for the last 3-4 weeks and she's lunged forward quite a few times.  She's getting close to being fully mobile and rolls all over to get around.  There's tons of giggles and smiles when she's in a good mood and can't get enough of her big brother.  She's onto solids and chewing on wagon wheels and puffs.  I love that I can see her personality coming out more each day and can't wait to see how much she'll grow in the next 7 months.

"Why is he always around?!"

Ben is cute.  I have no other way to describe it than that.  If I could freeze him at this age, I probably would.  I love that he can speak in full sentences, is polite, loves his little sister, counts to 10, can say his ABC's and on most days listens to us.  If I could steal even 1/10th of his energy I feel like I would be the energizer bunny.  Ben is such a blast and I love when he breaks out into dance out of no where, he brings toys to Ashley when she's crying, and can't get enough of playing with his trucks/cars/buses.


I couldn't resist honoring my 2011 World Series Champ - The Cards!

Farm & Big Boy Bed

We went to our friends farm this past weekend and Ben had a blast.  He got to play with Jack, Eli, Sam and Annabel.  A big thank you to Jim and Kaia for hosting us and letting us ride the 4-wheeler which Ben decided to name 'little tractor'.  He even got to go on a true tractor ride in the back of a wagon with hay.  Overall he enjoyed seeing and doing farm things that we read about constantly in his book.  The barn was even fascinating to him which is awesome.

'small tractor' ride

Jack and Ben playing with Eli & Sam's Trucks

Jack, Eli and Ben playing

However, I think it was at the farm that he saw Jack was sleeping on the floor or in a big boy bed and ever since he's wanted to sleep on the mattress we had on the floor in his room.  I've been reluctant to move him to a big boy bed since it's extremely convenient to know he's going to remain in one place all night in his crib and he's not been climbing out to this point.  Although I was able to find the lightning mcqueen car bed on sale so I decided to give that a shot instead.  Finally tonight he is getting his wish and not sleeping in his crib.  Even though he's not truly sleeping yet and it remains to be seen if he will, I'm hopeful it will be a smooth transition.  He was overly excited to see the car bed in his room and proceeded to jump on it for a good hour straight so we'll see if that's what happens all night or if sleeping will actually occur.

Sooo excited

A blur of jumping