Happy Easter!

I hope everyone has a happy Easter today.  Our festivities started on Friday night with dyeing the eggs.  Ben had fun throwing them into the cups instead of gently dropping them.  Bri was not a big fan of this as he ended up getting splashed with it.  Still fun to see how excited Ben was with his accomplishment and disobeying all at once.  He really enjoyed the stickers that came with the kit though and had them all over his stomach and arms.

Going over colors with Dada

Enjoying the stickers while the eggs are in the dye

Throwing the egg into the cup of dye

Then Saturday we had an Easter egg hunt with my work at a park.  Ben loved collecting the eggs and got more than his fair share that we were supposed to keep since he kept saying 'more' as we saw them all over the ground.  I attempted to take some out of his basket, but he quickly learned this trick and kept turning around to make sure he didn't leave any behind.  He was terrified of the Easter bunny though and kept saying 'nice' and pointing to him - I think trying to convince himself that the Easter bunny really is nice and not scary.

A little scared of the Easter bunny

Already has his eyes on the next egg

Cheese!

There's more over there!

I got a sucker from this egg!

And of course today the Easter bunny came and brought Ben some candy.  He also hid eggs out in the yard and Ben even found some tough ones out there!  He can be pretty clever even if he doesn't always act it.  Ben also wanted to hold sissy and loved getting his picture taken with her.  When I tried to pick her up he said no and insisted on more pictures.  He was too cute with her.

Holding Ashley's hand

Cheese!

Love this pic...

Diapers, Diapers, Diapers!

Ben has an obsession lately with diapers and likes to stack them and move them from pile to pile.  He seems to steal all of Ashley's diapers from the pack n play so it's not easy for me to find any when I need to change her, but when I find one I find a ton!  Here's a video of him with his 'normal' diaper routine.  He likes to pick them up one at a time and hand them to Bri or I.  He even calls out who's on the diapers (sesame street characters) and indicates 'yuck' for inside the diaper where you go potty.  He's even had to go to sleep with some in his crib because he wouldn't let go of them one night.  Who knew diapers were hours of entertainment both on and off?!

He also likes to help around the house - I only wish he could maneuver the vacuum a little better and maybe I'd be off the hook for it!

And of course he likes to 'pet' and hold Ashley.  Oh and the binky in his mouth is back due to the fact that Ashley gets one.  He tends to steal them and shove them in his mouth to get attention like her.  He doesn't sleep with it or leave the house with it, it's mainly a short stint and then he leaves it somewhere that I have to eventually find.  If that's the worst of it - I'll definitely take it! 

Ashley is One Month Old!!

Ashley went in yesterday for her one month checkup and is growing really well.  She has gained about 2 pounds since she was born and grown about 3"!!  That's a lot of work for a month!

Stats:
Weight - 7 lbs 15.4 oz (25%)
Length - 21-3/4" (75%)
Head Circm. - 13-3/4" (10%)

This weekend we went to Deanna Rose on Saturday since it was so nice out (along with everyone else in JOCO).  He was a little scared of the goats this time around, but still liked to see all the animals.  He especially liked to takes rocks from one end of the park by the goats all the way over to the cows at the other end.  Well worth the money for him to relocate pebbles in their park which I'm sure they appreciated.


At the Koi pond



What are you looking at goat?!



I need more Cowbell!

Then on Sunday we went over to the grandparents to celebrate Brian's dad's 80th birthday and Brian's birthday.  All of the fam was there so Ashley was finally able to meet everyone.  Ben even had a great time playing with all his cousins.


Ashley with Julie and Kylie



Leah, Holly, Ashley, Ben and Sarah



Krissy and Ashley

Ben is still really gentle with Ashley and a great big brother.  He likes to help throw diapers away and 'pet' her.  Yes, pet.  We say be gentle and I guess he's learned with the dog that the words gentle and pet are synonmous to him. 
Here are some pics of us lounging around this weekend.


Loves his chair and drinking water from a bottle



"Petting sissy"

Is Ellie out here?

Ben's everyday activities - pushing around the cozy coupe and singing the wheels on the bus and petting "Ashey".  Ben is obsessed with buses.  He says bus about a million times a day and always points them out when we're driving around.  I have a video of it, but can't seem to get it to upload after several tries.

Park!

The weather today was so nice that we took the kids to the park.  Ben had fun running around while Ashley slept through it.

I was also able to get Ben to pose with Ashley and he thought it was fun.  Ashley didn't mind until Ben was pushing and scooting a little too close for comfort.  I'm sure you can see it with her huge eyes that she's probably thinking, "Who does this guy think he is?!"

Ben has still been great with Ashley and is constantly bringing her binky to her even though she barely uses it.  He insists that she have it in her mouth and when she finally does start sucking on it he pulls it out.  Looks like we're in for some fun years ahead!  Here are some more pics of Ash.

Pants?

Well Ben saw a little girl at his school take off her pants the other day and thought it was so funny that he has decided to de-pants himself every day this week.  It started with him pulling them to his ankles and waddling around the house giggling and now is at the point that pants just don't stay on him...even at night.  Thanks to the video monitor we are able to observe this bizarre behavior.  His new nighttime routine once we put him in his crib is to organize and pile all the stuff in his crib (blankets, pillow, woobies and his jayhawk stuffed animals/football).  He carefully places them one at a time to one side of his bed and then pounces on his pile of stuff with his butt in the air.  The de-pantsing comes either before or after this ritual and then they get tossed from his crib so there is no chance of him putting them back on.  Here's a pic from his naptime yesterday - and he is so proud of this as you can see.

He is also attempting to use the big boy potty.  He actually went in it once yesterday!!  Although he won't sit on the potty yet I'm hopeful he will soon since he was so proud of his feat yesterday.

As for Ashley - she is still doing great!  She only cries if you take too long to change her or if she's really hungry although normally I feed her before it gets to that point.  She's still eating every 3-4 hours but goes straight to sleep after the nighttime feedings which is awesome!  Here's a few pics.

With cousins Caroline and Riley last weekend

Happy St. Patty's Day!!

Ashley is all festive to celebrate her first St. Patty's Day which was her original due date.  Big thanks to the Benson's for this super cute outfit!!

Looks like she's already practicing her phone talking like her big brother!  Happy first week to my sweet baby girl also!

Ashley Marie

Our newest addition arrived on Thursday March 10, 2011, at 10:10 am.  She weighed in at 6 lbs 0.7 oz and was 18.75" long.  Her and I are both doing well and so far she has been a joy to have around.  Her demeanor is much different from that of Ben's and so far they seem like polar opposites.  We'll see once she grows a little more and her personality starts to show, but hopefully they will be good playmates for each other.  Ben could really use one!  And now for some pics...

Ashley Marie

Mom and Ashley

Dad and Ashley

Heading home from the hospital!!

Ben and Ashley

Ben and Dad admiring Ashley

Ashley

And it's been a while since I've posted so to get you up to speed Ben is talking much more.  He's finally started grouping two words together.  He's been great with Ashley and keeps calling her sissy and 'ashy'.  He can't seem to get the 'L' in her name but he understands there's a baby around now and is occupying more of daddy's time with his normal routine of going up and down stairs and shooting basketball which is his favorite hobby right now.  I think Brian was just getting him geared up for this weekend and tourney time.  The only things he will watch on TV is 'his show' (gabba) and 'shoot' (basketball).  I even found myself a couple weeks back turning on a rerun of a basketball game when Brian was gone just so he could watch 'shoot' since there weren't any games on at the time!

Helping Dad with his puzzle (with some pieces in his hair)

More pics and post to come soon - I promise.