Jack & Co along with First Soccer Practice

This weekend we had our friends over and Ben can't seem to get enough of Jack.  We had the small pool blown up so the kiddos could swim and they played with their cars which was followed by a turkey dinner.  Mallory couldn't get enough of the pool and Kate had too much fun walking around trying to keep up with the boys.  Of course Ashley just watched it all and was exhausted by the time she went to bed.

Ben and Jack

Ben and Jack

Ben, Jack and Mallory

Ben and Jack being silly

Ash

Mallory

Kate

Then on Sunday we had Ben's first soccer practice.  We joined Happy Feet which is just down the road at the park and let's just say it didn't go well.  All we do at home is kick the soccer ball around so I decided to sign him up for this practice thinking he would at least enjoy kicking the ball around a little bit.  On Thursday we went and picked out a ball at the store which he thought was awesome and today we got shin guards which he was also excited about.  He kept talking about playing soccer with the kids and by the time we got there he just stood and watched.  I'm hopeful this will turn out like our swim lessons did.  He didn't really enjoy the swim classes too much earlier this year, but all summer he's been a champ with the water and is comfortable enough to try kicking and such.  So I can only hope that even if all these classes don't go great, he'll end up loving it next year.

The most participation/attention he spent for the entire hour were these 2 minutes

Coming back over instead of playing with the kids/coach

Some of my favorite things about the kiddos right now are Ben's curiosity and Ashley's giggle.  Ben is constantly asking questions and talking which is great and I'm pretty sure Bri and I are the only ones who understand the majority of what he says.  A few standard sayings of his are: "Whatcha doin mommy?"  "What's that noise?"  "Ashey girl"  "See Jack"  "Outside"  "Ashey not happy" (when she cries)

Ashley has expanded on her solids and is doing great eating them.  Her new favorite is butternut squash.  Ben loved this when he was young also.  She's getting better about sitting up on her own, but still is too wobbly to do it all alone.  She's mastered rolling over, grabbing her feet and giggling.  As long as she's around her brother she is generally happy and loves when you talk or sing to her and move her arms/legs around.

Being silly and refused to wear clothes, but wanted to wear the cape and cowboy hat

Ash is 5 Months

It's been a little too long since my last post so I'll try to do a short recap of the happenings at our household.

finding her feet

Ash is now over 5 months old and has started solid foods.  So far she's had rice cereal, oatmeal, bananas applesauce and sweet potatoes.  So far she likes all of them and has mastered the art of swallowing instead of spitting out the food.  She's also sleeping pretty well through the night.  She's still not a big drinker so if she doesn't have a full belly before she passes out she generally will stir around 4 or 5, but a binky solves that until 6am.  She loves to smile and watch her big brother, without him for entertainment I'm not sure what she would enjoy.  Her legs are always kicking and she can turn herself in a circle when she's on her belly to try and see what's going on around the house.  I can tell she's already frustrated that she can't crawl and keep up with her brother, but for the time being I like that she's not fully mobile yet.  The rolling over and spinning around is enough for the moment.

To put it briefly - Ben is fun.  Daycare always says he's "tiny, but mighty" which is such a true statement.  He loves to help around the house and is talking so much now it's crazy.  Since it's been so hot out, he's loved going to the pool or swimming in his blow up pool at our house.  He's still crazy about basketball and soccer and plays with his cars everyday.  We're starting him in Happy Feet which is a soccer program for kids.  It's only 8 weeks long for an hour a week, but with his obsession I think he'll enjoy it.  He's pretty good at kicking the ball and even throwing balls.  He'll step forward and try to imitate the pitchers he sees on tv's.  He's not very good at it, but it's hilarious to watch.  Ben loves to help give Ashley her baths and actually does a decent job at helping although most of the time is spent playing with the water and spilling it all over the bathroom floor.

trying to prove he's not too big for ashley's exercauser

action shot - loves jumping into the pool

notice he's still trying to watch us as he lands in the pool

helping me clean off the highchair

4 Months, Rolling Over and A Fort

Ashley is officially 4 months old and rolling over off her back.  The last couple days she's been getting close and yesterday I was in the other room while Ben and Ash were laying on their backs and when I came back she was on her tummy.  I asked Ben if he rolled her over and he proceeded to try and roll her over and it was very clear that that had not been the case.  So we tested her later on and she was able to do it several times in a row.  Now that she can roll over both ways I'm sure it's only a matter of time before she starts crawling.  When she's on her tummy she kicks like crazy, but I hope she takes her time getting mobile as chasing two kids around instead of just one will make life a little more challenging.  And right now, Ben is enough to keep up with.

We got new patio furniture for our deck and our neighbor used the chair boxes as a fort.  She even made a fort especially for Ben complete with a skylight, window, doors (with handle cutouts), a welcome mat and a frog hanging from the ceiling for decoration.  It's too cute and he is the perfect height for it.

And since it's been so hot we decided to take Ben (and Ash for that matter) to the city pool and it turns out it's great for kids.  They actually have a large kids pool with walk in entry and a large baby pool also, short water slides and floating animals you can climb on, and a water spray area.  He had a blast and was so worn out that he took over a 2 hour nap which he hasn't done in forever.  Ashley slept through most of it, but enjoyed the nice breeze and sounds of water while she took her catnap in her swimsuit.

Kicking in the pool

And a couple random pics that are cute.

4th of July

This past weekend Ben had a blast.  It was a crammed packed fun weekend of things, but not a ton of pictures to show for it.  Regardless the ones I do have are pretty good.  On Saturday we went to our friends house so Ben could play with Annabel and her new jungle gym.  He had fun chasing Annabel and Jack around and going down the slide.  Meanwhile Kate tried to keep up with the rest and Mallory enjoyed the view.

Ben and Annabel playing with the water table

Annabel

"Out of my way Jack!"

Kate trying to play with Ben

Mallory looking cute

Kate

Playing in the grass

Annabel having a blast

Trying to high-five each other

Then on Monday we went to Villagefest in PV and of course he had a good time.  He got to see all the animals, take his first pony ride (which he loved surprisingly), operate a fire hose, sit on a police motorcycle, play in a police car, get his first bike helmet and eat some cookies.  Meanwhile Ashley slept through most of it and woke up in time to hear the fire truck honk it's horn and scare her.  A bottle and diaper change did the trick to calm her down though and all was well.

New Helmet!

Ash enjoying the weather

Hope I don't ever see this again

Refusing to look at me for the picture

First Pony Ride!

Enjoying the pony ride

Putting out fires

Hi!

Happy 4th!

For the record, Ben chose the cardinal's hat instead of the Royals hat.  Since one is red and the other is blue, those were his choices.  I'm proud to say after both times of me asking and Brian insisting on the blue, he chose red!  At least he already knows who to count on if he wants to watch a good team!

Hope everyone had a safe and happy fourth!