Swimming

This summer we had both kids in swim lessons and although it would have been ideal to have them at the same time, that just didn't work out by the time I signed them up.  However, it worked to our advantage since we were able to go to the pool for 16 days for less than it would've cost us to go just 3 times! Crazy, but worth it.

Ben is starting to really enjoy the water more than his first swim lessons, although he's still really hesitant to go under water or float on his back.  We're slowly working on those pieces, but he did go off the diving board his last day of lessons.  And when I mean he went off the diving board, one teacher handed him from the diving board to a teacher in the water.  Regardless, he got over the fear of not wanting to do it and then liked it.  And that is a milestone.

blowing bubbles

Ashey (as Ben calls her) is quite the opposite in the water.  She loves it.  And although she loves it, there is no fear in the water which scares me.  She will literally walk into the water up to her chin and then try to sit down.  Someone always has to be within arms reach of her at all times as we've had to pull her up from the water pretty regularly.  And when she gets up, she laughs and smiles and keeps walking deeper.   Trouble.....but she loves it so much.  She even enjoys the slides which Ben is finally not scared to go down this year.  Her independence is still going strong in wanting to do things herself and of course trying to do anything and everything Ben does regardless of if we want her to - take the good with the bad I guess.

Other random pics - bike day and car wash day.

Ring Bearer

I'm long overdue for posts so this may be a long one.

Back in the first part of June, Ben was a ring bearer for my cousin's wedding in St. Louis and he ended up doing a great job.  He was fortunate enough to walk down the aisle with my cousin's little girl who is the sweetest most adorable girl you could ever meet.  They were a little hesitant right before the big moment, but walked slowly and smiled the whole way in perfect fashion.  All kids were welcome at the reception and both Ben and Ash loved dancing and had a blast with their cousins.  They were troopers and danced much later than their bedtimes with a smiles on their faces.  (The candy table probably helped keep their energy up and also explains them passing out back at the hotel though.)

Ash showing off her pretty Diane Von Furstenberg dress and new haircut.

Ring Bearer and Flower Girl!

How cute are Ben and Hadleigh?!

Updates on the kiddos:

Ben can now spell his name and points out 'B's all over the place.  He's fully potty trained (with the exception of overnight) and is still a great big brother to "Ashey".  It's amazing how each day he really seems to be a kid and no longer toddler.  I can carry on full conversations with him and he loves to sing songs.  he does miss some words and improvises on his version on the song, but it's entertaining nonetheless.  With his songs he loves to dance and he has some funny moves.  His latest dance includes a march type run and then he stops to wiggle his whole body.  Hockey has been off and on lately.  Now that we finally get to go back on the ice for his lessons, he doesn't want to skate, but at home it's still all he wants to do.  We even watch the Mighty Ducks every night.  I guess we'll see how he continues, but overall he's still athletic and loves to play sports.  He's still able to hit the baseball when you throw it at him and can switch hit, loves basketball and was even practicing his golf this morning while the British Open was on (which looked a lot like hockey).

Excited while waiting to get a haircut

Sting rays at stl zoo

Water spray part of stl's children's zoo

Ashley on the other hand is very rapidly turning into a toddler and no longer my little baby.  She's running all over with no signs of hip issues from her surgery earlier this year which is great news!  Ash loves to climb and has no fear so I'm thinking gymnastics may be in our near future this winter.  Although she's not saying many words yet (only Mama and hi), she is getting better with her sign language.  She's able to sign 'more', 'all done', 'thank you' and of course she points and waves like crazy.  And although she's normally easy going and very sweet she does like to push Ben's buttons.  I've seen her purposely take his toys and run off laughing which only upsets him and in turn makes her laugh even more.  However, Ash still wants to do anything and everything that Ben does.  I think this is starting to be pay back for all the tackling and rough play Ben does with her.  Another fun side I'm getting to experience with her which we did not with Ben is her fashion sense.  Ash loves shoes and clothes.  Just last night when I was getting her ready for bed, she walked into her closet and came back with 3 pairs of shoes in her arms.  She then proceeded to sit down and wait for me to put all pairs on her, one at a time.  Basically at any given time, she is walking around trying to find the next pair of shoes to put on regardless of if they fit her or if they are even hers.  This may be trouble....

First haircut

Excited about spray park at stl children's zoo

stl zoo train ride!

Just like big brother!

Happy 3rd Birthday Ben!

Ben had his 3rd birthday party this year and of course he had a blast.  Deebo and Papa came in town and he loved hanging out with them all weekend.  Ashley on the other hand was a little apprehensive until she finally got used to them about 2 hours before they left town.

We had his party at Monkey Bizness and he loved it.  He was able to do all the activities there this time which was awesome.  He finally wore himself out which to this day I cannot say I've seen.  I'm glad we got our money's worth and he had a lot of fun with his friends.  All he kept asking for was a spiderman party so of course I attempted to make him a spiderman cake and it turned out pretty well I think.  I even made his birthday shirt with spiderman on it.

Jack and Ben

Beth enjoying the party favors

Ashley getting into the fun

Ben, Jack and Milo - the 3 musketeers

Caroline dunking!

The train up to the slide

Erin, Kate and Julie having fun climbing

Silly kids having fun

On Saturday my parents gave him a buzz lightyear shirt and he immediately put it and ran around the backyard screaming "to infinity and beyond!"  It was hilarious!  He truly thought he was buzz lightyear.  He also got a fantastic blues hockey jersey with his name and the number 3 on it from his godmother.  He will definitely be wearing that this week at hockey.  Along with some roller blades from us so he can practice hockey at home without having to find open skating at an ice rink.

"To infinity and beyond!"

admiring big brother

hockey

All in all - it's been another fast year for a wonderful little boy.  He is the best big brother you could ask for.  He always takes time to give Ashley a hug and kiss randomly when they are playing and is very good at making sure she isn't doing something to hurt herself.  His favorite sport is by far hockey and essentially he is either doing that or lining up his cars.  He's very active, but also very loving and a great little boy.  I can't believe he is already 3.

Swingset

Last week Brian and I took a day off work to build the kids a swing set.  It of course took a lot longer than expected, but Ben's face when he saw it was priceless.  He was very excited about being able to swing in his own backyard instead of having to go to the park.  Ashley was excited for something to climb on as well.  She's all over the place exploring and loves to climb on things so this summer should be nice with the new patio and a swing set.  Here's a couple pics of the kids (including Brian) enjoying the new swing set.

Hockey

Ben definitely has a favorite sport and it happens to be hockey.  Of course this makes me very excited since I grew up around an ice rink, but for Brian it's not quite the same feeling.  Brian has admitted that he's excited about Ben wanting to play a team sport and a 'manly' sport, but nonetheless has admitted he is sad this is one sport he can not help Ben play.  First off, he knows very little about hockey although he's willing to learn.  And secondly, Brian can't really ice skate.  He's gotten better since I've met him, but he looks like Ben currently does out on the ice.  He probably would kill to have a walker at times.  Of course you didn't hear that from me though.

Anyways, we started Ben off in a learn to play hockey program which basically means they teach him how to skate with a helmet and gloves on.  He's very excited each week to go and it's all he talks about even though each week it takes some time for him to get adjusted to wanting to join all the kids on the rink without Brian or I.  This past week I was very impressed with him being able to make it back and forth on the ice with only one fall.  The teacher kept trying to get him to sit on the ice so he could learn to get up and he flat out ignored her to keep slowly chugging along to make it without falling.  I explained to him the importance of falling and learning how to get up and once we got home he 'practiced' in our kitchen while playing hockey the falling down and getting up piece.

Overall I think hockey will be more of a success than soccer was last year, but it's probably too early to tell at this point.  Each week I hope he continues to try and enjoy the ice time while he can.  Especially since hockey is really all he talks about....besides Buzz Lightyear of course.

Big boy bike

We've been working with Ben for a while off and on with potty training and finally this last time seems to have gone better than times past.  After a week of telling him that if he had three good days in a row without accidents then he could get a new (slightly used, but he doesn't know that) bike.  So finally last week we were able to give him his new bike.  He absolutely loves it and although it took him a little bit to learn how to ride it without using the breaks nonstop he rides it every day.  Now if only we could get him to use the potty for poop instead of waiting for his diaper at nap or bedtime.  I'm sure I'll find another bribe to work that one out.

And although he's not wearing a helmet in these pics he does have one.  He wears it almost all the time but when we're just in our garage area he sometimes takes it off.  I figured I should clarify for any people who may have wondered.

Happy Easter

I'll start off by wishing everyone a great Easter.  When I was younger I remember drying eggs with my cousins, Easter egg hunts and getting all dressed up to go to church.  Basically a lot of time with family.  As the years pass and I am no longer near my siblings or parents I think back and cherish those times I had for my kids don't get to see their cousins as often as I did.  However we are lucky enough to have a lot of Brian's family around and he gets to see those cousins at least a little more regularly than we see my nieces and nephews.  I've also started to think about the new traditions I get to start with my own family since Brian's family all goes to the lake which leaves us on our own to celebrate Easter.


So our first tradition happens to be with my work.  Every year they have an Easter Egg hunt at a park a week prior to Easter weekend.  Ben has loved to go, but has still been too terrified to get anywhere near the Easter bunny.  (I have a feeling next year will be different, but that remains to be seen.)  And normally kids get all excited and run from one egg to the next, but not Ben.  Of course not - this is Ben after all.  He found his first egg pretty quick and then proceeded to open it to see what was inside before moving on to find any others.  Normally this wouldn't be a big deal, but all of them are taped shut so the candy or prize inside doesn't fall out so it took some time for him to get each egg open.  He was supposed to grab 10 eggs and as I watched him slowly open one egg after the next I counted the eggs in his basket and only saw three.  I looked around and sure enough almost all the other kids were done with their quota and diving into their eggs to see what they got.  Luckily, there were plenty of eggs and after some persuasion he grabbed a few more and we were set.  Ashley just walked around and grabbed one egg or Ben's basket.  She didn't seem to care too much what she was supposed to do, but enjoyed people watching.  I think I'll claim her as my kid.

Egg #3 while other kids are already done.

Finally a basket full!

  

Enjoying her one plastic egg

Now she's trying to steal his eggs....

Then on Good Friday we grilled some fish and then dyed Easter eggs.  Ben had a blast and really got into it this year as compared to last year.  In fact, by the time we were done he had green hands which were impossible to the dye off of.  (He still has green on his hands today even.)  But this just reminds me of when I was younger and having my mom trying to get the dye off as well.  Turpentine, paint thinner or vegetable oil were always the methods used, but I couldn't bring myself to do that to Ben since he's still pretty young.  So vegetable oil it was all I tried and no luck.  I started calling him my munchkin since he looks like he belongs in the wizard of oz.

stickers!

As for Easter, it's a pretty laid back day now.  We had breakfast casserole and enjoyed what the Easter bunny brought us.  Ben loved getting new cars and searching for Easter eggs.  In fact, we had to hide them all two additional times so that he could find them again.  Ashley just followed behind Ben and would take the eggs out of his basket which was pure enjoyment for Brian and I.  She doesn't really understand too much, but definitely can understand more than we think especially when we tell her 'no'.  If you watch closely you can see that Ash really is the instigator and Ben only reacts or acts out once she starts it.  I'm definitely going to have to keep a close eye on her in the future.

For the rest of they day we are going to go to the park since it's so nice out and come home and make a chicken dinner.  It's kind of nice having a laid back holiday to actually enjoy the time instead of rushing from place to place or trying to keep your kids from getting in trouble with their cousins.

Happy Easter everyone.  Hope you get to enjoy your time with family as we are today.