Snow!

Fresh snow! Ben was so excited to run through it.

Fist time sledding!

Warm Bread

I made bread today! It was much easier than I thought it would be.

And the smell was amazing!

Fall is Here!

Stomping through ginkgo leaves on our way to the park.

 Picking berries from the bush. After he put them in my hand, he

put each one in the holes on the bench.

Snacking on a red pepper - he's always liked them, but eating it like

an apple was a first!

Winnipeg and Canada Day!

Right after we were in Ohio, we went to Canada to visit Kim and Dan in Winnipeg! It was our first time there and we were so excited to see them and the city. We stayed for Canada day, and got to see them perform at the Forks - and got to spend some time with Dan's family as well!

      

     

We miss you guys!!!

Ohio Vacation!

Back in June, we went to Ohio for a nice week-long vacation. It was great to have everyone together, and it was so fun have the kids together!

Tough guys!

It was relaxing and crazy all at the same time! We miss everyone, and although I'm disappointed it's taken me this long to put up a few pictures from our trip, I'm excited that now we'll be seeing everyone again very soon - at Thanksgiving!

18 Months!

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One and a Half Years Old - 24 lbs, 12 oz. and 31.8" tall

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Ben turned 18 months old today! These last 6 months have gone by so quickly. He has changed so much, but continues to be the sweetest, silliest, most charming little boy! 

Since it's been awhile since an update, here are a few things he's been up to!

• Walking! 
• Started talking!
• Still loves to build with blocks
• Throwing and catching balls
• He loves the playground and the swings
• Loves picking out a book and climbing into our laps
• He loves his baths now - and refuses to be dried off (or clothed!) after
• Loves helping to get himself dressed (and undressed!)
• He loves giving kisses and hugs - sometimes he even grabs your face to plant one on you!
• He sits in a booster chair now and doesn't drink from sippy cups anymore!
• He loves food! He is almost always hungry, so it's a good thing he likes a lot of healthy things!
• He loves animals - pretty much all kinds but especially birds, dogs, and most recently frogs
• Buttons! He plays with his buttons at least once a day - they are by far his favorite thing!
• He does not like seeing or hearing us get hurt. It makes him very sad.
• He does not like saying goodbye to daddy in the mornings. Neither does daddy.

He is such a funny and loving kid. We are so lucky that he's in our family.

Morning Window Watching

Florida Pt. 2!

I am seriously kicking myself for taking barely any pictures. I am really going to try to remember to take more the next time we get together with people!

After leaving Sarasota, we headed to Arcadia to see Grandma and Grandpa Gebeau! We were only able to stay for a little while, but it was so great to sneak in a surprise visit!

Then we headed to Palm Beach Gardens to see Grandma Caryl! We were greeted with a warm welcome at a neighborhood get together, met lots of friends and ate lots of good food! Ben spent the afternoon exploring the house, and we spent the evening chatting and catching up. The next day we went to the mall and Ben went on his first big carousel! He wasn't sure what to think at first, but by the end I think he was having fun. We even got to ride on a little train that went around the shopping center. It was such a quick trip, but it was so nice to be able to spend some extra time visiting. I only wish I had taken more pictures!

Garbage Truck!

The garbage truck comes every morning around 8:45am, and it stops right in front of our apartment! Usually Ben loves to look out the window and watch it, but today we happened to be outside at the perfect time.

He was so excited about this garbage truck, he was laughing on the way there, and started making the cutest excited inhales as we got closer!

Florida Pt. 1 (First stop Sarasota!)

Back in April, we took a trip to Florida. We had three destinations – the Downs family, Grandma Gebeau, and Grammy Caryl!

First up were four of our most favorite people: Paul, Jen, Eric and Sara!

To say we were excited about this trip would be the understatement of the century. We had been looking forward to it before we even decided on a date, so when we were finally on the plane to Florida, we could hardly contain ourselves!

When we landed, we were surprised to find them waiting for us at the airport! Which was good because we didn't know where the heck we were going – we rode the tram a few times before we realized it only makes one stop!

From there it just kept getting better! Even grocery shopping was fun!

We all had a great time together - sharing seats and flowers: 

Sandy beaches and kilwin's ice cream!

Crazy parks and car naps.

And of course, hot mess #1

Here he is sitting at the table of a restaurant we went to:

And then something catches his attention. If you know Ben, I'm sure you know what that “something” is.

The server!

Unfortunately I didn't take many pictures of our trip, but everything else was amazing too: Surprise birthday sprinkles and red balloons, soccer games and alligators that I never saw, seals and sharks, trucks and excavators, staying up way too late, Matt's footsteps in the middle of the night, crazy schemes and daydreams (hey, it worked in Full House!), pizza and smoothies, and so much more! I don't even know how to describe our trip, but it felt like home, and we miss it!

Thank you, Paul and Jen for having us in your home and sharing a little slice of your life with us while we were down there! We love you all so much and are already trying to figure out when we can visit again!

Summer

It's so hot out! We've been cooling off at the fountains and with lots of water!

I've been going through pictures and am going to start posting some from our trips this past year - finally!

Golden Boy

We cut his hair again tonight (after this picture, of course) - it grows so fast it's hard to keep up with!

Like Father, Like Son

Slide!

Ben is such a big kid! He loves to do so many things by himself - at the park now, he climbs the stairs, crawls to the slide, and goes down all by himself... and then does it all again! Our favorite part of that video is his little giggle as he goes down the slide.

Ring, Ring!

The only phones we have are our cell phones, and they never ring because we always have them on silent. I'm really not sure how he knew what to do with this phone... haha! He must have a good memory - the last time we played with this phone in front of him was months ago - probably when he was 9 months or something!

Mother's Day

Building

Ben has been knocking things down since he could move his arms. He loves knocking down towers, taking apart lego blocks, taking out puzzle pieces - he loves tearing it down! Last weekend Ben started putting his "mega-bloks" together! He suddenly realized that he could take them apart and put them back together, and he did it over and over again!

Just yesterday, he realized he could stack things up! He stacked his blocks over and over again, sometimes adding a different toy to the middle to see what would happen. I was able to get a video of him stacking up his blocks this morning:

Family Photo!

We had our pictures taken with Matt's parents while they were here for Ben's birthday, and we finally got the pictures back! We busted open our frame and scanned ours in, but we didn't want to destroy their frame, so for now you'll have to take my word for it that their picture with Ben was great!

Baby Steps

Ben took his first steps the day he turned 13 months old, but it took awhile for us to get it on video! They're still little baby steps, but he gets so excited when he does it by himself.

Happy Easter!

We had a quiet Easter at home this year - and Ben found his first Easter eggs! We hid a few plastic eggs around the apartment in places he likes to go, and put little things inside of them. One had Cheerios, one had crumpled paper, one had socks, and some had little toys. It was fun to watch him notice the eggs and try to get them open!

We tried to get him to wear his bunny ears again like last year, but no such luck!

Happy Easter!

Birthday Weekend!

Grammy and Grandpa came to celebrate Ben's birthday with us! They got in on Thursday, and the fun started right away. Ben was so excited to see them that he decided not to take his second nap so he could stay up to greet them as they walked through the door! They brought hugs and kisses and some balloons from Gigi!

Our guest list was small, but our celebration was big! We brought the party everywhere that weekend! We went to one of Ben's favorite places - the swings! He had a great time, as always!

We also celebrated with the animals at the Bronx Zoo, where Ben pointed at all the birds, and was startled by the sea lions!

Monday was the big day! First we surprised him with the kitchen being decorated for him! He smiled at the happy birthday sign, and liked the balloons a lot.

We sang happy birthday, blew out the candle, and ate cake! Somehow I cut off the first half of the song...

And after we blew out his candle, it seemed like he was thinking "Wait... did you guys really just blow out my candle? I thought I was going to get to do that!"

He seemed to really like the chocolate frosting, and thought the cake was alright - but his real favorite were the rainbow sprinkles. He picked those off the cake as fast as his little fingers could!

He's getting much better at opening presents and cards, and needed only a little help to get the presents out.

What a great weekend, and great first birthday! Happy Birthday, Ben - you are so loved!

Happy Birthday Ben!

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One Year Old - 23 lbs. and 29.25" tall

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Happy Birthday to you!

Happy Birthday to you!

Happy Birthday, dear Benjamin!

Happy Birthday to you!

Wow, one year old! The time has gone so quickly, while at the same time I can't remember a time when he wasn't a part of our little family. He is such a sweet, funny, happy, smart little boy and we love getting to watch him grow and learn every day. We love you with all our heart, Ben - Happy Birthday!