The Gravel Project

A few weeks ago, Matt started telling me about this Gravel Project that he was going to be working on. Although he explained it to me, I still really didn't understand what he was doing. So imaging my surprise, when Ella and I came home from an afternoon of shopping last Saturday, and drove up the driveway to see this....










Of course, Ben was PUMPED to have a REAL skid loader at his house! And he got to ride in it with him Daddy! Ben even has a toy skid loader that he plays with all the time







And what could be even more exciting that a skid loader? A DUMP TRUCK! Ben's Grandpa OWNS this dump truck - how great is that??!! Ben would sit in the front of the truck while Matt used the skid loader to fill it, and then they would drive to the back of our property to dump it. Ben was in heaven!










And Mommy had fun riding in the dump truck too!! (but I wore my hard hat!)

Big Boy Pants

Although Ben is no where near ready to start potty-training, we though it would be motivating for him to try on his big boy pants (aka underwear!). His Grandma gave him these for Christmas - they have dinosaurs on them! He seemed to really like them. (When he gets older, he is going to be so upset with me for posting these!! But doesn't he look adorable?)

Here we are joking around and playing before bedtime. Of course, I changed him back into a regular diaper before bed!


Around Christmas time, Matt bought Ben a DVD called "Elmo's Potty Time". And Ben LOVES it. We have watched it a million times already. I may go crazy if I have to listen to Elmo sing songs about going peepee and poopoo in the toilet one more time!

To my friends that don't have kids yet...... just you wait! I can't wait until you get to experience this too!!

Got anything good to eat around here?

Ben eats salad more than any 2 year old I have ever met. He shovels it into his mouth as fast as he can. I actually find myself saying to him, "Ben, you have to eat more than just salad for dinner. Please take a bite of your______". (you can fill in the blank with any unhealthy kid-type food, such as hot dogs, mac-n-cheese, chicken nuggets, pizza rolls, etc)






Ella has finally started eating some "real" foods, like mandarin oranges and blueberries (although she is so skeptical of anything new you put in front of her)






Ella will be 8 months old tomorrow. I found this picture of Ben when he was the same age. Do you think she looks like her older brother?

Fishy Face

Ben has some asthma problems so whenever he has a bad cough, we have to do breathing treatments. His mask is in the shape of a fish, so we ask him if he wants to wear his fishy face. He usually sits on our lap during these 10 minutes treatments so we can help hold the mask in place, but recently he has wanted to do it by himself - such a 2 year old. He is actually very good about having to endure these treatments. I can't help but love how the straps pull his ears down!


Ella helps by holding the tubing...

I think she is thinking "I hope I don't have to do breathing treatments too!"

A beautiful day

It was such a beautiful day today, that after I got home from work, the kids and I headed outside to play. So we packed up our blanket and sippy cups full of juice and made a little play area in the front yard.

Hasn't Ben turned into such a big boy??? He is no longer my little baby.... He is so independent. He is always telling us, "I do it".

While I was typing this, Ben came inside after playing outside with his Daddy. He stood behind me and yelled, "Hi Mommy!". I turned around to find him completely naked. I smiled and he said, "Where clothes go?"

I love him so much....

Ben working; Ella playing

On the 5 acres that we live on, we have one tree. Yes - only one. So my wonderful in-laws were kind enough to buy us 70 trees to plant on our land. Yes - 70! Whenever there is work to be done outside, we can always count on Ben to be our #1 helper. So I got him dressed in his "working" clothes to help his Dad and Papa plant trees.

While taking these pictures, I kept laughing to myself at the funny outfit I dressed him in to work outside. Then I noticed what Matt was wearing. Like father, like son....

Ella has just recently become more interested in our dogs, Godiva (aka Ivy) and Chase. She really seems to be facinated by their collars. Thankfully, they don't seem to mind her hanging all over them (especially Chase -- he is such a sweet boy)

I can totally picture her wanting to have Ivy and Chase join her for tea parties when she is older!

Ella is still working on her crawling. She reminds me of a seal on the beach. But she is moving forward, and I guess that is all that matters.


Almost forgot to mention, Ella started saying "Mama" this weekend!!!

I owe a huge THANK YOU to my friend Stephanie Ford, the Blogging Queen, for helping me load my pictures so they aren't all turned sideways! Steph has an amazing blog. Click here to check it out!

Let's try this again...

Well, it's been almost a month, but here it is -- our second posting!! I guess I am not too good with this blogging-thing. I do have an excuse, though. I've been sick. If I haven't been at work or taking care of the kids, I have been sleeping. I am finally starting to get some energy back and am back to being a normal member of society.

Here's a glimpse of what we've been up to:

1) Ella had her first tractor accident (actually I was supposed to be holding her, but she ended up rolling off Ben's toy tractor and landing on her face - look at her poor head and nose!)

2) Ben learned a new trick (we really shouldn't encourage this, but it is too funny):


3) Matt is introducing the kids to music. I think when they finally get the band together, Ben will play the drums and Ella will be lead vocals:

4) Ben got his first tricycle, but Ella has taken a liking to it:

5) And finally, Ella got her first tooth last week!! It is been a painful few weeks for her, but it finally popped through. And tooth #2 is not far behind! She is also on the verge of crawling. She is growing so quickly!!!


OK - so my goal is to post at least once a week, so please continue to check back! I will leave you with one final picture. Who wouldn't love waking up to this face in the morning...