She's A Crawler!

So here it is hard evidence that Clara Jeanne has finally become mobile! Ben had an extremely abnormal crawl, so I may be a bad judge, but something seems off about hers..... Anyway, this past weekend she decided to begin crawling and broke 2 teeth! She is busy! She first crawled on Friday night while being babysat by our good friends the Heslops and the Ross's. Then she did it again a couple shuffles Sunday night. But today she has really taken off! She still does the butt shuffle too, but she seems to be figuring out that crawling is more efficient!

Does she have taste buds?

Yes, that is a dill pickle spear in her hand!! I put a little bit of it in her mouth expecting her to pull a funny face. No dice. Not only did she NOT pull a face but she Fussed when I took the pickle back!! So I handed it to her and she proceeded to gum it till there was nothing but skin left!! This is not my child, I cannot to this day eat a pickle with out pulling a face!! Rachel put a dab of mustard in her mouth last Saturday, she smacked her lips and apparently likes mustard!!! She may look like me, but she is definitely her dad when it comes to food!!!

FHE

Monday before birthday party we did Family Home Evening. We are studying The Family: A Proclamation to the World. It is slow going, just one paragraph each week. I have been trying to find a coloring page each week, all three of them LOVE to color! They were being soo cute this week I had to take some pictures!

On a somewhat related note, I have started teaching Ben the Articles of Faith. I was inspired by one of the talks in GC that the story was told of family that had children to young to read to recite scripture back to them each day as the read together. I dont think Ben is quite up for that, but he likes to memorize things like songs and sayings that he can repeat to people. So far he can say, "We believe in God the Eternal Father,..." It took one week to get all the words in and a second to be able to say them without prompts in the middle, but now I think I can add the next bit!

Sissy: 9/10 months

Okay, so I got a little behind, it was our insurance company's fault. I delayed some vaccinations til after July so they would be covered. So, instead of going in right at nine months we went in yesterday, which is closer to 10 months. Here are her stats: She is 29 inches long, which is greater than the 80% for kids her age, and she weighs 24.6lbs which is above the 95% for kids her age. The poor thing still has NO teeth!! Though this does not seem to be preventing her from eating!! Dr. Amy said if she did not know how old Clara was just looking at her she would think she was 12-15 months!! I have a big baby girl! Clara does not seem interested in crawling. She has a cute little but shimmy, but it takes a long time to get where she is going! She is finally willing to stand if you lift her up and is even trying to pull her self up on the furniture. We are thinking maybe she will skip crawling and go straight to walking? Guess we will see! She says Uh-oh a lot and sometimes says Momma and Dadda! She sleeps great and rarely fusses! She is very soon not going to need her bottles at all any more, she only uses one in the morning and then drinks her milk from sippy cups the rest of the day! She is rapidly not going to be my baby anymore! We love you Clara! to the moon and back!

He's Three!

This is from yesterday morning. This is a pretty good representation of a day in the life of Ben! He has his favorite hat and his two favorite trains! We had his three year old check up today! Here are the stats:
His 39 inches tall, which is above the 75% for kids his age. He weighs 42lbs, which is above the 95% for kids his age. He got a completely clean bill of health! He has not had any ear infections this year! Dr. Amy and I agree that he has finally out grown his ear problems! HOORAY!! He is speaking very well and is really a sweet boy! His favorite things are Trains!! second to trains is anything Lightning McQueen, and third is Books!! He LOVES to read, he reads to himself each night before bed!! and sometimes he will read to me! He loves to hang with Daddy and has even tried running with him! Ben can run for a couple hundred yards before needing a break. We are working on our soccer skills, I believe they take them at three and I think this would be a good activity for him! He can already stop it with one foot and then kick it! We are looking forward to all the fun things he learns this year! We sure do love you Ben, all the way to the moon and back!

Birthday Party 2 - Day of!!

Monday evening we had dinner with Unkin and Ray Ray and then opened some presents, and then did cake, again! it was fun!! I tried to put these in order, but they seem to have turned up exactly backward, oh well. I did videos this time so you can feel like you were here with us!

Birthday Party 1

After our eventful weekend, we concluded with our first birthday party on Sunday. Uncle Mark, Aunt Melissa, Cousin Dalton, and Cousin Brayden came over after church and spent the afternoon with us! We started off with a delicious pork roast Aunt Melissa cooked for us! Then we opened some cards and a couple presents! Thank you Nana and Papaw and The Womacks! Ben got Beauty and the Beast, he loves it! We watched it two times before lunch yesterday!

He got a real soccer ball! We have been playing with one roughly the size of a soft ball, that is a small target!

Of course we had to try it out! I could not get a shot of him and the ball in the same frame, which is a good sign because it means he was kicking it!!

Then we had some Birthday Cake! MMMM Texas Sheet cake, Ben was a little afraid of the candles at first!

You cant have cake with out some milk!!

The boys looking pleased with themselves after round two of the cake!

Poor Uncle Mark coming off a 12 hour shift slept right through cake! Thanks for coming Uncle Mark, we saved him some cake!

Not long after everyone left this was the scene, a tired and happy little boy! Guess it was a successful party!

The Pre-Party Activities

Last week we basically started celebrating on Wednesday and went right through the weekend! These pictures go from Saturday back to Wednesday, sorry. but here is what we have been doing.

Matt and Aaron ran Biathlon on Saturday, 5k plus 16 mile bike ride, while they were riding we played at the near by park.

After they came in from the race, and sadly I got no pictures of that, we had lunch. The school was having a Heritage Festival and lunch was free! They also had pony rides, blow up slides, and a petting zoo! Ben was lovin' on Aunt Ray Ray at lunch! He is soo cute!

He loved the bunnies! Not sure they cared much for him, but to their credit they did not attack!

This Lis, is a hell-goat. A.K.A pygmy goat. and they are super sweet and cute! Ben would not milk it but he did pet it and pose by it!

Again with the bunnies....

and finally, the tortoise! He really wanted to pick it up too, but it was kid of hard to get a hold on.

Friday I took Ben to a park to play with his best friend Mae and then they fed some ducks. Then they got to play at the church while Rachel and I attended a baby shower. He loves Mae, and they get along soo soo well! I unfortunately did not get any pictures of this day. =(

Thursday was Uncle Aaron's birthday!! We went to Red Lobster to celebrate! Ben pounded 6, yes 6, cheese biscuits!! He loves those things! This is him and Unkin sharing a biscuit.

Clara making eyes at everyone at the table!

Ben making scrunchy face.

Matt and the Elders, you know they seemed a lot happier to be there in person. Oh well, life as a missionary is not easy.....

Ray Ray and Unkin trying to figure out just what Ben is DOING?!!!

Uncle Brandon showing us all how to enjoy our shrimp skeurs!

We had a very cool thing happen while at Red Lobster. We met Santa Claus!!! he was in shorts and a polo that had embroidered in the corner Believe. He stopped and talked to the kids and gave Ben a sticker that reads, "I Met Santa!" it was really cute! but alas, we did not get a picture.

We started our week of activities off by going to the local ag center and seeing their Pumpkin Display. It was cool, though not all that large or interactive. but there was a lot of open space for running, which really is what playgroup is all about!

3 Great Years!

Today Ben turns three years old! He is just an amazing kid! I am so thankful that he has been sent to me by my Heavenly Father! As it gets close to the actual time of day 3 years ago that Ben was born I find myself thinking about his birth and the days that followed. It was hard, I know all births are hard, I mean this was HARD! People my size are not generally supposed to have 9lbs11oz 22inch long babies. But I did, and I would not trade him. I am thankful for the joy and happiness and determination that he brings into our home, from the beginning we knew he would be tough! We have spent the past 2 days celebrating, it has been great! I will post all the pics tomorrow, tonight I am beat! A special thanks to all of Ben's aunts and uncles, cousins, and grandparents! He is blessed with unbelievable people in his life, and we are truly thankful for each of you!! Happy Birthday Ben!!!

Their Favorite Uncle

This is Unkin, aka Uncle Aaron. The kids' current favorite uncle! He is in a close race with Uncle Mark! Last Thursday when I handed Clara to Aaron, Ben immediately came running from the train table and climbed up in Unkin's lap. They grudgingly share, but they preferre to try and steal him from the other. It is super cute and Aaron is such a good sport!

Uh-Oh

Clara's first word is officially Uh-Oh. She says it completely clear and at the right times, it is not indiscriminate! Bear with me on the video, she says it at the very end after some prompting! if I can catch her doing it on her own that is the funniest, but for now this will do! Enjoy!

Playn' with Sesame friends

Clara has discovered the pop-up toy. One of Ben's favorite toys too! she was so surprised when they poped out!

Cookie Monsters

There has been a large number of Oreos pass through this house recently. It is so fun to watch these two devour them!

The Naked Violinst

Okay, so this was one moment I have captured. Even sick and ready for bed we had to have violin time first! Bless him! He can play cookie and chocolate cake!