B is 1!!

Can you believe it? Our little man is already a year old. He is such a little stinker... in a cute and adorable way. He is walking, not all the time but when he feels the need he goes. He says momma and dadda and has developed a high pitch scream. He does it when he's happy but it may be even louder than Abby's stinker scream. His cry even seems to be louder lately ans he is constantly chattering. He is even more shy and clingy than ever!!! Yay! He is turning into a Daddys boy though, he wants nothing to do with me if dad is around, unless its bed time. He is generally a happy guy. He loves to be outside and around his sisters. Our favorite feature is his very contagious smile. He knows the camera and is pretty willing to cheese it up for that. We are so grateful to have him as part of our family! It has been a great year. Happy Birthday Ben Boy!

A week away

We have been gone for a little over a week on a little family vacation. It was great. We left last Saturday the 14th and drove to a little place named Anaconda, MT. It is about a 1/2 hour west of Butte. It took a few rest stops and a couple hours longer than planned to get there, but over all the kids handled the long drive well. We spent 3 days there, hiking, seeing some waterfalls, we visited a ghost town, we slid down their 40 tall slide- so fun!! We went to a few parks and just relaxed and enjoyed ourselves. We then started for Idaho. On our way we stopped at fairmont hotsprings and swam the day away. They had several pools hot and cooler -93degrees and a huge slide the Cassie & Jessie loved (mom & dad didn't mind it either:). Abby over came her water fear she seemed to develope over the winter. There was a part that was chest deep on her. She put her arms out straight and hopped in the pool. It was so cute, her hopping with this huge smile. Fr the rest of the vacation she wanted to go swimming, and she did, no matter what the temperature of water. Yeah Abby!! Anyway, we drove to Idaho and stayed in Idaho falls. Our room happened to have a view of the temple. Abby was super excited about that and she wanted to go there. We went to Bear World and played there a few hours and just relaxed on Tuesday.
Wednesday we drove to our campground. We had so much fun camping, none of us wanted to leave. The kids swam in the river and hotspring pool, we fished, played, ate and ate and even got to see a little brown bear. We went with Rich & Krista and some of Riches family. They are great people and the kids have a few new friends. We are glad we went and hope to do it again next year!!

Bittersweet

There is one thing that I think is the cutest about B. That is his scooting. Just to watch him get across the floor scootching on his little bum with the aid of leg and hand is absolutely adorable. it is also hilarious how fast he can move. But all good things must come to an end. He has started to crawl. He is really cute crawling, don't get me wrong, but the scooting was Ben's trade mark, his signature move and it will be missed. He is about half and half in his style of transportation, so we still get to enjoy the scooting a little, as well as enjoying the new chapter of crawling...

We will give a quick update... We went to the ocean last week which was a nice get away. It was a little cold for swimming, but we were able to play on the beach, collect sand dollars and shells, chase seagulls and just in general have fun.
We had a blast with our cousins, Lexi, Brandon and Calli while they were up, Abby is asking all the time, can we go see Brandon?
Jessie is attending a kindergarten boot camp designed to give them a little headstart to the big day. This way she is a little used to going to school, she may make a friend or two and she won't be so worried about what to do at school.She seems to be enjoying it. Cassie however is lost at home w/o her partner in crime. Abby is loving the time with Cassie and mom, well she wasn't quite ready for school to start.
We will try to get some video of Ben to share and post some pictures soon. Hope all is well with everyone and you are having a great summer!

Beating the Heat

We are so glad that the sun and hot weather is finally here. We have been waiting for the opportunity to strap on the waterwings and hit the pool, and that is where we have been the last few days. Swimming... Swimming... Swimming... I think the kids are part fish. They wouldn't get out if they didn't have too.

The girls also started tee ball last night. They seemed to have a really good time. It will be a blast too because we have 3 other kids from the ward on the team. GO MARLINS!!!
Jer had Monday off for the fourth. Usually we kind of just hang out and do a whole lot of nothing but on Monday we had a great time. He wanted to take the girls to the bouncy place, which everybody loved, then we ran some errands. We ended up geting Cass and Jess rollerblades! Cassie is a natural. She is skating everywhere. Jessie hasn't worn them too much, but I know she will do well too. Having Jer around on Monday got us really excited for his vacation!!

10 months old

Today is the 10 month mark for our little Ben boy! He sure has grown. He started out as our second smallest next to Cass and is now the biggest. We love his little rolls on his legs and his chubby cheeks (which he stores little goodies in). He loves to be around his sisters and gets soo excited when Jer gets home from work. He also seems eager to walk. He can stand a few seconds and balance himself and he enjoys holding your fingers as he walks around. We have been blessed to have this little guy in our home.

Last Day

Cassie Graduated today (kindergarten of course)! She is sad she will miss her teacher, but excited for break and to be a first grader in the fall. We are wondering "where did the year go?"

Alex (he informed us he wants to marry Cass) and Cassie

Abigail Lynn (aka good and best friend) and Cassie.

First day of kindergarten

Last day of kindergarten

Since summer is here we are looking forward to camping with our ward, tee-ball, a vacation to Idaho and lots of swimming and outside fun!!!

Picts

Ryder

This weekend we were able to have Ryder (Toby & Kylees super cute little guy) over for a night. We had fun reading stories, playing toys, and having a water fight. There were moments were he missed his momma, but we hope he had some fun with us.

scooter

Ben is now a little over 9 months old. He hasn't started to crawl yet but he has his own mode of transportation. We think it is super cute.

We have been impatiently awaiting the arrivial of spring. Last week when it was so nice we went on walks and spent an afternoon at the park topped off with a slurpee. Yummm.
We went clamming on Saturday down in Grayland with my sister, her boyfriend, my brother and dad. It was so much fun. The kids loved running around the beach and helping "get those little guys" as Jessie would say. We also got steamers which was hard because of the gloppy mud, the kids boots kept getting stuck & Jessie and Abby both fell and were covered in mud, but they still had fun. We hope to go again soon.

Cassie has lost tooth #3. It is a huge hole and its cute because she talks with a little lisp. I am nervous about the size of the permanant though....
Abbie loves to sing these days, you can catch her singing as she is playing. she is also learning her ABC's. Her favorite books are Mr. Brown and Snuggle puppy.
Jessie is getting anxious about kindergarten. She doesn't want to take a summer break from preschool, she wants kindergarten to start the day after preschool ends. We are glad she likes school. She had her 5th birthday which was crazy. She has always been a little left out of the birthday parties, but this year she made up for all those missed ones. She had birthday celebration at preschool, big grandmas, home, other grandmas, and her party!! She got to the point that when people would say hi, she would say, "What else do you say to me?" (Getting at the Happy Birthday they should be wishing her!) Turkey!!
Ben is doing better with his food, he is starting to eat from a spoon. He likes graham crackers too. He rolls and pushes himself up. He also is constantly rocking back and forth. Side effect from the jumper! He still is so happy.
Elisabeth and Sophie are here. We had FHE together and also went to the bouncy place. They are so fun. We hope to hang out more with them.
Janni and Caleb came up too. We were lucky enough to be able to have them over for dinner despite their busy schedule and having colds. We really enjoyed their visit and being able to play.
Jer took a class and got double check certified. We are so proud of him!

Benjamin Henry is 6 months old, as of last Wednesday. We haven't had a well child check up yet, but I bet he weighs around 15 lbs. He is a happy guy. He seems to be a thrill seeker. He loves it when his dad throws him in the air. We have been giving him some rice cereal and some fruit, but he gags on it. It is very sad. He always has a scowl on his face while we are trying to feed him and he gets the shudders after each bite. Poor guy! He has turned into a big talker, always making noise. Another of his favorite things to do is click his tongue and stick his tongue out and spit. He sits up by himself and can almost roll over. It is amazing to see how fast babies change in 6 months. The girls are still pretty helpful with him, but Jessie has a tendancy to love him a little too much.
We have been up to the usual. Some spring cleaning, school (for the kids), we are getting up earlier so we can make & eat breakfast with Jer. We are excited about visits from Janni and Caleb as well as Grandma Tina, Teresa, Elizabeth and Sophie. We are excited too for all the march birthdays!!

update...

Once again we find that time has slipped by at an amazing rate. Everyone enjoyed Christmas, of course! We started the festivities off by having Rich, Krista and Bailey over on Christmas eve for dinner, Krista's ever so yummy rolauden (correct spelling is questionable)a few sides and a beautiful yule log, Krista's family tradition that we are so lucky to enjoy! We exchanged a few gifts and had fun watching a few movies. Santa came and the girls were so excited that we had to wake them up at 8. Their favorite gift is a doll house. We then went to other Grandmas had brunch and more gifts, our favorite from her is the food storage kits. Big Grandmas was the last stop. Dinner was fantastic and there were too many presents from her to pick a favorite.
So between then and now we have been lying low. Jer had a few days off of work, we just hung out, but man it was fun. The girls are back to school, which they are glad about. Abby has been experimenting on the potty chair. She went for the first time the other night!! Ben seems to be growing by the minute. He is our chubbiest baby. He tries to sit himself up, he has become fond of toys and he is constantly making some kind of noise. He also has cut his napping time back. Now he is awake a lot and takes a few cat naps during the day. We have been battling his eczema type rash thats on his cheeks and forehead, it looks pretty good right now. He got his first hair cut yesterday, its a buzz cut, but the patchy look was driving me crazy. Jer is staying busy with work and Elders quorum stuff. We are approaching 8 years of marriage next month and I cannot help but think how lucky I am to have him as a husband and father to my kids. He is AWESOME!