SquishyBums!

BumGenius, Booty Luster, FuzzyBuns... are words that I have recently added to my vocabulary.

Well, we are well on our way to earning our badge! We have officially
switched to cloth diapers and there is no going back now. :)

Uncles Rock

That's all there is to it.

My brother Micah came to visit for a little over a week leading up to Christmas. Although we didn't do quite as much as we did last time he was here (in July) we had a great time hanging. Since Ryan & Meredith are still living with us, it was like a constant party. :) Family is such a blessing.

Destructo- Baby

Naomi has a new name: Destructo Baby! This girl can empty a shelf, bucket or cupboard faster than most, and she loves every minute of it. :)

How Do You Make 3 Kids Smile At the Camera?

I HAVE NO EARTHLY IDEA!!! So, if you know please let me in on your little secret. :)

Over Christmas we got to catch up with our best friends (who moved far away from us... perhaps we should no longer call them our best friends) Josh & Missy and their daughter Alina! (Josh and Missy are not pictured because once you have kids... who cares what the adults look like?)

We had a great time catching up and just picking up where we left off (a sign of a good friend).

Here are a few pictures of the kids, even if we could never get them all looking at the camera and smiling at the same time. :)






This one makes me laugh every time, because that is such a Ben expression. :)

EIGHT

That right... 8 years ago today Andrew and I got married, and we haven't looked back!
I can't wait for the rest of "as long as you both shall live!"

Family Christmas

Fireman outfit for Mr. Potato Head from Uncle Jonathon & Aunt Becki!


Cool new toy? Nah. Eat the wrapping paper and playmobil men!


Ben helped everyone open their presents. :)


Helping some more...


Since we got 8+ inches of snow... they went out to build Ben a snowman... and when you send 6 boys out to build a snowman..... it ends up as a snowball fight.




Yes, that is Eric hiding behind a tree. :)

Christmas Morning

We got to spend Christmas morning at home and open stockings and presents. Here are a few pictures. :)



Tonka dump truck!!!

So much for a picture of the two of them together in their cute pajamas on Christmas morning.


The best we got.

Naomi found her stocking too. :)

Naomi: 8 Months

I know I always say it, but where does the time go? This little girl continues to grow so fast!

Like her brother, she loves people... especially her mama! (Hey I feed her, hold her, change her, play with her, snuggle her, sing to her and meet every other need she has... she better love me the most!! :) She definitely has more ideas about how things aught to work that her brother did. She likes life in her own terms. :) She is such a sweet baby, but she will not be ignored. If she decides she wants to be heard - you know it!

She is about 24lbs now, and thanks to cloth diapers (more on that later) she is moving OUT of 12 month clothes and INTO 18 month!! And her latest accomplishment, she has started STANDING! Not for too long, but each day it is getting longer and longer... it won't be long! (Ben walked at 8 months 10 days, so my brother - 2nd in line after me - is DETERMINED that she will walk before Ben, they practice every night... but we shall see, she is also about 7 lbs heavier than he was :).

As you can see, she loves playing peek-a-boo (or as they call it around here, "peep-eye!" - don't ask me why, I have no idea). She loves feeding herself and getting into any box/bag etc she possibly can! Fun, fun, fun!

Brother in the News

Hello Friends!

For all of you who prayed for my brother Micah during all of his cancer treatments etc... he graduated last week with his Bachelors in Nursing and was commissioned with the army. The college paper wrote an article about it. You can check it out HERE.

The story is on page 3, and continues on page 8.

Ben Ben Ben

My brother and sister-in-law are still living with us, and Meredith has taken it upon herself to teach Ben "sir" and "madam." So, we will often hear some variation on: "Mewers, can I have some juice please?" "... Thank you Madam!" "Your welcome, Sir." So yesterday:

Leah: Ben, you are a silly goose!

Ben: No, YOU are a silly goo... MADAM!

----

Before you have children you don't really think about all those little things you say all the time, but once you have kids they come back to haunt you...

L: Ben, could you go downstairs and get a diaper from the box at the bottom of the stairs?

B: Sure!

Ben turns to leave and then comes back in the room...

B: Mom, is this a favor?

L: Well, yes, I guess it is.

B: Well, then could YOU do ME a favor?

L: What's that Ben?

B: Could you clean the TV room real quick?

---

Then at dinner last night we were talking about our highs and lows for the day. Andrew was talking to Ben about his low for the day and he was remembering how he lost his bag...

A: So, why were you sad last night?

B: Because I lost my bag!

A: But you know mom had it, and she wouldn't lose it.

B: I know, but I was still just sad.

A: Why were you sad?

B: Daddy, that's a good question!

---

While playing with a ball today:

B: Mom! Don't bounce it so high! You don't want to hit the fan or knock the Christmas ornaments off the tree!

---
Naomi was screeching (not crying, screeching because she didn't like the speed at which her cheerios were coming):

L: No no Naomi. No screeching.

B: But mom, she is just tired. She probably just needs a nap!

We are Family........

L-R: Back - Leah, Ben, Andrew, Naomi, Kristin, Becki & Jonathon
Front - Daniel, Sarah, Eric & Peter



The siblings.


I love this one. :)


Daniel being Daniel.


Us.

Cyber Monday!

It is CYBER MONDAY!

If you need a book or two for Christmas,
birthdays or just for you...

check out the deals HERE!

Naomi: 7 Months

Moving right along... literally... this girl is on the move! She is crawling, pulling up and getting in to all sorts of predicaments. :) She is about 22lbs but it doesn't slow her down at all. She recently discovered the wonder that are stairs. I love these pictures because it reminds me of one I took of Ben... you can see it HERE.

Naomi babbles all the time, and loves to go to bed early (unlike her brother). And she has a passion for ALL food, especially yogurt (goat yogurt, as she is still quite allergic to dairy. :( ). She is such a joy in our life!

Birthday Bliss

Birthday Bliss ONE:

As Ben came down the stairs this morning...

Ben: Mommy, I was outside and a blue dog was chasing me.

Leah: Oh my, Ben did you dream about a blue dog?

B: Uh huh. And I was scared. And I ran... and then... YOU SAVED ME MOMMY!

I wonder how much longer I will be the heroen in his dreams. I will take it as long as I can get it!

Birthday Bliss TWO:

Andrew kept both kids this morning while I went with a friend and cleaned a 3rd friends' house - she had a baby last week. So we cleaned and then we had breakfast, sat and talked and I got to hold her baby.

Birthday Bliss THREE:

And when I got home there was a MADE FROM SCRATCH carrot cake, waiting to be frosted. Yes, that's right. MY HUSBAND KEPT BOTH KIDS AND MADE ME MY FAVORITE CAKE FROM SCRATCH.

Birthday Bliss FOUR:

We have grand plans to cut down our Christmas tree and decorate it this afternoon. Everywhere we visit we get a Christmas ornament... so we get to relive our traveling days as we decorate.

Birthday Bliss FIVE:

and then tomorrow we are going to see Harry Potter 7a. :)

Birthday Bliss SIX:

I heard Christmas music on the radio this morning!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



Not a bad way to usher in my late 20's. That's right folks. 28. Yikes.

The Boy

Bumpersticker(s) of the Day

NEW HEALTH CARE PLAN
= DON'T GET SICK
--
DON'T MAKE ME RELEASE
THE FLYING MONKEYS
--
JUST SAY NO
TO SEX WITH A PRO-LIFER
--
MY INNER CHILD IS A TERRIFIC KID
--
NO YOUR MUSIC IS NOT TOO LOUD
IT REALLY DOES SUCK

Smile!

Family, Books & Cancer

These three words pretty much sum up my life in the last few weeks.

1. Family - my brother Ryan & his wife Meredith bought a house a few weeks ago, but before they can move in they need to fix a few things etc, so they have been living with us. Ben is in heaven. What better than two extra adults to race cars, read, play Go Fish and just generally entertain him? It has been fun to have other adults to talk to in the evenings and it seems more "worth it" to fix meals for more than just Andrew and myself (and a two year old who has to be coaxes to eat anything... even cookies!)

2. Books - my book business has been going crazy, it always does this time of year. So I have spent countless hours organizing books, doing book fairs, arranging childcare, doing home shows etc. 2 More weeks and 6 more events and it should slow down!!

3. Cancer - a nasty word. My first "close to home" experience was last year, when my brother Micah was diagnosed with Lymphoma. And about 2 weeks ago my mother-in-law Sarah was diagnosed with breast cancer. It has been a roller coaster but God is good and He is walking all of us through it. Thankfully, it looks like it is stage one, we will know more once she has the lump removed, hopefully within a few weeks. My father-in-law Eric has started a blog so you can see it HERE.

And that's about it for now.

Ben Sayings

I am sure I don't enjoy it as much as I should, but on days when I have something that needs to be done, it is hard to answer all the WHY, WHY, WHY questions. :) But it continues to amaze me how much they can understand! Here are a few examples:

---
Getting ready to watch a movie, Uncle Ryan struggles to get the movie out of the case:

Ben: Uncle Ryan, you need to be gentle with the movie!! We don't want to break it!

- At least something is getting through!!

---

On our walk today.

B: Mommy, that tree is dead.

L: You are right Ben.

B: People die too, just like the tree.

L: Oh, do you know what it means to die Ben?

B: Uh huh. You go to sleep and wake up and then go to sleep again and then you DON'T wake up.

L: Wow, where did you learn all that?

B: Daddy and I just talked about it on our walk in last night.

A Movin' and a Shakin'

There is no going back now, this girl is on the move! She started going backwards at 5 months, a few weeks later she was scooting, and now at 6 months she if officially crawling. A whole new world of keeping the floors clean (I am LOVING my new mop... although I think it deserves its own post), and I am constantly pulling things I didn't even see on the floor out of her mouth. HERE WE GO!

I have discovered a love for poka dots I never knew I had. :)

These two videos are from 4 days ago:

I love her little rump in the air. :)

I just want to eat her!

This video is from this morning:

My Little Dinosaur

Well, we didn't dress up for Halloween, but in cleaning yesterday we came across this dinosaur costume that I bought a few months ago at a consignment shop and Ben has a few hours of fun with it. :) (At least until he tried to sit down... he kept asking me to remove the tail :).