So, quick Benjamin update:
* He talks ALL the time. Well, and he sings occasionally. But he is a serious copycat. We have to watch what we say or he'll repeat each word back to us at various times. In the past few weeks, he's gotten really into two-word phrases ("big dino", "me eat", "winnie pooh","tickle monster", "puzzle piece", "different game", "monkey game"). And this past week he started throwing out a few three word phrases which really took us by surprise! ("Tickle Monster Coming!" "Don't break it!" - all copies of things we've said...) I think the boy's brain is on overdrive!
Oh, and we love to indoctrinate him with sports phrases from our favorite teams. Here are the clips of "Go Broncos, Go Peyton, and Go Buffs" - which he'll yell around the house at various points.
Other favorite words/phrases these days: buddies, tower, button, bat, belly, crackers, apple, applesauce, "debbie" (for strawberry... it's so cute we have forgotten to correct him), football, soccer ball, kick ball, jumping, sleeping, table, monkey game, bath, bubbles, toot, tickle, more ____... and dino of course. But he'll try any word if he hears it. Watch out!
* He loves being tickled. Loves it.
* He can "fake cry" and "fake laugh" on command.
* He loves dinosaurs and talks about them all the time. We started reading him a book about sharks, and after I started telling how big and scary they are, he started saying big, dramatic "woahs" at the end of each page. Here's the video I tried to sneak in while we read it. Pretty hilarious.
* He still loves going to the museum and zoo. And he's an awesome listener, so usually he doesn't get into much trouble if I let him roam around on his own. I wonder how long that will last! For now, I'm grateful for what a sweet and rule-following boy he is!
* He loves to say the number 2. He might even think it's the only number that exists. "How old are you?" " TWO!"
* He loves his buddies and knows almost all of their names! We practice on pictures and he's gotten really great about 6 or 7 of them! (It usually sounds like: Bo, Emme, Dell, Megin, Noh, Fisser, (and Mimi is easy since he has another Mimi in his life!) etc.)
* He loves "playing" the piano and guitar. We set up a keyboard in his playroom and he'll stand at the top of the stairs yelling "Panno! Panno!" And he can air-play about four instruments. Awesomeness.
* He can throw a tantrum with the best of them. Serious scream-crying, throwing himself on the floor, and kicking his legs. Wow. It's amazing.
* He sits in a booster seat at the dining table now and can even use his utensils pretty well!
* He finally started building towers with legos and blocks. This makes Matt's heart very happy! ("toweh!" "big toweh!")
* He runs everywhere. Why walk when you can shuffle quickly and get there faster?
* He is a TV monster. We don't let him watch often, but that doesn't keep him from asking: "Guppie??" (Bubble Guppies) or "Go go go??" (Cat in the Hat) - he's obsessed with both. He asks to watch them all the time. During dinner, during a bath, he even woke up once saying "Guppie". Oops.
Ok, that's enough about him for now! Here are some pics of things we've been up to lately!
Enjoying lunch at Punchbowl Social in our old 'hood:
We got a visit from Dr. Erin a few weeks ago and it was so great spending time with her!! I hope to make it to her new home in Boston to see her sometime soon :)
An awesome dinner out with one of her residency friends from Duke who is a doc here in Denver now - and he treated us to some of the best wine we've ever had at a restaurant! Lucky us.
And we went to hear Matt play with the Locusts of Egypt that night at a bar on Colfax.
A little clip of one song:
Then enjoyed some drinks around the firepit in our backyard:
And that week/weekend it rained for many many days... most we've ever seen! Many parts of Boulder and Weld Counties were flooded and destroyed. Denver was spared from most of the trouble, but we're praying for all those that suffered great loss during this tough week of never-ending rain.
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| why won't the rain stop??? |
A break in the rain for a picture at church - my boys were matching!
A little Broncos action back at our house... Benjamin and Boaz already know how to do it right!
And then they started a band:
We enjoyed some time at the museum with Kari and Mackenzie and their kiddos. Seriously, that place is amazing for kids. So much fun!
And we got to watch baby Meghan for a day which was a lot of fun :)
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| putting the double-stroller to work on a trip to Camino |
Benjamin liked turning the music on for Meghan while she was on the playmat. It was very sweet.
And he apparently wanted to practice tummy-time too!
Boaz joined in for some fun as well. Do all playrooms look like this? Or just ours? I can NOT keep it clean.
Cute pic of the boys hugging it out after a "fight" :)
We took part in the walk for Alzheimers at City Park with some of Matt's coworkers. It was a beautiful morning!
And enjoyed a nice dinner at the VW's (Benjamin and Emme loved their frozen yogurts!):
We took a stroll around the neighborhood street faire with the neighborhood crew. The kids got to try out the bouncy castle and the giant bouncy slide. Needless to say, they were in heaven!
Enjoying some nice hot weather outside:
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| carrying the wheelbarrow is easier than pushing it... |
And we got to spend a few hours with my mom while she was in town:
We got to help celebrate Arie's first birthday yesterday, too! What a gorgeous family :)
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| buddies. but neither wanted to smile. |
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| it's impossible getting a group picture... |
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| birthday boy! |
I've also used some free time to work on some projects around the house (with one or two big ones left...)!
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| wreath made out of old book pages |
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| painting an ugly old wood bookshelf with $1.50 paint I got in the clearance bin at Home Depot! |
And yesterday I crafted with some of the girls - we made some pretty cute fall wreaths! (Pic is missing Keri and Steph who had to leave early...)
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It is one of the best feelings in the world to have a CLEAN house! Even if it only lasts for 12 hours :)
And look, we even got mums out and the flagpole up!
