Thank-you, Nina and Auntie Colleen!

My completely awesome cousin Maureen(Ben's godmother(aka nina)) and my Auntie Colleen gave Ben the BEST birthday present. They renewed our Children's Museum membership!!! We upgraded it to include my mom and my cousin as alternate adults and as a perk, we also get to bring 2 people FREE each time we go. If anyone wants to be our guests, let me know! We'd love to take you along=) My cousin and mom came with us today for a short visit and everyone had a great time as expected. Here are my favorite pics from the afternoon!


"Nina" and Callie

I love wearing Callie in my loveyduds wrap=) She obviously loves it too!


OMG, so cute. Emmie saw these realistic animal puppets and was scared. It took A LOT of explaining and coaxing before she'd even come near them, let alone touch them! Once she realized they were just stuffed animals, she loved 'em up. It was very cute seeing how apprehensive and cautious she was with them, though!

Once she loved 'em up, she decided I needed to give them some lovin' too. If I catch H1N1 or some other plague from those effing stuffed animals I am going to be PISSED. It was obvious they receive A LOT of lovin' on a regular basis! Scruffy is another way to put it;)



Mimi performed an impromptu puppet show to the delight of Ben and Emily! What a good grandma! She was totally uninhibited for the sake of entertaining her babies=)

Ben's typical expression when in the water area!

Jeepers, creepers! Where'd she get those peepers?!

Sisters

As we near the three-month mark of Callie's young life, it would appear that Emily is starting to adjust to life in the middle! We haven't had any major Callie-attacks in weeks(the last one involved Emily biting Callie's poor little foot:( Poor baby!) and as Callie grows and becomes more and more interactive, Emily(and Ben, naturally) seem to be enjoying her a lot! She sings and dances for Callie, wants to hold her often and talks about her to me much more. She loves to ask me, "Baby Callie's my little sister? I'm her big sister, mama?". Hopefully the love fest continues for awhile yet. Here are some adorable pictures I captured the last time Emily "held" her baby sister. Look how big they both look!

Pump It Up Party

Ben had an awesome party at Pump It Up this year! He got to invite 15 of his friends and we spent a very energetic hour and a half jumping, bouncing, running, laughing and shrieking=) The kid got far too many cool presents and basically had the best birthday yet! Thank-you to everyone who joined us! We hope you had as much fun as we did!

Ben is FOUR!!!

Happy Birthday, Ben! The last four years have been so amazing thanks to you. From the second you were born, and every day since, I thank my lucky stars that I get to be your mommy. You are my best little buddy and I'm so happy you were born. Thank-you for making me a mother; I promise to always love and protect you, even as I help prepare you to become the incredible human being I see you grow into each day. Happy Birthday, Baby Bear=)

Sprinkler Fun

1st Day of School

Ben had his first day back at school and was so happy and excited to see his friends again. He has a new teacher and new schedule this year, as well as many new friends in the class, and is adjusting to the changes fairly well. He is dealing with some sensory-integration issues, so the disruption to his comfort-zone hasn't been easy. We survived the first week and hope to have a great school year ahead, though. It's so fun to see how much he and his friends have changed and grown since last year=) Here are some pictures from his first day!

Not to excited to have his picture taken! He wanted to go!

Requisite 1st Day of School picture with me=)


And...we're off!

He's actually more excited to go through the drive-thru coffee shop in this picture!

Finally here, waiting for me to unload the car.

Enjoying the play-dough!

Thoroughly relaxed and entertained at group-time...a first!

Day of Beauty

After seeing how delighted Emmie was by the children's salon we take Ben to, we decided she must have a turn getting her hair cut as well. She was really excited to get her hair done and sit in the pink barbie jeep. She was a total star and cooperated perfectly. Her hair looked adorable and she was very pleased with the results=) She kept saying, "My look pretty, mama! My hair look pretty!".