Happy 1st Birthday Benjamin!

Benjamin Michael turned one year old on Friday. That was definitely the fastest year of my life!On Saturday we had some family over for dinner and cupcakes to celebrate our sweet little boy. Benjamin, we love you so much and life has been so much brighter with you in it! We pray you will have many many more happy birthdays!!

I can hardly catch him long enough to get a picture now, he walks everywhere and quickly too!

Benjamin on the couch with his first birthday banner

This is his squishy pouty face (from the side) which he usually makes when he dissaproves... like when Mommy says, "No No Ben!" haha

Opening Presents! he got into it once Daddy taught him it was OK to tear the paper!

First birthday cupcakes, yay!

Our sweet little angel, all covered in chocolate :)

Happy 1st Birthday Benjamin!

Benjamin's first time in the snow

Recently during a soft snow shower the kids wanted to go play out in the snow and sled down the front yard of our neighbor's house with their little girls. They all had a grand time, and I decided Benjamin might as well play in the snow ONCE during his first winter season. I didn't have snow clothes for him so I just put him in about three layers and he looked like a bundled blue ball of baby :) He had a good time for a little bit, then we all came back in to warm up.

Lydia having a grand old time... sledding by herself for the first time

Josiah, my big boy, who has (unfortunately) learned that throwing snowballs at people is SO FUN!!! hahaha.

Benjamin with our neighbor's daughter Niya, who loves to help care for him :)

Fun Friend Weekend

We had such a great weekend spending time with Jess and her three sweeties. Josiah and Leah used to have playdates weekly when they were babies... and despite the separation of states they live in now, they love eachother so much and love to get to play together. We know that our families will be friends forever so it's great we all have kids around the same age! Leah is so bright it's almost scary, I think she's reading on maybe a 4th or 5th grade level... and she's not even 5 yet! Megan is so funny and sweet, she is our godaughter and is growing up so fast. Peter, who is about 1 week younger than Benjamin, can eat more food than I've ever seen a baby eat, REALLY loves his Mommy, and also likes to dance to music like Ben and play the piano. He's cute as a button! He's a perfect mix of his sisters looks (AKA Mommy and Daddy's looks!) and it's too funny! We all had such a great time together, and Leah's already making plans for our next visit... haha. Friday I wasn't feeling so well but the kids all had fun playing around the house. On Saturday we went to Storyville (always a big hit!) and then did Valentine's crafts together. The weekend flew by too quickly... as it always does when you're having FUN!
 P.S. Brian, we missed you! Boooo for tax season! ;o) We hope to see you again soon!

Baby Boys, Benjamin and Peter

Long Lost Buddies, Leah and Josiah playing dress up and many imaginative games! :)

Megan!! Growing up too fast, she looks like she's posing here, but I just caught her in the middle of jumping around. SO cute!

Peter playing piano- he's a music baby for sure!

Josiah and Leah hiding in the tree house at Storyville

Megan giving Michael a "hair cut" :)

Lydia dressing up and playing with baby dolls at Storyville

My big boy Benjamin, growing up so fast. He was so excited when I let him walk all around and explore Storyville's toddler area.

That's all for now... hope you all had a great weekend like we did!

Best week of my life

This week might have to be awarded the best week of my life....(or atleast up there in the top 5!) It began with a surprise trip to a beautiful bed and breakfast for an "early" Valentine's present from my handsome husband. Then I get home and get to hug and kiss and squish very cute babies who I missed terribly. And THEN... I get to end the week by spending time catching up with my LONG LOST best friend Jessica and hug and kiss her sweet little ones too! It's just so exciting!! I can't wait to see them this weekend. We're planning fun Valentine's day crafts for the kids (so if you're reading this and you happen to be a grandparent... you might get a Valentine from my kids in the mail, which will certainly be AFTER the actual day, sorry, we're just not on time this year!) :)

Random note- at the B&B they had a cage with two doves, that also had two baby doves in a nest! It was so neat and the morning before we left I got to hold the female dove. She just walked along my arm... it was very cool. I made Michael take a picture with his blackberry so I'll try to post it!

HILARIOUS.

Man... this is hilarious. Check out http://www.plantedandblooming.com/ to see Andrew roll his daughters in bubble wrap and pretend to be sumo wrestlers. Oh geez, I couldn't stop laughing! You have to scroll down and see the first video (posted first so it's lower down in an older post) and then the following two. They are so cute and funny those Cooke's! :)