Our Fabulous Fall

We have officially entered my favorite time of year. I love fall - I love the weather, I love the activities, but most of all, I love all the holidays that are on their way! Our family has been a little crazy lately - not because of any activities that are solely for Jae and I, but instead with the little ones.

Kaeden has been wonderful. We have really been able to spend so much quality time with him now that we have consistantly had him all weekend, every weekend for quite some time. Also, he has been performing well in school. He rocks at math - it just comes naturally to him! Also, on the weekends, he has been playing flag football. At first, he was not very excited about it - at the games, he was slow and uninterested. Then, a couple of weekends ago, Jae, Laura, and I went outside to spend some one on one time teaching Kaeden football. Now that he understands it, he is really enjoying it (and becoming very good at it!).

Mr. Bennett is growing like a weed. Tomorrow, he will be nine months old. It is so hard to believe how big AND how old he is getting. It is officially time to start planning his first birthday - OH MY GOSH! He is constantly chatting, giggling, and playing. Still no crawling though... he is a stubborn little man and hates to be on his tummy. He loves to sit and play or stand. No tummy time. We have been practicing, and he seems to kind of be getting the hang of it... although, I have a feeling he is just going to go from laying to walking (and skip the whole crawling thing). Also, he is loving his Cheerios now that he officially has two teeth! Before the teeth came in, I was thinking how much I would miss the gummy smile - now I am so in love with his goofy toothy grin...

Kaeden Playing with his Future Football Pads :)

Bennett and Kaeden Playing - Trying to Get Bear to Enjoy Tummy Time:

BBear and Goob Being Goofy:

Bennett Playing at Dinner Time:

Bear Finally Beginning to Enjoy Tummy Time:

Almost Fall!

It is almost my favorite time of year! Fall/Winter brings so many wonderful things - apple orchards, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas shopping, Christmas Music, Christmas lights, you get the idea... So while we are waiting for that, a lot has happened in the past few weeks:

Bennett has been a doll as always. He is (still) officially teething, and it had gotten REALLY bad last week. You could just tell he was in an incredible amount of pain - he was always very irritable, he wasn't sleeping at all, and was drooling as much as a dog. Sure enough, at seven months, out popped his first tooth! While I am going to miss the gummy little smile he always gave me, his new smile is as cute as ever! Also, Bennett has really started to enjoy playing "So Big!" (see below). It is just the cutest!

Kaeden is doing so well in school (and finally enjoying it!). He is a math pro! We practice his math problems all the time, and he always surprises me with how quickly he learns new things I teach him. Also, he had been mentioning that he wanted to spend halloween with us this year as it is going to be Bennett's first Halloween - we spoke with Sonja, and we are going to have him! I am so excited I can hardly stand it! Last weekend we purchased his costume (black spy ninja). He is so cute running around with the mask on and the little trident swords :)

I have been busy as a bee. I have been taking on some really fun projects at work, and loving it! Also, I have been trying to figure out what business school I should attend and whether to go full time or part time. The latest decision is to try to get into the Carlson Full Time MBA program. It would be such an amazing opportunity. I hope it works out! Jae and I have done some numbers crunching, and we could make it work (albeit with lots of student loans) financially. Keep your fingers crossed! Application deadline is November 1st - hoping to hear back by mid-November.

Jae has been busy as well - last weekend, he spent some time paintballing up north with Billy. It sounds like he had a wonderful time! It's good for him to get out with the boys!

This weekend, we have quite the busy weekend - tonight, we are getting together with "the couples" - The Cliftons and The Kachmans - for a "dirty" theme night - based around dirty martnins. Jae and I are going as hobos. Can't wait! Tomorrow Jae's Coworker - Celnida is hosting a first birthday party for her daughter Olivia. Here's hoping to get a little bit of rest time in before we have to do the whole "work week" thing all over again!

Bennett is "So Big!"

Bennett Playing Before Daycare

The Blur That Was August

As you can see, I have been slacking yet again! I wish I had better excuses, but all I can really say is that August has flown by so quickly, the air has been knocked out of me... Given it has been so long, I have a lot to catch up on! In the typical board-game fashion, we will go youngest to oldest :)

Bennett has been such a doll! He is officially seven months old and getting bigger by the minute. Last night I tried to put on his 12-month sleep n play, and it was as tight as casing a sausage. Bennett is clearly eating well, lots and lots of formula as well as two servings of solids a day. He isn't crawling just yet, but rolling around, scooting, and sitting beautifully by himself (no help needed - at all)! B-bear has turned into such a happy little baby! He loves to play in his exersaucer, take showers with daddy, play with his toys, and read his books. He is almost always happy, smiling, laughing, and chatting!
*side note - what we thought was his ringworm was not - it was just a very, very bad case of his eczema. It is almost all gone, and his skin is finally as beautiful as it should be!

Goob has been wonderful as well!! Kaeden officially started second grade today. Last week, we had a "meet the teacher" night, where Jae, myself, and Kaeden all went to meet his teacher (Mrs. Butchert), see his new classroom, desk, and locker. Now that he is in second grade, he is located on the second floor - it's a big deal. The goobster is starting to come out of his shell. He loves being goofy, he's climbing nearly everything (last night I saw him climb our walls... it was crazy), and he has started to enjoy going to the park and meeting new friends.
*Kaeden's quote of the week: "I'm going to get you in the legs and butt ocks! Do you like that? I just made up a new word!" (referring to butt ocks... yes... he pronounced it as two words) Silly goon.

I have been crazier than ever. Work has been changing drastically in a really great way - I am enjoying my new tasks more than ever! - however, that also means that I have been working much longer hours than I normally do. In addition to the longer hours, I had spent most of the month studying for my GMAT; it paid off! I got a really good score and plan on applying to business school to begin class in the spring semester! I am really looking forward to going back, but also nervous as to the time commitment it entails (and what that means in regards to being with my family). Hoping it pays off!

As for Jae - he has been so great. As I have been studying and working, Jae has been doing so much with the kids, around the house, and all-in-all being very supportive. It has been amazing.

Bennett being a mischievous little man, stealing his dinner spoon and making a mess:

Bennett having fun with daddy after his shower:

Bennett playing in his exersaucer:

Hop Skip and Two Weeks Later...

I know, I know... it's been a whole two weeks since I last wrote in here. It's been a while. In all fairness, the whole family has been incredibly sick, which means that there have been fewer fun events occurring as we are all incredibly irritable and just attempting to sleep and get better.

It all started with the Goobster. The poor kid apparently got sick over the Fourth of July and is just now finally beginning to feel better. As he spends a ton of fun time with us every weekend, he in turn got all of us sick about two weeks ago. Bennett was the first to succomb. Even worse for Bennet - he ended up developing a bacterial infection from the cold, and then also got ringworm from some child at his school on top of that (eew... gross... I know). As of today, he is totally off the antibiotics, and his disgusting fungal infection is getting loads better (THANK GOODNESS!) At home, we have been working on his rolling over - which he now officially does both ways, sitting - he is very good at keeping himself up, and simply having fun enjoying our time playing. After Bennett got sick, both Jae and myself did as well. Hence the two week hiatus.

As of late last week, everyone was feeling slightly better - good enough to start coming back to normal life. On Thursday, I picked Kaeden up from his mom's house as per usual. We got to chatting about his flag football that will be happening this fall. During this conversation, Kaeden mentioned that he can't wait to teach Bennett how to play. I replied, "You are such a good big brother, Goob", and then Kaeden responded with, "Yeah - Bennett's my best friend". It just melted my heart!

Friday evening, we had our friends Tia and Bill's wedding. It was nice to be outside on such a beautiful day. As Jae and I were at the wedding all evening, Grandma and Grandpa watched the kids overnight. When I spoke with Kaeden on the phone that evening, it sounded like he was having a blast as he had watched Cars 2 with Grandpa, played a bunch of crazy eights, and had eaten a ton of candy and popcorn :)

Saturday ended up being a nice relaxing day. Sunday was Grandma Kathy's birthday. For this, we had lunch at Julie's and then proceeded to our house for champagne.

Overall, it was a nice relaxing weekend!

Happy 6 Months B-Bear!!

Today marks Bennett's six-month birthday!! I cannot believe how quickly time has flown, how big he has gotten, and how much I can love such a little prince! So, before I post anything, I would like to wish my B-Bear a fantastically happy half birthday! You are officially .5! Also, just to mark his progress, at six months, Bennett is rolling over regularly (especially at night, where, much to my dismay, he enjoys rolling onto his belly and sleeping face-planted in the crib), he is sitting by himself (see picture below), loves to play in his johnny jump-up and exersaucer, and love his beebo book! We have his six-month doctor's appointment on Friday, so updates on weight and length will come at that point :)

Regressing to this past weekend. It was a ton of fun - crazy busy - but fun. This weekend we had Kaeden and Laura Tubesing decided to take an impromptu trip home, so there was never a dull moment! Friday, the kiddos hung out with Grandma during the day while I worked (and got my hair highlighted - it had been over a year and a half). After, we went home and played, and then after dinner, I headed over to Laura's house for a quick visit. Saturday, we took the family to the science museum and had a wonderful time!
Pretending to be velociraptors:

In Front of the Giant Spider Web:

Pretending to be Newscasters:

Measuring Size Relations:

Sunday was spent running errands, and then Laura made a visit to see the kiddos. When she left, we hung out as a family. It is always so nice when we get to have Kaeden! I know he loves spending time with his little brother!

4th of July!

Both Jae and I were on vacation for the majority of this past week. It was nice to have such a long break and hang out as a family. While I was hoping for a very nice, relaxing break, our time off ended up being filled with friends, errands, and cleaning - there was minimal relax-time.

Wednesday brought a day of fun which started with family time, migrated to a BBQ at Grandma/Grandpa's with Julie and her grandbabies, and then ended with another awesome BBQ with our friends. The last BBQ was filled with lots of fun as we played lots of games, and the guys had (in my opinion, too much) fun with fireworks. See below picture of them playing roman candle wars...

Bennett and Daddy - 4th of July Photo

Thursday ended up being a (mainly) relaxing day, just ran some errands and picked up the Goobster...

Friday, the kiddos and I went to Julie's pool so Kaeden, Connor, and Kelsey could play. They had such a great time swimming - and to my happiness - after they were done, they were pooped :) Not enough though to keep them from eating fudgesicles :)

I was a little bummed that it was Sonja's weekend to have Goob, as we had been having so much fun... but she picked him up Saturday morning, and the remainder of Saturday for us was spent mainly running errands. Aunt Laura was nice enough to watch Bennett as Jae and I went out to a nice dinner alone at Redstone :) Then we finished off our weekend hanging out and doing some much-needed cleaning :)

Here's hoping for a more relaxing week!

Weekend Craziness

As I alluded to in a previous post, I had anticipated that this past weekend was going to be absolutely crazy... and it was. Friday, Jae arrived home, and we had a nice family night after I visited Dianne and baby Aubrey in the hospital. With Bennett being a little beast, I forget how small brand new babies are. She was just amazing! So tiny!

Saturday morning, my sister moved in. When Jae and I were cleaning the basement on Friday evening, we rearranged our current furniture, and I was a little concerned about all her items fitting as well, however, as she was setting everything up, it turns out to work perfectly! Success! It has already been nice having her around :) Kaeden insists on going down to her room to visit. I have informed him that we need to limit the visits and be sure to knock every time :) Oh goodness... I hope Laura doesn't get scared away!

Julie's grandbabies are officially in town, so Sunday was filled with their joint birthday party. As it was incredibly hot out, we were inside for the majority of it, until we all went down to the pool. The kids had so much fun, and it was nice to see them all splashing around in the water.

With everything that happened this weekend, I am definitely looking forward to my shortened two-day work-week (or even more so to my extended five-day weekend)!