Bathtime Do's

So, typically Ian does bath time with the boys.  (Thank you Ian!)  However, with Ben's fairly wild crawling and kicking one or both boys usually end up drinking quite a lot of bathwater.  So, the temporary solution is to have a double parent bath time.  While we usually all read stories as a family, it's kind of nice to have a family bath time as well.  At the end of tub time, the boys were clean, mom and dad and the rest of the bathroom were a little wet, and the boys had some pretty fancy hairstyles.  Take a look.

(Maybe this is what I should have done all along to make the boys taller!)

Smile...please

Evan is a busy kid.  He's always studying, observing, moving, and just taking in the world around him in every way that he can.  It was no different yesterday at the park.  We headed out with our friends and as usual, I tried to get some adorable pictures of my boys to document our trip. 

As I said before...he's a busy guy...

"C'mon Evan, smile!"  "No Mom, I'm too busy building a sand castle."

"Please Evan, turn around for the picture!"  "Nope sorry, must crawl through the subway tunnel."

"Hi Mom, don't worry, I'll smile for you...right before I eat some sand."

"Okay, put me on a swing and I'll smile!"

Making a Move

Little Benny is trouble, trouble on the move!  Now that he can move and get around on his own that's all he wants to do.  He's no longer happy in his exersaucer and when he's in his jumper, he jumps around too much and bashes his head into the door frame.  When he's getting his diaper or clothes changed, he wants nothing more than to flip over and crawl off half-dressed or bare-bottomed.

However, when he's crawling, that's when he's the most trouble.  He crawls to find anything he can and put it in his mouth.  He loves to climb up and down the kitchen stair onto the hard tile floor, and he gets a kick out of crawling to whatever his brother is building or creating whether it be train tracks or block towers and knocking it over.  He also loves to walk with his walker, however running into walls is proving quite problematic for him.  Take a look at our little baby on the move!

Tobacco Road Half Marathon

Well, we finally did it.  Ian and I actually managed to run a half marathon together!  We had been planning on running one before this but it seemed like injuries, work, or babies always seemed to get in the way.  But this Sunday, Gram and Gramps drove up from Charlotte to watch the boys, so at about 5am we headed out to the Tobacco Rd. half marathon.

It was a nice race to do because it was really close to our house.  Most of the race was run on the American Tobacco Trail which is where we normally do all of our runs.  It was a beautiful morning when the race started.  I always like races because there are so many people to watch.  We spent the first half of the race watching all of the other runners, happily chatting, and apparently running pretty quickly.  Unfortunately about halfway through, Ian bent down to pick up his keys that had fallen, and his pesky knee started to hurt.  So, we had to slow down a bit.  I am amazed at how he finished the race with his knee hurting like that.  I know I wouldn't have been able to go that fast with that injury.  We crossed the finish line and we were both tired and hurting, but we were so glad that we were able to do the whole race together.  On a side note, we finished with a time of 2:30 (a 10:20 pace) which, in my mind was pretty darn good!

Now, I have my sights set on a full marathon in the fall.  However, Ian has told me not to mention running to him for at least a couple of weeks, HA!  Don't worry, I'll do my best to talk him into it, and when both of our bodies have recovered we'll be back out pounding the pavement.

I have started to really enjoy running because of all of the different measures of success.  For Ian and I, and my friend Amy our goal was to finish.  For my friend Abby, she got a personal record and finished in 1 hour and 33 minutes. My friend Myong finished 2nd place in her age group.  I will never be the fastest in the race, but I can still go out there and accomplish something that I'm proud of that makes me feel good.  I hope that Ian and I are showing Evan and Ben that it's not necessarily winning that matters but just getting out there and joining in the race.

Back to Jackson-The Casey Jones Museum

When we used to head to Jackson to visit my grandparents when I was a kid, my absolute favorite place to go besides Grandma and Grandaddy's house was The Old Country Store.  We loved to head up there, shop, look around, and pick out some marbles or candy to take home.  So, when we headed up to Jackson a few weeks ago to visit Grandma Rose, it was the perfect place to take Evan on a mommy-toddler date. 

In the same complex as the Old Country Store is the Casey Jones Museum.  Yes, it has to do with TRAINS!  I knew Evan would love it.  We went in and walked around.  Evan enjoyed looking at all of the trains, and I actually got to learn who Casey Jones is after all those years.  After we walked around the museum we walked out back to the train, similar to the one Casey Jones drove, that was parked out back.  Evan actually got to climb up in the train and ring the bell!  Afterward, we had a great time perusing the gift shop and came home with some great new train gear.  We finished up the outing with a trip over to my favorite, The Old Country Store.  There, we found some chocolate covered peanuts to take home to daddy.  It was a great little outing to top off our wonderful trip to Jackson.

Thanks again for a wonderful visit Great-Grandma Rose!!

(Evan and the train--toddler happiness)

(Evan rings the bell!)

Birthday Poodle

There were several birthdays that we celebrated this weekend.  Uncle Roy celebrated his birthday, and on that very same day our little puppy celebrated his 6th birthday!  While not mentioned on this blog as much as his two human brothers, Ripple is still just as much a member of our family.  So we had to celebrate when his birthday rolled around.  There was family singing of "Happy Birthday" and lots of goodies for a happy puppy including treats, jerky, a new ball, and a rope toy! 

I can't believe that Fudge Ripple Davis (aka F. Ripple "Trouble" Davis) is six years old, and neither can anyone else that meets him.  They always assume that he's still a puppy based on the boundless energy that he has.  He goes on runs with Ian and I but is not a fan of weather that's too hot or too cold.  He can fetch a ball for HOURS!  He loves playing with the boys, especially when Evan is playing with his laser Thomas toy.  He loves his new backyard with the fence.  Rip protects his house and barks at all intruders.  He cuddles up next to you and nuzzles your hand in search of pets and love whenever you sit on the couch, and the relaxes and cozies up in our bed at the end of a day. 

A dog is a wonderful gift and Ripple is a perfect part of our little family...

Ripple thru the ages...

2005...newly adopted...

 2005...looking pretty, errr, I mean handsome...

2006...bonding with his brother Beulah...

2007...mountain climbing in the Cascades...

2008...puppy spokesmodel...

2009...thoughtful puppy...

2010...poodle bliss!

Happy Birthday Look-a-Like

We had a great time visiting Tennessee last week.  As you could see, the boys had a lot of fun playing with their "fun Uncle Roy".  I always remember playing games and thinking Uncle Roy was the funniest person ever, so it's so nice to watch my boys have the same experience. 

So, first, we would like to wish Uncle Roy a very happy birthday.  Secondly, we wanted to share what we discovered.  Since Ben was born, we've been trying to figure out who Ben looked like.  We couldn't figure out where he got his little square face and chubby cheeks from.  However, I think we figured it out.  Take a look at Benny next to these pictures of fun Uncle Roy when he was a baby...

Happy Birthday Uncle Babe!

Nothing like Family

So, last week we were lucky enough to be visited by my mom, and to make it even better, we were able to take a little trip to Tennessee to visit my Grandma Rose and Uncle Roy and Aunt Beth.  Needless to say, I have far to much to write about to include in one post, so I'll try to get started.

After that somewhat lengthy 12 hour drive that we described earlier, we arrived in TN.  It was so great to see Grandma Rose.  The last time we saw her, Evan was about 16 months old, so it had been a while.  Of course, it was the first time that she was able to meet Benny.  The boys absolutely loved spending all of the time with their Grandma and Great-Grandma.  We did a lot of playing.  Evan loved Grandma's key collection.  Benny loved to pull up on her little red rocking chair.  Like his mother, Evan loved brushing Great Grandma's hair.  Although, his hair styling technique probably needs a bit of work!  Benny loved crawling from the kitchen to the living room and back again.  They all had a great time reading and playing with the new toys that everyone was nice enough to get for the boys.

 (Great-Grandma Rose and her boys)

 

 (Benny loves his Grandmas!)

 

(Evan the hairdresser gets to work.)

 

 (Ben and Great-Grandma Rose enjoy each other's company.)

 

 (Ben and fun Uncle Roy enjoy some basketball.)

Of course, we ate well.  While we were there, we enjoyed Great-Grandma's waffles, chicken casserole, and biscuits as well as Grandma's spaghetti.  The boys loved everything!  They both loved the waffles.  Evan even asked for seconds on the biscuits!  Ben made quite a mess with the spaghetti, but he enjoyed every bite.  We were also lucky enough to go out to eat one night as a family.  We headed out to Chili's where it was happy hour and the Jayhawks were on the TV.  Needless to say, a good time was had by all.

 (Ben had to lose the clothes before he savored Grandma's spaghetti.)

 (Happy hour-two for one!)

 (One for each hand...)

(Evan couldn't miss out on the fun!)

It meant so much for me to be able to spend the time with my mom and grandma and for them to really get to know the boys.  The boys also got to know what wonderful women their grandmothers are.  I only wish the visit could have been for longer!  Up next, more adventures from TN...

 

(The boys pose with Aunt Beth and Uncle Roy.)

 

(Four generations together)

(Two of the most wonderful women in the world)

Double Digits

He's getting old!  Benny is finally in the double digits-he turned ten months old a couple of days ago!  Can you believe it?  He's certainly growing up and turning into a little boy!

Ben is definitely on the move.  In the past few weeks he's gotten up on all fours and started to crawl everywhere.  Nothing is safe!  I saw him go from a sitting position to crawling today which I had never seen him do.  He's also starting to pull up to standing on anything he can find.  He especially loves his learning table.  The crawling leads to him being able to put even more things in his mouth!  He will grab anything he can find and eat it!  Today for example, at times Benny was found chewing on dog toys, a train at the bookstore train table, my cell phone, the list goes on.

Good thing that Ben's desire to eat things also extends to food.  He loves to eat anything!  I don't think he's found anything he doesn't like.  We can typically give Ben small portions of what we're eating for dinner while Evan has something different because of his picky tastes.  I am trying to think of favorites, but Ben is really a pretty indiscriminate vacuum!  I love it!

Ben has also started to communicate with us a little more.  He knows how to sign "all done" and uses it all the time while he's eating, even if he's not all done!  Okay, so we're still working on that one.  He babbles, smiles, and laughs continuously.  We swear that he's cried out "ma-ma" in the middle of the night, and today he's been repeating "ga-ga" which we're sure means grandma who has been visiting for the past week.  He's also been involved in more communication with his brother which unfortunately involved Ben crawling over and grabbing or destroying whatever Evan has been working on and causing a bit of chaos.  I'm sure this brotherly "communication" is just beginning.

Ten months sure has flown by.  I don't know if I'm ready for my little sweet, smiley baby to become a toddler.

(one month)

 

(5 months)

(10 months)

On the Road Again...

My mom arrived on Tuesday, and we had a couple of great days playing around, but more on that later.  On Thursday, we took two very small boys, woke up very early, and hopped in the car to drive to Tennessee to visit their Great-Grandma Rose. 

I don't have any pictures right now because we are happily enjoying our trip, but I wanted to fill everyone in on our journey.  I'll post pictures of the fantastic vacation that we're having later.

We woke up at 5, well actually 4:45, just because he thought we needed to go ahead and get on the road.  We packed our car, got everything ready, and were on the road by 6:30.  We were wary about how the trip would go.  12 hours in the car with two boys under the age of two does not sound like a great time.  However, it turned out to not be too bad.

Here is a summary of the trip:  Ben ended up taking two several hour naps.  Evan watched two several hour movies.  Ben ate two complete bottles in the car.  Evan ate an the contents of an entire snack trap in the car.  We drove through a little rain and a little snow.  A traffic jam stopped us for about forty minutes.  We had a lovely lunch at McDonalds in which Ben tried to each chicken nuggets and dropped an amazing amount of food on the floor.  Evan kept his big boy pants clean and dry the whole time and we visited three gas station restrooms and the McDonalds restroom...twice.  Ben had a meltdown about an hour out, but I don't blame him.  We were all ready to be out of the car by that point. 

12 hours after we began, we arrived in TN.  We're so glad to be here and are enjoying a great visit.  We'll fill you in on all the details soon...not looking forward to the drive home!

Family Swim Lessons

So, we are all getting a little tired of the cold weather.  While spring is trying to arrive, it is definitely not warm enough yet for some of our favorite activities.  The boys both loved swimming last summer, so we were really anxious to get back in the pool. 

Never mind the cold weather, we headed indoors to the downtown Durham YMCA.  We decided to do parent/child swim lessons with both boys.  It was great because the class was at 5 in the evening so Ian could join us after work. 

The boys have been having a ball.  Evan has been more comfortable with the water than ever before.  Today Evan swam around in the deep end on his own, put his head underwater (with a little encouragement), and jumped off the edge once.  Ben just smiles the whole time he's in the water.  He kept trying to crawl in the shallow end (which isn't such a good idea), he's a great kicker, and he doesn't even mind when we'd put his head underwater.

(Evan swimming toward the deep end)

(Benny enjoys the shallow end.)

(My wild boys)

There are two more swim lessons left, and Grandma gets to join us next time!  Can't wait to get back in the pool and can't wait for summer!

How to get things done

So, Ian and I are still working on getting our bedroom painted and fixed up.  We've finished the painting, but we still have things to hang and cleaning up to do.  It has been slow going because everytime we were home and able to hang mirrors or pictures the boys were sleeping so we couldn't make any noise. 

Today, the boys were awake, it was raining, and we were at home.  So, it was the perfect time to hang some pictures.  We just had to figure out how to keep a toddler and a baby busy while we did it.  Ian and I had the perfect idea...we pulled out our baby swimming pool, filled it with our collection of plastic balls, and set it in the middle of the bedroom.  Perfect!  Toddler and baby were completely occupied.

Evan enjoyed rolling around in the pool for a while, then threw every ball in the pit around the room.  Ben first simply enjoyed sitting in the balls.  Then, of course, they went in his mouth.  Finally, he actually started pulling himself up to a standing position on the edge of the pool.  He had never done that before, ever.  That was soon followed by leaning over and dumping himself, rather ungracefully out of the pool onto the ground.  He's really a baby on the move. 

Thankfully, our ball pit bought us the time that we needed to get everything hung.  Now we have a beautiful master bedroom that is almost done...and full of multi-colored plastic balls!

Natural Supermodels

Since Ben just passed his nine month birthday it was time for everyone to head down to Portrait Innovations for another round of portraits.  We are so lucky to be able to head in and get so many beautiful pictures and document each stage as the boys pass so quickly through them. I love each picture, and it's always so hard to narrow it down and decide where to put them all when I get home.

The boys are getting pretty good at this picture taking thing.  They're also getting pretty comfortable with heading down to the studio.  In fact, they're making a tradition out of accomplishing some pretty significant firsts at our local Portrait Innovations.  While we were looking over the pictures on the TV screen and selecting the ones that I wanted to buy, we looked down and Benny was actually crawling across the studio.  He's been army crawling for a few weeks, but this was actually the first time we've seen him truly crawling up on all fours.  He took 5 or 6 steps several different times.  He knew that Evan had taken his first steps at this very same studio on his first birthday, so he would not be outdone.

So, we had a great time.  They smiled, they laughed at the antics of our great photographer Brad, and we got some wonderful memories.  Take a look at some of the highlights...(Keep in mind, these are pre-cropping.)

Love them, love them, love them!

My Girl

So, in every little boy's life, there's a first love.  For Evan, it was his Seattle girlfriend, Abby.  For Ben, he met Amelia.  While their big brothers were always off playing at various playgrounds, Ben and Amelia had lots of time together on a blanket.  At first they just laid there, then they stared at each other from their stomachs.  Next, came the hair and face pulling.  Right now, they like sitting and looking at each other for a few minutes before they scoot off to their next toy.

However, all is not completely smooth in Benny's road to first love.  There are other men in the picture.  There's Jonas, who will be in their grade in school, but right now, he looks like the handsome older man because he can walk already!  Then, there's Wyatt, only 23 hours older than Evan, but quite the charmer.  Ben, Amelia, and Wyatt were all sitting waiting for their older siblings to be released from preschool.  They were all sitting nicely, and then Wyatt made his move.  He crawled right over to Ben and sat directly on him so that he had the prime spot in front of Amelia.  Of course, Ben broke down into tears. 

What can I say, young love can be tough!

 

(Ben and Amelia on their first date at the pool.)

(A close up of the lovebirds)

(Tummy time)

(The turtle and the hot pepper)

(Just hanging out with their mommies)

(Holding hands at the Christmas party)

(The happy couple plays in the sand...How grown up they look!)