Trying to Drink From a Cup...

I Like to Move It, Move It

Ben loves to push this big bucket around the driveway and even helps with the yardwork by collecting sticks and walnuts from the yard.

The life of a toddler... Unhappy one moment, then...

Beaming 30 seconds later.

Future T-ball star?

We didn't accomplish much this weekend, but sometimes that's how things go... We did get to enjoy a lot of time with our precious Ben, though. He is such an awesome little guy. Loves making animal sounds, and pointing at letters that he knows. He makes the "s" sound and the "p" sound when he sees those letters. Lately, he's been paying special tribute to Michael Jackson by learning to moonwalk (or just walk backwards). He loves to do it until he crashes into something. He is starting to climb on top of everything he can - his scooter, his lawn mower, etc. just because he can. I can't believe that he is 16 months old. How time flies.

I'm an Aunt!

Nicholas Alan was born on 9/18/09 at 4:04AM. Brent and Patti are doing well and Jan and Ron are so excited to have another happy and healthy grandson (this one's within a 3 hour drive instead of a 3 day drive!)

What a cutie! I can't wait to see this little guy in person!

Fun in Sunriver

We had a geat weekend in Sunriver with Andy's brothers and Rhonda. We rode bikes, took Ben to the pool, played at the park, played some tennis, P-I-G, and even a few 4 person dodgeball games. Ben was very entertained with all of the pinecones and the bike rack at the park.

Packed schedule...

Our social calendar has been quite busy for the past month or so... It's fun taking Ben to all of these new and fun places, even though it's a lot of work to pack him and all of "the stuff" to go somewhere, it ends up totally being worth it in the long run. He is a pretty adaptable kid - although sometimes the sleeping thing doesn't work as well as we had planned, usually during the day he is a pretty happy-go-lucky little guy. This past weekend we were at the beach visiting Andy's dad and step-mom at their beach house. We had a very nice bike ride along the beach with Ben in tow in the Burley, and spent some time playing in the sand, too. Even though I had my camera along, I forgot to get it out until we were leaving...

Here are a couple of backyard pics from today...

Eating (or should I say chowing) a few late season raspberries from our hedge...

These next 2 are a bit blurry, but he's so stinkin' cute, I can't delete them.

Could my eyes BE any bluer?
Well, we're planning on heading to Sun River - a resort town south of Bend for a 'last hurrah of the summer' weekend with Andy's brothers. I've heard it's a very nice place to visit. I'll hopefully be better about taking more pictures this weekend. Ben is cutting a bunch of molars, so we'll be sure to bring along the Tylenol and the Ora-gel.

Ben's future cousin (my brother and sis-in-law's baby) is keeping everyone guessing - he's overdue by 4 days so far. Patti is taking it all in stride - We can't wait to see the little guy (hopefully sooner than later)!

One more picture

Andy made me add one pic of me with Ben...

Also, just for myself - I want to remember that Ben is starting to make animal sounds: At the zoo a few weeks ago, he totally surprised us when we saw the Barred Owl in its cage and said, "mmmm, mmmm, mmmm" with his mouth closed. He now also does a "ffff, ffff, ffff" for barking doggies in the neighborhood. He recognizes all of the different city sounds, like airplane, fire truck, and birds (scrub jays) calling. He still calls everything "da-da" but HE knows what he is saying.

Enchanting Weekend

We had a nice Labor Day weekend, despite the forecasted rain. Saturday, we spent hanging around home, with a monster grocery trip that took all 3 of us, then Sunday we took Ben to the city pool for the first time. We hit the "parent and child hour" and hardly anyone was there at all! He enjoyed himself for the first 25 minutes, but then seemed pretty indifferent. After a nap, we met up with Andy's brothers at the Deschutes brew-pub in Portland - good food, beer and atmosphere.

On Monday we went to Enchanted Forest - a pint-sized theme park, made just for the kid in all of us. Grandma Jeanne and Papa Doug met us there and we ventured out even though we drove through some serious downpours and there were imminent black clouds on the horizon. Luckily, the weather held and even turned out quite nice and sunny... Ben had a great time exploring the story-book land - he was a bit tentative, but trekked through the rabbit hole that leads underground and comes out in a totally different spot, and he got to take 3 trips down the little old lady and the shoe slide. He even went on a train ride with daddy and enjoyed the first 2 trips around the circle (not so happy on the last lap). He was a trooper and walked a good portion of the park, and kept up his typical great spirit through the entire visit.
The kids start back at school tomorrow, so it's back at it for me. There's something about starting a new year - the excitement, the optimism, the new supplies, the organization (although somewhat temporary), meeting all of my new kids, and getting to know them all... There are not many jobs out there where you get a kind of "fresh start" feel every year. I love teaching.