Spring!

He Loves Me . . . He Loves Me Not

Spring has sprung! Flowers are blooming everywhere and the wheather is in the mid 70's - Yeah!! I love this time of year and watching Keira and Bently explore flowers, bugs, sticks, and everything else they can hear and see. On Sunday they had a great time examining the daffodils in our front yard. I am so glad that I can "feel" like my birthday is in the spring even though it's technically in the winter (such a disappointment when I finally realized that).

Happy Birthday!!

Happy Birthday Keira! We had a wonderful time celebrating Keira's first birthday with a little party and of course - CHOCOLATE CAKE! She promptly dug in and Bently couldn't stand it any longer so we gave him a piece as well. Once Keira had her fill of cake she began feeding Bently and he was grateful to take her offering - of course! For her birthday we gave Keira her first Cabbage Patch doll. As soon as she opened it and we took it out of the packaging she began feeding it the bottle. Since then one of our favorite roll playing activities is feeding the baby, burping the baby, and changing her diaper. We love Keira so much!

Helping Mom & Dad with the House Projects

Sorry it has been so long again since our previous post. The last five weeks has been busy with us trying to update and repaint our living room. You can see more pictures of before and after shots at the Our House Project link in the right hand pane. You'll then have to click on the Interior Projects Link to see the photos and get all the project details. These are just a few shots of Bently and Keira helping out. Bently has thought it to be very cool that the living room has been all taped up with no furniture. We would take his balls of all sizes in there and kick them around while laughing hysterically. He did at one point lose his 10" Superman ball down the HVAC air intake, which we had the vent off for repainting. It rolled like a roller coaster all the way down under the house through close to 35 feet of duct work to the outside unit at the back of the house. He was very sad. He kept returning to the vent looking for his ball, and would cry when he could not get it to come back. Despite Dad's best efforts I could not retrieve the ball alive. He had to kill Superman with a razor blade duct taped to the end of a broom handle so that he could pull it out of the HVAC unit. Mom was the real hero when she found a few weeks later the same Superman ball at the grocery store. The vent is now properly covered. Keira on the other hand does not have a preference between cherrios and paint chips for snack time it seems.

Only 4 More Days

There are only a few more days until Christmas and I think I am more excited than Keira or Bently!! I can't wait for the frenzy of colorful paper that Keira will thouroughly explore and for Bently to see the present that I am most excited about! This is our first Christmas at home and it has been absolutely wonderful. We've been caroling twice this week, have given and recieved many sugery goodies, and have sat on Santa's lap . . . for a second. We hope you all are just as excited to celebrate the true meaning of Christmas with your families. Merry Christmas!

2006 Pics

Well, it is really time to get rid of the blue hair pictures from Halloween. Sorry we fell behind this last month. Charlotte was in Michigan for two weeks house-sitting and playing mother to, of course our two kids, and a 15 year old brother and twin 11 year old sisters. She said it was the hardest thing she has ever done, between being school bus driver at 6:00 am and homework tutor at 10:30 pm...not to mention 18 meals a day to make and cleanup (6 people x 3 meals). She also was heard saying, "You'd think teenagers could mostly mind them selves!" Well, good thing we have another decade before our kids get there. Here are a few picks from through out the year. It seems most of our shots are of our kids, and not so much of the parents. They are way cuter than us, so I guess that makes sense. That, and the fact Bently is not quite ready to hold the camera, look through the view finder, and push the button all at the same time. I threw an extra picture of Keira in so you can see that she is not still as small as in the shot with Charlotte. Well, Happy holidays, and there will be some Christmas photos coming soon I am sure.

A Weekend with Dad We had a great weekend starting on Thursday evening when my dad came in to town! On Friday morning he was up bright and early to help us out with a few home improvements. Our trip to Lowe's consisted of Bently emptying the bolt drawers in between tantrums. Not exactly productive! We stayed up late playing games and enjoying his company. We also threw a Halloween party on Saturday night in these great costumes we made! It was our first real get together in our new home. It is always so nice to be able to spend time with family! Thanks for coming dad! Bently got this huge dump truck from one of his friends for his birthday. He really loves to push it around the house and put stuff in it. We helped him put Keira in it so that she could enjoy a ride!  

On Sunday we participated in the Buddy Walk which was led by Chris Burke from the TV series "Life Goes On". The Buddy Walk is a national fundraiser for Down Syndrome since October is DS awareness month. Unfortunately it drizzled all day and was a little cool but there was still a good turnout. The walk was really great and we had a lot of fun! By the end Bently and Keira were worn out and ready to go home!

 

We all had a blast this weekend! On Saturday we celebrated Bently's 2nd Birthday at the pumpkin patch. Bently really enjoyed the pumpkins, the 50-foot slide, and the hayride - but he was in heaven when Dakota took him to the sandbox! Keira on the other hand just wanted to eat every bit of grass, sand, and pumpkin that she could get to her mouth! Happy Birthday to our sweet 2 year old! We love you!

 

 

 

This summer proved to be yet another enjoyable one, as most summers are and all summers should be! Bently, Keira, and I started the summer off with a vacation to Michigan to see my family. It is always so nice to have my mom take care of us for awhile! We later met Dakota in Tenessee and did some sight seeing. We came home just long enough to get repacked and then headed off to Oregon to check out the new family cabin - it is breathtaking! We were able to truly relax as we enjoyed family, water-skiing, tubing, kayaking, mountain biking, and wake-boarding. This was erally the highlight of our summer! Next month we will be moving next door and hopefully buying that house as a renovation project. Dakota and I work well together and have lots of dreams and high hopes for our new little home! I love him so much and can't wait to take on such a large project with my best friend! Love you.