jibber-jabber

Ben has been talking a lot more these days - it's just so hard to capture it on video. Whenever I pull out the camera he stops talking. This is the best little clip I could get of his jibber jabber for now. Besides the jibber jabber, a few new words that he is saying: bubble, bowl, cheese, bus & blue. This is such a fun stage - it seems everyday he's saying something new!

Quiet Time vs Nap Time

Jaelyn has been such a good napper all of her life. I am so thankful for that! She must get her sleepin' genes from me! Anyway, it hasn't been until recently that her naps have started to push back her bed time. She can easily take a 2+ hour nap each afternoon but if she does that then bed time would begin around 8:30pm. And by the time she's done with "Something woke me up" or "my knee hurts" or "I need a drink of water" or "I need to go potty" it could be between 9-9:30 by the time she is sound asleep. That is too late of a bedtime for her...especially since I'm ready to hit the hay at 10pm! So we've started doing quiet time in her room. Each afternoon she eagerly goes up to her room to color or read books but eventually she winds up in her bed for a nap! Yesterday was hilarious because she was certain she didn't take a nap! When I woke her up, I asked her how her nap was and she said, I didn't sleep! She thought for certain that she didn't fall asleep. So today as we were walking up to her room she told me that she wasn't going to sleep during quiet time.....well, this picture says it all!


I guess she still needs a nap...but we've got to figure out a balance between getting a nap that doesn't push the bed time too late. It's all a work in progress!!

gymnastics

Jaelyn stated gymnastics last week! It's kinda fun to watch her excel and learn new skills. Even from last week to this week you can tell she has absorbed so much. If you ask her what her favorite part of gymnastics class is - it might be jumping down the tumbling trampoline or walking on the balance beam or even doing the camel walk on the floor. There are only 4 little peeps in the class so they get a lot of turns doing the obstacle course or doing different skills on the trampoline. So far so good! This week they warmed up their muscles by doing 4 laps around the floor (touching each corner). She definitely got her speed from her daddy...she was WAY ahead of everybody in the class.

Chuga, chuga, choo-choo! The kids following their fearless leader, Kari, to the next exercise.

Doing eye-hand coordination stuff with the scarf

Learning to do a handstand

Doing something on the balance beams!

...the lighting is poor for my little point and shoot camera...guess we better get that SLR camera so that I can capture better pictures!

Singspiration

It was the preschoolers turn to lead singspiration at Sunday school!



Levi, Emily, Jaelyn & Anna

Every Sunday you can count on the preschoolers wanting to sing their favorites: Jesus Loves Me, I will Make you Fishers of Men, & The Wise Man song to name a few!

strider bike

Today was beautiful! The sun was peeking through the clouds - not sure when the last time we saw the sun! So, when Jaelyn got home from preschool we had to take advantage of the awesome weather. It was strider bike time!! We haven't had a chance to practice a lot because of our trip to GR for Christmas and all the snowy/rainy weather since we've been back....but from the looks of things Jaelyn is quickly getting the hang of the strider bike! She LOVES it!

Jaelyn has figured out how to balance and even put her feet on the "launchpad" foot rests! Go, Jaelyn, Go!

Ben didn't want to try his strider bike - he wanted his tricycle instead. What a cutie-pie.

And here is a little video clip of Jaelyn riding her strider bike:

weekend excursion

We headed up to the cabin for some fun in the snow with our good friends Erik, Kathy and their girls Sophie & Clara. We were hoping for some great snow - perfect weather for snowmen making & sledding....well, it was on the warm side & even rained Saturday afternoon. Bummer. We were still able to get some sledding in in the morning & a snowmen made. I just wish it would have been snowing instead of raining...oh well! We did get to see lots of turkeys & deer eating the feed that the daddies put out too - kids (& big kids!) really enjoyed this. All in all we had lots of fun - especially when all the kids were in bed and the adults could hang out!

Jaelyn mustering up enough courage to go down the hill....

...however the sledding experience was short lived!

Even I got in on the action!

And the boys tried it together

The snowman we made together!

Sophie, Benjamin, Jaelyn & Clara

Ben had to drink out of these water bottles this weekend even though he spilled & got his shirt soaking wet. Jaelyn was just being her goofy self & danced the night away!

18 month update

A snap shot of Benjamin at 1.5 years old

Weight: 24.4 lbs (40%)
Height: 33.5 inches (80%)

Favorite Toy: anything that Jaelyn is playing with! His tool belt & tools are a big hit, play doh, markers, & Jaelyn's cash register. He's just getting started with all of his new toys from Christmas, so we'll see what he gravitates too. He does enjoy pushing Jaelyn's baby in the stroller too!
Fascinated by: his big sister, cars & trucks, fire in the free-standing stove to name a few.
Loves: bath time, coloring, running laps in the house & wearing his merrell shoes (Jaelyn's old shoes)!
Latest Skill learned: learning to ride his strider bike from Christmas
Lates Words spoken: Uh-oh & apple
Favorite Books: I am a bunny, The very busy spider & the number board book because of the dogs.
Hates: milk, to get rinsed off by the shower head after a bubble bath. Getting his finger nails cut is still not a favorite thing of his.
Favorite Foods: current home runs for him are: toast & peanut butter/apple juice for breakfast, grilled chicken breast, rice a roni, pears, grapes, satsumas, cheese quesadilla, yogurt, crackers, cookies
Teeth: 6 on top, 5 on bottom

family photos

I keep forgetting to post these pictures from when we had our pictures taken at the end of October...so here they are!