Mr. Independent

Ben is at that really cute stage where he INSISTS on doing everything by himself. Watching him try to feed himself cereal, yogurt, cottage cheese, and apple sauce is really painful. If you even try to help him or get near him he squeals, swats at you, and gives you this look. These are the times I wish we had a dog...the only times!
He likes to sit up at the counter like a big kid. He also is starting to want to pick out his own clothes- he HAD to wear these jammies because they have "trucks" on them and got very mad at me when I attempted to put him in other jammies. Oh boy- he might be more like his sister than we thought!
He keeps taking his blankie in our shower and laying in there with it. He did it the other day after I got out of the shower and then was annoyed that his blankie was all wet. He has developed quite a mind of his own lately! It's a little frustrating at times but he fits in well at our house:)

Best Buds

These two have been doing everything together lately. Ben is even starting to watch TV with Lauren- for a few minutes anyways!
Ben has been into laying on the kitchen floor this week and of course Lauren has to join him.

Another thing they've been doing lately which isn't so cute is fighting. She provokes him and he pulls her hair, and he pulls it hard. Then Ben gets a time out and Lauren starts cheering. So now Ben only gets time outs for hair pulling if it is unprovoked!

Fun to come home to!

They make coming home from a weekend away pretty easy! So darn cute I could eat them up, even if Lauren does wear swim trunks and tie dye shirts most of the time:)

Weekend in Vancouver

Kevin surprised me with a weekend in Vancouver! The weather was beautiful and it was so much fun to have an impromptu weekend away!
This was the view from our room! 23rd floor. A little creepy if I looked down but beautiful if I looked straight ahead.

It was a fun time to be there because all the Olympic stuff is being set up. They had these fun photo ops that I couldn't pass up. I need to work on my form and grow a few feet...

These lanterns were so cool, they were made by kids.

We had the BEST dinner I think we've ever had at a restaraunt called Cin Cin on Robson street. Everything we ate was heavenly. If you are ever in Vancouver you must go. It was a much needed weekend of R&R!

Thanks Oma & Opa for watching the kids, they had a great time too!

Children's Museum

Ryan, Megan, & Hadley took us to the Children's Museum last Monday. They kids had a great time grocery shopping and building! Wish they put these skills to use in real life:)

Wig

My little rockstar!

My Little Scrapper

After we put Ben to bed Lauren & I decided to do a little scrappin' (I just realized if you read all these posts you are going to think we had one busy night! I met some friends for coffee this morning {at 6:30 am I might add!} and that caffeine lasts me all day long! I'm still buzzin and I had decaf. I think I should drink coffee more often, I'm getting so much done!). Anyway, Lauren was in quite the artistic mood and she was cracking me up.
This is a boy. She drew him and then said, "Oh mom, what is he missing? His boy parts!" And of course she added it in there. I was dying, wishing Kevin was home so someone could laugh with me, but he wasn't so I grabbed my camera so all of you could enjoy.

Then she wrote her name. Odd that it doesn't look anything like her name? Well that is because she was writing Diego as her name. Good attempt I thought since I didn't tell her how to spell it.

She says, "Okay, that should do it, it's all ready for next Christmas!" I say, "Oh really, next Christmas huh. Who is it for?" She says, "Bob & B-Z". So there you go B-Z, we know how much you like art, we fully expect to see this framed in your house come next December, naked boy and all!

And this lovely green thing at the bottom is "the the the Grinch" as Lauren calls him. She's clearly into abstract art.

It was a fun night, one of those nights that you wish could be the norm but I guess it's good there not because then I wouldn't appreciate them as much.

Silly Self Portraits

Kevin was gone for the night and the kids and I had so much fun just being silly. We took lots of self portraits and poor Lauren just couldn't get a good one to save her life. She kept saying, "Let's try again" and we just laughed harder and harder at how bad there were!

This one I'm saving for her high school yearbook when she graduates!

Finally, we got a decent one. She really is a cute girl, I promise:)

Love him to pieces!

I just love his little expression, his stance, his messy face, his naked belly. Everything is perfect. And well his crazy sister in the background, she's pretty darn loveable too!

Pumpkin Muffins

We made Lauren & Ben's favorite pumpkin muffins tonight . They both love the batter but especially Ben. And I can't pick my favorite picture of him so I posted them all!

Isn't Lauren's outfit hot?

Seriously, they LOVE these things. Last weekend I made them and they ate 12 mini muffins in 10 minutes. But they are super healthy so I let them go for it!

We surrendered and we have the happiest girl/boy on the planet!

We finally did it, we surrendered. But not without strings attached of course. These little puppies are going to be used as a behavior tool. When she's good, she gets to have them. When she is naughty, taking them away is the consequence. So far all I've heard from her is how she's never going to be naughty again and she'll sleep all through the night, etc. We'll see how long it lasts!Spotting them! OMG!!!!
The best day of her life so far!
If I would have recorded her you would have heard, "Mom, am I really a boy now? But I still have girl parts right? So do I still have to go potty like a girl? Okay mom, that is fine, I'm really a boy but I'll keep my girl parts. Mom, how did you know I always wanted blue ones with flowers? I think my brother's going to be so excited that we are twins now. I can't wait for him to wake up and see!" Sorry to tell ya Lauren, but if you keep this up your brother is not going to be excited about it at all, but for now he'll go with it!

We'll see if this little fad lasts. Her other 2 obsessions from Christmas (skateboard and resuce pack) already seem to be things of the past. I'm double crossing my fingers and toes that this goes down the same route. Oh man, do kids ever teach us lessons. No matter how hard you try, they are going to be exactly who they want to be. Gotta love 'em for it though!

Swim Lessons

Lauren had her first "big kid" swim lessons last night (meaning we don't have to go in the pool with her!).
She had so much fun. Only one near drowning episode! I looked over and she was flailing all around and her head was underwater. But she managed to pull herself up and get back on the wall. It only took a few years off my life.

Learning to swim with teacher Stephanie. At one point, Lauren was waiting her turn on the edge of the pool and she yelled, "Mom, I still don't know how to swim!" I said, "That is why you are here, so you can learn" then she says, "Oh, okay Mom, thanks, I love you!".

She cracks me up.

They got to end the lesson with jumping in the hoop. So fun! Lauren also enjoyed pointing out EVERY SINGLE boy's swim trunks in the place and of course had to go up to 1/2 of them to chat about their swim trunks. They looked at her like she is a wierdo- they may be right!

Crazy Hair

Ben loves trying on hats. He has the craziest hair and it sticks straight up when he takes the hats off.
He likes to put his hats on Mama too.

The boys went "swimming"

All the boys in the house put on their swim trunks and pretended to swim all afternoon. Honey & I were told we couldn't participate since we are both girls.
Watch out Michael Phelps!

Not even sure what to say about this one. She is OBSESSED with swim trunks and it is all she wants to talk about. But I do love my little he/she more than anything, even though I do think she just might put me in the loony bin!