Like His Father and Brother Before Him...

... Ben is proving that he can hang with a noisy crew (beware - this is kind of loud so you may want to turn your speakers down first then adjust accordingly):

Thanksgiving Smiles

I'm thankful for...

These guys :)

I'm also thankful for God and His blessings, a loving husband, an occasionally crazy but mostly lovable dog, two beautiful healthy children, an incredible family, wonderful friends, a place to live and food on the table when so many people are struggling right now, and the opportunity to pursue a career I know I'm going to love.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! And thank you to everyone who's made my life as wonderful as it is :)

Ben's First Bites!

It's hard to believe Ben is old enough to be eating baby cereal! It's no surprise that our little linebacker loves "big boy food" as much as he does. In about a month we can start trying fruits and veggies - I can't believe how quickly the time has gone by!!

"Hmmm, what's going on here?" (as an aside, can you tell he's 18.5lbs?)

Our cheerful little guy, smiling and getting ready for his first bite!

Here comes the airplane..

Mom, your hand's in the way!

Not bad, not bad!

Happy Halloween!

We had a very nice Halloween. We went trick-or-treating with Uncle Roger, Aunt Diane, Jenna, and their neighbors. Jake wasn't in a costume-wearing mood, but he still had a blast collecting candy. I was a little disappointed that we left out candy in a dish for people who came to our house, and when we got home the whole thing - dish and all - was gone. Also disappointing was the fact that someone(s) kicked and destroyed two decorative Halloween signs I'd put in the yard. They also threw Jake's little pumpkin, but somehow it didn't break open or even crack. Darn kids.. Oh well, it was still a nice Halloween, and I hope you all had a good one too!

Jake in his Halloween shirt (though you can't tell from this pose).

Jake and Ben in their Halloween shirts.

Brothers!

Boo!

Jake wanted to be James from Thomas the Tank Engine for Halloween. I must admit, this was taken the day before Halloween. He wasn't in the mood to dress up on the actual day, though he did enjoy Trick-or-Treating with Jenna and her friends.

Ben was a Peapod. Super cute (and practical - that thing was nice and toasty!)

I'm biased, but I think he's just adorable!!

We decorated our window for Halloween. We put up lighted pumpkins and sticky ghosts, pumpkins, and spiders. We also carved a pumpkin and Jake picked out a pumpkin for each member in our family. We had two HUGE pumpkins, and two tiny ones.

These PJs are the same ones Jake wore on his first Halloween. The hat is new (and cute!).

Ben all decked out. Jake also had pumpkin socks, but he's a lot more mobile and thus harder to get pictures of.

Boo again! Did I scare you?

Full body boo! PS How HUGE is my child?!

Aww I'm so cute!

Jake in his light-up Spiderman shirt. Note the amazing cowlick - he's got the exact same one today as I write this.

Horse School

Making a horse to ride on.

Feeding the horse some "hay".

Playing with toy horses in the dirt.

Feeding the horse an apple.

Making new friends in the hay pit.

Ben's Baptism

Dad, Mom, Ben, Aunt Diane, Uncle Roger, and Father Phillip

Drums!

Making Ghost Cookies

So Much to Update!

Hello loyal readers,

Sorry for the long hiatus. It's been a busy month. In brief, Grandma Sue came to visit for two weeks. Grandma and Grandpa P came out for a few days. Ben was baptized. Mom's been scheduling residency interviews. Dad is hard at work with school stuff. And it was Halloween!

We had a great time with Grammy Sue. She always thinks up great art projects for Jake, and babysat for us a few times so we could get out on a date! It was also wonderful to see Grandma and Grandpa P, who graciously offered to stay overnight so we could get a full night's rest (I'm not ready for that yet but it was a nice offer), and we can't wait to see them again, hopefully soon! We also got to see Uncle Matt who drove up from Chicago. Jake even let Uncle Matt see his trains and hold them - I don't know if anyone can grasp the seriousness of that (whenever Ryan or I touch the trains, it results in a holler-fest). The baptism was beautiful. It was performed by our new priest, Father Phillip (who is like a year older than we are - man I feel old). We're so thankful for Ben's wonderful godparents, Roger and Diane, and are so happy they agreed to be his godparents. As for me, I got seven out of eight residency interviews, the first of which is November 19th. I'm very excited (and a little nervous too). Ryan's still working hard, hopefully next semester will let up a bit. Jakey is doing well, loving all things Thomas the Tank Engine. Ben is great too, he's a chunker at over 18lbs!

This may end up just being several posts of pictures, I'll try to get some captions in but given that the boys have conspired to have separate naptimes it might not happen. Sorry to have kept you all waiting, hope everyone is doing well! :)