Fun in Richmond!

Ben LOVED the pool! Thank you Grandma and Grandpa Bishop!
Ben, Dad, and Aunt Allison at the family reunion.

Ben and Mom getting added to the family tree. It's official!
We had so much fun in Richmond. A great trip! Ben got to see his Great Grandparents and as you can see, he really took to them. He showed them all how to properly apply stickers to bellys. He showed Great Grandma Joyce and Great Grandma Shirley how to color. He showed his father and Grandpa how to properly kick. And yes, you heard me right in the one video, I call my father-in-law the pool boy.

Ben took such good care of his baby cousin Airin. He just loves babies!
Ben was our construction worker. Hard hat, Gatorade and all!

Backer up!

Mowing the lawn!

I never thought watching Brian mow the lawn could be so much fun! Ben LOVES IT! He also stares out the window intently when any of the neighbors mow their lawn. Especially the neighbors that get the service where there are four or five guys running around on those big mowers. The most precious part of this video is him yelling "Yeah Daddy" at the end of the video.

He suddenly started speaking in some sentences just today. On the way home from the babysitters he said "I wanna see choo choo." When I said "Did you say you wanna see the choo choo?" back to him he screamed "YEAH!" We were coming up on the railroad tracks by our house.

So, we came home tonight, Brian's mowing the lawn and Ben was just running back and forth yelling "Yeah, Daddy! Daddy! Daddy!" He was having a ball.

Better go put him to bed now. Enjoy!

Rockin' out!

Ben pretending

Ben has been starting to really pretend. Here and there, I'm like "is he pretending?" Today it was so clear and intended! We got home from the vet (Abby is stitches free!!!) and Ben just wanted to play in his room. He was dead set on putting his Elmo in the other chair, then wanted to read to him! He would run to his shelf pick out a book, always putting the old one away, come back, climb next to him and read. I ran for all the cameras. The video camera battery=dead. The other still camera batteries=dead. So I quickly plugged them in and snapped a shot with my phone thinking this will never go on long enough to get these batteries charged. Oh was I wrong!!! He just had a ball with it! Book after book. Then, he realized SpongeBob was on the shelf and added him to his reading club. He just sat there, turned the pages, laughed, leaned over to them and made sure they were sitting up. Very attentive to his audience. From time to time, he wanted me to read to them and would put his arm around Elmo and just watch me read. Truly a precious moment I just wanted to share.

Now he's throwing macaroni and cheese on the wall. Precious moment over with. I better go.

Memorial Day Fun at the Beach

There have been too many cute videos over the past week or so to pick from so bear with me! We had an amazing LONG weekend at the cottage over Memorial Day. The best weather we've ever had. It was hot (at least 80 which is hot up there), but the water was cold. It was us, Jen, Scott, Jackson, Tim, Sandra, Tristan, and Declan. Yes, 6 adults, 4 kids under the age of 3, and 3 dogs. It was nuts! But so much fun! All the kids did great. They all loved the beach, the deck, the water. Ben just wanted to swim, but again, the water was just a little too cold for that. I didn't get as much video as I had wanted, but we had our hands full with the above mentioned.


Jackson chilling on the beach.




Ben is talking more and more! So much fun. He's really started to repeat everything. His new favorite quote this week is "there ya go." It's so cute.

I also think he grew. This morning I put some pants on him that I swear fit him last week and now they look like high waters.

In other news, Ben's new favorite body part is the belly. He loves pointing to his belly and saying it. Then comes up to me and points to my belly. Of course he has to lift my shirt. This is cute until we're in the middle of the grocery store. I'm trying to teach him limits now.



Ben and Declan on the rocking airplane.






We're having a calm weekend at home now. This past week was crazy with having our deck ripped apart and put back together. But NO MORE ASTROTURF! It's so nice. Ben loves playing on it, and I love reading on it! Now we're having painters coming out to get the whole exterior of our house painted and we will officially be done with big home renovations (knock on wood). So, the AstroTurf is gone and no more big red (for those who haven't seen our house, it's VERY red).

That's it for now, enjoy all the pictures and videos.






Ben LOVES coloring!

Ben's first attempt at sidewalk chalk.


Ben, Dad, and Tristan making sand castles


Ben, Dad, and Abby playing on the beach

Ben watching the deck getting rebuilt. He was mesmerized by all the power tools!
Ben modeling on our NEW DECK! It's so much nicer!
And last but not least, just a really cute picture of Ben! He can be such a ham!