Where does the time go?

I was looking through some pictures and I just can't believe how quick Ben has grown up!!  Three years ago, he was this teeny tiny little 3 year old Slippery When Wet sign (totally cleaned up at the Halloween Costume Contest) and the next thing you know, he's six , almost seven, sittin in the bathtub with his goggles on.  

Where does the time go?

Funny story:  Today at lunch, out of the blue, he says to me, "Ya know those people that eat fire at the circus?  Do you know how they do that?  They're really fire-proof robots."  And he was serious.  I guess he's not too grown up, yet.  Whew!!

carrots and green beans

You had to know that once we started baby food that there would be messy face pictures, right?  Here you go:

Carrots (big yum!):

Green Beans (not a fan):

Mommy:

squash

Brittney's appearance in a previous blog was so popular that I have invited her back to blog on Ollie for a sec:  "This kid is hungry, y'all."

Well put, Brit.

So, we cracked open a jar of baby food tonight.  Squash.  He isn't quite four months old yet and that is when you are technically supposed to give them their first taste, BUT...bottles only hold 8 oz and that just ain't cuttin it!!  

Let me walk you through the baby food experience tonight.

"What's this? Ok, I'll try it."

"Huh.  Not bad."

"WHERE'S THE REST OF IT?!!!!!!"

  We couldn't get it to him fast enough.  He LOVED it!  LOVED IT!

Let's see...what else to tell.  

Well, Ben's got the Parvo.  Don't worry, we don't have him quarantined at the vet under close observation.  Apparently, there is a human strain of Parvovirus that is very common for kids over 4 years old to get.  He got splotchy all of a sudden last Sunday....it's not contagious by the time you get the rash.  Crazy, huh?  The Vet, I mean Pediatrician, said it's no big deal.

I guess the last bit of info is that Wade's brother Justin and family are moving to Kansas City this week.  We are looking forward to having them closer to us and wish them luck in their move.

Here's a couple more baby pics:

There's a mirror above him...he likes to look at himself in the mirror.

Tummy time!

Have a good weekend!

Yankee Doodle Dandee

I am sooooo sorry that I have taken such a long break on the blog.  Two whole weeks have passed. I hope that everyone had a wonderful Fourth of July.  

We did!

We spent the long weekend in Hot Springs....and it was HOT!  It may have been the hottest place on earth.  We went downtown so that Ben could see the bathhouses and hot water coming out of the springs and we had a little picnic in the shade (where it was still hot).    

Ahhh, the healing (and cooling) effects of spring water.  :)

AND we saw one of Al Capone's cars in the lobby of the Arlington hotel.  So Neat!  

Ben really enjoyed the giant bathtub at the condo.

Oliver is doing great!!  Weighing in at 15.6 lbs, he is definitely a chunky monkey.  He will drink an 8 ounce bottle and cry for more....no kidding.  We've started adding a little rice cereal to a bottle a day and even tried giving him some with a spoon.  

He pushed most of it out of his mouth,

and then looked at us like we were crazy.

It was pretty funny.  He smiles all the time and has started to laugh a little.  That has got to be one of the funniest things to hear.  I've tried to capture both on film (a smile and a laugh), but when you break out the camera, this is what you get:

That picture is actually a still shot from video of about 3 minutes of him looking at the camera with that same frozen look.  I guess it's stage fright?  Maybe it's the light on the camera.  Anyway, he may not show off for the camera, but he lights up every time he looks at his big brother.  It's the sweetest!!

He has been sleeping through the night for a few weeks now.  He usually gets kinda fussy around 7:30pm b/c he wants a bath.  He LOVES his bath!  Then he has a bottle, goes to bed and sleeps until about 6:30 or 7:00 in the morning.  Can't beat that, huh?

Ben is being a little inventor this week at Camp Invention.  He loves it.  He is taking apart a DVD player and turning it into something else...we'll see exactly what on Friday....and everyday has a different theme.  Yesterday was wacky hair day.

First was cooky hat day, then hair, and today was crazy outfit day.  He wore boxers on the outside of his shorts, a shirt on backwards and two different socks.   Basically, we go straight home from Camp Invention.  It reminds me of when you see a little kid out in public with his parents and he is wearing a Batman costume or a tutu or ruby slippers or something?  You KNOW that his parents just couldn't fight him any longer and they let him wear it.  I don't want to look like that person, so we get home!  

I will take some more pics this week.  Hope all is well with everyone.

OH!!!!  Congrats to my friend Katy McDermott and her hubby, Matthew, who just had a beautiful bouncing baby boy.  Edward Gordon Eggleton, born Tuesday, July 15th at 9:30am.  He was 8 lbs and 12 ounces.  Can't wait to see him!!!

Out of Office Reply

Due to the Fourth of July holiday weekend (and the fact that my mommy did not do so good with the picture taking this week), the blog will return next week.  See ya when I get back from vaca....I need the rest!

You shouldn't fall asleep at the dinner table

Last week was a pretty uneventful week.  Nothing significant or life changing to report here.  

Oliver did a little dancing with his mobile.

Then he fell asleep at the dinner table.  Mistake.

 

Ben made this REALLY COOL mask at an art class at the Walton Art Center!!!  They have great art classes for kids!

The boys played Frogger together....well, Oliver watched.

We opened the Esty Patio for the season on Saturday and enjoyed good friends and good food. Sorry,  those pics went to Us Weekly, they were the highest bidder.  Ok, I forgot to get out the camera.   

Ben and Ruby still need haircuts. 

Posted some stuff on EBay.

Let me think...anything else important happen last week?  I feel like I'm forgetting something.  Huh, must not have been anything big. :)

Father's Day and The Death Coaster

11 weeks old

Wade's brother, Justin (or Uncle Junkin, as Ben used to call him) and his family were bringing their youth group to Silver Dollar City on their way to Kansas City.  We had never been to Silver Dollar City and were so excited to meet in Branson and spend the weekend with them.  

The very first thing that we did was ride some frogs.  Good stuff!  This was Ben's FIRST official ride at an amusement park.  Not scary, not fast, not put your stomach in the tippy top of your throat.  Good stuff!

We decided to split up because Quinton, Ben's 8 year old cousin, and Ben wanted to go ride some more stuff.

Ashley (Justin's wife), Charlotte (her mother), precious Anastasia (Quinton's sister), Ollie and me went other places.

When we met back up with the boys they were playing in this SUPER cool treehouse thing that was about three stories tall and had lots of netting and stuff to crawl in and on.  

I asked Wade what they had ridden so far and he got a look on his face like he was going to cry. Apparently, Wade and his brother had a little misunderstanding.  

Enter The Death Coaster.

Quinton loves roller coasters.  Wade thought that Justin knew that Ben hadn't been on a roller coaster before and when Justin suggested the D.C., Wade thought it was because Quinton had been on it.  

So Wade, Ben, Uncle Junkin and Quinton hop in the coaster car on The Powder Keg, a.k.a. Death Coaster.  Like it was in a movie script, Ben, now bolted into his seat, says to the lady in the car in front of them, "this is my first roller coaster ride".  The woman says, "This is your first roller coaster ride?!"  Then, before this beast takes off, she is frantically giving him instruction...."keep your head on the back of seat all the time", "it goes really fast so don't get scared", "it'll be over really soon", etc.  

Are you familiar with ski slope ratings?  Green slopes for the bunnies, blue slopes for the intermediates and black diamonds for the crazies.  Well, we didn't know until later, but Silver Dollar City rates their rides the same way.  Do I really need to tell you what this ride was?  Do you see where I am going with this? 

Ok, for those who haven't read the script...it's a black diamond.

Poor Ben is scared to death and wants this thing to stop.  Wade is trying to calm a 6 year old child at 90 something miles per hour.  It was awful.  Ollie was sad for Ben!

I like roller coasters and I hadn't been on one in a long time, so Wade and I went back and rode it a little later.  Ready for my Brittney Spear imitation?  It was bad, y'all!  The whole time I am thinking, with all of my organs at the back of my spine, "my poor baby, my poor baby". 

The good news and really cool thing about Ben is that he gets over stuff quickly.  He was perfectly fine when I saw him and I would have never known if Wade hadn't told me.  He wanted some frozen lemonade and to go play at the water park....Ben could have asked for a pony and I would have gotten it at that moment.

The next day was Father's Day and we came home.  Ben gave his daddy the wind chime that he made in art class. 

Ollie gave him drool.  He's teething.

I did ask Ollie if it was ok that I tell Ben's story on his blog and he said that he was happy to share and would love to continue to make this a family blog.  What a guy!!