Happy Easter!

Sweet Ben is 5 Months Old

These last 5 months have flown by. Ben is such a good, good baby and a big baby! At his 18 week check up (right after he turned 4 months) he weighed 16 lbs. 13 oz. and was 25 inches long. That was the 82% for both height and weight. So while Ben is big, he's proportionate!:)

Some 5 month highlights:

Ben squeals very loudly

he is really starting to bat at the toys hanging on his playmat, carseat and swing.

he is also starting to get the hang of holding onto toys.

he has a dog lovie that he's starting to get attached to...we'll see

enjoyed his first Easter egg hunt

slept through his first trip to the zoo

Ben continues to be very loved, especially by big sister Kate. It's like she can't control herself around him and is constantly in his face, squeezing him, talking to him, and loving on him. Good thing he likes her, most of the time! Maggie and Ben are also bonding alot more these days. She loves to talk to him and when he smiles at her, she gets super excited.

Maybe next month he'll have turned over and/or be working on sitting up. We'll probably start solid foods in the next month so maybe we'll have that to report about as well. Until then, we'll keep loving and kissing on this sweet baby boy of ours.

Lions, Tigers, and Bears

Since today is Good Friday, both the girls and Ryan have the day off. Kate and Maggie were given a choice between going to the zoo and seeing a movie. Kate wanted the zoo and Maggie wanted a movie. However, after some big sister persuasion Mags caved.

We all had fun and it was a great morning to get out and enjoy the sunshine. Happy Good Friday!

Their favorite - the penguins

Posing with the rhinos

A rare shot - me with my sweet kiddos

Daddy with his girls...and a zebra!

A very sleepy Ben (it was his first trip to the
zoo and I'm pretty sure he didn't care!)

Little Red Hen

Kate's class performed a "mini opera" on Wednesday, The Little Red Hen. Kate was a flower and had to wear pink, which suited her just fine. The videos of her and her fellow flowers singing aren't that great so you'll just have to settle for pictures. Everyone did a great job and Kate was thrilled to perform!

The flowers - Lauren, Avery and Kate

Taking a bow

Kate and Lauren enjoying cake and juice
after the big show

Early Egg Hunt

Our Sunday school class had an Easter egg hunt for the kiddos on Sunday night. I volunteered to head up the hunt so Ryan and I were assigned the task of stuffing 336 eggs. Thank goodness for mindless reality tv...made for quick egg stuffing!

After picnicking at the park the hunt got underway and it was a success. Every kid walked away with a basket full of eggs and lots of candy!

The girls can't wait to dye their real eggs this weekend and hopefully the Easter Bunny will visit!

Ready to hunt eggs (thanks to Terra for the super
cute bunny shirts!)

Mags wasted no time

Kate is an expert egg hunter

A Very Special Birthday!

Maggie has a lovie that she adores, Huggies. She's had Huggies since she was a baby and Huggies is very much a part of the family. Huggies used to travel with us everywhere. As you can imagine, Huggies was dirty most of the time. Not only did she get gross just from being out and about, but Maggie would chew on Hugs constantly so she was wet and dirty...gross combination! (We actually have 3 Huggies for washing purposes. Mags doesn't have a preference as to which one she uses.) Once Maggie started school this year, the new rule was that Huggies could only be used during naps and bedtime. The only times that Huggies leaves our house is when we go on a trip or take her to school for nap time. And that is where this story begins...

Maggie and I were walking into school on Friday just chatting about nothing when out of the blue, she told me "I think it's Huggie's birthday today." To which I replied, "It is?" She said yes and told me that she was going to tell Miss Connie and Miss Barb that it was her birthday. Right when we arrived to her classroom door, she informed Miss Connie that it was Huggies' birthday. Miss Connie, being the sweet teacher of 2 year olds that she is, played right along and asked Maggie how old Huggies was. "2, just like me," Maggie replied. So Miss Connie kept the conversation going by saying, "Well, we'll have to make Hugs a cake out of playdoh." And Maggie said, "Huggies doesn't like playdoh!" When Connie asked her what Huggies liked, Maggie said "sprinkles." And at that point I kissed Mags good-bye and told her to have a great day.

This is what I saw when I returned to pick Maggie up.

Miss Connie and Miss Barb made a huge deal out of her birthday by making her a crown and singing "happy birthday" to Huggies. Maggie could not have been more excited.

Total side note about Huggies' importance to Maggie: over the snow days, Hugs was making her way out of the bed very often. Since we were having trouble with pooping in our pants still, I told her that Hugs could not come out of bed again until she pooped in the potty. She never pooped her pants again...she loves Huggies!!

Tball Tournament

Kate is playing tball for the first time through Monte Cassino. There are 10 girls on her team, the Saints, and since 10 are needed for the games, all 10 play.

We started the season with Sunday and Tuesday practices. After about week 3 of this, Kate wanted out! That worried me because we still had 18 games ahead of us...yes, I said 18!!! However, we had a tournament this last weekend (3 games down, 15 to go!) and Kate has a new fondness for tball. And that fondness also stems from the fact that we're not practicing anymore!

The games were hilarious! There are only about 2 or 3 girls who actually care and/or know what they are doing. The rest are just out there having a great time digging in the dirt. The fun is that everyone gets a chance to play all of the positions and everyone gets a chance to bat at least twice during the 55 minute games. And there isn't really a winner or loser because each team gets 5 runs and then we trade off. Since there aren't many outs (although our team had about 5 during the course of 3 games), we just plug along with the 5 runs and switch.

Kate gets the concept but isn't overly interested in playing the field. She came home dirty but that was only because she spent a good amount of time digging in the dirt with her hands! She does like to bat but mostly she likes to visit in the dugout and get snacks after the game is over. And a major plus, a medal at the end of the tournament!

Modeling her "costume"

Mags was excited to watch Kate play

First time at bat

The piece de resistance - her medal