Donuts with Dad

Another exciting day at school for Ben! Today was Donuts for Dad, and he has been talking about this for days. Ben asked me several times about the donuts and said he was going to eat a LOT. So, this morning I asked him of he was going to eat 20 (that's the highest number he counts to) and he said, "No, that would be yucky." When I asked how many he planned to eat, then, he said "19". Ha, ha!!! (For the record, Ben only ate 1 1/2 donuts...whew!)  Here they are...such a handsome pair. Ben's a lucky little boy to have such an awesome Daddy :)

Easter 2012

Our family had a wonderful Easter.  Of course, our baby girl's first Easter was a special occasion, and Ben was very "into" hunting for Easter eggs this year so that was lots of fun! 

Here are our sweet babies!

Ben had a ball hunting for eggs...we did have to fill them all with a treat, though.  The ones at school had candy in them, so that's all he talked about.  I didn't want to see what would happen if all those eggs were empty , so we put M&Ms, Skittles, and a little bit of money as the "treats" in them!

Anna spent most of her Easter napping...

...and relaxing with Grandmama.  It was a great day!

Sweet Sounds :)

Anna is just crazy about all her brothers!  The one that can really get her laughing, though, is Ben.  Whenever he's around, she's got her eyes fixed on him...grinning from ear to ear no matter what he's doing!  Lately, Ben has been such a sweet brother, giving her kisses and hugs, and singing to her when she's crying (always makes her smile!)  Here's a video of him making her laugh.  I could watch it a thousand times!! :)

Muffins with Mom

Our first of many Muffins with Mom at school today! It was tons of fun...Ben ate two sausage and egg muffins, Connery threw up, and then Ben poured orange juice all over his white shirt...HAHAHA!!!! Fun times for all! No, really, I loved it and Ben did, too :). He's already talking about Donuts with Dad next week!!

Anna ~ 6 months!

Time to celebrate Anna's "half birthday"!  (Well, the time was about a month ago, but better late than never on this blog, I guess!) My little baby seems to be growing right before my eyes these days :(  But each and every day is such a joy with her...she really is the BEST baby!  She's never in a sour mood, doesn't cry when it's time to eat or sleep (unless Mama is totally missing the other signs, ha ha!), and is generally smiling most of the time :)  Our little sweetie will eat whatever I feed her, even if she doesn't like it, and has never fussed that I know of over a dirty diaper. 

Anna's quite attached to Mama these days, and pretty much the only thing she'll whine or cry about is if someone's holding her and that someone is not me (ha ha!).  That's OK, though...we're getting tons of time together and I treasure every minute of it! 

This month, Anna sat up on her own!  I still don't feel comfortable leaving her to sit on her own without bonking over, but she's getting better and better each day.  She's especially good at sitting in her bouncey or Bumbo.

It seems like she's getting so big, but actually she just outgrew her 3-6 month clothes and it now in size 6 month and maybe a few bigger ones here and there.  At her six month check-up she weighed 14 pounds, 5 ounces...not quite double her birth weight.  She is tall, though - in the 85%-ile - so I guess she'll be a long, skinny girl! 

We're still nursing and doing really well, but Anna is trying more and more solid foods lately.  She likes peaches, ham and pineapple, and bananas the best; sweet potatoes and peas are not high on her favorites list.  I've been feeding her solids three times a day, and putting a scoop of formula in each meal to give her extra calories so she'll maybe sleep longer at night.  So far, it's working most of the time!  Most nights, Anna sleeps from about 8:00 to about 5:00 a.m. and if she does wake before then, it's only for a paci.  So, not too bad if you realize a month ago she was waking up 1-2 times each night to eat!  Whew!

Although it seems Anna is partial to Mama sometimes, she really does love Daddy-time, too :)  Here they are getting ready to go outside to play with Ben on one of the few chilly days we had last month.

She adores napping with Mark, too...anytime he sits down with her on the couch, they watch TV together for a few minutes and before you know it, she's OUT!

What a joy these past six months have been!  I can't tell you how many smiles Anna has blessed us with - both seeing them on her face and lighting up our faces, as well.  We love you, Anna Boo!