Ben and Anna this Fall

Ben and Anna have been keeping Mama super busy these days!!  We've had tons of birthday parties to go to, lots of playing outside on those warm fall days, and just growing up fast in general!

Lately, Ben is "obsessed", for lack of better word, with garage doors and smoke detectors.  He points them out everywhere we go, and can really pitch a typical toddler-fit if we forget to let him open or close the garage door...Every.Single.Time.  He's really into the Cars movies, and Mater is his favorite character.  We have Lightening McQueen and/or Mater books, vitamins, underwear, toothbrushes, Thermoses, cups, pajamas, toys, of course - you name it, we've got it, and Ben loves it!!

He's also really enjoying school, and is learning phonics sounds this year.  I really think he'll be reading in no time!  Ben loves numbers and letters, and can even write the whole alphabet (with sidewalk chalk in the driveway is his favorite).

A first for Ben this month was riding a pony!!  His friend Emery had a pony-themed birthday party, and Ben got to go for a ride on "Patches". 

Anna is really on the move these days...she still has that precious little wobble when she walks, and I could just follow her around all day, admiring how cute she is (of course, her Mama's not biased - Ha!)  Here she is, practicing that walking!!

She looks up to Ben so much already, and is constantly following him around, and copying everything he does.  And I mean everything.  It took me a few days to realize what was going on at first, but I kept noticing she was walking over to this one particular corner in the kitchen and shrieking, then toddling around on her way.  Then it dawned on me that she was putting herself in timeout!!  The screeching is what tipped me off, because everytime Ben has to go to time out, he does this certain screech (that he knows I can't stand) in protest.  So, sweet little Anna will just randomly throughout the day go to the timeout corner and start squawking...ha ha ha!!!

Self-imposed Time Out!!

The falling leaves have been a good source of entertainment for both of them.  At first, Ben was in awe, and wanted to save every single leaf he found.  Well, then "Fall" really got here and we were overtaken by leaves, so that didn't last long (thank goodness!).  Anna had a ball playing last weekend as we raked and blew the yard....my little Pumpkin that I ADORE!!!

Back to School, But Not for Long!

The end of summer brings us "Back to School"!!  Ben was excited to see all his friends he'd missed over the summer, and Mama was excited to be getting back into a routine :)  Here's Ben on his first day of school in the 3 Year Old Class with Mrs. Linda.

Before he could even get settled in, though, we took and end-of-summer trip to the beach ~ just Mom and Ben!!  We went with a big group of gals, young and old(er), so Ben was the Man of the House.  I think he LOVED it!

Fun times with his best buddy Sophia.

We had such a great time together, just the two of us...Ben was super good in the car both going and coming home, playing with just two toys the whole ride!  We only stopped once for a special treat :)

Lovin' the sunshine, and having Mommy all to himself!!

Bubbles on the beach!

A highlight of the trip for Ben was the bike ride to town for ice cream.  Little Man was so fast on that bike we had to stop and wait for everyone to catch up :)

My Sweetpea and me :)

Hilton Head ~ 2012

This summer, Anna took her first trip to the beach!  Our family went to Hilton Head in July and had a wonderful time.  Ben was crazy about the pool more so than the ocean...every day, he kept asking to go back to the condo so we could get in the pool, ha!! 

Anna was excited to be on the beach, and crawled right toward the water.  After about five minutes of being sandy, though, she had enough and whined a lot.  So, each day, I would hold her and carry her around as long as possible ~ all the while with her fussing to get down ~ until I would let her down and then she'd play for a few minutes and get annoyed because she was all sandy and wet.  Ha!!  Usually in the morning, I'd stroll her on the beach at nap time and she'd take a snooze in her stroller.

 Ben had a ball with Daddy...here he is in his custom built Lightning McQueen sand car. 



Helping Dad build a sand car!

Anna sat in the shade with Mama a lot so she wouldn't get too sunned or sandy :)

 Ben and his favorite toy of all time:  a watering can.  We brought at least four from home for him to play with!

Ben and Mason

 Fun times with Daddy...

Anna did a cute "crab crawl" on the beach...usually she does this at home when she's wearing a dress so she can go faster, but I think she was just trying to stay out of the sand as much as possible!

Hmm...Sand = Not yummy.

 Ben and Anna both LOVED playing with their big brothers :)  Here's everybody!!