Mr. B

As of July 22, Ben has rolled over both ways. He won't do it though when you are trying to show others. He does things when he wants to. That's one of many things I've learned about him. He likes to do things only when he wants to, not when someone else wants him to. He loves his big sister. When you try to get a picture of him smiling, he stops. He's even started turning his head away from the camera. He loves to sit up. He's doing a great job moving himself around on his tummy. Ally is loving that he is getting more active. He likes to be read to. He is a snuggler, big time.

Silly Ally

Ally was playing newsreporter and was asking us what our names were. Then she wanted me to be the reporter. So I asked her, her name. She responded "Tashina". I then asked her what she does. She responded with "I paint the bathroom and clean rooms".

Thanks a whole lot Ally. I do a lot more than that. Those were just things that were consuming my time before we left for Michigan. We need to talk more about what I do. Matt asked her what he does and she said "play with baby toys". Maybe we'll come up with a clever way to turn this into a family home evening.

Michigan day 2

We slept in! So that started our day off great. Then we saw the sky and were trying to figure out our day. We thought we'd drive by the beach and see what the water looked like (since it looked like a storm was moving in). The waves looked like lots of fun, so we parked and headed towards the beach. The boys (minus Benson) hit the water while the girls (and Benson) sat in the sand. Ally had a great time playing in the sand. My mom held sleeping Ben the whole time we were down at the beach. I played in the sand with Ally and took pictures of the boys.

The flag was red and the waves were high!
Having fun with the body board. No, Trent is not about to hit Matt in the head.

Matt catching a good wave.

And another one.

Ally doing what she does best at the beach.

Her beach girl pose.

Excited to be at the beach.

Ally and grandma and Benson

Michigan 2009

We love going up to Michigan. We always have such a great time. This time was no exception. We had terrific weather both days and lots of time spent in the sun and sand. I was going to put them all in order, but am in a lazy mood.

Family picture-Benson was sleeping (like always)
Ally was being silly

We invited the grandmas and grandpa to come have fun with us.

Yeah for the beach

Ally and daddy

I went to take the picture and she spread her legs. Silly girl.

We took a nice walk at sunset and they had this neat table with a game board on it.

This is taken on our way back to the car. It was on its way out of the canal. We had seen this ship in the middle of our walk when it was lighter outside. It was filling up with cement.

I love the sunset.

Matt had a great time.

See heres the ship when it was still light out.

Me-floating

Ally doesn't like it when she can't touch and can't see the bottom. She could touch, but she couldn't see the bottom. She also thought it was too cold, but really it felt great.

Matt and Ally digging (this is her most favorite thing to do at the beach)

She told me this morning that she's a beach girl. Really she is. She loves the sand and sun.

Digging exhausted Ally and Ben was just doing his everyday thing. Ally's swim top was full of sand, so I took it off in hopes of making it more comfortable to sleep.

Obviously Mr. Ben thought it was too bright outside, hence his arm over his eyes.

Encouraging Ally

The other day the kids (Ally eating and Ben watching) and I were eating lunch and it takes Ally FOREVER to eat. So Ben and I entertained ourselves with the camera, while trying to get Ally to finish eating.

He loves his hands.
Super happy

S l o w eater. Most days I'm sure she could win awards for how long it takes her to eat. And she isn't taking long because she's not hungry, she just loses focus on her food and wants to talk.

Before and After

This is before we made changes to our liking.

So this is the other wall, that isn't shown on the picture above. But we added these shelves. Matt built them all by himself, with a little help from me.
We have the top 3 shelves on the right dedicated to Cosette. All the books under Cosette's things are church books. The middle is childrens books. The left side is all other books and pictures of the rest of us. Oh and check out our nice floor. We love it.

Monday & Tuesday

Swinging with daddy

Matt's laying back quite a bit, so it's not the best picture of him. But the kids are getting in some QT(quality time) with daddy.
Matt surprised Ally one day with sand for her sand box. She loves it.

Pool fun!

So since our summer has been so full of fun/craziness this was our first trip to the pool. The kids and I went to my friends house and had a blast. Once Ally figured out that she could touch the bottom of the pool she was bouncing herself from one wall to the other (she fell asleep on the way home). Benson had a great time as well. He sat in his floaty seat and loved kicking his feet around. He didn't like it though when Ally would start splashing and it would get in his face.

I always said I'd never use these things, but because I want Ally to be able to play without me holding her, I gave in and got them.
Ally had fun floating around the pool in Ben's seat. I just didn't get a picture of it. I had told her that if I wasn't in the pool, she wasn't allowed in the pool. This is as far as she would go if I wasn't in there. She got mad a few times because I'd have to get out for this or that reason and she'd have to stay on the steps.

This is what swimming did to Ben. His little hand was up closer to his ear, he was saying "call me" in his sleep.

Mommy and Ben

The 3 of us having fun, but wishing daddy was there so it'd be even more fun. Wish you could've come with us Matt. Maybe next time!

We're so glad we have such nice friends with a great swimming pool.

Ready for bed

I love Benson's new pjs. I love the colors and the stripes. They really make him look skinny.

Oh and just to let you know it's a 6-9month and it is almost too small. He's wearing onesies that are anywhere between 6-9 and a 12 month. He is so long in the waist that he needs the bigger size. He still needs a 0-3month for his waist and a 3-6 for length. He's rolling himself over now either way, but only when he wants to roll over. Last night we really realized how spoiled he is. He didn't want Matt to lay him down on the floor, so everytime he'd get close to being layed down, he'd start to cry. He wanted to be held and knew how to go about doing so.

Sunday and Monday

Last night we went to a baptism. It was a great way to spend FHE (family home evening). Ben looks totally excited!

Ally can amuse herself with just about anything.
She loves holding her brother.

I love his white dress shirt, tie and khakis.

Yeah for fun Sunday clothes.

Oh and for Ally's hair, she had 6 french braids. They are still going strong today. I'm going to try to get them to last until tomorrow. We'll see how that goes. I like that her hair has stayed put for so long, it's nice to have it look nice without doing it day after day.

Since I wasn't able to post pictures for a few weeks, here you go, enjoy the mass of pictures and things we've been doing.

Our house-before

Well I guess it should be titled-Our house-in the middle

This is after we've painted some, removed some wall paper, and removed carpet. I've just picked the major rooms to show you. I forgot the kitchen, 4 bathrooms, laundry room, basement, garage, backyard, and backporch. Sorry but I won't be putting up a picture of the outside for obvious reasons.

These are the stairs to the basement. Matt and Trent removed all the carpet on the stairs and in the basement. The wood paneling has all been primed and painted and looks great. We even painted the ceiling because it was looking very yellow.

This is the "boys" room. So it had light green walls and green carpet. Right now there is no carpet and blue walls.

"Girls" room. It did have wall paper and thankfully Jackie removed it all for us. Now the walls are pink, the carpet is still there, but just until they come to install the new carpet. We kept that in there because Ally needs to sleep in there.

"nursery" had fluorescent green walls, 70's style green curtains, and green carpet. Now it has light green walls and no carpet and no curtains.

I really wish I would have gotten a before picture of our bedroom. The color wasn't bad, in fact it was just a little lighter than the color I chose for our bedroom. The wallpaper in the bathroom area was horrendous. But it is ALL gone now. I just need to prime and paint the walls in the shower now.

Dining room- the wallpaper isn't too horrible, so until I get other things done, it will stay like it is. I did take down the drapes though

this is the "library/office" It had blue drapes and blue carpet. Now it has wood laminate floor and looks fabulous. Well almost. We still need to build bookshelves.

Family room-like the dining room, this isn't too awful, so it'll stay until other projects get done.

Maybe next week we'll get carpet installed. Then I can move things out of the garage and into bedrooms! Also it'd be nice if we got the bookshelves done soon so we can move all the books out of the garage.