...and another birthday boy!

Yes, it's true. We had another birthday boy in the house. Big Ben, The Benjamin, Big Jet, Benny Boy, the little man--call him what you will--turned ONE. Hard to believe it's been a whole year. I feel like he's so much younger than Evan was when he turned one. Weird to say, but true. Probably because E had been walking for a couple of months by that time. Ben has taken a few steps and can totally do it, and totally refuses to. He is one stubborn kid, and just doesn't want to walk! It's kind of hilarious. We love our Big Jet, as E nicknamed him. I don't know why, but it's cute. He still won't sleep through the night, is obsessed with food, growls and screeches, loves to wrestle, gives us crinkly smiles, has five teeth, loves knocking over towers and flipping through books, can clap and play peekaboo, screams at the cat and pulls out her hair (he adores her), and is super speedy when it comes to stairs. He has a special screech just for Evan when Evan is mad at something he's doing. He lights up when he sees his Dada. What would we do without him? Happy birthday Big Ben!!

Birthday Boy

Evan turned FOUR on the 23rd of October. For his birthday he got to eat donuts for breakfast, go to the zoo, and spend some birthday money from Grandma and Grandpa. We went out to dinner to the restaurant of his choice (Freddy's--yum!) and then went for ice cream. He got a two wheeler (well, technically, a 4-wheeler), fireman boots, his first real Legos, Angry Birds pjs, and a couple of books.

That night Grandma and Grandpa arrived for a visit. What an awesome day! We had his birthday party on Thursday. We had a couple of his buddies and their families over for pizza and cake, then we headed up to Chuck E Cheese and let the kiddos play to their hearts' content. It was so fun. Evan and Grey

Evan and Hyrum

E had asked me for a vanilla cake with vanilla frosting with candy and cookies and sprinkles on it. I was happy to oblige. In fact, he helped create the cake! Way to go Evan!

The kiddos with their spoils.

We love our E-man so, so much.

This kid is cracking me up with his squinty smile lately. He only does it for the camera. Hilarious.

Guess who we found on the side of the road!

Evan was quite excited. Though he didn't seem to be able to open his eyes for the camera.

Oklahoma is OK.

I was going to do some big long (and probably boring) post about how I never thought I'd end up back in Oklahoma (and didn't want to, for that matter), but now that we're here, have a couple of years under our belts, and have bought a practice, I have come to terms with it, and we are officially, happily Okies (once again, for me). John is the new owner of Vision Source Mustang. He's really enjoying having his own business. He has great employees, and the transition has gone really smoothly so far. I am just thrilled that he didn't have to start from scratch, as he had planned!

He was recently released (our bishop just moved), and called as the first counselor to the new bishop. Luckily for me, people in our ward have taken pity on me and started sitting with me to help me with the kiddos. Or maybe it's just so the rest of the ward can hear the speakers over my kids. One of the two. Ben turned 9 months old a couple of weeks ago. His well checkup was yesterday, and he came in at 21.3 lbs, 29 inches, and a head circumference that was crazy big. She said it was in the 95-97th percentile. Yikes. Evan was almost exactly the same size at 9 months. He is crawling normally now, not just doing the worm. He pulls himself up on everything, and has mastered sitting himself back down when he's done standing. He cruises along furniture a bit. His favorite time of day is bath time. He loves the water. Never once in his life cried while in the bath. He's a little monster when he eats, yelling till the spoon is in his mouth, and sometimes yelling while it's in there. Crazy kid. We sure adore him. B at 9 months:

Evan started preschool this month, which he enjoys. He's been very defiant lately, so we're working on it with a behavior chart. So far he's earned a trip to Chuck E. Cheese (every germophobe's nightmare) and a family bowling trip--E's first. He loved it. He's starting to recognize small words in books we read. So fun to see him learning!

The 4th and such

We had a fun Fourth of July shopping at the outlets and then napping, then having dinner and watching fireworks with the Hoffmans and others. It was so nice, and the fireworks in the town (just set off by random residents) almost beat out any professional fireworks show I've ever seen. Evan loved it, but Ben was not interested. In fact, he was downright grumpy about all the noise.

Even before the fireworks show, E was having a blast sword fighting with our dear 80-year-old friend, Marge. We do love her so.

We got a book in a box of Cheerios called Peeney Butter Fudge. At the back of the book is a recipe for the fudge, and E insisted that he and Daddy were going to make it. So they did. (Unfortunately, the book was far better than the fudge.)

This is where B spends most of his time lately. The kid loves food.

This little man (below) has been a handful lately. But I love him to pieces. His favorite game is Name that Tune, or "the Tune Game." Though he sometimes gets upset if I sing a tune that he determines to be one of "his" songs. He's awesome at it. He can play Twinkle Twinkle, Little Star and half of I am a Child of God on his little piano, and he loves to pick out other familiar songs like Old MacDonald and Happy Family. It's SO FUN seeing his musical talent come out. I can't wait till we get a real piano for him to play. He says the funniest things, too. One night at dinner last month E and I were talking: E: Someday I'm going to be a mommy. Me: You're a boy; you can't be a mommy, but you can be a daddy! You can be a SUPER daddy! E: Or, I can be Condorman!! And because it's so cute, here's one more: During scripture study one night Evan was repeating the words to Jacob 3:8 after John. It ends, "...before the throne of God." Evan repeated it, then turned to me and said, "No, Mommy, we don't want to throw things at God. Daddy, do a different one." (LOVE IT.) I could write a whole bunch more (I have them all written in my journal.), but I'll spare you. Just know that this boy is awesome.

And here he is playing good big brother, reading a book to his little buddy.

This cuteness turned 8 months old yesterday. His skills include opening and shutting drawers, doing the Worm to get where he wants to go, removing all pieces from puzzles, and eating books. And being adorable. My, how those blue eyes sparkle!

Father's Day

This Father's Day, Evan picked out a tie for John. I had found a simple tutorial online to make a tie for Evan, so I bought two of the one he picked out. Then I made a tie for Evan, and used the leftover pieces to make one for Ben, which I sewed onto a onesie. It was fun to do! Here are the results: John was sure thrilled with his Father's Day gift. He was one proud daddy at church.

Seven months!

Our big boy hit his seven month birthday today! And the outtakes.

He cracks me up when he eats. He yells every time he opens his mouth for a bite, and grabs the spoon. It's like he's chewing me out for not getting it there quicker! Love it.

All is well!

Ben's results came back negative for craniosynostosis. Nothing to worry about. Yay!

Now that is a sad sight.

We hope to hear something by tomorrow.

Random

These two sweet boys are so much fun, and they just love each other. E always wants to snuggle with B, especially before (or after) naps or bedtime. E will sing him songs and B just smiles and giggles and pulls E's hair.

This is part of Evan's preschool class. E had such a good time at preschool, and learned a ton! We are excited for it to start up again in the fall. On the last day the kids got to play in the sprinklers. They also went on a "Tiger Safari" recently, where they got to see and touch lots of cool animals. Here is E with his little friend Taylor at the safari.

We took a quick weekend trip to Memphis to see some of our favorite people and watch a few of them graduate high school. So proud of Taylor, Jordan and Alex! Above is Ben and Kari (I'm pretty sure that Evan has a crush on Kari.)

Evan loved hanging with his little girlfriend Reina. She's such a sweetie, and they had a blast!

I hate catching up.

We were lucky enough to spend some time with family in California recently. Nana and Papa were great hosts and we had such a fun time. John even got to play in a couple of golf tournaments!

Evan picked some flowers for Nana for Mother's Day. And we just enjoyed some good snuggle time with our cute boys.

Hooray for getting to visit with Great Grandma Stromberg lots and lots! It was so fun to see her. Evan thinks she's super cool.

Bailey the puppy got lots of snuggles while we were there. She also probably lost a few pounds, with Evan chasing her and playing fetch with her ALL DAY. He adores her, and totally wore her out.

We got to spend some time in Sacramento with Heather and the family. E and cousin Sophia played and played and played! John had good memories of the Train Museum in Old Sacramento, and couldn't wait to take his boys there. E loved it!

Ben and Nana got in some good snuggles too. Oh, how we love our family!