3 months of Benjamin

Benjamin,
How fast 3 months has flown by! This month you had your first 4th of July celebration. You went swimming again and liked it this time!

At 3 months you are sleeping like a champ, beginning to laugh out loud some, and you have found your hands and like to suck on them sometimes. When you are awake and active you move your arms and legs quickly in swimming motions, and have started trying to grab for toys in your play gym. You seem to recognize us more now and get very smiley when you see us. You enjoy your baths now and smile the whole time.

What a sweet little man you are!

A peek into the week

Monday- hanging out at home...

Tuesday- Playing at Elevation, the trampoline park: 

Wednesday- Swimming with friends: 

and playing at home

Thursday- headed out to run errands in a rain coat, hat, and scarf, naturally. 

Playing at the "spider web" park. She finally decided the end of July was in fact a bit warm for the scarf and jacket like mom suggested.

Friday- insert lots of rain, pancakes, and staying in our pajamas all day. Happy 3 Months to Benjamin! Ready to kick off the weekend! :)

Monday

I have loved the rain and cooler weather this week. Records show it is the coolest July in 10 years. And 10 years ago in July I was out of the country, so its the coolest July in my memory. I took some pictures of our rainy day at home on Monday.

Breakfast is one of our favorite parts of the day. Isabella's breakfast favorites at this stage are pancakes with peanut butter, pumpkin chocolate chip muffins, and sometimes cereal. I make a double batch of whole wheat banana pancakes when I have a chance and freeze them so they are quick to have in the morning. We eat breakfast, I drink my tea or coffee, read our bible story, take our vitamins, and Isabella is inevitably very silly at some point. Most nights she asks what we should eat for breakfast in the morning and what we will do after we eat breakfast. She is not happy when we have to rush for some reason and don't have time to sit down together. I will treasure the memory of these moments some day when she is more interested in sleeping through breakfast rather than calling me out of bed for it. :)

If Benjamin is awake he sits in his bouncer seat and looks on watching Isabella's every move.


We played play doh in the play room and Isabella gave us a concert.

I caught her mid-crazy pretend laugh

All clean for bed 

I went for a run after the kids were asleep and got completely soaked. But I'm glad to be back running again. I read through the blog from a couple of years ago and enjoyed reading the posts that reminded me of what life was like then, and wanted to do a post of how some days are now to look back on in a couple of years. The days can be long sometimes, but the weeks and years are flying by.

Happy Birthday America!

We have been reading some books about the 4th of July and talking about it the past couple weeks. After breakfast we got ready to head out to the parade with friends. Isabella was pretty excited. And the weather was so great for July in Oklahoma.

(Good thing she brought her binoculars to get a better look at everything.)

She did not like the loud noises of the sirens and motorcycles, but liked the horses and "queens" and waving her flag.

She told me: "this is the best parade ever Mama!"
And about that time Benjamin started crying and was over it. :) We took turns standing with him in the shade until it was over.

After lunch Michael and Benjamin napped and Iz and Me went swimming. 

Isabella and I napped when we got home.
Then it was time to start getting dinner ready. We grilled burgers and made guacamole and black bean and corn salsa, and had brownies and ice cream and watermelon for dessert.

Heather, David, and Hayli joined us. We hung out for a while then we headed downtown to pick out a spot to watch the fireworks.

Isabella waiting for the fireworks in all her patriotic glory. ;)

It was a fun day with lots of my favorite things: family, friends, swimming, good food, and great weather. In light of many recent events, I was so grateful to tuck my little ones into bed that night. We are so blessed and have so much to be thankful for.

I love a holiday week!

Our holiday week kicked off with the "star spangled fried chicken dinner" at church Sunday night. Isabella was so excited about being in a parade. When she woke up from her nap it was all she was talking about. Her excitement and joy about things big and small is really fun these days.

I took some pictures of the kids after church Sunday morning. It was quite funny attempting to get a good one and most of the pictures were deleted! (I decided I didn't need 20 pictures of Isabella with her dress pulled up over her face). But here were a few of the OK ones. :)

Looking forward to some time off for Michael this week and celebrating the 4th of July!

Weekend

The weekend was a good mix of fun adventures, time with family, being at home, and getting some things done. Here are some pictures of the Stars and Stripes River Festival we went to Saturday night.

Daddy taught her how to drink out of a bottle without spilling it all down herself.

The weekend went by too fast. It really was a great one!