Kate's 1st Laugh

Tonight after I fed Kate, she was looking at me and smiling and cooing. I started to talk to her and play peek-a-boo and she started to laugh. It was her first laugh- it was so sweet and made my heart happy. She's such a cutie. I tried to take some pictures of her laughing, but she was done. She still looks cute though!

Friday Night Fishing

Ben has been talking about fishing all summer. Tonight we decided to find a local place to go so he could fish. John called up Grandpa Sherman and we went to the pond in Woodbridge Ranch. Grandpa caught one little fish and Ben announced to us, "We caught one, but it got away!" What a fisherman! Even though he didn't catch any fish, he had a great time casting his fishing pole and hanging out with Dad and Grandpa. Mom, Heidi and Kate went to, but we walked around, ate some ice cream and played at the park. It was a nice evening.

Our Kids

Because I just started our blog, I decided to write a little about each one of our kids and use some pictures from the summer. It is just a little glimpse into their personalities and where they're at at this point. It is neat to see each of them grow, change and become unique kids!

Busy Ben

Ben is our little helper. He especially loves to help his dad work on things around the house. He knows the names of all the tools and how to use them. He also likes to teach Heidi things (good and bad) and tell her what to do. He loves his new sister Kate is is very sweet with her. He has a very mature vocabulary and cracks us up with the things he says. He loves fishing. He talks about it all the time and is very proud of his own fishing pole he got last year in Lake Tahoe. He shows it to everyone who comes over. Ben reminds us of his Uncle Paul because he is not really that interested in regular toys that most kids like to play with. Instead he loves tools, calculators, fishing stuff and basically any kind of gadget. When Grandma E. took him to Walmart last week to pick out a toy, he came home with a large fishing net and a tape measure- he loves both. Ben is a lucky kid because he has 4 boy cousins close in age and he really enjoys hanging out with all of them. He also loves to hang out with his grandpas and grandmas. This summer Ben asked Jesus to live in his heart. One night I was reading to him and he very matter of factly told me that he wanted to ask Jesus to live in his heart. We talked about it a little and then we prayed together. It was a special moment for me as a mom, and I am very proud of him. A few minutes after he prayed, he turned to me and asked, “So, what do you think Jesus is doing in there right now?” It made me laugh! He has had a busy summer going to VBS at Sunrise and Adventure, attending a camp at Maidu and taking a golf and soccer class. He also took swim lessons and can now swim quite proficiently- hopefully he will be able to swim on dad’s team next summer! He turned 4 in May and we can’t believe how quickly he is growing up. He’s quite a little man!

Crazy Heidi

Heidi is such a funny kid- she's our little spitfire! She loves to dress up, and I don't mean in the normal princess way. She likes to dress up in Ben's clothes, hats, sunglasses, goggles, dad & mom's shoes/hats, Kate's hats and anyone else's shoes she meets. She will actually ask them for their shoes! Every day she makes us laugh with her outfit of the day. While she likes to dress up, she also likes to be naked and takes her clothes off repeatedly. At least she always puts them in the laundry hamper and her diaper in the trash :) When she started to wake up naked, we decided to put her to bed in a onesie- so much for the cute pj's! She loves to play with her babies too. She pushes them in the stroller, feeds them bottles and sleeps with them. She is also very quick- she runs fast, can tear apart a cabinet or a drawer in no time and disappears in an instant. When we can't hear her, we know she is into something because otherwise she is super loud. Ben says, "Mom, Heidi must be into mischeif!" She puts everything in her mouth, and I mean everything. The other night we were at Big Spoon yogurt and someone spilled the container of Jelly Beans. Heidi was scooping them off the floor and into her mouth so fast. She got a little upset when the lady started sweeping them up. She is doing better with her hearing aids and will keep them in for hours at a time instead of minutes. She talks a lot, but we need to work on her speech sounds, She'll be in a speech therapy play group this year which I'm sure she'll love because she likes playing with other kids. I can't believe she is going to be 2 already; she's growing up to be quite a little lady!

Little Miss Kate

Here are some pictures of Kate at 2 and a half months old. She is so sweet and is such a good baby. She is very content and will sit in her bouncer or swing for hours sometimes, which is a blessing right now as we get settled in our new house. You'll walk by her and she'll just be sitting there smiling at you. She is starting to coo and has darling expressions. She has crazy hair too which is just too cute. We all love her so much.

More Tahoe Pictures

Lake Tahoe

Last weekend we went up to Lake Tahoe for a couple of days. The past two summers we have gone up there for about ten days, but we decided with a new baby and moving that was not going to work out this year. Fortunately for us, Uncle Paul is working up there this summer and staying at his friend, Travis’ family’s cabin in Homewood. He was going to be alone for a few days so he invited up to come up and stay with him- Ben was very excited because he LOVES Lake Tahoe and he LOVES Uncle Paul. So we headed up there Saturday and stayed until Monday. We went to two different beaches. Ben was in heaven throwing rocks, catching minnows and casting his fishing pole. He caught a minnow all by himself and was so proud that he had to show every kid at the beach. He would go up to kids and say “Hey, you want to see the fish I caught all by myself?” and then would bring them over to the bucket to see the tiny minnow. He and John also took a rafting trip down the Truckee River- they had a blast. Heidi was not so sure about the beach. She did not like having the pebbles in her crocs, but did not like being barefoot because it was “be hot (too hot)”. She did liked to play with everyone else’s toys though. At the second beach we went to, she pulled out a blanket, spread it over the towels, got out her softie, told me “Heidi night-night” and snuggled up with her thumb in her mouth. She pretty much stayed there the rest of the time playing and eating snacks. Kate enjoyed sitting in her bouncy seat and watching everyone- she is such a content baby. It was really nice to get away from the moving boxes and no air conditioning for a few days. Thank you Uncle Paul for hanging out with us and the John’s family for sharing their cabin with us- it was perfect.