Crash & Burn

On Saturday, Ben and I were outside enjoying the sunshine and playing on the sidewalk when he crashed and burned big time. He had been having a good 'ol time pushing around a little toy lawn mower when he pushed it off a ledge of the sidewalk and onto the concrete platform at the base of our stairway. He didn't realized it was such a big drop, missed his footing, and ate it face first into the platform hitting the bottom stair (which is also concrete) with his face as he fell. I think it scared him half to death so he cried pretty good at first but it didn't take long for him to recover his bearings and realize that there was more playing that needed to be done. Thankfully when he fell, he missed hitting his eye and nose real hard so that helped limit the pain and blood. We took a couple photos intending to share the war-wounds, although neither photo turned out very well so it's kinda hard to see that nearly the entire left side of his face was a raspberry. We are such proud parents - our boy is growing up!

Passing Another Milestone

As the title of this post states, we are passing another milestone with Ben... He has started using silverware during meal time! It's quite messy and humorous but he does a pretty good job. I couldn't resist sharing this video (& photos) of him eating mac 'n cheese for lunch the other day - I guess you can say I'm a proud Mama. We'll have to invest in some good utensils that are more his size, but this works for now. Enjoy!

Window Buddies

One of Ben's favorite new things to do is stand on his step stool and look out the window. He also really likes to pal around with his stuffed tiger from time to time. Here are some photos of he and tiger watching the snow fall one morning.

Mama's Helper

This may be a sign that I should really take care as to the daily actions I'm letting my son witness. Not that I have any bad habits that I wouldn't want my son to learn... right?

Anyway, last week, being the sweet and thoughtful boy that he is, Ben got ahold of the broom and began to sweep the kitchen floor (and, I might mention, the living room floor as well leaving trails of dustballs from the broom behind).

Now, I did not teach him to sweep. He simply learned by watching me... scary! I guess this means chore assignments are right around the corner!

Time Spent in Butte America

This last week Brian had training for work in Butte so Ben and I packed up and went along for the ride to spend a little time with Grandma and Grandpa Schultz and it just so happened to be Grandpa's 50th birthday on Wednesday. To celebrate, we had a delicious dinner of tender BBQ ribs, mashed potatoes, cream corn, and a BIG 'ol German Chocolate Cake - talk about tasty! We took some photos of Ben devouring the cake. He made such a mess (it's not all pictured here) that we had to take him straight from the highchair to the bath tub. He's a boy after my own heart! We had a really nice time and are thankful to live so close to all our family.

Brian hitting the books hard.

(he's studying to take the PE exam in April)

Reading stories with Grandpa and Grandma.

Yeah for cake!

The Energizer Boy

As I've mentioned before, Ben loves to walk around outside and thankfully the weather has been very spring-like so we've been able to spend some time outdoors. It sure is nice getting a good amount of fresh air after a long winter and it's an extra perk letting Ben burn some extra energy. This boy can walk countless circles around our condo without stopping for a break! I tell you what... it makes me very thankful that he hasn't quite figured out the running thing yet, although, I know it's just around the corner. I'm partly joking (though mostly not) when I say that I'll have to get a leash for him once he figures it out because it could be quite impossible for me to catch him being that I'm over 6 months pregnant and have a bad knee. Anyway, here are some photos (compliments of Catherine) of an afternoon spent outside last week with some friends. It was a day of many firsts: he played in the mud, drew on the sidewalk with chalk, discovered the taste of chalk, and threw rocks. What fun!

Me and the kids

Ben on the move

The Good Housekeeper... ha, ha ha!

Lately, I've been neglecting my household duties (laundry, dishes, basic cleaning, etc.) to fulfill my own personal desire to sew. I've completed various projects such as a few baby skirts, wallets, and am working on a crib sheet for our new baby boy. I'm pretty excited about the baby skirts because they're so easy and cute to boot. Here's a picture of one I made for Maggie today. She has a pair of little red cowboy boots to wear with it - quite the stylin' girl let me tell you.

Well, I suppose I should go and do some of that cleaning I've been putting off all week. By the way, I might put in a little note that my husband has been super patient with all my messes - I think he loves me or something.