Fall is here

Benjamin at 11 months

All sorts of changes and discoveries are happening in Ben's life.  He of course is changing in size, already wearing some 18 month clothes, changing in personality and changing in looks with his long hair.  He discovered he could survive and actually enjoy two rather lengthy car rides with women and a little girl and he has discovered that he prefers to be up on his two feet whenever possible although he hasn't quite mastered walking yet.

We have nicknamed Ben "Bam-Bam" this month because, I'm sure as most boys do, he loves to bang on things and see how much noise he can make without breaking something.  He has his gentle moments though that I love.  At night he will rub his hands on my arms before being put in the crib.

Ben still only has 2 teeth, but I'm pretty sure he's working on more as I type.  I don't mind the slow timing because that just means it will take that long for him to lose them.

These Groff babies produce the funniest expressions in my opinion.

This one is still my favorite at 6 days old.

Who says you need toys when you have a big box??

Emily - 4 years, 1 mo. - Sept. 16

Emily is proud to be a 4 year old. She tells everyone she meets that she’s 4 now. Although she keeps pointing out that when she's 6, Ben will be 3 and that she gets to buy a bunny or a kitty.  We keep telling her the motto I heard a lot as a child....we'll cross that bridge when we get to it. 

Emily has developed into a very independent little 4 year old.  We hear many times...."I can do it all by myself".  She is enjoying her tricycle more now since she can ride it and steer it where she wants it to go.

Emily started preschool this month and seems to really enjoy it.  She does ask every Tuesday if her church friends are going to be there too.  

Texas trip continued

Ben's first voice lesson

Enjoying bath time

Texas trip Sept. 9-19

We had been wanting to go visit Randa and the family for a while, but not interested in flying again so Mom, the kids and I loaded up Mom's van and began the tour.  It took about 18 hrs., but broken into 2 days was not that bad at all especially due to Mom's very creative method for helping Emily (and us) pass the time.  She made a chain out of old Christmas cards and at each 30 min. increment Emily was allowed to cut off one link of her chain.  It was good for her to see how the chain got smaller and smaller as we reached our destination.

We had a great visit with lots of fun things including playgrounds, baby pools, balloons, a visit to a big cat rescue center close to where Mark and Randa live, piano playing, "driving" Jeeps, reading and snacking on pretzel rods (or pretzel yod as David would say).

Zoo Trip

We had the opportunity to visit our Columbus Zoo recently with our friends.  For anyone with kids, I highly recommend a Zoo Pass - it's well worth the cost.

More donuts please!

Since we didn't get to see any moose up close in Montana, we opted for the ones in the zoo.

New Shed

We were on the hunt for a new shed in order to clear out some large items from our garage and finally found a really good company called Ohio State Barns affiliated with Wheat Ridge Mini Barns. 

Charlie will have to tell you what he had to go through with the city, but the gentleman from the barn company was great to work with.  I was really curious how they were going to deliver the shed so of course had to take photos.  The apparatus is called a mule and it just rolls under the shed and sets it down into position.  If anyone is in the market for a shed, we highly recommend this company.