Benjamin at 7 months

Don't you just want to squeeze those cheeks?  It's amazing how fast Ben is growing.  Thankfully we are blessed to have an abundance of 12 month size clothes.

Ben is not really interested in crawling yet, but loves to sit and soak in his surroundings.  He is our people-watcher and will usually smile at anyone who talks to him. 

Ben has definitely discovered he has a voice and sometimes likes to see just how loud he can get which of course drives his Sister nuts.  Along with talking, we can tell that Ben is a listener.  He loves to listen to music and gives a belly laugh whenever he hears the horn on our van. 

Here's Emily's 7 month picture.

More flowerbed pics.

I am reminded of Matthew 13:5-6 when dealing with our flowerbeds.  Year after year Mom and I would plant new flowers in the beds as our Mother's Day tradition and each year the flowers would look like they were thriving, but soon after being planted they would stop growing.  This year we had the idea to uproot the old soil, add new and the flowers are definitely doing much better.  Thank you Mom for all your help!!!

"Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and immediately they sprang up, since they had no depth of soil, 6but when the sun rose they were scorched. And since they had no root, they withered away."

Emily - 3 years, 9 mo. - May 16

Oh, where to begin.  Let's just say Emily keeps Mommy on her toes at all times.  I am more thankful than Emily, I'm sure, when rest time rolls around so I can turn my brain off for a little while.  I do get a chuckle quite often though with some of the things that comes out of her mouth.  These days she has not been dealing well with her brother since he recently found out he has a voice and likes to use it.  She is constantly saying "I can't hear" even if there is nothing on to be listening to.  However, she is so sweet...the second she finds out he's asleep in the van, she wants the world to be quiet so he can rest.

Emily really enjoyed playing in the dirt recently when my Mom graciously came over and helped me "rebuild" our flower beds.  We're hoping to incorporate her help more with our garden this year.

You'll notice a stuffed cat in the picture this time.  This is her newest "pet" Stripy.  Yes, this stuffed animal actually has a name rather than just Kitty.  She now has quite the collection and all of them usually go with her everywhere, but Stripy is notably her favorite.

Benjamin at 6 months

Wow, it's amazing what a difference one month makes.  To everyone else Ben probably doesn't look bigger, but to me he looks huge.  He will get weighed at the doctor this week, and if he is anything like his Dad was at this age, he will be close to 25lbs.  He basically loves any kind of food as you can tell.....he even loves my homemade green bean baby food.  It's really funny to watch him get excited the second after I put him in his feeding chair.  His arms wave up and down, he gets a big oval shape to his mouth and starts making a sound like a fake cough.

As most babies do, Ben has begun pulling my hair when I get ready to put him down for nap and bedtime.  It's not too bad until he grabs a hold of that little superfluous hair at the base of my neck.  OUCH!!!!  Yes, we will be breaking him of that habit very soon.

Ben is very ticklish.  Practically everywhere you touch makes him wiggle.  He also cracks up when Emily plays peek-a-boo with him.

Emily - 3 years, 8 mo. - Apr. 16

I call Emily my little "Mommy" these days. She is doing such a great job helping me and seems to really enjoy it.  We have the opportunity this month to watch our niece while her sitter is on maturnity leave.  Emily will sit and entertain the babies during their wake times and loves to "help" me put them down for naps.

I've been enjoying seeing Emily's imagination in full bloom recently.  She is now very interested in her dress-up clothes she received a couple of years ago.  Usually during our morning routine she will go from wearing pjs to one dress then to actual clothes then on to a different dress then back to actual clothes all within a matter of minutes.  All I can say is I am glad she can dress herself with ease now.   Along with dress-up clothes, she can be found at times sitting with a book "reading" and of course making up her own plot.

Emily was very excited to have Mommo and Pappaw back.  Now we don't have to listen to her sit in a corner and cry while looking at my Mom and Dad's Christmas picture and listening to a voice recorded card Mom sent.

Emily is doing very well with potty training and I believe we are almost 100% trained minus night time.  We told Emily when she completed her sticker page she could get a special pet.  Stayed tuned for a future post to find out what pet is now a part of the Groff household.  Anyone want to venture a guess as to what we bought??  Folks at church won't have to wait long because I'm sure by this Sunday all will know.

Slate Run Farm

We had the opportunity to go visit Slate Run Historical Farm a week and a half ago with our good friends.  This is a free park with animals and it's operated as farms were in the 1880's.  We had a blast and will definitely have to go back.  There's so much to see and do, but we mainly went to see the shearing of the sheep since we missed the opportunity before Easter.  Emily now tells me she wants to be a farmer.

Thank you Val for planning this visit.  I've lived in Ohio now for almost 20 years and never been to Slate Run Farm.

Spring is here

Ready for bike rides

Easter in PA

Happy Easter

Annual Easter Egg Hunt

Benjamin at 5 months

Well even with some irritation in the gums, Benjamin remains our very happy boy.  He smiles at a lot of things, but his biggest smile comes when his big Sister is talking to him.

He recently realized that he has a right hand and it is attached to his body.  I catch him quite often just staring at it in awe.

I decided to go ahead and try Big Ben on cereal and after a couple of spoonfuls, he acted like he'd been eating it since birth.

The Two Tribes

Who says girls are more fun to dress up than boys and what fun is it to have babies close in age if their mommies can't coordinate their outfits? Benjamin and his friend Levi are 4 weeks apart. His mommy and I like to get together every week or so, so all of our children can play ... ok mostly so we can enjoy adult conversation. :) These pictures were taken last Sunday at church.

One, Two, Three, Four I declare a thumb war...

I think I won....

Winner gets to slobber the other's hand......ah sweet victory

Can't wait to show these kiddos this picture in about 12 years.

Emily 3 years, 7 mo. - Mar. 16

This month has been another fun month with Emily-isms.  Emily has 2 wonderful Sunday School teachers who are very creative with the lessons.  This past Sunday the kids learned about when God created people and had fruit as their snack.  After class one of Emily's teachers shared with me that Emily stated her fruit was scrumptious - oh the words she remembers.

As most of you with preschoolers know, this is the age of questions.  The question for the month from Emily is "Mommy, how tall is God?".  I had a good answer, but heard a better one from our Pastor today - tall enough.