"I can dress myself!"

Yesterday, Katie and Ben were upstairs unattended for quite a while. I was pretty certain they were up to no good, but as I didn't hear any screaming or loud noises, I figured I'd leave well enough alone. Turns out, they were dressing themselves. These are the outfits they picked out. Gotta love Katie's "ballet slippers".

Puppy love

Katie loves Jackson and never passes up an opportunity to play or snuggle with him.

Three years old!

The last three years have been a blur, and we can hardly believe our "baby" is already three. What a wonderful birthday celebration we had. Katie is already trying to come up with ideas for her birthday in January after seeing how much fun Ben's party was!

More cake...

Since we had his party two days before his birthday (and the cake went quickly!), we couldn't resist having another cake for his actual birthday on the 8th. True to form, Ben used his new construction vehicles to assist in the eating of said cake.

Time for gifts

Ben got a lot of truck-related items for his birthday, which is great, since he is completely obsessed with them. You can see in one photo, he is actually HUGGING the box, and in the bottom picture, he's picking up all the debris to tote around in the dump truck. What can we say? The kid LOVES trucks!

Let them eat cake!

Blowing out the candles.

Our big boy.

Ben opted to eat a "tire" instead of actual cake, but chose to eat it as a dog.

Ben's "Pump It Up!" party

Katie is grinning from ear-to-ear.

The birthday boy

Tyler was only too happy to help Ben go down the slide.

All the kids (okay...and the adults!) had a great time bouncing and sliding and running around at "Pump It Up" for Ben's birthday party. The bottom photo, L-R: Walker, Katie, Lindy, Matthew, Olivia, Jacob, Ben and Shane.

Keep on Truckin'

I'll admit it. This cake is pretty freaking fantastic! With the help of Barb, I managed to create Ben's birthday cake in my own kitchen. I am particularly proud of the doughnut wheels and the load of brownie "dirt". The good news is that I'm putting all those cake decorating supplies that I bought for Katie's birthday to good use. Wonder what Ty will want for HIS birthday next month?

Goodbye two!

Only a few days until Ben's third birthday and he's all smiles on Daddy's shoulders.

Ben's head injury

The first Monday in August found us in the ER with Ben. He hit his head on the corner of one of the columns in our foyer and even though it was only a small laceration, that sucker bled like mad. Two hours and one staple later, he was like new. I never realized how often I pat his head during the day until now. I keep accidentally brushing my fingers over the staple and it makes my tummy roll. Perhaps I need to rethink a career in nursing...

Playing nice

Although Katie and Ben have their moments when they bicker and argue and fight...on this particular day, they were playing so nicely together and requested that I catch the moment on film. So sweet!

Getting ready for VPK

Katie and Ben start preschool in a couple weeks for the first time ever! Katie will be entering VPK (voluntary pre-K) and will be expected to know some educational basics that (as far as I knew...) they USED to teach in Kindergarten. So she and I have been spending our afternoon "quiet time" working on a preschool workbook and she LOVES it. I must admit, I miss watching my soaps and catching up on the dishes and e-mail during this time, but it has been awfully nice spending some quality time with her. And now that we know for sure that I'm starting nursing school in a few weeks, these are my last precious days as a stay-at-home mom. It's bittersweet.

Visit with Grama Lynn

Tyler's Grama Lynn came to visit us in July. We all had a nice time visiting with her, although Katie was quite vocal about Tyler monopolizing her time. Katie is already making plans to go visit Grama Lynn soon (mostly because she has a puppy!)

OPHS c/o '90

A group of my old high school classmates have reconnected on Facebook and recently got together for pizza and girl talk at Mellow Mushroom. From left, back row: Kristen Harrison, Jenny Barnekow, Lana Doane, Lori Fedorowich, Joanne Denmark. Front row from left: Sjoukje Mooneyham (with son Jack), Krista Beutel (me!) and Jeni Blanchard. We had a blast catching up and can't wait until our 20-year reunion next summer!