Random happenings...

Mike and I were in our bedroom getting ready to go out to eat on Saturday night when we hear Ben yelling from the other room "help me, help me!" Well, I hate to say it, but he says these words all of the time and 99% of the time he "needs help" with something that he is FULLY capable of doing himself...so, like good parents, we ignored him. Well his "help me" turned into him yelling "problems, problems, problems!" So, we decided to check in on him....this is what we found....

In case you were wondering....that's a tub of vasoline....and yes...it's up to his elbows...all over his shorts...and on my recliner. When we asked him what in the world he was doing he said "it was making a popping noise when I stuck my hands down in it." Oh, well, that explains it then?! :)

And now some more normal behavior from my son...snuggling with Dad on the couch on Sunday afternoon. I just like the way he crosses his legs and puts his hands behind his head. (Oh..and we are making some good progress on potty training which is why he's always pictured in just undies!)

In case anyone thought my husband was normal....here is proof...he's not. :)

My cutie pie posing as a farmer at Bauman Orchards.

Lake Michigan!

Every August, since the beginning of time (seriously!), my mom's side of the family (all bazillion of them...seriously!) has traveled to Lake Michigan for a week long family vacation. Mike, Ben and I were lucky enough to be able to join them for part of the trip this year. I miss my family from IL so much and it was nice to be able to spend several days in a row just hanging out, swimming, and eating with them! This post is a few weeks late, but as always, I had a bunch of pictures and couldn't decide what to post. Over 50% of my family isn't even represented here (sorry!)...but I thought you might like a peek at some of the fun we had! Most of our time there was spent in a swimsuit, with no shower, sporting the "windblown" look...but that's what makes it so fun! :)

I never remembered the beach, water and sunsets to be so pretty...but I couldn't get enough pictures of them this year.

Six years of wedded bliss... :)

As of this past Sunday, Mike and I have been married six years! I can't believe how quickly time goes by! I'm lucky to have him as my husband. We've had our fair share of fights and drama (just like everyone else!), but I can honestly say that I could not picture my life with anyone else. I know he is the person God designed for me and I am so thankful to have met him ten years ago during J-term at good ol' Taylor. I'm glad I came to my senses and finally realized he was more than just my friend (after a little behind the scenes matchmaking by my pal Heidi). He fits right into my family and I love his. He is an awesome Daddy and it has been really fun to figure out the whole parenting thing with him. I am so excited to have another little person to love and raise along side him.

Below are some pictures from our wedding day. It was a little hot and muggy in Missouri in August, but we managed. Of course the day could not be free of drama...the electricity went out part way through our wedding reception and there was no backup generator (it was out for several hours). Luckily there were lots of candles to light the room and people were willing to stay and have fun, despite the fact that the DJ couldn't play any music and it was BURNING up! We danced our first dance to a boom box that Mike's uncle happened to have in his van. Classy...very classy! :) It made for some funny memories though.

The classic wedding pose.

Those of you who went to Taylor may recognize some of the faces below. The TU folks in our wedding were... Abby Breyer (McLaughin), Bri Bowling (Schilling), Heidi DeKorne (Anderson), Josh Gerber, Jeremy Roberts and Kyle Bertrand. Carrie Lambert (Hartzler) read scripture too! :) The others in the picture are my brothers, Mike's brother, and my two cousins, Courtney and Jackie, who are like sisters to me.

Just had to share one other very classy feature of our reception. Mike and his groomsman thought it would be funny to show up to the reception wearing wigs...very ugly wigs. I've always thought Mike was a cute guy...not so much below. I told him he looked like an ugly Fabio with that stupid thing on. I couldn't even show my face when I had to walk in with him. :) Of course the other guys don't look much better (his brother Brad is on the far right and looks like Howard Stern and I thought my brother on the far left looked like Little Orphan Annie....SCARY!). It did give everyone a good laugh though. :)

Guess what?

I'm pregnant! :) I've been waiting a long time to announce it, officially, on the blog and the time is finally right. We are so, so, so excited to be expecting baby #2 at the end of January. I am almost 16 weeks now. I was waiting to announce it here until I had told my extended family, in person, during our trip to Michigan this past several days. Now that they all know...it's your turn! :)

Ben is excited (even though I'm not sure he totally gets it)! When I ask what he thinks I'm having, it's always a girl. I asked him what he thinks we should name her and without hesitation he said, "Louise." Louise...seriously?? I have NO idea where he came up with that name. I can't think of anyone we know with that name or one character in a book or movie. Guess he must have heard it somewhere?! I hate to break it to him, but there will NOT be a Louise Moser joining our family! We'll have to come up with something else! Ha! :) (Sorry if that name is at the top of your baby name list!)

Anyway, I've already had several ultrasounds, so just thought I'd share a picture of little Moser below. This was when I was about 11 weeks along, so according to all my BabyCenter.com updates, the baby was about the size of a fig in this picture. :) Today, he/she is the size of an apple.

This is the best I can do for a picture of my baby today. Just imagine an apple with a head, arms and legs. :) I have another appointment next week, so maybe I'll have another pic to share soon?!

Thank you, Jesus, for allowing us to have another little person to love!! We can't wait!

My big boy....kind of.

Ben had his three year well child appointment at the pediatrician Tuesday. Our pediatrician makes us wait until he has b-day to schedule the appointment and then they can't fit us in for months! Oh well, we finally had it. I actually love these appointments and so does Ben (toys in the office and the rooms are decorated cool!). It's fun to hear how he's growing and to be able to ask questions (maybe I'm weird!).

Well, he's a whopping 28 lbs and 36 inches tall at three years and two months. He's in the 25th percentile for both height and weight. He's actually moving up the scale and not falling off...yeah! I am very lucky...he is always such a good boy at the doc. He sits perfectly still when they listen to his heart and look in his ears. He did a great job during his first vision exam too (20/40 in both eyes, which I guess is perfectly normal for a three year old?). He had to get some kind of hepatitis shot this time and after the nurse poked his little leg, all he said was, "Mom, that pinched a little." He didn't cry or anything. Weird. Guess I can't complain. He's a pretty tough cookie.

Oh...and I asked if I should be concerned about his potty training aversion. The doc told me not to worry a bit and that all three of his boys were not potty trained until three and a half and one was almost four. I felt a little better, but now I'm worried about how long we'll be buying pullups and having accidents. Oh the joy! :)

Here he is napping in his big boy bed today. We just made the transition to the big bed this week after getting all new carpet in our house! He is loving it and sleeping better than in the crib. I know...most people move their kids much sooner...but, what can I say, we move slow over here. What's the rush? :) Do you think he has enough stuffed animals in bed with him?

Just had to throw in this picture from several weeks ago out on the deck. Yes, he's wearing Lightning McQueen and Mater underwear on the deck and yes, he probably peed in them. He's got a cute little butt though...don't you think? :)

Trip to NH (5) - Everything else!

This is the last post about vacation...I promise! I had over 400 pictures, so you can only imagine how difficult picking and choosing was! I don't know how I ended up taking that many! :) Anyway, just one last post to summarize everything else!

Our drive out to NH was LONG, but fun, until the last 30 minutes or so. Ben decided that the really curvy, hilly, two lane highway we had been on for "Lord only knows how long" was making him sick. He said, "I'm gonna throw up." We just looked at him and said, "really?" I really thought he might be joking (wouldn't be the first time). Well, he wasn't....before we could give him anything to throw up into...up came the grilled cheese, french fries, granola bar, pancakes...and anything else that was in his stomach from the day. AWESOME! Luckily it was contained to the front of him and his carseat. We had to pullover and take the entire carseat apart, take off all his clothes and then put him on a bare carseat, wrapped in a blanket, for the rest of the trip. I hate to say it, but we were all just cracking up. Ben felt fine at that point and it was just funny. :) Then...to top it off...Mike got pulled over about 10 minutes later. Luckily the cop showed pity on us when we told him about the barf incident...plus I think he caught a wiff when Mike rolled down his window. HA! Mike had to go to Walmart and buy him a new carseat as soon as we got there. :)

My naked man after "the incident"...he looks sad, but he really was just "fine and dandy" once it all came up. :)

Just some final random pictures...mostly from our time eating out in the evenings....we ate at some really good restaurants and had a TON of ice cream throughout the week. I'm full just thinking about all the food. :)

Last, but not least, a short video of my crazy boy singing the Frito Bandito song in the car on the way home from one of our hikes. Papa and Nana taught it to him. He makes me laugh. :)

Ok...I'm done...I swear. :)

Trip to NH (4) - Saco River and Mt. Jefferson

At this point you are probably feeling like you were actually on vacation with us...right? :) We spent a fun afternoon one day canoeing and kayaking eight miles down the Saco River. Nana, Ben and I started off in the canoe and Papa, Mike, Brad and Christina in the kayaks. Ben was an awesome passenger and had a blast shooting all the kayakers with his squirt gun (and Nana's back). We took several breaks for snacks and swimming. Mike let me steal his kayak for a couple of miles of the trip too. It was really relaxing and fun.

Our last day in NH we decided to hike to the top of Mt. Jefferson. It wasn't a very long hike, but it turned out to be too technical and dangerous for someone carrying a three year old on their back. We ended up having to turn around about two miles into the hike (I was so bummed, but we didn't want to risk the little man getting hurt...or anyone else for that matter!), fortunately we still got to see some pretty amazing views and I captured some cool pictures. We ended the afternoon with a walk around a beautiful lake (can't recall the name now).

Trip to NH (3) - Mt. Washington and Arethusa Falls

More hiking pictures (sorry...long post!)!! Mike, Brad and Papa climbed around six miles up to the top of Mt. Washington one day and gained about 4200 feet of elevation during their climb. They said it was pretty difficult, but worth it for the awesome views! Nana, Christina, Ben and I met them at the top in the car...a much easier ascent. It was cold up there, but the view was pretty great....even though the clouds rolled in making it difficult to get too many pictures. During their climb, they came across a really beautiful waterfall called the Crystal Cascade. It wasn't too far into their hike, so we all walked to it once we had driven back down the mountain.

Ben posing at the top of the mountain...so windy and cold!

Do you like Brad's face in the background of the bottom right picture? Pretty typical! :)

Some pictures from the short hike to Crystal Cascade...sometimes I wonder why I don't live somewhere that looks like this!?

More pictures below from yet another hike....on another day we hiked to Arethusa Falls, the tallest waterfall in NH. It's somewhere around 200 feet tall. Sorry for all the scenery pictures, but I just couldn't get enough of all the nature. :)

Trip to NH (2) - Champney Falls and Bemis Brook

We spent the majority of our time in NH hiking in the White Mountains. Most of our hikes were to waterfalls, which always makes the hike worth it! Our first hike was to Champney Falls and the second to Bemis Brook/Falls. The Bemis hike was easy and short enough that Ben actually got to walk it himself. He enjoyed his favorite activity (other than zooming cars)....throwing rocks into the water!

Champney Falls

Ben looking cute at the Bemis Brook Falls.

Bemis Falls

I'm pretty sure that's Frankenstein Cliff in the background.

Trip to NH (1) - Fun at Storyland

We had a blast spending this past week in North Conway, New Hampshire. One of the highlights of the trip for Ben was the time we spent at Storyland. Storyland is an amusement park for kids and it was SO cute! Each of the rides and/or exhibits was based on a popular kids story or fairytale. It was perfect for Ben and he just made the height cutoff to ride all of the big kid rides (by less than an inch!). He rode on the log ride, polar coaster, ferris wheel, pirate ship, crazy barn, etc! I think he was in heaven (it was pretty fun for the adults too!)! You'll notice his hands in the air on several of the rides...what a nut! :)

Ben is actually on the big raft above in the seat next to Mike. They were all SOAKED after this one and of course Ben wanted to go again! :)

We're back...

at least for a few days (we head to Michigan this weekend!)! We had a blast in New Hampshire with Mike's fam this past week. We got home at 2:30 am last night. Mike was a trooper and drove the whole way, while Ben and I slept like babies. :) I have a massive amount of pictures from the trip and plan to do a series of posts in the next day or two, but for now, I thought I'd post something fun that we came home to last night. Mike was in a 3-on-3 b-ball tournament in downtown Wadsworth a few weekends ago and a local newspaper photographer caught a snapshot of Ben taking in all the action. He ended up on the front page of our small town newspaper last Sunday. He's a local celebrity...ha ha! Lots more pictures to come soon!