Boy toys and other randoms...

Nattie doesn't really have many girl toys yet (not that she really cares). Ben, however, has toys out the wazoo...lots of boy toys. Nattie isn't partial to baby dolls and doll houses yet, so it's always funny to find her playing with (aka chewing on) something Ben left out. Here she is enjoying some monster trucks, Woody's boot spur, and an orange mini-basketball. She's just so cute in her drool covered clothes. I love my laid back little girl.

Just a few more pictures from the last couple of days. Ben has all of a sudden become very interested in coloring and writing. He is learning to be more patient and take the time to try to color within the lines (big deal for him!). He is also getting good at sounding out words and is even able to spell and write a few. It's so fun to watch him learn new things. One of his new favorite things to do is string about 900 letters together and then ask me what that spells. "Mom, what does G-K-S-G-T-T-L-E-T-Y-E-P spell?" Try sounding that one out! :)

Two quickie Ben stories from this past week...

After dinner one evening he was done and wanted me to clean the food off his face. He yelled from the kitchen table (so polite...ha ha)... "Mom, come wipe my butt!" Um, Ben, did you not realize that you were at the kitchen table and not sitting on the toliet? He started cracking up when he realized what he said....so did I. :)

Yesterday morning he woke up very thirsty and asked me to get him a drink of water. After chugging a big glass full, he looked up at me and said..."Ahhh...that was SOOO refreshing, Mom." :)

650 miles...

That's how many miles Mike has run, so far, this year. That's like running from our house in Ohio to my parent's house in Missouri and then going another 50 miles. Craziness! In fact, that trip takes so long to drive, that we've only actually driven it once in eight years! We usually fly. Suffice it to say, he is a running machine (at least in my book!) and very disciplined when it comes to training for a race...especially a marathon.

This morning he ran in the Akron Road Runner Marathon and accomplished his goal of finishing in under four hours (3:55)! He beat last year's time by 12 minutes! He trained hard, ate right, and figured out the best way to stay hydrated throughout the race and it all paid off. Ben is, of course, very excited to have another race medal to wear around the house! :) Way to go, Mick...we are very proud of you!

"Jogging is very beneficial. It's good for your legs and your feet. It's also very good for the ground. It makes it feel needed." - Charles Schulz, Peanuts

I'm glad Mike is making sure the ground feels needed because I'm definitely not. Watching one of these big races really makes my lazy butt feel guilty. Seeing people of all shapes, sizes, and ages working hard to accomplish a goal they've set for themselves is pretty neat. Does it count if you think about exercising a lot? :)

After Mike had a chance to sleep for a few hours and shower up, we headed over to Papa and Nana's to visit with the fam. Brad and Christina came up (she ran the half-marathon and did great!) and we had fun just lounging around watching the Buckeyes game.

Bubbles and a trip to the car dealership...

I like for the titles of my blog posts to draw the reader in (ok...so I don't really think THAT hard about them)...unfortunately, once you actually read the post you are likely no longer interested...sorry about that. I think that might be the case with this thrilling post. :)

Nattie was so cute tonight in the bathtub surrounded by bubbles. She was giggling up a storm and having a blast splashing around.

Yesterday, Benny and I had fun playing "car dealership" in the basement. I think I've posted on this before, but he loves it. All the Little People characters and animals are the customers. He lines up all of this small vehicles in a row and they come and purchase the vehicle of their choice. Yesterday, Pooh just happened to be the owner of the dealership. We named it the Hundred Acre Wood Car Dealership and there wasn't an unhappy customer in the bunch! He even sold a school bus and a combine...very impressive! :)

Just another day...

A teething Nattie = lots of drool, soggy toys, and tears. She has two in on the bottom now.

Nattie wants to eat everything we're eating. Mike made pancakes tonight and she kept pulling his pancake to her face...trying to sneak a bite. She can't quite figure out how to swallow something chunky yet. She sucks on a bite for a minute and spits it out. I'm just glad to finally have a child who's interested in food!

She can feed herself her bottle now and stand at the ottoman all by herself...don't be decieved, however, she STILL does not roll over or attempt to crawl. She'll stand there (bottom left pic) when I put her there...but she could never get there on her own. She is an expert sitter though. :) People keep telling me she's fine and she'll move eventually....I hope! I guess I should be thankful that I don't have to chase her anywhere and that 99.9% of the time I find her exactly where I left her last (not that I'm leaving her a lot...you know what I mean!). :)

Last, but not least, a Benny story...tonight before bed we were cleaning up his toys together in the basement and he found Wonderwoman with some of his other super hero toys. He brought her over to me and asked if he could sleep with her tonight (he ALWAYS sleeps with some type of toy...car, stuffed animal, etc). Anyway, I said, "Why do you want to sleep with Wonderwoman?" He said, "Because I like her and she's flexible. See..." and then he proceeded to show me how flexible she was. Mike tried to convince him to sleep with a more "manly" toy...but her insisted on Wonderwoman. She took a bath with him too....don't worry...I told her not to look. :)

Grammy and Pops...

My parents, Grammy and Pops, came for a visit over this past weekend and we had a lot of fun together. We went to the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo, Brandywine Falls and Szalays Sweet Corn Farm. Mike and my Dad watched a little football (Go Bucks!) and we enjoyed ice cream with Papa and Nana one evening too. It was a great visit and Benny and Nattie loved spending time with their grandparents!

The zoo had a special dinosaur exhibit set up and Benny LOVED it. I love the picture below. :)

More dinosaurs...they move, make sounds and spit water on passersby...pretty cool to a four-year-old!

Some of the wildlife we visited...

Ben got to touch a snake and thought he was pretty cool. The family picture on the top left makes me laugh...we were attempting to include Nattie without taking her out of her carseat and Ben is obviously not cooperating...oh well...we tried! :)

Here we all are on the giant swing at Szalays Farm...

There was a man playing jazz music at the farm and Nattie was very intrigued. She just sat there in a daze staring at him (top right picture). :) Grammy enjoyed some roasted corn on the cob (with lots of butter, salt and pepper)...yum!

Thanks for visiting, Mom and Dad, we had fun and are looking forward to seeing you again next month! Love you!

Labor Day fun...

We spent all afternoon yesterday with Mike's family celebrating Labor Day. It was a fun afternoon of eating and laughing. At the end of the day Benny was in the driveway and fell, pretty hard, on a skateboard he was playing around with. He has a partially swollen eye and big mark on his little face. He'll look lovely for his first day of preschool tomorrow. Poor little man!

This morning, Mike ran in the Labor of Love Run (five miles) sponsored by our church. He is gearing up to run the Akron marathon again in just a couple of weeks! This was the 25th anniversary for the race, so there was a "family fun day" following. Ben had fun bouncing in the bounce houses and riding ponies! Natalie enjoyed some ice cream. It was actually Nana's cone...but she was pulling Nana's hand toward her face to swipe a lick. It was REALLY funny.

Happy Labor Day!

A happy family...

Sweet little faces...

A happy family is but an earlier heaven. -- John Bowring

Daddy and Nat taking a nap together this afternoon. It was so cute how she was nestled up next to him.

Daddy and Ben watching something weird on YouTube this evening. All I know is that it involved a screaming cat shooting a gun??! Can you see the screen?

I love my family.

Parental performance-enhancing shoe

I received a Huggies coupon booklet in the mail today and had myself a good laugh. Apparently Huggies new line of diapers, "Little Movers", are made so effectively that your baby will actually move about more quickly than he or she was able to with sub-par diaper brands...like Pampers Cruisers. :) In fact, your baby will be SO fast that Huggies has actually created their own pair of "parental performance-enhancing shoes" just so you can keep up with your little speedster.

Yes, that's right, Huggies has come out with a shoe for adults. WEIRD! Maybe I am just not up on what is hip and trendy these days (ok...so I know I'm not), but SERIOUSLY, who would wear a pair of shoes with wings and the word "Huggies" on three sides?! :) Oh..and did I mention they are velcro too? Wow!

I guess they aren't for sale to the masses yet, just part of their "Little Movers" promotion. Sorry, but you'll have to wait just a little bit longer for your pair! :)