first steps

Banks officially took his first steps just moments ago! They were a little wobbly and ended with a near crash but he is starting to balance better and he definitely walked 2 steps before falling. Yaaaaaay, Banks!

benson's new trick

This is Benson's favorite new trick. Sometimes we catch him looking in the mirror practicing his eyebrow moves and sometimes he just randomly does it during conversation. Today he moved his eyebrows as fast as he could instead of talking on the phone to Frampa, because he wanted to show him his new trick too.

srunchy nose kissy face

This is my favorite face! It has taken us a lot of waiting with the camera to finally get a shot of it, but it was totally worth it. Generally Banks does this when he is mad, which makes it all the more hilarious.

i gots me a slice of sweetie pie

Banks is just as sweet as he appears in this photo. I wish everyone who reads this blog could enjoy spending lots of time with him. Banks loves to shake his head "no" and raise his hands in the air while he does it. My most favorite thing he does is when he puts his lips in a kissy face, scrunches up his nose, and sniffs. It is so hilarious! We are working on getting photos and videos of all of these and we'll post them as soon as we do. I love this tiny little bundle of sweetness!

conversations with benson

Benson is seriously full of insight these days and I really need to start keeping track of his little pearls of wisdom. We start with conversations we had today:

Ben- "Where do you want to go on a mission when you get bigger?"
Benson- (after a few seconds of serious pondering) "Home Depot."


This one was at dinner:
Ben- (to Banks, and pointing at the appropriate person) "Daddy, Mama, Benson."
Benson- "I ARE NOT BENSON I ARE BONECRUSHER (pronounced Bone Frusher).
Ben- "I wish you would choose a nice Transformer. Don't you want to be Optimus Prime?"
Benson- "I ARE NOT A NICE ONE. I ARE THE THE MEANEST FRANSMOWER IN THE WHOLE WIDE WORLD!"

a list

Things that have happened since my last post

1. We got robbed.
2. We moved into our new house.
2a. Ben and I moved a piano by ourselves and I moved half a washing machine UPSTAIRS with him.
3. I personally spent 15 hours cleaning the old house, though Ben also put in a few solid hours.
4. I forgot to clean the ceiling fans and incurred a $25 fee (where were you, Suz!?) :) but other than that passed the white glove test.
5. We got to move so we didn't really care about the fee.
6. I got my first seed catalog in the mail.
7. I joined Seed Catalog Addicts Anonymous.
8. My sister came to visit. (yay!)
9. Ben got out of the Air Force.
10. Ben signed up for 4 years in the Air National Guard. (what the?! Ben?!)
11. Banks figured out how to climb stairs.
12. Benson joined Transformeraholics Anonymous.
13. We bought lots of compost and sulfur.
14. Ben dug up the rocks and began preparing soil for the garden.
15. We got internet!

We have caught up on all of your blogs and now you are caught up on ours and it's as if we were never apart.

sweet internet

We are back in blogland. It has been painful to be away for the few weeks we were but thankfully that's over now and we can continue to enjoy knowing what the heck is going on in people's lives. I will post more of an update later but I just thought you should all know... and be excited... that we are back!

In the spirit of Caity's entry

We got robbed, too! How crazy that both of us got robbed within a few weeks of each other! Anywho we came back from Utah to find our back door open and... our stove missing! hahahaha I laugh about it now but it was pretty scary to find it. And believe it or not but that's all they took. Just the stove. Random! Thankfully we didn't own it so besides a few days without a stove and a MASSIVE heating bill for that month all is well. Hopefully that's the last of being robbed. I'm so sorry to Caity for having to replace textbooks. That would be so painful! They are a rip-off to buy the first time.

it's been painful

but Ben and I are finally separating. It has been a good learning experience these past couple of years but the time has come to move on with our lives... so good bye Air Force!! Ben is picking up his orders as I type and I'm supposed to be finishing up the packing that has been half way done for a month now. I'm sooooo excited to quit living in boxes and settle in our new house. We transplanted the rose bush, jasmine, and tulips yesterday (cross your fingers that they don't all die!) and tomorrow we will transplant ourselves. Here's hoping I can clean this house well enough to pass the white glove test!

tracy's christmas vacation

We had a GREAT time up north visiting family. Benson got to go to the dinosaur museum and he thought it was pretty awesome. I think collecting eggs was the highlight for him though. Anyway it was all so much fun and the whole family really spoiled the boys with kisses and playtime. Not pictured here is the super fun time Benson and Banks had with the cousins at the other tracys' house. You'll have to look at Suz's blog for that I would guess. Anyway it was hilarious to see Benson and Spencer together. They would just sit and have talks or hold each other's hand to go play with toys. And all of the cousins just ADORED Banks. That kid got so much loving up there it was ridiculous. Even Celly wanted to hold him all the time. We will really miss everyone up there, and I'm sure we will talk about the fun times we had until we can make it up there again to make some more memories.

paintings

My sister is amazing. I just wanted to share with everyone that she has just posted some of her paintings for sale on etsy.com. I think they are so beautiful and if I didn't get them for free I'd buy them for sure. :) Anyway I've always been inspired by her and I just wanted everyone to enjoy her talent. Love you, Laurs!