Houston, we have a walker!

I think it's safe to say, Bennett is officially walking. After a month of taking steps here and there he's walking about 75% of the time & crawling 25%. There's nothing I love more than watching those adorable wobbly little steps, but man, it has me on edge.

My attempt at getting a video of him walking for the last couple of weeks has been a big fail. Between Cal jumping in front of the camera, the Flip battery dying mid-video & Bennett refusing to walk whenever I get the camera out, I've only got a couple less-than great videos. More to come (hopefully)...

A little model in the making.

The other day Cal told me to get the camera and take his picture. So that's just what I did. I told him to show me some poses and this is what I got (the poses were all him)...Model shoot round 2... A day later he asked me to take some pics of him in his new Coug basketball outfit. I'm thinking the finger point might just be his signature look.

I love my little cheeseball!

Big boy

We're in milestone mania over here. B's doing all kinds of new tricks - walking, talking, you name it. This kiddos is keeping me on my toes. He's into everything (seriously, everything. Plants, cords, cabinets, stairs, etc.) and he's the quickest little guy with no fear, not a good combo.

He's saying a handful of words: mama, dada, Suz, night-night, duck, fish, no-no and he's repeating all kinds of sounds. And for the big kicker, for the last month B's been taking solo steps here and there but in the last week he's kicked it into high car and a couple days ago took 7 consecutive steps all by himself and yesterday, 10! The funny thing is that he's such a stubborn bugger that's it's all on his terms, we can't stand him up and have him walk to us, he just drops to him knees (so don't expect a video anytime soon ).

Bennett had his 1-year check-up Tuesday, here's how he's measuring up:

weight: 26 lbs. 5 oz (88%)

height: 31 7/8 (93%)

Cal's 1-year stats:

weight: 27 lbs. 12 oz (96%)

height: 33 inches (99%)

my baby @ 5 days old (his first post-birth check-up)

and my babes at B's 1-year check-up

Obviously, teething just a bit (#8 should be popping through anyday)

sweetest little voice.

A nice little (wet) Saturday hike.

We live in such a great place w/ so many great places to play outside & usually the weather cooperates this time of year. Not so much this last weekend.... We planned to hike Silver Falls on Saturday and a boat load a little rain wasn't about to stop us. We knew rain was in the forecast but we enjoyed blue skies the whole drive up. Then we got there and this happened...The kids were troopers. Cal hiked the whole thing all by himself. It was a really cool, fairly kid-friendly hike and we're looking forward doing it again, rain-free.

After hiking, Lo came over and slumber partied at our house. The kids just adore her and she's such a great helper.

Camping Adventure

We braved our first camping trip with the boys a couple of weekends ago for Ians' family's annual campout. This year we were at Mineral Springs up on Blewett pass. I was a little worried about the kids sleeping, Bennett getting crazy dirty since he isn't completely walking yet, naps, etc. but it went much better than I expected. Cal's def. his dad's son, he LOVES this kind of stuff.

hiking!

Cal was such a trooper and hiked all by himself uphill, keeping up w/ us, until he ate it.... big time. So I played Sherpa.

And we can't forget, this was the trip that I discovered my new talent in life.

a little bit of everything from the last couple of weeks

we've been beating the heat with some of this (thank goodness for a fenced backyard)...

fixing holes that our not-supposed-to-play-in-the-house hockey stick makes

an after music camp playdate with Cal's bestie, Avery, and her sis and Logan

lots of cousin time (and stuart time, the rat)

and perfecting our parenting skills.

4th of July

We had an awesome 4th of July in La Conner at the Hinton's. Nothing better than one of our favorite holidays, great friends and hosts, a beautiful scene & fireworks!

the kids on a crab hunt

Cal & Hailey

this picture pretty much sums up how Cal feels about sparklers

Fire truck ride.

Last fall at the fire station open house Cal won a fire truck ride in a raffle. We've been holding onto it for a bit until Cal was a little older and would really enjoy it (and not get overwhelmed) and that time had come, so Cal invited his cousins Gracie & Emmett to join in on the fun when they were in town for Bennett's bday. Firetrucks are one of Cal's greatest loves in life, so being able to ride one was as good as it gets. Of course, he dressed the part and off we went.I have nothing but wonderful things to say about the Douglas County fire dept. These guys were so great with the kids and really made this a day to remember.

The route that they took the kids on happened to go through my folks' neighborhood and they even stopped so Cal could show off his ride.

This was a couple of weeks ago and Cal still talks about it like it was yesterday. We were driving by the fire station a couple of days ago and he told me that he's "going back Sunday to ride the brush rig this time." I have to say, as a mom this was a day to remember. There's nothing better than seeing something bring your kid so much joy & happiness.

You can take the girls out of Pullman...

...but you can't take the Pullman out of the girls. Julie and my sis Amy took on five teams of beer dart players and walked away with a 4-1 record. Not too shabby considering the game involves shot-gunning foamy warm beer. It's amazing what a hit your self esteem takes when you get beat at a drinking game by two mothers.

Suzie is 6!

So much to blog about, but that will all have to wait cause today is this lady's special day & she deserves a little blog time. Same traditions, just another year: cheeseburger, presents, bday walk & lots of love.

clyde helped w/ the presents

Speaking of Suzie, I don't know what it is (maybe the funny face) but the kids just adore her. When Cal was a baby he couldn't get enough of her and 'suz' was one of his first words, and now B is the same way. He just lights up when she comes around, and following in his brother's foot steps he says 'suz' clear as a bell.

My baby boy is 1!

Bennett turned 1 on July 1 & I can't believe my baby is a year old! The last year has gone wayyy too fast and looking back seems a bit like a blur, a blur of happiness, fulfillment, contentment, fun, laughs, adjustment and learning patience & balance. This & this seemed like just a couple months ago. Hands down, this last year with my 2 boys has been the best of my life. Everything just feels right and Bennett has brought more joy to our lives than we could have ever imagined.

Thanks so much Gina & Jenni for grabbing my camera and taking pics. Without you I'd probably have 3 pics of the party to show forth.

Coming up for air.

Holy smokes, this summer has been crazy and my poor blog has taken a backseat. Normally the later months of summer seem to be the crazy ones for us but this year June & July have been a whirlwind. Between a week of VBS, Cal's music camp, birthdays (including celebrating the BIG 1), swim lessons, playdates, visitors, a fire truck ride, camping, 4th of July, awesome weather, etc. I have a lot of blog updates coming. So, stay tuned.

And blogger isn't cooperating with our laptop ever since our computer updated with a some Microsoft update (UGH). Anyone else have this problem and know a fix??