My little kitchen helper.

and a little visit from his friends. look at that smile.her singing face.

kind of reminds me of this (last pic).

Playing catch up.

This past week has been a rough one. The whole fam has been sick.... again, making for a very LONGGGG week for me home taking care of them & myself. But we're on the mend and we had a good weekend hanging out at home, working outside, playing outside and going to a Wild game.

here comes trouble.Cal's imagination never ceases to amaze me, his car was a fire truck and B's was the pump rig. This little guy is always on the go. Our Seattle house was itty bitty so when Cal got mobile it was easy to keep track of him. Different story this time around and we have stairs... going, going gone. poor Cal got totally stir crazy during all our time at home and was into everything, including my closet. This makes me smile. Cal got out Bennett's baby book and was telling him about how he was in momma's belly and that he "used to be a baby."Cal was less than thrilled to be sharing his train with Bennett (sharing, a daily struggle for us).

In between the ick that invaded our house, Ian and I were able to sneak away for a night last weekend and head to Spokane for a wedding & a fun night with friends. Grammie & Pa came over to stay with the kids (thanks!!).

9 months

Little man is 9 months old today and to commemorate this special day he pulled up to standing all on his own. He's also cutting tooth #6, his 2 front teeth are beyond adorable and is full blown mobile keeping this momma constantly on her toes.

Dang it.

I thought I'd get Ian this year with a good ol' April Fool's joke. Ya, it's the oldest prank in the book but I had the perfect prop & I knew (unlike doing it to anyone else*) it wouldn't be mean cause Ian would NOT freak out with excitement. So, I've been sick with a cold/flu and I set the stage yesterday by over-exaggerating how nauseous I was. Then during the night I snuck into the bathroom and tucked a positive pregnancy test** on a piece of toilet paper next to the toilet on the floor. He was supposed to discover it when he got up at 5 a.m., come wake me up and be like WTF?! And I'd tell him that I woke up during the middle of the night, sicker than a dog, and figured it had to be morning sickness. Lastly, I figured April 1 wasn't on Ian's radar cause he didn't say anything about April Fools & I made sure not to mention it. Well, none of that happened, boo. After not saying anything this morning I finally asked him if he saw my surprise I left for him in the bathroom. He said no, thanks to some Dayquil he took last night that put him in a total fog last this morning....*When I was telling Ian about my bunk joke this morning he suggested that I post a pic of the stick on the blog and prank all you, but being the thoughtful person ;) I am I said it would be too mean.

**And in case you're wondering why I have a positive pregnancy test, I saved the tests (all 3 of them) I took when I found out I was prego with Bennett (& wiped them down w/ Clorox wipes). There is nothing that makes me smile more than looking at those 2 little pink lines.

Bennett's take on crawling.

The kid's got a killer Worm going on. Break dancing before he can even walk... pretty impressive if you ask me.

Sausage Fest 2011

A day filled with good company, family time & making 450 lbs. of sausage. Unfortunely, I didn't get very many pics this year but thankfully Ian's cousin Patrick snapped some and sent them our way.

Cal & his best bud for the day (Ian's cousin Jake)

there she is smoking in all her glory

Bennett hanging out with his great-grandpa Jack

Resemblance?

Some days I see it, some days I don't. Today I don't. I'll have to do some more side-by-side pics of the kids, they're kinda fun. I love looking back on Cal's baby pics cause we're so wrapped up in Bennett's baby phase that my memories of Cal at this age are a pretty distant. And can you guess what Bennett's had for his nightly veggies the last couple nights, I think his orange nose gives it away. And I still have no idea who the heck Bennett gets his good looks from... me or Ian??