Update Puh-leeeaaase!

Wow all I have to say is poor Brooke. Poor, poor Brooke. I dug out my journal last night and loved reading all about what Ben was doing at this age, pretty much on a monthly basis. My poor daughter is almost 14 months old and what have I written about her and her accomplishments? Well, nothing. Pretty much. So, I would like to take some time here to just write about what our awesome little girl is up to these days, so that I have some sort of record! First of all, she's tough. She's so fearless and a total daredevil compared to her 3+year old brother. Which of course between that and mom being much less on top of things with a second child has resulted in lots of bumps and bruises! But, she survives and forges on. The teeth. Ohhhh the teeth. A month or two ago she had I think (i think...again with the second child syndrome, with Ben i knew each tooth to the day) 4 top and 4 bottom, and now all her i-teeth (i? eye?) and molars are sprouting through at the same time. She opens up wide with one of her deep belly laughs and you just see erupting gums, and yet she's happy and sleeps well...most of the time. I tell you...tough! She's independent but thank God snuggly at the same time, whatever would mom do without the snuggles. She eats like a horse, all the time and anything in sight, as evident by the belly. She can walk, she's taken plenty of consecutive steps, but just chooses to crawl because it's so much faster! She'll get there soon. She only says a few words, "dada, mama, uh-oh, and duck", but chatters all the time in Brooke-inese and can definitely get her point across with her expressions and little pointer finger. Reading about Ben just reminded me how drastically things will change in just 3 or 4 months, and I love it and dread it at the same time! At least I have photos, we all know I take plenty of photos! Here's to our Brooke, our Weebs, our Biz. We love you!

Want a banana?

Brooke's 1st Birthday

We had the most wonderful family get-together for Brooke's birthday on Mother's Day this year. Melissa and Mindy were in town so it was awesome to have all grandparents and aunties there! As usual it was bittersweet for me, so excited that my baby is one and developing and doing new things every day, but also sad that she'll never be this little again! She's not walking yet, but is cruising and standing well on her own, so it should be soon. She loves to play with her brother and always wants to be wherever he is, which lately is outside playing! She is usually so happy and goofy and we love her more every day, but last weekend she came down with a stomach bug and the poor thing has been so miserable this week. But, right now she's napping and I'm home from work with her and have a chance to update our blog as a result! :) Here are some pics, it's tough to choose! Happy first birthday to our wonderful daughter we love so much!

Goin' Places

And, once I got her turned around she goes back....

Ben's Birthday

We had a such a fun birthday celebration for Ben this year since it happened to fall on Easter Sunday, April 4th.  The kids got Easter baskets in the morning, got all dolled up for church, and after naptime we had the family over to celebrate:  Grandma and Papa Hagman,  Mormor and Morfar Bolstad, and Auntie Kari and Hailee.  The kids did an egg hunt first thing, then we enjoyed a great ham dinner that everyone brought something to contribute to, and present opening and cake.  Ben thought it was so cool to have everyone here to celebrate, he was so exhausted from playing but could hardly sleep!  The next morning he woke up at 5 am wanting to play hockey with his new net.  Mike got him back to bed but when we got up at 6:30 he was up playing...little turkey had closed our bedroom door so as not to wake us up, turned every other light on in the house and got down to playing!  Too funny.  Can't believe our baby boy is 3, but he says just the funniest things and has been so good about going on the potty.  Such a big boy!

Brooke so sweet after church in her Easter best!

The three kiddos all decked out and ready to party!

My mom got ben a cool new croquet set for Easter that they love!

Look Mom, I found an egg!  They found lots of them and it was a blast!

Ben opening his new hockey net from Grandma and Papa, should have left this one for last because he didn't even want to open any others, just wanted to play!

Ben with his Lightning McQueen cake I made, while we sang to him.

Great action shot of him blowing out his candles.

"Yesssss, I did it!"

Spring Update

This time of year is always fun because between the two sides of the family we have a TON of March birthdays!  Mine the 8th, Mindy's the 9th, Vi's the 13th, my dad's the 22nd, and Joe's the 25th.  Poor Ben has been so patient in waiting for his turn and now his is just 9 days away, on Easter Sunday this year!  He's so cute about it and is getting really good at singing Happy Birthday and eating cake!  I'm having a hard time believing my dear baby boy is about to turn 3, I don't know how that's possible.  But, he amazes us every day with the sentences he comes up with and things he can help out with.  He loves to take care of Oscar and let him in and out the dozens of times a day he requires, and also feed him his dinner each night.  He still plays hockey relentlessly and I just discovered that Ice World starts offering lessons starting at 3, so we will probably look a little more into that as the year goes on since this seems to be an obsession that is not blowing over!

Brooke looks more like a little girl and less like a baby every day to me, and she will soon be a year old!  She can crawl so well and is getting a little TOO adventurous in pulling up to things and climbing, and has ended up with a few bruises as a result.  She definitely likes to keep up with Ben and much to his annoyance try to take his toys from him...little did I know the "fighting" would start this early!  But, for the most part they are so sweet to each other.  As busy as she is she still loves to snuggle and amazes us with the amount of food she can put down...she literally will eat three times as much as Ben at dinner and I'm not exaggerating!

I've recently started working 4 days a week instead of 3 and it's been thougher for me than I expected, I thought I was ready for it but come Fridays I REALLY miss time with my kiddos.  But, makes our time together that much more special I guess.  Ben's days at Sally's are numbered and starting in August he will start pre-school and we even just got him signed up for swim lessons through the school!  I know he will absolutely love it and really expand his little growing brain, but it will be a sad adjustment for us all since he's loved Sally's so much and I have felt so comfortable that they are there together.  Oh well, it has to happen sometime and I know he's ready for it. 

Okay well, I always struggle with what to include in these posts, I just know that it's WAY overdue and I'll try to add to it as I think of things!  I'm sure a post about Ben's birthday will come soon!  And now for some recent pictures...