Fantastic Four!

Ben is now four months old and he is fantastic! He is now rolling over both ways, reaching and grabbing everything and anything that gets near him. He's working on his cute baby sounds and endearing old people everywhere with his laughter! His next plan is to learn to sit up unassisted.

Here's Ben's four month picture, still has the wild hair. : )




Still looking pretty similar to me but that could just be the lack of eyebrows on both of them!

We took advantage of the three day weekend as well as my parents neighbors being out of the country to head over to Chelan for the weekend. Grandma and Grandpa's house was full with Aunt Kacey, Uncle Eric, Nathan, Kayla and some of their friends so borrowing the neighbors house worked out perfectly. We were also joined by Aunt Jennifer, Uncle Chris and cousin Claire. It sure is fun to watch all the kids interact. Here's Claire and McKenzie enjoy breakfast together.



Being right across the street from Grandma and Grandpa's had its advantages and we took advantage of it by letting both kids have a little quality time with the G's. Ben stayed and played with Grandma while Matt and I took McKenzie to the pool ("wa-tee" as McKenzie calls it). She thought that was the best. The only thing that got her out of the pool was the promise of going on the swings at the playground near the pool. Here's a picture of us with Grandpa C and Nathan. Guess everyone else should have been wearing their sun glasses in the pool too.




McKenzie and me, happy in the pool!




Daddy with Ben after dinner at one of our favorite places in Chelan - Lake Chelan Winery where we like their wine and LOVE their BBQ ribs! We eat at the BBQ every time we come to town.

The drives over and back were long but the kids did great. Ben loves his car seat and would prefer to sleep there over anywhere else. Guess he's just practicing for when he grows up and gets a Lazy-Boy recliner. At least he's happy!

There's A Rattle In My Car

My car is barely three years old, but yes it has some sort of rattle in it --literally. I need to do some serious digging in the seats to find whatever kids toy has fallen though a crack because every time I go over a bump in the road I hear it back there rattling away. These are the things that no one ever tells you about before you are a parent. That and why your baby would possibly need a shirt like Ben is wearing below. A picture really is worth a thousand word or a thousand diapers in this case!



I have heard that one day you'll wake up and your little boy will be a man. I sort of felt like that on Tuesday when I purchased the items below for Ben.



Poor guy has a bit of rash on his neck lately but apparently it's nothing a little athletes foot cream can't handle. He also has a pretty extreme case of cradle cap that I've been battling against since he was born. Now we're pulling out the big guns and trying Selsun Blue. Good thing Ben doesn't wear a lot of black clothes I guess.

On to more exciting topics. Our good friends Rachel and TJ got married this weekend and we were lucky enough to get to spend a sunny afternoon helping them celebrate their marriage. McKenzie loved attending the wedding. Her favorite parts were the candy, cupcakes and dancing. Here's a picture of all of us at the wedding. Rachel was the most beautiful bride. Check out her blog for pictures of the actual wedding!


This past Sunday was a perfect Seattle day...perfect for doing yard work and just hot enough to require some rest in the shade while the kids were napping. McKenzie is finally getting to a good age where she can entertain herself for longer periods of time so Matt and I were able to get some stuff done in the yard while she played in her house making pretend snacks for the dogs and Benny was sitting in his swing enjoying the slight breeze.



Here's a little preview of the yard. I think this is the year we'll finally get everything in shape to enjoy it. We've come a long way since we purchased this house five years ago. Check out the contrast from the back of the house.




We're heading to Chelan for the long weekend so we should have some good pictures to share next week.

It's Amazing What a Full Night of Sleep Feels Like

Not to mention an all expense paid trip for a week to Hawaii!!! Matt and I were fortunate enough that he won his works Achievers Club trip again this year (last years post about our trip to Atlantis) but the real prize was that Grandma and Grandpa C came over and stayed with McKenzie and Ben while we were on our trip. Thanks you dear parents.



We had a wonderful time and really enjoyed all the activities that Matt's work planned for us. The hotel we stayed at was fantastic. It had both a boat system and a tram to take you from one end to the other because it was so large. We did find that if we walked really fast we could usually beat either one.




This year we did a snorkel cruise again and of course massages at the spa. The most exciting adventure was a Zodiac tour out on the ocean and going to snorkel by Captain Cooks Monument. We thought that our snorkel cruise had some of the best snorkeling we had experience but the amount and variety of fish we saw out on the Zodiac tour was amazing!






We saw four sea turtles and actually swam with two of them. Below is one of the ones we swam with and then Matt on the shore outside our hotel room with a turtle. We really made use of our cameras underwater features on this trip. We can't wait until we can take pictures of the kiddos in the water this summer.





It was a quick trip, Monday to Friday and then we were back home with the kids to take Grandma out for Mothers Day breakfast on Saturday and then have a relaxing family weekend. Thanks Grandma and Grandpa C for taking good care of our babies!