Granma Cathie Visits!

At the park on one of the few sunny days during my mom's visit.


Granma hiking up the hill with Ben


Rub a dub dub two boys in the tub!


Fresh and clean and ready for bed :)


Look at those curls!


Love this picture..the only thing missing is Noah!


Talkeetna


Throwing rocks in the river


Pooped after a day of fun in Talkeetna


Noah at the park!


Noah and Granma


Shopping at Lowe's - look at those teeth!


Ben surrounded by his many loves - books!


Such a great picture of my big guy!


Noah's first time using a straw - he picked it up so quick!


At the Imaginarium on my mom's last day

My mom came to visit near the end of June. Originally she was coming out to help me because Brent was taking a work trip to Japan. His trip got canceled 2 days out from leaving but she came anyways. We had a really fun time especially since we got to spend some mother daughter time together while Brent watched the kids. My mom is always such a huge help when she comes and I look forward to every visit! I only wish we lived closer so she could see the boys more often...

At the Park

He looks so happy running free!


King of the mountain...


Our sweet boy


Ben and his buddy Mallory or "Waworwy" as he calls her :)

Our little Noah is One!!!

Waiting to blow out the candle on his birthday cupcake...


Oh yum yum yummy!


Ben loved his cupcake too!


Arrgh...taking after dad with the pirate face


The boys in their party hats their Aunt Brittany made for them!

Okay, yes I know it's almost the end of July and Noah is now 13.5 months old, but I am trying to catch up with the blog! So I couldn't not post pics of sweet Noah's birthday. It was a great day! We had a small celebration BBQ with close friends and some family. Noah's Aunt Brittany made him a special shirt that said "Noah 1" on it and a "Birthday Boy" bib.

Helping Dad

My boys working hard in their Carhardts :)




When we dig holes in AK we go hardcore and use a backhoe...even though the hole is only for a fence post!

My Handsome Boy

Look real hard and you will be able to see all 4 teeth!


So proud of himself for getting up into Ben's chair!



Noah will be ONE YEAR OLD on Thursday!!!!!
I really can't believe how FAST the year has gone. So much has changed and the time with my boys just keeps getting better. I'll be honest, the transition from 1 to 2 kids was really hard for me. Maybe because Noah was a pretty difficult baby especially compared to Ben, my laid back little guy! But since Noah has started sleeping better in the last few months it has gotten much easier! Noah takes 2 pretty solid naps a day and is typically very content to play on his own or watch his brother as long as he isn't tired or hungry. Hmmm hungry is a whole other story with Noah! He is such a food hound. I call him my little trash can. I cannot believe the amount of food he packs in on a daily basis. Geez!
He is really close to walking and took his first 4 steps this past Monday. Any day now! He has also surprisingly said a handful of words in the last week or so. His first was "out". He has also said up, hat, head, dog, woof, bib and water. It's surprising because Ben hardly said anything until almost 2! Our little Noah is a whole different ballgame! I guess that's part of the wonder that is having children... :)

Tupperware Heaven

The boys love to tear my nicely organized tupperware drawer apart


and it's so hard to not let them when it buys me at least 20 minutes of peace!

Yum Yum Yum

Mallory and Ben tasting my oatmeal chocolate chip cookies


Looks like they approved!!! :)

Fun in the Sun

Hello World! Have a little water!!!


Swimming


Noah having his lunch outside

We've had a few pretty warm days (by Alaska standards) so we had to take advantage of it by breaking out the kiddy pool for Ben and giving Noah his lunch outside. Unfortunately for Noah, since we have no grass, he spends his outside time in the stroller or the pack and play. But he doesn't seem to mind much. Ben loved the pool even though it was pretty chilly (even after dumping 4 pots of boiling water in it), he didn't want to get out come naptime!

Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center

Brent and Ben checking out the bison


Brent and his favorite oldest son


Me and my Ben at the Caribou

We went to the Wildlife Conservation Center on Memorial Day weekend. It was a beautiful day and I didn't want to waste it doing the same old thing at home! Well it was a good idea until we got out of the car and about 3 minutes later we were fighting off the crazy mosquito's!!! I think I got about 15 bites in a matter of minutes and the same for Brent. Noah somehow came away unbitten and Ben only got 2. Needless to say we headed back to the car pretty quickly and viewed the rest of the animals from the safety of our closed up car. The bright spot in this, though, was the park we stopped at in Girdwood on our way home. Ben loved it because they had a sand pit FILLED with all sorts of different construction vehicle toys. He was in heaven :)

Playtime!

Noah riding the fire truck


Ben finger/brush painting