North Carolina Trip

We drove to Raleigh, NC for a week-long trip over Justin's spring break. We stayed with my sister Marianne and her husband Eric. We were able to look around at different areas and find a few we would like to live in. I was able to meet the faculty at NCSU and get a better feel for the program. We had a great time--but of course forgot our camera! Luckily Marianne loves to take pictures and sent them to me.



This is Benjamin loving Aunt Marianne's big umbrella in the rain. The week before we went to North Carolina it had been 80 degrees in NC and 9 degrees in Iowa the day we left. The week we were in NC it was rainy, overcast and chilly (40-50 degrees) and sunny and warm (60-70 degrees) in Iowa. Just as we were about to leave it started to warm up in NC. Then when we got home, it was cold again in Iowa--not the best of luck!

We didn't have a highchair at Aunt Marianne's so we used an old belt and a pillow on one of her dining table chairs to feed Seth. It kept him in place better than trying to feed him either on a lap or sitting on the floor with him wanting to dive for toys or other things that were much more interesting than food. It also made for several cute pictures.


Just Seth being his cute self and interested in everything--including his bare legs and striped socks!

Seth was tipping over instead of eating and I kept sitting him back up--then when Aunt Marianne went to get the camera he didn't want to tip back over; just sitting there smiling at us.

Finally a picture of him tipping over !

I had a few things to do before feeding Seth and so Aunt Marianne was watching Seth. To keep him happy, we had him in front of the mirror. Needless to say, he loves interacting with the baby in the mirror and was entertained for at least five minutes.

We all had so much fun in North Carolina. Thanks Aunt Marianne and Uncle Eric for letting us intrude on your lives and share your home! We love you and look forward to living near you!

Graduate School!!

March 5th I found out that I had been accepted to the Master's in English program at North Carolina State University in Raleigh, NC!! Either that day or the next, I had things to do at home, and Justin needed to run and get some things at school, so he took the kids with him. Well, they took longer than I expected and when they got home they brought this!! (Along with some daisies--the flowers were from Justin and the balloon was from Benjamin!)

It sings "Celebrate" (and is still singing though luckily softer than at first).

Sorry about the sideways picture. My concentration is Rhetoric and Composition, and I start classes in the fall (I just registered!).

Firsts for Seth!!

So here are a few pictures of Seth's recent firsts (hopefully soon there will be a picture of first time crawling). Seth has known how to roll over for quite awhile and how to turn around on his stomach. Well, the other day he realized that if he continued to roll over he could get somewhere! He doesn't seem too interested in trying when Benjamin is playing around (maybe he's afraid of getting run over--Benjamin is very rambunctious!).


This is a picture of Seth for the first time in his new carseat (Benjamin's old convertible carseat). Seth is now over twenty pounds and about 27 inches long--too big for his infant seat. Benjamin has been using his convertible seat as a booster seat for several months now, so we bought him just a booster seat, and Seth got this one (obviously he loves it and feels like a big boy like Benjamin who he loves!).

This was Seth's first time on the bus. A few weeks ago it warmed up to about fifty degrees, and we took the opportunity to ride the bus downtown and go to the library. Seth was wide-eyed the whole way into town but fell asleep on the ride home. On Thursday, it warmed up to seventy degrees (Benjamin celebrated by wearing shorts), and we rode the bus again--Seth fell asleep again on the way home!

I don't know if this was really the first time Seth wore Benjamin's train engineer hat, but it was the first picture I got of it!

This is the first time Seth wore the cute shoes Aunt Marianne got him! He was fascinated by them and continually pulling or kicking them off--when we went to the store, we finally left them in the van for safekeeping.

This was Seth's first time playing with his new bath toys from Aunt Lisa! He loves them (Benjamin too) and loves his bath even more! We tried to get a few pictures of him playing with them in the tub, but they all turned out very fuzzy. Enjoy!

Jan/Feb pictures

More are coming!

Picture Updates

Seth was in with Benjamin watching him play. I peeked in on them and they were playing firefighter! Benjamin has two hats and had given one to Seth so they were "playing" together.

Seth was very excited to be part of everything--he loves Benjamin!
Seth is sitting up so well now--he rarely tips over and then I'm not sure if it isn't a little bit on purpose!
Here is Benjamin on Christmas morning in his new fire hat and fire coat that I made for him. He has loved fire fighters ever since we visited the fire station and loves to put on his coat to help him play fire fighter.

My two boys!

All my boys!

We have a lot of photos of Benjamin wearing his pants on his head--I had to get a couple of Seth too!

Seth fresh out of the tub!

Sorry I haven't been updating this more regularly. Life has been rather hectic. I would say it will be better soon when things slow down, but I'm sure that something else will come up!

Benjamin and Seth

Benjamin and Seth are having so much fun being brothers! Benjamin has always loved holding Seth and is so excited that he doesn't have to use pillows anymore to hold him.

Here are some photos of them enjoying themselves on the floor.

Christmas Tree and First Snow!

My decorating helpers!

Such concentration! (This was the first photo I took, and so he didn't realize I was taking pictures).

This year Benjamin helped decorate the Christmas tree. He was so careful and loved being able to help. (Though now he is asking me when we get to take the ornaments off!) If you look at the above photo you will notice the green grass out of the window. We decorated our tree yesterday, November 29th. Today we woke up to snow! Benjamin has been wanting to build a snowman ever since we mentioned the fact that it would be winter soon with snow. He helped Justin take out the trash and then started in without even having gloves on. I hurried and found his and took them outside. His hands were already very cold, but he didn't want to come inside; he was having too much fun playing outside and building his snowman. Justin found his gloves and went back outside to help him. Our neighbors came over to see the snowman and watched until they got too cold and went home. Benjamin however was having too much fun to want to come inside. I finally had to persuade him to come inside because I was so cold (standing on the protected porch and I hadn't even been outside the whole time Justin was helping Benjamin build the snowman).

My cold boy who still didn't want to come in he was having so much fun!
Here it is with the face and arms! (He had various hairdos throughout).

Fire Station Trip

The new preschool playgroup Benjamin just joined went to the fire station November 18th. This was Benjamin's second time, but he still had a blast. Unfortunately they were out of plastic helmets this time, but he got a coloring book. He wears the first helmet he got a lot and I have had to mend the breaks with red tape.

Laughter

We were just sitting down for family scripture study, and Benjamin hopped off the couch to get something. Seth was on my lap and started laughing his head off. Benjamin kept dancing, Seth kept laughing, and Justin captured it on camera. Enjoy!

Halloween

Benjamin and Seth were both pumpkins for Halloween. We went to our ward's Halloween party complete with trunk-or-treat. Grandma Clendening was visiting and helped Benjamin carve pumpkins. We had a lot of fun. Grandma Clendening got a few photos fun photos posted below.

We are on our porch with one of the jack-o-lanterns. It was a beautiful day.

Grandma with Benjamin while carving pumpkins.

My two pumpkins with the jack-o-lantern.

Here is one of the jack-o-lantern's Grandma and Benjamin carved.

Here is Seth in the same pumpkin outfit that I made for Benjamin three years ago (yes, I suggested Benjamin be a pumpkin again this year, so I wouldn't have to make two costumes, but my boys could match).

Grandma Clendening holding Seth.

Here is a picture of us at our friends' house where we went to trick-or-treat and show off costumes. Nate took the picture but Benjamin refused to smile for it. I couldn't find Seth's hat for the picture. I later found it on the floor of the van. I am dressed as a farmer (Justin was too tired to dress up).

Here is a really cute photo of Justin and Seth I couldn't resist posting. :)