PUMPKINS!!!!!!!!!!!!

We decided to take advantage of the pumpkins at the Arboretum last weekend...It was the opening day of the patch and it did not disappoint. We even enjoyed a yummy root beer float while Ben ate a bagel. He thought the pumpkins were pretty cool - eating them, pounding them, licking them, eating hay, and crawling all over the patch. There are also a few pics of our living room on a rainy day. I had to keep him busy somehow, so I made an obstacle course complete with an audience. He enjoyed it thoroughly.

Enjoy!

posted by caroline

Ben's Smoothie

Ben has recently become mr. independent.... and insists on feeding himself, and while I know this is a good thing, eating enough fruits and veggies has been a bit difficult....it is pretty hard for a 12 month old to pick up and eat enough leaves of spinach! so, I decided to make him a smoothie and he loves it....here is the recipe if you're interested...

10-15 leaves of raw baby spinach
5 cubes of frozen mango (some days I substitute applesauce)
2 ounces of baked butternut squash (baked ahead of time and frozen in 1oz baby cubes)
a bit of water to thin
lots of plain whole yogurt (maybe 1/2 to 3/4 cup) (not baby yogurt that is filled with sugar, just plain old yogurt)
1/2 banana
dash of probiotic powder
mix in a blender and pour in a cup! I promise it tastes great. The banana and squash make it super sweet and the mango adds a little tangy kick.


Here is Ben enjoying his morning snack:

Happy Birthday Benjamin!

Ben turned one last Wednesday!!! It's hard to believe just one year ago we met this little guy:

He started off his birthday festivities with a trip to the Aquarium with mom and dad.

On Saturday he had a mini-party at his grandparents house to continue the celebration.

His BFF Isaiah also came to Dallas for Ben's birthday....here they are Sunday still wearing party hats.

Here are all of the pics. Enjoy!

Ben Goes On His First (Real) Trip

We just returned from an extended (details to follow later) vacation to Coronado Island/San Diego/La Jolla....for all of those that care, this place is awesome. We stayed on Coronado Island which is just across the bay from San Diego....you get a sweet view of San Diego from our balcony. Ben visited many beaches, the San Diego Zoo, met a hippo, people watched, met his second cousin, cruised not one, but three Surreys (you'll see pictures below), watched mommy get stung by one bee, ate ice cream two times, came back with one more tooth (eight now), heckled bad ping pong players (video below) and had one darn good time. Ben also learned how to nap in new places like the beach, zoo or cruising the street. Luckily, daddy made a mistake booking the trip and the kind people at the airport let us know that our flight was really Tuesday, not Monday, so we turned around and hit La Jolla one more time (the best beach). Enjoy...and stay classy San Diego.




Here are all of the pics:

Feet in the sand...

Surrey rides...

Video of Ben heckling pong players...

Just an awesome video...

What we've been up to...

Here are some pictures from the last few weeks. Ben has been busy learning brazilian jiu-jitsu, playing with his cousin, swimming, seeing his family, watching hula hoop contests and eating watermelon. enjoy.

Ben Goes Swimming

Ben had his first swimming class yesterday! We thought this was just supposed to be an orientation, but in Emler Swim School's dictionary, orientation = get in the water now. They had Ben in the water learning all of their cool games from minute one. He had a blast. By the end of the class, he had gone underwater a few times and was kicking his "little" (open for debate, after we could barely squeeze his thighs into the XL speedos) legs. For any parents looking for a place to take their kids swimming, two thumbs up for this place. They use salt water pools, keep the pools nice and warm year round, and the teachers are very good with the kids.... Here are a few videos of Ben's first class....please ignore the screaming kids in the background....apparently, the longer you wait to get your kid in the pool, the more afraid they become! i'm glad we went when we did....ben has no fear....also, please notice the other kid swimming with ben...he was 8 months old! that is 2 months younger than ben, and he appears to be on pace to become the next michael phelps. i saw him get dunked for 3 seconds 2 separate times!! that may not sound like a long time, until you actually see it done on a tiny little baby. that kid loves the water, he was flapping his arms, kicking his legs and laughing away the whole time. unreal.


I'm also attaching a video of ben playing with mommy a few days ago.....just because i can!

ben loves.....himself

during last week's thunderstorm in dallas, we decided to shack up at a hotel due to the lack of electricity and a/c that resulted....not important, anyhoo...what is important is that there was a nice full length mirror there for ben to play with his new best friend....himself! he loves mirrors...i'm not sure if all babies are like this, but he loves to touch himself and make out with himself.....his mirror image, that is.
p.s. he also loves to attack cell phones, cameras and video cameras that are shooting him.