Ben and Caroline's Blog

Emily's first semester at Christ Memorial has come to an end. The school puts on a Christmas program the last school day of the year. Caroline and I have been eagerly anticipating the program as Emily has been treating us to impromptu snippets of the performance over the last few weeks. It's clear they have been practicing a lot. A fun game for us is to try and figure out if a song Emily breaks into is one she learned at school or just an original that she is ad libbing.

The performance finally came yesterday and Emily and all her school mates did a fantastic job. Mimi, Grandma and Papa came to watch and Emily was clearly very excited to have so many of her fans in the audience. Papa flew in over night from San Francisco for the performance, landing just hours before the program started. It was awesome that we could all be there to see Emily's first officially sanctioned musical performance. For everyone that we know wanted to be there but couldn't please enjoy the following YouTube videos...

I took Mella and the kids to the soccer fields to play. They always have a great time and then want dinner as soon as we get back home. I was busy feeding the kids and didn't see what Emily had done to Mella until a good 30 minutes later. And then of course I took a minute to take a picture. Poor Mella.

Emily's class had a little Christmas party during school today. All the parents were invited for a Christmas ornament activity, snack and cookie decorating followed by some free time play in the classroom until the day was over. Emily had a big time and Mark enjoyed checking out all the cool classroom toys.

Mark recognizes the words dance and "talk on phone" now and it is really cute to watch him do both. He uses an old iPod of mine as a phone because that's what Emily always uses. Here is a video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ufsqQqnjcMg

Mark can say "momma and dada" but other than that he uses pointing to communicate and uses his ''more' sign to let me know when he wants more food or he will point to a toy and then do his more sign. I guess he thinks the sign means 'give me now'. The more Mark can do the more fun Emily and Mark have together. Here are some pictures of the kids playing this passed week.

Read more →

I took the kids to the soccer fields yesterday. Emily had a great time running around as usual, but this time Mark finally found something he loves to do too. Here are some pictures and a video of Mark's own version of running around the fields.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ig4RFaaLyhQ

We met some friends at the zoo today. It was hot (what the heck? When will it cool off??) but we had a good time. We bought a membership today so we can go as many times as we like for a whole year! Once Mark turns one the cost to take the family twice is more than a year membership so it was definitely worth doing. My friend brought her two kids in a wagon and I think I will do that in the future. It is harder to pull than a stroller but kids stay much happier in a wagon. I guess they enjoy a break from the five point harness and can see each other and can look around more when they ride in the wagon. Here are some pictures of our zoo trip... and Emily in a side pony tail!!

Emily wanted to go to the zoo after storytime today but Mark wanted to go home. So, we made our own zoo. Emily was hilarious. After we set up the animals she told me that I should "lay down on on the ground" because "you are the gorilla." I tried to check my email but she told me that "gorillas don't have phones." I later upgraded myself to zoo keeper and got my phone back so I could take some pictures. Emily was a mommy visiting the zoo with her babies.

Emily was really in to the zoo keeper talks which started out as me talking about the animals but quickly turned into me talking with the zoo visitors. I decided to slip in the video camera towards the end. She does that same face every time she talks as "the mommy." Her mommy face really cracks me up. I guess I should work on that...

Read more →

Ben and I took the kids up to my family's farm in east Texas last weekend to spend some time with Mimi and Grandy and to show Mark the farm for the first time. It was perfect weather and we all had a great time! I look forward to going back for Christmas this year. My best Christmas memories are from our farm and this will be our first Christmas at the farm since the kids have arrived on the scene. I can't wait! Until then, here are some pictures from our recent trip.

[smooth=id:59;]

Mark has been surfing around the furniture for a while now but just discovered that walls, refrigerators and cabinets work just as well. It is so funny to watch. I don't remember Emily ever walking along the walls. Mark is like a little commando!

And every now and then he moves quickly and undetected and ends up hitting the jackpot. Here he is stealing Emily's juice after moving across the den undetected. Mission accomplished.

Today was Mark's first Halloween. It was a lot to take in but I think our little pumpkin had a good time. Here he is having a pre-Halloween festivities snack while Emily iced some cupcakes.

Then we took off for the neighborhood parade and Mommy made the mistake of putting two kids in one wagon with one cup of juice.

Read more →

Emily likes to dance on the coffee table while watching herself in the mirror. It's best to watch this clip with sound because she really gets into the music. This is edited, it when on for a very long time.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BybKSNo9l3Y

Read more →

Emily officially turned 2 & 1/2 over the weekend. Ben and I took the kids to the soccer fields yesterday afternoon. Ben headed home with Mark and I was trying to get Emily off the field and back to the house. She finally relented and said she would head home. She ran ahead of me and towards the strip of sidewalk between the fields and our street. I walked up behind her and told her to be careful of the street and stay on the sidewalk. She didn't turn around, she just slowed down on the sidewalk (a few steps ahead of me) and put her hand up the in the air with her back towards me and said "I'm fine, mom". Emily can be a handful but she is smart, beautiful and strong. I know she will always be just fine.

Here are some pictures of my wonderful 2 & 1/2 year old sweetheart that we love to pieces. Her teachers take lots of pictures at school and post them for us to see. I copied a few and decided to share. Here they are...

Read more →

Here are some pictures of what Mark likes to do these days. He is on the move!