A Weekend at "The Condo"

Yesterday was my mom's birthday and to celebrate we went down to Orlando to spend the weekend with my parents at a condo near SeaWorld. Rosemary loves going to "the condo" (even though the condo has never been the same condo the next trip) and it cracks me up everytime she talks about it.

Saturday we hit SeaWorld again. It was a strange SeaWorld day--Believe, the Shamu show, ended up not happening. Apparently the whales were having some social issues and wouldn't cooperate. Randomly, we ran into Bennett, Logan and Caitlyn in the first 10 minutes we were there. Rosemary was in a mood and it took some coaxing to get her to talk. Finally, she walked a little with Caitlyn.

Watching the dolphins.

Petting the stingrays.

Ben's such a great tourist. So easygoing.

Rosemary had a tough day towards the end.

Later that night, mom and dad got the kids dinner and put them to bed so Jonathan and I could go out on a date. We went to CityWalk and had dinner at Margaritaville (Janey - if you're reading this, tell Dwayne it was delicious) then went and saw Slumdog Millionaire. It was so great to go out since we don't get to do that very often. Dinner was so good and the movie was fantastic.

Happy Birthday, Grandma!

Rosemary wanted to move the table so she could prop up her feet while she looked at her 'magazine.'

Lunch

The other day, it was so nice that the kids and I had lunch out on the porch. In the end, Ben had lunch all over his face too.

Rosemary just asked if she could borrow the car...not really, but something about how she was walking around with keys and sunglasses just seemed so old.

Janey's visit

(I'm really behind on posting this...sorry!)

A few weekends ago, Janey came up to spend the night and we had the Breman's over for dinner too. After eating dinner, we played darts out in the garage. The Breman's took us all to town.

It was a good visit with Janey. Thanks for coming up to see us!

A Pearly White

Ben's got a tooth. We first noticed it on Sunday, February 15...just one day after Valentine's. He was 7 1/2 months old.

He already is putting his one tooth to good use. He loves to munch on his puffs and Cheerios. Ben's still working on picking up the small bites and getting them to his mouth, but he's a very determined little fellow.

Ben at 7 Months

Benjamin is upright and on the move.

This month, Ben has mastered sitting and has begun to scooch his way around the house. He can army crawl anywhere. Still a lightweight, he's at least on the growth chart and is "very proportionate" according to his doctor.

Ben is a sweetheart and an easy baby. This month we did have a scare that he might have psoriasis, but after a little bit of hydrocortisone and Cetaphil baths, that seems unlikely. He's talking more...I've even heard him say 'mamamamama' and 'dadadadada.' And this boy loves to eat. The only food that it seems like he might not like is apple. And he's graduated to the highchair from the Bumbo.

Ben and Rosemary get along very well. She cracks him up.

Here he is at 7 months on February 2.

Rosemary's Third Birthday

A couple weeks ago we celebrated Rosemary's third birthday. This was the first one where she was really excited beforehand so it was so much fun getting everything together. 

Lots of friends and family came to the house to celebrate with us. Thank you all for coming!

Rosemary wasn't particularly picky about most things, but there were two things she insisted upon: the theme had to be Curious George and the cake had to have Curious George on it. Unfortunately, I really don't like making cakes and last year got so frustrated I almost threw her cake in the trash. Fortunately, our friend Brandi does like to make cakes and they're delicious and beautiful all at once. :-) She made the awesome George cake which was perfect. (And it was funfetti...the best cake flavor of all time). Check out Brandi's other cakes at brandisdandis.blogspot.com. 

The banner was from an idea on MarthaStewart.com. When Rosemary got up the morning of her party she saw it was very excited to see an "R" on the banner. "Just like in 'Rosemary,'" she said. I saved it to use for Ben's party. It's gender neutral, right? And yes, I will change the name to say Benjamin.
Once again, we were out in the garage for opening presents. Maybe one year it will actually be above 60 degrees on the day of her party. Thankfully our garage isn't too 'garage-y' it's more like a late 1970's rec room. Strange to be thankful for that.



The kids made ice cream in a bag. I was trying to do things like the kids do on the Curious George episodes that would easy enough for preschoolers. I was pleasantly surprised that the ice cream actually tasted good too. It melted pretty fast, but was good to eat.

Rosemary was eating a chocolate dipped banana. If you've ever seen the boxes of the mix in Publix and wondered if it was any good, the answer is YES! Oh my goodness, those were delicious.



Rosemary really looked forward to blowing out her candles and everyone singing.

Our girl is three!

Benjamin at 6 Months

Hard to believe our little guy is six months old. He's still sleeping great and eating well and overall is such a happy boy.

We started Ben on rice cereal a few weeks ago and added some oatmeal over break. He started vegetables (right now just yellow squash) on January 2 and seems to enjoy something with a little more taste. When Ben eats, he opens his mouth for the spoon, then tucks his favorite two fingers in his little mouth and sucks it all down. This makes for a relatively clean meal.

He's pretty close to sitting, although not there yet. If balanced just right, he'll stay up a second or two. I don't think it will be long.

Six months with the alligator

Ben's latest toy, the exersaucer...it was perfect, the Christmas tree came down and the saucer went up.

His first attempt with a sippy-cup, which was exceptionally unsuccessful, due largely in part to the fact that his mom did not realize that the lid was still on the cup. :-) Poor guy.

SeaWorld

While in Longwood, we took a trip to SeaWorld. The weather could not have been nicer and it was such a fun day.

Shamu!

Rosemary did not enjoy this ride. It spun pretty fast.

This girl can climb.

Blue Horizons, the dolphin show, was by far the most amazing show there. It's so cool. I can totally see Rosemary doing things like this one day.

Christmas with the Workmaster's

Jason and his family were at my parent's for Christmas this year. It was a lot of fun having everyone together.

Charles and Schuyler

Schuyler and Emma helping Grandma open gifts.

Rosemary hiding

Rosemary got a pair of skates (and pads) from my parents. She LOVES them. Too bad it takes longer to get everything on than it takes for her to skate.

Ben got to take his first dip in the hot tub, or "spot" as Rosemary calls it.

Schuyler and Ben

Charles, Schuyler, Emma, and Ben

 

Celebrating on New Year's Eve 

Christmas with the Peine's

We celebrated Christmas with the Peine's at Tim and Michelle's this year.

Olivia was great with Ben.

Passed out on Grandma's shoulder.

The very long game of Rummikube