Lately

I try to keep taking pictures even if I'm not blogging them very often, but life is just busy right now. My theme-word for life right now is "constant." There are constantly things to do and no time for all the extras, like blogging. Today is my day off and while I have work that really needs to be done I am going to finish this blog that I started over a week ago!

Ben's vocabulary continues to amaze us. We are fully in the "what's this do?" & "what's that called?" stage. He even hears things I don't hear and wants to know "what that sound?"

Here are a few of the latest and greatest Ben-isms.

Ben requested to have a Bible like Daddy (ie. all words, no pictures). I had been out of the house and when I got home Ben couldn't wait to tell me "I take my new Bible to church to teach the peoples like Daddy."

After a meal we give Ben a wet paper towel to wash his hands and face. Before I could get the paper towel to him once, Ben proudly told me, "I tasted it all off!"

Our coffee table coasters are made of rubber. Ben loved them as a baby and Nate is starting to notice them too. We were discussing the fact that they were rubber and Ben said, "These (are) rubbers?" Uh, not exactly son. Please don't tell anyone we let you play with "rubbers."

We have been practicing Ben's first, middle and last name so we talk about it a lot. Recently, Ben looked at me when eating his evening snack and said, "Amber, is this milk?" I laughed but wanted to say, "It's mom to you kid!"

It's no secret that Ryan and I think Ben is the smartest two year old ever :) I was sitting on the floor with Nate in front of me. Ben came and wedged himself between us and said, "I sit behind Nate." We were driving under an over pass and Ben said, "Me not go up there, me go under." He's brilliant :)

He is definitely a sponge to new words and ideas. In a recent thunderstorm the power went out and Ryan looked out the back door and said, "Oh crap!" A few minutes later Ben went to the back door and asked, "Where's the crap Daddy?" Oops!

While my mom was in town she said "Oh, shoot!" about something. Ben immediately started saying it. I chastised my mom, but only 5 minutes later I sprayed myself with the water hose and said, "Oh, shoot!" and Ben mimicked me. Oops!

I say "Oh gosh!" a lot; sometimes even to Ben. I caught him using the phrase correctly when playing with his toys recently. Oops!

Picture overload time!

We love Auntie Grandma Maren. She takes Ben to do "work" with her all the time when I have the boys with me at World Impact. We were at a birthday party for a kid from our church and she took Nadia and Ben for a walk when they got bored with the birthday festivities.

Playtime can be messy...

and silly...

and full of sharing...

and dangerous!

Superdad!

Bathtime is loads of fun now that Nate can sit. Nate is still a splasher and often gets my clothes too wet to continue to wear.

Yeah for cooler mornings.

Ben regularly requests "you take pitcher" of himself and Nate in my chair.

Not such a little boy anymore.

Ben loves to sing and dance to 5 Little Monkeys. He did a dinner time duet with my mom!

Ryan is a great dad, but he is still a boy! Ben was requesting his daddy do some game with him that was unfamiliar to me. Then, they showed me! Ugh! I leave them alone for 3 hours a week so I can work in Ryan's office and this is what they do :)

We finally are getting a bit of cooler weather and were able to enjoy some fun outside at our staff bbq last Wednesday!