Happy Halloween from Wreck-It-Ralph, Vanellope von Schweetz, and Fix-it Felix, Jr!
-Kim

A very happy birthday to Meo!!  We're so happy and blessed to have you in our lives.  We love you so much!

It's your birthday, Meo!

Yay for Meo!

Buddies!

-Kim

-Kim

-Kim

As much as I try to be a good mom, there are still moments where I miss something.  Moments of 'Mom Wins,' as my friends and I like to sarcastically call them.  This weekend I had such a moment.

I was making dinner this weekend, and while I was doing that I put together our lunches for the next day.  A piece of bread had a little spot of mold on it, so I tossed it into the garbage.  While I was doing all this, Ben was playing in the kitchen along with me.  I finished the lunches and went to set the table.  I was at the table for about 10 seconds before returning to the kitchen.  What do I find?  Yup, Ben eating the piece of bread from the garbage.

Luckily I found all the moldy parts, and the bread hadn't been touching anything gross or super unhealthy.  I had to laugh though, because this is the same type of bread that Ben had refused to eat earlier (sans mold of course), and refused to eat again today.  But place it in the garbage can? Delicious.

I had to laugh at my little scavenger, then I made a mental note to keep the garbage out of reach.  Ben likes to keep me on my toes.  I am predicting more 'Mom Wins' to come throughout his toddler years.

-Kim

Ben has learned how to move his eyebrows up and down to mimic the funny faces Pat and I make.  It is the cutest thing ever to watch him concentrate and furrow his brows at us.  Yesterday he crawled up to me and gave me a great show of his face making abilities.

Ben is 14 months old today!  I am loving this stage of life he is in.  Last year was wonderful, because we had our brand new baby boy.  But this year it almost feels like we are doing Ben's first autumn all over again.  Last year we were understandably wrapped up in newborn craziness.  We barely had a chance to notice all the fun fall changes, let alone really introduce Ben to them.  This year we are really able to enjoy our fall traditions and have Ben participate in them.  Ben is busy and keeps us busy.  He is learning new things every day it seems.  He is so much fun and brings so much joy to our lives.

Thanks for a wonderful 14 months, Ben!  We love you so much.

My busy boy!

-Kim

I heard something!

I see the kitty!

Tag!

I love paying with Dagger!

-Kim

-Kim

Ben has enjoyed climbing on our bottom step for some time.  It's a big one, and Dagger loves sitting there.  Where the kitty goes, Ben follows, so of course he enjoys climbing up it.  So far that was pretty much as high as he would go.  He might try to climb up another step, but didn't get very far.  That all changed the other night.

Ben can now climb all the way up the stairs.  Obviously we only let him do it when we are right behind him, as he can't climb down yet.  But watch out, Ben is really into exploring his world!  Looks like our gates will be getting a lot more use. ;)  You can see Ben climb the stairs here.  Ben sure is keeping us busy!!

Tiny climber!

-Kim

Every morning is more or less the same when it comes to food.  Ben gets up, I give him his milk, then I put his breakfast together.  His solid breakfast isn't very elaborate, and I often prepare it the night before.  So it just takes a couple of minutes to get it out and ready to eat.  Well one morning Ben decided to go see what Pat was up to while I was making his breakfast.  Pat was having his cereal.  (He leaves earlier in the morning than Ben and I, so he eats earlier.)  Ben crawled on over and got Pat to pick him up.  Pat let Ben try a little bit of cereal.  I think now it might be a thing. He now has first breakfast of milk, breakfast 1.5 of bites of Daddy's cereal, and breakfast 2 of his own solids.

It is super cute to see Pat and Ben eating together.  I love our little family breakfasts.

So sweet

Love!

-Kim

This Sunday was a busy day that kept me out of the house from about 7:30am til 6pm.  The first activity was church, which Pat and Ben also attended.  But after that I was off and they were on their own.  I think this was the first full day with Pat alone on Daddy duty!  It isn't that he tries to avoid taking care of Ben, but we both love Ben and spending time with him.  And really, things just work out that Ben is usually with just me or both Pat and I.

My day was good.  I had the typical strange sensation of missing something.  I enjoyed the odd lightness of just carrying around my purse.  But at the end of the day I was so excited to get home and see my boys.  They were eating dinner when I got home, and Ben had the biggest smile on his face. The one good part of having to be apart from him is that smile when I get home.

I sat down with them, got all ready and asked, "How was it?"  Pat's answer?  "Good."  Yep, hours apart and that is the summary.  Good.  I mean, that is way better than "bad" or "worst day ever" or "Thank goodness you are finally home."  But still, good?  Next time I'm going to make Pat take notes.  ;)

-Kim

Dagger found some friends to hang out with while Ben was napping.  They share one of her biggest interests- sitting still.  :)

After the actual maze part of our corn maze adventure, we checked out the rest of what the farm had to offer.  Every year they add more and more.  This year was no exception.  Sadly Ben is still a bit too little to enjoy a lot of it, but I know next year we will be chasing him all over the place.  As it was this year we looked at the pumpkin patch, the petting zoo, the climbing toys, the grain tables, and the store.  Ben loved it!

Here are the many many pictures of the rest of our Corn Maze fun.

Mandatory sitting on some straw picture.

Everything is more fun with Daddy.

What is this thing?  It's as big as me!

Laughing at Daddy

Don't turn around, Ben!

So big!

The big play area for kids

My little cutie cop

He loves cars

In the tractor with Meo!

He knew how to steer right away!

Grain tables

Looking at soybeans

Of course he tried to eat the soybeans

Pumpkin checkers!

In the pumpkin patch

Chilly, but having fun

-Kim

It's a little late, but I finally uploaded the videos of Ben's birthday party!

Here is where we are singing to him.  Here is Ben with his smash cake.  As you can see in it Ben didn't exactly smash his cake.  He really enjoyed the strawberries, but I think the frosting was too sweet for him.  Overall he enjoyed the experience.  It would have been fun to see him really dive into the cake, but honestly I wasn't expecting it.  He has been feeding himself since he was six months old, so he knows if he doesn't want to eat something he doesn't have to touch it.  Plus there was a huge crowd staring at him.  That would make anyone a little nervous.  I think he did really well with all the attention!

It is hard to believe that the party was over a month ago!  Thank you again to everyone who came to celebrate my little man turning one.  It was such a good time!  I love watching these movies.  We're so lucky to have so many great friends and family members that love Ben.

-Kim

For the past few years, Meo, Omi, Pat and I have been going to a local corn maze.  Every year we race through the maze.  The first year they had an actual race maze to go through, and sadly Pat and I lost.  That has been the only time we have lost though.  Pat and I have claimed victories at every other visit.

This year we were didn't want to be too cocky.  We would have a one year old to carry around with us.  Luckily Ben is still young enough to enjoy being worn, so I was able to strap him on and get around the maze.  And Ben loved it!!  We saw several other babies being worn around the maze too.  It was definitely the way to go.  Next year, however, I think Ben might want to walk.  That gives us a year to convince him he wants to be on Meo and Omi's team, right?

The theme for the maze this year was Cinderella.  They have several games you can play through the maze.  We decided to race by going through the maze parts that had numbered checkpoints.  There is a map of the maze and the checkpoints are labeled, making it much easier.  We decided to have Pat and I start with checkpoint 1, and Meo and Omi to start with checkpoint 8.  Pat and I have a great system for the maze.  I work the map while he scouts ahead.  He is also responsible for my general well being in the maze, since I tend to be fully focused on the map.  He makes sure I don't trip over anything or fall into a mud puddle or something.  This year I was also on baby duty, wearing Ben.  We thought we were making pretty good time.  We found our check points and were on our way to number 7.  I had just asked Pat how he though Meo and Omi were doing, when we saw them.  Yes, they too were on their way to number 7.  Somehow they had gotten from 8 to 6, and, well, that was as far as they had gotten.  We brought them with us to 7 and showed them how to get out of that section of the maze before heading onto check point 8.  You guessed it, Pat, Ben, and I won!!!  That is 4-1.  Go Team Cartwright!

Gearing up for the race!

Action shot!

With Meo and Omi!

The winners!

-Kim