6 months

Already? Time has flown by with Cole. It felt like it took a lifetime for Ben to get to 6 months. With Cole it happened in .2 seconds. This boy is such an angel. He sleeps through the night, takes long naps, and is a constant ray of sunshine. Seriously, he is always smiling or giggling about something.

He melts me. He is so cuddly and sweet. He is so so into his toes. Trying to change his diaper is such a challenge because as soon as the pants come off his legs fly up and he gets his toes in a death grip or he shoves them in his mouth.

He has started solids and he is a huge fan. He loves rice cereal. He has already eaten 10 more than Ben ever did. He will test out anything and he usually will go back for seconds. He is Mr. Grabby. Anything remotely close to within his reach runs the risk of being ripped out of your hands and then immediately shoved into his mouth to be covered in drool.

We love you lil' C!

Dinosaur Museum!

 Go figure Ben's favorite part of the museum would be the itty bitty waterfall. Seriously, we had to sit and watch it for twenty minutes. He kept trying to jump the railing to go play in it.

Look I exist!! Hooray! Cole loved getting his toes in the sand. Poor kid has spent most of his life indoors avoiding a freezing Utah winter!

Sunshine!

Who dressed that kid? Oh right, me. Ooops. Shorts and galoshes are so in right now. Maybe not together . . .

Happy Birthday!

 

How spoiled is Ben? Honestly. I like to think that he is just really really loved!

Count 'em! Three whole years old!

 

Ben with Aunt "Apee."

 

The cupcakes for his birthday looked way cooler in my head.  Since we were having a Lightning McQueen party (again) I tried to make them look like white wall tires and regular tires with hubcaps. Not so much. Oh well. They tasted delicious!

I am quite disappointed with myself about the pictures from Ben's birthday. I didn't take nearly as many as I should have or wanted too. I was so distracted trying to get dinner ready (which was an hour late!) and presents and cake done that I hardly took any pictures! Sigh. I don't even have a picture of me or Scott with Ben at the party! Do I have a brain? Sometimes . . .

 Ben and his best buddy, Uncle Jason.

 Woody and Buzz together at last!! Sally was so helpful to make sure that Ben didn't trip on his Buzz costume.

 Ben got the toy he has been dreaming about. A "fireball" Lightning McQueen. It lights up and everything. This is the Lightning McQueen from the "Toyko Mater" short. He adores it. Why the long face? Cousin Weston also loves Lightning Mcqueen and he really really wanted to play with this cool car too. So we had a few tears on both sides. So sad.

Untitled from Britta Bruderer on Vimeo.

Happy Birthday to You! from Britta Bruderer on Vimeo.

How funny is Ben's face while we sing to him?

Three Years Old!!

This year was Ben's "Golden Birthday!" He turned 3 on 3.3!! He is so so big! Since we weren't having his party until the weekend we decided to have a big donut the night of his actual birthday. Ben loves donuts. Whenever he comes to the grocery store with me this is his bribe.

WE LOVE YOU BENJAMIN!

(I just couldn't pass up posting this cute point and shoot pic of him on his actual birthday.)

Ski Trip!

 It is becoming a tradition to take Ben skiing on his birthday. He loves it! He wants to go all the time. He usually skis and skis until he literally falls asleep on his feet. This trip was no exception. This time we went on Daddy's day off so he got to come! Cole hung out in the lodge with Great Grandma Myrna while the rest of us hit the slopes.

 What a cute group of skiiers!

Skiing!! from Britta Bruderer on Vimeo.
Look at him go! Ben liked to "jump" the best. He would get a good 1/2 inch off the ground, but he was convinced he was jumping so high!!

Me and Ben with Great Grandpa Duane. Last time he went skiing Cole and I were sick so I wasn't there. He only wanted grandpa Duane to take him down the mountain that day. But today he was a bit attached to mom (like always). So I told him that Grandpa Duane is the fastest skier on the mountain, which is the absolute truth. So he decided to go with Grandpa. Sure enough my grandpa just pointed his skis straight down the mountain and they went fast "like a jet." At the bottom of the mountain he said, "I went with Gwumpa I make him so happy!" Yes, yes you did Ben.

 Hot chocolate break!!

Yes, that is Ben in Cole's car seat. We didn't have another place to put him that was "comfortable."

some days are stones and some days are diamonds . . .

 March 2nd was definitely the most brilliant of diamonds. We went skiing to celebrate Ben's birthday a little early (pics to come). Such a perfect day. Daddy got to come with us because it was his day off. Cole got to come and hang out in the lodge with his great grandma myrna. My mom, my grandpa, scott, ben and I hit the bunny hill all together to watch ben "ski fast like a jet" and "jump high. wahoo!" He adores snow skiing. It was so fun to watch him have so much fun. When he got tired he went to the lodge and had hot chocolate and french fries with his grandmas while scott, grandpa and I took some grown up runs. I haven't had that much fun skiing for a really long time. Beautiful day, gorgeous mountains, great snow and the best of company.

 Sadly, ben's actual birthday, March 3rd, was somewhat of a stone, a really, really ugly rough stone. To start things off he woke me up at 4:45 am to inform me that my bed was wet. Why? Because he had his first full blown night time bed wetting experience on the morning of his 3rd birthday. Perfect. So I stripped off my sheets and crawled into ben's twin bed with him to catch a couple more hours of sleep before cole woke up. I thought it would be nice to do something fun on his actual birthday. So the aquarium seemed like fun, until ben decided that cole absolutely could not sit in the stroller. Ben "needed" to. So i pushed ben into the aquarium while carrying cole, who was screaming. Not easy. Considering I was flying solo. At least we got to watch the octopus eat his lunch. To top things off, my angel baby cole was having a really off day and was really really fussy. The highlight of the day was watching Ben blow out his candle on his donut after dinner.

 Cole is starting solids now and he loves them! Mangoes are a new favorite. Such a doll.

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what a nerd!

 this kid is a crack up! he makes me laugh so hard! he asked me to take pictures of him for once! so i did! so so funny. he is such a ham and a funny little model when he wants to be!

snow day!