boys and their toys

i just wanted to share a few shots i got earlier - benjamin has some great toys, and its so much fun to watch him play with them!
and i took this one on friday for a photo contest. i love these two. :)

the park

benjamin and i met my friend caroline and her daughter allie at a park in burlington this morning. it wasn't too hot, we strolled around, then let benjamin wander (really, he only wandered between the picnic table and his stroller, picking up sticks, grass, and dirt). this park has some little rides, and thursdays all tickets are 50 cents! so we bought tickets and rode the carousel. benjamin and i rode on a tiger, of course, and he was grinning the entire time. it was a great morning!

new shoes

tim's parents were here for a few days (on their way to a cruise in norway - they're coming back here for a few more days once their done cruising). while they visited, we went to buy benjamin a new pair of shoes - they have elmo and cookie monster and even light up when he walks. (it's not too obnoxious though!)

i shot a wedding on saturday. it was a lot of fun, everyone involved was pretty relaxed. click here to see some of my favorites.

and i found out that friends of ours from college became parents on thursday! congrats, jen and james, and welcome to the world joey. you have such wonderful parents!

seventeen months old!

I can't believe the little guy is 17 months old already! He has 2 of his molars, I can see the beginnings of the third, and the fourth isn't quite poking through yet. They aren't making him too miserable, he's drooling up a storm, chewing on his fingers, and occasionally grumpy about it. Overall, not too bad. As for words, he says da-da EVERY time he sees tim or a photo with tim (so cute!), mama only when I ask him who I am, "ga-ga" when he sees a photo of grandpa. Then he likes "guck" (truck and duck, depending on what he's looking at), "cack cack cack" (when he hears the duck sound one of his toys makes), caterpillar (which is really just the first letter plus the rest of the syllables in kind of gibberish, but it's funny!), and several others. He has mastered waving hello and goodbye, rubs his eyes if we ask "are you tired?", and sometimes does the sign for milk. Benjamin has pretty much mastered going up the stairs; we have to work on how to get down next. He's learning a lot - including what "no" means when mom says it...that's a tough one! :) Benjamin is really a happy little kid - he loves to play with his toys, give hugs, and run around!

playing with sam

sam (and his mom jen) came over for muffins and playtime today - the boys were so funny, walking around, playing with toys (they liked the truck!), and sam loved ansel! it's fun to see them together since they're so close in age - they enjoy the same things (mostly putting things in containers and taking them out again!). we had a good time - and i enjoyed talking to jen - it's always nice to have a two-way conversation with someone! :)

grandpa time

my dad is here for a week and benjamin is loving it! he already calls him "ga-gaw" and points at him when we ask where grandpa is. it's fun to watch him interact with his family!

the dssl champs swim meet was friday and saturday; we ended up 10th overall, 3rd in our division (we were 2nd in our division for the regular season). i'm really proud of the kids, most of them dropped time and we had a few medalists. but mostly they showed that they learned how to be good sports (giving high fives to their fellow swimmers) and how to have a lot of spirit and fun. they were sweet kids. the team's website

happy fourth of july!

we had a low-key day (which i forgot to take any photos of...i know, krista forgot to take photos!). it was nice - we went to the pool in the afternoon, took a walk at the mall (too hot to walk outside these days), and had our friends jeremy and alisa over for bbq'd chicken, fresh corn on the cob from the farmer's market, and biscuits for dinner.

sadly, my friend mary called last night and said that her mom died that day. so, if you think of her, please pray for mary and her family.

the summer swim season is over on saturday - the champs meet is friday evening through saturday afternoon. us coaches are swimming in the coaches' medley relay on saturday between sessions. we'll see how that goes.

here are a few photos from last week at the pool; the quality is terrible since they're from an old underwater camera from our hawaii trip 2 years ago. but benjamin's adorable. ;)
and a sea turtle from that hawaii trip 2 years ago:

xoxo.

our anniversary (was 06.10 - i'm a little behind)

i meant to post this then, but i (sometimes) get distracted. our anniversary was june 10th, seven years! we went out to dinner and a movie (ocean's thirteen). it was nice to dress up and get out of the house and talk without having to feed or entertain the little guy.