WARNING

I am telling you now, there are a lot of new posts and pictures on this blog since the last time you checked...I am at school, alone, and this doesn't happen often. For your own sake, please pace yourself. Don't read all the new posts today, save some for later. You can't be sure when the next posts will appear...

Random Summer Days

Luke finally got to open one of his Christmas presents, a tool bench. He helped Daddy put it together. But of course, safety first!

Scott calls this picture "multi-tasking"
Here's the boys at the park, we walked over on a beautiful Sunday afternoon. Luke loved the slides.
They certainly do love each other.

STL part 2

The real highlight of our trip was Jeff and Sally's wedding. We had a great time. And I'm so glad to have Sally as a sister.

Miss Mya looked SO pretty in her dress and wore it for a LONG time.

The happy couple and some wedding party...there were 3 professionals taking shots of EVERYTHING. I can't wait to see what they ended up with.

Grandma and Cole dancing the night away, and let me tell you, Cole danced until the DJ packed up

Dad and Jeff and the whole family during "Family Tradition"

Aunt Sherri aka Grandma and Riley

STL part 1

On our way into town we thought we should see if Grandpa needed any help around the office...

Then on Sunday we went to the Maupin family reunion...Luke enjoyed the bucket of water for the water guns...Brady is helping out.

Luke also enjoyed the watermelon slices at the family reunion.

Cole and Mya hanging out on the slip and slide at Grandma and Grandpa's house. You can't really tell but Mya is trying the drink the water. If you would like to catch Scott taking a few turns on the slip and slide, check out Jen's blog (links on the right hand side) Luke wanted nothing to do with any of it

Aunt Jennifer/Mom with Ben and Mya

Luke and Cole helping Grandpa with his tractor

Playing ball in Grandma's living room (don't worry, the ball's pretend)

One of the cutest pictures EVER!

Scott and I got to take advantage of one of Dad's birthday gifts...VERY nice seats to a Cardinals game. That's right, I didn't have to zoom in on Pujols while they played the National Anthem (it was the only time he stood still).

We had a great time. Thanks Dad! And thanks for meeting us there, Shawn and Anna!

The Zoo

We have lots of highlights from our trip to St. Louis...but most of them involve Scott's family...well, here's one from my side. We just happened to meet up with Chad, Erin, Maddie, Emma, and big sis Beth at the zoo. Luke had a blast following his cousins around and keeping a safe distance from all the animals. It rained a little in the morning but at least it wasn't too hot!

"Come on, Luke!"

Emma and Luke enjoying the fish (there was a hippo, he was sleeping)

Ben LOVED the zoo!

The Boys and their Uncles

Some of you may remember when Kurt was the little guy climbing on Chad's back...oh how the times change. Luke loves his Uncle Kurt, his eyes light up whenever we mention his name.


I couldn't resist adding this shot of the "Bens"

Changes...

I still have a whole bunch of cute pictures from our extended trip to Missouri, zoo, wedding, and Cardinal game pictures are to come, but since I'm posting from home, I thought I'd better skip right to the important milestones that have landed at our house.

#1 Ben tried his first solid food the middle of July.

He now is eating bananas, applesauce, and good old cheerios

#2While we were in Missouri, Ben popped out two teeth and he's currently working on a third

#3That same week Ben also decided he should start crawling

#4 When we got home from vacation it was time to upgrade the boys room. So Luke now sleeps in a "big boy bed". He does a real good job getting in and out. We still can't convince him to just hang out in his room and play with his toys in the morning. We hear the pitter patter of little feet around 5:30 or 6:00 every morning.

#5 Now that Ben is crawling he can explore the house and has found his toy basket which he has started to pull up on. He'll be running before too long and then my life will truly be over.

#6 Luke is trying his hand at speaking...real words, not grunts. He doesn't seem to like short words, he only attempts words with two syllables or more. The important thing is that Scott and I understand most of what he says...sometimes.

Oh, for those scoring at home, Ben is 6 months old today and Luke will turn two on Tuesday, the 26th! Crazy!