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!

On Wisconsin

Just after we arrived home from our trip to North Dakota we headed north for an anniversary celebration. All of Mom and Dad's kids and grandkids were around so we celebrated their 35th wedding anniversary. Grandpa and Grandma Bickel were also visiting so Luke and Ben got to spend some quality time with their great grandparents.

Here's Luke and Great Grandpa watching the boys cut down a tree...hope they're doing it right!

Ben's just watching some tv (he's even got the remote close at hand)

Here's Mom and Dad's anniversary dinner. We had a nice "quiet" evening complete with cake and gifts. (For those of you who were in on the "get rid of that ugly carpet" fund...we raised over $500! Thanks!)

The gang...all of us! Man, they're gonna need a bigger living room.

Ben tried on some dress up clothes that Cousin Jenni had sent.

Luke helped Great Grandma clean the house.

The cousins! We're so glad the girls have moved back to our neck of the woods (don't tell Aunt Kathy!)

Ben wasn't real comfortable in Luke's arms...so we gave him to the OLDEST cousin, good job, Maddie!

Emma says "Look, Grandpa, I can hold the baby too!"

We even managed to squeeze in a birthday party for Emma while everyone was around. There were princess things everywhere!

And Luke seemed very interested in all the pink
Blow out the candle!

Four generations. Trust me, Ben, you'll think it's cool when you are older.

Best part of visiting Germantown....24/7 babysitting service! (From real professionals!)

And here they are, Great Grandpa's only two Great Grandsons

It was a great time. Hope you enjoyed your party Mom and Dad. Thanks for helping throw it together, Josh, Ben, Kendra, Lydia, Kurt, Erin, Chad, and Aunt Kathy.

Yeah well...Chad's still in MAY!

I know I'm behind but I've been doing all my blogging at Trinity because we only have dial up at home. Since we're now in St. Charles for the last event of our summer, I can finally share the rest of our summer with you.

It start with the trip to Chad and Anna's wedding in Bismark, ND. We spent the first night at the Peterson's. Luke and Claire rekindled their spring romance.

right up until Luke pulled the dog's water bowl on his foot and we thought he had his first broken bone. He toughed it out until we got to Bismark. Then we met the nice people at the pediatric walk-in clinic. Luke was a big boy and sat very still during his x-rays...nothing was broken but mommy promised new dvds and mcdonalds for sitting still so Luke enjoyed an afternoon of lounging in the hotel room.

The boys picked us up after their rehearsal and we headed to dinner. It was very nice and we had some awesome entertainment. Anna's younger sister and some friends have a great accapella (sp) group. Here's Luke with his new best friend (and traveling buddy) Neil as they listened to a song.

And here is the "look I dressed my kids up!" picture of Luke

And BEN!
The wedding was beautiful...me and the boys watched from the nursery. And then it was on to the reception. The food was fantastic. The company was wonderful. And the chicken dance...well, ya look good, Steve!

Scott walked me and the boys home after the chicken dance. We caught the bride airing off on our way out. You are goregous, ANNA!

Scott kept the camera and caught his college friends in their finest moments!

Jon, you should run for office with that smile! The CUW gang
And the boys on the ride home. Thanks for putting up with us, Neil!

It was a great trip...now here are some borrowed pictures from friends. We had fun...congrats Chad and Anna!

Last week of school

When he doesn't have to plan for the following school day, Daddy gets to read with his boys!

Luke and Ben are starting to enjoy their time together...

on the floor...

or first time together in the tub! (If you can't tell, Ben is laughing like crazy at Luke)

Wednesday was picnic day so the boys and I followed Scott's 5th Graders around. Luke loved watching the kids jump around on the blow up stuff. Then he had a snow cone (well it was really a snow cup, but he didn't care.)

After school on Wednesday, the 7th Grade teacher let the butterfly free that had been growing in his classroom.

Luke sat with Katrina at first

But needed a closer look

And finally found the best seat in the house, right on Al's lap. I wish he felt more comfortable with Trinity's staff!

ROAD TRIP!

Couple weeks ago Ben and I took a trip to Missouri. We went to Sally's bridal shower.

Here's Ben hanging out with Great Grandma

And he was thrilled when Uncle Jeff came, so he wasn't the only boy.

He got passed around after that, kisses and hugs from all the Aunts and cousins!

Napping on Carrie

Ben and his Godmother, the guest of honor!

Memorial Weekend

We spent some much needed family time up in Wisconsin a few weeks ago and here are the pictures I thought we should share.

Grandpa and Luke playing in the sand

FISH!

See if you can figure out who Luke's favorite Uncle is...

There are a lot of them and they are loud, Mommy!