Train Ride

Benjamin and I took a train ride last week to visit my grandparents. The train worked out really well. There was enough room that Benjamin could play on the seat next to me, and I could get up and walk around with him if he got fussy. Train travel was great! I kind of wish we could take the train everywhere we have to travel. (and also that we never had to travel too far) The time with my grandparents was really nice too. We didn't do anything too extreme while we were there, but it was a good trip. I helped wrap presents and get cookies ready to ship.

Benjamin liked the dog, Zed, and the dog was pretty interested in Benjamin too, so that made for some interesting times. Zed would try and lick Benjamin and Benjamin would be going after Zed so they'd keep you running in circles trying to save them from each other. Zed got pretty jealous if Great-Grandpa held Benjamin, which is kind of funny, and if I tried to give Zed attention to distract him Benjamin would get jealous. I guess they're both a little bit spoiled.

We came home with loads of Christmas presents and a big box of cookies, plus lots of happy feelings. It's nice to be close enough to visit every once and a while. Next year it'll be an even easier, shorter trip, and I'm hopeful that there'll be more trips like this.

We're getting ready for another trip now, we'll spend Christmas with Jacob's parents - so Merry Christmas everyone!

Catch Up

I wanted to post some pictures of Halloween. A friend let us borrow a costume so Benjamin was a monkey and Jacob and I were zoo keepers for Trunk or Treat at the church. I though that was really clever. We decorated our trunk with stuffed monkeys hanging all around and a couple in laundry basket cages (as shown below)















I even gave out treats from a bucket with a 'monkey chow' label on it. I thought it was great fun.
I bought some mini boxes of raisins to give out with all our candy, Jacob thought that the kids would turn on us for trying to sneak a healthy snack into the treats, but they were actually pretty popular. More than one kid found the raisins mixed in with the candy and said something like "Oohh, Raisins!" and one kid came back to our trunk like 8 times for more raisins.
The other great thing about the party at church was that I won an award for my black bean soup in the chili/soup cook off. It was the first time I've made it with dried beans, so I was glad it turned out okay on the first try...I'm suprised it won too because it was black bean soup- it doesn't look pretty, particullarly next to the chicken noodle and other lighter soups that were there.

Halloween day Benjamin and I met Jacob at school and went on a walk around the lake on campus and had a picnic. I got a couple of pictures of the pretty fall colors. It's a really nice little walk. They also have paddleboats and canoes you can rent and take out on the lake, we were just too busy to go before they closed for the winter, but maybe in the spring we'll try it.

In other more recent news, Benjamin is standing already. He's pulling himself up to standing on his toys all the time now. I'm no developmental expert, but it seems like he's pretty precoucious. He gets all over the house and into all kinds of stuff. He's a very fun, happy baby and a great joy.
I snapped these pictures the other day when I saw him pull himself up to standing. (This was Nov. 14) I didn't catch him standing on camera, but he decided to climb into his toy basket which is just as good. :)

Storytime

Jacob was reading to Benjamin today, and Benjamin seemed like he was enjoying it. I snuck a video clip of them - here it is!

First Laugh

Benjamin really laughed earlier this month! September 5th was his first laugh, when his dad tickled him - we haven't really been able to get him to laugh like that again. Here I am attempting to get him to laugh and make a video at the same time for your viewing pleasure.

As a side note, the outfit that he's wearing in the first video was packed away in the 'clothes that are way to small' box today.

Here's some pictures I took of Benjamin yesterday looking all cute in his little button up shirt.

Trying this whole "Blog" thing out.

It seems like everybody's got a Blog these days, so I thought we'd give one a try - mostly for sharing pictures and such with far away family.

Here's a little video of playing with Benjamin. He seemed to think this was a fun game, and I couldn't resist his cute little smiles. I thought they were worth sharing. The playmat and blanket were things his Great-Grandma bought at a garage sale (for the grand total of $1.75 - I love a good deal) the little mirror toy on the left is from his Grandma, it's pretty cool - you can attach it to an MP3 player so it will play your own music! (Because you really want your child to 'need' an MP3 player before they can even talk :) ) The surge protectors are evidence that we haven't really gotten settled in yet. We're still in the Moving phase of life. Hopefully we'll really get settled in soon!

Benjamin is getting more expressive and can give some great smiles. He's growing up fast!