16 months old

I know I've missed a few months now but I remembered today that Benno is now 16 months old! I just LOVE this age. (Except during church...then 12-18 months is my least favorite, but I digress). Benno is SO much fun. He's so much his own little man with very important little opinions which he expresses in the best way he knows how.

He starts every day by screaming from his bed, and as soon as I enter the room the screaming stops and he holds up his empty bottle, shakes it and points at it with a hopeful little "Eh de? Deh-no!" (Which translated from Benno-ese is "My bottle is empty, I want more, may I please?") I take him downstairs to give him a fresh bottle of milk and then he happily toddles off with the bottle firmly attached to his lips. He finds his brothers and plays alongside them, usually pushing little cars around on the floor. When his diaper is in need of a change, he finds me and pats his diaper firmly ("Hey, this is full, can we change it please?") And when you respond appropriately to him, he "nods" his body (the whole thing from head to toe goes up and down) and laughs ("I can't believe it--they understood me! Ha!") Around 11am he's getting cranky so he goes down for a nap...and he goes down easily, which I LOVE about Benno. It's not unusual for him to take a 3 hour nap...which sometimes puts a kink in our afternoon plans but who can complain about a sleeping baby??? He LOVES going outside and scooting on his little ride-ons (and more recently the Kettcar, which he insists is HIS and his alone.) He loves his Dada as much as ever and always runs to give him a hug when he sees him after even brief absences. He's gone from being the screeching Pterodactyl child to a barking puppy child...he's recently learned to say "Woof-woof" which we thought was cute enough when he would say that about any furry animal, dog or not, but it's evolved into his happy sound--if he sees something he likes or you give him something he wants or whatever makes him happy, he says "Woof-woof."
Part of the woof-woof phenomenon is thanks to his new favorite bedtime book which we read nightly now--Sandra Boynton's Doggies. He does know that cows say Moo and ducks Quack but Woof is by far his favorite.

He still has just 4 little teeth--2 top, 2 bottom (and while we're talking teeth, so you know Anthony just turned EIGHT, right? Still no loose teeth in sight. This really is getting plain silly! When will the tooth fairy ever visit our house???) And over the last couple months, Benno's hair has gone from marginally blond to glowing towhead. I envy his perfect little tan too, thanks to those Greek & Italian genes of his. I'm more than a little biased of course but really I think our Benno is about as cute as cute can possibly be.

I'm a published illustrator!!!

My first official book has been published! Not exactly the sort of book I'm going to go out and buy as gifts for all the family as it's about breastfeeding but it's a BOOK and my art is IN it! Thanks again to the author Michele and especially her cousin (and my friend) Megan who got us in touch with one another!


If you do want your own copy, you can find it here to purchase!

Frolicking in the Fountains

Today found us at the Beaverton City Library Fountains with friends...it was a beautiful day here today. Thanks to Wendy & kids for the fun!

Children's Museum

With summer quickly drawing to a close, we took advantage of our free day today to go play at the Portland Children's Museum. 

Someone is infatuated with steering wheels...and it's nearly impossible to pull him away from these things.

And pushing big trucks around comes in a close second when it comes to infatuations...

These next couple pics make me laugh so much...he looks like some kind of little intellectual speaking of his expertise on little wooden trains:

Anthony's clay snake:

And I just could not stop taking photos of this little guy today...I was laughing so hard about his make-up...I'm still laughing. (And of course I'm the one who put the make-up on him...I'm so funny. "Oh, the cleverness of me.") 

Birthday festivities, etc.

Cake on Sunday for the birthday boy...we were out of ice cream but luckily for us, we had the ingredients on hand and made homemade ice cream instead!

Make a wish, Anthony!

I actually didn't know these were trick candles when I stuck them on the cake...boys enjoyed it! (How appetizing is that cake after they finished with it???)

I don't know...do you think Benno enjoyed the cake?

And what a nice boy--he's sharing!

Anthony's gift this year, like last year, was a new bike. (Last year's bike has been well-worn.)

He loves his new yellow bike.

And not because we needed it but because it was an amazing find on Craigslist--a new Kettcar for all the boys to enjoy!

And just for fun, last week as I was cleaning, Benno offered to lend a hand with the vacuum. (It IS on in that photo...notice the light!)

***I don't know that anyone actually pays attention to my photo-a-day blog but if you noticed I'd fallen behind, I'm back on track.

Anthony turns 8!!!

Yesterday was Anthony's 8th birthday! With his birthday falling on a Sunday it was a pretty low-key day. We're making up for it with lots of fun this week. Happy birthday to my little guy!!!

8 reasons Anthony is GREAT:

1. Give him a digital camera and he'll entertain himself for hours. And it's hilarious too--we're all entertained by his camera talents, whether still photos or video!

2. He's an excellent student--we hardly had to practice his spelling each week for the spelling tests (he gets that from ME of course.) He says his favorite subject is science...but his favorite part of school is recess (of course.)

3. He's a loving big brother (most of the time.) But truly he LOVES babies and is great with them. He's a good buddy to all his brothers.

4. He's solid as a rock--after 3 years of gymnastics he's got a body most men envy and he can do some pretty amazing things with those muscles.

5. He's a good friend. He's loyal to his buddies and plays fair. He's friendly with everyone no matter how they look or whatever makes them "different."

6. He's a talented violinist. Ok, so he doesn't like to practice much but he does well at his recitals and he says he likes to play so he'll stick with it for now.

7. He's a stalwart, faithful little guy. He's looking forward to his baptism in less than 2 weeks and we're super proud of him and the good little guy that he is.

8. We love everything about our sweet, handsome Anthony and are so lucky to be his parents!!!

Weekend at Detroit Lake

We spent a fun-filled weekend with our friends Javier & Shelley & kids at Detroit Lake this past weekend. We had such a great time that I think George has even decided he likes camping again. (Actually, it was the cots. I bought some cots and it's made all the difference in the world--we slept so much better than ever before!)

We had a few little setbacks (cranky babies in the night, a dead battery in the boat, a melted stove, missing keys, and mischievous chipmunks to name a few...) but otherwise it was all fun between the yummy food, perfect weather, and hours of fun on the boat in the lake!

Shelley might kill me for posting that pic of her on the wakeboard but she was so amazing on there that I had no choice. It was my first time wakeboarding and it amused me to no end that I was able to do it when George couldn't. He did finally get up on the board though on the 2nd day. (And my muscles were aching pretty badly on Sunday, putting an end to my amusement.)

Thanks Shelley & Javier for the fun weekend! We know you want to sell the boat but hopefully we'll get a chance to play again before you do!

A good day at the coast

Just to prove that the Oregon coast isn't always foggy, windy, and cold, on Saturday when the forecast was for record-breaking heat here at home, we (and at least half of the Portland Metro area...bad traffic!) took off for the coast where it was blessedly sunny and perfectly warm without being scorchingly hot and not a cloud in the sky! Our friends John & Wendy & kids joined us for the afternoon. We were happy to bump into the Taylor family there too!

A perfect TEN

It doesn't get much better than this... Our 10 year anniversary date last night scored a perfect 10 in my book.

It was a date that almost didn't happen though--while at kids' camp yesterday, Anthony threw up--we brought him home and monitored him for the rest of the afternoon with no repeated episodes. I quarantined him upstairs away from the babysitter with the DVD player and upset-tummy-safe food and we departed.

First stop of the night was the Portland Temple. There we did sealings--all family file, but the most special to me was doing the sealing for my great-grandparents George Vernon Hall & Margaret Althea Faulkner...I remember Grammy, who died when I was 6...so it was incredibly special to do that work now 25 years later.


Upon exiting the temple, there was the most amazing sunset--it's been a while since I've seen one as spectacular as this. Truly, the entire sky was brilliant hues of golden yellow. I told George it was a "Xanthos sky." We enjoyed it all the way into downtown Portland though it gradually diminished as time wore on--that sky over the city again just took our breath away. I tried to take a pic but this camera has never captured sunsets well (and if I'd taken the photo 10 min earlier, that gold would have filled the entire frame):

As if competing with the sunset for the most spectacular display of the evening, a full moon rose over the other side of the sky...and I LOVE the moon...a moonlit night always makes me happy.

At last, as our stomachs are groaning of hunger, we arrived at Clarklewis Restaurant...which was fabulous.

We were seated at one of the tables next to the open "wall" beside the street. The daytime temperature had hit 103, so by 9pm it was still hot out (it felt like we were in AZ!) but there was a perfect breeze (just enough of a breeze that the waiter brought us a mini flashlight since our candles wouldn't stay lit.) This is the view from our table--check out that moon!

Our table offered up all kinds of entertainment...first a taxi, then this police car pulled someone over directly in front of us, and 2 trains went speeding past just a block up the road--one an Amtrak and the other a freight train...that might not sound fun but we were taking it all in and loving every moment from our streetside table. The food was fantastic (and it better have been for what we paid for it!) I had Spit-roasted Chicken & George had Greek Lamb (of course).


We returned home and returned the babysitter to her home...then hunkered down with some Ben & Jerry's to watch Phelps barely out-touch Cavic for his 7th gold medal!

I have to say our 11th year now is off to a fabulous start. (And we still have more 10 year celebrating to do...we're headed to British Columbia in a few weeks!)

A Decade!

On this day in history...

• 1914 - The Panama Canal opens to traffic with the transit of the cargo ship Ancon.
  
• 1945 - World War II: Victory over Japan Day - Japan surrenders.
  
• 1965 - The Beatles play to nearly 60,000 fans at Shea Stadium in New York City, marking the birth of stadium rock.
  
• 1969 - The Woodstock Music and Art Festival opens.
  
• 1973 - Vietnam War: The United States bombing of Cambodia ends.
  

And perhaps the most momentous of all on this date (at least for us anyway)

• 1998 - Carol & George were married in the Mesa AZ Temple!!!
  

Yes, it's been 10 years now...crazy! Here we are now, 4 adorable boys later, counting 8 different addresses as home (with most of the last 5 years at just one address, which in itself is a record for me--the longest I've lived at one address!) and many countless smiles, tears, and hours of laughter with many many more to come.

Happy 10 years, George! I love you!!!

In front of our very first address together...in Provo, UT!

You're it!

Just a little Christopher story here before I forget...

Last night we took a family walk after dinner...our walk took us over to the elementary school where there's a nice track. We all took our places and on your marks, get set, GO!!!  I took off racing  with Anthony & Aaron and Christopher was lumbering along behind us...  Being the nice Mama that I am, I slowed down to run next to him. I am just 2 or 3 feet away from him when he quickens his pace, reaches out an arm (I'm thinking he wants me to hold his hand) but no, he reaches out and slaps me and says, "TAG, YOU'RE IT!!!" and runs off leaving me dead last (and laughing my head off)!

Marshmallow wars

The boys got these marshmallow guns from cousins Nora & John for Christmas--I think these are some of the most clever gifts ever. (Nora, if you see this, THANKS again!) The boys have a blast shooting each other and then eating up the ammunition.

The boys had a war this afternoon. Hard to tell in the photos but they're all soaking wet too after playing in the hose forever....it's a HOT day here today!

Anthony hit the camera with this one.

Loading up the ammunition:

And attack! Anthony packed over a dozen in there and those are all his marshmallows flying in the air:

*On a total side note...it is SO nice to have soft green grass this summer! We finally got our sprinklers fixed at the end of last summer (just in time for the rain to begin and negate the need for sprinklers) and it has made such a difference in the yard this summer!