Ben's 1st Time Ice Skating!!

Me, Ben and Karen
Ben giving his best cheeseburger grin - he was loving it!

Our friends, Karen and Zach asked if we'd like to go ice skating one night. Mario was working, so I braved that one by myself. As you can see, I had a lot of help from Karen, so that was nice. Ben loved it and kept saying "skate, skate". At one point near the end, he said "done" and we went to get off the ice, he started crying and kept saying "skate". So...I took him back on the ice. After about 5 minutes on the ice, he pulled off his gloves and hat and threw them on the ice and said (very sure this time), "DONE!" So all in all, we were there about an hour and 1/2. We're sorry daddy missed it, but we had fun.

Christmas Shopping?

So Ben was so fascinated with this catalog and all the neat toys in it....he looked like he was Christmas shopping for himself!!

New Stuff

Ben is growing so fast - it seems even more so lately for some reason. He's talking a lot and is soaking up EVERYTHING! Some of his newest words are: Mess, heavy, wet, cooking, making, bite, pickles, spoon(poon), thumb, pumpkin (punkin), pull, push, climb, help, please, flower, rice, climb, gone, done, again, fix it (sounds like fic it, while he hammers on something needing "fixing") and flip flop (it comes out flop op!). We got him some fake food and he loves to use my pans and pretend he's cooking. He loves to climb onto anything - the couch is his favorite. He is a big helper around the house lately. He loves to help with laundry (hallelujah!), dusting, and vaccuming. More than anything, he LOVES playing with daddy. He gets so excited when Mario comes home every night. He is also becoming a little sneaky too! The other day, he was being a bit naughty, so I put him in a little time-out. Well, he was crying and going on and on (and that was fine by me), but then he said so desperately "huuugggg" - so needless to say, I gave in on that one! He's still really into his books and loves us to read to him. We just recently went to Missoula, Montana to get some pictures taken and most of them turned out great. Take a look at cracklephotographyblog.com (go to the slideshow and then click on the arrow beneath the frame and that will give you the option of browse view gallery, which is what you want).

Trick-or-Treating

The monkey (Ben) and the cowboy (Jameson) putting letters on the fridge!
The cowboy and monkey decided to ride togetherThere's a hobo in every bunch!
Are you going to give me candy or what?!

umm, what did I get? I just want to be sure this is sweet enough for the bee that I am! Heading back, the little monkey decided to jump on daddy's back!

We got all the kids together for Halloween and did some trick-or-treating on base. We had a little dinner beforehand and some social time before we went out. The kids got the hang of it all after just a few houses. When there's candy involved, they learn fast! It was a lot of fun seeing all the little ones in their costumes and the weird stares they gave each other as they were trying to figure it all out.

Well, it's a record!!

It has been extremely warm here in Great Falls the past few days (well, for November anyway!) It was about 70 both yesterday and today. We're not complaining! Ben and I went to the park yesterday with Brandy and Anna and had such a great time. It was nice to get out and enjoy the nice warm weather while it lasts. Until next time.....