A Little Monkey Business!

after contemplating this excursion for many weeks (would it be fun? would it be a disaster? would our kids find this enjoyable or slightly terrifying?), we finally decided to go for it. on sunday afternoon, we ventured over to "monkey joe's!"

for those unacquainted with this place, it is essentially the land of gigantic inflatable kid's toys. all things considered, we had a great time! even mom and dad got in on the action (yes, if you look closely, you will see me attempting to relive my childhood). we were quickly reminded, however by our headaches and back pain that we just aren't kids anymore!:)

hard to catch good shots on camera with all the movement, but here are a few action photos:

WHEEEEEE!!!!!

what was i thinking...

james...wondering why we stuck him in this strange, plastic thing

and what he is suppose to do now.

ben david, tackling (or being tackled by) a giant carrot of sorts

and finally, here is a shot of our little handyman. ben took ben david to the home depot craft hour and they made a toolbox together! he was very proud!:) (ben and ben david, that is)

Why We Love Marmie!

from the time he was an infant (and i mean just born, "in the NICU for a month" days), ben david has spent about one day a week with my mother-in-law, his "marmie!" they have a very special connection, and ben david loves this one-on-one with his favorite person!:) i feel completely blessed and grateful to have a mother-in-law so willing to regularly invest in my children's lives, and in so doing, provide me with many a "break!"

just to give you a small taste of the fun they have, here is a picture of a little craft project he put together at her house last week:

perhaps a playdoh porcupine??

i think it is safe to say that a day at marmie's far surpasses any preschool program out there!

THANK YOU MARMIE FOR TAKING SUCH GOOD CARE OF ME!

LOVE, BEN DAVID

The Basics of Life

as of late, james has really taken off with walking....actually, more like running as he attempts to keep up with ben david. with his new found mobility, i have found him in number of interesting situations, such as this one:

this gives a whole new meaning to "self-serve"

in addition, james has launched into what might be my least favorite baby stage: feeding himself. he absolutely insists on using utensils and serving himself at every meal. actually...he is pretty good at it, though he does end up wearing much of whatever he is eating. here are some pics of that process: such a big boy!

actually got the mouth this time!

and finally...two little couch potatoes

The 3rd Annual: Emmrich, Anderson and Wright OIB Trip

Poppie, Grandmommie and all their grandchildren

here we go again!! this is our third year to venture down to Ocean Isle Beach for our annual family beach trip! along with my parents, my sister, brother in law, their 5 kids and our 2 kids...we headed down to enjoy another week together. many thought we were a little nutty to be arriving as most were leaving, anticipating the arrival of tropical storm/possible hurricane hanna. not to be detered, we decided our trip would not be disrupted by this potential natural disaster.
on thursday, we tried to "block out"the sound of the loudspeakers as men drove by on trucks shouting "voluntary evacuation!!" these are not words you particularly want to hear on vacation. as it turns out...we were quite fortunate! there was a little afternoon rain on thursday afternooon which we had great fun playing in on the beach. GREAT waves that allowed my husband and evan some fun/terrifying (for my sister and i to watch) bodysurfing. this was followed by a little wind (ok, quite a lot of wind, some building shaking and torrential rain) on thursday night. then, we awoke friday morning to beautiful weather!!
personally...i think we were the bigger threat to the island than hanna! if you've meet our crew, then you know what i mean!:)
here are a few pics from our trip so far. we actually splurged this year and had some professional ones taken, but the "real" ones aren't ready yet. i included a few candids that we took that night ourselves. more to follow!

what a crew!

Daddy and his boys

Mommy getting tackled

Come on, Daddy...let's go!

Ben David contemplating stealing James's cracker

one cool dude

"Honey"

as of late, it seems that ben david has developed a pet name for ben and i: "Honey"
around the house, it is rare that ben and i acutally call each other by our proper names. most often, we do refer to each other as "honey" (very sweet, i know!:)
well, ben david apparently caught on to this, and not wanting to be left out decided to start using this term himself.

here is a snipet of our conversation yesterday...it went something like this:

me: "here is your snack, ben david."
bd: "thank you, honey!"
me: (puzzled expression...followed by laughter) "no ben david, i am mommy."
bd: "no...i call you honey!" (adamant, slightly offended tone)
me: "no ben david, you call me mommy. daddy calls me honey."
bd: "NO...I SAY HONEY!"
me: no comment. unsure how to proceed...this was not in the parenting manual.
bd: satisfied look.

so there you have it! as if having a "ben and ben david" around the house wasn't confusing enough...we now have a bunch of "honeys!"
no pic on this one...was hoping for a video to prove this occured, but alas, no cooperation on that end. stay tuned for more funny antics!

Two Sweet Boys...

The "Cool" Factor

this past weekend we decided to increase our "cool factor" by a few degrees. we are convinced we became the coolest family on the block after we created our very own water park in the backyard. special thanks to nana for our pool below, and our neighbors for lending us the other one.

i promise...only ben david and james were in their birthday suits!

very fun water slide...daddy's idea!
james enjoying the pool with daddy
james...no longer enjoying the pool.
ben david...trying out the play set slide, still without clothes. he was dismayed to find that he got "stuck" halfway down. not quite the same without water.

oh, what fun summer adventures!