Ryan at 8 months old

So, with all the toys Ryan has to play with - what do you think is his favorite - yup - the plastic bin that the toys are supposed to go in!! First, he loves to dump all of his toys out of the bin and then loves to put the bin on his head or bite on it. Why again do we buy toys for the kids??

I love this next one. It's a little fuzzy, but if you look close enough, you'll see Ryan's nose pressed against the bin!! He was having a blast peeking at us through the bin.

Ben's 1st Day at 4K

Ben's 1st day at 4K was Sept. 7th. I guess he's doing well since we haven't heard anything bad from the teacher yet. But since Ben never tells us anything about his day, it's very hard to find out anything. He did say that he really likes his teacher - Miss Jane. I asked him what his favorite part of his day was, and he said, "Miss Jane. I like her so much I could just cry!" He's such a character.
Of course Ben picked out his outfit for his first day - which consisted of his "church" clothes. And he's been wearing his "church" clothes every day so he can look sharp and handsome!

Every kid had to bring some kind of crackers to 4K to share with all the kids. Ben picked Cheez-its and was ecstatic that Toy Story was on the box.

This is the collage Ben put together of his family from pictures from magazines. I think it's quite accurate!! :) It's actually pretty funny that Ben put that picture of "me" on there, because when Elizabeth was really little, she pointed to a picture of an African American woman in a book and said, "Auntie Molle!" Ever since then, any time the Estermanns see a tall, thin (their words), black woman, they always say, "There's Auntie Molle!" So, when Ben cut this picture out of a magazine (without any prompting), I thought it was pretty funny. I never thought I looked that tan...

Ben's Big-Boy Bike!

Today (9/4), Ben rode a bike with no training wheels for the first time. He did really good. It only took him a few tries before Jim let go and let him ride by himself. As you will see in the video below, Ben was very proud of himself - as he should be!

Ryan Eating...well, sort of

Ryan is almost 8 months old now and is eating like a little piggy! He's eating infant cereal and all infant fruits and vegetables. So far, there hasn't been anything he didn't like. The only problem with eating is that Ryan gets easily distracted! Here Jim tried to turn the highchair so that Ryan would eat and not watch Ben who is behind him. As you can see, that didn't really work!

Twins

On Friday, Ben was so excited that the weather was colder so he could wear long sleeves and pants to day care. Coincidentally, the boys dressed almost the same that day.

Jim actually coordinated the matching of these outfits!

Polzin Family Reunion 8-15-10

We had such a good time with the Polzin clan. It was a perfect day - great food, weather and company!

Here's Ben playing beanbag toss - with a little help from his buds - Luke and Tim!

Ryan was enjoying pulling Aunt Sam's hair!

Summertime Fun!

Here's what's been keeping us busy this summer - Ben's swimming lessons and T-ball. He had 2 weeks of swimming lessons in July and again in August. He's showing great improvement - he actually will put his head in the water - see below.

Here is Ben getting ready for T-ball. He's doing ok with it. Basically, all kids bat each inning, run all the bases, and no one gets out. So, there's not a lot of competition - which I guess is good for 4-year old T-ball! When Ben is in the field, he does ok -he's more aggressive with getting the ball, but he's not so accurate with throwing it to first base. But he's excited to go and actually participates, so that's always a bonus.

And here is our muscle man. I think he just got done eating a pretty good dinner, so I asked him to show me his muscles... I got a little more ribs than muscles though!

The Donut Saga

Ben thought he was pretty funny eating his donut like this until...

He bit his finger!!! Am I a bad mom that I took this picture while he was crying in pain? (look at Ryan in the background - wondering what the heck just happened!)

Well, he obviously wasn't hurt too bad...

Ben's Love for his Mom

I swear I didn't put Ben up to this. He's definitely a mamma's boy...

Ben's Alter-Egos...

A policeman, race car driver, football player. He can be all those things, right?

Playing with Daddy

Ben loved this game too. I just love Ryan's giggles!

Ryan at 7 months old

Ryan is doing great. He's such a happy baby. It's so easy to get him to laugh and smile. But he also can't sit still for a minute (he gets that from me). He's always reaching and grabbing for stuff and puts anything and everything in his mouth (he doesn't get that from me). Last week, I gave him my finger to chew on and found that he had his bottom 2 teeth already!! No wonder his cheeks were so rosy.

As you can see in the picture, he can sit up on his own. He is also rolling around all over the place. I'm sure it won't be long before he's crawling - and then our life as we know it is over. He's going to give us a run for our money!! But it's ok cuz he's so darn cute... remind me of that when he's getting into everything.

Ben's New Teacher

Some of you have heard this story before, but I wanted to make sure I wrote it down somewhere. Last month, Ben moved to a new classroom with new teachers. Jim and I asked him what his new teacher's name was and he couldn't remember. We asked if he knew what it started with, and he said, "Yeah! It starts with a Miss..." Oh, my precious little boy!

Happy Birthday Grandpa!!

Here's a little ditty from Ben for your birthday, Grandpa. Enjoy!

Why Ben Loves His Mommy

Today, Jim asked Ben why he loved his mom so much, and here are the top 3 reasons Ben gave us in his own words...

1. Because Mommy has snowman pajamas like me! (sad, but true...see below)

2. Because Mommy's pajamas have buttons like my truck pajamas. (OK, we thought this one went with the whole pajama theme, so we included it in #1.)

#2 (revised) Because Mommy reads me books. (I'm happy with this one)

3. Because Mommy gives me lots of things. (And he means material things - like the knight hat I just got him - not my love, time, blood, sweat or tears!!)

Well, at least Ben loves me, and he's still my boy. I guess that's all that counts - not the reasons why...