First Smile!

Today, Graysen smiled for the first time! I knew he was getting close, as he has been "practicing" all week, and he finally did it. Here was Ben and my attempt to get a picture of his beautiful smile!

Family Pictures-Thanks Amber!

Among the chaos of my frantic packing for our trip to Montana tomorrow, I couldn't leave without sharing our latest family pictures. A dear, wonderful friend of ours, Amber Litzinger is a wonderful photographer and was flexible enough to get some pictures of us before both of our families head back to Great Falls for the holidays! Here are a "few" of my favorites!

Graysen is OnE MoNtH!

Where does the time go? Graysen is already one month old and I can't believe it. Time seems to be passing by so quickly! He is getting so big already but he is so sweet and we are enjoying every minute.

California Christmas

It was a little difficult getting motivated to decorate for Christmas this year, while it is still 75 degrees outside! Even though we will be in Montana for Christmas we decided we should still decorate for Avery's sake. On Saturday, we spent the day up in San Luis Obispo shopping and walking around and then came home and pulled all the Christmas stuff out. Ben and my first Christmas together all we had was one nativity set and one sad tree but each year it seems we add a box or two. And now, three Christmas's later, we have eight boxes of stuff and three nativity sets! To think what it will be like in thirty years?!

Anyway, Avery loved hanging the "earrings" (that is what she calls ornaments) on the tree, so of course, the majority of the ornaments are on the bottom of the tree. But it looks great anyway and we really enjoyed our day together as a family!

Roll Over!

Last night, Graysen rolled over for the first time from tummy to back! Of course, when we tried to get him to do it again so we could video it, he was too upset.

Right after the action...

(Thanks Nana and Dada for the awesome UK sweatsuit, it was a big hit on top of his sports onesie my mom got him!)

Happy Thanksgiving 2009

The kids getting ready for the scavenger hunt!

Playing Pictionary

Ave & Evie - always laughing about something!

The boys playing kick-ball, trying to burn off lunch!

Evie & Avery

Thanks for inviting us, Kim!

Todd carving the turkey

Needless to say, we have SO much to be thankful for, we have been abundantly blessed over the past year. We have a wonderful home that we love, Ben is no longer in a job that requires him to be away all the time and we live in a beautiful area that allows us to go to the beach on a regular basis! But more that the things we have, we have been blessed with each other, two healthy children, and loving, supportive family and friends. We have also been so blessed by our church and the friends we have met here in Santa Maria, they have let us into their homes and lives and have given us family when ours is too far away.

Thanks to Todd and Ann for having us over for Thanksgiving, we had so much fun. Avery had a blast playing with all the kids and well, Graysen slept most of his first Thanksgiving!

Shoe Fetish

Who knew such a shoe fetish could start so early? Avery is in love with her dress-up high heels that Nana and Dada got for her. She has become such a stiletto pro that she can run laps around the house in them and she has even mastered the stairs. She lines them up and has each pair named, and even has a dance for each specific pair of shoes. It has been interesting the places I keep finding them lined up around the house!

Here's the shoes on my counter?!

These are her favorite pair.

And in my kitchen...

Bath Time

Graysen LOVES bath time. He does so well, he never cries (even when Avery is splashing water all over him trying to "help".) Well, he was three weeks yesterday, which seems unreal but true. He has grown so much already, I can't get over it!

Bonding...

Avery LOVES to hold Graysen, well until he starts fussing. Then, she looks at me and says, "Okay, I'm all done!". (Hmmm, she must get that from Ben?! Kidding!) We have really been enjoying them together, we really do have the best kids ever! We are so blessed!

First Day without Dad!

Yesterday was Ben's first day back at work. I think he had a harder day than we did! We had a great day, Ave and Graysen are so wonderful and I really enjoyed getting back into a routine. We discovered Graysen loves "tummy time", I still can't believe how laid back he is, he would be content to lay there all day. Needless to say, our first day without dad was awesome...even though we really missed him!

Nana & Papa's Visit

My mom and dad came two days after Graysen was born, which was a huge help! We really enjoyed their stay, especially Avery, she loves the attention. For most of their stay, we just played with the kids except Ben and my dad, they can't just sit around. So they painted my house and built a playroom under the stairs! It was GREAT!

Graysen's First Week

Considering Avery wasn't allowed at the hospital, she was so excited when we got came home on Tuesday. Since we have been home, she has been adjusted so well to having Graysen around. She doesn't seem to care too much as long as she knows where he is but she loves to hold him and help with diaper changes. Graysen is a so content, he only fusses when he is hungry or needs to be changed! He is so wonderful.