Saturday...

Cousins

We tried to take pictures of the cousins together and this is one of the great pictures we ended up with...

Abigail on Saturday...

Friday Night...

Justin wasn't very exciting on Friday night... Content to sleep through it all...


Stella... We had a very nice evening Friday night with cousins, Tom, RaeAnn, and kids. We had dinner and talked, talked, talked... We've decided it is silly that we don't get together more often given how close we live to each other and how close our kids are in age. We don't seem to lack things to talk about and have so much in common.

Papa reading to Stella

Papa with Justin...


Jim and Tom doing important boy things... trying to fix a helicopter that was not working.


My mom and RaeAnn telling stories... We sure had a good time with them on Friday night.

The week goes on...

Cousins...

We had a wonderful lunch (if I do say so myself) today with Paula, Alicia and her baby, Justin. It was my first time to meet Justin--he is 10 weeks old. He is very cute and won the best behaved award while we took pictures... my two are getting to be rascals for pictures. Reese is just sick of the camera and Carsten would rather be out of the frame than in it!

We were lucky enough to have a visit from Auntie Marilyn last night...

A New Week...

In our news...
Carsten has tooth number five and six is on the way. Carsten has been crawling on hands and knees now for a week or two. He is also walking behind the Pooh car all over the house... He can stand without support for longer and longer... Carsten is also saying, "da, da, ma, ma", and lots of "wa, wa, wa, oh, oh, oooo". I think that sums up Carsten lately.


Reese is funny as ever... I think all our two year olds are doing the same things these days (from reading other blogs). Reese imitates the librarian, the drive-thru, he is always asking me, "you take American Express?", he makes caramel lattes in the bath and asks how many shots you want...
He is definitely ready for potty training as he use the potty 50% of the time. It is on my end that we are failing probably because I don't ask him throughout the day and I put a diaper on him. Oma is here for the week and she is determined to get him trained this week (he is wearing Thomas underwear as I write)!
Some Reese-isms... He keeps calling shoulders *hips*. In reference to taking Carsten upstairs, "take he upstairs".
The hammer hasn't lost it's appeal...

This weekend we had Ben and Mindy here for the night--I was terrible and didn't get any pictures. On Sunday Kelly and Christian (and parents) had us all over for lunch--yummm. Sunday evening we had 10 adults and 5 babies/kids over for dinner. Reese was the oldest and Lane, 3 weeks old, was the youngest. Chaos everywhere, but so fun.

Carsten walking behind the Pooh car...

Clean Up...

I couldn't resist posting a picture of the bookcase after Reese cleaned up his books. He had gotten them all out and was being the librarian--scanning them and checking them out. I didn't have the heart to straighten them out or tell him that that was not the way we put them away as he had such a willing spirit... he made his mama proud (and he was pretty proud too).

Carsten 10 Months!

Carsten had his 9 month doctor's visit today at 10 months... He weighed in at 20 pounds and he is 28 1/4 inches long. Just as a comparison Reese was 19 pounds and 28 inches long at his 9 month checkup (one month younger...). Carsten seems to be right on target with all his development and he was a happy boy for the doctor. He is still only on breast milk with the occasional Joe's O's (similar to Cheerios). He does not show too much interest in food. We try foods with him, but he just makes faces and lets them run out of his mouth. Reese didn't eat solids until 11 months, so we'll see how long Carsten holds out.

The Bulldozer and Steamroller...

Our new nicknames for the boys are steamroller for Reese and Carsten is the bulldozer... This should be somewhat self-explanatory, but Carsten pretty much acts like a little bulldozer and goes over anything and is determined. Reese is getting quite rough with his brother and constantly has to be reminded to be gentle and careful with his brother. They play really nicely together except for these recent bouts of tousling... I'm sure this is the way it is going to be now with two boys...

Having Boys...

So one of the hazards of having boys... we are now haunting construction sites. We live in a new development where there is building going on all the time, but now we found a big building under construction. It is a perfect spot to take lunch and park and watch. Today we got to see a steamroller, multiple dump trucks dump gravel right in front of us, a tractor (the driver was kind enough to wave and make a little boy's day)...
Reese took the picture of the steamroller.

Once you get me started...

So, now this is my thing... I am replacing some old pictures in frames on our mantel and thought this would be a cute 8x10... We'll see. I really wanted a great one of the two boys together, but getting two kids to act photogenic at the same point in time is rare.

Carsten's 9 Month Pictures...

I finally got around to taking pictures of Carsten for his 9 months (at more like 10 months...).

Middle of the Week...

I couldn't resist trying to get these two in a picture together. They are both at a hard age to try to capture just the way you want, so I've decided to just let them pose themselves... Carsten was teary, so it's not the best, but I think they are pretty cute myself!

Odds and Ends...

Carsten was less than cooperative today with a little photo shoot I wanted to do... I've been trying to get a good picture for his 9 months, but he would rather be on the move. The photo above was when he took the tool I was using to make him smile (the duster)... oh well.


Reese decided he wanted *spikes* today and it worked fine since he woke up with morning hair...

Monday Updates...

Here we are again... I would like to say that I haven't updated because I've been so busy with some project or housework or... but, let's see. I've been busy with two boys and minimal housework. Saturday Jim took the day off and we spent the day as a family. We met a good friend for lunch--thanks again Barb! We went shopping and had a slow day. We were glad to have dad around!









Carsten with his imfamous "Ohhhh".


Carsten smiles... he is pulling up really well these days and experimenting with the stairs. He has even gotten to where he can get off the landing by going headfirst, but he catches himself... I'll have to video it sometime. Today Reese and I tried to teach him to come down the stairs backwards, but I don't think he *got* it.



Reese *playing* the broom. That is what it looked like, but he was really using it as a scoop on a tractor. Now that we've mentioned that it looks like he was playing the guitar he uses it to produce his own version of music. Reese is growing. He loves to sing and dance and just be busy. He can still be found building most of the day.

Carsten Ola is crawling now on all fours--sometimes.
There are times that the old scoot is much faster.

Ben and Mindy came by for a visit last night... Reese LOVES Ben! Commonly heard last night, "let's go build".

A few more videos...

Reese trying his ABCs again...


Carsten waving...

Oh, Sunny Day...

It was a beautiful day here, so we took lunch to the park and blew bubbles...

Sharing...

We went last night to Papa and Grandma Paula's for dinner. Carsten now likes *the car* as much as Reese--and two don't fit. Steering wheels and boys just go together as Carsten just grabbed on and *drove*.

Carsten talking to himself...


The boys riding on Pooh cars together...

Ladders and First Hair Cuts...

Carsten Ola got his first hair cut today thanks to Kent W. He looks like a little boy now. His little wispy hair was sticking up and running over his ears, so it was time.


Carsten appears to be getting yet another tooth as the drool has turned into a fountain and yesterday he was running a little fever.
He pulls up on everything and scoots all over. He has about four bruises to show for his efforts in getting around.






This is one of Reese's favorite toys, an old step ladder. He drags it around and *fixes* all sorts of problems. It gets him two steps higher than his little world. On Monday he was wanting daddy's ladder so he could touch the clouds with his hands...

Here we are...

Carsten longing to be outside with Reese. He is pretty content to just stand at the door and watch his brother, but it won't be long and he'll want to join in.

So, we are still here... It has been a busy week of..... ***warranty work***!!! I have not enjoyed having people come in and fix walls, floors, counters, etc... or not come when I've been told they were coming. It has messed up a few naps and feedings (for Carsten) and been just a little aggravating. I guess if we intend to build a house I'd better get used to sub-contractors...


Reese was bribed to be quiet and take a good nap today with the promise of getting to play outside. The weather has gotten nice enough that he wants to be outside all day every day.

The reason Carsten is not outside crawling around... The patio is made of aggregate which is not kind on knees and other body parts that might come in contact with it.

Carsten Crawling (his version)

Reese's ABCs...

Construction?

Reese had to help Opa put together a little table on Saturday. Of course we are big on safety, so he wore his hard hat.

Found this one and thought is was cute... Reese and his baby--George.

Cutie...

I love it when Carsten sits like this on his knees. Too cute. He often sits like this and plays with Reese. He is still not up on his knees for crawling yet, but does the forward half-crawl quite well. He is pulling up on everything and usually chooses the most unstable items in our home to do it. Rocking chairs, chairs on the kitchen floor (slippery), items too small to hold him up, etc... you get the idea. Fun times at our house!