Poor baby... (and no, he doesn't have a rash on his face... his mommy didn't get a chance to wipe his face yet after the applesauce feeding by big sister, Kate) :)

How unbelievably cruel is it to see your baby in mild distress... and run and get the camera before "rescuing" him because it's still so darned cute? Poor Ben...

Aww, Kate - you're such a good big sister :)

Thanks for visiting, Gma and Gpa A. (sorry, I didn't get any pics of Gpa this time - but he really was there!) :)

Kate's crawling with Ben (silly girl). This pic makes me miss her long hair already! :( BUT... I suuuure don't miss the weeping and nashing of teeth every morning when I have to brush it! Okay, then so maybe I don't miss it so much... :)

Here's Ben "helping" Sam unload the dw

Awww - they're such good buds

Look at my new trick! :)

Very cool...
The Bengals vs. the Arizona Cardinals. Unfortunately, we lost -- but it was still a great experience for the boys.

I can guess which of my boys took this picture (cheerleaders)!

The fans are starting to take their seats

They got to see "in real life" how massively huge these guys are

Todd said something to his boss about the fact that he's been to a college football game (go Bucks!) but he's never been to an NFL game. So his boss VERY kindly got him 4 tickets to the Bengals game on Sunday... and field passes!!! So the boys got to go out on the field while the team warmed up, meet the players, etc. They had a blast! Thank you, Mr. Beck!

Kate was a tiny bit distressed b/c she "losed" her tooth as she was falling asleep last night so she just put it under her pillow. But the tooth fairy didn't know... so she didn't get "a coin" as she was expecting! Thankfully, Isaac called the tooth fairy on the phone for her and cleared the matter up. She got her coin the next night and she was happy. Thank you, Isaac. :)

my BEAUTIFUL little girl got a haircut, as you can see. (AND she's trying to show you in this picture that her bottom tooth is loose) :)

LOL! I came across this picture today and just had to share it! :)

...... THEN....... I walk back to the front door to get him and he's not there. He's crawled into the living room and is playing with the pedals of the piano. I say "Hey, buddy" and he turns around and... well, I didn't capture the exact "moment" and this picture doesn't do it justice... He turns around and gives me the CUTEST, SWEETEST little grin from under the piano bench... little mouth covered in potting soil. It was priceless. (I obviously had to go back and get the camera).
Little stinker!!!

Oh, the joys of having a mobile child now... I have to teach what he can and can't touch (*sigh*). Here we are, learning not to play in the dirt of the potted plants. Just a firm "NO" gets him pretty upset at this point (as you can see from the picture). After I took this picture (b/c it was so cute) ;) he was such a good boy... he got off the plant, crawled to me and I said, "Oh, Ben - what a good boy!" and I put him in front of the storm door b/c he likes to look outside... then I came in to the study to download the pictures....... and THEN..........

This was the first year my little princess was able to keep up with the boys. It was SO cute! We went to a neighborhood with pretty big front yards and to see her just running up to the house with her big brothers, pony tail and flouncy dress just bouncing along... it was adorable! :) Near the end she kind of tuckered out and said, "I think I have enough candy, Mom" (ya THINK?!) :) but overall, she did great!

I've said it before, I'll say it again... WHAT a cheeseball!!!! And you can't tell from the picture but he's also flailing his little arms and legs around. He's obviously VERY excited to be a giraffe. :)

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!! :)

This is not "the" trick or treat picture for this year... Jesse is probably going to kill me for posting this but I actually chuckled out loud when I saw it. He's really NOT picking his nose - that mask is kind of itchy, ya know. :) And see what I'm up against to try to get a good picture for four kids?

(oh my goodness... I said four kids -- I have FIVE kids!... and that's my excuse for having no brain)

HAPPY HALLOWEEN! :)

First of all, I wasn't able to post all the adorable "baby of the family/Ben blog" pictures b/c my computer froze up. I'll have to post them later...

Secondly -- HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!.....................................

On our way to go trick or treating, Isaac said, "Mom, what are you dressed up as?"

"I'm a MOM... with five kids!"

Without pausing at ALL, without missing a beat, in a sarcastic monotone voice...

"Wow, that's scary."

I cracked up laughing! :)