Rolling Over

Nate has been rolling from front to back since he was about 2 months old (thanks to sleeping him on his tummy) and has occasionally rolled from back to front in his 5-1/2 months. Yet to say that he would prefer to be held while observing the action more than actually moving around is an understatement. The difference between Nate and Ben, who was practically rolling around our family room at under 4-months old, merely shows the difference in their personalities. Yes, Nate is the observant one who likes to cuddle and Ben was always in the center of all of the action.

Nonetheless, I decided I should capture some of Nate's movements on camera since he does seem slightly more interested in mobility as of late. Here he is rolling over today on his play mat.

And here is Ben as he lays on the play mat, right after showing me how he can also roll over. What a ham!

Truck Backpack

Ben loves putting all of his prized possessions into his truck backpack and carrying it around with him lately. The last photo looks like he is all ready to go off to school, doesn't it? Well, we have a few more years until preschool but I just thoght he looked so grown-up in that photo. Mom is getting misty-eyed :)

Caught!

I heard some noise during naptime today. So....

Here's Ben's idea of taking a nap this afternoon :).

Caught red-handed!

What a big charmer he is, trying to make up to me with his big grin!

CHL Systems Annual Company Picnic

We had beautiful weather today for the annual CHL Systems company picnic. It's held on a huge farm with a lake, outdoor activities and lots of open space so it is always fun to attend. Today must have been our lucky day, though, since we won a new Canon Powershot 1100 camera and Andrew also won a cash prize in one of the game competitions. Our current Canon Powershot has been taking blurry and delayed pictures lately so we had been considering buying a new one. So now we do not have to :). Due to our winning streak, on our way home from the picnic we stopped and bought a Powerball ticket as well - ha ha!

Here are Andrew and the boys playing frisbee with Ray and Jonathan Greenley.

Nate loved relaxing in our fold-up chairs...it was like his own personal hammock since they sort of dip in the middle!

Ben was not a superstar eater today when lunch and dinner came around but he did not miss a scraping of his make-your-own ice cream sundae and M&M cookie. Anything goes when we're at a party, I suppose! Here, he has just finished his ice cream and is annoyed that I am taking his picture instead of getting him more desserts!

Our friends Ray and Missy Greenley with 15-month-old Jonathan and baby #2 on the way in January.

A family photo of us.

In Need of Attention

Someone was feeling a bit left out when I was photographing Nate today so he took it upon himself to be included!

5-Month Professional Photos

Nathaniel is five months old today so I took him to get some professional photos. Here are my favorites!

ABC Cookies

We made ABC cookies with Ben last night and he had a fun time picking out the letters to cut and especially decorating them once baked. Of course he loves the letter B but he also loves O for some reason so we have many of those in our batch.

Gardening with Daddy

Ben and Nate pose with the peppers that they have been helping Daddy cultivate this season. And no, the peppers Nate is helping with are not hot peppers; they are a different variety of Bell peppers that we tried out this year. Only Andrew's allowed to pluck the hot peppers from the vine!

Brothers

Ben loves to hold his baby brother. We have to be careful, though, because if something more exciting comes along, he's known to just let go and get up off the couch, sending Nate rolling off his lap! So we always supervise this interaction :).

Messy Fun

Ben and I have been experimenting with different craft activities lately and it has become something that he really looks forward to when Nate is napping. Some personal time with Mommy while being messy. What could be better?

Today we made some Magic Mud out of corn starch, water and food coloring. What fun! It's a compound similar to Model Magic but it slips right through your fingers and oozes when left in a pile. The best part? It melts right off with warm water for an easy clean-up.

Since clean-up is a breeze, Ben was allowed to bring some trucks into the playzone. He loved pushing his mud around with his bulldozer and putting some into his pickup truck. And when you put a car on top, it sinks...just like quicksand. I would highly recommend this!

It also does no harm if consumed, eh, accidentally! :)

Yesterday's project was Glue Art. This involves a large dab of glue on waxed paper with food coloring to smear and various objects to place into collage form. This was also lots of fun and Ben is so proud of his creation that now hangs on our fridge!

Sunday Afternoon

We took my parents out for brunch at Hotel Fiesole in Skippack Village today as a thank you for watching Barney for us for just under three weeks while we traveled last month. After brunch we walked around Skippack for a while. Here is a family photo that we took at the hotel:

Daddy and Nate.

The men waiting for the women to finish looking in the stores. Nate was so bored that he fell asleep!

Relaxing in Skippack Village...