Applesauce

We just made some applesauce. It is delicious. I have often talked to Maya about making our own food instead of buying things like cookies and crackers, things that we can make and are better for us if we make them. I think she is on board. This morning, after eating the applesauce she said: "Mama, from now on, lets make our food, but if we need to, we can buy it." Hmmm, that gives us a pretty big out, but I'll take it.

Ben is starting to think that the walking thing is pretty cool. He is taking more and more steps together and will often clap for himself. I think he has the Crimin self esteem. :)

I'll always think you're pretty....

... even when I don't live with you! That was from Maya tonight after dinner.

It all started because Scott told me that he didn't think I was amazing all the time, so of course I made a big deal about it. So Maya jumped and told me how amazing she thought I was. Topping it off with the pretty comment. We'll see how long she thinks that. Hopefully I have at least five years of pretty AND amazing in her eyes!

Ben is shaking his head "no" back and forth. He does it when he is trying to be silly. It is the cutest thing. He kind of puts his head down and looks up at you grinning and shaking his head back and forth no. He also almost did the sign for "more" tonight at dinner! He is standing for about 5 seconds at a time every once in a while and likes to push the potty seat all around the dining room. Maya, of course, is in front of him, encouraging him the whole way. It is pretty cute. She has been playing with him a game that she made up called "chase the baby" and yup, you guessed it, she chases him around on her hands and knees and he runs away from her. They both think it is hilarious and it is! I need to get it on tape.

That is all for tonight. I think that we have about 4 more days of nice weather then the rain starts again..... I don't know if I can take it.

She's crackin' me up!

So Maya's latest thing is that she takes her cute, sparkly pink bow-tie change purse (thanks Auntie Carole :) ) and goes outside and leaves change scattered around in front of the house for people to find. She gets so excited when they get picked up. It is the cutest thing. The first time she did it, it was just a penny and that took a little while for someone to stop and take it. I almost had Scott grab it just so she could have the satisfaction of someone taking it. But someone finally took it. Now she leaves various coins all around the front. She is too much!

Ben is staying pretty mellow. Aside from not wanting to sleep for longer than 30 minutes at a time (how did I get two non-sleepers?) he seems to be pretty agreeable. He is just about rolling over, just needs a little push from me to get there and then seems pretty happy about it. I think that he could do it on his own if he would stop eating his hand. The fist in his mouth kind of slows him down.

Maya's bracelet.

Bird House!

Maya and I have been working on this birdhouse for a few weeks now. It is our first paper mache project and she loved it! Our next venture is to make a piggy bank..... I have to do something with the left over balloons from her party!

After we finished the bird house, she decided to make a necklace. It turned into a bracelet but she was so funny. She did all of the knots and did the whole thing by herself while I was in the kitchen. She was so pleased with it and herself. She kept saying "this is my very first bracelet that I did all by myself!" and "I am so proud of myself!". So, we took a picture of her modeling it. See the next post for pictures since blogger is driving me crazy and won't let me move pictures around where I want them. This has to be easier than I think it is.

Story Time!

Maya decided that Ben needed a book of his own from the library, and picked this one out. The first time she read it to him, it was so cute, she wanted to hold him in her lap and wouldn't let me hold the book for her. And he loved it. The video that you are about to see, didn't go nearly as well, but undeterred she powered through it.

Christmas time of 2010

Christmas this year was wonderful. Maya is at an age where she is really starting to get excited about everything. Maya was so excited about decorating everything and put up all the ornaments with great delight. When we went to mass, she even got to see a Christmas pageant which was really great because we were reading "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever." She also loved it because she got to sit in the aisle with other little kids and thought that that was really cool.

Here are some videos of our newly minted boy Benjamin and his big sister Maya. These videos have been giving us problems so I hope that they load here. I will have some more of Ben soon. His smiles and "talking" are getting more and more engaging every day. Tonight I think I almost got a laugh out of him but no sound came with it.

With the video of Maya, I am sad that I only got the last little bit about of her dialogue about the glitter glue. She had been going on for a while before I thought to get the camera.

Sorry about the repeat of Benjamin. I thought that I uploaded Maya and I ended up uploading the same one twice. I can't figure out how to delete the repeated video.....