Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

We celebrated civil rights last Monday by going to the beach and burning some marshmallows.We piled in the car for the awesome, 5 minute drive to the beach and got an excellent parking spot on account of the weather being overcast and chilly.

  

Mike and Zeke chopped tinder to start the fire and Mike the Eagle Scout handled all the other aspects of fire building as well.  He stayed close to the fire pit while I took the boys down to the water.  Both boys were big fans of the water but I wasn't excited about letting Ben play in the chilly deep.  After taking Ben back to Mike to play by the much safer fire, Zeke and I spent some playtime in the tide.  Zeke and I started out just putting our toes in, but we got pretty wet.
Zeke was most pleased with the marshmallow cooking.  He called it, "camping."  After eating several marshmallows and throwing several more into the fire, he handed me his roasting stick and said, "Mama, it's your turn to go camping."

 

We buried Zeke in the sand.  He loved it.  

Ben attempted to clobber Zeke several times, enjoying his temporary superiority. 

Walking!

Ben is taking down some mile stones this month : now he's walking!
He took his first official, solo step on December 15, 2011, but he has been shy about letting go of the chairs and couches.  During the month after that he was showing promising signs by taking one or two steps on his own but he always chose to drop and crawl before things got shaky.  Now we are happy to report that he walks frequently and, even for audiences.  Both grandmas and grandpas have seen him walk on command.

We didn't encourage him to walk early and we didn't get any helpful walking toys for him to practice with, but I'm very glad he's taking his own steps.  Ben is not a little baby - he is physically very tall and very heavy and wearing size 2T clothes even though he's not quite one year old yet.  (He is now wearing the same shirt that Zeke wore when he came to visit Ben in the hospital for the first time.)   My back looks forward to Ben's growing independence.  

Happy Ben

Ben grew two new teeth!  His front ones on top!  It was a very painful, unhappy week for Ben while they were coming in, but now that his new teeth are here things are much better.  Now he powers through an apple in half the time (and twice the drool).

We should all live just a little bit closer

We were very blessed to have so many cousins nearby during Christmas.  Zeke was very excited about going to play with cousins, which was awesome.  When he played with his cousins I caught a glimpse of how awesome a "playdate" could be...  Right now all playdates are just plain work : I work hard to keep everyone from fighting over the same toys.  But someday, very soon, that will change.  

Here's a picture of Zeke with his Texas cousins finding fairy treasure at a park.  It's a rare picture because I'm in it.  We also had fun with our Utah cousins but I didn't get any fun pictures - my camera was usually forgotten in the car somewhere far from the action.  

Oh, and, Happy New Year!