Sweet Visit

JDog (Jenny) and her adorable girls came for a visit last week. They live up in Grant's Pass, OR, and, lucky for us, Jenny's mom is here in the bay area. It was so much fun to catch up, and for our kiddos to play. Here are some photos:

Jenny and Chloe (16 months)

Karrah (3 yrs.) and Elodie

Fake smile, but it's me and my girl :)

Sweet Karrah

Cutie Chloe

Happy little lady

Wearing a fire truck hat, singing a fire truck song,
on his fire truck...life couldn't be better!

Group shots (pay attention to Elle in this sequence)

My favorite pic. of them to date

Thanks for the visit, Borchard ladies! Oh, how we miss you.

This ones for us...

So we won't forget… how he makes us smile, laugh, and melt. A list of quotes from the little man. Many of them are stories we have told, sorry for any repeats. Here goes:

Bennett: Look Daddy, I have an Earwack! (said while holding up a finger covered in earwax).

Sunday School Teacher: Do you have any brothers or sisters?
Bennet: Yeah...I have some.

Bennett: Daddy, can we get a Panda?
Rob: Well Bennett, they’re pretty big. Where would we put a Panda?
Bennett: In a tree!"

"Wow, Mommy, you look pretty!" or, "I like your hair." or, "Mommy, you’re the best!"

Waving to the fire truck passing by..."Bye firefighters, be brave!!"

"My Grandpa lives far away. So does my Bumpa. And my Uncle Kevin. All my people’s live far away. (perks up…) Auntie CoCo is gonna be close, though!!"

This is a common one: "I wanna be naked for a bit."

(When Rob works tons) “Can my daddy come to my house?”

We all need our privacy. Grammy, Heather (starts saying names that I had no idea he knew…). Yes, we all do…in fact.

Before he falls asleep, Bennett often suggests we recap the days events by saying: "Should we talk to our day?"

"Barrack OBAMA!!!" (when we see him on the news or on a bumper sticker)

He has always loved looking at books, but lately he looks at the pages and says: "I can’t read the words!” Today he said: “I look at the book, and I see the letters, but I can’t read the words!" And when he is “reading” to himself, he begins by saying the title and author like so: "The Hungry Caterpillar (for example). By San Francisco." Every book.

During nap time, I overheard Bennett singing his version of Amazing Grace from his bed: "I ooonce was lost, but nooow I’m found. Was deeead, but now I see.”

He walks into the kitchen, no pants on, holding Squirts (his stuffed elephant) & a cup of milk, and says, “Have it going?” He meant "how's."

Bennett: I’m gonna be a man. When I grow up. I’m gonna be a man.
Rob: Yes, Bennett, you’ll be a great man. But don’t be a man too soon, there’s lots of fun boy stuff left to do.
Bennett: Yeah, okay.

"Elodie, don't touch my bobbin!!!" He means bottom. "She touched my bobbin!!!" One time Elodie reached over, and, very swiftly, yanked Bennett's pants down. He was very mad. Hilarious.

And lastly:

Rob and I (independent of one another) both saw pooping as an opportunity to teach B. a lesson about lying/telling the truth. We explained to him that if he does a number 2, and we ask him if he has gone, the honest answer is yes (the dishonest answer is no, you get the idea...). So now, we always find out that he has made a poop when he announces, "I tell the truth!!"

Kiss

Wondering?

What Elodie was doing while we played with trains?

playing along, of course!

I need to mention that she now waves and gives kisses. If you flap your arm at her energetically, she eventually gets excited and flaps back. So cute! But my favorite is the kiss...we lean in with puckered lips, and wait, and she leans in slowly but intentionally, and puts her lips on ours. Sweet, sweet girl.

When Daddy's Away...

Mom builds awesome trains.

We have really been missing Rob lately. I have no idea how many hours he has worked over the past couple of weeks...a lot, a lot, a lot. He got the weekend off for Kate's wedding, and it was a wonderful couple of days (lots more on that later). In the mean time, we are doing our best with out him. Our home is definitely not the same when he doesn't spend much time here, that's for sure.

One positive thing that rose from the ridiculous workload/hours:

trains!

I used to build sucky trains. Bennett loves to play trains, and it is normally kind of a Daddy and Bennett activity. But last week, I was up for the challenge (no way could I let my little man down). I was so proud of my new skills that I took pictures, as you can see. I thought the first good one was a fluke, but when the second one turned out even better, I was outrageously impressed with myself. We had fun playing, and that is what really matters (and the fact that we had fun because I can now build awesome trains). Ha ha.

Showered

Two weeks ago, I had the honor of hosting Kate's bridal shower. It was a beautiful day! The weather the perfect: bright and sunny, but not hot. It was all about wedding, flowers, ladies, gifts, and (most importantly) showering Kate. The wedding is next Saturday the 15th; it snuck up on us so quickly! It feels like five minutes ago that we were sitting in the Markley's living room, getting ready to drive up and surprise Kate at the engagement party. We just love Kate and Tom, and we can't wait for their big day!!

Enjoy the rest of the shower photos here on fickr:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kellymarkley/sets/72157621985333362/

Some wedding pictures are soon to follow!!

New Skills

It was hard for me to choose videos, because Elodie is doing so many new things right now. I keep grabbing the camera and making movie after movie. Most of them are kind of lame, and way too long-this drives Rob (the A.V. guy) crazy :). I tried to pick a couple of shorties.

Elodie sits up on her own now, she started this before she even hit the five month mark! This seems really young to me, but maybe I just forget. She can roll both ways (we cheer her on profusely for this talent!). She's also really scooty, and wants to move. If she is sitting on our laps, for example, and sees something she wants, she reaches out with both hands and leans her body into that direction. Sometimes she ends up on her knees with her hands planted in front of her and rocks just a little. I know that rocking position often proceeds crawling, so I won't be surprised if she crawls fairly soon. Well, I will and I won't, because in my mind she is still my tiny girl. She sounds older too, her babbles are more word-like. Bennett says things like: "Mama, Elodie say 'blah blah blah'," or "Elle told me 'ya'!"

If she would just learn the skill of sleeping well she would be the perfect baby! We still aren't doing so fabulously in that department, but it's o.k. At times it is pretty brutal-like this week when I practically had a break-down and wanted Rob to call in sick-but for the most part we are just pushing through, knowing how short the "sleepless period" really is in the big picture. It also helps that she is impossible to be mad at. She smiles with every ounce of energy she can muster, and it is wonderfully contagious. The best medicine!

Here she is sitting:



And here she is rolling. She is actually kind of a quick roley-poley, it doesn't always take as much effort as this video suggests.



And this one is totally off topic, but I loved it all the same. He just learned this new song a couple of days ago and hasn't stopped singing it since.

P.S, he is a sweeter big brother than I ever imagined a big brother could possibly be.