November

Email excerpt:

11/11:  We are all over our colds now. It's nice that the kids are sleeping better. 

> Annika still loves ranch on everything. She kept asking for ranch for her flapjack until I gave in. She has started adding "y" to a lot if words. Forky, diapy, cupy, ranchy, churchy. She has been loving water color paints. It's a great activity for her to do while I'm making dinner. We actually made homemade paints using baking soda, vinegar, corn starch and corn syrup. And food coloring. I will have to send you a beautiful painting from her:) she watches Elf every morning. We're going to get her despicable me 2 for Christmas. We're getting sick of elf around here.
> Benson isn't rolling over yet. He is working on sitting up. Annika was sitting up at 5 and half months. He will be 5.5 on Friday. I don't think he will beat her record. :) 
> We went to the merc with dad on Saturday. Annika didn't eat much for lunch since there was so much to see. 
> Annika LOVES to give Benson hugs. Sometimes I have to help her let go when she squeezes too tight. She is a sweet sister. I sent a video of her making him laugh. 

11/18: I hate the wal mart. We just got back (thus why I haven't written you yet). So they often have signs up for 50% off the already marked down clearance items. I found a few things (some really cute watermelon cupcake liners and power bars) that were supposed to be an extra 50% off. The sign was up. When I got to the checkout, the guy said they had had 50 off all weekend but as of 20 minutes ago they weren't doing it anymore. Then take you signs down wal mart!!! Needless to say I did not buy those things. 
> Moving on...
> Annika called three different people on my phone and texted dad over the weekend. She also knows how to get to Facebook on my phone and she scrolls down until she finds little movies people posted and she watches them. I have to tell her "you can't get on Facebook" all the time:). Her newest words are nursery, temple, and Hawaii. She has started calling Benson "cokie". Not sure where that came from? She gives him hugs all the time. Yesterday she was giving him a hug while he sat on my lap. Then she tried picking him up off my lap and said something like "got him". She cracks us up! I have trimmed her bangs twice now. It's amazing the difference it makes. She will leave her pony tails in through most of church now. Also, back to her phone usage, on Saturday we were sitting down to breakfast when she ran over to the couch. She sat down with David's phone and when we asked her to come sit down she said "text". She is also becoming more articulate as her vocabulary expands. We have been able to have several pretty comprehendible conversations. 
> Benson is as sweet as can be. He is very smiley. He's almost 6 months old! He sat up for 20 seconds the other night and I predict he will be sitting up pretty well by thanksgiving. He is sleeping much better at night. Only waking up once to eat. Now if he would just stop waking up a few other times for his binky, that would rock. When Annika starts playing with him he often starts squealing. And she mimics him. 
> David ordered glasses from Costco and should get them this week. I will send a picture next week. I think he will look so cute in them.    
> I am still doing scouts and nursery. I never took a pic in my scout shirt for you! I will next time:)

11/24: Benson has been taking a two hour nap every afternoon since I started feeding him solid baby foods every mid-morning. It has been awesome. He LOVES baby food. I think apple sauce and blueberry sauce are his favorites. He didn't like carrots or baby meats. Don't worry Keenan, we'll work on the meat. :)

Yesterday, David took Annika took the OHS quarter final playoff game in Ellensburg (they lost). David said Annika was quiet and happy the whole time. During 2nd half she kinda warmed out and was more lively. She is a fun little girl. We just got home from Glenn and Kathy's. Annika always comes alive when we go into their family room after dinner. She runs around with the football and says "hek" (hike) before she throws it. She talked about their dog, Sadie, all the way home. She loves to talk about that dog and look at her. But, she doesn't like to be on the ground when Sadie is around. She wants us to hold her when we're outside.

So, I told you she was calling Benson, "Cokie" last week. We discovered that it's actually "cookie" that she's been saying. She often says "la cookie!!" We started calling him cookie too. Not sure where she came up with this one. I made the mistake of bringing a book full of trucks to sacrament mtg. I don't know what I was thinking.  She looked at it for 30 seconds are started saying "f word, f word, f word." (That's how she says truck if you don't remember) She wasn't very loud and I don't think anyone heard her. But, I put the book away right away.

Benson has sat up for about 30 seconds several times this week.  I'm not sure if I told you last week, but he weighs 16 lbs now. He will be 6 months old on Saturday. Annika weighed 17 lbs 1 oz when she was one. He doesn't look that big but he is SOLID. He has been gaining weight faster since we started solids. I put him in his bumbo up on the kitchen table and feed him around 11:30 when Annika is also eating her lunch. 

This week, we are going to get rid of Annika's binkies. She is over 2 and we don't want them to do any damage to her teeth/mouth. We have been talking to her today about giving her binkies to Amayah (Rose's one year old). Amayah doesn't even like binkies, but Annika doesn't have to know that. I'm going to buy a new doll and bring it over to Rose's house before we go over there. I will have Rose give her the doll in a gift bag after Annika gives her binkies to Amayah. So far, as we've been talking about it, Annika has been all for it. I have a feeling she won't be so happy about it when we actually do it. She still drinks her milk in a bottle. I think we might get rid of bottles with the binkies this week. This might be a memorable Thanksgiving break :)

David looks super cute in his glasses. I will send you a picture.

Well, I have to go feed la cookie.

12/2: We had a nice thanksgiving. I missed having any Pass family around! I made 2 pies and Rhodes rolls. The pie crust was delicious! Looking forward to hearing about your thanksgiving. I didn't go to any stores for Black Friday but I did some shopping online. 

> Benson is officially sitting up! Such a big boy! He slept through the night on Saturday. Last night wasn't so good. He still loves baby food. 
> Annika has been sitting at the table for meals with us for awhile now. She doesn't seem to eat as much because its harder to keep her at the table. She doesn't wear a bib anymore and she's good at drinking from a cup. She has started singing more and I love it. She said a prayer in nursery for the first time yesterday. 

another for the "selfies by Annika" portfolio

sitting up practice. He's loving the jungle toy!

Benson with his sweet cousin Hayley

selfie girl :)

this boy's smile melts my heart every time!

she left this sticky note on her head for 10 minutes. silly girl!

"I have no neck!" This is her "I love you so much I could eat you up" face that she often makes when she is talking to Benson.

selfie time

she joined him for tummy time watching the fish tank toy

just trying on lots of socks. I love that she puts on her own socks and shoes!

another selfie :)

I believe this was taken right after I heard her yelling for me. I went in to find she had removed her diaper and pooped on her favorite blanket. Yuck! But I don't think she will do it again. She was traumatized. 

We went on an awesome cub scout field trip to the crop duster airplane hanger. I loved it! Field trips and tours of any kind are some of my favorite things.

my sweet girl unloaded the silverware for me :)

yogurt face!

play dough

daddy with his babies. They love their daddy!

my pretty girl before church

first pony in the back!

she loves to sit back to back with him :)

her last moments with her binkies! We took them over to Amayah (a one year old). We told Annika that Amayah was a baby and she needed them. Amayah gave her a gift that I dropped off earlier- a baby doll and a ball. She was very willing to make the trade. She cried a little bit the first two days when she was going to sleep and missing her binkies. But it went much better than we expected. 

Cynthia Gentry took some family pictures for us. I love this one with my sweet 6 month old boy!

it was as freezing as it looks. But the kids did surprisingly well in the cold.