friends

this past weekend the three of us flew down to meet the newest little Staley - Shea Noel - who is now 9.5 weeks old. she is a total cutie, although kellen was much more impressed with macen, who is 3 1/2 years old. let me tell you...our boy LOVES older girls! thinks they are the total bomb. he had so much fun following her around, playing in the playroom with her and just giggling at her! i had lots of fun just watching them play - made me a little sad that we don't live in the same town anymore so they could play all the time! with three kids under the age of 4, we didn't do much but hang out, eat, play with the babes and play a few rounds of cards...but it was perfect, just relaxing and catching up with dear friends. can't wait until next time!

i didn't take too many pictures, but here are a few:

kellen loving the pink barbie piano and kellen and mace in their footie pj's

gut check on my 2009 list

it's hard to believe that it's march already...time is a ticking! if i'm not careful the year is going to pass me by and i'm not going to accomplish as much of my list as i'd like...here's where things stand:

1. take a photography class - i've done NOTHING towards this one! hmmm...need to get on it!
2. get an external hard drive for our computer and back up all our photos and videos...ahh...this one has been hanging over my head for awhile now! - CHECK! - I've totally completed this one!!
3. be better at meal planning - i think i've thought about it a couple of weeks, but can do MUCH better!
4. try at least one new recipe each month - this shouldn't be that hard, but i'm not sure i've done this. if i have, i need to do better at documenting!
5. waste less food - i wish i could say i've been good at this, but i haven't.
6. compost - we're getting going on this one! the compost bin was installed today!!

7. get more pedicures this year...i think last year i got a whopping 2! need to improve upon that this year. who wants to help me with that one?? - now this should be really easy, but i haven't had even one yet! i did get a facial on friday, which was pretty luxurious!8. consume less/simplify - hmm...not sure where i stand with this one yet!

9. eat as a family more - we're doing pretty good with this one...although sometimes we're eating a little later than i'd like...can't do everything right, though!

10. figure out our family holiday traditions - no progress yet

11. reduce my hours at work - no progress yet

12. wean the boy - working on it!

13. travel - we have some ideas!

14. have an internet free weekend each month...or at least a day/month! this one will be hard!!! :) - didn't do it in january, but did do it in february...let's see how march goes!

15. go to the beach more often this year - so far so good...see post below!

16. take a trip for our 5th anniversary...possibly without the boy - need to get the details figured out and everything booked. looking forward to this one!

17. more date nights with aa - we've only had one so far

18. move more - already working on this one - i'm getting certified to take the pilates reformer classes at the gym - it's so great! any nike peeps want to join me for the tue/thurs 4:30 class? - doing pretty good here...have been taking the pilates classes at least 2 times a week and LOVING it!

19. 1 month in 2009 = no consumption - - need to pick the month...requires me to be very strategic!

20. use zero disposable plastic water bottles - two months down and not a single plastic water bottle. last night i was at a party and really wanted some water, but they were only serving it in plastic water bottles, so i declined!

our trip to the beach...in photos

playing around with all the great things in the cupboards!

getting ready for our walk on the beach and eating cinnamon chip french toast with dada

mom and dad's dinner and me in my bob

our silohouttes on the sand and dad and me looking very serious

obligatory family self portrait and walking with mama on the beach

Out for a trike ride on a sunny day!

first {wobbly} steps!!!

i was all set to blog about our trip to the beach this weekend, but that will have to wait for another day because the boy has finally taken his first steps! i say finally because this has probably been people's number one question about the boy for the last several months. because he was such an early roller and crawler, i really thought he'd be an early walker. he is actually a little behind what they say the average age of walking is - 12-13 months, but i kept trying to tell myself that "every baby is an individual"! his very first steps were actually today in the hallway of his school. i went over for a visit and while we were walking back to his classroom, i put him down to let him "walk" while holding my hands. i needed to put my coat on so that i could hold both of his hands, so i let go of him and he just stood there and while i put my coat on he took a few wobbly steps. he was so proud of himself and pretty excited, so we took a few more tries down the hallway and called his teachers out to see. unfortunately, i had to go back to work...but what a treat to be able to have him right there and experience his first steps. it had been my biggest fear that he would take them at school, without me there!

when we got home tonight, of course we needed to show off our new skills for dad. here are some fun shots and of course a video {please turn down the sound, so you don't have to hear my excited but annoying mom commentary!}. oh and notice his signing skills in the video as well...he's signing more to do it again! i just love his pride and how happy he is when learning new things...thanks for letting me share. :)

oh and one last thing - i just noticed as i signed in to do this post...the last post was my 100th post, so this is #101! WOW.

first visit to the dentist!

my boy had his first dentist visit today! pretty funny that a 14 month would visit the dentist, but we have dental insurance...so figured we may as well use it! it pretty much consisted of the hygienist brushing his teeth for about 30 seconds, feeling his gums and teeth and her asking me a bunch of questions about his sugar intake - juice, pop, candy, fruit roll ups, dried fruit, flavored yogurt, graham crackers, etc = bad for teeth and water, milk, fresh fruit, cheerios, cheese, oatmeal, pasta, eggs, etc = good for teeth! the dentist then saw us for a few minutes and took a look inside the mouth - no cavities! {btw...did you know that i've never had a cavity? hopefully the boy will follow suit!} they decided not to put the fluoride paste on his teeth since he was pretty wiggly and he doesn't have a ton of teeth right now. we'll try that at our next visit in 6 months.

the boy now has his two front teeth on top, four front teeth on bottom and one big molar on the top! the molar just appeared last week - i looked in his mouth and thought he had a piece of food back there, only to find a molar had popped through. the little guy didn't even complain! there are two more molars on bottom working their way out and two more on top that look like they might pop through any day, so soon he'll have a mouthful of teeth.

oh and we totally posed for the picture above! he didn't even sit in the chair for any of his visit...just on my lap! but we had to take a picture in the dentist chair for the blog. he looks like he's having a pretty good time, eh?

baby bennett

welcome to our newest family member, baby bennett griffin gassner! he arrived in the wee hour of 12:09am on saturday, february 7. weighing in at 7 pounds 6 ounces and 20.5 inches, he's a bundle of cuteness! (look at how big aa's hand is compared to bennett's hand!)

brothers and their sons