adventures of transition...

ok so i know that its been forever, but hey i just had a kid, a 2nd bday, easter & an upcoming husband bday! 

i wanted to ket everyone, or those of you who haven't given up on my blogging, that we are transitioning to a new blog... i mean i cant leave gabe out!! i thought about doing 2 seperate ones & then realized i was being over ambitious :) at least i figured that out sooner rather than later.

check it out...many pictures coming soon

adventureswiththeruckels.blogspot.com

adventures with Florida cousins

here is a sweet pic of ben hanging out with Florida cousins. they were watching the cartoon "Handy Manny" while we hung out at Pop's house. thank goodness for modern technology...they were watching it on matt's iphone!!

adventures at nanny's house

while we were in florida we stayed at nanny's house. so much better than staying at a hotel :) we all enjoyed a little R&R. ben loved to walk with nanny outside to get the dog, and they usually ended up down on the dock. who can blame him?! 

matt & ben had a grand ole time riding bikes & skateboards in front of nanny's house. i became designated picture taker. her extra-long driveway made for a great runway for the skateboard. ben loves the skateboard! here are just a couple pics i could get up.

ben & daddy riding back up the driveway.

the dueling tricycles

time to go in for a nap

we just found him like this. under the table just hanging out. too funny!

ben & nanny-the-great walking down to the dock. 

if only every moment of life were this beautiful!

adventures in south carolina

we stopped in columbia, sc to stay the night with matt's sister kristin. the boys got up and enjoyed some sunshine and fresh air. they rode power wheels and ran around the yard. cousins are great!

giggling maddie grace :)

smiley boy noah

curious big boy ben.

owen hammin' it up on his sweet 4-wheeler

adventures on the church playground

it was a gorgeous sunday afternoon and we were heading to florida directly after church. so we let ben run around on the playground a while before we packed up the car to leave town. enjoy his great faces. you can definitely tell he was enjoying himself!

adventures with man's best friend

ben & bear have learned how to have fun and play with one another. it's pretty hysterical to watch them run and play together. no wonder they call dogs man's best friend...it starts at an early age. this is one of ben's new favorite games. he's always trying to get bear to play along.

adventures at the children's museum

fridays = family fun day in our house because matt is off of work. today we went to the Children's Museum of Virginia in Portsmouth. it was great! it's a hands-on (feet & everything else) kids museum. ben literally ran from one thing to the next. he was so excited, it was hard to get any good pictures, but here's what we did get!
matt was on ben patrol & i was the designated picture taker, that's why there are a million pics of matt & none of me! oh and sorry about matt's 'magic' shoes in all the pictures.

Playing in the "City"...

'self checkout' at the grocery store

decisions, decisions!

getting some lessons on how to drive a fire truck

hopefully the closest ben will ever get to riding a motorcycle

an Alice In Wonderland chair

he climbed all the way to the top by himself...never doubted he could

hanging with dad inside of a giant bubble. "cooool" ben says.

running around the train room. it was incredible. there was even a play room in there for kids to play with some trains.

"hmm...i'm supposed to climb this. you're really gonna just let me climb on it?"

SUCCESS!

ben's favorite game. plinko with ping pong balls.

getting blasted by the air holding the ball up. he loved this one too!

our curious george

running on the giant computer. jumping on keys. all things he's dying to do at home :)

my boys & their guitars.

adventures of christmas #2

grammie & grandad cook bought ben a tricycle for christmas. it got here on friday and he is in love with it! they got to watch him ride on it via video chat. he's almost big enough to do it on his own, but not quite. by spring time he'll be a pro!

he was 'helping' put it together.

telling his dad how to do it

just can't stand the wait & takes off on his own!

adventures of christmas morning

we had a great, relaxing christmas. we slept in & opened gifts around 10:30! this is probably the last time that will ever happen :) so we soaked it in as much as possible. since we didn't start until late, we were able to video chat with my family (its 3 hrs earlier there) so they got to enjoy ben opening gifts too. it was great! praise the Lord for technology. here are a few pics from our delightful christmas morning.

ben & nana roo listening to papa reading the christmas story

a wide-eyed child on christmas morning!

playing with the farm nana roo & papa got him

playing peek-a-boo

hanging out with dad in the present aftermath

adventures on christmas eve

we had a great time at our christmas eve service. ben did great. he lasted almost the entire time int he service before needing to run around. he looked so handsome :) we had dinner at our friends' house afterwards & then to spend the night at matt's parents.

my jumping 'bean'

making faces with dad

checking out the stage

adventures in air hockey

back in the day we used to go to Showbiz Pizza, which turned into Chuck E. Cheese with my best friend's family for birthdays. we played all the games, but the one we loved most was air hockey! and my son is following after my own heart :) so proud!

camden & ben are 2 wild peas-in-a-pod!

adventures escaping from bed

ben has started to climb out of his crib when he isn't quite ready to take a nap. oh the joys of little boys! the pictures of his room are what he did before i realized he had climbed out. it hasn't been a continuing problem, so we're still deciding on whether or not to make his crib into a toddler bed.

pulled all the blankets & bibs out of the closet...

pulled shoes out, a lamp out & books off the shelf...

he's mastered it already!

adventures....

here are some random photos to catch you up...


at the hospital waiting for sawyer bush to arrive. he finally did dec 5 @ 2:24 am!! yes, we waited the whole night & don't worry ben did sleep.

trying out a bike at target...
apprenticing in the studio...

adventures of being thankful

we had a grand ole time for thanksgiving this year. aunt kristin & uncle oakley and family came to visit & auntie kate got lots of days off to play! we pretty much lived at nana roo & papa's house while the cousins were in town. ben picked up on all sorts of new things...both good & bad. :) he definitely talks a lot more, but he's also testing the limits too. he's growing up so much lately i can hardly stand it & yet at the same time be so amazed at what he does next. here are a few pictures of the weekend.

this is what auntie kate's are made for...playing with rowday kiddos!

ben was all smiles & couldn't sit still all weekend he was so excited to play with cousins.
at mac arthur playplace...the older 2 were in time-out & ben thought he'd join them. lol
this is what happened at my house...while the kids were being corralled at nana & papa's, the guys built a wall so the master bedroom can go upstairs. thanks uncle oakley for all your help!