Pumpkin carving

Ben has been wanting to carve pumpkins and make jack o' lanterns since the first day of Fall, so for Family Day, Daddy got two cute little pumpkins to carve with the kids. (He got a really good deal too which was nice 'cuz they're SO FREAKING EXPENSIVE!!)

This was a first for the kids and me, so Daddy showed us how to carve them. Lily got really into it and was surprisingly good with the knife. (I was a little worried that she'd cut herself and mess up the pumpkin pretty bad too.) Ben thought that scooping the inside out was too gross so he handed his over to Daddy to make for him. Here are some pics:

Happy with their pumpkins.

Daddy put lights inside and I think they turned out pretty good! We have them in the bathroom as a nightlight. At first I was concerned that they would scare Ben but he loves them!

It was fun! I'd like to do this every year.

Of sea cows and such...

Ben to Dad: "Daddy, did you know that there are trees that grow in water? They are called Houdini trees. There are also sea cows that live in the sea and give sea milk.......but humans don't like to drink that kind of milk, because the seam milk tastes like 'bluah!' Very Yucky!"

He's so perfectly handsome!

The other day we were reviewing spelling words and I asked Ben to spell the word 'brown'. When I came back to check on him, I found this:

"Mr. Brown man had u TV."

I thought it was so cute! He's such a smart boy!

Updates on Justin

Thank you so much for keeping Justy in your prayers. He had a fever for 3 days but seems to be all better now. I'm pretty sure that he's teething and that's why he had the fever as he hasn't had any symptoms of anything else. I still don't see any teeth coming through though.

Thankfully he's sleeping well again and is pretty happy, he just hasn't regained his appetite and only wants to nurse. Anyhow, here are some pics:

I think he almost looks like he's dancing here.

He loves the top bunk and goes to play with Lily when she first wakes up.

His favorite parent time activity: dancing and clapping to songs that Daddy plays for him. (His absolute favorite is "I'm yours" by Jason Mraz.)

I love the way he sleeps just like Chris, with his arms up.

Goodnight to all!

Here's another beautiful piece Chris made for the baby...

It's so perfect!

God bless him for working so hard on it. He doesn't have much time so he'd stay up late at night or use little free slots here and there to make it and I love how it's turned out.

"Mom, my doll is alive..."

A new crib!

Yes! My wonderfully talented husband has produced another masterpiece. See for yourself:

The finished product!

We really needed a crib for Justy and upon hearing this a good friend went out and bought us all the wood we needed. Then Chris designed and built it. I'm so happy to have it as it's not only beautiful and big (just how I like it) but it's a great playpen and is helping us get more rest at night.

In his new crib!

Just because he's so handsome...

Here are some random photos of Justin to brighten your day:

He sleeps just like his Daddy, with his arms up over his head.

Just waking up and so happy to see Daddy!

He sits up so well, all by himself.

Dinosauria!

Daddy took the kids to see "Dinosauria", a mechanical dinosaur display that came to Cuernavaca. They really enjoyed it though Ben was a little overwhelmed by their size, movements and loud sounds.

One very cute thing about it was that when we found out about it I told Ben that we needed to pray and ask the Lord to supply free tickets to it, and he was so serious about it. We were walking home discussing possibly going to it that afternoon and he stopped right on the sidewalk and started praying for it. I was so proud of him!

The lighting wasn't very good inside so I'll just post a few of the better pics.

Yup! That's my son!

Girl Scouts

Lily has joined a Girl Scout club nearby and really enjoys it. They meet once a week to do arts & crafts projects, play games, sing & dance together etc., and I'm hoping it'll also help Lily pick up Spanish faster.

To celebrate Independence Day all the little girls came dressed up in traditional outfits. They each brought a traditional dish and learned a bit about Mexico and the flag. Here is the craft they made:

Although it's only for girls, Lily asked her Guide if she could bring some colored paper home so Ben could make a flag too. It was so thoughtful of her! Lily's flag is on the left and Ben's on the right.

Dressed up!

Some of the little girls in her group.

He insisted on dressing up as well (he comes with me to drop her off).
Isn't he just SO handsome?

Another month...

In 2 days Justin will be 8 months old. His 7th month has been quite eventful!
He's learned how to:

• pull himself up into a sitting position
• crawl
• clap
• wave
  
• say his first word: Papa (Of course it's more like pa-pa-pa-pa, but it's still cute!)

I've got videos of it all but I still can't seem to post any videos on here, so you'll just have to trust me. He's eating regular meals now and has begun to show his temper; he'll arch his back and fuss when I take him out of his bath.

Here are some photos taken throughout the past 2 months:

Laughing at Daddy's tickles.

Cutest Egyptian boy!