Ben got to go to his first Ranger's game with Lanny (thanks to Lanny's company). He enjoyed watching the game and eating the ice cream out of a hat. He had a great time! Lindley and I had a "girls night in" and did each other's hair and nails...okay, not really. We did do a little shopping and played a mean game of peek-a-boo.

Texans Soccer

Ben had his first soccer game this weekend. He has been so excited for his first game for a LONG time now. He did score one goal, and he ran off the field with his arms raised in a victory lap. We were proud of him, but had to remind him that he had to finish the game! Unfortunately, they did lose the game thanks to a girl on the other team who had to be like 7 years old. But, thankfully, they don't officially keep score. So, Ben thought he won since he scored a goal. And, we remind him that as long as he is having fun, does his best, and is a good teammate, then he has won!

When he was not playing, he and another teammate sat on the sidelines yelling "Texans! Texans!" (which is their team name). Ben is #12.

Lindley's New Trick

I won't say who taught her how to do this. And when she's older, she's going to kill me for posting this...

Ben and His Birthday

I think Ben's birthday is finally, officially over. His actual birthday was September 8, but we have been celebrating since the first of the month! It started with his "little party" in Canyon (see this post). Then, on the day before his birthday, we got to go to the ice cream store (a.k.a. Braum's). Presents were opened on his actual birthday, and then there was his party this past Saturday. We went to a fire station close by where the kids got to play on a real fire truck, and see where the firefighters sleep and eat. Then we walked across the parking lot to a rec center for cake, ice cream, and fun in the gym. Ben had a great time his friends (all 16 of them)!!

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Many thanks to Monica for all of the great pictures!

Well, It's Official...

I have become a soccer mom. I must say, I fit the part pretty well :) And, I also must say that Ben has the cutest soccer team I have ever seen. He had his first soccer practice on Saturday, and he CANNOT wait for the first game. As we were leaving practice, he was asking when he gets to play in a game. Unfortunately, his first game is actually right during his birthday party. I haven't told him that yet...

First Day of Preschool

Ben started Preschool on Tuesday of this past week. He did great the first day, but was a little clingy the second day. All in all, he said he likes his teacher and is making new friends.

Labor Day Weekend

After we met Levi, we had Ben's "little birthday" party (as he referred to it). We celebrated with our family who lives in the Panhandle. Ben had such a great time at his party at Mr. Gatti's....and the "adult kids" had fun too (but I'm not posting those pictures!)


Here is what Lindley did all weekend:

We are so glad that we finally got to meet our nephew. He is just so precious, and we miss him already!

A Note on my Previous Post

I just wanted to clarify something about my last post titled, "'Best Birthday Ever!'" Just a note: I chose that title because Ben had said several times that it was the "best birthday ever!" And, it was a fantastic birthday...better than many birthdays I have had in the past (especially the one where I went to Sonic by myself). However, just to be clear, I was simply quoting Ben with my last title.

"Best Birthday Ever!"

Well, we celebrated my last birthday in my 20's this past Saturday. Next year is the Big 3-0! I have a lot to do between now and then!!

To quote Ben, it was the "best birthday ever!" Lanny and I got to have a really fun date night on Saturday thanks to our very gracious friends offering to babysit (for free!). Then, on Sunday, my best friend in the whole world and her family, who lives in College Station, surprised me by coming over, treating us to dinner, and then spending the night. I really was surprised because Lanny had set me up by telling me we had plans with other people. While I was getting ready, Ben came and told me, "They're here..." Me: "Who's here?" Ben: "Caleb..." I ran into the living room, and it was Caleb! With the rest of the Skow clan of course :)

It truly was such a great birthday!

She Did It!

Lindley crawled tonight! She has been trying so hard to figure it out, and tonight she did it! I'm sorry that the video is a little long, but you can see the progression...you have to wait until towards the end to see her finally make it. And, in one of the clips, I had a "monkey" on my back, so it is a little bouncy. Sorry!

Click on the picture to see the video.

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What She's Doing Now

I never posted on Lindley's 9 month birthday, so I thought I would go ahead and "record" what she is doing at 9 months before she turns 10 months ;)

At her 9 month check-up, she weighed 20.1 lbs and was 28.25 inches, which are both in the 75th percentile. Her peanut head is in the 25th percentile.

She is now waving hi and bye; signing "all done" (which looks alot like hi and bye); she has one bottom tooth; she is so close to crawling, but just can't make it work; she is actually doing some sort of snake/swim crawl which looks like she is working really hard to do, but she is actually getting somewhere when she does this; and, she is making this really funny "breathe in/out through her nose" face (I'll try to get a video of it).

Another Installment of Ben-ism's

If you are wondering what a Ben-ism is, see this post.

Here are some recent funny ones:

- While I was making Ben clean up, he says, "Mommy, who is coming over?"

- "Mom, IDK means I don't know."

- He has started using his middle finger to point at things. I have no idea why...I am constantly reminding him to use his "pointer" finger

- While we were driving along talking about all the things that God created:
Me: "And, God created the trees..."
Ben: "And the leaves..."
Me: "And, God created the birds.."
Ben: "And, Sonic!"
Yes, he is my son!! And truth be told, we were driving up to Sonic when he said that (shocking, I know).

And, here are some more serious ones:

- "Mommy, did God make the angels?"

- "Was there a real Pharoah? Did Pharoah die?" "Are we all going to die?" This led to a conversation about going to Heaven when we die and how we can pray to God and tell God that we believe Jesus died for our sins. Then Ben said, "I want to do that!" (meaning pray that prayer) "But, Mommy, I will need some help."

- "Mommy, did God die?" I think he was trying to figure out how God got to Heaven.

- "Will I get to Heaven on a rocketship?" "How are we going to die?" "I want to see God in Heaven."

It's so interesting to us that Ben is asking so many questions about death. I guess it is somewhat of a new concept to him. We struggle with how much to "water down" for him versus teaching him the "whole" truth that is found in the Bible.

Levi Shane Turner

Is he not the most precious thing? And, he looks JUST like his daddy!!!

Nephew udpate

9:41 p.m. : Levi Shane Turner has entered the world! He was 6 lbs 13 oz and 18 1/2 inches! We can't wait to meet him!

8 p.m. update : Still no baby...

Lanny's sister is in LABOR!! Her water broke at 1 a.m. last night!! Her due date was 08.08.08, so we are really surprised by the early arrival. We should have a new nephew sometime today!

Schrib Family Happenings

We have made a few changes to our "situation" as we know it:

- Three weeks ago, Ben and Lindley left their daycare and are now staying with a nanny three days a week. So far, this has gone really well. The kids seem to love and trust her, and we do too! Her hourly rate is fairly reasonable; she is a Christian (and not a casual one!); she is very even-tempered; and when we get home, they are bathed!!

- Because of the nanny situation, my commute has gotten shorter. Now, instead of having to go North to drop off at daycare (when my office is South), I just head on downtown. This is probably a time-savings of about 20 ish minutes each way.

- Lanny and I are now carpooling when I go into the office (currently twice a week). We'll see if our marriage can survive my morning grouchiness, his edgy driving, and his smacking his gum. Although, it is nice to actually have a few minutes to talk without being interrupted (unless it is about the budget).

In other news, our best friends came to visit last weekend, and we had a blast!

Celebratin' Small Town Style

A Global Perspective

Brad recently returned from traveling the world with Passion World Tour, and we got to see him this past weekend. He brought Ben a bunch of coins from all of the different places he visited. He knew that Ben would be a little bit too young to understand, but also knew that one day it would be a special thing for Ben to have. Here is the conversation:

Brad: "Look, Ben, I brought all these coins back from the places I visited..."
Ben: "Oh, I have some coins, too!" (Ben goes to grab a cup full of Chuck E. Cheese tokens)
Brad: "Those look like tokens. These are coins from other countries around the world. See, this one is from Sweden..." (Brad starts spreading out the coins on the table)
Ben: (Dumps out tokens on the table next to Brad's coins) "And, these are from the Chuck E. Cheese country!"
Brad and Missy: (die laughing)

Lindley is 8 months

Yet another month has quickly passed by. Here is what I want to remember about Lindley on her 8-month birthday:

- She is finally starting to cut her first tooth. I can barely see the pearly white, but it is coming!

- She has become a tummy sleeper. She has started moving around a lot in her crib and seems to like sleeping on her stomach. We used to have her crib elevated at one end because it really seemed to help with her drainage. I had to stop doing that, though, after I found her sleeping upside down the other night!

- She is very aware of my comings and goings, and she gets upset if I walk away from her.

- She still doesn't love her baby food.

- She is trying really hard to learn how to crawl. I can tell she really wants to figure it out, but she just can't make it work!

Here are some recent pictures of our summer fun. By the way, she does NOT like the water!

Hasta La Vista Paci's

I'm a little embarrased to write this post because: 1) yes, Ben is almost 4 and 2) no, we had not taken his paci's away. I'll spare you my excuses for not having done this yet.

Last Friday, Ben came to Lanny and I and declared, "I'm 23 years old, and I'm giving up my paci's." He then proceeded to gather his pacifiers from his bed and handed them all to me. Okay...we'll see how this goes.

He had a hard time getting to sleep that night, but he never asked for a paci. The next night, the kids stayed with a babysitter (that is another post), and was asleep by the time we got home.

We had been talking about giving up his paci's soon, and that we would have a paci party whenever he did. So, on Sunday night, we invited his (and our) neighborhood friend over and had balloons, cupcakes, and fun. He had such a good time, and thought it was his birthday!! At one point, I busted out an old cheer, "We are proud of you, say, we are proud of you *clap *clap..." I later heard him playing with the balloons in the living room saying, "We are proud of me..."

Later that night, he ceremoniously threw his paci's in the trash (that I dug out later just in case), and of course, Lanny wanted to try to save those for Lindley (yuck!). He got a present and went to bed fairly easily.

The next morning he woke up with a fever, felt pretty rotten, and he stayed home with me that day. He never asked for his paci's. I was shocked that even when we was so sick, he didn't ask for them.

So, here we are, no paci's, and he hasn't asked for them yet. What is it like, 17 or 23 days or something, that it takes to break a habit? So, we have a few more days before then....but, for now, I'm really surprised and impressed at this development. Maybe we were somewhat justified in not forcing him...(and maybe I'll eat those words later). Who knows?

Here is a picture of Ben and his friend shooting off rocket balloons at his "party"