Siscos come to visit

Ed's aunt and uncle visited us for a few days on their way to go camping and experience the fall colors in Michigan. It was wonderful to see them; unfortunately they had some cool and wet weather for camping! 

Ben snuggled right in with Aunt Mary Ann

And got some cuddle time with Uncle Mickey as well!

Jojo and Mary Ann built a super high tower with the magnet tiles

Mary Ann gave the boys dry erase workbooks and they were obsessed. Thomas' book was full of activities featuring each of the 50 states (1 page per state) and not too long after they left, he asked me to text Mary Ann and tell her that he'd gotten through the entire book.

Thanks for visiting! Both we and the boys had a great time!

Random Ben pics

Some shots from my photo shoot attempt for Ben's birth announcement:

Three brothers in big brother/little brother shirts

Five kids when the Cooks came to visit!

Kelly, Abbey and Ben

Tummy time in his packer outfit!

Guess who wanted in on the photo?

Pouty lip

Pouty lip profile

Another pouty lip!

Ben at 1 month

When I first started taking monthly photos of TJ as a baby, it was easy. I just plopped him down, took the picture, and was done. After Jojo was born, the picture taking got a little trickier because Thomas wanted to be in them too. So I'd do some with both boys and some just of Jojo. And now with three boys...well let's just say that there are way more photos of the three of them then just of Ben!

Here he is at 1 month:

And with his crazy brothers:

About the same size as his buddy Monkey Magoo

Getting chunky!

I need to point out two things in this photo. First, both boys wanted to have an arm around Ben. Thomas got his in place first, so Jojo went for the less traditional hold on the side of the head. :)
Second, the blocks are sitting on top the futon, which was Thomas' suggestion, and against my better judgment. Can't you just see them falling on one of the boys' heads?! And second,

The boys replace Monkey Magoo for the floor shot

And one more, just for fun!

James turns 2!

Saturday we headed with Mom and Dad to Madison for James' birthday party.

Since it was a game day, everyone was dressed to cheer for their favorite team. The boys started in on the snacks early.

Jenn and Pat made James a Percy cake. They did a fantastic job decorating it! Notice Thomas helping to blow the candle out from afar.

Buppa on baby duty

The coffee table repurposed as a kids' table for lunch. There were 11 kids at this party, and most of them were family!

We had so many belly shots together; here's a baby shot instead!

Thomas and James wrestling outside; meanwhile Jojo is inside taking a voluntary nap.

Grammy and Buppa and their five grandsons

James and Jojo helping to solve the leftover cake problem

 Here is James in his chef hat that Grammy made to go with his play kitchen. Birthday parties are long, busy days. He was pretty much done at this point (but looks so cute!)

Cousin love, again with a very tired James

Happy Birthday James! We're so glad that we could come celebrate with you!

Ben, meet your cousins part 1

The three boys and I took our first road trip in September, when Benjamin was about 1 month old. Their cousin, James, was turning two and we wanted to go to the party (and introduce Ben to more family members!). Ed had to work some that weekend, so the boys and I drove to Milwaukee on a Thursday night. On Friday, Jenn and Isaac came to town (James was already there), and the "basketball team" (5 boys) had its first practice. 

Here are all 5 of them: James (2), Thomas (5-1/2), Josiah (3), Isaac (10 weeks), Benjamin (4 weeks)

We went to the park for a bit. Here's Mom watching the babies while we chased the big ones around the playground. We took turns handling the enormously taxing baby duty.

Some Jojo love!

Thomas teaching James some bad habits, like going down slides face first! This slide is made of rollers, and Jenn has a great video of them bumpily sliding down it.

Six weeks of age makes a difference! But I love how they're "holding hands!"

Big kid Isaac holds little kid Ben in his lap. :)

On Sunday, everyone dressed for the Packer game!