What? No posts in 3 Stinking months??? :)

Alright, alright, I know it's been a while. A very long while. The truth of it is, aside from my general and overall laziness, I have had the DARNDEST time getting pictures/videos to load to the blog using a PC. Seriously. The great news is that my wonderful husband just found the cable for me to connect my camera to my laptop, so now we are in business! Thanks hubby!

Happy Halloween 2008

"Trick-N-Treat"

Ben did a GREAT job "trick n treat"ing as he called it. Our little monkey was timid for about one house...until he learned what happens when you say trickntreat and thank you! :) He had such fun and got to ride around in his wagon to lots of houses! There were actually 2 houses on our street that give full size candy bars..can you believe it? A child's dream! My child, of course, chose to get a red tootsie roll pop instead. What a cutie. Mommy and Daddy will have to give him some lessons in picking out the Twix and Snickers instead next year :)

Digging for our Christmas tree

For the first time, we have decided to buy a live tree this year and plant it in our yard after Christmas. The boys prepared during the nice weather by digging a hole for the tree, which we plan to plant New Years Day. Benjamin is the best big boy helper.

Shoveling the Driveway with Daddy & Stella

We've had a few snows already this winter, so Ben has gotten some practice being the little man of the house.....helping carry in firewood and helping shovel the driveway. Daddy is lucky to have such a helpful helper around. What better way to reward hard work than with a fun FIRST time sledding?

First Haircut

Yes, believe it or not, we have waited 2 1/2 years to give him his first haircut.....and after all that waiting and anticipation, we did it ourselves willy-nilly after a shower one evening in our bathroom. I realize his hair is still long, but we did cut about 3-4 inches off the back and an inch or so off his bangs. I just can't part any more with the curls. :) He was a cooperative boy, in general, and ran around naked like a crazy person when we were done. It must be a rejuvinating experience getting your hair cut the first time.

No pregnancy pictures yet. I'm not really showing...with a specific bump at least. I moreso just look very thick. I'll post pictures when I think it's cute and not just gross & fat. I am 18 weeks along, feeling great, and finally feeling the baby kick. We go on January 2nd for our 20 week ultrasound, so hopefully all will go well and maybe we'll be able to find out if we're having a baby "brodder" or "sisser". Ben just calls it a "baby brodder/sisser" to be safe. He says hello to the baby everyday and usually gives my belly a kiss. He's gonna be a great big brother.

Happy holidays to everyone! We'll be thinking of you this wonderfully festive holiday season!

What a travel-filled summer!

Alas, we are home for good for the rest of the year (or as far as we know!!). It has been such a jam-packed summer and it's nice to be home and get officially back into the groove of being home! We've spent all weekend working on our house--hanging curtains, a little painting, finishing the fireplace, etc. It's a lot of tedious work that we have let go by the wayside since our busy summer started 4 months ago!! Enjoy some pictures from our final trip which was to Massachusetts (Boston/Cape Cod). We had a great time and hope to go back someday! Above is a pic of Andrew and Ben on the ferry to Martha's Vineyard. We had BEAUTIFUL weather on our trip---yeah!

Here we are on the USS Constitution. It was full of interesting history, but not necessarily a great place for a 2-year old. We walked a good portion of the Freedom Trail in our short 1/2 day in Boston, and spent a lot of time near Faneuil Hall.
Benjamin Harvey, meet Benjamin Franklin. (Ben had this intense underbite thing going on during our trip. Not sure why, but I'm glad the phase is already over!)
We got to spend the night in Boston with our good friends Cassie & Brian and Megan & Pat. Tina was also able to spend a good portion of the day with us. Benjamin had fun with all the attention he got from everyone, and his good behavior all day earned him a toy for dinner time (aptly named "Lobbie"). We enjoyed a great lobster & oyster & mussel dinner and went to Mike's Pastries for dessert. We couldn't believe it, but at 10:30 PM on a Sunday night this place was PACKED--wall to wall. Obviously it was a hit and I highly recommend going there if you're ever in Boston.
Ben sleeping with mom and dad in the tent at our first Cape Cod campsite in Nickerson State Park in Brewster. It was the only time during our entire visit that it rained, which was lucky for us!
Ahhh, he's crazy!!
Mommy loves lighthouses! Surprisingly, this was the only working light house we saw the entire trip. :(

Ben's first time to the ocean!! Too bad it was windy and cold, but he sure enjoyed the water rushing up to his knees. We're at the southern most tip of the Cape Cod National SeaShore in Eastham. Our second night (of 3--no pictures from our last night, which we stayed in our tent in Shawmee-Crowell State Park in Sandwich). We stayed at Sippiwissett campgrounds in a tipi. Glad we did it, but won't due it again. :)Bike riding on Martha's Vineyard. We had gorgeous weathe and biked the whole time we were there....at least 15 miles. What a beautiful place.

The coolest kid in the world. He was so great on our trip, and did a great job in his car seat on the plane.....thank goodness for child restraints!!! :) For those of you with lap children, let me just say, the extra seat you pay for for the child to have their own seat and carseat---PRICELESS!!!

I hope you enjoyed the pictures. More to follow soon :)

Home from Yellowstone, Off to Massachusetts

What a busy summer we've had---so much traveling and so many visitors coming to see us!  It has been a great summer, but certainly too short...

Uncle Tom (or "Mom" or "T-Mom"-for little boys who can't quite begin a word with the "tuh" sound just yet) came out earlier this month for a 2-week visit.  We had a great trip up to Cody, Wyoming, where we went to a rodeo and stayed at Buffalo Bill's Hotel.  Buffalo Bill was quite fond of Benjamin and took his picture with him.  Next we went up to Red Lodge, Montana, a first for Benjamin and me.  We headed south to Yellowstone National Park where we saw lots of buffalo, as well as a momma & cub black bear and a grizzly bear.  Ben really loved all the wildlife.  

On our way home we went swimming in the Grand Teton National Park and stopped by Dinosaur National Monument---which, by the way, is not currently accessible, so we had to settle for the dinosaur gift shop one mile outside of the park.  

We had a great time on our trip.  Benjamin was such a good boy considering he was strapped in his car seat for a 6-day, 1700 mile road trip.  

Now we're all (AJ, Ben, and me) off to Massachusetts for Kristy's wedding.  We are so excited for a week's vacation and it's AJ and Ben's first time to the east coast---and it'll be Benjamin's first time to the ocean!  I can't wait to see him playing in the sand.  He's going to have so much fun!  We are going to explore some of Boston and then head for 3 nights of camping throughout Cape Cod.  Can't wait!!

I'll post more when we get back!

I'm 2 !!!!!!

I can't believe 2 years ago I was in the hospital giving birth to this amazing little bundle of energy (who's been a chatty cathy all day). We've had a great day---swimming, eating banana pudding out of ice cream cones, all the fun things we like to do :) This summer has been really enjoyable and Ben has had a ton of fun.

Did I mention he is exhibiting signs of being 2? It's been just pleasant so far---NOT! Fortunately for him he is so cute we love him anyways! :) Here is a pic of Ben standing in the corner for being naughty--UNfortunately for us he doesn't quite mind the punishment.

Thanks to everyone for all the birthday wishes.

We are planning on getting the "flip" house on the market in a couple weeks, and then Uncle Tom is coming out for a visit and we're heading to Yellowstone.....so don't expect any new posts before then (although, I know you all don't hold your breath too long anymore!) I promise I'll post with pics from our trip when we get back.

Woa, it's been a while!

At the zoo with Daddy....

Blogging is really easy, and I don't know why I can't find the time to do it, but it just doesn't get done enough---I know!!!!

Life has been wild around the Harvey house. We have nearly completed the renovation on the upstairs (main) living area of our home, which has been very time-consuming, expensive, and exhausting. But so worth it. Here's a pic of our big helper--

We love the house so much we've decided to stay indefinitely, and as we've learned about the neighborhood we've discovered some fun 4-wheeling/hiking trails and a lake! Ok, more like a really big pond, but you can fish on it so last week we purchased a canoe!! We've had a lot of fun, Ben and Stella included, and feel so cool driving around with a big red canoe strapped to the top of our Jeep :)

Some pics of our summer recreation so far: (canoeing pictures are from a camping trip last weekend...this is NOT the "pond" near our house!)

Some more big news....we've decided to purchase a second home that will serve as our first, true fix-n-flip investment. We've hit some glitches so far with the whole purchasing aspect, but hope to close on the property any day now. Keep your fingers crossed! It is a big and scary undertaking, but we are SOOOO excited to take on the challenge....and who knows, maybe become professional house-flippers! :)

Alright, alright, I know you just want to hear about Benjamin. He is so awesome, amazing, fun, smart, funny, cute, talkative (wonder where he gets that from?), handsome, flirty, energetic, loving, giggly, kissable.....put simply, we just love him and can't get enough of him! He talks all the time and has quite an extensive vocabulary. By far, however, his favorite word (and thing) is "car". He points out cars all the time when we are driving, he stands at the window at the front of the house pointing out mommy and daddy's cars-as well as the cars passing by. Recently, we have introduced him to the movie Cars, which we now watch no less than 3 times per day. He most enjoys wearing his Car jammies to bed and brushing his teeth using his Cars toothpaste while standing on his Lighting McQueen step stool. Could be worse, he could like Thomas the Train. :)

Its really fun watching him grow and learn. He says or repeats new words everyday and has really starting counting a lot. His favorite number to say is nine, but he also likes to pick things up (one in each hand) and say "two (blank)".....such as "two cars," two boots (books)," "two doddy (monkey)". He used to say donkey for monkey, but now he's reverted more to "doddy"....which is closer to doggie, so maybe he's just confused about what monkeys are.

Some pics of Ben walking the dog and being silly!

Ben loves to kiss and has really learned that kissing makes boo-boos feel better. He says "hurt," gets a kiss, and say "bayer" (better). Of course recently he's been hurting mommy so that he can kiss it and make it feel "bayer." Hopefully that phase ends soon!

He's very polite and says "pease" (please) and "ankoo" (thank you) with a big grateful smile on his face.

Well, I hope I updated you all well enough for now. To be honest, it's been a connectivity issue between my camera and computer that has kept me from posting, but now I have that figured out so hopefully I'll be better in the future. Thank you all for your love for and interest in our little angel.

Easter and Chuck E Cheese

Hi everybody--hope things are going well in your neck of the woods!  C'mon Spring weather!!!

Here are some random pics of Ben...some from Easter, where he went on a very extended and exhausting Easter egg hunt through Grandma Tricia's house.  I've also put a video of him playing basketball with the new hoop he got from the Easter bunny.  Please excuse our disgusting house in the video---remodeling is not a pleasant thing.  :)

Ben's also been to visit Chuck E Cheese a couple times over the past month.  He really enjoys riding the rides, both for small kids and big!  I think his favorite, though, is the pizza.  Boy, he can sure wolf that stuff down!

It has been SOOO much fun watching him grow lately.  His is such a joy and keeps us laughing all day long.  He loves to point to your (and his) nose, followed by a cute "no".  He just can't seem to get the "se" at the end.  He also likes to point to your (and his) "beep-beep," code for bellybutton.  Today he burbled me on the belly too, and thought it was hilarious.  He is saying lots of words now---water, bubble, more, please, bye-bye pee pee, car.  More, I'm sure, but I can't think of them right now.  He's still going potty in the potty....every now and then. Maybe once a day at most, but he's still so young we're just excited that he's going at all!

Things are going well around here.  We are hoping to have a livable upper floor of our house in a couple weeks.  It's funny that I say it will be livable in a couple weeks but we've been living in it for 2 months.  Haha, NOT!  Ben has been a pretty good helper.  He LOVES to use tools and help Daddy.  He's a Harvey, that's for sure.  I've posted a video of him helping in the garage with a wheel barrow.  He was pushing all by himself--we weren't helping at all!!  What a big kid  :)

Enjoy the pictures and videos, and please post comments if you'd like.  :)

Very proud boy...and parents too!!

Our first day with a big boy potty, and we are 2 for 2.  Ben is LOVING his new potty and keeps going to sit on it and wave "bye-bye" when he shuts the lid.  It is the cutest thing, and of course we are SOOO proud of him!

Ben has really become such a fun little bundle of joy.  I've probably said this at every stage, but I definitely love the 18-ish month age.  He is so fun and understands so much and tries to help with everything we do.  He is great at laundry, less helpful at dishes, and loves to put away his toys.  We've been having a great time raising our little munchkin.  

He loves the new house.  We see deer everyday in our yard, and he loves to run hot laps throughout the house!  :)  He also  recently went to Chuck E Cheese and has discovered a new found love for slides.  His favorite is to go down a side-by-side slide with Mommy.  

He has quite the vocabulary nowadays....although we only sometimes understand any actual words!  He definitely LOVES the word "ball" and says it every time he sees one, even in books.  He also says "Ella" (Stella) all the time, doggy, kitty, mommy (a), daddy, night-night, and many others that I can't think of right now.  

Sorry it's been so long since an update.  I know the "we're busy" excuse is getting a little overused, but unfortunately it's true.  Every spare moment we have as a family is spent spending time together, so blogging usually doesn't get its face time.  

I hope everyone is well and thanks for checking our blog about our beautiful, smart, funny little boy  :)

Quick update from the woman short on time

No pictures this go round, as the camera is somewhere packed away and I can't begin to wonder where it is!! We are in the midst of a 2-week move into our new house, which currently looks like a pigeon farm since we've successfully scraped the ceilings of their horrendous popcorn (or cottage cheese) ceilings. What a messy, messy job.

Ben has been great so far and is trying to help Daddy every chance with whatever he can help fix. He's such a cutie! He's been going on a lot of shopping trips to the hardware store, hardwood store, cabinet store, etc. For the most part he's a dream, especially if the store has those carts that double as little race cars for the kids. He just LOVES steering the wheel.

He has changed an incredible amount over just the past 10 days or so. Not physically, necessarily, since we just went to his 18-month appointment and he still only weighs 19 lb. 5 oz. He is such a squirt!!! Anyways, lately he has really started to learn and copy what mommy says and does. He high-fives (sometimes), plays messenger of objects between mommy and daddy, marches, roars, and has even started to sing a little. Every once in a while I'll get a kiss too, but he's certainly learning what a shaking head is--he shakes no to me quite a bit. :) Ah, the dreaded "no" phase is no doubt upon us soon. Also, whenever he sees a picture of himself now he says "baby." It's adorable, as you can imagine.

Boy, do I sound like proud mama or what? I truly am proud of how smart and well-tempered he is. He's such a joy in AJ's and my life.

Wish us luck with our impending move to the pigeon camp. I'll post pictures as soon as we're a little settled and I can take a breath! Hope everyone is well!

Hopeful for a fantastic 2008!!

Happy New Year! The posts have been few and far between, I know, but I hope all of you enjoy the excitement of seeing a new one!

It has been VERY busy around here for us lately. Andrew and I decided we wanted to move and found a place over Thanksgiving that we wanted to buy and build a house. So, we put our house on the market the first week of December and sold it after 8 days!!! Obviously, we were in shock. The craziness of it lies in the fact that the place we originally wanted (and the reason we put our house on the market) fell through, as did a couple other places we had in mind---all the while our house was set to close at the end of December!

So here is how things stand right now: we have sold our house --yeah, congrats to us!--and are renting it back from the new owners (who plan to rent it out) and we have decided to try our hand in the real estate business. We put an offer on a house in a very nice neighborhood that was a steal and needs a little TLC, so we hope to be the owners of that house next week. We'll use the time we have two homes to get some icky work done at the new house and then move in sometime at the end of the month. The goal is to finish the house in 3-4 months and sell it. Our plan at this point in time is to fix-n-flip a few houses that we live in in the next couple years, then if we enjoy it and it makes us pretty good money, we'll buy a real house and do f&fs on the side. We'll see---but we're really excited about our new adventure!!!!

Christmas was great. Santa came to visit Benjamin and he had a lot of fun opening presents and playing with all his new stuff. He was just so fun to watch---he's learned so much over the past couple months and is really starting to become a real person---gone are the baby days!! :( and :)

Here are a few pictures and a video or two from the past few weeks. I hope everyone had a safe and fun holiday season. I know we did!