October 24th, 2009

Sharlla Brandwein took our family pictures for us this morning. It had been a year since we had done family photos, and the girls have changed so much over the last year. They were barely crawling when we did our last pictures, and Stella was bald! Thank you Sharlla! We are so lucky to have you!

Emerson Ann


Stella Louise


This was one of the last pictures we took, and the girls were getting tired.


More Stella


More Emerson


The girls weren't interested in walking, but we were able to get a few pictures of them walking with us.


This is my favorite picture!


The next few pictures are really good too.




They look like trouble!

October 21st, 2009

Stella, Ruthi and Emerson hanging out on Mamaw Ruth & Papaw Marty's deck last night.

I know a lot of you have been wondering how Stella is doing. First of all, I want to thank everyone who has continued to pray for our family over the last few days! Stella is an amazing little girl, and God is good! Stell is very resilient! She seems to be feeling better and isn't have any problems. Emerson is also doing great, and they are both still trying to climb on our furniture. I am beginning to think they liked the ER!
In other news, we have been "practicing" going potty on the toilet for the last few weeks. Emerson isn't showing much interest in actually going potty on the toilet, but she will sit on the potty and read books. It is a big deal for a 2 year old to sit still for very long, so we are excited about her progress! We know they are young, and we aren't pushing her. We are trying to make potty training a positive experience for everyone, and we are being very patient. However, Stella Louise seems to be catching on very quickly! She sits on the potty several times a day, and goes potty on the toilet EVERY TIME! She actually stayed dry all day yesterday! We are amazed at how quickly she has caught on. We think she likes the treats that she gets every time she tinkles!

October 19th, 2009

Stella fell and hit her head this morning. Things got pretty scary, and we ended up taking an ambulance to the hospital. They did a CT scan, and determined that she has a concussion. We are all back home now, and she is resting. Thank you to everyone that prayed for our family this morning.

October 18th, 2009

James and I went out with some friends last night for some much needed adult time. Brittni, Sharlla and Dennis came over to our house to watch the girls for us. Sharlla took some great pictures of the girls playing with their new kittens.

Emerson, Brittni and Stella


Emerson loves the kitties!


Stella proudly wearing her IU hoodie from Aunt Sarah!


Emerson giving kitty a kiss!


Stella giving kitty a kiss!


Stella cuddling with Brittni.


Thanks for the pictures and the babysitting Dennis, Sharlla & Brittni!
Thanks for the IU hoodies Aunt Sarah!

October 17th, 2009

The girls had a big day yesterday! We went to The Hairy Elephant for the girl's first haircuts. They both did great. Stella was a little bit upset at first, but she ended up getting a beautiful haircut. Emerson seemed to enjoy her haircut. She even liked the blow dryer! Cousin Ruthi went with us and got her hair cut too!

Trying to convince Stella that she wanted to get her haircut!

Emerson ended up going first. She decided to sit in the 4x4 jeep! That's my girl!

Emerson watching Yo Gabba Gabba!

So cute!

I couldn't believe that she liked the blow dryer!

Emerson's new do!

Stella decided to sit in the 4x4 jeep too! They obviously want their mommy to get a jeep!

Stella trying to push the blow dryer away!

Stella in the jeep watching Yo Gabba Gabba!

She didn't want a bow!

BYE BYE BABY MULLET!

We got to spend a little bit more time with Will yesterday afternoon. Mamaw Ruth hadn't seen him in over a month! He is such a good boy!

All of the Ebbinghaus-Benson cousins.

Ruthi was excited to spend some time with Will.

We decided that we were ready to get an outside kitten in July, but we had difficulty finding one. We ended up deciding to wait until Spring to get one since it has been so cold. Then we discovered an entire litter of kittens while running errands with Mamaw Ruth and Papaw Marty yesterday. I decided that 2 kittens are better than 1 since Winter is coming! James wasn't very happy because he only agreed to one kitten. Our compromise was that we would keep both kittens, but James would name them! These are our new kittens: Hoosier & Colt!

Baby Colt!

Baby Hoosier!

October 16th, 2009

Our baby girls got their first haircuts today! These pictures aren't great because they were taken on Mamaw Ruth's phone. I will post more photos and videos later.

Stella's new style


Bye Bye Baby Mullet!


Emerson's new style


Emerson sat so patiently while she got her hair cut!

October 11th, 2009

Aunt Karen and Uncle Larry came out to visit us this weekend. We had a great time visiting with them, and the girls loved playing with their pumpkins and gourds. We weren't able to go out to dinner since James isn't getting around very well yet, so Aunt Karen and Uncle Larry brought dinner to us. They made us a fabulous steak dinner, and then Aunt Karen made us a huge breakfast this morning.

Emerson and Stella playing with their gourds. Stella kept throwing them across the room, and Emerson actually took a bite out of one of them! We eventually moved the pumpkins and gourds out to the front porch.

Stella went to Uncle Larry as soon as he walked in the house, and she didn't leave his side the rest of the time they were here. She even tried to leave with them this morning!

Emerson enjoying her gourds.

Aunt Karen showed the girls how to ride their pony double!

It was hilarious! There are videos of the pony rides at the bottom of this post.

Emerson and Stella opening their Halloween cards from Great Grandma and Grandpa Benson. Thanks Grandma MaryAnn and Grandpa Bob!

Aunt Karen reading to Emerson.

Aunt Karen reading to Stella.

Emerson cuddling with Aunt Karen. They are buddies.

Stella harassing Uncle Larry!

Stella didn't want Uncle Larry to leave.

The girls were naming body parts. Of course "bebo" (belly button) is their favorite!

Emerson was trying to push Stella off Uncle Larry!

Here are the crazy pony rides. They are both starting to try to stand on the pony. Their cousin Molly must have taught them that!