Waving Bye Bye......

So my little man has started to wave hi/bye bye. It is so cute I wave to him and say bye bye and he starts to move his little hand in a waving motion! Love it! I say yayyyyy when he does it and then he looks at me with this huge smile! He knows he is doing something that mommy likes just not quite sure what. ha ha ha

8 Months old!!

So Madden is 8 months old and as of Feb. 1st he started the army crawl. He was slow to start and now he just gets all over the place and into everything! Yikes. Now the work REALLY begins! It was nice to set him down with his toys and not worry about him going anywhere!! He still isn't at his full potential so I am sure these next fews weeks will bring the real mobility!! Yikes!! He is such a happy baby and everywhere we go people comment on how happy and cute he is. It sure makes me feel proud to be his mommy!! He still has no teeth yet!! The doctor told us at his 6 month check up that he could see the start of them and that they should be in soon Here we are still waiting. It's okay with me though, he still looks so little to me and like a baby and when he gets his teeth it will just remind me of how fast they grow. He is just s riot to listen and watch. His new thing along with crawling is this high pitched sort of scream, yes I know it sounds like it would be horrible but, really it is the cutest thing! He has discovered his voice and how loud it actually can go and he wants to use it!! He will scream and then laugh and think did I just do that?!?!? It's too cute! Despite having no teeth, he eats anything and everything that is soft enough for him to "gum" up. He loves, loves, loves food!! He is not picky at all which is great since Cal eats like a bird!! Well that is all for now! Hope everyone is well and enjoying the beautiful weather here in AZ! If you live elsewhere then I am sorry you are not here with us:)
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7 months and almost 7!!!

Hard to believe my oldest baby is going to be seven in a few weeks!! Where did the years go???? McCallister started his soccer season last week and had his 2nd game yesterday. Unfortunately, I had to work but, I heard he had a great game!!! Chad said he was very aggressive, maybe too aggressive, as he got a bloody nose as a result of a collide of heads! He was a brave young man though and he shook it off! Maybe it was a good thing I wasn't there, I hate seeing things bad happen to him and I probably would have embarrassed him by running out on the field and swooping him up and kissing him! McCallister turn 7 on Feb. 13th so we are having his party on Valentines day! We are going to have a party at the park and rent a huge jumper/bouncer. It should be a blast as always, I will be sure to post some pix!

Madden is going to be 8 months on the 28th! Now that I really can't believe!!! He is closer to being a year old then I would like. He is so fun and really had a lot of changes with the new year!! He is eating all sorts of yummy food, basically whatever I can smash up small enough for him to eat he gets! He loves food!!! His most recent new food he started eating is toast and he loves it!! Thankfully, we have not ran into any sort of reactions to any foods so that is good for us and him. Allergies don't run in my family or Chad's and Cal can eat anything (he just doesn't) so I think Madden will be the same! He still has NO teeth. Gosh I am beginning to wonder if there are any in there! ha ha Maybe God forgot to install them. LOL He is starting to get a little mobile. He likes to go from a sitting position to his belly and then kind of circle all around on his belly chasing after his toys! Its cute to watch and it is nice that he can entertain himself more now so mommy can get some things done around the house!!
Well that is all for now! Here are a few pictures of my sweet boys! Enjoy......

Christmas and New Years!

So it has been a long time since I updated. I am not very good at this, I just seem to be way too busy lately to get on here and add anything! So Sorry!! Well, I will just give you a little update of the happenings around the Banks household in December.
December was a busy month, it just seemed to fly by! Christmas came
up so fast and I still can't believe it's already gone!! I hope this new year brings a better economy for us. I feel very blessed to have been able to stay home with the boys. If times get tough I am more then willing to go back to work to help out but, for now I am just enjoying the blessings that the Lord has given me! My husband is the best! He goes out and works hard all day and let's me stay with the kids. I'm not saying being a mommy is always easy but, it sure beats someone else raising my babies!
So I love to do a lot of Christmas activities to celebrate all season long. My family and I did a lot of neat Christmas things this year to celebrate. We did our yearly viewing of a truly spectacular Christmas play at a church in North Phoenix. I forgot the name of the church but, it is just an amazing play telling the story of the birth of Jesus Christ. I love it, we all love it and it has been our tradition to go ever Christmas season. We, of course, made a visit to Santa as well! This year instead of going to a mall to see him we actually went to Bass Pro Shop at the Mesa Riverview. It was actually pretty neat. They set up a "winter wonderland" there with different activities and then Santa came to take pictures with the kids! It was pretty cool! We watched the light parade on Mill Ave., Cal enjoyed the "snow" they had around the valley. We did something a little different this year when it came to looking at Christmas lights. The place I got my hummerzine from for my wedding was advertising renting limos out to go look at xmas lights so we thought what the heck. Why not let someone else do the driving so we can just kick back and enjoy the ride and sights. It was a lot of fun the kids especially liked it. We had some sparkling cider for the kids and they rolled around VIP style!! ha ha ha
This Christmas was great! My sister and all the clan came from NC to celebrate with us which was wonderful. McCallister especially enjoyed the company of his cousins but, cried his eyes out (as per usual) when they left!! Madden's 1st Christmas was good. He wasn't really too into the opening of the gifts yet. Once and a while he would grab one and try to eat it but, otherwise he was really oblivious to it all! He got tons of stuff though of course!! Great, where am I going put all this stuff! We need a bigger house we have already outgrown this one!
All in all, Christmas was great! I love spending time with my family and the ones I love!! To wrap up the season, Me, Chad and the boys headed to WI for a few days. Our outgoing flight was cancelled because of weather so are trip was cut short. We didn't get to see everyone we wanted to see but, it was still a lot of fun! It was nice to spend some good quality chill time with the friends and family. Weird how things change when you get older and have kids. I am so content with things that I never imagined I would be. WI was super cold and windy so it was nice to get back to AZ!
Now that we are home, life resumes as normal. I am trying to get the energy to clean the house and such. No such luck yet! ha ha
McCallister starts his soccer season now with his 1st practice being this Thursday. He is the best boy anyone could ever ask for. He is just sooooooo good, I am so very blessed to have a kid as good as him. Thank you Lord!! He is handsome, smart, well-mannered, listens so well and I could just go on and on. I love him soooooo much!! This feb. 13th my sweet baby boy is going to be turning 7!! I can't believe it. SEVEN, where did all those years go AND am I really old enough to have a seven year old. YIKES! He just gets better and better and more fun each day. HE is such a little Ham!!
Madden had some new discoveries in the month of December. He has definitely found his voice! As an earlier post said his first official "word" was Dada. Well, on Dec. 29th he said baa baa while we were out to dinner with some friends and just a few days later he said mama!! So cute. We are still working on braa braa for Cal, it does sound like he says it sometimes. I know it is all just sounds that he is making and that he has no idea what he is saying or doing but, it is too cute!! We all love to hear him "talk"! It's amazing how much he has changed in the last couple of weeks. He is talking so much more and rolling over much more, and really reaching for things that are in front of him to the point where he gets in the crawling position (sort of) but, no crawling or even attempting for my lazy baby. ha ha He also started to eat some little puffs finger foods by Gerber. HE loves them!!! He still has no teeth but, he is definitely trying to get some. He chews on those puffs like he has a full set of teeth!!
Well, that is all for now. I will post some pics of xmas for you all to enjoy!

CUTE BABY JESUS!!


PLAYING MARY, JOSEPH, AND JESUS AT CHURCH!





MCCALLISTER WITH HIS TWO FAVORITE GIRLS

MADDEN'S FIRST TIME TOUCHING THE TREE!

MY BEAUTIFUL BOYS!

Da Da....

Yep, he said it! Madden's offical 1st word is Daa daaa. Although he doesn't know what he is saying it is still cute to hear.... especially for daddy! He said it for the first time on sunday and is saying it more and more each day. Cal was a little sad because he wanted him to say Braa Braaa first. What a cute big brother he is.

Pics of the boys.....

Here are some pics of my 2 handsome boys! Some are from the Tempe Christmas parade, some from the park, St. Nick, Madden in an adorable snowman outfit, and then some other random ones. Hope you enjoy.........







Cal was a townsperson in the church play


Madden checking out what he got in his stocking from St. Nick!


Cal scored big this year from St. Nick! Must have been a good boy!

Updates......

I know it has been quite a while since I updated the site. Gosh it hasn't been since Halloween. So I will give you the quick and dirty of what we have been up to since then. Madden is now 6 months old and just getting cuter and smarter by the day! I can't believe my little boy is already 6 months old!! He is taking his sweet ole' time with his milestones. I am not worried about him but, I have to say he is the lazy one out of the two. ha ha I guess he has big shoes to fill when it comes to McCallister! Cal was sitting up at 5 months and crawling and 6 months and one week! I know this was early for him to do these so I can't be too hard on Madden. :) Madden just started sitting alone about a week ago (still hasn't mastered the actual sitting up by himself yet, like I said he is my lazy bones) He loves when I sit him down on a blanket on the floor and surrounded him with all his fun toys! He will just sit and entertain himself for quite sometime! It is so cute to watch him play with all his different toys. So much to explore. It is a happy yet sad moment for me because as I said my baby just seems so grown up to me. I find myself thinking back, as I look at Madden, about when Cal was that age and how cute he was and how fun it was, as a 1st time mommy, seeing my 1st baby do all these fun things! We just had our 6 month checkup on Dec. 2ND and Madden is 16 pounds 3 ounces and 27 inches long. McCallister was 2 inches longer then him at this age. I hope Maddy isn't a shrimp :)Doc says he looks great! I am still nursing him along with feeding him solids. He is definitely a Banks Boy, the kid LOVES food! (Just like his Daddy!) He loves any and everything! He really enjoyed his 1st Thanksgiving because me and Gramma fed him his 1st Turkey Day meal! He enjoyed mashed taters', sweet taters', pumpkin pie, and whatever else we could smash up and let him taste! Then after he ate he passed out! Nothing like a nice and full belly! McCallister ate really good as well, but his favorite part was the pumpkin bars gramma made. They are my favorite too!!
The day after Thanksgiving I headed out for the Black Friday sales. Yes, my crazy self woke up at 5 and headed to the stores. I figured Madden was up to eat at 5 anyway so I fed him and then got him back to sleep, laid him by daddy, and went on to Toys-r-us! That was fun. I was sure tired though by like 9am but, no time to sleep got 2 boys to take care of. Just put myself on autopilot and carried on with the day!
Now on to Christmas stuff.....We put up our decorations and our tree last night and ended the night with a Christmas movie!! We have lots of stuff planned for Christmas events. We are going to see Santa, of course, see the Xmas lights, go to a beautiful Xmas play at a church in North Phoenix, zoo lights, and the list goes on and on. I love Christmas time and I like to celebrate and do fun Christmas related things all the way up to Christmas day! This year I will have a get together at my house on Xmas eve and go to my mom's on Xmas day. Then on the 27Th we head back home to WI to celebrate with Chad's family!
It will be interesting this year to see what Madden thinks of the tree, Santa, and the opening of gifts! I have a feeling he is going to be trying to put a lot of paper in his mouth!! I will take tons of pics of the family as per usual and share them!!
Well that is all for now! I will post some pics of the boys so you can see how big they are both getting!! The Banks Family wishes you all a safe and happy holiday season! We love and miss you all. Can't wait to visit everyone.