Weekend Recap: Trains & Chores

I better get this written before it's time to write Ben's 14 month update!  In one word, I'd say this past weekend was productive.  We had NO PLANS for the first time in a long time (and for a long time) and it felt good.  No matter how hard I try, I (we) crash early pretty much every Friday night.  I actually ran to the store on Friday night and stopped at the Red Box on the way out.  It took me a few seconds for me to realize that I was crazy to think I would actually be able to stay up to watch a movie.  I was correct; I barely made it to 10:00.  Thankfully, Ben slept through the night, so we were all able to get some much needed rest.  We did our Saturday morning routine of gym/music class before heading home to start tackling my massive to-do list.  After raking about 500 (now snow covered) piles of leaves, it was time for a break.  We decided to hit up Train Fest!  I did not previously know there was such a thing, but apparently there are a lot of train fans out there.  Ben loves trains, so we thought he would like to check out tons of them.  We were right.  There was so much going on that his little eyes didn't know where to look and his little fingers didn't know where to point.

The only problem was that he preferred touching to looking, so he was not a huge fan of the ropes that were attempting to keep him away.  Luckily, there was a kids area with some hands-on train displays.  He looked so dapper all decked out in his train sweater.  Unfortunately, I did not get a good picture of him in his cardboard train conductor hat...probably because it was only on him for a millisecond.  I could only stop Ben from putting his hands in his mouth while playing with the trains that a million other kids has touched so many times before I was ready to go.  We hit up an early, as in 4:00pm early, dinner at which Ben made me want to do cartwheels in the restaurant he was such a big boy.  Not only did he sit nicely in his highchair essentially the whole time we were there, he was also eating sweet potato fries like it was his job.  Food + Benji = Happy Momma

Saturday night was perfectly low-key.  I put away the rest of the Halloween decor, and I may have snuck out a few Christmas items that I casually intermingled with the Thanksgiving stuff.  I love Thanksgiving too, but nothing beats Christmas lights, music, and of course, the Christmas countdown calendar my siblings and I used when we were kids.  I am trying to hold off as long as possible, but it's hard when Thanksgiving is on the later side this year.  Ben is getting equally excited for the holidays, and has even been on the look out for a certain someone who supposedly comes down the chimney...

I won't bore you with the laundry list of errands that I/we did on Sunday, but rest assured that it was productive.  Aside from the hour we were at church, we were in our pajamas the entire day.  Well, Andy and I were, Ben had to wear his Aaron Rogers jersey for the game, of course.  As you can see by Ben's faces, it was an emotional game.  The Packers lost, but Ben and daddy had fun bonding nonetheless.  

Grandpa and Auntie Anna stopped over to see Benji for a bit after the game.  Grandpa just so happened to have a train set sitting around his house just waiting to be played with, so you-know-who was the happy recipient of that gift. While he doesn't quite get how it works just yet, he loves it!  When he gets tired of pushing the trains around, he stacks up all the pieces.  He tries over and over and over until he makes a nice tower.  After he gets bored with that, his new favorite thing is using his chair to climb on to the couch and then he throws all of the pillows from the couch on to the ground and runs back and forth until we get too nervous he is going to fall.  He just laughs and admires his handiwork.  He can keep us entertained for hours!  Love him so much!!

And last, but definitely not least, on Sunday night, Andy made possibly the most delicious soup in the whole world.   (This is coming from perhaps the most picky eater in the whole world.)  It was chicken noodle, but it also had rice, carrots, corn, garlic, and onions.  As usual, he had the other spices exactly perfect and it was completely flavorful and healthy--no salt added!  He could seriously open a restaurant with all of the delicious and nutritious meals he comes up with.    He also always manages to get the presentation just right as well.  And then he cleans everything up too.  What a guy!  I am one blessed girl.  Nothing beats a weekend with my boys!