I'm going to try and get back in to the blogging routine! With Josh being the awesome sleeper that he is (I really hope I didn't just jinx things), I definitely have time to do fun things in the evenings like blog and read! After 5 years in this house, I FINALLY got a library card the other day. That's kind of embarrassing, but I checked out some books and I'm determined to read more. And I'm also determined to start training for that half marathon I signed up for… There are just not enough hours in the day!
Anyway. Life has been good over here. We have slowly but surely been getting out our Easter decorations and I can't believe Easter is already next Sunday. Andy had school 3 of the weekends in March (BOO!) but I'm excited because he only has 3 weekends left this semester! I'm not sure who is more excited, Andy or me! While I strongly prefer when Andy is home, I do have fun with my baby boys! Last weekend we attempted the mall. I only crashed in to like 5 people trying to maneuver the double stroller. Ben is getting to the age where he is really bored by clothes shopping, so we spent the majority of the time watching the Easter bunny from a distance. He was very intrigued by the bunny, but he didn't want to get too close.
Believe it or not, it wasn't very crowded on a Sunday afternoon, so the bunny came over to say hi to Ben. Ben was not interested, but he did accept a gift from the bunny.
But then he hid from us all.
We're going to brunch with the Easter bunny next weekend, so we'll see how that goes! Speaking of bunnies, have you ever seen such a cute one?! Love this boy and all of his smiles.
Ben started gymnastics a few weeks ago, and it is really high up there on the list of cutest things ever. He is quite the brave guy, and it is probably better that Andy has been going with him, because I am terrified of a spinal cord injury with every move he makes.
Look at this kid. The other kids were feebly holding their parents' hands as they ran down the mat, and this guy jumped right in on his first try. (Not the best video, but you get the point.)
Yesterday, we went to lunch with Maddie and Sarah. Note that Maddie's grilled cheese and chips are completely gone (plus she ate a cookie) and Ben took literally 1 bite. Sigh….
After mass this morning, we went over to Andy's parents' house for brunch. Ben got to play with balls so he was a happy camper. Josh got to smile so he was a happy camper, too.
This one is blurry, but that doesn't take away from his awesome smile.
We ended our weekend by dyeing some Easter eggs. There was only one spill but a lot of splashes, and Ben's fingers will probably be blue until Easter.
Josh took an amazing 2+ hour nap this afternoon, but he didn't want to miss all the fun!
I'm so excited for next weekend! Lots of Easter egg hunts, kind of like last year, but I think Ben will have even more fun this year. I'm ready for some warmer weather around here! Ben has caught so many bugs this winter and Josh currently has a junky sounding cough that I'm pretty sure he got from his big brother. I just want everyone to be healthy and stay healthy! Alright, time to READ and go to bed so I can get up at 5:00 tomorrow morning to RUN!
It is Thursday night and I'm finally getting around to starting this post. It was such a fantastic weekend that I know it will take me awhile to write it. I think I am going to stick mostly to pictures, to see if that will make me more efficient. Ben participated in SIX(!!!) egg hunts this holiday season. Needless to say, he is a professional egg finder.
The first one was at the library where he has story time on Thursdays. Unfortunately, I had to work, but daddy and both Nanas got to go, so I received plenty of pictures. :) Note the picture of Ben chowing down on his goodies.
We kicked off our Saturday morning with an egg hunt at the park. Daddy and Benj came with their game faces on. (It was cold!) There were a ton of kids there, but Ben kept up with the best of them. ;) There were even (indoor) kid activities after the hunt, so of course we had to wait in line for the guy making balloon animals. He didn't even cry when it popped before we got to the car. Note the picture of Ben chowing down on his goodies, again.
Ben snuck in a quick power nap before it was time for egg hunt #2 of the day. Side note: he loves wearing leg warmers! I love it too because it keeps him extra warm under his pants. :)
We got a little more dressed up for the second egg hunt of the day. Partly because Ben had chocolate all over his Ben the bunny shirt, but partly because it was a fancier affair. This egg hunt was at the racquet club Nana and Papa John belong to and it included an awesome brunch. Look at how nicely Benji cleans up. Who am I kidding? He looks cute no matter what! I love his little poses as we waited in line.
The egg hunt itself was a bit chaotic and since there were no limits on the number of eggs you could find, some kids got a ton of eggs and some kids got zero! (I was mad at the moms who didn't make their kids share!) Luckily Benji is an Easter egg finding master (and he had 4 adults looking out for him) so he was able to get a few eggs. :) Believe it or not, Ben was NOT afraid of that creepy Easter bunny. He didn't seem so creepy in real life, but now that I'm looking at the pictures, I realized that he always looks like he is staring at Benji.
After another power nap it was time for egg hunt #3.
The third and final hunt of the day was at Andy's parents' house. His big cousin/buddy was there, so Ben was all smiles. J, on the other hand, was getting mad that Ben was finding more than him. They both did pretty well in the end, and some of the eggs even had $$ inside. Ben sure loves feeding his piggy bank!
Finding eggs did not get old for Ben, and watching him get so excited for each and every egg he found did not get old for me. We also celebrated Easter with Andy's family on Saturday night. It turned in to a beautiful day weather-wise, so we were able to hang out outside after dinner. It was so nice!
On Sunday morning, the Easter bunny had hidden Ben's Easter basket. We were going to look for it after mass, but he was magnetically drawn to it, so we did that first. I don't have pictures of him looking at his basket because I was taking a video of all the sweetness. Although it seems like all we care about is egg hunts, we did take time to acknowledge the real reason for Easter. As usual, Ben was a complete angel during mass. For timing reasons, we went to the church I went to growing up, and it brought back such happy memories. It was the perfect way to start our day.
After mass, we went to my mom's house for the next Easter celebration. Although my mom had an awesome spread last Easter, she really outdid herself this year. The food was seriously amazing, even Ben agreed.
I'm mad at myself that I didn't take pictures of everyone that was there for Easter. :( Andy's parents plus my siblings and cousins were all there. I heart my family. Super Auntie Anna hid some more eggs for Ben to find, so he did just that!
We did manage to get a family photo, even though he doesn't look like the happiest little bunny in this picture.
I am also bummed I didn't take more pictures at our final Easter celebration of the day. We went to my cousins' house (my dad's side of the family) and Ben got to spend time with his buddy "Emmy!" The girls hid more eggs for Ben and they entertained him for hours. So sweet! When Ben wasn't hanging with his cousins, he was entertaining great-grandma. She gets such a kick out of him.
As you can see, it was a jam-packed weekend, but it was absolutely perfect and I feel so blessed. I just love my little family and my extended family so, so much. They are seriously the BEST.
Happy Monday! Not only did we have a great weekend, we also had a great week. Ben is LOVING being outside, and aside from the SNOW we had today, we've had some pretty gorgeous weather. We've even been using getting to go outside/on a walk as an incentive to get Ben to eat, and it has worked SO well. Between spending time outside and playing with his new HOOP, we can get Ben to do a lot of things. This might be a long post, but I have so many pictures it was hard to narrow down my choices. I'm going to try and briefly summarize our week. It was off to a great start when Ben had another fantastic day at school. There were minimal tears at drop off and the teachers had glowing reports. Of course, we praised him like crazy and told him that we were so proud of him. The other day, I had this crazy idea of taking Ben to Chuck-E-Cheese, so we decided to celebrate Ben's great day at school with a trip to see the mouse. (Because I'm sure he linked the 2 events...) Andy and I hadn't been there since we were kids, and it is quite different these days. While the restaurant itself appeared clean and nice, the longer we were there, the less comfortable I felt. There were not a lot of people there, but the few kids that were there were brats! We didn't stray far from our table, but Andy caught a girl, approximately 10 years old, going through our stuff. It was just the diaper bag so there wasn't much to take, but still. I think she even took some of the few tickets we had. Then, Andy saw 2 guys looking through the windows of my car. Like, face up to the glass looking (snooping.) What the heck?! Since it was hard to watch Ben, the diaper bag, our table, and our car at the same time, we decided it was time to go. Ben had a blast, but I don't think we'll be back until Ben is actually old enough to ask (BEG) us to go there. Although I was questioning my "great idea," I loved seeing how excited Ben was when he saw a new game and I couldn't get enough of him screaming "hoop!!" and asking for "more money!" over and over again.
Ben has been snotty, junky sounding, etc for the past few weeks, and when he woke up saying that his ear hurt the other day, I thought it was time to take him to the pediatrician. His symptoms haven't really slowed him down, but he just hasn't been getting better. He did not have an ear infection, but he was started on amoxicillin because of the duration of his symptoms. He doesn't love taking his medicine, but when given the choices of taking his medicine or having his beloved hoop disappear, he typically sucks it down pretty painlessly. I was a little hesitant to buy him a basketball for no real reason, but I'm so glad we did. He is obsessed. When we aren't taking walks or playing at the park, Ben is shooting hoops.
With weather in the 50s-60s, it was hard to abide by Ben's 7:30 bedtime. We were out there as much as possible, soaking up the warm weather and daylight! I love that is is light out when I get home from work these days.
Another one of Ben's favorite things lately is our new bird feeder. He is simply amazed that birds can fly, which is pretty cool if you stop to think about it. :) I think we've had more squirrels than birds thus far, but luckily Ben isn't picky.
Alright, on to the weekend! We convinced some friends to join us at our Friday night lenten restaurant of choice--all you can eat pizza and salads! I'm pretty sure I could survive off of these foods. We had our typical Saturday morning music class before it was time to dye eggs. (Ben was such an angel at music class. He is getting to be so independent and doesn't cling to me as much as he used to. I'm such a proud momma. Ridiculously proud!) The EGGS--where to I begin?! This ties back to my theory that kids make holidays infinitely more fun. We had SO MUCH FUN. I took a million pictures because I want to remember how excited and proud (and bossy) he was forever!
I don't know where he was getting these faces and poses from, but I loved each and every one of them. We should have made another dozen; he was loving the "eggs! eggs! eggs!" so much. It was a surprisingly clean process and he only threw one of the eggs like a basketball.
I think the final products are pretty darn pretty. Well, they were pretty until Ben got his paws on them and made them "FALL! Uh oh."
In case the pictures weren't enough. ;) (Pretend he doesn't get super angry at the end of this video. ;) )
As if that wasn't enough excitement for me in one day, I went to a casino night fundraiser with some of my co-workers. I really don't gamble so I didn't know what I was doing, but it turned out to be really fun. My friend Maya and I were the newbies at a table, so we weren't quite as blown away when Maya had 4 Aces while playing Blackjack. The whole table was going crazy though, so I thought I better take a picture. :) We seriously had a blast though and we even went out afterwards. I didn't get home until after midnight! I seriously cannot remember the last time I was out that late. Believe it or not, Ben was still up with the birds on Sunday morning. Being the awesome boys that they are, Ben and super daddy kept busy making pancakes and playing with his HOOP! until it was time for church.
Although we were hoping for some awesome tailgating weather, we still had fun eating on/in the car before the Brewers' game on Sunday afternoon. Some friends organized a group trip, and although we were nervous Ben wouldn't last too long, we stayed the entire game!
The keyword is "stayed" the entire game, not "watched" the entire game. Ben and I spent the majority of the game in the kids play area. I didn't even know this existed, but thankfully it was right near our seats! It was photo op after photo op after photo op. Ben only made in about 1.5 innings the last time we attempted a game, so we were pretty excited that we were able to stay the whole 9 innings! And the Brewers even won their 8th consecutive game.
And last, but certainly not least, Uncle Joe and Auntie Anna came to visit on Sunday night. He loves them both so much! He also loved that they were vying for his attention. We have been talking about doing "Sibling Sunday" dinners for a long while now, but now that it is actually nice out, we have more motivation to entertain.
And it's now Tuesday as I wrap up this lengthy post. Oop! Ben is on Spring Break (hah!) so no school this week or next week. Looking forward to celebrating Easter this weekend!!
