Crazy birthday weekend!

We had a fun filled weekend full of birthday parties! Friday night was Corbin's 4th birthday at Alley Cats in Arlington. The kids had a blast! There was bowling, pizza, cake balls (yum!) and games. Great party and a fun way to spend Friday night! Ryan was out of town this weekend visiting Rusty in Oxford, MS so it was me and the kiddos all weekend. Ben stayed with my mom Friday night and so me and Addy Tate had some super fun girl time. After the party we stopped by the grocery store to get some cereal (we were out). We left the store with donuts, Trix (not the cereal I went in for!) and a pink Halloween bucket. We came home and played dress up for a little while (it was 9:00 but that's okay!). Then I did something that I have never done.......... I let Addyson sleep in my bed with me! Whoa- I know that's crazy, but we have never had her sleep in our bed nor has she ever really wanted to. I asked if she wanted to have a slumber party with mommy and she thought that was a great idea! We had fun and I love spending some one on one time with my little princess! No pics of this party because my camera battery is out and I cannot FOR THE LIFE OF ME find where I put it! :) Don't you just love it when that happens???

Saturday we had Claire's 2nd birthday. It was a Barney party and Addy was sooooo excited that Barney was going to be there. Barney was supposed to arrive at 2:30 and he was late. Of course! Try explaining that 50 times to a room full of 3 and 4 year olds that desperately want to see Barney! He finally arrived (thank goodness!) and the kids all had fun with him. He was border-line creepy (not exactly sure who is under that costume...) but all in all he was fun and Addyson had a good time. I had Ben with me for this party and he was so good! Never made a peep! I stole some pics that Nicole sent me so here they are!

So after that party I went over to Nana's to drop Addy and Ben off for the night. I had yet another party to attend! This time it was an adult party- Nick Vicari's 30th birthday!! Jennifer had the party at their house and everything was done up perfectly! I went over around 5 to help get everything set up. We had a great time- the food was yummy, drinks were yummy and yes at the end of the night there might have been a keg stand or 2....or 8.....but who's counting! I took lots of pictures with her camera but don't have any of my own to post. So, you'll have to check out her blog for pics! Jennifer had dirty martini's for the "dirty thirty" birthday and then we made up a "Birthday Partini" drink that was yummy also! Fun times!!

That's all of my excitement for the weekend! Ryan is home now and I made pot roast, mashed potatoes and all of the fixings for dinner. Have a good week!

Normal

We've had one of those normal weeks. Work, dinner at Nana's, playing outside. Nothing too out of the ordinary and I like that! I am definitely not complaining because normal is good for me! Last Saturday Ryan and Addy mowed the yard. She loves spending time with her daddy! She is just all smiles while they mow the yard together. So cute!

Wednesday night we celebrated Brittany's birthday and Grandma and Grandpa's b-days as well. Lots of yummy food and cake! Can't complain about that! :) Happy birthday to all!

Tonight we cooked dinner, played outside and went on a long walk. Fun times! I came in and gave Bennie Boo a bath. He is just so precious. SO happy all the time and all giggles and smiles. Love this boy! Here he is after bath. Just so delicious- I could eat those little rolls up!

Being silly... :)

Addy is now in to reading chapter books! ;) We went to the library on Saturday (with Chelsea!) and she picked out some new books. One that she is obsessing over is called the Tiara Club. Of course it's a princess book! It has 4 chapters (I think) and she thinks it's the coolest thing. She carries it around the house and always pretends to be reading it. Happy Birthday today to my grandma (91!), Ryan's grandma (87?), Ryan's grandpa (91!), Marcy Shelton, seems like there is someone else..... lots of b-days on 9/22! It must be a good day!

Excuse me miss, there was an animal in your bed...

Yes, you read that title correctly! My housecleaners came today (love them!!) and so while they were here I left to go run a few errands. I came home to a nice clean house just as they were finishing up. As Nancy was leaving she said, "Oh excuse me miss, I found something in your bed." Ummm, okay?? (with a very concerned look on my face) was my reply. Nancy then said, "It was an animal". Relieved, I said, "Oh must be Addyson's. That's fine- thanks!" Then she said, "It was alive!" Umm, Excuse me? There was a live animal in my bed??." "EWWWWW"!! I said- what KIND of animal??

At this point I must have had the most disgusted look on my face. What? A live animal in my bed?? I was so confused!

Nancy then held out her thumb and forefinger to resemble about a 3 inch spread. Can you picture this? So, then I was like, "animal??" What kind of 3 inch animal are we talking about? Nancy, mind you, doesn't always speak the best of english....

She thought for a minute as if she was trying to think of the english word for something and she said "the long tail" as she was doing some hand motions trying to describe the live animal that was in our bed. I put it all together and I said, "Scorpion??" A smile came across her face, Yes, Yes, a Scorpion! EWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!! I said oh my goodness, there was a live scorpion in my bed?? Where was it? Where is it now? How did it get there???? Was it on the sheets??? If anyone knows me well, I will be checking my bed with a flashlight Every.Time.I.Get.Into.Bed for probably the rest of my life! Nancy looked at me kind of concerned and she said, "Are those bad?" I said, Yes, they sting. She said she killed it but I really am so disturbed by this whole thing. We have seen them at the house before, but never in our room and NEVER EVER in our bed. I've never been stung by one, but I hear they hurt! Apparently Nancy got the words "Animal" and "Insect" mixed up...... :) Slight difference but none the less, I am seriously grossed out!

I'm really not sure what is worse- a live animal in my bed or a scorpion.... really I would prefer for no living organisims to be in my bed except for me and Ryan and the occasional Addy Tate while watching cartoons in the morning. This might quite easily put me over the edge!

Must go now and have our bug people come out today!! We have our house sprayed every 3 months mind you and living out here in the "country" we have black widow spiders, scorpions and all kinds of lovely creatures that I would possibly move back into the "city" to avoid...

Ben's first words!

Ben has been talking up a storm this week! On Sunday he started saying Da Da Da and he actually was saying it when he saw Ryan! Now that may be a major coincidence, but it was really happening! Since then, he has been saying Ma Ma and Ba Ba too! Now usually it's in a string of Ma Ma Ma Ma Ba but sometimes (like when he sees me!) he'll say Ma Ma over and over. Again, probably a coincidence but I'll take it! It's probably one of the sweetest things in the world to hear you little baby say something! I was telling Ryan last night that it is for some reason so weird for me to picture Ben running around the house talking, etc. He's just my little baby but he's growing up so fast!

Ryan wanted me to be sure and document that Ben said Da Da first ;) Ben has also been blowing raspberries and making lots of those kind of noises. It's really cute!

Do they look alike?

I was looking back through some pictures of when Addyson was 6 months and I was trying to decide if her and Ben look(ed) alike. Some of the pics I think they do and some not! Addyson had and still has really BIG blue eyes and I don't think Ben's are as big. I tried to find a pic of her without a bow (hard to do!) because you can't really tell when she has a big bow on if they look alike- some of the bows are well, a bit distracing! So, here's what I found:

Addy 6 months

Ben 6 months (Ha- disregard the drool!)

They both kind of have the same expression and so in these, I think they kind of do look alike!

Our weekend

Our weekend was pretty low key and it was nice! We did a lot of relaxing and not doing much which was nice after Labor Day weekend when we were so jam packed busy! Friday night I went to a CAbi Clothes party at my friend Lindsay's house. I love CAbi clothes and I haven't bought any lately because I was preggo all last year. So, I found several cute things that I liked and ordered them. If you haven't been to a CAbi clothes party- you should go to one if you are invited! The consultants come and do parties at houses and there are 2 lines every year- Fall/Winter and Spring/Summer. The designer used to design for Neimans and now she does her own line. All of the clothes are really high quality and they are different and cute! Here is a link if anyone wants to check them out: www.cabionline.com Wow- that sounded like a sales pitch from me! Maybe I should sell CAbi clothes... ;) Ryan stayed home with the kiddos and his friend Kyle came over with his little girl Kallie. They all had fun playing and Brandie came too and went to the clothes party with me. Fun times!

Saturday we just hung out at the house and then we decided that evening we would go to the Mansfield Main Street festival. I was pretty disappointed in it. I thought there would be lots of fun stuff for the kids to do, streets blocked off, etc and it was not so much like that. It was really hot and we just walked around to the different stores. We got there right when it started and that was a good thing because by the time we were ready to leave it was super crowded and not stroller friendly at all! I did, however, find a couple of cute stores in downtown Mansfield that I will be returning to visit. One is Ruffled Rebels- a super cute kids clothes store with GREAT prices. Most of the stuff in there I would expect to sell for $60-$70 an outfit (yes, it's that cute!) and the prices were like $22-$35 for an outfit. Very reasonable and tons of cute stuff. I will be returning there! Another store I found was Frosted Pink. Oh.My.Goodness. It is a cupcake store that has A-Mazing cupcakes. They have a different featured cupcake every day and Saturday it was strawberry cupcake with strawberry icing. This was no ordinary strawberry cupcake. It was to die for!! So yummy!! I'm afraid to be friends with them on FB because they post the cupcake of the day every day. I don't need those kind of temptations in my life!! Anyone that knows me well knows that I like me some cake! ;) Here are a few pics of the evening!

Addyson getting her face painted- this was the only "kid" activity they had going on!

Ben hanging out- he didn't make a peep the whole time. He's such a good boy!

Addyson checking out the fire truck. Sorry- make that 2 kid activities.

Pink butterfly on her face!

Daddy Day Care Gone Bad!

This morning I had just put Ben down for his morning nap and Ryan came in and said he was going to run to Sonic to get a drink. I said- "Ohhhh, why don't you take Addy Tate and she can play on that playground there". I hadn't had a shower and a quite house to myself seemed like a wonderful idea! There is actually this really cool playground at the Sonic on 1187 that I have been wanting to take Addyson to, but just never have. I thought this was the perfect opportunity. ;)

Ryan agreed and I told Addyson, who was so super excited, and off they went! I showered, got ready and they still were not back. I started cleaning out our closet (which is a huge mess with just random stuff on the floor- Addyson likes to play in there) and finished that. They were not back yet. Okay, I thought, they must be having a really fun time! I went into Addyson's room and started cleaning out her closet. Oh the things you can get accomplished with no kiddos hanging on you, needing something, crying, etc! After about 5 minutes of being in her closet I heard the garage go up. Seconds later I hear the door open, Addyson SC-REEEEAAAAM-ING her head off, Ryan in a firm but calm voice saying "Get in your room NOW". I, of course, ran in to see what in the world was wrong. I thought she had been hurt or something with the way she was screaming. Apparently that was not the case.....

Addyson has had a case of the extremely stubborn 3 year old lately and a case of the I'm not listening to anything you say right now! At Sonic there apparently were 2 eight year old boys who were being wild and crazy and jumping off the top of this 20 foot slide. Of course, Addyson wanted to follow suit and Ryan would not let her. Thank you Ryan, good daddy choice there! Secondly, there was a big sand pit, AKA mud hole after the rain this week and Addyson REALLY and I mean R-E-A-L-L-Y wanted to play in that. She asked 50 times (according to Ryan) "Can I play in the sand pit" over and over again. Ryan said he was very calm and explained to her, "No, it is all mud in there and we are not going to play in the mud right now, let's go and play on this big slide over here." Good job again Ryan, divert the attention to something else!

Well, apparently this didn't go over so well because it caused a MAJOR melt-down at the Sonic playground. He said this went on for about 20 minutes because he was really trying to be patient and let her play but she kept coming back to the sand pit. Then he said he gave her the choice of "You can either play on the big fun playground or we can go home". She chose to go home and so Ryan said "okay- let's go", picked her up as she was apparently kicking and screaming and being "that kid" at the playground. Ryan said other Sonic-goers were looking at him like he was abducting a kid from the playground as he shoved her in the car. Kicking the back of Ryan's seat and screaming continued the whole way home and that brought me to when they walked in our door. It breaks my heart to see her so upset like that and Ryan was concerned that she was possessed and he said (and I think he was being serious!) that he was just waiting for her head to start spinning around. I said- Welcome to a big 3 year old tantrum! Kids don't understand why they can't do something- she just saw a puddle of mud and thought it looked fun to play in, not for once thinking that hmm, I'll ruin my clothes, get the inside of the car all dirty, mom will have to take my car seat out of the car and completely wash it out, etc. Kids don't think about that stuff and so it is hard for them to understand why they can't play in the mud. Thus, causing a major meltdown.


Ryan was all worn out, but also suprisingly calm, when he got home and he said in a half-way defeated voice "I just wanted a coke". Ha- sounds like daddy-daughter play date didn't go so well!

Ben 6 months!

I am a little late on this post- but better late than never! Ben turned 6 months old a few weeks ago and he is just such a sweet little baby! I don't know what we ever did without this precious little boy! If you can't tell, I am so in love with my little Ben! He is teething right now, so when that is going on he is pretty fussy. But as soon as a little tooth pokes through it's all better! Here are his stats:

Weight at 6 month appt- 19 lbs (80th percentile)
Height- 28 inches (90th percentile)
Head- 50th percentile
4 teeth - 2 on bottom and 2 on top. Except the top ones are not the front teeth, they are the side ones. We might have a vampire in the making for Halloween!! :)

Ben is turning into a guy's guy! He loves his daddy and laughs so hard at any guy (Uncle Dusty, Uncle Stewart, etc) that has him. It's so cute! He is "talking" constantly and I swear the other day I walked in and he said "Hi". Ha - it really did sound like it though! He squeals and laughs and just talks up a storm! He is sitting up pretty good. He still falls over sometimes, but for the most part he is sitting up. He still takes 4 8oz bottles a day and has baby food 1 or 2 times depending on my schedule and what I have time for. His fav foods are sweet potatoes and pears. I think he might be allergic to bananas because he itches and scratches his face as soon as he starts eating them. Ryan is allergic to bananas so Ben may be too! Probably not a severe allergic reaction but enough to make him itch. Squash also doesn't seem to settle too well. He has had that a couple of times and he spit up a lot and seemed to have an upset stomach. He sleeps from about 8 at night to 7:30 in the morning and takes 2-3 naps during the day. He now rolls over on his stomach to sleep and seems to really like that!

Ben is wearing size 12-18 month clothing. 18 month in the jammies for sure and 12-18 in everything else. Dr. Sampson said he has really big hands and feet, so he'll probably be a big boy! Wearing size 3 diapers! I love this little man so much and he is just such a perfect part of our family!


On a side note- Miss Addyson has a strain of the hand, foot and mouth virus. I took her to the Doctor today because she said she had a headache, backache and her throat hurt. She has little blisters on her throat but that was it. Dr. S said it could be a mild case and it will run its course and go away! No drugs needed! I kept her home today and she had lots of popsicles, which she loved! Here she is having one at bathtime! Addyson also has a really high pain tolerance and so she never really acts sick even when she is! She is still enjoying reading up a storm. I took her last weekend to get a library card and she was so excited about this. We got to bring home 5 books and so that was a fun little outing!

That's all for now! I'll try to update more often!