Popping the Question!!

Ben loves for me to come up into his bed with him at nap time or night time.  I don't do this all the time, but if I have a few extra minutes I will.  He loves to "snuggle with me" and it is just oh so sweet of a time!  I tell him made up stories of him and Clayton and their big adventures of bear hunting, camping outside and seeing bears, going on walks in the woods with swords and flashlights (and seeing bears)- you know, typical boy stories!  :)  And there always has to be a bear involved lately!

Well, today I went up to lay with him and he said, "Mom, I want to marry you when I grow up!!" It was out of no where! We don't ever even talk about getting married and all of that stuff!!  My heart just about melted!!!!  I laughed and said, "Ben, little boys can't marry their mommies!" and he said, "I am NOT a little boy!"  Oh man, I just wanted to bottle up that moment forever and keep it in my head how his sweet little 3 year old voice sounded and his sweet little blankie all wrapped around his tiny little body.  Just bottle it all up!!

I told him that one day he would find a sweet girl and marry her and he said, "No way, I am going to marry you Mom"!  Well, you know what that is just fine by me right now!!!  I know it won't last forever (well, I guess we hope not!!)!!

Boys and their mommies have a special bond and I just LOVE having a boy!  

I was at a Christmas party a few weeks back and one of the ladies has a college age son.  She is my neighbor down the street and so she always sees me and Ben outside playing and running around.  She said that it just makes her tear up remembering her son when he was that age and she said that it is the weirdest thing now that he is "grown" and she said he's "all big and hairy!"  That image of Ben being a grown up just put a knot in my stomach!  Of course we want them to stay our babies forever, but truth is they grow up! 

So, for now- Ben can say he wants to marry his mommy all he wants!! 

Favorite Things Party!

This year I once again hosted a Favorite Things Party!  It was so much fun and this is something I look forward to every year.  Each person is supposed to bring 3 identical items of their favorite thing in the $8-$10 range.  Last year we did a $6 item and everyone said how hard it was to find something in that range so this year I upped it a little.  Everyone agreed that this amount was better!

I provided all of the food and drinks which is a lot of work but it is also fun to come up with the menu.  I did a HORRIBLE job of taking pictures at the party because when you are hosting, it is busy!!  Looking back, of course, I wish I had more pictures!  Here was the menu:

Cocktail:  Raspberry Pomegranate Champagne Cocktail
2 TBS Pure Pomegranate juice
2 small scoops Raspberry sorbet
Champagne
Pomegranate seeds as a garnish

These turned out yummy and festive!  Some people like pomegranate seeds and others do not.  I personally do like them, but they could be left off if you so desired.  Also, one of the moms was pregnant at the party so I subbed Lime La Croix for the Champagne and she had a yummy mock-cocktail! 

Food:
Spinach and Parmesean stuffed mushrooms (thank you Trader Joe's!)
Meatballs (Thank you Trader Joe's!)
Spinach/Artichoke dip (always a favorite!)
Baked Brie with red pepper jelly wrapped in cresent rolls (This was a big hit!)
Cheese, sausage and Fruit Trays
7-layer cookies
Milk Chocolate salted-carmel macadamia nuts (Thank you Costco!) (I've been looking for a reason to buy these!!  In a moment of weakness, I justified the purchase saying, Oh these will be perfect for my party!!!)

And of course, lots and lots of wine!  :) 

Sad, but this is one of the only pictures I got!  After people had gone through the line!! 

My friend Jenica!! 

My Cheese Christmas tree!

After we all visited, ate and talked a bunch it was time for the gift exchange.  Here is how we did it.....there were 10 people at the party so I made small slips of paper with the numbers 1-10 three times.  1,1,1...2,2,2...3,3,3....you get the idea.  I numbered everyone off and each person drew 3 numbers making sure not to get their number or 2 of the same numbers.  You then gave your favorite things to those 3 people.  So, for example I was number 9 and I drew numbers 1, 3 and 8.  I gave my 3 presents that I brought to guests 1, 3 and 8 and then I received 3 presents from people as well.  Everyone goes around and talks about their item and why they brought it and why it is their favorite thing this year!  Super fun and you walk away with 3 great new things and a whole bunch of ideas of fun new things to get!

This year I gave a new hand/nail cream that I have been using by Jenna Hipp.  It is all natural with no artificial fragrances or ingredients and I just love it!  My hands get SO dry in the winter and I carry around this cute tube of cream in my purse and use it ALL the time!  I buy it in sets of 3 at Costco! 

I received the book, Unglued by Lysa Terkeurst (sooo excited about this!!), a jar of Super spicy McClure's pickles that my friend Alicia says she buys $60 a WEEK worth of these pickles because everyone in her house loves them so much (she has 4 kids) and a super cute and supposedly comfy thong from Victoria's Secret!!  Ha!  That was the funny gift of the night!  I haven't tried it out yet but my friend Brenda swears that it feels like you are wearing nothing and that it is ALL she wears!  I'm excited to try this out because lets be honest.....I don't frequent the thongs much anymore!!  As for the pickles, I am not a huge pickle fan but I was excited to try these based on her claims.  They are SUPER spicy but have a good flavor and nice little kick and I can see how you could get addicted to that taste!  They were good! 

Other gifts that were given were the Chubby stick by Clinique (the lip one), a Pampered Chef mini spatula that half the people already had and said it really was the best thing ever!, chocolate, nail products, more kitchen products and things of the like.  It was a great party and we had a lot of fun!

The time we lost the class pet..........

Yes, you read that right!!  Ben has officially lost his class pet, Freddy the Frog.  Each child gets to bring home the coveted frog backpack one time during the year.  The backpack has games, books with pictures of each child in the class (Ben, Ben what do you see, I see Peter looking at me....and then there is Peter's picture....super cute way for them to learn each others names!!), and of course the stuffed frog, Freddy.  The kids (ahem, parents) are supposed to take pictures and make a scrapbook page of their adventures with Freddy and it all goes into a book for the end of the year auction (I suppose...).  Well, I for the life of me don't know what has happened to poor Freddy!!!  Ben had it one day and now its been 2 weeks and that darn frog still has not surfaced. 

His teachers have been so sweet about it but its about to drive me crazy!!!  The week we couldn't find it was a week where Ryan was out of town until Thursday.  I turned our house upside down and could not find the frog.  Ben has no idea where it would be either, although he insists he did not take it outside.  I was convinced that the frog must be in Ryan's car.  Yes- makes total sense!!  It's not in the house, it MUST be in the car!  So, Thursday Ryan got home and I ran out and searched the car.  No Freddy.  :(  I emailed his teacher and said that I found every other stuffed frog in our house (3 total), but no Freddy!!!  She said that this frog is not some super expensive frog or anything but if we replaced Freddy we would have to come up with a clever story of why Freddy looks different all of the sudden.  Can't sneak things like that by a class of 3 year olds!! 

Here are a few pics taken BEFORE Freddy was lost:

Hot Chocolate with Freddy! See I was on top of the picture thing....this was on day one!

Foreshadowing......can you find Freddy???  He's behind Ben....not for long!!

  So yesterday I went to Tuesday Morning to look for a replacement Freddy.  I found one that I thought was similar and I brought it home to Ben and said, Look who I found!!!!  Ben immediately yelled, "Freddy!!!!  YAY!!!"  But then when he held him he said, " Wait this isn't Freddy!!!"  DARN!!  Looking back at the pictures (which I didn't do while at the store!) I noticed that the new Freddy was lighter in color and smaller spots.  DARN FROG!!!!!!

To Amazon I went!  I found the exact frog and so done!  Check!  (Should have checked Amazon first....!)  Freddy has been replaced!  Or so I thought....

Today I get my shipping confirmations saying Freddy will be delivered Wednesday to TEXAS!!!  Ugh!!  Somehow in the checkout process my old Granville address got clicked and so Freddy is now en route to Texas (among other Christmas presents).  After chatting with Amazon for 30 minutes, I ended up ordering yet ANOTHER stuffed frog to be sent to Kansas. 

Oh.My.Goodness!!  I am about OVER this frog drama!!  And I am sure after all of this Freddy will somehow surface in the most random place!! 

Addyson turns 7!!

My sweetest baby girl is SEVEN!!  Seriously, I know I say this every.single.year. but its true, WHERE DID THE TIME GO???  I have a first grader!  She is seven!!  I am OLD!!  :)

Ever since Addyson was born I have wanted to do a Halloween party for her since her birthday is so close to Halloween.  So this year we decided to pull it off!  We had the party a few weeks before her actual birthday which meant that we celebrated her birthday no less than 5 different times!  Oh well- it was a fun month!!

For the party I decided I was not going to stress and do everything perfect and over the top.  I made a few snacks of chocolate covered bones (pretzel sticks with marshmallows on the end and then dipped in white chocolate- these were a HUGE hit! Every last bone was gone!), scarecrow mix, gummy worms and cookie cake.  We also did a green sherbert "monster" punch and of course candy!! 

Addyson and her friend Clarissa (our next door neighbor)

Lots of Balloons!

Addyson, Avery, Clarissa

We did a pot of "witch brew" AKA dry ice and it was a big hit as well!

Ellie and Rabiah

Kate, Addyson, Sarah, Ben, Rabiah, and Ellie

Clarissa, Addyson and Janelle

Getting snacks!!

checking out their goodies!

We did bobbing for apples!  I thought this was going to be great fun but it was actually really hard to do!!  I am not sure any of them really got one without some major help!  They all had fun doing it though!

Kate and Addyson

Another Kate and Addyson (There were 3 Kate's at the party and 3 Addyson's!!)

Addyson and Janelle

Ben and our sweet neighbor Mia.  They are buds!

Pinata time!! 

Cake time!!

Presents!!!!!  

The party was great and I was worn out afterwards!  Seventeen  6 and 7 year olds running around will take it out of you!! 

We celebrated with each of our moms who came up to visit as well (at different times a few weeks apart)- this was fun for Addy!! 

We celebrated Nana's birthday as well as her and Addy's b-days are a day apart!  

And then of course on her actual birthday we celebrated as well.  Whew!  No wonder I was worn out after all of this!  It's exhausting writing about it weeks later! 

Addyson REALLY wanted to help make her cake.  So after school we made a tye dye cake!  It was fun to make! 

Our of order, but my pretty little seven year old!  So big!

Making the cake...you make the batter and then put it into 7 different bowls and make different colors.  Pretty easy and it all comes in a box, so you don't have to do anything extra! 

We made a bundt cake and you just pour each color right on top of the other.  No mixing it!

The un-iced finished product.  This is so typical of me!  Betty Crocker here!!  For whatever reason, when I turned it over it fell apart.  But you get the idea!  It still tasted good!! 

Getting birthday kisses from brother! 

On the birthday list this year:  Magic 8 ball, Rainbow Loom bracelet maker, lots of books, pink sparkly boots, Barbie stuff, arts and crafts, purses, Crayola Marker Maker set (this was a good toy!), clothes, etc.  She had a great month celebrating!  I hope seven is a great year for her! 

Road Trippin!

Back in October we took a road trip up to Omaha, NE.  It was kind of a spur of the moment trip and we had SOO much fun!!  The kids are at a great age for this sort of thing.  No bottles, diapers, pack and plays, etc to pack up.  We just packed the essentials and off we went!  Addyson had a three day weekend and so we left Thursday after school and headed north.  3 hours later we were there!  The kids were so excited about staying in a hotel room! We stopped for dinner and then headed straight for the hotel and to bed!

 Friday morning we were up bright and early for breakfast.  The kids thought this was just the best thing ever- breakfast at the Holiday Inn!!  They loved getting to pick any cereal they wanted and make waffles, etc.  They just thought they were livin the life!! 

We were at the zoo right at 9:00 when it opened!  It was a chilly day and it was not crowded at all!  Yay!  My little monkey's posing with the monkeys! 

 The Omaha Zoo is actually rated the number 1 zoo in the US!  Wow!  It surpassed the San Diego zoo a year or so ago.  It was really, really good!  You got to see most of the animals very up-close and personal!  Below are the lions.  As you can see, I could have reached in the cage (if I were an idiot!!!) and touched them if I wanted.  There is just a small metal bar separating the cage from people walking up.  Pretty cool to see them so close!   

The Tigers were the same way.  The tiger here was chomping on a large piece of meat, so he wasn't looking for any kids to eat! 

The zoo also had tons of inside exhibits.  There was a cat canyon where all the big cats were inside and you can see them up close through glass.  They put all kinds of interesting things in the cages (balls, newspaper, logs, etc) so the animals were all up and doing something for the most part.  They were not just laying in a corner all curled up.  This was neat to be able to see as well!

 The monkeys were the best I had ever seen!  They were so entertaining and active.  They made so many noises and it was really cool to see!  The kids both loved this the most!  Obviously the pictures don't really do them justice here! 

 There was a huge indoor gorilla area.  They had so many and again, you could see them up close!  I always love seeing gorillas up close face to face (though glass of course).  I always wonder what they are thinking! 

Ben was really cooperating well for pictures! 

Family pic!  Omaha Zoo 2013!

 Next stop at the zoo was the new Aquarium.  It was great too! 

Sharks!

This turtle was so big and cute!

Hello! 

We rode the Sky Tram across the zoo and got to see the aerial view!  Good thing we didn't fall!

Addy and Daddy!

 Another "extra" exhibit they had going on was a Dinosaur exhibit.  I think they had something similar to this at the FW Zoo before.  It was cute and I'm pretty sure Ben thought the dinosaurs were real!  They would make noises and move around very life like.

 In the afternoon we were all ready for a little break!  We bought tickets to the IMAX show of Africa in 3D.  It was really good and both kids sat through and watched the whole thing.  Ben did take his glasses off, but he enjoyed it so whatever makes him happy works for me!!

So, before we went to the zoo I had, of course, been talking it up to Addyson.  I was telling her all about this huge rainforest they had there (I had been to this zoo about 15 years ago).  She was so excited about the rainforest and even wrote about it in her journal at school the week before.  Well, we totally did NOT go to the rainforest!!  I thought it must not be there anymore but after we had left I saw a commercial about it and realized that I HAD seen it while we were there but I thought it was a restaurant!  AHHH!  I was so mad at myself, but oh well!  I guess it gives us a reason to go back!  We stayed until about 3:30 and then headed back to the hotel to swim! 

We ordered pizza to the hotel room for dinner and again, you would have thought we had just won the lottery by the kids reaction.  They thought this was great-ness!!  Ben was O-U-T by 6:30 and he went to sleep immediately.  This was not as much fun for Ryan and I because what are you supposed to do in a hotel room at 6:30 with sleeping kids?  So, we watched TV on mute and went to bed early!  

Saturday morning we got up and did the hotel breakfast thing again and then headed over to the Omaha Children's Museum.  It was so great!  The kids (and Ryan and I) had a really good time! 

They had an area where kids could do an entire theater performance complete with make-up, costumes, etc.  Addyson liked this!

Ryan painted her face!

puppet show!

They had some good "science" type activities.

Ben loved the mechanic shop.  He could have stayed here ALL day! 

working underneath a car!

 Saturday afternoon we headed over to visit my cousin Jon and his wife Sara and their 3 boys.  We had not seen them since we moved to KC but the kids are all around the same ages and I really wanted to see them!  It was great!!  They have boy #4 on the way as well, so Ben was in "boy land" with all the toys!  They all played so great and it was really nice to see them.  I hope we can have more visits with them! 

Me and Sam!  I had never met him before and he is a super cutie!!  I read him book and he was really sweet!

Second cousins!  Zachary- 7, Addyson -7, Nathan- 6, Samual- 3 and Ben-3

Addyson and Nathan were quick buddies!

Ben and Zachary were quick buds as well! 

We had a GREAT time seeing them and a fantastic weekend in Omaha!  We hope to go back again!  Our spontaneous road trip was a success!