Oh me, Oh my.....it's been MONTHS since my last post!  No Christmas update, No New Years update, Valentines Day....you get the point!  I promise we did lots of exciting things with great memories made and maybe one day I'll update the ol' blog with pics!  I do posts in my head that I think, "Oh, I'll do a funny post about this or that" and then life takes over and it doesn't happen.  A lot of my free time is spent working (contract work for Cengage) and so when I do have time outside of that I am spending it with the kids and Ryan. Today though, I have been up working on the taxes and it is freezing cold outside.  Ben is napping, Addyson playing and so it is finally a good time to do an update!

Our precious, sweet little Ben turned 4 this week!!  Oh my, how time flies when you are having fun!  I LOVE all of his sweetness and personality and just want to bottle up all of his cuteness!  I often find myself just looking at him and smiling because he is just so darn cute!!  His little voice, his words, his antics- they are just too much!  Love that boy so much!

About half of the posts I think about doing in my head involve silly little stories and funny things that Ben does.  I'll think...oh I should do a post about that so that I never forget it!  And then it doesn't happen.....!  But here are a few of the things that Ben has said to me lately that I just always want to remember:

Mommy, you're the bestest
I love your sweet voice mommy (  My mom was in town a few weeks ago and she went up to read him his night time story and he didn't want her to read it he just wanted mommy to read it because "he loves the way mommy's voice sounds".  I mean seriously- he has me figured out because I'll pretty much do anything when he says things like that!!!)
I love the way you smell mommy (haha!!)  (saying this as he snuggles up to me!)
Mommy, I love you forever

I am sure there are more, but he is very sweet to always love and protect his mommy and for that I am very grateful.  I always remind him that he needs to think this way forever!!  (fast forward 20 years to Ben's wedding and crazy mama comes out!!  Haha- just joking....!!) I do love my boy (and my girl of course!) and I love how different boys are- especially with their mommys!

So, back to the original post!  Ben turned 4 on Tuesday!!  Leading up to his birthday he was pretty indifferent on the whole thing.  I kept asking him what kind of party he wanted to have and he would just say, "I don't know.  I don't want to have a party"  Hmmmmm.....okay!  I asked him multiple times over a 4 week span and he always just seemed so indifferent about the whole thing.  So, we decided to do a party over spring break in Texas with his cousins (which he loves dearly) and Clayton (who he loves dearly).  Problem solved!

Except for that 3 days before his birthday he was getting SUPER excited about his birthday and SUPER excited about a party and all of that stuff!  Of course!  Moral of the story- don't listen to your 4 year old.  They don't know what they want!!!  So, Sunday night (yes 2 days before his bday) I emailed out his little buddies and asked if they could meet at an ice cream place after school to celebrate with Ben for his bday.  They all said Of course they would be there and wa-la!  Quickest/easiest party I've ever planned!!  A good time was had by all!

Ben and Izzy- she got him a saxaphone!  He loved it!

Ben and Mia- our next door neighbor.  They are good buddies and have a great time together! Mia is one year older than Ben but Ben towers her in size!  She's a tiny little thing!

Milly double fisting her ice cream!

The older girls- Ellie, Addyson and Kate!  I think Kate got cut off from the pic!

Ben and his buddy Joe.  Yes, Ben does have (a) male friend!

Ben and Caroline!  Just in case you are wondering- the vests Ben and Mia are wearing in the pic above is a present from Caroline.  You throw balls and they stick to the vests!  Cute!

Best family pic we could get!

Ben had a great time and I was glad that everyone could make it so last minute!!  Again, moral of the story - always plan a party!  (I had planned one, its just not for a few more weeks....so he didn't quite understand all of that!!)

Later that night we had a family birthday party with Ben's favorite dinner (chicken legs, broccoli and mac and cheese and of course CAKE!) and we opened presents! 

Legos!!

Anything spider man is a hit!  He really wanted a spider man mask!  He got several other gifts- one in particular I think is so cute.....it is great for fine motor skills.  You put all of the pieces together for a car and it comes with a drill and plastic screws and all of that.  Definitely wouldn't recommend for under 4 years old but it seems to be a really good toy!

 You can find the toy HERE on amazon!     

Where did Ben go?  He gets so tickled when I say that!  ;)  He also got a web-shooter from his buddy Joe!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!  HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!  HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEAR BEN!  HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!  And many more!! 


Daddy and I love you so much!  I hope your 4th year of life is just absolutely amazing- just like you are! 

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!! 

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!

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!! 

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!!

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!