square plates!

nick and i have talked about getting new plates for ever.
never thought we would actually do it because it's not exactly a necessity.
but then i got an email from cb2 with these lovelies in it.
we caved.
they arrived.
we love them.
now i need an email about some wuesthof knives!

staycation day 4: warren dunes

think we're so lucky to be close to the dunes. yes, we complain that there isn't much to do around here but we just have to look a little harder. and really how cool is it that we can hike giant sand dunes?!
anywho.
nick was finally able to use the backpack that we bought for ben. {no we didn't pay that price. yay sales and coupons.} nick and ben both seemed to enjoy it.

the obligatory self portrait.

so pretty.

love.

had to leave because the horse flies were ridiculous! like i have never experienced anything like it.
the original plan was to stop at redamak's on the way home. we took a little detour and hit tabor hill and round barn too!

phew. i think we're finally caught up on the staycation front!

wip 9.25.10 edition

friday:
beaner and i hit up target for some random odds and ends.
then nick and i went out with an old friend from high school. went out to cafe borgia and followed that up at cavanaughs. i haven't been to that bar in like 6 years!
fun times. ahem, maybe a little too fun. ;-)

the boys trying to figure out if we can play darts for free... silly boys. we paid, just in case you are curious. 

self portrait. mary did a great job!

saturday:
um. we recouperated.
and ben wore his crazy shoes...

sunday:
uber crazy.
started out at the apple orchard.  was kind of crummy in the morning. but was nice because it wasn't too crazy crowded.

my new most favorite-est picture of us as a family.

then it was off to wynn's first birthday party. she didn't enjoy her cake as much as ben did!

then it was off to volleyball.
holy heck were we tired by the end of the night!

eh,

i don't have an excuse as to why i quit blogging last week.
well, i do. but i'm not sure you want the all the details. crazy few days at work, a bottle of wine, and trying to catch up on some dvr'd shows equals shan totally forgetting about the blog. then when i did remember, i thought eh, i can skip a few days.
and now...
there's a really important thing on television. bears on monday night!
i have a bad feeling about the game. however, i'm gonna watch and enjoy those cool bears uniforms!
back tomorrow with something more entertaining. ;-)

staycation day 3: wicker park.

nothing crazy exciting on day three. taking it easy with the cooper family. ;-)
there's a local park that has a pretty nice playground and a splash pad. little did i know that there was two seperate play areas. one for the littler ones and one for the bigger kids. very nice. not that the kids followed the rules, but the concept was good!
and it was made of mostly recycled materials. awesome!

ben loved the swings. this one is his wooo face. so cute. should have thought to get some video. oh well.

wynn and ben racing on the slides.

there was also a little sand area for the kiddies which they thoroughly enjoyed. we also played with bubbles. ben thought eating the wand was more fun that actually making bubbles!

and then there was the splash pad. beans was way tired. i'm actually surprised he lasted as long as he did! thinking that the splash pad will be a bigger hit now that he's walking.

my sweetie pie being not so amused by the water. ;-)

wip 9.18.10

ha.
i don't think i used my camera but twice on saturday. and there were no people in the pictures i took!
so this is my first wip without pictures...

friday:
home with a sick beaner.
did run to lightouse for some fall clothes for the wee man.

saturday:
nick and i went to rei. dangerous. bad, bad store! we were there for three hours.
then we went to lunch with nick's aunt and cousin. lunch was okay. thankfully, the company was better! ;-)

sunday:
ben and i ran to the grocery store while nick played softball. then nick and i had our first games of the indoor volleyball season.
and yay bears!

i know. lame weekend. but we chanaged some things up because benjamin was sick. and saturday was a crummy day. hoping next weekend is a little more exciting!

12 on the 17th.

and i was doing soooo good!
i didn't even think about the date until today. so here it is... a bit late!

- i completed most of my scrap projects and it felt good to scrap again. had been about two months.
- am seriously confused as to what day it is. staying home from work with a sick wee one totally messes with me!
- made my first pot of chili yesterday. yum. so glad i tried a new recipe.
- have been a cooking fool. even used tofu for the first time. will share recipes someday.
- have ben's halloween costume. just hoping beaner fits into it!
- nick went out and bought the new halo game. so i ordered this cute little necklace.
- am not too terribly excited about football this year. i have no idea what is wrong with me!!
- must upload and order pics soon. {hoping that posting it here will hold me accountable like i did with the scrapping...}
- not sure i'm ready for indoor volleyball to start. i already miss the sand...
- top chef desserts! is it me or do those chefs seem so much bitchier than the regular ones?
- thinks it is absolutely adorable that ben says ball base and ball foot instead of baseball and football. so cute.
- found a new favorite juice. have only tried the tropical so far and give it two thumbs up!

staycation day 2: fort wayne zoo

we had a couple of zoo options. i'm really happy with our choice. and i am looking forward to going back to feed the giraffes again!

yes, i got to feed a giraffe. i honestly could have stayed there all day. and i wanted to pet them sooo badly!  think that could have been the neatest part. well, that and the kangaroos...

they just hopped right along next to you. weren't fenced in or anything. so great.

ben got to ride a pony. and did great for the first lap and most of the second one...

he saw lions, sleeping orangutans, otters, birds, ducks, zebras, monkeys, owls, and i'm sure a ton of other animals that i'm forgetting. we also took a lazy boat ride and fed some ducks

he experienced a kangaroo pouch...

some way cool jelly fish. {awesome pic courtesy of nick.}

family pic in the bird aviary. where we were dive bombed multiple times.

and then there was the crazy billy goat who ate nick's shirt. absolutely hilarious. i do not like billy goats. there was an incident when i was younger. he was mean, i was little. not nice. well, i don't think nick's a big fan any more either...

some random stranger had to help free nick. i couldn't stop laughing!
not to mention, she was much, much closer to the action.

ben's face cracks me up in this one.

and the nicer family picture taken by some kind stranger. {i love playing the hey, do you need your picture taken game... it goes like this. 'oh, did you need someone to take a picture of all of you? i can do that for you but do you think you could return the favor and take one of us?'}

staycation day 1: bellaboos

we didn't want to do anything crazy adventurous on our first day. nick and i were still recouperating from our st. louis trip. so we decided to check out bellaboos.

was so cute. and so clean. and so not crowded. loved going when all the kids were back in school. beaner pretty much had the place to himself!

first stop was the infant room. of course, ben loved the balls!

and the tunnel!

then we checked out the water room.

we also had to watch the train go by the train room like 15 times but i didn't snap a picture of that.

then we hit the indoor play yard. took some convincing but eventually he loved it!

and then the playground side.

loved it. will definitely go back. i'm sure that it won't be as quiet, but ben loved it and that is all that matters!

wip 9.11.10

not sure how much longer i'm gonna keep these wip's up.
i think i'm thinking of stopping them because i'm hoping our weekends will settle down and i won't have anything to share.  but at the same time, i enjoy looking back and seeing what we were doing no matter how lame it was!
we'll see.

onto last weekend.

friday:
girls night with nick's mom and family. went to a yummy mexican dinner and saw the switch. the movie was cute. not sure you have to see it in theatres. save your $$ and see it when it comes out on tv or redbox!

saturday:
i got my hair done. then carli, my hairdresser, cut ben's hair! love that she's sweet enough to squeeze him in.  no pics.
hit up miguel afterwards for lunch. was quite tasty. will definitely go there again.
then we all came home and took naps!
after mommy and daddy were well rested, we headed out to the zest fest. saw a led zepplin tribute band. they were pretty darn good. was a bit chilly so we left early!
obligatory self portrait. can't go two days without having a picture...

sunday:
nick was supposed to play softball but there was a change in plans due to doctor's orders. {more on that in the cedar point post.}
we decided to do a little hike with some of the family.
the trail was so nice.
here's a pic as we saw the lake. {i think ben was excited!}

 ben wanted nothing to do with the water. i think he remembered how cold it was. the water here was really warm though! we finally convinced him to give it a go and he loved it!

yes, i had swimmers for him. but i wasn't sure he would even touch the water and when he decided he liked it there was no taking him out to change him!

the hikers minus the picture taker.

there are some uber cute ben butt pictures. can you say coppertone baby!? sooo cute. thinking they are gonna be christmas gifts, so i'm saving em. if you really wanna see em, leave a comment or email and i'll send them to ya! ;-)

beaner was tired. it is rare for him to fall asleep outside of the home. he loves the activity and doesn't want to miss anything.
i guess the hike back was pretty boring for him.

looking forward to hiking the trail again. and checking out a longer one.
thankfully, my ankle isn't bothering me too much. {see previous post}

then it was time for some football. sigh, i missed football.

k. now i must update you guys on all the happenings of our staycation and cedar point trips... soon!
and i did scrap some today! yay! still have a bit to do but at least it's a start!

arthur-itis?

so yesterday we went hiking again. my foot was so not happy! but we had a great time. {pics sometime soon...} was talking about it at work today. saying that it's a different pain than i've had in the past. that it was really stiff. so my boss is like, you probably have arthritis.
seriously, i never even thought of it!  i'm such a smart nurse!

yeah, lame post. have to upload the pics soon. but beaner, groceries, laundry, and football come first. and i must scrap tomorrow!! {thinking if i put it here, i'll be more accountable.}

wip 9.3.10

so i think cedar point is gonna get it's own post. like our vacation posts... since we were there thursday and not friday.  thinking those will all be posts next week. don't wanna go to far out or i'll forget some of the specifics!!

friday:
spent the day at kalahari. had a change of plans after nick and i somehow misplaced our licenses.
was a nice relaxing day for the girls. lazy river, reading, relaxing. the boys hit up all the slides and the surf pools. {video of that later!}
the pics were dark. pardon the crappy editing. ;-)

waiting so patiently in line!

nick doing a trick where you let the board go out in front of you then catch it again....

dave getting up on his knees.
the tricks these two did were crazy. again, i'll share video of nick someday. i will learn how to use imovie by next week!!

saturday:
we drove home.
no pictures. just happy to be back!

sunday:
beach day at gigi's.
such a beautiful day.
ben playing with chester.

then beach fun. i swear this kid eats sand by the gallon. so strange.

and still loves to roll around in it.

and ventured into the water, on his own, once. was a bit too chilly for him. and i can't say i blame him!

monday:
lazy day to catch up on all of our craziness. well, minus a shopping trip to target that cost us a small fortune! ;-)

wip 8.28.10

okay. still a little behind. i'll catch up one of these days. and i did go to bed by 830 last night! ;-)
this one is gonna be minimal pics. think i was on overload from being off that week and taking so many on our daily adventures!

friday:
the drive in!
mommy decided to let ben eat some yogurt in the back while we were waiting to get in. daddy was having a bit of a panic attack since ben was being messy in his new car!

and a shot of the car in front of the screen. finally a car picture. i think we named it on the cedar point trip... sexy flexy. hilarity! 

saturday:
a quick bbq at my god parents' house. mr. picky only wanted cheetos. and yes, we were bad parents and let him indulge himself. was quite orange by the time we left.

made it back just in time for a bonfire with friends. ;-)
made meyer's specials. total deliciousness. and had some giant marshmallow smores with reese's. i'm drooling just thinking about it.

sunday:
went to watch nick play softball.
was way hotter than i thought it would be. left early to cool off!

and dinner with the family. ben is rocking megan's headband!  ;-P