wip 9.8.12

friday:
nick's dad's band was playing at a local casino. we decided to drive out there and support him.

it was a great time. late night. nick lost money which was bad, but then we stopped at rally's and that made things a little bit better!

saturday:
ben enjoying his new shark game.

and our house in disarray. usually ben is pretty good about picking up his toys before taking something else out. not today!

he wanted to watch something on the computer. 

and then was obsessed with lotion. convinced him to put some on momma's legs! 

then we headed outside.
nick tried to get the kite to fly. no such luck. the wind died down a little too much.

then he decided to tackle the weeds in our garden boxes.

ben was helping him. he thought hitting them with the bat would kill them.

the weeds were serious.

ben and i found a grasshopper. 
ben thought he should take a picture of momma with the lil guy. {pretty darn good picture,  no?}

i convinced ben that the grasshopper should sit on his shoulder. the squeals he made every time it jumped was hysterical. 

nick won.

i had the craziest desire to color. so i printed out some coloring sheets and we all set up shop at the table. ;)

our works of art are now proudly hanging on the pantry door. totally think we should have more coloring nights. something about it relaxes me!

sunday:
a lazy morning.

then we headed out to an open house at the animal clinic. had to see dr. cooper at work! ;)

ben was a fan of his car seat not being in nick's car. he would sit in it every morning before school and today was no difference.

the open house was nice. they had goats, and games, and grub. {how's that for alliteration?}

this working dog was giving rides. 
braiden and kiersten were in partners.

and wynn and ben were paired.

after going to look at the goats a gagillion times. he finally decided he wanted to feed them.

holly had the cutest boxer puppy. almost made me want a dog.

we stood outside talking for quite some time. ben ended up falling asleep on me. {that never happens!}

came home and had some shut eye.

uncle kevin stopped buy and he and nick made a dq run. 

we spent the rest of the evening being bums and watching football. so happy it's back. however, the stress of fantasy football, i could do without. why, oh, why did i agree to play?!

ten on tuesday 9.25.12

- i am no longer winless in fantasty football! i managed to win despite my one running back getting me -2 points! and my defense only scoring 1. thank you seattle for stopping aaron rodgers. ;)

- ben told me he wanted to do gymnastics the other day. he then proceeds to do a somersault, stands up, and says, 'perfect ten.' where the heck did he get that?

- had to do a prior authorization at work last week and the lady i was speaking with would not stop mouth breathing into the phone. it was awful. i could barely hear her. was so close to ask to speak with someone else who wasn't an obnoxious mouth breather.

- i want to make a doorbell that will not ring if someone pushes it more than twice. {i really would like it to short circuit and shock whoever is doing it but...} last week, i was napping on the couch and nick was giving ben a bath. the doorbell rang and startled me out of my nap. i didn't get up and answer it. it rang again a few moments later. i finally got up and when i got to the door whoever was ringing it was gone. so i sit back on the couch, try to get settled in for a few more moments of shut eye before bath time is over. and as soon as i sit, the door bell rings in like rapid fire mode. at least five dings. zomg. heart attack again. turns out our neighbor's daughter really wanted to deliver something to us!

- these nfl refs are ridiculous.

- have a new app obsession.

- ben played with an etch a sketch tonight. he was mesmerized. i might need to purchase one!

- happy for last minute visits with friends who are in town with their new baby. :)

- nick and i are recording a few new shows this season: revolution, the mindy project, and the new normal.  i'm having dvr anxieties! 

- sometimes i think it would be better to not be updated hourly with information that is constantly changing. that maybe giving us updates every few hours would be less confusing and more time efficient...

-

ben version 3.5

so maybe it should say version 3.6?
any who.

it's update time. 3 1/2 years.  here we go!

- is a sausage thief. steals at least one of nick's every morning. if i ask him what he want's for breakfast it's 50%: sausage or cereal. his two favs.
- is obsessed with super heroes. captain america and iron man are his favorites. with green lantern a close third. however, if you ask him what he wants to be for halloween, the answer is 'batman'.
- is still a total love bug. will ask me to snuggle with him on the couch regularly. <3
- can still wear 2t pants. the gut is a bit tight but 3t's are ridiculously long on mr. short stuff. but is wearing 3t shirts with no problem.
- is pretty good with his manners. mostly uses please when asking for something. and will now ask to be excused from the dinner table. {and sometimes he makes us ask him to be excused!} says thank you all the time. even in the wrong context. but hey, he's trying!
- loves fruit. preferably cantaloupe or plums or nectarines.
- corn is his veg of choice. especially on the cob.
- is still obsessed with milk. will usually ask for it right before bedtime.
- if we tell him that he can't do something, his usual reply is... 'okay. maybe tomorrow?'
- is a super helper. likes completing little chores around the house.
- loves playing video games, just like his daddy.
- yells, 'good night. i'll see you in the morning. i love you. you're my best friend and my lovely' every night when we walk out of his room.  {or something pretty close to that string of phrases.}
- has been on a dora kick. i love when he yells map.
- and is a team umizoomi fan. i have no idea where that came from.
- will pick a winning sports team based on uniform colors. he's pretty spot on. even chose notre dame over purdue much to the dismay of his boiler parents.
- is super helpful around the house. will help with picking up his toys and putting things away. knows the routine when we come home every day and will take off his shoes and put them where they belong along with his jacket.
- still a huge, huge fan of baths.
- sleeps from about 8:30 pm to 6:30 am. 
- is still using his favorite baby blankets. especially the frog one. the bumble bee one is a close second. 

i know this blog is heavy on ben pictures. so i'll limit myself to a few.

some that i snapped just last night. pardon the naked-ness. but that's totally benjamin right now, so naked pictures it is. ;)

his 'cheesy' face.

and 'angry' face.

his 'scary' face. 

happy half birthday sweet boy.
momma and daddy love you more than words. you make us laugh every day and we cannot imagine our lives without you.

'don't stress, that's dumb'

my new favorite lyrics.
need to check out this band {ball park music}. totally digging this song right now....

ten on tuesday 9.18.12

- just curious... is it momma or mama?

- love that nick will log onto my pinterest account to pin basement ideas. love him!

- ben wass getting a bit overzealous with 'may i be excused.' before sitting down for a meal, he would ask, 'maybe i be excused to get on please?'

- had someone use upmost instead of utmost. seriously, it's like nails on a chalk board.

- not sure how much posting will happen this week. we're supposed to be switching to electronic records and it's been quite an adventure. might need some time away from a keyboard...

- my fantasy team took a beating this week.  terrible. five of my players had a combined point total of seven. i think nick got beat in his one league by 50+ points {maybe 70?} so i won't complain when i lost by 30. {his opponent had reggie bush who had a freakish 30+ point game.}

- thankful that i had a day off last week for ben's first field trip {separate post someday...} or i would have worked for 11 days in a row. way different from the 4 i'm used too! gotta love mandatory weekend training.

- ben told me he was gonna let his food 'warm off'. he was referring to some fruit that was too cold for his liking.

- looking forward to this weekend. hoping the weather cooperates.

- cannot decide if i want to read this book... i'm afraid even if it's brilliant, it won't be harry potter.

time for yum yums.

another installment {i totally wanted to type instillation but i knew it wasn't right!} of pinterest recipes.

spinach artichoke pasta: so good. so good. i'm sure if you needed some protein, chicken would be a good addition. hmmm, or maybe even a can of tuna or chicken and you probably wouldn't even taste it. ben was a big fan too.

chick pea and tomato salad:  quick and tasty. my basil went bad so i didn't use as much as the recipe called for... added some red onion because i had it and why not. was pretty good!

blt mac n cheese: eh. i blame the velveeta. i'm not a huge fan. but the more i think about it, it didn't taste like a blt. ;(

slow cooker salsa chicken: yum. yum.  yum. nick hates anything chicken in the crock pot. it's rare that i can find a keeper. two days after we had this, he asked if i could make it the following week!

zucchini fries: can't find the exact recipe i used. off the top of my head, it was: sliced zucchini dipped in egg wash followed by a dip in bread crumbs. baked at 350 for 30 minutes, flipping halfway through. i would add a bit of parm. cheese to the bread crumb mixture next time i make em. maybe a touch of garlic powder. served em with my mom's fish stick sauce: mayo, mustard, and ketchup all mixed together to taste. yum.

mexican manicotti: make sure you have the shells under the sauce. otherwise, they can be a bit tough. or maybe cook it covered rather than uncovered as the recipe directs.

red velvet brownies: nick saw them when we were looking through pinterest. he said we needed to make them asap. they were good. the frosting was ah-mazing.

cheesy broccoli orzo: loved that it was a quick and easy side. with ingredients that i always have on hand. 

buffalo chicken tenders:  wasn't very buffalo-y. next time i would use panko crumbs instead of plain ole bread crumbs. which was my plan but i didn't have any! good flavors in the breading.

crescent cinnamon rolls: super tasty. so much less work than cinnamon buns. and nick said that they aren't as cinnamon-y so he liked them even better than the real thing. 

zucchini brownies: different. good. like that they have fruit and veg in them. and no oil or egg. fingers got a bit sticky but that's okay!

red, white, and blue burger topping: this was delish. totally adding it to our regular rotation of burger recipes. definitely needed a crunch on the burger though. will serve with lettuce on the burger and not just plain next time. maybe even celery?

four cheese baked skillet rigatoni:  reminded both nick and myself of fondue. nick loved it. had multiple helpings. was a bit rich for me.

crock pot chicken and noodles: i have no idea where the recipe came from. none. sorry. i'll share it here though! 3-4 chicken breasts. 42 oz chicken broth. 2 cans cream of chicken. stick of butter sliced. package of egg noodles. combine first four ingredients in crock pot. cook on low heat for 8 hours. shred chicken. add uncooked noodles. cover and cook an additional one hour. {stir about halfway through so you don't get any stiff noodles!} delicious! so homey. very fall. too bad i made it on an almost 90 degree day. would be good with some veg tossed in too: corn, peas, carrots. and ben said it was his favorite. love when that happens!

good guys wear black.

we are big sox fans in this house.
had the opportunity to go to a game this season. couldn't pass up free tickets. was a little tricky considering the game was on a tuesday {9.4.12} after the holiday weekend. {our busiest time at work.} but we made it work and were able to get up there with plenty of time to spare.

ben figured out how to prop up his movie player on his knees!

ben didn't want to walk around. he wanted to watch the players on the field.

after a long walk, we found ben a tshirt, hat and he insisted on owning a pink, wooden bat.  couldn't convince him to get the black or silver one. oh well, if pink makes him happy, then he'll have a pink one! then we couldn't get him to change into his new shirt. oh well, at least he's in black and white!

found our seats. only 9 rows up! nick was really hoping to nab a foul ball.

there was no one at the game. {yes, this picture was taken early. but it still seemed like attendance was way down.}

thought this was pretty cool.

pregame band was pretty good. apparently, he was on the voice. 

play ball!

had a really long inning. i tried to entertain ben. we sang, 'swing batter batter swing' and 'we need a pitcher not a belly itcher.'

he ended up falling asleep. so strange for him.

funniest picture ever. nick trying to snap a pic of ben asleep on momma. look at the concentration in his face. hysterical.

that one is better!

had a few insane innings. lots of scoring. wish it would have been by the sox...

he's up! i guess he had a quick power nap.

the stands really cleared out after the 10 run inning. 

trying to pass the time. {i decided to wear ben's new hat.}
ben only wanted to stick out his tongue. wouldn't agree to any other funny faces.

enjoying some fairy floss. 

the moon coming up over the scoreboard.

game over. 

they tried for a come back. i mean, 27 runs in a game, that's a lot. at one point we were googling the most in an inning. thought maybe we would see history!

the weather was perfect. traffic there and back was a breeze. so glad we were able to fit in a game this year. and for free!