wip 12.1.12

friday:
i have no idea what we did. this was when i didn't think i would get ridiculously behind in these posts, so i wasn't keeping track in my phone!

saturday:
elfred came to visit. he brought books. one for ben to open every night until christmas.

pardon the blur. i was sleeping. nick was in charge of photography!

we got up and headed to the arboretum for polar express. i had read about it in our local newspaper. was a bit misinformed through the paper and whomever i spoke with on the phone. a little miffed. and after a late arrival and discussion, we decided to stay. {there was no train ride? what? and we had missed a half an hour, which thankfully wasn't much.}

the kids were decorating ornaments. ben loves craft time, so he enjoyed it.

after they were done, they got cookies and hot chocolate. along with their golden ticket to put in their new train ornament. {um, i forgot to take a completed picture. my bad.}

you can kinda sorta see it here. they even gave the kids a bell to put inside so it jingled.

then it was story time. ben wanted nothing to do with it. didn't want to sit in the circle. didn't want to listen. he was done.

the story only lasted a few minutes and then we were done. again, kind of disappointed with the day. so glad we didn't invite anyone to come with us.

didn't realize they had a bunch of trains outside. we did get to walk around and look at where they would have been. apparently, they remove them during winter months.

scruffy and sad face. :)

more cool train landscape.

a wickedly eerie tree outside. they had lights set up for night time viewing. we could have gone back for free later to check it out but we decided on another adventure instead.

zoo lights at brookfield. the weather was gorgeous. like 50 degrees. i think everyone else decided to join us that day. it took us over an hour to get in once we got off of the expressway. ugh. if it wasn't for a super excited little man in the backseat, i totally would have turned around and went home!

family self portrait.

didn't get to see a lot of animals. i guess it was their bedtimes. and most of the houses had the lights turned off, so if they were in there, it was hard to see.

we did get to see a turtle/lizard stand off.

saw these super cool wands/swords. found them in some random spot and grabbed one for ben. he was so funny to watch.

spent lots of time doing little activities they have spread throughout the zoo since we couldn't see animals.

the kids part that you usually have to pay to enter {the hamill play zoo i think} was free for the day. 
forgot to change the camera setting after being outside. still kind of a fun picture.

i think this was ben's favorite part. we spent the rest of our evening in here. would totally be worth paying for entry in the future. won't hurt the pocket book as much since we're members now!

he could have watered plants for hours. thinking he might need a little plant in his big boy room!

hand washing time!

ben the brave touched a cockroach. ew!

fun with puppets. he was so cute.

the lizard ate a bug or snake or whatever. i guess he was hungry.

then he decided he wanted to paint his face. this is huge for him. he's a bit of a neat freak. always asks for napkins. doesn't really like messy activities. doesn't usually participate in face paint at daycare. we were excited and let him have at it. he even asked me to color my nose. i wasn't brave enough to wear it the rest of the day. i wiped it off after he approved.

here he goes!

help momma. was kinda hard upside down.

then he wanted to finish up after i did the whiskers. added a few more pink spots to his forehead!

ready to head home. has his pretzel, his sword, and a beautifully painted face.

 

once we got into the car, i asked ben what his favorite part was. he said, 'getting my face painted. and i liked watering the plants.' we were continuing the conversation and he piped up that he needed three things that he liked best, so he added 'buying my sword.' he then made nick and i name three things that we enjoyed about the visit. so cute. i can't remember what our responses were. i just remembered to put his in my phone so i could share it later!

sunday:
a lazy day at home.
ben wouldn't let us take off his face paint... and we couldn't see why it was worth the fight. he won.

he sticks his tongue out all of the time when he's concentrating. love it. so adorable. you can see it below.

daddy joining in on the fun.

and beans loves playing hide and seek. you will randomly hear, 'mommy. daddy. come find me!' i have to say he's pretty hard to find. ;-)