ten on tuesday. 12.10.13

- brr. i'm ready for spring.

- pretty sure that my christmas cards are going to be valentine's day cards instead. ;)

- after the giant blogging push, i have lost all motivation again. hopefully, soon!

- i've been told that little miss amelia has to wear her tutu every bears game from here on out!

- i think i only need to buy gift cards and i'm officially done with christmas shopping.

- elfred hasn't visited this year. maybe he will still pop in? {ugh, i suck this year!}

- forgot i had to walk through snow to get to work yesterday and wore my crocs. yeah, i'm a thinker at 650am!

- i found a new addiction: pink lemonade emergen c. think i have a new something to add to our subscribe and save purchases each month!

- ben is fighting the sniffles. hoping he holds em off and that melie stays strong too!

- got a new mario game. nick didn't even know about it. what kind of gamer is he? now to find the time to play it!

ten on tuesday 12.3.13

- i did it! blogged every day in november. thank goodness i did that challenge or i never would have caught up!

-  got my posts out of order, chronologically, again. i suck. oh well.

- got a new coat. hooray black friday sale. it's an omni-heat from columbia and it's super warm. which is saying a lot for me. i'm always cold. can never find a good coat.

- cannot believe it is december. where has 2013 gone?

- trying to figure out how to rearrange my living room for the darn tree! all this baby stuff makes it crowded!

- i really dislike migraines. especially ones that last for 24+ hours.

- really wanting to find time to go through all of the presents i've purchased and finish up my shopping!

- looking forward to friend time this weekend.

- i want to reread the hunger games trilogy again. feel like i forgot everything when we watched catching fire.

- tried to not be a mac snob. but i am. i can't help it. i just prefer em over other computers.

30 days of thankful.

you're supposed to put what you're thankful for each day. i'm cheating and posting a few of them early. sue me. and some of them are pretty shallow. oh well, they all can't be earth shattering!

thinking thanksgiving is an appropriate time to post.

1. fridays off.
2. a fabulous group of friends.
3. lazy sundays to watch football and play outside.
4. my mom. her babysitting, support, and friendship.
5. a silly little boy who keeps me on my toes.
6. a healthy baby girl who finally rolled over.
7. caffeine. my coworkers enjoyed a super caffeinated shan today. coke and coffee before 10am!
8. pedicures.
9. laughter.
10. back rubs from cute boys.
11.  our veterans and freedom.
12. good health.
13. bubble baths.
14. amazingly supportive coworkers.
15. loving hugs from my husband.
16. quality time with friends i don't get to see often enough.
17. a roof over my head.
18. a positive meeting with ben's teacher.
19. discount haircuts in our home.
20. only having one car payment!
21. a heated mattress pad.
22. girl's night dinner dates with impromptu shopping trips after.
23. a great extended family.
24. technology. makes it so much easier to stay in touch. ;)
25. patients and a job that teach me how important it is to value every day.
26. christmas bonuses.
27. light work days and pot lucks!
28. my husband and my children. they are my world.
29. days off with my loves.
30. date night with a man who i love more than ever. twenty years laters and lots of ups and downs but there's no one i would rather have by my side.

and then i saw this. and it's so true. sorry. no source.

ten on tuesday 11.26.13

- i am not a fan of 'vanilla heat' coffee creamer. i think it's because i use so much creamer. that heat is totally over powering.

- christmas shopping mostly done! woot. just a few people left and it's mostly gift cards.

- looking forward to a four day weekend with my family. hoping nick doesn't get called out to work too much.

- ben keeps asking about the christmas tree. he says, 'but i miss it.' soon son. soon.

- amelia is now the owner of two new pairs of shoes. {i think they'll have their own post. i think ben's first pair did, so it's only fair.}

- i did it. ordered some essential oils. didn't go too crazy. and didn't go with the super crazy expensive ones. those you can ingest. not sure i'm there yet!

- ichabod crane is hot.

- told ben he was a good big brother. he said, 'no, i'm a small brother.' ;)

- this cannot come out soon enough. hoping i'm not disappointed.

-red velvet coffee from dunkin donuts is delicious!

halloween 2013

ben picked our theme this year. i asked right after we had gone to the renaissance fair with the coopers. i guess i should have known that he would have picked knights and princesses.

ignore nick's crazy arm. it's the best one.

the princesses.

family photo.

the edited, instagram version.

our cute knight. he picked the costume. not sure where his breast plate was. i believe it got left at school. oh well. he's still cute. the problem was taking both swords that the costume came with and the shield and the arm guard.

miss amelia. she insisted on pulling her skirt up. i think we're in trouble. ;)

beans and bug.

my mom stayed home with amelia and my dad. dad passed out candy and mom was in charge of melie!

the weather wasn't too bad. maybe in the 50s and the rain started after we had been out for a while. really glad that our town didn't cancel and reschedule like a neighboring town did.

ben was a champ this year. was super good about saying trick or treat and thank you. and was very independent. unless he couldn't reach a doorbell! at one point he even told me that he wasn't going home until his bag was full!

look. we found a wynnie. ran into her big sister braiden too. just don't have photographic evidence.

yum. one of my favorites.

came home and enjoyed the reubens that i had in the crock pot all day. so good. nick's request. happy to oblige.

ten on tuesday 11.19.13

- i'm not ready for winter. but i did buy a cute scarf!
- had a brain fart and posted amelia's third month post out of order, chronologically. oops.
- heard the same song on four different radio stations at the same time this morning. annoying.
- this weather is crazy. snow and then tornadoes six days later?
- attacking christmas like a boss. so close to being done! woot.
- thinking of trying out some essential oils. where is this coming from? first emergen-c now oils?!
- why can people not pronounce my last name? press-ner. not prezner.
- ben told me he really likes baby in the morning because she's extra smiley and happy. ;)
- i have no hair to begin with and these hormone changes are making it fall out like crazy. i even clogged the shower with it. that has never happened.
- went to a parent teacher conference for ben yesterday. proud to be his momma. so happy to hear he's a good kid. <3

wip 10.12.13

friday:
ran out and got a massage. was at the lady's house. was nice. except that she talked the entire time. dude, it's my quiet time. how do you tell them to stop talking? i had my eyes closed. only mumbled responses...

decided to do a last minute lunch at cooper's hawk. nick was off. might as well enjoy some grown up time. my mom watched amelia!
 

yes, that's candy crush next to our cheese plate!

that evening, we spent some time decorating for halloween. well, this one just watched. ;)

chalk art. 

our scary ghost. 

and a monster in the bush. he's really excited, not scared, i swear. 

nick got called out while we were outside, so the kids and i had a lazy evening of disney jr.!

saturday:
nick had to go back to work.
the afternoon was just time to relax. watched despicable me 2. 

sunday:
i got to sleep in! first time in ages. and i think i only made it to 8am. what is the world coming to?!

quick target trip. ben loved his new hat. couldn't wait to wear it. 

had a bit of time to spare before we had to head out for gigi's birthday. 
these two used it to snuggle.

uncle julio's. was chaos. just opened a new location. the kinks were not worked out. oh well, good company.

gigi and her grandchildren.

loving on his baby sister.

they will give the kids dough samples. it was a hit with all the kids. 

ben blew out gigi's candle!

 

such a cute picture.

headed home right after that. would usually have gone back to nick's aunt and uncle's house but it was a school night! :)

wip 8.31.13 - labor day weekend

friday:
mom and son dentist appointments. then errands. got ben some new kicks and took lunch to nick at work.

 

 

hiding after lunch at nick's work...

ben almost fell asleep in his cocoon! 

love our naps together. yay for grandma who spent time with melie! 

nick worked late, again. so it was mommy and kids time. 

went to bed early because we had an adventure planned for saturday.

saturday:
rennaissance faire with the coopers. 

we drove through a monsoon to get there. but we made it and the weather was perfect!

one of little miss cutie pie when we stopped at a rest stop. so chubs. so cute.

the kids on a swing. had to do a ride first.

time for archery. i think the big kids had more fun.

hanging out in the play area.

watching the jousting.

someone passed out while we watched the fire whip guy. was pretty entertaining! poor ben missed it!

jacob's ladder fun.

nick even tried. not sure why i don't have a picture of it. i don't have any pictures of him throwing the tomatoes at the heckler either, i suck.

we're done. ready to go and the kids are enjoying their swords. we took ben's from last year and bought miss wynnie one for her birthday. we technically don't exchange gifts. we go on adventures with the coopers instead. however, wynn insisted on buying ben this giant kitana sword for his birthday, so it was only fair that we returned the favor. apparently, swords do not count as birthday presents.

miss braiden showing off her tiara and the knights with their swords.

refreshment time before we hit the road.

made a stop for some starbucks on the way home. then nick got food. then baby had to eat. then baby pooped twice. i swear we were in the damn rest stop for like an hour! the joys of mini car trip adventures with a baby!

sunday:

go figure. amelia slept in. i got up with ben and daddy and baby slept.

came downstairs to this. apparently, someone had plenty of time to hide while i went to the bathroom and brushed my teeth!

nick went to his pay league fantasy football draft and i took the kids to my parents. my brother was awesome and entertained ben in the pool. hadn't technically been cleared to hang out in the water... ben loved it!

then uncle kevin snuggled up to baby amelia. ;)

monday:

labor day parade. 

i didn't take many pictures. thinking it's a good thing that i'm slowing down on the picture taking or these wip would be a nightmare. 

baby chillaxin.

ben patiently waiting for the parade to start. 

he asks all the time to take a picture with his baby sister. so cute. so hard to get a cute one. one of them usually has a crazy face. ;) these are three of the five i took. notice that if baby isn't cooperating then it's ben's turn...

nick took melia duty while i hung with ben. i guess he even changed a diaper while she sat in his lap. earned lots of praise for val!

after parade, nick went and played frisbee golf with his dad and uncle. the kids and i went home and slept! it was a long weekend!

the boys worked on ben's homework in the evening. he had to make a photo collage of his family. nick totally had to help, my ocd would have prevented it from being 'ben's' project!

the final project.