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.

a new obsession in our house.

 we even make up our own silly words. like what does the baby say, and what does the mommy say. ;)



 and this parody from saturday night live is awesome.

wip 9.7.13

friday:
took nick's car to ford for him. we/he cracked one of the back seats. took it in to get fixed and found out we were two weeks over the warranty. boo!

nick was stuck at work late. once he got home, we had a lazy evening in. watched epic. {that's not what is pictured. but it was too cute not to share!}

saturday:
forts and video games and just hanging out. nick didn't have to go to work. first time in ages! so we took full advantage.

that evening gigi came to babysit so we could have a grown up date at the drive in. saw riddick and kick ass two. well, nick saw them. i saw the first half of riddick and then watched my eyelids. :-)

and i took absolutely no pictures! gasp! 

sunday:
had a date to play frisbee golf with the coopers. gigi left and grandma bear came over to watch the kids.

our friends bought a house that's right next to lemon lake. yay for free parking! ;)

snapped this on our walk from their house to our first hole.

 

so pretty. not jason. the trees. i think the scenery is one of my favorite parts. love trees. <3

do you see my disc? it was hiding.

thankfully, it wasn't hiding where jason's was...

he only had one leech on him! yay for nick taking pictures of mr. cooper in the yuck. 

came home and had some family time while watching football. ben asked to take a nap downstairs. we normally do not oblige. but he swore he would nap in the tent that gibi and jerbear made for him. shockingly, he did.

someone asked to have his picture taking with baby, again. {i will always say yes to that request.}

nick finally finished ben's baby blanket. 

kitty doesn't want me to fold laundry.

the boys had a pig war. these toys are hilarious. thought they were a lame gift ben got for something, but they actually work pretty well.

i'm pretty sure that ben was yelling at nick for hitting him in the face or something. so funny when he tries to parent the parents!

 

ten on tuesday 10.1.13

- whenever my mom cooked chili, when i was younger, i made her pick all of the beans out of mine before i would eat it. now, i'll eat beans. not sure what my deal was back then... now, when i make chili, ben won't eat it because, 'i don't like beans.' i think i'm experiencing bean karma. ;)

- why must britney insist on putting b!tch in all of her songs? seriously. so annoying. you would think a mom of two young boys would think twice about it... says the girl who cusses like a trucker.

- totally digging the tune in app. we used to be able to stream music at work through our computers. since we went to electronic records we can't. have gone through so many music apps. loving this one. maybe it's just because i can listen to wxrt all day now!

- my cat keeps attacking ben's window clings. poor beaners. gets so frustrated when kitty keeps pulling em down!

- had to update to a hella password at work. so hard to concentrate now when i log in! used to be second nature... not anymore!

- can't wait to see don jon with the girls! hoping the schedule allows for it next week.

- miss melie is so darn cute. loving the baby smiles. and she's sleeping for 8-9 hour stretches! working on that stretch being from about 8-5ish!

- last weekend for the drive in. trying to decide if we should go one last time.

- lost in fantasty football this week. wah! and it was to nick! double wah!

- 10,000+ steps on my fitbit today. boom! now only if i can get exercising back in my crazy schedule. last week was bad, hoping now that i've been back at work for almost a month, it'll be easier to get up earlier to squeeze in some time before i start the day. we shall see.

wip 8.3.13

friday:

took miss melia to target.

had to get a goodie package for our nephew, noah. he broke his arm the night before.

that evening nick's dad and michelle and bri came over. bri finally got to meet miss a!

silly mister ben.

they all watched a movie. i fell asleep. dude, i fell asleep during movies before we had kids. like i'm not gonna take the opportunity to catch some z's when the opportunity presents itself!

saturday:

nick played disc golf with his dad. i had a lazy morning with the kids. 

nick got home and got called out to work. once he was home, we headed to the cooper's for their end of summer party.

when we got there, nick got another phone call and had to go back out to work. felt bad for him. and ben. ben wanted to swim and i couldn't get in with him due to the csection incision. ben finally agreed to wear his vest and happily splashed around with his friends til nick arrived.

crappy picture of the volleyball playing peeps.

ben checking out his smore!

he liked cooking the marshmallows. ;)

sunday:

went for my pedicure that i had to cancel because amelia surprised us early. the lady was new. i was not impressed. sad i spent so much and didn't think it was worth it. oh well. live and learn. i won't be going back...

had date night with nick. his cousin volunteered to babysit when i texted her asking for mini golf places out their way. 

we dropped the kids off and headed out. 

megan and ben walked to the park and aunt michelle hung out with melia.

 

after golf, we went to cooper's hawk. so much better than the one by us!

ended up being a late night. hadn't really anticipated stopping for dinner. but again, they babysitters offered, so we went. felt good to be out of the house doing real people things!

ten on tuesday 9.10.13

- thinking i was overly ambitious to start training for a 5k the week i returned to work after maternity leave!

- ben is on an einy meiny kick. so cute. yet frustrating when i need him to decide in a hurry.

- ben also has been saying hip hooray. he tends to forget the second hip!

- was randomly telling a story at work and one of my coworkers was like, 'it is nice to have you back.' glad to know i liven up the work day! shortly after, one of the doctors said the same thing!

- going on a field trip with ben tomorrow. holy crumbs it's gonna be hot...

- miss melia is still cute as ever. even cute when she wants to be fed every four hours at night... i think it's easier this time because you know there is a light at the end of the tunnel. and that i know she's my last babe so i best enjoy every moment.

- think that nick and i are going to be spending monday evenings doing some sort of physical activity: bike rides or indoor volleyball. ;)

- my brother detailed my car this weekend. it looks so super shiny and awesome!

- ben takes milk {in a sippy} and cereal or a cereal bar to school in the morning. today nick accidently gave ben the milk from yesterday... ben took two sips and said, 'daddy, this tastes funny.' ew! and thank goodness he didn't have an upset stomach at school.

- hoping to find my back to work groove within the next few weeks. think it totally helped that i started getting up at an earlier time last week and cut out the daytime naps!

wordless wednesday: feeling nostalgic.

don't think i ever uploaded the photo booth pics from shan and craig's wedding. came across them when i was cleaning the study today. really should scan them properly and share. maybe someday.

wip 6.8.13

friday:

spent the day tidying up a bit.
sent nick this picture and asked if he really wanted me to take his playstation out with the recycling! ;P

my mom and dad came over to babysit ben and nick and i headed out for our 10 year anniversary dinner. went to lighthouse. didn't really want to do anything too adventurous considering my meal options are limited with this pregnancy. {kinda why we celebrated with a mexico trip last year. knew that a baby could be in our future. hoping for an eleven year getaway too! gonna need some us time after all!}

an after dinner photo op.

went and saw the internship. was funny. not as funny as i had hoped for, but that's okay.

while we were out, my dad planted my garden beds! awesome. i had tomatoes and herbs sitting on our deck for like two weeks. just couldn't find the motivation to go plant them.

saturday:

woke up to a text from john telling me they would be late to breakfast... what?! it was 857 am! we had plans for sunday breakfast. i have a heart attack. double check my texts and realize i am right, john was confused. phew. good thing too, because nick was just getting out of bed to hop in the shower and head to work!
ben and just hung out. love nap time with him. hoping i can work it into the weekend routine when baby arrives. linus headed upstairs. <3

after our nap, nick was home and we headed outside to enjoy the weather.

my newly planted garden. yay dad!  8 tomato plants. 6 strawberry plants. those damn bunnies better stop eating them! some basil and i forgot what other herb and maybe a cucumber and a zucchini plant.

ben wanted to play bubble bad guys. such a great way for him to run off some energy! 

i think he got tired of running... he asked to play at his sensory table. love that he calls it that. daycare has really rubbed off on him!

rounded up some of ben's old shoes. sorted some for steph and dave and some for robin's shoe drive. 

we got ben a basketball hoop for his big boy room. he was so excited he couldn't even get dressed after his bath to play! had to play naked.  i'm sharing the blurriest photo, so it's kinda like i edited out his bottom!

sunday:
met john and bill and the girls for breakfast!

then stopped by robin's shoe drive and visited with everyone for a bit.
ben ran into his cousins and they all hung out in the car with their leap pads!

then wynnie and braiden joined in on the fun!

everyone did so good with sharing. super proud of them all!

target for a few odds and end after the shoe drive. love that ben is now such a good helper!

couldn't decide if we wanted to nap or head straight out to the graduation party we had to attend. decided just to bite the bullet and go to the party. hope we could keep him up after we left and get him to nap for a bit when we got home!

cute cookies!

ben was obsessed with the tree house and the momma and baby birds.

silly boy.

cute and easy centerpieces. loved the vases.

some of allie's memorabilia.

he's pretending that he's asleep. but i love how he was sitting...

after nap, we played abc mouse and took it easy. was a crazy morning and early afternoon for us!

cereal for dinner. i am so not a cereal person! but with this pregnancy i have eaten quite a lot of it!

piles and piles of laundry. seriously. i could so do without laundry and dishes. ;)

and just like that only a month behind!