Weekend Wrap-Up

I love those these random warm days we get in the middle of winter.  They're always such a nice break from the cold.

Naturally, we spent most of Saturday outside.  We had brunch with some friends who were visiting from OKC.  Ben was not keen on the brunch experience.  He is best suited to fast food or fast casual dining right now.  Basically, if he's sitting at a table, there better be food in front of him.  And while we always bring a snack, that usually doesn't last long.  On the other hand, Ben is a good dining companion if you're watching what you eat, as you'll probably only get to eat a fraction of your food.

But he did like the outside patio.

We enjoyed the rest of the afternoon outside.

Ben showed us that he can now climb the swing set.

And go down the slide on his own.

And climb all the things.

We were able to enjoy our first meal of the year outside on our patio.

Sunday called for a pizza night.

I'm surprised any of the cheese or turkey-ronis made it on the pizza with this helper:)

Little Man

Pushing the mower, saying "beep beep"

He is such a big boy now.  It seems like since he hit 18 months he has been growing and developing at a rapid pace.  Every day he says and does new things.

He is obsessed with anything he can push, pedal, pull, or ride.  He loves to watch trucks, cars, and construction.   His favorite books have pictures of trucks, airplanes, and farm equipment.

He can point to his eyes, nose, ears, head, hair, toes, mouth, teeth, and bellybutton.

He doesn't sit still for long.  Actually, he doesn't sit still much at all.

He likes to brush his teeth and will climb on the stool at the sink and say "eeth" over and over until you get his toothbrush.  But he fights tooth and nail if we try to brush them.

He can follow simple commands such as "find your shoe" or "throw this in the trash."

He still loves his ducky and "packy" and asks for them regularly and wants them together.  We're trying to keep the paci in the bed only, though.

He knows many animals and what sound they make, and he especially loves to watch for the "orses" that live behind us.

His favorite food is probably applesauce.  It's hard to keep enough stocked as he asks for it with every meal.  He's still a pretty great eater and will eat most anything.  He loves meat, cheese, yogurt, fruit, vegetables, beans, crackers, cookies, raisins, and smoothies (LOVES his "soovies").  Still doesn't care much for carbs (sometimes he'll eat pasta, rice, or pancakes but bread is usually out).

He has started to say "MINE." I'm sure we'll be hearing that a lot in the future.

Just this week he started putting his finger to his mouth (or sometimes his nose) and saying "shhhhhh."

He is such a fun, smart, determined little guy and we are enjoying watching him grow!

Valentine's Weekend Fun

Gigi dropped off some Valentines puppies for the kids, and we had some fun with Ben's.  

We went to another birthday party on Saturday.  Ben was LOVING the bounce house.  He pretty much thought it was the best ever.  And would not come inside for anything.  When we tried to bring him inside he would run back to the front door,  open it, and go outside.  There was much chasing.  He got a taste of spring weather and he liked it.

Avery enjoyed the treats.

The kids got to spend some time at Mimi's while Rob and I went to dinner with Gigi and Pepaw Saturday evening.

On Sunday Avery and I went to see Cinderella with Gigi.  Avery did well for her age, I think.  Of course, it was not the Disney-esque Cinderella that she is familiar with, so I don't think she really appreciated it (I did, though!).  Her favorite part?  "Walking around" i.e. intermission.  As we were walking out, Avery was lamenting about how looooong it was when a lady walking nearby said "but wasn't it great?" to which Avery replied "not that great."  Terri and I had a good laugh over that.

Lucky girl

Valentine's Day 2014

Avery's valentines, which were signed and attached to small treat bags:

Ben's valentines:

Which were attached to applesauce pouches (fitting because he is obsessed).

We got up early today and made the kids pancakes.

I attempted to get a pic with the kids.  Neither was too into it:)

Tonight we're making heart shaped pizzas.

Tomorrow the adults will go to dinner, but today is about the little love bugs.

Party Pains

This past Saturday Avery attended a birthday party for a classmate.  It was at Cherry Berry, one of her favorite places, she got to wear a princess dress (another favorite), and she got to meet a princess.  Best day ever, right?

She had a rough time for a bit, though.  Princess Ariel was leading the girls in some games, and the girls were being very rambunctious and silly and Avery was too shy to join in, so she stood on the outside.  Eventually, the birthday girl noticed Avery was standing by me, crying, and she came over and asked what was wrong.  She was able to distract Avery and get her to re-join the party.  It broke my heart to see her feel excluded (she was not being excluded, she was choosing not to join in) and uncomfortable.

The same thing happened at another party a couple of weeks ago.  She was having a great time playing with the kids, but when it was time to play a game-a silly game where the kids were to try to eat a donut with no hands-she wouldn't play.  She is very self-aware, maybe even self-conscious.  And clearly she hates party games.  What can I say?  I do too.  And that's ok.  I want her to know that she doesn't have to join in if she doesn't want to.  However, I don't want her to hold back because she's afraid of not doing something right, or of looking silly.

I hate to see her struggle with that.  At home, she is goofy and silly all the time.  At school, too.  But if you take her out of her element (home or school) she has a hard time warming up.  She almost always does warm up, but sometimes it takes a bit. If we go to a party for someone she doesn't know well, or a friend's house with people she doesn't know it's not uncommon for her to be stuck to our sides for quite a while.  By the time she warms up and is having a great time, it's time to leave, and then she doesn't want to go and is begging to stay longer.

In the end, she had a great time.  In what I can only assume was a test to Ariel's authenticity, Avery asked her who turned her into a human.  Ariel said her father did.  Kind of a tricky question, because initially Ursula the sea witch turned her into a human, but in the end it was in fact her father.  Avery only remembered the first one, so on the way home she pondered why Ariel would lie.  Regardless, she was quite awestruck by the princess and as we were leaving, she asked Ariel when she would see her again.  It was pretty adorable.

Pre-party lunch

Is it Spring Yet?

Seriously, it has been so cold lately. We backed out of the driveway the other morning and Avery, taking a look at the light blanket of snow across the neighborhood, sighed and said "when is it going to be Spring?"  I think we're all ready for Spring.  That, or if it is going to snow, just be a blizzard so we're stuck and don't have to go anywhere.

To get out of the house last Saturday, we went to the boat show.  I thought Ben would really enjoy it since there are so many things with wheels, in addition to all the boats.  And he did.  Avery really enjoyed it as well.  She loved getting in the boats and walking through the RVs.  Oh, and the bounce houses/slides (for an extra $10, you got us boat show…).

Oh, I brought out "Buddy," the leash/harness we bought when we went to Mexico when Avery was about Ben's age.  Of course I brought it for when Ben got tired of being in the stroller.  But Avery was so interested in the discovery of her old "buddy" (she loved wearing it when she was little) she insisted on wearing it.  That lasted for about 2 minutes before I made her take it off.  These things garner enough judgment-which, frankly-I couldn't care less about if anyone judges toddler usage.  Anyone that would like to judge me can chase Ben through a crowd themselves (and I'm not being sarcastic, but really, you will need to chase Ben).  But I did find the almost 5 year old wearing it to be more than I could take.

A boy can dream

Back off his popcorn

The rest of the weekend was spent around the house.

Where's Ben?

You can't see him because he's hiding

I love waking up at 9 a.m. on the weekends to this scene.  It's genuinely awesome.  And not only because it's cute and sweet but because…I get to sleep until 9 a.m.

Not so awesome is when the destructive duo uses the time that you're cooking to destroy a room.  If Ben is not underfoot, crying and pulling at you while you're in the kitchen, he's doing this:

And his sister is aiding and abetting.

Fortunately, they're cute.