Happy 100th day of School!!!

Today is Ben's 100th day of school! 

His homework for the weekend was to create a hat with 100 things on it!

 95, 96, 97, 98, 99...

100 wiggly eyes!!!

 

 Some fancy modeling!

Ben's idea...don't show his eyes just the hat eyes!

Then he asked, "Can I wear it to the store sometime and freak people out?" 

Something you didn't know about Santa's reindeer

Today, while looking through Ben's backpack, I found a little project from December that made me smile!

Oh what goes through the minds of little boys!!!!

 

Have a great weekend!!!

a broken heart

The other night I told the kids to get their Valentine's shirts on so I could take some pictures.  Ben was not at all thrilled about this because he is mortified by the shirt I bought him this year.  He claims he will only wear it if I pay him!!!  I told him I would give him a dollar, but he insisted he needed more than that to wear this shirt.  So in my attempt to get him in it, I told him that we could send a picture to his girlfriend. 

Ben has been in love with the same girl since he was in 3 year old preschool!  It has been really cute to watch him and listen to him talk about her. For example one time on the way to the grocery store he told me that he had a problem, one of his friends had stolen her away from him. However, he had managed to get her back, and keep his friend!!!  It has also been cute to see them together, like when he attended her princess dress up birthday party dressed as her knight in shining armor!  But evidently, this fairytale romance had run its course, because when I mentioned her name, he got a very sad look on his face, put his hands together to make a heart shape and then broke the top part of the heart away motioning that his heart was broken.  The poor little guy couldn't even speak.  I felt horrible and asked him what happened, to which I didn't get much response other than she told him that she wanted to break up! 

So, in an effort to cheer him up and get the shirt on him, I told him that this was even more of a reason for him to put on the shirt. It would tell all the other girls what kind of guy he was!  He thought about it for a minute and then put it on!

He now wants to send his picture to all the girls in his class!

An early valentine from Shutterfly

Triple Love Valentine's Day Card

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I LOVE shutterfly!!!  Every year, I use shutterfly to make a family photo book, and this year's Christmas cards came from them too!  They send me lots of great offers that I usually don't use because I'm behind on all of my photo projects.  But, today in my inbox I received a coupon for 10 free cards!  I had planned to send a few Valentine's cards out anyway, so this was an exciting offer!  And, I was already ready to make my cards!  Just last night, I made the kids put on their Valentine's shirts and took some pictures for this exact purpose!!! (look for more on that drama coming soon!)  Anyway, I just finished making my cards and ordering them, and surprise, my deal got even bigger.  When I got to the confirmation page, it said, "earn a $25 gift certificate if you share your project on your blog or website."  So here mine is!!!  I was reluctant to post it before February, but with an offer like that, I am willing to be a little early (and ruin the surprise for the family that will be getting them!)  Thank you Shutterfly for some  pre-Valentines love!

Ben's First Basketball Game

Ben has participated in several basketball camps and played lots of hoops in the driveway with his dad, but until last Saturday, he hadn't actually had a team and played a real game!  So, this milestone was pretty exciting for our family considering basketball is Chris and Ben's favorite sport! 

Ben's team, the Polar Bears, played a great game!  I was little unsure what to expect after watching one of their practices, but I was really impressed at how well they did on game day!

For those of you that have heard the story of Ben playing soccer, you know that Ben is very competitive and LIKES to win!!! He also doesn't like to participate in things that he is not good at. So, when it was halftime and he hadn't scored yet he was pretty bummed. However, just as I put the camera away, (so I could leave his game and get Katy to soccer,) Ben had an awesome shot!

It made his day (and mine too!)

In case you couldn't tell from the pictures Ben is not afraid to guard his man! 

These are some pictures from a later game, when Ben's friend Wyatt was supposed to guard him!!!  Too funny!  Thanks Kara for letting me steal your pictures!

Chef Katy

This weekend Katy wanted to contribute to our dinner with her own recipe that included apples, oranges and milk.  While I would like to say I allowed her to use her creativity to make this lovely creation, I didn't accommodate her requests this time.  It was one of those moments where I just wanted to make dinner and enjoy a quiet evening, not cleaning up a big mess.  Luckily, she was satisfied with a bowl, spoon, plastic butter knife, cookie cutters, whisk, water and an apple.

I think she can peel an apple with a plastic butter knife better than I could with a sharp knife!

After all that hard work, she decided to eat her apple and forget her recipe!

Katy still thinks if she eats enough apples her teeth will fall out!  She couldn't wait to talk to her dentist about it at her appointment Thursday afternoon.  However, she forgot when she was there and came home very disappointed.  She thinks she will stop him the next time she sees him walking his dog, so she talk to him about it!  He would definitely be proud of her of her brushing habits as this is now another obsession she has.  She has always been our best brusher, but since her dentist visit she has brushed her teeth at least 4 times per day!

Abby's invention

Abby came home yesterday with an assignment to make something out of a wire clothes hanger.  Here is what she came up with!

Her latest craze is duct tape projects, so she needed to add some to this fabulous necklace.  And, of course only zebra print would do!

When she was done, she asked if I thought that she could sell them?  I said, "maybe!  I am not sure if people would be willing to wear hangers as necklaces, but you never know!"  To which she replied, "would you wear it?"  I told her that of course I would after all she had made it and I love everything my kids make me!  I have worn macaroni necklaces, and pipe cleaner bracelets with matching earrings.  Why not a hanger necklace!?!  She then decided that she wanted to wear it to school! 

 In usual Abby fashion, she carefully planned her outfit the night before; a black turtleneck, red hair bow and earrings to match the abstract red rose "pendant" and a zebra bracelet to coordinate the duct tape!  To my surprise she wore it all day at school (and home again...so much for turning it in early!)  Maybe this will be Lincoln's latest fashion trend or possibly just my amazing daughter marching to the beat of her own drum!

Perhaps she will let you order one with your Girl Scout cookie order!!!

A LONG weekend

While I always LOVE long weekends and a chance to sleep in an extra day.  This long weekend started out a little stressful for me!  It was the first weekend that one of my babies was going on a trip further than Nana and Papa's without me.  Most who know me, know that I am a little protective of my kiddos (to the point of Chris not being able to take them very far without me!)  I've gotten better as they have gotten older, but I'm still a huge worrier, so when Aunt Stacy called to see if Ben could go to Chicago for the weekend, I had to refer her to Chris.  Every bit of me wanted to say no, despite knowing Ben would love to go!  So Chris made the arrangements and luckily with Charlie in tow, we met Stacy and Carter halfway and off he went!  The hardest part was watching them exit the interstate headed the opposite direction!  It was definitely quieter around our house without him and the girls certainly seemed to enjoy some time without their brother picking on them, but I was glad to have him back Sunday afternoon!

Saturday morning, Katy had soccer and scored her first goal making her mommy and daddy very proud!  This was a huge change from watching Abby play soccer when she was little!  Abby would let all the boys on the team take care of the ball while she would sit on the field and talk to the other little girls on the team!

 Abby made us proud Saturday too!  When we got the mail that afternoon, we found this letter:

We have kind of taken for granted that Abby does well in school!  She LOVES to read and does her homework without nagging or a fuss, but Chris and I didn't even consider that she would be in this program.  So this letter caught me completely off guard!  I came really close to crying and needless to say am incredibly proud of her!

We were fortunate to have several other fun and special event this weekend too.  We attended a benefit for a mom of some of Chris's students that is battling cancer.  Abby had an old friend from kindergarten come play for an afternoon!  We helped our cousin Chloe celebrate her ninth birthday!  And we spent our day off of school at Chuck E. Cheese with some friends!  While generally I hate that place (can you say GERMS!!!), I did have a ton of fun.  My favorite part was watching Katy ride some Jett ride and laughing out loud!  Everyone that walked by her couldn't help but smile at her giggles!

Some funny quotes from the week!

Katy:  "I am good.  Do you know why?  Cuz I care about Ben!"

Katy:  "Mom, you need to take me to the doctor for my voice."
Me:  "What is wrong with your voice?"
Katy: "My singing voice is not the same as my talking voice...they should be the same!"

Katy decided that she wanted to have a baby birthday (in June!)  Anyway, when she saw the Target flyer with binkys on sale she brought it to me and said, "Mom will you please, please, please buy these for me? If you say no it will break my heart!"   I think I might have been buying them if  we hadn't seen the Tangled birthday stuff at Walmart.  She quickly changed themes when she saw they have Tangled party horns!

And my favorite for the weekend!
Riding home in the dark from the benefit we went to...
Katy:  "Do you know why I didn't want these boots? (black furry boot that she loves and begged for!)
Because at night when it's dark, I can't see my feet!"  This still makes me laugh!

Diary of a Wimpy Mom

Earlier I mentioned that I couldn't wait for more snow so I could play outside with the kids.  Well, we got our snow and I did go out with them the other day, but it has been REALLY cold (at least for me!)  So, when Katy asked me to go play with her, I told her, " Not today. It's too cold!"  She then asked if she could play with the bag of snow she had brought in the other day, which gave me a great idea!

BRING THE SNOW INTO THE HOUSE! 

The snow made her hands super cold, so we put on mittens.  They didn't last long.

Our mini snowman

Abby and Ben came home from school and decided they wanted in on the fun!

Charlie is found!

Thursday night on our way home from Ben's basketball practice.  Katy wanted to know if God could help us find Charlie.  I told her that we could say a prayer and ask God to help lead us to Charlie's hiding spot, so she insisted that we say a prayer together in the van. 

When we got home, we got busy with dinner, homework, baths, etc and really they didn't have a chance to look for him before bedtime.  I promised Ben that I would keep looking as we tucked him in bed with two of his other dogs, Chuck and Bernie.  Bernie was alway his second favorite dog when he was little, and often filled in when Charlie was missing.  Chuck is just a Charlie wannabe who really hasn't had much playtime! 

I think at this point I had turned the house upside down and was probably more of a wreck than Ben at the possibility that he could be gone for good.  So, I continued looking after Ben was in bed and again the next morning after he was at school. 

Ben was supposed to go on his first trip away from home without mom and dad Friday night.  I was really worried about how that would go if he didn't have Charlie.  So, I was bound and determined to find him.  I went upstair and checked under his bed for the millionth time and checked several other places in his room.  Everytime, I passed by the corner of his bed, I tripped on the bed.  At first I decided that I was just a klutz and then I thought about my conversation in the car with Katy about God guiding us to Charlie.  I looked under the bed again and he still wasn't there!!!  But I thought well maybe it was a sign to keep  checking the bed.  I went back to his pillows and picked them all up and looked at them.  There was nothing under them and none of them appeared to have anything stuffed in them.  Then something made me decide to stick my hand in each of them which is where Charlie was hiding! 

Ben had put Charlie inside the pillow when he was cleaning up his fort the other night and forgot to take him out when he got upstairs!  Charlie's stuffing is so flattened that he didn't even make a bump in the pillow that Ben had slept on the last 2 nights while missing Charlie!  I tucked him into Ben's bed in the middle of the other dogs.  I couldn't wait for Ben to come home and find him there just in time to pack him for their weekend in Chicago with his cousin Carter.

Update on Katy's apple obsession!

  Katy has finished a 5lb bag of apples eating 2-3 per day.  Yesterday, she came in the kitchen and said, "I am going to eat an apple.  I know a tooth is ready to be broken out!"  I think the tooth fairy should come leave her a note and some money!

Abby News!

Abby got glasses!  She is super excited!  Several of her friends have gotten glasses this year and Abby was a bit envious!  So, when the eye doctor said she needed them, she was thrilled!  The night after she got them she said, "When they come in, you need to take my picture and put it on facebook because I am super cute in them!"  So much for modesty!

 

Charlie

LOST DOG!

picture taken over 4 years ago!

Reward $5.00

We are now on day 2 of Charlie's disappearance.  The entire house has been turned upside down and there is no sign of him.  I offered the girls $1 if they could find him.  That got me about 5 minutes of  help looking, so I upped it to $5.  I worried that bedtime would be sad, so we tucked Ben in with a couple other dogs.  He went to bed without a problem, so I was relieved.  That is until this morning when Chris woke him up for school and noticed that he had slept with a picture of Charlie.  It broke my heart, so I went on another dog hunt, but still luck.

picture of Charlie on Ben's bed : (

So I have decided to write the story of Charlie today! 

When Ben was only one, he and I went shopping at Kohls.  During our trip Ben rode in his stroller and would grab things off the shelves.  When he saw Charlie he grabbed him and gave him a big hug.  He was on sale for less than $2, so I let him have him.  The dog was super soft with silky fur, long floppy ears and a squishy belly.  Pretty hard not love him!  It instantly became Ben's best buddy.  The dog needed a name, but Ben could barely talk.  So, when we noticed that he resembled the dog on Ben's blanket who's name was Charlie,we decided that should be his name!  And so that is how Charlie became Charlie!

 This is what Charlie looked like when Ben brought him home.

We have had Charlie for close to 6 years now.  He has been on a lot of adventures as Charlie has gone everywhere with Ben!  However, Ben often put him down and leave him places or stash him in weird place that take me sometimes days to find. 

One of the first times that Charlie got "really" lost was on a day that we had gone for a walk.  When we couldn't find him in the house anywhere, we assumed that Ben had dropped him out of the stroller outside somewhere.  So on a cold dark night, I went out in search of a stuffed dog.  I came home upset that we couldn't find him, so Chris went out with his flashlight and retraced our path!  Still no luck.   The next morning, I called the company that made him in hopes that I could replace him, but no luck once again.  It was devastating, probably more for me than him!  A few days later while cleaning the toy room, I found him stuffed between the wall and the Abby's toy kitchen.

The toy kitchen became Charlie's favorite places to hide, especially in the fridge and oven, but also in the many drawers and cabinets.  That soon became the first place I would look when we couldn't find him, but sometimes I would miss a drawer or cabinet and of course that is where I would find him after I looked everywhere else! 

 Charlie also gets lost when we leave the house which is alway very stressful!!!  Once Charle got left at TJ Maxx!  Of course, we didn't know that until bedtime, which was typical so we never knew if he was at home somewhere or at one of the places we had been that day.   We made phone calls, searched the house and still no Charlie!  I then decided to retrace our steps!  TJ Maxx was my first stop!  I found Charlie on the shelf with all the other stuffed animals waiting for a new home!

Another time Charlie went with us to the gym for swim lessons.  As I was getting Abby changed into her clothes to go home, Ben and Charlie were playing in the lockers.  When we were ready we left and didn't realize we didn't have Charlie until bedtime of course!  This time I was fairly sure we left him at the gym, so we called and asked if anyone had found him there.  However, no one had found him, so off I went to search through all of the lockers in the locker room.  Luckily, I was able to find him!

Then about 2 years ago, Charlie accompanied us to Target and managed to get lost!  This time, Ben realized it before we left the parking lot.  So, I went in to find him.  I roamed around the entire store, down every aisle I remembered us going to.  Finally, a guest service member asked me if they could help me find anything, so I told him what I was looking for.  He then radioed the front desk and asked them if a stuffed dog had been turned in, which it hadn't been.  So, I continued looking.  As I did, I heard the guy radio the other workers in the store who all began looking for him.  I then saw other customers helping look for him!  It was sweetly comforting and also embarassing!  I then remembered that we had tried some dress shoes on Ben and so I went back to the shoe aisle to check boxes.  I found him there, not in a box, but underneath the stool!

Charlie has also been dognapped by Clay, one of the kids I watch!  And once, when some friends of our, the Lamboleys, were leaving our house after a visit, Ben hopped in their van to say good bye and left Charlie in the van.  They found him when they got home (a half hour+ drive). 

Hopefully, this is just another one of his adventures, and Charlie will appear soon!

More snow and a little help from above!

My day started with Ben waking up at 3:37 a.m. unable to find Charlie.  I searched the house as well as one can at that time in the morning, but couldn't find him.  Of course then I was unable to fall back to sleep.  Well, until just before Chris's alarm clock went off which was followed by him hitting the snooze button 4 times!  Then after him getting up and the alarm turned off, Katy showed up with her stuffed Eeyore that has a rattle inside. She crawled in bed with me and then kept shaking and shaking.  When I asked her to stop she said, " mom it's your Eeyore alarm.  You need to get up and give me a bath."    After agreeing that I did need to get up and get her ready for school she says, "I don't want to go to school.  Why did you sign me up for this anyway?  I just want to stay home with you."  I too wished we could have stayed in bed and cuddled all day!!!

Later, we got to play outside in the snow!  Ben made a snow angel that he thinks looks more like a butterfly.  He was excited!   Then when it was time to come in, Katy asked to bring some snow in to play with!  I told her she could get a baggie and fill it to bring in.  Ben saw this and was super excited thinking that we could just fill the entire freezer with snow and then have snowball fights this summer! I should have asked him what we would be eating until then!

Abby and Ben had ccd tonight...it is always a battle to get him ready to go, but once out the door it is Katy and mom time!!!  We decided that since Gina's birthday is coming up, we would make her a card!  Katy made a giant cake and added some flowers.  While making her flowers she said, "I think God is helping me color because I stayed in all the lines and I don't usually do that kind of coloring.  I really love God!"  Me too!

Snow

While many people were not very happy about getting more snow, Katy, Ben and I were! 

Katy looked out the door first thing and was so excited.  She wanted to jump in it.  Ben couldn't wait to pack up all of his snow gear for outside recess today.  And, even I was happy despite my dread of the cold.  All of December we had snow, but it seemed I had a million things I needed to get done or it was just too cold to go outside.  Then as soon as my Christmas to do list was done, my basement was clean and I was ready for a day to play in the snow with the kid, it was 50 degrees outside and a big muddy mess.  So a big part of me was hoping for more snow.  And here it is! 

I think Abby was annoyed with today's snow, as it had ruined the outfit that she was planning to wear today! 
And, Chris probably wasn't happy either since he was the one that had to go shovel early this morning, but even him doing that brought me happiness.  As I was snug in bed listening to the shovel scrap across the driveway, I felt very lucky to have him around to do the hard stuff while I get to look forward to making snow angels!  It is so nice to be taken care of!


Some little bits of happiness from today:

• Last night after the PTO meeting, another mom approached me with a Ben story.  She said that she was at school and witnessed the chaos of 70+ first graders trying to get their winter gear on with only the help of 1-2 adults.  Her son was struggling to get his coat zipped as his coat has an uncooperative zipper sometimes!  The mom asked him what he does when she is not there and it won't work. He said, "Then Ben does it!"  While this did not surprise me as this is very typical of Ben's caring personality, it certainly made me so happy to know that someone recognized this and appreciated it.  He is usually recognized for being a little (or maybe a lot) over zealous about life!!!
• Today while at the grocery store, Katy wanted us only to buy healthy food!  She especially wanted apples!  So I put the apples in the cart, and she says, "I am going to eat one when we get home, so I can lose a tooth.  Then the tooth fairy will come and leave me money."  I then asked her what she needed money for and she responded, "because I gave Ben my dollar and now I need one."  Since being home, she has eaten 2 apples, but no luck on any tooth coming out!  Not sure how long she will keep trying before giving up, but I will enjoy her asking for apples while it does!
• 2 Great Report cards!  YEA!

the fort

I remember as a child the happiness that a fort brought! It was fun and exciting to be hidden in your own secret hiding place! Katy and Ben love making forts and then getting their ipods or movie screens and hanging out! I found today's fort to be quite creative with it's very own laundry basket tower and central vac!!!

After adding a few more laundry baskets, Katy came running into the kitchen as I made dinner and yelled, "Mom, we only need one more basket and it will touch the ceiling!  It is AMAZING!  Cooler than you thought!"   The only thing better than seeing her little face light up and watching their excitement as they add another laundry basket, is hearing their giggles from under the blankets!

Getting back in shape

Once again in 2011, I am resolving to get back in shape! I decided to try the couch to 5k program. I injured my knee while doing a half marathon and haven't been able to run since without irritating it. I am hoping this program will slowly help me strenghten it. I also am back counting points with weight watchers. We'll see if this year I can find success (preferably before swimsuit season!)
Katy has been assigned the task of making sure that I exercise regularly!!! The first week she took her job seriously! She would come with me to the treadmill and watch tv as I worked out. She would also tell me that we needed to go take care of my exercising right now. Then she got tried of going with me. However she would come check on me. One time, she came down to see me while I was on the treadmill and yells in an astonished voice, 'wow! You are doing great! The weight is really falling off. I can see your tummy is skinnier! The weight fell to your legs. I can make my stomach skinny without running, see...'then she lifted her shirt and sucked in her stomach! That would be my plan b if plan a doesn't work!

It's been a while!

With a new year now upon us, I am resolving to get better at a few things! One of them being to keep this blog up to date all year! There is so much that happens everyday that soon is forgotten. Before, I know it my children will be big and I won't remember most of these little moments! So heres to getting back on track in 2011!