"The best present ever!"

Ben has declared the trampoline "the best present ever!"

Too bad they had to wait so long for us to get home & actually put it up...well, for Bryce to put it up. I read the directions for him : ) Bryce always declares anything he puts together is defective or missing parts - which is rarely the case. LOL!



Super Mario...um, I mean Daddy, took the inaugural jump to make sure it wasn't going to collapse...

It wasn't complete but they couldn't wait any longer so Brinley hopped on...

then Ben joined her.

Next we added the padding...

And Daddy showed off his skills...

He was later reprimanded by Ben after we read the safety warnings attached to the side that said "no flips".

It was dark before we had the poles & safety net attached.

And getting pretty chilly but they still didn't want to come in : )

Little Ben's

We finally stopped at Little Ben's Pizza, a place we've been wanting to go for the last 6 months (just because of the name) but kept passing because our timing was never right until this trip home. It was good - pizza, salad, pasta buffet- especially since Ben has been asking for Pizza for over a week but I didn't think his tummy would handle it until now.

Christmas

We are in Texas enjoying our holiday and I just wanted to share some of our Christmas with you.

Here's the only gift Ben wrote to Santa about - a voice recorder with playback that can distort your voice. He gets such a kick out of it! He has been such a trooper because he's continued to be sick (upset tummy & diarrhea, hence the pull-up he's wearing) all week but finally seems to be feeling better.

Ben was up before Brinley Christmas morning but we made him wait for her to open "the biggie"...a trampoline. Of course we can't assemble it until we get back home so they haven't been able to try it out yet :(


Ben & Daddy with one of his other faves - a remote controlled tank.

This is probably Brinley's favorite - the bunny house, she plays with it endlessly.

Ben setting up a "present fort" around himself at Aunt Lindy's.

The 2 granddaughters (my only niece)...too bad they're 14 years apart.

Me & my sisters - it's been awhile since we were together so Bryce snapped a picture.

(forgive the A-bomb shadow effect, haha)

And a family shot in front of Aunt Lindy's little silver tree.

We are so spoiled, not only with our gifts but with so much love!

Hope ya'll are being spoiled, too.

Baby update

Yesterday I had an ultrasound in the morning and an OB visit in the afternoon so we were busy on top getting ready for the holiday & going out of town! It was the first ultrasound Bryce was able to attend : ) and everything is looking good. The baby is about 4 lbs. already and looks like a "real" baby now- it was making a sucking motion with it's mouth!

The OB visit was uneventful except she asked me if I wanted a particular date to induce labor. I've never been asked this before & not to offend anyone but don't really believe in scheduling a birth...i figure the baby will come when it's ready. She said the schedule fills up early and that's why she asked so if I went past my due date, it would be at least a week before they could schedule an induction...hmm, remembering how miserable that can be, I opted to schedule - for a date after my due date though I don't think (knock on wood) it will come to that.
Other than that, everything is going well and we'll be kicking it into high gear with visits every 2 weeks, then every week.

Now we're off to Texas...Merry Christmas!!!

Painting

This afternoon I finally figured out how to start my cleaning cycle on my oven! This is exciting because I've been baking & smoking up the house because of the plastic residue left from the whole cake fiasco :0

But I wasn't prepared for the fumes and had to open a window in 20 degree weather, brrr! The kids begged me to close it but I couldn't so to take their minds off it all & poor Ben's upset tummy....

We painted.

My mom gave us these little wooden ornaments a while back - funny she always has stuff like that just lying around. It worked -good distraction & creative activity!
Turns out the only wood paint I have is all pastels - lol!
They loved it anyway.

Can you guess whom painted which one???

My Christmas Present

Okay, you're probably thinking...you already got your present??

But if you know my husband, he's not good at surprises...so today he tells me "We've gotta go to the mall." Are you kidding? We found out he's not getting off work Tuesday or Wednesday like we originally thought so he informed me that doesn't leave him any time to shop for my present.

Oh, for me?? By all means...let's go to the mall!

We get there & split. He leaves his phone at home - not good because he's probably gonna need back up. He's already informed me "I have no idea what to get you...no plan at all."

Now we've been together 16 years so I'm used to this and try to not be hurt but I gotta admit every year I'm a little amazed at his cluelessness.

We meet back up - he's empty handed so I take pity ...I say "okay, we can go to the Coach counter at Dillard's - they are having a sale. If I don't see anything there then I'll check the outlet when we go home (to Texas)."

His response "now we're on the same wave length"...he also informs me he didn't see any Coach at Dillards. See why I pity him?

We're browsing the case & he tells me he wanted to get something big enough to double as a diaper bag (I guess this proves he did have a clue?) I inform him those bags cost too much.

The sales lady informs us she has 1 diaper bag and it's 50% off!

Here it is...

Merry Christmas to me!
And that's how I got a designer diaper bag for my third baby and now I get to throw out the old stinky one I have from Old Navy : )

First presents

The kids got a package today from Nece and we had to go to the post office to pick it up...on the way home, they excitedly discussed what they thought it might be since it jingled when they shook the box.

They decided it must be bunnies, one for each of them - LOL!

They tore open the wrap right away (which Brinley informed me she was good at) and.... They had each gotten a Lenox Sleigh Bell ornament!


Looks like they might have to wait for Easter for the bunnies : )
Just kidding Nece - don't get any ideas!

Ben's party

It must have been all the sugar because my kids were only giving silly faces.

Brinley eating (her 2nd, 3rd?) cake pop and making herself at home like she always does at Ben's school.

Me: "Ben, smile"

Him: "okay, mama - I'll wink at you" ;)

The pops were a hit because what kid wouldn't like an edible Rudolph? And, I'm not sure if I'm breaking a rule by bringing homemade food?? probably because I was the only mom who did :0

But the best part was Ben pointing them out to another kid & proudly saying "See? I told you!". That's why I made them : )

Rudolph Cake Pops!

Another idea snagged from Bakerella...and my recent labor of love, since they are for Ben's Christmas party (or maybe just because I'm crazy because I told the room mom I was bringing crackers - lol!)

Well, I still am but since they've been doing deer/reindeer this week, I felt compelled to make them ; )

My husband, the romantic

He actually told me this morning...
"You're not fat, you're protuberous".

Actually the word is protuberant (had to look it up) but thanks anyway...I think : )

Christmas Sing-along

Ben's class had a "Christmas Sing-along" yesterday.

There he is...as Dancer : )

And he (happily?) filled in for someone else and rang the jingle bells...

I was so proud!

Until this...

I tried my best to send him mental messages and refrain from yelling across the room "STOP picking your nose!"

He obviously didn't get my messages.
I just hope the other parents were too busy watching their kids to notice it.

Finally, a smile...

When his teacher announced kids could leave (early) with their parents, haha.

And he knew there were cookies outside the door! Check out Brinley...IN A COAT! I won - well, kinda since I still couldn't get her to wear her cute gymboree sweater vest but she also had on socks & shoes - which she took off as soon as she got in the car.

Oh..my..gosh!

This is what I was repeating when I opened the oven (that I had been preheating) to put in my homemade enchiladas and discovered that what that funny smell was... My cake holder melting with my Walnut Spice cake inside!

I often put goodies in the microwave, cabinets, oven to hide them from the kids (mainly Brinley) and I had totally forgotten about my cake!

So, because I can, I'll blame this on my tired "baby brain".

As if that weren't bad enough, I soon had a fire in my oven while the icing/plastic goo finished burning.

When I took the cake out (and the oven rack it was melted to) Ben asked "are we still going to eat that?"
"NOOO" I laughed, silly boy...but then since I had to pry it open because a perfectly good knife was inside & I was not going to throw that away, I thought "wonder what it tastes like now that the icing is totally melted"....so I tasted some. And it was delicious! Better! because it was drying out but that melted cream cheese icing made it moist & yummy!
So I took out some cake and saved it and the enchiladas were good too ;)

Gingerbread House

We spent Sunday evening (as the big cold front came in) decorating our gingerbread house. The kids have been looking forward to this a couple of weeks.

Brinley - sneaking a gumdrop, of course.
I decorated the front and gave them each a side of the roof to call their own.

Brin went right to work, using the peppermints up right away!

Ben worked diligently on using all the red "balls".

Daddy & Brinley played

Ben concentrating...

And, Daddy concentrating...

Although I'm not sure on what - we gave him the back and he randomly placed a few candies and a broken candy cane on it. Seriously! And I had a whole pack of perfectly good ones!

Our family gingerbread house...

Very hodge podge but colorful & fun!