baby ben's balloon birthday bash

we had a simple birthday party for ben last week.

the theme was, of course, balloons. it was nice and simple and he was delighted.

simple sack lunch with my most favorite napkins from Target.

happy times with his little cousin

exciiiiited for cake

piñata time...will though it was HILARIOUS to hit the pinata with a zucchini

            
sweet times with family (we SO missed not having all the aunties and uncles and cousins who moved this summer. although we did get to facetime with auntie bethany, which was a bit of a consolation)
         
               

we love you so much benny. happy birthday sweet boy!
here's to another year full of kisses from mama

baby ben is 2

so baby ben turned 2 this weekend. i really can't bear to think he's a big boy yet, so he'll keep his title until further notice. at least in my book.

a few things about our benny boy:

- he is still a little guy of very few words. his repertoire includes:  MOM/ mommy, dada, wow, owie, bayoon(balloon), hi, bye-bye, yeehaw, pease (please), no, do (dog), and peepee and poopoo {ya know, only the important stuff}
along with a myriad of sounds: lots of "uh!", beeps, various animal noises, and tons of giggles

- the above does not in any way hinder him from communicating exactly what he wants around here.
he's deservedly been dubbed bossy ben- using lots of grunts, pulls, and pushes to get people moving. plus all he really has to do is look at anyone with one of his cute, dimpled little facial expressions and he's good to go.

- his favorite book is "goodnight moon". we have to keep it on a special shelf in his room, read it before   nap and bedtime every day and then afterwards say good night and pat about 10 different objects in his room. this tradition must not be broken. the repercussions are intense.

- balloons are his dearest objects of affection, second only to his beloved blankie.

- balloons also bring out the very worst in him...i'm thinking idol maybe? ;)

- he loves to watch and mirror his brother and sisters like crazy

- his favorite foods are bananas and chocolate, in any form

- he loves to climb...tables, counters, dressers, cribs...which means he has also had his fair share of falls already.

- a few of his nicknames include: benny boy, benster, benny boo and chubby bubby (used almost exclusively as a nighttime salutation by madeline and sophie)

- he loves, loves, loves to color on himself with a marker. mostly just on his hands, but sometimes it reaches his mouth.

-he loves to be tickled, especially by daddy who can almost always get a real good belly laugh out of him

- he also loves to carry around water balloons filled w/ just a little water and he HAS to have a smiley face drawn on them. (handyandy would very much like this routine to phase out...something about the hazards of carrying around a balloon filled with water inside the house??...)

- he loves following his brother and sisters everywhere...especially into the lego room, into their forts, on their bikes, and in their rooms. and always while sporting an impish grin that gives away the fact that he is fully aware that he is driving them a tad CRAZY.

-he loves to swipe dollies, nail polish,lego guys, other people's snacks, silly bands and everyone else's' markers and hide them in his back pack.

- he doesn't sleep the best. we still have a crib tent over his crib to keep him in bed and are most definitely delaying the inevitable training that needs to occur once we take the tent off...

- he just started being interested in watching cartoons with the other kids. yay for a 20 min. of containment!

- he loves that his daddy flies airplanes. every time this is mentioned he giggles and points with an "eh!" to the sky.

- he still loves mommy...(maybe the best)
he'll still snuggle with me after he wakes up and will give me air kisses if i ask {especially if he's trying to get something} and he doesn't mind {too much} when i snatch him up multiple times a day to squish and cover him with kisses.

happy birthday {big} baby ben!

overwhelmed maybe...a little vent

sometimes everyday life can feel a bit overwhelming...every so often the reality of the responsibility of it all hits me, takes my breath away for a second and i get a little panicky.  

 i mean yikes! four kids! four individual souls that have needs, issues and personalities...and i'm responsible.

 holy moly! how did we get here??

plus there's a house to keep clean,

a marriage to invest in,

meals to cook

school to teach, 

laundry to tame,

friendships and family to nurture

not to mention my own heart to keep in check...ahhhh!

goodness gracious. i know its not really a lot, it just feels that way now and then...

and i know life really is sweet. in sooo many ways. and i know its up to me to see jesus in the midst of the crazy, and to believe that he is there to offer grace and JOY in the moment. i just have to do it.

so, thank you instagram for making it so easy to capture the sweet moments sprinkled throughout the overwhelming and chaotic that would be lost otherwise. 

and thank you jesus for giving me this life and these little munchkins to raise. i am grateful.

vent over. thank you for listening.

12 Months of Date Nights

first of all, andrew's beautiful little sister got married last week. the wedding was dreamy and lots of fun. today they drive to their new home in oklahoma...tears...

but anyway, before they left we were able give lots of hugs, say goodbye and send them off with some gifts.

when handyandy and i were married some friends gave us a big box with 12 little gifts.  it was so thoughtful and so much fun to have something to open on each month anniversary our first year.

so, we decided to do something similar and do a date night themed box. it took a good bit of brainstorming to think of 12 but here they all are in case you'd like to do something like it. 

** Bethany, if you happen to be reading...STOP ;)

{after i took pictures, i wrapped each gift up in tissue paper, wrote a little hint/description on the tags and then packed them in a big plastic storage bin} if you click on the picture it should enlarge it a bit.

1) something bubbly and holographic heart glasses like these 3) apple cider and pumpkin carving tools from Hobby Lobby

3) white ceramic mugs from Target, pen and instructions printed out 2) marshmallows and cocoa packets

4) Jenga  5) pack of 2 moleskine journals and Starbucks gift card  6) Skittles box and conversation starters- see below  7) pink football from Target and Root Beer

Conversation Starters 

* What is one significant memory or association that includes snow?

*What does your ideal birthday look like? (from beginning to end)

* What is your earliest memory from childhood?

* What are 2 things that happened this week and how did you feel about them?

* fill in blank: I like it best when you refer to me as_____________.

9) microwave popcorn and $1 bill 10) Coldstone gift card 11) trail mix and root beer 12) gift card to Noodles

the thought of having the time/freedom to go on all these dates kinda blows my mind. handy andy and i totally didn't take advantage of all the fun we could have had before our sweet kiddos entered the picture....ohhh well, that's what retirement is for...hahaha. just kidding. i think. ;) 

if you have any ideas for fun/cheap dates, leave them in the comment section. 

now go have yourselves some FUN!

Birthday MUD PARTY

will turned 7 this month. after the blast we had at our little mud party earlier this summer, he decided to carry the theme over for his birthday. see invites here we had so. much. fun. it was seriously the best time ever. there's just something about seeing kids splashing, and rolling in mud that makes you feel all is well in the world. anyway, i've had several people ask me, what one exactly does at a mud party in the city so i thought i'd give you a little picture outline. :) enjoy the mess!

our mud pit isn't extremely large. half of this area in our yard grows our squash and pumpkins, so handyandy just laid a huge beam in front of the veggies to create a boundary line. then he dug a couple pits on either side and filled them up with water, to get the mud a cookin.

we told the boys to wear old clothes so they could get as dirty as they wished. they built reservoirs, canals, floods and then when it was almost time to hose off, the bucket dumping began. it was the best part for sure.

Happy 7th Birthday! we love you will!!

then we ate pizza, had dirt dessert and then let the boys have a clean water fight with water balloons and sprinklers until their parents came. super easy, lots of fun.

and a great big shout out goes to handy andy for embracing and loving such a crazy messy party even though the neat and tidy OCD part of his personality was freaking out a little bit. good work, babe! you made the day super fun!

mud party invites

today is the MUD PARTY! thought you might like to see the invite Will and i made last week.

will artistically smeared the invites with mud. awesome effect, i'd say.


we're all pretty excited around here. even my {slightly OCD} handy andy is letting go of inhibitions and embracing the mess. i'll post pictures soon. :)
have a happy friday!

birthday buddies

7 years ago i got the best birthday present ever- a little baby boy! And it was a gift that keeps giving- this year i asked for a 7 year old with blonde hair, who loves ninjas, climbs trees and plays with legos....and i got it!

Love this little guy so much and we're both super excited for "our" mud party next weekend.

race car hoodie gift

one of our favorite little buddies turned 3 this week and we had the privilege of going to his adorable race car themed party- complete with sugar cookie race cars and tracks and absolutely fabulous chocolate cake.

 for his gift i embellished this little cotton hoodie from target. really easy, not super fancy but still fun.
just felt and buttons. oh, and handy andy would be bummed if i didn't acknowledge that it was his idea to make the track continue through both pockets. {you're so crafty handy andy}

put in some hot wheel cars and we were good to go. ;)

speaking of embellishing hoodies, i just saw these adorable ones sold on etsy. her shop is super cute.
happy monday everyone!

a mud party...

 the thought came to me spontaneously as i was writing out our summer list this year. i wasn't really sure how, when or where we would do this, or if i reeeeally wanted the mess, but it just felt like the right thing to do so i wrote it up there anyway. :)

and then one afternoon it just happened. out came the hose and puddles formed, sticks started mixing the gooey goodness, toes got splashed and i realized that today was the day! off came shirts and madeline's fancy dress and in they went.

squishing fingers and toes in the fabulous mud...

smiling and splashing...

building canals, dams, bridges and pools...

 throwing out inhibitions...

and looking more and more like amazonian natives...

 then ben woke up from his nap!

oh joy! oh bliss! he could hardly contain himself! his little baby dreams were coming true!

it was a great, great day! we recommend everyone having a mud party of their own...in fact there's talk over here about a birthday mud party for a certain soon-to-be 7 year old. so, so fun.