learning at the bell

yesterday i went to the bell museum with ben.

of course it's fun simply because i am with ben
and
i love seeing him interact with his friends ...

BUT ...
i also enjoy going to the bell museum on field trips because it is interesting.
although this was my 3rd time -
i still walked away knowing more than i did before.

i learned that male AND female caribou grow antlers
i learned that turtles burrow into the mud and often freeze solid in the winter
i learned that the birds really do drop turtles from high up on to rocks below like CSI said
(yes i asked about this one ... they did not offer this up to the group of kindergarteners)
AND
i learned that ben thinks that geese and swans fly to africa for the winter

we're getting there.
at least he chose someplace warm and didn't answer 'st. cloud' like one of the other kids ;)

aww nuts ...

just in case you have an extra nut cup lying around ...

at our house they double as a skateboard ...

or at least alex thinks so ;)

not just another friday ...

on this friday ...
ben lost his FIRST TOOTH!!!



we met up with our friends sonya and quinn.
sonya should know that no lunch is normal when out with my kids -
but ... she hasn't learned :)
SO .. we went to chili's.
while we were there, ben got up to use the bathroom and came back with a bloody mouth.
it took a few seconds - and then i realized ...
HE LOST HIS FIRST TOOTH!
i asked the manager for an envelope so i didn't lose it,
and the manager came back with an envelope ...
AND a gift certificate for ben!
he was pretty pumped!

after lunch we went to the park
and let the kids play ...
it was a beautiful day ...
and it felt SO good to be outside.

too bad now that the weekend officially is here -
it's cold and rainy.

i love minnesota.
*sigh*

words i hope i hear more often ...

ben:
'mom tomorrow when chewy poops can i be the one to pick it up?'

doing their part

to really know us there are 2 things that must be known -

a. our kids wake up WAY too early

b. we don't :)

from an early age drew and ben learned that they stay in their rooms until a certain time - then at that point they can come out quietly - watch tv - get breakfast - whatever they'd like -

as long as they only bother us if it's an emergency :)

(alex is still learning this - and is failing miserably)

ANYWAY ...

drew and ben have always gotten alex breakfast. it's never been an issue. alex is easy to please.

SO ...

i just found out that for the past few weeks drew and ben have been on a rotation.

a rotation that they placed themselves on.

they rotate weeks when it comes to getting alex breakfast.

this week is drew's week - so he gets alex breakfast.

last week was ben's week - so he was in charge of getting alex breakfast.

HA!

yes, i realize i run the risk of making myself look extremely lazy here.

but ... really ...

could they be any more efficient?!

our first day

our first 24 hours went really well!

i was worried about last night -
we put him to bed when we went to bed ... he cried for a short time ...
but he must've known that we let our babies cry it out -
and he didn't last too long ;)
we didn't hear him again until morning when the boys woke him up.
during the night he peed one time -
but he has been trained to use puppy pads
(basically like one of those little blue waterproof hospital pads)
so he went on there.
i can TOTALLY handle easy cleanup that doesn't permanantly affect my house :)

he's been a champ at eating -
and seems to be doing well at learning to go outside.
the problem - his legs are so short that we have NO idea when he is squatting to pee :) HA

we got him a little bed and he has already loves it - which is GREAT.
the boys move it in by them when they want to watch a show and he just lays and watches with them.
we put it over by us at dinner tonight - placed him on it and he stayed on it the entire time - just watching us!

the one exhausing thing is that one of us feels like we need to be watching him every waking minute that we are home -
he's too small to go up the stairs :) so he's limited in the places he can go :) and that's a good thing.
and eventually he'll get things figured out and we'll feel more comfortable.
but until then ...
we'll all sleep well ...
and i'll keep hoping that our next 24 hours run as smooth.
with the boys back at school tomorrow i have a feeling we are going to have one very lonely puppy :(

you just have to laugh ...

while on the way home yesterday drew stabbed a straw into the back of his throat ...

he was pretty uncomfortable last night so i put in a call to the doctor.

well ... it just so happened that RIGHT when the doctor called

was one of THOSE moments ...

drew started crying because he wanted to eat but couldn't ...

ben was WAY over stimulated at even the thought of having his own puppy ...

so he was running around with chewy chasing him ...

stacey was busy following the 2 of them to make sure chewy didn't have an accident in the house ...

and alex is apparently the one he should have been following all along

because alex, who NEVER has accidents, stood and did EXACTLY what we were afraid the dog was going to do!

it truly was one of THOSE moments ...

one of those moments where

a. you wish you were a fly on my wall

and

b. stacey and i look at each other, laugh, and praise God that bedtime is only 10 minutes away.

the puppy adventure

this morning we packed up the boys with a surprise destination in mind ...
we didn't tell them why, just told them we were going for a drive ...
after about 3 hours drew finally started to question what we were doing ...
his words exactly ... something like 'i don't know why we are driving this far ... but it better be good.' HA!

thankfully it was only minutes later that we pulled into the place we were meeting our puppy.
the lady put the 2 puppies that we were taking into our car -
(my mom took the sister to our puppy, the black one, so we were picking her up too)
and THEN the boys started to figure it all out :)



NOW ... our boys ride for 3 hours quite often -
HOWEVER ...
i'm pretty sure this was the longest 3 hour drive EVER for them.
it's hard to stay buckled and let your new puppy rest!! :)
-----------------------------
before getting home we stopped at a park to hand off my mom's puppy
it was our first chance to see them really run and play
what a riot!
they are SO little - but packed with these short bursts of energy.
we played for a while ...



and then it was time for the puppies to say goodbye
which was sad :(
the boys still randomly ask our puppy if he is missing his sister :(

after 8 hours in the car ...
our kids were running out of things to do ...



and we were ready to get on with life as our new family of 6 :)

welcome to our house little chewbacca - a.k.a. chewy ;)

a little delegation

it's been 2 weeks and things are going really well.

SO... i can now say.

it's official.
alex loves underwear.
and alex is done with diapers.

just in time for baseball season.
as of today i am assigning stacey to be officially on port-a-potty duty.
yuck.

happy easter

*as you can see the highlight of the easter baskets was the water squirters -
seriously - worth every penny *

there is such thing as too much sugar ...

this morning i walked in to see ben drinking syrup straight out of the bottle.

now ... i love sugar
and i LOVE everything sweet.

but ... syrup?? straight from the bottle??? really ???

happy birthday ben!!

6 years old ...

AND in kindergarten!
WOW ...

you are so much fun, ben.
i look back over the past 6 years and can't imagine what our lives would have been without you.

you are SO full of energy.
you are willing to try new things.
you are crazy and wild-
YET ...
you are loving.
you are sensitive.
and there isn't a day that goes by that you don't make me smile in some way.

i love SO much about you ...

i love the way that you admire drew
and how you try to be the same kind of big brother to alex.

i love how you randomly compliment me on everything from how i look to how i smell.

i love how passionate you are -you can go so strong
but then on the flipside you can crash in an instant.
everything is all or nothing with you.

i love how you love to learn.
you have really gotten into the 'kindergarten groove' and are so excited about the different things you are learning.
you are a great reader and you rock at math.
i am so proud of you.
i love the person that you are
and
i love the craziness and laughs that you bring to our family -
well ... most of the time :)

i hope your birthday was fun ...
and i want you to know how special you are
and that my life wouldn't be the same without you.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY BENNY! :)

celebrating our 90 yr old troublemaker

the party on sunday for my grandma went REALLY well!

there was a really good turn out ...
AND
our whole family was together
(the man in the top left corner is my grandpa's brother - the one of 4 that is still alive)

there was a chocolate fountain ...
(seriously ... can any party with a chocolate fountain not be incredible?!)

there was a table with a lot of memories that were fun to look at ...
(and take pictures of ... ha ha)



we ate a TON of good food ...

saw people we haven't seen in a long time ...

and had fun with my grandma.

so i would say it was a definite success.
NICE PARTY, MOM!

**********
as a side note --
have i mentioned how rowdy 90 year olds are?!

trying to get a picture of my grandma smiling always took a few shots.
she would wave at me ...
make funny faces ...
(i can't tell you how many pictures i have where she is sticking her tongue out at me)
and just plain ignore me. ON PURPOSE!

then ... i tried to get my great aunt in on a picture (she's the lady in the purple)
first they looked at each other ... said 'she wants a picture' and laughed.
then my great aunt grabbed the bunny balloon and it just went downhill from there.
i have to mention that i heard these same 2 flashed one of my cousins at the nursing home the other day as well!!

it was at this point that i gave up any hope that i had for a picture with my grandma and 3 great aunts - i couldn't even control 2 of them!
(my grandpa had 3 brothers and and all 4 wives are still alive)
the best i could get was the pic in the bottom left corner and you can't even see them all ;)

i tell ya ... i thought 2 yr olds were tough ;)

cousin fun

we went to WI this weekend for my grandma's birthday party.

that meant lots of cousin time with aiden.
thankfully it was a BEAUTIFUL day on saturday and we were able to get outside and play - A LOT!

90 years!!!

today my grandma turned 90!
that is so crazy to me!

90 YEARS!

over the past few years her ability to do a lot of things has diminished.
it's hard for her to see, it's hard for her to move, and it's hard for her to hear.
it hasn't been fun to see ...
but it has sure made me thankful.
thankful that when i see her ... i can look past her aging body and see so much more ...

i see the lady who made the raggedy ann and andy dolls

i think back to going over to her house for great homemade dinners-
i can still picture both of the houses they lived in!

i think back on the MANY containers of cookies and goodies that she made SO frequently-
especially at christmas

i look back and think of the love that she had for my grandpa -
and the funny ways that they expressed it.
i can still picture him joking with her.

i think about having to experience the sadness of losing my grandpa with her :(
it wasn't fun - yet to share that raw emotion is actually something i can look back at and am extremely thankful for.

i think about how excited i was when drew was born. that one of my grandparents was actually going to get to meet him ...
and how extra special it is that she has gotten to know ben and alex as well ...

on the flipside, each time i see her i think about how incredibly special it is that my kids have gotten the chance to get to know her.

my grandma is an amazing lady.
i'm pretty sure she won't be reading my blog ...
BUT ...
i didn't want that to stop me ...
i want everyone ... mostly my kids ...
to know how special she is to me and how special it is that we can celebrate her birthday today.
HAPPY 90TH BIRTHDAY GRANDMA!

APRIL FOOLS!

so far today ...

*the boys woke up to tape across their doors

*everyone woke up to find clothes other than their own in their closet

*i woke up to a spider taped on my door

and

*our bedroom door handles were taped together (from the outside)

there's a little bit of mischief going on around here ...

NOW ...

i'm just waiting for them to rubber band the faucet.

a little b-ball fun

using our tickets that cost us a whole 81 cents ...
drew, alex, and i went to the timberwolves game last night.

it wasn't very busy - or exciting -
it is the timberwolves afterall
BUT ...
that didn't stop either of them ...
both boys got VERY into the howling.
and they yelled 'GO WOLVES' pretty much all night long :)
for a while i was feeling a little sorry for the guys sitting in front of them :)
alex obviously had NO idea what he was cheering for - so he yelled even during the halftime show :)
BUT ... he made it through the entire game - and liked it ...
and i never expected that.
so i can't complain.
it was a fun night out on the town with 2 of my favorite boys :)