Ben's 6th Birthday Bash

Disclaimer on the following photos.... I literally laughed out loud while trying to pick these because clearly we are unable to get a photo of all 6 of us where everyone is looking the same way, smiling, eyes open, etc., etc., etc. Now, onto the topic at hand. Ben's birthday party was lego themed. We had a lego cake baked by a dear friend of ours (who did a SUPERB job on it), we decorated in vibrant lego colors of red, yellow, blue, we had the birthday boy's favorite food of hotdogs and cheetos, placed a few lego creations on the tables, and voila - lego birthday party.

All 6 of us....

Just us and the birthday boy...

This is what Ben received from us...toy box and organizers for his legos...

(this was as much a gift for my sanity as anything. Ben needs some major HELP in the organization of his room/toys/belongings department. It's never too early to start, people. Trust me, I have seen a middle schooler's locker before. It's not pretty.)

Here's the birthday boy blowing out his candles! How cool is this cake?

Anybody wanna take a guess on what the little circles on top are made of? Anybody? Anybody?

Ben opening up just one of his many,many presents. He really made us proud this year....as he opened each present, he would take all the wrapping paper, throw it away, then he would look at the present itself more closely and allow the rest of us to look at it as well. It has taken years of practice to teach this skill...ahhh, be still the heart of overly anal neat freaks like Craig and I.

Ben got all kinds of cool building stuff, transformers, art supplies, and a remote control helicopter. Very lucrative birthday indeed. He has played with his stuff every single day since his birthday. Literally.Every.Day. I hear the hum of the helicopter, the clinks and crashes of the lego blocks falling on the floor, and my fridge is almost completely covered with his artwork. And, did I forget to mention the two Wal-mart gift cards that are still waiting to be spent??? I know he hasn't forgotten because I get asked frequently about when we are going to Wal-mart to spend his "credit cards" as he likes to call them.



(Check out the little green necklace around Ben's neck. It was the cutest party favor EVER! I found these little lego necklaces on ETSY and ordered one for each of the kids at the party. Am I the coolest or what??? Ok, so maybe I'm not that cool but I thought they were kinda cute and fun!)

Lolly

Poopin' and Prayin'

Here's a funny for you... (and possibly a bit TMI...that's your only warning)

Tonight, after successfully pooping in the potty for the SECOND day in a row, Cora ran to find Craig to let him know of her accomplishment. (And, let me say this is no small accomplishment ... we've been working on this for a while now and have had many ups and many, many, many downs...if fact, if we have a few more successful days, we are headed to Build-a-Bear to build a bunny AND we will even buy an outfit for the bunny. Keeping my fingers crossed that we will be headed to North Point Mall in the near future!)

So, she runs into our bedroom, finds him in his closet on his hands and knees, praying. She doesn't hesitate when she flings open the closet door, exclaims, "Daddy,daddy, I pooped in the potty. I am so proud! It was so easy!!!" Then she turns to exit the closet, but then hesitates before closing the door to say" What'cha looking for down there anyway, Daddy?" Before he can answer, she closes the closet door and leaves.

Priceless, I tell ya, priceless.

Lolly

Top Ten Reasons I love Fall

In no particular order, here are a few reasons I find this time of year to be delightful...

10. It's not too hot.

9. It's not too cold.

8. I love the fall colors of orange, yellow, brown, red, etc.

7. I love seeing the kids dressed up for Halloween (nothing too gory, thankyouverymuch!)

6. Visiting Pumpkin Patches.

5. Dahlonega Gold Rush and other fall festivals.

4. Seeing Ada in her footed pj's.

3. Perfect camping weather.

2. Not getting hot and sweaty while getting dressed in the morning.

1. Not getting even hotter and sweatier when going outside.

There is really only one downside to this season as far as I am concerned...allergies. They are KILLING me this time of year. But, I will suffer through and be glad that fall seems to finally be here or at least it's on its way. I can't take these 90+ degree days anymore. Bring on the jeans and sweaters. And, of course, the adorably cute footed pajamas/outfit-thingies.

Happy Birthday Ben!

Sweet, baby Ben turned SIX today! Where, oh where, did the time go? Baby Ben isn't a baby anymore.

More on Ben's fun birthday festivities as well as our weekend camping excursion coming up. For now, I am going to kiss the birthday boy one more kiss goodnight and get ready for another activity filled day tomorrow.

Happy 6th Birthday to Ben! (who will always be my sweet baby Ben no matter how old he is!)

Lolly

Oops...she did it again...

Seriously, the tooth fairy must get really tired at bedtime because once again she forgot to visit until this morning.

That's right folks, Tate lost yet another tooth. That makes number 4.

He has lost his four front middle teeth (two on top, two on bottom). You can see his two permanent bottom teeth coming in right now. It's too cute!

This last tooth was slightly loose until Tate's last ballgame on Thursday night when it became extremely loose after Tate slid into 2nd base and his face had a run in with the second baseman's cleats. Ouch!

The tooth hung in there until sometime early Saturday morning when Tate woke up and found it under his tongue. At least he didn't swallow another one!

I love my little toothless Tate!

Lolly

Toothless Tate

Recently, Tate lost his 3rd tooth. Literally, he LOST it. The night before it came out, his front tooth was extremely loose but he didn't want to pull it. And, he didn't want us to pull it either. Not that I was volunteering to do the job. Pulling teeth is MOST DEFINITELY not my job. It truly freaks me out. Truly.

So, the next day, he went to school, was eating lunch, and his tooth came out. But, we have no idea where it went. We think he might have possibly swallowed it. Craig searched the cafeteria floor on hands and knees (which I'm sure was not pretty - think cafeteria floors...yuck!) but could not find it. So, it is lost and will remain a mystery as to where it went.

Tate dutifully placed his tooth underneath his pillow for the tooth fairy and wrote her a little note explaining the missing tooth. Craig knew about the note...I did not. The next morning I got the boys up and ready for school and when Craig made his way to the kitchen, he asked me if the tooth fairy had visited Tate the night before. Ummm.... I think she may have forgotten. So, as any good tooth fairy would do, she slipped into Tate's room, sat beside him on the bed and sneakily slipped the money underneath his pillow. But, she FORGOT the note.

I then asked Tate if the tooth fairy had visited during the night to which he replied, "When I checked at 5:56, she hadn't left anything." So, I said, "Let's check again, just in case she slipped in here while you were getting dressed."

And, wouldn't you know it? That's exactly what she did! Except we were perplexed at her leaving the note. To which I quickly stated that she must have been tired from flying all night and couldn't carry the note because it was too heavy. Which brings me to the question...if she can't carry a teeny, tiny, lightweight piece of paper, how can she carry all the teeth that she picks
up?

Lolly

Is it just me or...

is it possible that we have a red head or at least strawberry blonde little girl in our family?

I really can't wait to see what her hair color ends up being. My guess is blondish with possible red hue and some curl or at least wave to it.

I know she's mine and I am just a wee bit prejudice...but is this the cutest baby or what?

She's such a sweet baby, too. She sleeps most nights completely in her bassinett beside my bed. All night. And, when she does wake, I can typically give her a paci and she settles back down. And, if that doesn't do the trick, I just hold her in bed with me. But, this all usually happens within an hour of our normal "getting up" time of 6:00 so it's not even like it is the middle of the night. She's a good baby. Even when we first brought her home, she only had to be fed once during the night. Once between 1 and 3, then up around 6 or 7. That's the best we've ever had at such a young age. All of this sounds so good, yet, I still feel like I could sleep for days and still not feel rested. I truly don't know how I functioned when we had Tate because he most definitely did not have these good sleeping habits.

Ada Grace is content most of the time. Except when she is in her car seat riding in the car. I would not describe most of her car riding times as "content". Unless she is asleep. Which most of the time in the car, she is not asleep. Mostly she is crying. Wailing, really. Sometimes, it is worse than others. Sometimes she cries so hard that she finally just gives up and falls asleep. Other times, she takes little breaks in the crying to whimper and catch her breath and sniffle. Heartbreaking little sniffles that melt your heart and make you never want to take her in the car seat again until she is at least 30.

Well, maybe not that long. But, you get the idea.

When she is crying, Cora will say, "Ada is not happy. Take her to MawMaw's house and leave her there." Or, Cora will start "wailing" with her because she thinks it's funny. She starts play crying VERY LOUDLY which really doesn't help. AT ALL.

When Ada is actually not crying in the car, Cora will say "Ada is happy. She's being very patient."

Can anyone guess how Cora knows the word "patient"? I say it to her multiple times a day...Cora is learning that patience is a virtue...one that she doesn't have most of the time. She mostly wants things NOW.

Which kind of reminds me of, well, ME. At least the whole wanting things NOW part. Mostly, I think I have patience. But, not always. Just ask my kids or Craig. They have all seen me lose my patience - time and time again.

With that, I think I will end my ramblings.