Birthday Party for Daddy

Benjamin decided to throw his own birthday party for daddy. In his words, "I took what I wanted from the fridge to make snacks for daddy's party." He set this all up in our bedroom with our round table. (He claims it as his while I am washing the tablecloth). He was just so proud of himself for giving daddy a birthday party. You have to love the smile, don't you?

Birthday Cake

We made Daddy a Yo, Gabba Gabba Cake for his birthday (Benjamin & Ada's idea). I think it looks pretty good. Benjamin told Dave, "wow, I get to take a Yo, Gabba Gabba cake to Dani's house to share with all my friends" and then in his next breath he said, "when are we going to eat the cake?". Between you and me, I think Benjamin just wanted to eat cake!

Dave and Benjamin learned about Yo, Gabba Gabba from our nephew Ethan (my kiddo's cousin). We don't get cable and we bearly get PBS so we would never have stumbled upon this crazy character. We have watched an episode or two on nickjr.com. My kids are big into animals and dinosaurs so they immediately liked this character (not that they watch the videos) but they like playing with the characters that I printed and cut out. They make up their own stories and games with them.

Happy 30th Birthday, Honey!!

Today is Dave's 30th Birthday! I was trying to find the perfect way to wish him "Happy Birthday" and I thought a little blog embarrassment would work perfectly! He would prefer that I say he is celebrating his 1st anniversary of turning 29 but saying 30 is more fun!

He had plans to go gambling and just have a relaxing day today but the nasty weather foiled his plans for the second year in a row. Poor guy!

Dave never wants anything and never asks for anything for his birthday, anniversary, father's day or even Christmas so we had to get him something. For Dave's birthday/Valentine's Day we got him a Wii. He has loved that thing and has wanted it since the first time he played with it. Unfortunately, the game he really wants is "Mario Kart" but this poor wife could not find it for him. So he is getting the racing wheel with a promise to get "Mario Kart" some time in the near future.

Happy Birthday, Honey (I mean Daddy, I mean Dave, etc)! We love you very much!! We hope you enjoy your birthday!!

Coloring, coloring, coloring

Benjamin loves doing art projects. He enjoys drawing, coloring, and painting. Ada loves doing whatever Benjamin does. She also enjoys coloring. When I got home from work today Benjamin and Ada had to show me the pictures that they made and had daddy hang up. They had pictures in our (Dave & mine) bedroom and hanging beside each of their beds. They were so proud of themselves and their pictures. It was so sweet!

Mommy, NO more pictures!

I just can't help myself. These guys and gal are just too cute not to take pictures of!

Little Daredevil

Ada will climb up onto anything if you let her or if you let your guard down for a few moments. Wearing a skirt or a dress does not discourage the climbing either. When you say Ada, it's time for a diaper change, off she goes racing to the changing table, laughing the whole time she is climbing up there. Once she gets up there she is so proud of herself she almost taunts you that she got up there. We love are skirt wearing daredevil but want her to be a little more cautious.

Little Helper

Benjamin loves to help vacuum! Which is a great thing don't get me wrong but I wish he would wear clothes while he does it. Yep, he likes to vacuum after bath while wearing only his night-time underwear. He doesn't even want to wear his pj's. I have no idea why. Does anybody have an idea or reason why? I will just enjoy the help and the black mail later (vacuuming without clothes while only wearing underwear). Some things are just priceless, aren't they?

An Armful!

Benjamin and Ada are growing up so fast! They are becoming an armful when you try and hold both of them together. Our lazy boy recliner used to hold one mommy or one daddy and two kids pretty easily but not any more! It is a tight fit! It's hard to believe that Ada is almost 18 months old and that Benjamin is 3 years old. Time sure does fly by!!

Making Music

When Benjamin was younger he got a xylophone from his uncle Colin. He has always enjoyed playing with it and Ada is o exception! Ada enjoys playing with her guitar that she got from her cousins for Christmas. These two enjoy making music together and singing along (although, their words don't always match). These two are little hams! It is so fun watching them because they feed off each other and just keep things right on rolling. Here they are showing off their muscial skills!

Girly Socks!!

When the kids and I went shopping the other weekend, Ada fell in love with this lady bug ribbon. Good timing! Not only was it on sale but I was planning on buying some ribbon for a project that I wanted to do. I wanted to make Ada some girly ribbon socks. So I took some regular plain jane bobbe socks (that Ada had) and sewed some ribbon to them. They turned out so cute! Ada loves them and enjoys showing them off. Benjamin enjoys telling people that I made the socks. Okay, I didn't make the socks, I just embellished them. They turned out pretty cute, don't you think? I plan on making her some more and sticking them in her Easter basket.

See, I do have some hair!

Snuggling with Daddy...

Ada insists on bringing every blanket (blankee), stuffed animal, and dolly that she can find with her each morning when she gets up. Dave tries so desperately to catch a few extra zzzzz's that he will let her bring them all into our bed so she will be comfortable and have something to play with while he relaxes with her. What's amazing to me is that he can usually get her to lay down beside him for a couple of minutes--but trust me it doesn't last long! Don't they look so cute together?

Playing dress-up!

Benjamin and Ada love playing dress-up. They decided to bust out their Halloween costumes and have some fun. Benjamin enjoyed scaring Ada. At first, Ada didn't know what to think about Benjamin wearing his costume but it didn't take long for her to warm up to the "new" Benjamin. The scary crocodile enjoyed eating the cute little horsey! These two sure have fun together!!

She's definitely a girly girl!!

Ada got the royal treatment from Auntie Carrie! Auntie Carrie was able to clip Ada's fingernails and toenails (she actually sat there and let her clip them--yep, all 20 digits). Ada then sat still enough to get her fingernails and her toenails painted with pretty pink nail polish. After her fingers were painted she had to show everyone her nails. It was too cute. She would hold up her little hands to show off her pretty nails. Whenever some polish would rub off (enough for Ada to notice) she would want me to repaint her fingernails. I can't get over how old she looks with her fingernails painted! My baby girl is growing up way too fast!! Sniff, sniff.

Our Kitchen Shelf Project

Since I (we) failed to take before shots of our kitchen shelf project I thought I would share a few pics of the after shots of our work. Doesn't it look great? I intend to put daisies/flowers in the watering cans that are currently empty. What was even better about this project was it was very low cost. I already had most of the stuff except the paint, gardening fork, and decorated jar. It all just came together. I am amazed at how much this adds to my kitchen! Thanks Carrie for all your help!! I greatly appreciate it!!

Weekend Visitors

Auntie Carrie and Uncle Matt and Bear (their puppy) came to visit this weekend. Both Benjamin and Ada had a great time with them (we did too)! Ada has always been a momma's girl but not this weekend! She went right over to Auntie Carrie and Uncle Matt right away. She enjoyed reading books, taking the puppy for a walk, relaxing/wrestling with Uncle Matt, and just hanging out and being near her aunt and uncle. Benjamin enjoyed showing his aunt and uncle his cute little underwear, how to write a "B for Benjamin", play playdoh, memory match, and showing off his puzzle skills.

Carrie and I got to go into to Sioux Falls and do a little shopping (just the two of us). It was great!! I had a good time. Now if only the traffic and people wouldn't be so crazy in Sioux Falls it would have been a great morning! We found some good deals. While out, Carrie and I picked up a can of paint for a kitchen project. Dave had the most confused okay, maybe concerned look that I had ever seen. He shouldn't complain as he didn't have to do any of the work! Carrie did all the taping and all the painting (I tried my hand at it but was NO good). Carrie had to do a lot of fixing of my mistakes to make it look great. It turned out wonderful!! We (err, Carrie) painted the shelf area in my kitchen green. We then pulled out all of my garden type decor and gave my kitchen a make over. There are a couple of other things I would like to do it the kitchen but for now I am HAPPY! Too bad we didn't do a before and after photo. We also tried a couple of new recipes this weekend. We found an awesome recipe for homemade rolls. You can even make up the dough and shape the rolls/buns and then freeze them to bake them at a later time. But Dave can't understand why anyone would want to make their own buns when you can just buy them!