Ben's Second Halloween

Ben's second Halloween was quite a busy day and he really had so much fun this year. We had two different get-togethers to attend - a daytime Halloween party at his friend Tyler and Samantha's house and then a trick-or-treating outing with a few friends at night. Ben went to bed two hours late tonight and was on his way to the land of nod by the time we closed his bedroom door after such a fun-filled day!

This year he dressed up as a frog. It was a fight to get him to first put the costume on but once he looked in the mirror and realized that he was the one who looked so silly in a froggie outfit, he found the whole dress up thing quite amusing and actually protested when I went to take it off for a few hours while he napped today.

Ben in frog attire at Tyler and Samantha Kriebel's party this morning.

Tyler the fireman and Samantha the ladybug.
Elaina and her mommy Aimee dressed up in doctor scrubs just like her daddy wears.

Two of the other adorable friends of Tyler and Samantha's - Alyssa and Meghan.

At the party we decorated our own pumpkins with markers, stickers, glue and pompoms. Ben was extremely intense making his work of art but when the glue took a little too long to dry for his liking and he realized he could pull the stickers right off, we ended up going home with a naked pumpkin! At least he had a fun time being creative and the paper-covered table at Ben's spot became beautifully decorated with his artwork instead :).

Ben and Elaina being creative with their pumpkins.

Samantha decorating hers with heart stickers.

Tyler and Samantha's daddy Steve has a tractor with a trailer that attaches to it so he gave everyone hay rides around their property. What a hit, all of the kids loved it! Despite Ben's obsession with tractors, he was a bit nervous to go on it at first but he soon sat back and enjoyed the ride.

Froggie and Mommy.

What a surprise that Daddy was able to make an appearance at the party during lunchtime since he works a few miles from the Kriebel's house. Here, Ben is so happy to see his "dada" in the middle of the day.

Later on, the Kriebel and Saunders families came over for dinner and then we all brought the kids trick-or-treating around our development together. There are lots of kids in our development and the houses are close together so it was a good choice for a bunch of under-three-year-olds.

Here, all four kids eagerly await one of our neighbors to answer their doorbell. Tyler and Elaina had the whole trick-or-treating thing down before we set out for the night and it only took Ben and Samantha a few houses giving them candy to realize that this ain't so bad after all! :)

Walking the neighborhood with Daddy.

Ben was really so good about holding his own pumpkin bag for a good part of our night. It was only when it got pretty heavy that we had to relieve him of the task since he kept spilling the contents. Thanks, Nana and Pop, for such an adorable personalized treat bag - it was a big hit today!

After a while, riding on Daddy's shoulders was much more appealing than walking!

Finally, back at the house afterwards all of the kids got to enjoy some of their goodies...lots of sugar for one day but the sweets did enable us to bribe them all to sit together on the couch for a photo!

The girls and Ben after Tyler got bored and decided that playing with trucks was more exciting than having the mommies frantically snap pictures.

Yum, all of Ben's loot. Not bad for his first year trick-or-treating... Happy Halloween!

It's a Boy!

This morning we went for our routine level 2 ultrasound at the hospital and found out that we will be adding another boy to our crew. We're very excited, especially since Ben is so boyish and will probably enjoy having someone to play cars and trucks with. Of course, this leaves me outnumbered by far in our household (even the dog is a male!) but I am excited for another sweet little boy. It must mean that despite my fear of bugs, girly hobbies, and utter lack of coordination in any team sport I ever tried, that God sees me as a boy mom for now!

All day I was telling Ben about his new brother and showing him pictures of brothers in books. He was interested in the ultrasound pictures and kept saying "baby" even though those never really look like a baby (more like something from another planet!).

Here are two photos of the new little guy. He seems like quite a jokester - or flirt or feisty child, whatever you wish to call it - since he was really playing with the doctor performing the exam by showing her what she wanted to see for a second before putting his hand up and turning away quickly. We were all laughing at his playfulness and even the doctor said that he is a very, very active guy already (as my stomach can attest to; I started feeling kicking around 13 weeks this time!).

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Everything appears to be very healthy and progressing wonderfully with the pregnancy. Last time I battled placenta previa - where the placenta covers the cervix - for more than half of the pregnancy (it did end up shifting later on). This time, however, there are no worries at all. I am about 19-1/2 weeks and the baby is around 8-9 inches long at this point and weighs about 10 oz.

We are very excited now to meet our new little guy in March! Oh, and yes, for those of you wondering - we have not yet picked out a name and will be keeping everyone in suspense until after his birth again once we do. We have a few we like but still have to decide.

Monkey Bathroom

Last week we went to Target and I let Ben pick out a new ensemble for his bathroom. It was a difficult choice between fish, ducks, frogs...and monkeys, the winner. We put the shower curtain and rug down together and decorated the vanity with the various accessories and now Ben cannot get enough of his bathroom. He makes monkey sounds and bursts into hysterics whenever we pass by, and all we need to do is ask if he wants to go take a bath or brush his teeth in the "monkey room" and he goes running!

Here he is showing off some of his new decor, right after his bath tonight:

Standing on his step stool getting ready to brush his teeth. He loves to brush his own teeth (and we're working on cooperation when we try to really brush them!). It's especially fun now that he can stand on his stool to see himself in the mirror and run his own toothbrush under the faucet.

On the floor, putting his Thomas the Tank Engine toothpaste away after we've brushed...and getting one last taste. If he's not making monkey noises in his new bathroom, Ben's choo-chooing with excitement when he sees his toothpaste!

UPS

It's always so much fun when the UPS man brings a big package to our house!

Duck Pond

This morning my friend Amy and I took our kids to a local duck pond and playground to play and it was a huge success with the kids! Ben has never seen so many ducks in his life and since we brought some bread to feed to them, the ducks were swarming around us quacking and eating. The kids had a ball and were squealing and running all over the place. Of course Ben and Samantha had to be reminded not to eat the bread themselves!

Here are some cute photos from our visit. It's hard to tell in the photos since they are sort of dark, but my poor little man got his first shiner last night. I was horrified!! He was laughing and playing when all of a sudden he slipped and the corner of his toy nailed him right in the eye. He was hysterical and his right eye has the war wounds to prove it. After some ice and kisses, though, he seemed fine so it doesn't seem like any major injuries will be sustained....just a purple eye for the next week or so :(.

Baking with Mommy

I decided to attempt baking with Ben today since Andrew and I both always used to love baking with our moms when we were younger. Ben likes to help out nowadays so I knew he would probably find this new activity fun and exciting (and tasty!). Oh, and we have Mommy and Me baking sets that I needed an excuse to use :).


I went for those complicated Pillsbury peanut butter cookies since I didn't think Ben is ready to handle measuring out ingredients yet. He had a great time...baking and eating!


"Hey buddy, watcha lookin' at? You gotta problem with a man in a polka dot apron with matching potholders?"



Testing out the dough for texture. I imagine I confused him since he was sitting in his high chair but I kept telling him not to eat the raw dough.

Ok, one bite won't hurt....or two entire raw cookies. Yes, when I had my back turned to pull our first batch out of the oven, I realized that not one, but two entire raw balls of dough had been eaten during my absence with a very guilty looking little boy sitting next to the tampered baking sheet! He seemed fine for the rest of the day so I guess it didn't harm him and now I know not to leave him unattended with raw dough anymore...

Had to try the orange sprinkles we put on top of the cookies, too...

So proud of our first batch of cookies, all ready to go into the oven.

I could get used to this baking thing!

Here, I finally discovered how to work the automatic timer so you can (sort of) see our matching baking attire and potholders.