I Probably Deserve This...

 

I will confess that I am picky eater but when it comes to picky eaters, even compared to my father, Ben takes the cake. Lunch and dinner have become impossible. He used to like recipes that included ground beef but now he detests those. He used to eat chicken nuggets but now he scream at them. Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches are now also snubbed. So with those options eliminated, all that is left is pizza and pasta. 

However, even pasta has a condition. It must either be macaroni and cheese or it must be covered in red sauce and not include any sort of obvious meat. Today I went to offer him a Gerber Graduates Ravioli and he shrieked at it SO I put spaghetti sauce on it and THEN he gobbled it down. Lunch & dinner time have become frustrating. Truly.

Putting Up The Tree 2011

This year I had two little helpers to help me decorate the Christmas tree. Steven did a pretty good job after I advised him to hang the ornaments on different branches. Ben, however, did not take my advise and he literally dumped a box of ornaments on top of one branch. It was fun having them to help, even if my Christmas tree isn't perfectly ornamented, it was definitely decorated with love. Too bad the love ended when it came time to take a picture in front of the finished tree.Steven didn't want to smile and Ben didn't want to stop playing with his toy and Tyler, well blame his absence on a broken tripod. 

Good Deals & Good Food

I spent most of this Thanksgiving weekend shopping and it was well worth it. I am happy to say that most of my Christmas shopping is done. Whoop, whoop!

I found out that Best Buys would sell it's Black Friday deals online Thanksgiving day but of course they didn't say what time. So I stayed up until midnight, it still wasn't live so around 1:00am I went to bed. Then around 5am I woke up and the deal was live. So I got Tyler's gift and didn't even have to wait outside for hours to get it. So worth the lack of sleep!

After the little sleep I felt really crummy so I hung out with the boys at home while Tyler played football with the Ward. After that we joined my family. Everyone was there, even my cousin, Fred. And surprisingly, even with Clifford there, everyone got along and there was no fighting. I spent the rest of the day eating amazing food, planning my Black Friday shopping, chatting and attempting to craft. One of my crafts failed miserably because I could not figure out the directions the blog gave (and neither could any of my crafty family members) but, thankfully, Rebecca found me a video tutorial of it and I got it figured out. That evening we went and hung out with Tyler's family and had some yummy pumpkin pie!

The next day I woke up at 4:30am and did my Black Friday shopping. I hit things SO perfectly. Most of the stores had opened at midnight so the crazy lines and shoppers were gone but things were getting restocked so I still got EVERYTHING I wanted (including a $25 bike for Steven). I was so proud of myself!

I am so thankful for good deals and of course,  I am so thankful for my family. I couldn't have asked for a better Thanksgiving weekend!

Parades & Hot Air Balloons

Saturday we had two activities planned and I was certain that both would be fun for the boys. One was absolutely free and the other cost $13. Why is it though, that the  free thing proved to be WAY better than the not free thing? And why is it that I forgot my camera for documenting the absolutely fun activity but I remembered it for the lame-O activity? I really need to plan things better...

Our first planned activity was the free, fun, undocumented one.  My friend, Katrin, was in town and invited me to go to the Gilbert Days Parade with her and her family. With horses, fire engines, military vehicles, big trucks, marching bands, dancers and free candy being thrown about, I knew it would be a hit with the boys. And I was proved right. It was like live TV only this TV gave out candy. At one point, when the military vehicles were driving down the street Steven commented, "I've seen those on TV!" The boys loved it and even luckier for them, we stood next to a family that brought their pet parrot. Entertainment in itself. It was great fun and the best part was that it cost us NOTHING.

Our second activity was the costworthy, lame, documented one. Groupon offered 2 tickets for $8 to Chandler's "2011 AZ Balloon Classic." The ad boasted "witness more than 50 hot air balloons take flight" and "family entertainment" and a "family fun zone." So with the kids being free and us only costing $8 it seemed like some perfect fun for a Saturday evening. 

Well, it started off with us being stuck in parking traffic for an hour and a half, paying $5 to park in overflow parking and making a long trek to the front gates only to find out we had to exchange our Groupon page for tickets. And from there things certainly didn't go "Up."

There was a grand total of 6 hot air balloons up when we left and none of the balloons actually took flight. The closest thing thing to "taking flight" was one that was tethered to the ground that would go up a couple feet and then back down, and for a fee you could "ride" in it. There was no family entertainment unless you count a man at a microphone telling the hot air balloons to light up every so often and announcing the parachuters would be a half hour late (and probably unseen in the pitch black sky).

And the family fun zone? A few bounce houses with long lines that would cost a couple bucks worth of tickets per kids and a train that was $4 per kid to ride. 

 So needless to say we left early. I do admit it was neat to see the hot air balloons "glow" in the dark and be up close and personal to them. And it was interesting to hear their pilots explain how they work and other such things. But the glowing excitement wore off quickly, especially for a whiny 3 year old and the explanation could only last so long. Maybe the other nights were better and as advertised but for us it was mostly just disappointing. At least we got some nice pictures out of it though...

At least someone was happy!

Smile like you mean it mom.

The moon balloon

Up close and personal with the glow

Had to take a picture of my favorite store's balloon

Look mom, I'm so loving this.

Me too.

My Mommy Moment

Today I went grocery shopping with my kids. The shopping itself was a normal experience with it's normal toddler fun. Ben screamed his ear-splitting scream a few times and Steven trudged far behind me, begging to leave so he could get his treat (yes I use bribery to get through the trip). We survived, checked out, and loaded up the van. Then I went to grab my keys so we could go...

And they were nowhere to be found. Not in my pockets, not in my diaper bag, not on any of the seats or in the trunk with the groceries. I looked AND looked AND looked. And then I panicked. I couldn't figure out how they could just disappear but after a half hour of searching I came to the conclusion that they must have done just that. I decided that they must be in the black hole that has swallowed up my boys' sippy cups,  socks, pacifiers, etc.

So I called Tyler and I begged him to come save me. After laughing at me, because he's so understanding, he agreed. And after all the stress and lost time it was then that I finally decided to do the smart thing and say a prayer. 1 minute later I remembered that while scouring the van for keys, I didn't look in the one place I often place my keys, the top of the van.

And there they were.  Sitting proudly on the top of my van. And Tyler... Well he showed up a few minutes after I arrived home. So who really got the last laugh?

My Boys

Steven is still....

-(As seen above) sucking on his thumb. If only you could lose a thumb the way you could lose a pacifier.

-The best storyteller EVER. Whether about monsters or tomatoes (a.k.a.tornadoes) the story is always exciting. Especially when he tells stories about himself that begin with  "Yesterday I was at the hospital.."

-Making us laugh. "Mommy when you grow small like me you can go to preschool too" "Mommy i wanna take your eyebrows off so you can't be mad anymore"

-Able to identify his letters. And now he is getting pretty good at writing some of his letters too. It's fun to see his scrawled letters on our driveway and whiteboards and on his pictures at church. He is my smart boy!

Ben is....

-Drooling again. Yes, the bib is back. I think blogging about its end jinxed it so maybe blogging about its return could do something similar...? 

- One heck of a face planter. He always seems to land on his nose and then blood ensues. And bloody nose are awful for so many reasons.

-Becoming such a parrot. He tries to copy things you say and instead of all imitated words sounding like  "Ooo!" they are actually sounding like the intended words. It's fabulous! And not only is he a parrot in words but in actions as well. If Steven runs over to tell me something, I can expect Ben to do the same thing a moment later- only instead of actually telling me something like Steven does, the "Ooo!" sound will make its comeback and there will be much finger pointing involved.

-Still a pacifier  baby but only when he sleeps. This means he gets very excited when it's time to take a nap or go to bed. He loves his paci and though I did try to make him go cold turkey, the return of teething has made it a necessary bedtime commodity. He needs his comfort and I need my daytime break & nighttime sleep.

Secrets

This week I did something quite unexpected. I bought Tyler an Xbox. He has been begging me to buy him one for many Christmases past AND it was finally at a reasonable price AND it came with a $50 Target Gift Card SO... I relented.


So here it is the beginning of November and I was feeling good- I was done shopping for Tyler. His gift was purchased and I knew he would love it and be totally and utterly surprised. What more could  I want?

Really, I should have known better. It is only the beginning of November and I am horrible at keeping secrets, especially when I encounter unexpected conversations. Like Tyler calling and saying he didn't want the 4GB one (the one I bought) but he would give me some money to put towards the 250GB one if I was really serious about getting him an Xbox. And instead of lying and saying I wasn't planning on it so he could just hold onto his plumbing money, I broke. I ruined the surprise.

As a note to all friends I really am an untrustworthy secret keeper. Really, really, awful at it. Probably about as good as Peter Pettigrew.

So the surprise is ruined and the deal not looking that good in the shadow of a fabulous deal that will occur at Best Buys on Black Friday. If I can get there early enough I may just be returning my recently purchased Xbox. Anybody else want to wait outside of Best Buys Thanksgiving Day? It'll be super fun! And now the stores are all opening at midnight instead of 4am which I think is a wee bit better, although turkey dinner best be a turkey lunch this year...


http://www.blackfriday2011.com/ads/best-buy-black-friday-ads

Fall Festival

The weather finally took a major cool down this weekend and it was perfect timing for the Fall Festival that was held at the park by my parent's house. Their Fall Festival wasn't loaded full of things to do it. They kept it simple with a Petting Zoo and a Bounce House for the kids. But honestly, what more could toddler boys ask for? 

Ben refused to ride the pony. He loved all the other animals because they were smaller than him but he couldn't come to terms with the pony since it "towered" over him:

Steven loved riding on the pony the first time but was upset when we made him go back on it so we could take his picture. He was in love with all the birds at the petting zoo and couldn't bear to leave them.

I was watching Steven's cousin, Miles, so he got to join in the fun. This is one of the birds that Steven loved. It was amazing to me that they trusted him to hold it and that the chicken didn't try to negotiate release with some pecking.

Benny played no favorites with the animals. He enjoyed wandering around and gently patting all of them. I was surprise at just how gentle he really was. He did so good with the animals.

Steven still holding his special friend. When asked to put it down he said, "But it loves me." The baby duck he held later on also loved him and was also rarely put down.

 And Bounce House fun shots! They especially loved the pit of balls. At some points I was concerned they would be buried alive in them but they all made it out alive :)

Afterwards poppy treated them to McDonalds so I think it's pretty safe to say that they boys had an awesome day!