I Want a Bree!!!!

This is Bree. She's Bubba & Grampy's Cavalier King Charles Spaniel and one of the very few dogs I actually adore. I've never had a dog and am not-so-sure how I feel about having a dog here in our teeny house - seems like a lot of work (for me!). But, Ben LOVES, LOVES, LOVES Bree and will randomly tell us that he "misses Bree" or say "I want a Bree." Ben got to go for a ride with her (in his new booster seat) and according to Bubba he was "so proud having his girl in his lap." So funny!

Our beloved babysitter Sarah is on vacation this week (how dare she! - we love and need her :)... so Ben and I are having a long week of togetherness. Plus it snowed yesterday, so we've had a lot of stir-crazy togetherness. AND, my work is picking up to a super-busy pace (thankfully!) so I'm keeping on my toes. Taking calls from clients while Ben is squirting massive amounts of finger paint on his homemade Valentines... hopefully they dry before Feb. 14. But at the same time it's been a lot of fun.

Also, we decided to paint Ben's room last weekend... turning it from baby to big boy (as a surprise for his b-day he's getting a loft bed, bean-bag chair and new posters, etc. so we decided he needed a new paint job - more to come on that later). So we had the pleasure of having his bed in our family room, dresser in our dining room and changing table at the foot of our bed for two nights. It was a TAD chaotic but also pretty funny...

"NO"

These pics are kinda crazy because I took them with my laptop... but Ben's buddies were over this morning and he asked to borrow a pencil. When I asked him why he needed one he said he had some writing to do. He disappeared into his room with is pencil (needless to say I was feeling a little nervous about WHERE he was going to be writing). A few minutes later he returned and had written this on his cardboard stop sign...

It's hard to see, but it says "NO." He said "N-O spells no, Mommy. Stop signs mean stop and do not go, so I wrote no." Pretty amazing - this was the first time he wrote anything without me spelling the letters or standing over him. I know it's just two letters, but I thought it was pretty crazy he pieced everything together and did this on his own.

Potty Party!!!!

It's been a long road and I won't go into the crazy details... but Ben finally filled his "potty chart" with smiley faces and got to go to Monkey Joe's. His best buddies met us there and the kids had a blast running and jumping everywhere. Needless to say we had some TIRED kids at the end of the night! His next reward is a pizza and DVD night... keep your fingers crossed for us!

Toobers & Zots

This awesome toy was a hand-me-down from Joe's cousins. They are SO FUN! Ben and I were very focused on building our sculpture.

Está nevando

THEY were right... the snow did come and we had fun outside today. We did get the sled out, but the camera batteries died before I could capture the sledding! Maybe tomorrow...

Hice un muñeco de nieve (that's for you, Jason)

One day last week we had the TINIEST amount of snow... but Ben was dying to make a snowman. I think we used every last bit from our front yard. The snowman lasted only one day, but we still have two snow blobs outside our house. They SAY we're getting more snow tonight, so hopefully we can bust out the sled...

"I can't put my arms down."

" Well... put your arms down when you get to school."

Christmas 2009

We had a wonderful Christmas this year! Ben was super excited and totally "got" what was going on. We spent Christmas Eve with Bubba & Grampy and hosted Christmas brunch at our house with both sets of grandparents and Uncle Tim, Auntie and baby Maggie (for her first Christmas).

This year Ben got a lego train, helicopter, crane, electric guitar, lego city set, police helmet and lots of fun board games. He also got Wii Sports Resort we've all been having a lot of fun with.