It's Almost Ben's Birthday!

Ben will be 2 tomorrow - WOW! So, in preparation for the kid's birthdays I like to decorate the house so when they wake up in the morning it looks festive. Ben's party is a farm theme so I found these balloons that you add the stickers to, to make them look like farm animals.
The farm animals above the pot rack in the kitchen.

The banner says Happy Birthday Ben! You can't really read it very well, but I used the "cow" print on the computer. It had to match the theme - even if it wasn't easy to read :)

The kitchen. On the table is Ben's birthday hat. I saw this on a blog as well. The mom always makes a birthday crown the the same number of points as the child's age. I thought that was a cute idea so we did it this year.

Ben's bedroom door. You can't really see it but there is a birthday cone on the door handle that we put candy in. He'll love that of course! We put a fun present in his room for him to open in the morning. I'll put a picture on the blog tomorrow of him playing with it. Ben will also get pancakes with sprinkles in the morning and will eat them on the special birthday plate, and will also get a cupcake with ice cream for lunch. We're having the party with everyone on Saturday, but we wanted to make his actual birthday special too. I'm off to bed, we have a big day tomorrow! My baby is turning 2!!!

Tuesday Zoo Day

Today was our zoo day, but it was a little too cold for me and boys early this morning so our friend Joanne invited us over to play with her girls, Jane and Jill. (Jill is 3 weeks old so she spend most of the time asleep or eating, not much playing of course!) Here are Cooper, Ben and Jane in the tent.
Jane has this fun trampoline that the boys loved. Jane definitely has that mommy/teacher thing going on, telling the boys to take turns and be nice to each other. See the pen and paper in her hand? She was telling them things to do and then "writing" them on the paper. It was like she was writing them tickets for their behavior - so cute and funny!
Yesterday afternoon the kids and some neighbors drove jeeps in the cul-de-sac. It was like the race track or something with cars and bikes going all over, there were near misses all over the place!

After all that work pushing their foot on the gas they had to have a popsicle break.

Here are the gift bags for Ben's party. So far they are filled with frosted animal crackers and fruit snacks. For some of the games the kids get prizes like farm stickers, farm tattoos, and farm animals. I thought they could just add them to their bags as the party went on (which is why the bags aren't tied shut) They are also getting a crayon keeper - a thing I sewed that rolls up and holds crayons - it's for a mom to put in her purse or diaper bag. We use ours a lot so I thought everyone else would like one. (truthfully I was meaning to make them as a gift for Christmas for everyone but I didn't finish them in time, so I decided it would work in the gift bags)

We came home from zoo school to find 2 of the bags open and all the snacks eaten inside - that naughty dog Jake!! At least he only got to 2 of them!

What a week, and what a party!

Last week we had a sick week; Elizabeth had strep throat and Ben had strep throat, pink eye, and an ear infection. I then came down with strep throat, too! Needless to say we had to skip a lot of our activities last week, but we were able to make it to our friend Baylee's 3rd birthday party this weekend. (Those antibiotics are miracle workers!)


The party was at a gymnastics center, and the kids had a blast! Jumping in the foam pit,

walking on the balance beam,

swinging on the rope swing,

and somersaulting down the mat.

They even had a trampoline for each child...how special!

So the party was so much fun, and now it's on to Ben's birthday week! We will be busy doing things for Ben's party this week (besides zoo school, a couple of play dates, Ben's gymnastics, Elizabeth's dance and babysitting Cooper 3 days this week!) so I thought I would start posting some things from the party. I hope you're interested in party details! :)

Here is the invite for Ben's party. Can you tell we are having a farm party?

Tomorrow the gift bags....Whoo hoo!

Playing at a New Park

We went to a new park in the area with Cooper, Ben, and our friend Ashlynn (and the mommies of course) Elizabeth decided to stay home with daddy.
Isn't this park fun?! I was glad I didn't have to keep track of 2 kids, though. It was so big! The boys and Ashlynn had so much fun running all through it.

Cooper, Ashlynn, and Ben on the tire swing.

Ben was really enjoying himself here. He loves to go anywhere where he can run, jump, swing on things, and in general be a little monkey. That is definitely what he is, our monkey. And it's almost our monkey's birthday! I can't believe our baby is almost 2!!

A Day at Home

( I don't really know what Ben is doing in this picture!) We spent an afternoon at home just playing around. I got out 3 types of pasta, a bag of mixed beans, and spoons, tongs, wisks, etc... The kids played for about an hour mixing, pouring, sharing...it was great! I got so much done while they played together.

Then is was snack time. Elizabeth received a fun present for Christmas from Grandma H. It was a cake decorating pen for kids. So first Elizabeth had to wash all the parts. She loves to do that! She is always soaked up to her shoulders basically, but I think she feels so grown up!

Then I loaded it with icing and let her (and Ben even!) go. It's great! All you have to do is push the button and icing comes out. You can change this tips to make flowers, lines, flat lines, etc...The kids, of course, loved this snack.

Ben just kept licking off the icing, asking for more. He knows what the best part is!

Zach's First Birthday

This Saturday was our cousin Zach's first birthday. He had a great party with all of his cousins and friends. Isn't he a cutie???
Surrounded by gifts- every child's dream!

Victoria, the proud mommy, and Zach

Our family

Ben had to go stand right by his favorite, Elmo. He wished this was his birthday!

Elizabeth and her friend, Maci. Maci lives next door to Grandma H so Elizabeth and Maci get to play whenever we go visit. They have a lot of fun together. We are usually surrounded by boys, so it is fun to see how the play changes when it is 2 girls. I say that and yet at the party Elizabeth came running into the room, beet red, bow and dress ripped. They were playing so hard at hide and seek - she looked like she had been in a fight! It turns out she was hiding under the bed and got stuck. It was pretty funny. We had another party to go to after Zach's so I had to sew her dress shut so she wouldn't look so raggedy!

Ben enjoying Zach's present - a ball pit.

My MIL - Carole, and nieces Sarah and Maria

The 5 youngest cousins - Zach, Drew, Elizabeth, Josh and Ben

Of course I have to end with a picture of the birthday boy eating his cake. Happy Birthday Zach!

I did what???

I don't know how many of you know this but I am a little obsessed with reading other blogs. I have the ones I like to read, and I read them practically every day. There is one where they are always talking about canning - making apple butter, apple pie filling, etc... So I thought, I'm going to try that! So I got a whole bunch of apples. Now the people on the blog can apples because they live where they can pick their own apples and come home with bushels of them. Here in TX we have to go to the grocery store and just buy a whole bunch. Not quite the same as going to the orchard, but I guess it will have to do. (plus it kind of ruins the economic benefits of making your own apple foods - but oh well...it was worth a try)

Next I had to sterilize the jars (which by the way called for a rack at the bottom of the pot- where do you get a round rack - or a small enough square rack - to fit in the bottom of a pot?? ) So, I boiled it all for a long time...

then had to cut, core, and peel the apples, make a syrup, and pack them all in the jars. Then you have to boil the jars again! This time for 30 min (to seal the jars) So after a few hours of work - here is the result. 7 jars of apple pie filling. They did end up tasting pretty good, but I don't know if I'll do it again any time soon.

I still can't believe I canned something. What a dork :)

Touch Tank at the Zoo

I'm sure you've noticed by now that we tend to go to the zoo alot! It's a favorite spot for our family, Elizabeth even goes to school there. But this is the first time I have been to the touch tank. I didn't even know it was there! The kids were able to touch shells, hermit crabs, starfish, sea urchins, and coral. It was the closest the kids have ever come to sea life, so it was a fun experience for them.

Ben was ready to jump right in!

We also had to have a ride on the merry-go-round, of course.

It's their favorite!

Cooper met us at the zoo. He loved it, too!

We always have to stop and see the gorilla, it's all Ben talks about. It was fun to get to go with Tom to the zoo, Elizabeth loved to tell us all the things she is learning at zoo school. It was a great trip!

Baby Jill

A good friend of mine, Joanne, who I used to teach with, had a baby girl last week named Jill. Isn't she adorable!! I think she is 6 days old - brand new!
Trying to wave already, what a smartie.

Welcome to the world, baby Jill.