Putting the "Spring" in Spring Break

Although snow now covers the ground again, Ben and I enjoyed a pretty nice week of Spring Break. My brother and his wife were here for the first part of break. Patti hung out with Ben and I during the day and we enjoyed the company of Jeff, Patti, and often times, Nick, in the evenings.

Ben and I had several "spring-like" adventures during the week. We visited the butterfly gardens at Reiman Gardens on Monday. Ben loved watching all the butterflies flutter around the dome and looking at them land on all the flowers. He talked about the colors he saw and the butterflies landing on my finger all week. That put us in the mood for butterflies, so we picked up some roller paints, some butterfly cut-outs, and pom balls at Michael's to do a little art project decorating butterflies. Ben was very excited to see them hung in his playroom and has exclaimed on more than one occasion recently, "Look at my paintings!"

We also spent lots of time playing outside. The weather was nice enough to go to the park one day and on Thursday, the weather was so great we spent a good part of the morning and afternoon outside. Ben rode his trike, which is still way too big for him, and we searched for interesting nuts, sticks, rocks, and leaves in the yard. We did bubbles, broke out the sidewalk chalk, and went on walks down to the pond and around the water. At the end of the day on Thursday, we were walking back up the hill to our house and Ben said, "It is a busy day!" It definitely was!

I'm lamenting the end of a nice break. Of course, how could we conclude a break without taking on a new home updating project?! As I write, Brant is taking down the old crown molding in our dining and living room, only to reveal nasty 1970's wall paper. We ordered new carpet yesterday, so the fire has definitely been lit to get going on the paint! I'm sure pictures of this project will be forthcoming.

Happy Birthday, Ben!

Ben turns 2 tomorrow! We celebrated tonight with Grandma, Papa, and Uncle Alex and will look forward to seeing more family this weekend to celebrate. Ben had so much fun at his birthday party!

Spend a Little Time with Ben

If you have a couple of minutes to spare, enjoy a little time in Ben's world!

Kiss It!

There is never a dull moment in our house anymore, and supper tonight was no exception. Ben was eating his yogurt, a favorite treat to end mealtime, and suddenly burst into tears. I rushed over from the sink to see what was the matter. In the meantime, Brant had asked Ben if he had bitten his tongue. "Kiss it, kiss it!" Ben said as he turned to me, kneeling next to him, and suddenly his little yogurt covered tongue was headed right toward my face, tears still streaming down his face. When I entered parenting, I never expected my son to ask me to kiss his tongue to make it feel better! I burst out laughing and suddenly, everything seemed to feel much better. You can see the reenactment below.

Winter Blah

I know I should be really happy it is Friday, but seriously, the cloud of unmotivated winter blahs is hanging over our household big time. After five snow days in the last six weeks, being back to sub zero temps, and not going more than a month without some sort of sickness in our house, we are ready for the groundhog to come out this week and tell us spring is just around the corner. However, the pessimist in me says, don't get your hopes up.

We had another first as parents this week: the stomach flu. Luckily, or unluckily, depending on your perspective, Ben's vomiting never happened on the carpet or in his bed. It was always on Brant or I. Disgusting, yes. However, just a toss in the washing machine was the upside! Poor Ben.

I also had my first experience getting stuck in our own driveway this week. We had another blizzard on Monday and after taking Ben to the doctor after school (which took an hour and half and he cried almost the whole time), I was feeling a little frazzled. Getting stuck was kind of the icing on the cake. As much as I tried to gain speed up the hill to make it to the garage, the drifts from the blowing snow were too much for my little Focus. We never did manage to get my car all the way to the garage, but Brant was at least able to back up and get it into our circle drive facing downhill so I could let gravity help me the next morning!

During the ice storm last week, I had to get creative for our day in the house during snow day #5. Beyond the regular play-doh time, coloring, trucks, cars, and books, I filled the kitchen sink with bubbles and let Ben go to town. As you can see, he really enjoyed it!