Massacre

It was awful.. absolutely.. **sob sob** I can't believe I witnessed the entire ordeal... **sob sob**
He never saw it coming *sniff* He never even had a chance to run away...

Snowman

I made a snowman the Saturday night.. and Ben tried knocking it down yesterday...


there's another vid online..

Ben's Thinking Chair

We aren't really potty training.. BUT ~ Ben is really interested the potty lately.. and we have him sit on it before and after each bath (and any other time he runs in their and hollars potty and we have the time to let him play for about five minutes.) He's never actually utilized the throne.. but that day will be exciting I'm sure! There's a new video online -- and If I feel motivated their might be one or two more.. I was a little camera crazed today I suppose.. and it would have been WAY too long to fit in one "movie".. Enjoy

Little Miss Sunshine

Tonight we finally watched our Netflix movie... Little Miss Sunshine.. and it was a little rough at first..but a MUST SEE.. Definitely the best movie made in 2006 (*that we've seen)!

Party On.. Excellent

We went to Bella's Birthday party this afternoon -- and even with "no-nap Ben".. it was fun.. She turned 4 so all the other kids were a lot older than Ben.. and he mainly played with us, but he had a ball.. The party was at this place called Kids Body Shop.. They have Gymnastics, Dance, and swim lessons.. Bella's party was in the Gym.. and Ben jumped on the trampoline, log rolled down the mats, and walked the balance beam (over and over and over again).

While we were there, we signed him up for Swim classes..starting in March.. YAY! He pulls his ski out all the time and lets up pull him around the house and does really well. So my hopes now are to get him used to the water.. so he might (MIGHT)want to ride his ski at the lake this year..

Wheeeeee Wheeeee we got a Wii

Today at lunch Pete comes home all enthused - Target's site says they got their recent shipments of Wii's.. He's been wanting one - but everyones sold out.. He runs to our Target and they haven't unloaded yet.. so the guy tells him to come back in about an hour.. He calls Rob - Rob runs to 2 Targets.. the 2nd one has just unloaded the truck and already sold 3 of the 4 they have..He buys one.. Runs the the Target next to our house and waits until they unload - and picks up one for us..
These things are the coolest.. well they're fun.. We can't just sit on the couch and play -- we have to stand and play.. SOO COOL.. You actually have to punch to play the boxing game... and swing to bat.. and bowl.. and OMG fun..
We got Rayman too..and its cute.. You shot bunnies with plungers.. hehehe.. dead bunny! Wheee wii!!
(Since this is Ben's blog) Ben watches us and laughs.. Honest! He jumps around with us .. and laughs at the bunnies falling over..

Daycare quandary

So this afternoon - Ben and I went to check out a few of the local Day Care facilities.. and OH MY GOD!.. I didn't realize how lucky we were.. I guess I knew it.. but to actually walk in to a day care is scary! I was shocked..and freaked out.. and starting to rethink this whole working concept.. The girl that I was "interviewing" was more interested in my cell phone than with the conversation i was attempting to have with her about the daycare.. AND - I got even more freaked.. when the "teacher" of the 18-30mo kids told me they change all the kids at once.. WTH! Like a scheduled changing time! OH NO! AND this was a CHURCH daycare! a Baptist church.

The good news is.. I talked to a lady who is opening a new facility about 1-1/2 miles from the house.. and it sounds like a good deal.. she'll let me do 3 days a week.. on the days I need.. and the cost isn't ridiculous! I'm going to stay optimistic about this one.. She's still remodeling the building.. but plans on opening in 2 weeks.. and told us we could stop by whenever and take a tour...
Wish us luck..

Hamster Tunnels

Today was a great day! It was a warm 47 degrees - we were so happy we didn't have to wear big heavy jackets to be outside! Since there was still snow on the ground, Pete decided it would be perfect weather to go sledding. We loaded up in the car and drove up to Mahoney State Park. The sledding hill was awesome! Most of the people were staying on the small "kiddie" hill -- so we all three piled on our Radio Flyer and proceeded down the hill... 1/2 way down we gained a lot of speed and then the bumps came... since Pete was in the far back he couldn't see, but he was the one steering.. and since I was hanging on to Ben I wasn't able to hang on to the sled.. and plop! all three of us took a spill.. it was quite humorous actually. Pete then finished the hill solo.. and then we took turns agreeing it was a little too fast and bumpy for little Ben to go again. Although, he laughed when he went and enjoyed watching us go!..

After sledding, we went to the ACTIVITY CENTER.. which is freakin' awesome!!! It's a huge huge huge hamster playground... This place was incredible.. and the best part of it.. ADULTS get to play too! We climbed, crawled, slid, and jumped all through the place. Definitely, definitely will have to have a 2 year party for Ben there!!


>Anyhoo.. here's some video of it..

18 Mo well check

I took Ben to the great Dr. today, for his 18 mo well-check... Doc says he's doing great (of course)... and Ben needed the 2nd shot of Hepatitis.. So now he's fully immunized! YAY!
Check stats for updates.

Bye-Bye Michele

After 15 months of hanging out at Michele's with Hagen and Layla during the day, Michele has decided to take some refresher classes and join the workforce... So that leaves us with finding Ben a new "school" to attend...It's been a nice run.. we are happy for Michele and excited about Ben going to a "school"...

Happy Valentine

1st - Happy Birthday Pa and Gr-Grandpa Prann...

2nd - Tomorrow Ben is going to the library with Michele and her kids for "class", and they will be having a Valentine Party... So seeing how the new Super Wal-mart was completely sold out of Valentine goodies.. I made Ben his...
kinda cute eh?

I also made little Butterflies with lollipops in them... (The elephants have Crunch hearts inside..)

Dad's Bald...

So Jenn didn't tell you the funniest part about Layla's Birthday party... Mike (Layla's dad) was trying to say Hi to Ben... Ben has never been very friendly around him... And when Mike bends down to say hi, Ben runs away to hug daddy... Except it's not daddy... It's some other bald guy (whom Ben has never met before). Ben just grabs on to his legs and hugs him hard (as if to say "save me")...

I guess you had to be there... but we all laughed...

Saturday fun

Last night - Ben stayed up with us and watched some movies.. Ok by us.. b/c we were SURE that he would sleep in... Not the case.. Little boy was up at 6 AM raring to go!
But it turned out ok... b/c he was willing to take an early nap.. which worked out good.. b/c we had a Party to go to at 1...
He had a lot of fun at Layla's 3rd B-day party.. They had neat "hampster tunnels" equipped with a slide and a space shuttle!... and Zoe was nice enough to help Ben thru.. He's not quite tall enough to crawl thru all that stuff solo, yet..

Afterwards.. we pressed our luck and ran Ben into the local Hair Masters.. Furtunately, the girl was able to cut him right away.. and I for-warned her, about his screaming abilities and fear of the buzzers.. but he did pretty well for the first 2 minutes.. after that.. OMG!

But it's cut, and cute.

DOH

Pete thinks Ben is watching the Simpsons on the sly.... This morning when Ben woke -- he climbed in bed with us for a few extra z's... and instead knocked Pete on the noggin and looked at him and said "DOH"... Well that was the end of sleep b/c pete was laughing so hard the rest of us got jiggled right out of bed..

Problem Solver

So Ben won't talk to us really.. right?? But he gets his point across with grunts and points.. and an occassional word...
But solving situational problems, he can do..
Today when he got up from his nap -- I watched hidden from my room as he walked to the gate to see where I was... When he didn't see me, he went around the corner and out of the eerie silence came a LOUD *THUNK*... I started to go in and check on him, but he wasn't crying and all of a sudden I see a Lego box being pushed around.. So I again hid and observed.. and was utterly shocked at what I saw next! He pushed the Lego box up to the gate, climbed inside... and proceeded to climb OVER the gate!! I jumped around the corner and grabbed him b/f he could figure out that this is an easy escape route..

Benny the Kid rides again...

Get it -- Benny the kid -- HAHA -- I thought about "The next Doc Holliday" but I don't really want him to be a "lunger" -- Ok I love the movie Tombstone..

1. NO we do NOT call him Benny
2. There were just too many cute photos today to put in blog.. So I HAD to create a folder for them all..
3. Matching clothes is overrated
   

Please visit his picture pages to see them..

No No No No No

This morning -- when I returned home from work - Ben was eating breakfast.. and I asked him if Dad had given him anything other than the banana he was working on - and he shook his head no -- Last night - I asked him if he was ready for night night and he shook his head no.. Not sure if he understands what he's doing.. but almost anything you ask him to do -- he shakes NO.. it's sorta funny.. The terd
We went shopping last night and it's sad, we avoided certain areas of the store so we didn't have to listen to Big Chief Fussy-Butt.. those areas would be the Toy center - and the area with Bananas... He freaks! He thinks he HAS to have them.. It's a word we don't say unless we are giving him one..

HOME - Hallelujah

We flew home today and OMG it's SO COLD!... Ben is thrilled (like the rest of us) to be home. He went through the house and played with every toy.. just to make sure they were still there I guess... And then.. he started walking around saying "mine mine mine"... SEAGULLS these days!
We enjoyed the visit and I'll load some pics up tonight..

It was great to see everyone.. and yet OH SO NICE to be home (minus the cold)...

Ben and popo in the pig trap