Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Ben's Third " Happy Dirtbay"

As far as Ben's concerned it's been his "happy dirtbay" every day starting 2 months ago, and is still his "happy dirtbay" every day since the actual day, almost 3 weeks ago.
We had a simple party. My parents came down, which was more exciting to him than anything else we could have done.

He loved his train cake, and couldn't help himself from sampling off it all day long. Luckily I had plenty of replacement wheels, rocks, and logs.

The gift from my parents, a Sesame Street Restaurant, was a huge hit. With all the kids. I think Spencer has spent more time playing with it than Ben has. I guess he hasn't outgrown his Ratatouille phase yet.

While Weston really loved the restaurant, I think his favorite part of the party was eating the real food.

I honestly can't believe it's already been 3 years since Ben joined our family. He's a joy to have around (96% of the time), and usually keeps us laughing (or screaming, 4% of the time). Happy Birthday Buddy, we love you!

Friday, September 18, 2009

Ohio

Four days with no kids!!! It was great!
Jason's brother, Chris, got married in Ohio a few weekends ago, and thanks to my parents' frequent flyer miles and our friends, Joe and Kacy, we were able to go-BY OURSELVES!
The flight out was not so fun. We flew out of Vegas at 10pm. There was quite a bit of turbulence on the way out and I was seriously considering turning on my phone and calling home to say my last goodbyes to the kids. I hate flying. With each and every little bump, I imagine myself falling from the sky and dying a painful and terrible death. Needless to say, I didn't die. Maybe because I prayed for almost 4 hours straight for my life to be spared, or maybe because the chances of me dying on a commercial airliner are like one in 13 million. Either way, I was spared from what was, in my own mind anyway, most certain death.
We flew into Atlanta at 5am (3am our time) for a 3 hour layover. The airport was FREEZING cold, so although we tried to lay down and get some sleep, it didn't happen. After another hour of flying, we made it to Akron Ohio at 9am. Chris picked us up from the airport and took us to the home of some friends of Kim's (the bride) family. We went straight to our room and slept until 4pm.
We had the wedding rehearsal dinner that night. Jason was a groomsman, but I wasn't in the wedding party. I didn't mind just hanging out. A good dinner- that I didn't have to cook- with NO KIDS was well worth it.
The next morning, all the girls headed over to Kim's house. There was a girl there to do hair. Again, I wasn't part of the wedding party, but Jason's mom offered to pay to have mine done, so I took her up on it. It was fun to be a little pampered.
A little relaxing that afternoon, then off to the wedding. It was at the golf club. It was all decorated in "green". They even gave out baby trees for the guests to take home and plant.
The wedding itself was outside. It was a beautiful day, perfect weather.

The dinner was held inside after the wedding. Jason and I weren't seated together since he was a groomsman, but I was seated next to his parents, so that was nice. Another good dinner- that I didn't have to cook-with NO KIDS.

Then for the dancing. Here's Jason (below) getting down!

Just joking. I don't know who that is, but it's definitely not Jason.
This picture (below) better describes his enthusiasm for dancing.
In case you're wondering why he's dancing with another woman, all the groomsmen danced with all the bridesmaids.
It was a nice night. Linda (Jason's mom) and I especially had fun visiting with some drunk guy, probably about my age, who was wondering if Linda lived in Alaska during the Gold Rush.
We had to fly out the next morning. It was a short trip, but nice to get away for a few days-with NO KIDS!
Certainly, I wouldn't want to give anyone the impression that I don't enjoy my kids; I would just prefer to leave them with our friends every other weekend. Or maybe every weekend.
But I'm pretty sure the feeling is mutual. They didn't seem to miss us at all. They had a great time with Joe and Kacy.
Joe and Kacy, I think, have decided to wait another ten years before having kids. I'm sure that has nothing to do with our little weekend away...

Wednesday, September 9, 2009

Blog List

After seeing the cool new background on my friend Kristin's blog, I decided to experiment with my own. I followed the link on her blog and tried out some new backgrounds. In the end, I ended up using my same old background-with a change in color- because the layout works better for me. But, in the process, I lost my whole blog list. So, if you know that your blog was in my blog list, please leave a comment so that I can get your blog address again. There's a few that I remember, so check my blog list first to see if you're there.