What a Balloon Can Do...

It's amazing how one little balloon can turn this...

...into this...

...in about 2 seconds flat. Mommy loves balloons.

And by the way, Benjamin wasn't upset about anything except that he had just woken up from his nap and he usually needs some time to wake up and start acting like himself again.

My Hubby

I saw this on another blog and thought it would be fun... it might give some people a chance to get to know me and Jonathan a little better since all we seem to talk about is Benjamin :) If anyone reading this blog wants to copy it, go ahead! I'd love to know more about you too!

1. How long have you been married? It was 4 years this past January.

2. How long did you date? We had our first date on January 18, 2003 (3 years to the day before Benjamin was born.) We got engaged in August and married in January 2004, 2 days before the 1 year anniversary of our first date.

3. Who eats more sweets? ummm... that's hard. I would probably say me generally. Except when I'm pregnant because I can't handle sweet things as well.

4. Who said I love you first? Jonathan

5. How old is he? He will be 27 in March

6. Who is taller? He is by a few inches.

7. Who is smarter? We're both smart in completely different ways. I can do math like none other, but Jonathan is so good at reading people and getting to know them. And Jonathan can remember tons of big words and their meanings and I can barely use the right word in a sentence have the time.

8. Who can sing better? neither one of us is very good, but Jonathan is definitely better than I am.

9. Who does the laundry? I do most the time, but Jonathan helps out when things have been crazy, or when he's out of clean underwear. Whatever comes first. He he he

10. Who pays the bills? I do--but Jonathan is good at reminding me to do it.

11. Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? Uh, if you're laying on the bed... I'm on the right side. But if you're standing in the doorway looking at the bed, Jonathan is on the right side. Does that make sense?

12. Who mows the lawn? The landlord. We don't own any grass yet.

13. Who cooks dinner? Lately I've been good about planning and making decent meals. There was a long time during our marriage though where Jonathan did most of the cooking (aka grilling hamburgers and chicken most nights)

14. Who drives? He does-I think it's a control thing. Just kidding... he usually does because I like to sleep/put on makeup/entertain Benjamin/make the grocery list/sort the mail/etc etc etc

15. Who kissed who first? He kissed me first. But if you ask him, he'll state the opposite. I don't think it matters because it takes two people to kiss...

16. Who is more stubborn? Jonathan would say me. And I would agree. Except for things that Jonathan is passionate about. Like no diet soda anywhere in the house, EVER.

17. Who asked who out? I asked him out for a group date. But he asked me at the end of the group date to go to a movie that night with him... guess he couldn't get enough :)

18. Who proposed? Again, this is up for debate. Technically, he proposed with a ring and everything. But I committed him to proposing a week or so before because he was being a big chicken even though we both had prayed about it and felt good.

19. Who has more siblings? Jonathan- 4 brothers and 2 sisters! Wow! I have 4 brothers.

Feeding Himself

I have been putting off letting Benjamin feed himself with a spoon mostly because I didn't want to clean up the mess. But today after he finished most of his yogurt I let him take control of the spoon to see what he could do. It was a mess, but not as bad as I thought it would be. Actually nothing ended up on the floor and very little on the high chair. Most of it was on his face and shirt. It was vanilla yogurt so you can't see how much he really got all over his face. For the most part he was able to get the spoon into his mouth with some food still on it. Maybe we'll try again at dinner... after I make sure to put something down on the floor underneath him. I'm sure this was just a one time thing where the yogurt didn't get all over the floor.

Benjamin Got a Haircut

On Tuesday night we took Benjamin to get a haircut. It was fun trying to keep him still because he DOES NOT like someone touching his head. I should have figured this out before hand because I cannot get him to wear a hat, ever. And he lso wouldn't wear the cape thing to keep the hair off him. So he was covered in hair, and so were mom and dad because we had to take turns holding him and he was so wiggly that our own capes came off too. But it was so worth it because Benjamin no longer has hair in his eyes all the time and he looks so cute and grown up!

By the way, we're still working on a good video of him walking. He's a little cruiser now and we've even seen a little running too.

Love According to Kids...

In preparation for Valentines Day tomorrow I thought I'd share something I came across online today. Not only did it make me smile, but it helped me sit back and think about all the ways that I show love to those around me. And all the ways I could be just a little better. Enjoy!

Actual Children answers to the question “What is Love”. Love according to Kids.

“When someone loves you, the way they say your name is different.You just know that your name is safe in their mouth. Billy - age 4

“Love is when a girl puts on perfume and a boy puts on shaving cologne and they go out and smell each other.” Karl - age 5

“Love is when you go out to eat and give somebody most of your French fries without making them give you any of theirs.” Chrissy - age 6

“Love is what makes you smile when you’re tired.”Terri - age 4

“Love is when my mommy makes coffee for my daddy and she takes a sipbefore giving it to him, to make sure the taste is OK.” Danny - age 7

“Love is when you kiss all the time. Then when you get tired of kissing, you still want to be together and you talk more.My Mommy and Daddy are like that. They look gross when they kiss” Emily - age 8

“Love is what’s in the room with you at Christmas if you stop opening presents and listen.” Bobby - age 7

“If you want to learn to love better, you should start with a friend who you hate,” Nikka - age 6

“Love is when you tell a guy you like his shirt, then he wears it everyday.” Noelle - age 7

“Love is like a little old woman and a little old man who are still friends even after they know each other so well.” Tommy - age 6

“During my piano recital, I was on a stage and I was scared. I looked at all the people watching me and saw my daddy waving and smiling.He was the only one doing that. I wasn’t scared anymore.”Cindy - age 8

“My mommy loves me more than anybody.You don’t see anyone else kissing me to sleep at night.”Clare - age 6

“Love is when Mommy gives Daddy the best piece of chicken.”Elaine-age 5

“Love is when Mommy sees Daddy smelly and sweaty and still says he is handsomer than Brad Pitt.”Chris - age 7

“Love is when your puppy licks your face even after you left him alone all day.”Mary Ann - age 4
“I know my older sister loves me because she gives me all her old clothes and has to go out and buy new ones.” Lauren - age 4

“When my grandmother got arthritis, she couldn’t bend over and paint hertoenails anymore. So my grandfather does it for her all the time, even when his hands got arthritis too. That’s love.”Rebecca- age 8

“When you love somebody, your eyelashes go up and down and little stars come out of you.” (what an image)Karen - age 7

“You really shouldn’t say ‘I love you’ unless you mean it. But if you mean it, you should say it a lot. People forget.” Jessica - age 8

Valentines 'Deal or No Deal' Game

For the week leading up to Valentines Day I've been doing a little something special for Jonathan. Mostly they are just little things, like a treat hidden in his backpack or a homemade card. But last night I planned an extra special treat, and Jonathan was so impressed he wanted me to post it on the blog. What I did was make a homemade Deal or No Deal game. Here's the finished product so you get an idea of what it looked like before I try to describe how it worked. Sorry the pictures aren't the greatest, but I couldn't figure out how to cut the glare and have more of the details show up. You get the general idea though...

I used an old dry erase board to display all the pieces. First I made 9 beautiful models and 9 cases...

Then I made the Howie "host"

Each of the 9 cases had something fun and different in it. Things like, no dishes for a week or a free pass to do nothing but watch sports all day. Some cases were much more desirable than others. I had Jonathan choose a case which I moved next to Howie. Then he chose other cases one by one. After each case he had the opportunity to "take the deal" and keep what was in the case or say "no deal" and keep going hoping to get something even better.

It took me hours to make the game (using my Cricut- possibly the greatest scrapbooking tool ever, but that's a post for another day) and it took about 5 minutes to play the game and open all 9 cases. Oh well. At least Jonathan had fun. And he said he wanted to keep the game to play again another time.

Of course he does... :)

Walking!

Benjamin is pretty much a little walking man these days. He surprised us all this weekend by walking across the gym at church on Sunday, and even managed to stop, turn around, and walk back. He is so proud of himself! He gets the biggest grin and laughs when you praise him for walking. He's not perfect yet, he still falls down after awhile and he still hasn't figured out how to stand up without pulling up on something, but he is doing so well and we are so proud of him!

I'll post video of him walking as soon as we get one.

My "Pretty Dress"

So back in November my friend Adam asked if I would be willing to squeeze myself back into my wedding dress and take some fake bridals to help him get more pictures for his photography website. He is trying to start a more professional/official photography business and needed some new updated pictures. Needless to say, I was flattered that he asked me and told him I would try my best to get back into my wedding dress. Now, it wasn't easy...especially after 4 years and a baby... but I managed to get the dress on and smile too! It was kinda fun to wear my "pretty dress" again for a couple hours. Adam finally got me a cd with all the pictures on it and some turned out pretty cool!

This is Jonathan's favorite...

And this was one of my favorites

And we both liked this one, too.

Honestly, Adam did a great job and there were so many really cool pictures to choose from. He really played up the Fall/Autumn season with the leaves. It was fun to be photographed, but I'm mostly glad that I'm able to say that I got into my wedding dress four years and a baby later ... even if I couldn't breathe well the whole time I was wearing that dress! :)