Superheroes and Valentine's Day

Both my boys love superheroes right now and I know I'm biased, but they sure do make cute little Captain America's :-)

We don't do huge celebrations for Valentine's Day.  I would much rather have Peter get me flowers on a day when the price wasn't bumped up 400%....but that's just the cheapskate in me.  For Peter's present the boys and I cleaned out the van and the garage during the day on Friday.  And by the boys and I, I really mean me.  The boys got into mischief, went on a treasure hunt for interesting sticks and leaves, and played with slugs.  100% boy they are.  Peter very sweetly made me a little homemade card and had the boys write me a little note too.  We also made a yummy cheesecake for dessert after the boys woke up from naps.  They loved being Mommy's helper and it turned out really well!

On Saturday my mom and sister volunteered to watch the boys for most of the day so Peter and I could have some time together.  They took them to Chuck E. Cheese so I'm pretty sure we weren't missed.at.all.  Both boys had a blast!  And so did we!  We got some Starbucks for the road, then went to a college basketball game in Portland.  Then we ran a few errands and ate a yummy dinner at the Portland Seafood Company.  Anytime we can eat a tasty meal without kids is seriously my love language.  It was just really refreshing to spend 2/3 of a day together catching up, laughing and just enjoying each other's company.  Of course I didn't take a picture, but I promise, it was a great day!

Snow Days

A few weeks ago we had a 'major' snowstorm.  Probably not major for some parts of the country, but for Oregon....it was major.  It resulted in a few more snow days for the schools and being holed up inside for a really long weekend.  Church was canceled, streets were pretty bare.  I've never seen it snow that much (or ice that thick) in the 9 years we've lived here.

The boys ventured out to play one morning.  And by play, I really mean that we spent a half an hour finding all the appropriate gear, 15 minutes getting them dressed, and about 5 minutes playing outside before they were cold.  Ha!  Benjamin actually lasted much longer than that but Jonah was not a fan.  Peter took them sledding in the street which consisted of him just pulling them along on the sled, and both boys pretty much hated it.  I took some hilarious video of them both screaming their head off and declaring that they hated sledding.  We were dying laughing from the front porch :-)  Ben and Peter played outside for a good hour before they finally headed inside for some apple cider to warm up.

On the first night we were stuck inside Jonah got the stomach bug.  He threw up 4 times within a few hours and then it was over.  We kept him on the applesauce/water diet for the next 24ish hours and he wasn't sick again.  Jonah did not appreciate not getting to eat normal food though that's for sure and he certainly missed his milk.  But this mama did not want to clean up that kind of mess in the middle of the night if he was still sick!

Despite him being sick, everyone else was well so I cooked too much while we were stuck indoors and when we could finally venture out safely a few days later it was pure bliss.  Makes me realize that although I love my childhood, there's no way I could handle the Iowa winters anymore!!

Winter Randoms

I am using this lazy Friday afternoon to make a feeble attempt to catch this blog up to 'current day' so maybe, just maybe, I might actually feel like posting something every night or every other night and not have to try to remember details from weeks or months ago :-)

So this post is just a hodge podge of pictures I've taken on the boys over the past month or so.  This winter seems to just crawl by some days and fly by the next.  I can hardly believe we're into the month of February already.  Yet, it seems like forever since I've felt warm sun on my skin.  *sigh*

Let the randomness begin....

 playing in a build-it-yourself paper rocketship :-)

 their Daddy was so great and took them on a trip to the moon complete with meteor showers that nearly destroyed the ship!

 My Dad reading Jonah one (or twenty) books

 Benjamin was so tired one day he put himself to bed.  Just went upstairs and went to sleep.  At 6:30pm.  

 Jonah being his normal goofy self

 sporting their new super hero tattoos that they got in their stocking!

 he loved his Hulk Smash tattoo :-)

 Just me taking a picture of Benjamin when he was crying over not wanting to take a picture.  Ha!!

 Benjamin recovered from his tears and took a picture in their new minion shirts from Auntie!

 Jonah is FULLY 2.  Fully, fit throwing, 2.  And we love him :-)

 love my comfy boys with their big tummies and sweats

 what do we do when we're inside a lot during the winter?  Play in the laundry basket of course.

 Benjamin was reading Panda Bear Panda Bear to Jonah the other day, too cute

 we babysat our friends sweet and adorable little girl Ruby last weekend.  Jonah loooves her and was very quick to start planting kisses

 Benjamin was quick to follow suit.  Ruby is hard to resist :-)

 Auntie Amanda brought a few super hero costumes from her daycare home one evening and the boys loved them!  I could eat them up, so cute!

 Auntie spiked their hair and they loved it

 handsome little goober

 Cousin Azalea stayed the night last weekend and we had to make a Princess Azalea cake for her.  For no reason.  Because Princesses don't need reasons to have cake!

 they are so handsome.  And so grown up.  Be still my heart.

 Oh Jonah, your smile is so sweet!

 Goofballs!!!

the buttons on Jonah's pants looked like eyeballs when we were watching on the monitor.  So Peter took electrical tape and made the rest of the smiley face on his bum while he was sleeping.  Too stinkin funny!!

Benjamin is 4!!!

4!  4!  I cannot believe I have a 4 year old.  Isn't that soooo old?  It's practically school age which means he'll be away from me longer during the day than he's with me and I am not.okay.with.that.

But Ben did turn 4 on February 3rd.  And though I was a little sad, he was so excited and we were excited for him.

Benjamin's best friend Micah shares a birthday with him, exactly one year apart (Micah is 1 year older)  Those two play together all day long, rarely fight, and love each other dearly.  It's kind of adorable.  So since Kristen (his mom) and I are best friends, we have their birthday party together, since that what they always want.  This was the first year they invited a couple other boys over to join in on the fun.  It was a low key party with their 2 little friends and their moms, my sister and mom, and Micah's grandparents.

We decided to do an evening party on the actual day of their birthday, Monday, and it worked out great.  We just served cake and ice cream and the boys played with all their new toys while the adults got to hang out.  A couple hours later we finally had to take Benjamin home and they were sooo sad to have to leave each other.  They're so sweet!

As always, my boys get to choose what kind of cake they want me to make.  And this year, Benjamin finally settled on a Wolverine cake.  He's really into super heroes right now and he decided that he wanted a Wolverine cake.....he always asked for it complete with the slashing Wolverine claw movements, ha :-)

So once again I found a picture that didn't look horribly difficult to recreate and attempted to freehand it on a sheet cake.  I lost a bit of steam toward the end but I think it turned out kind of cute.  And Benjamin was delighted.  He kept saying "how did you do that?  I didn't know you could do things like that mom, wow!"

Another birthday tradition we have is to take the boys to McDonalds for their birthday and let them have a happy meal (not the normal in our house).  So we met Daddy at our local McDonalds and the boys had a great time with their fun lunch.

A few pictures...

Benjamin Daniel, we can hardly believe you are 4 years old.  You are smart, kind, affectionate, and funny.  You are a joy to us and we love you to pieces.  Happy Birthday my Benjamin, love you to the moon and back.