Past few days

It's been a busy but great last couple of days, but it didn't leave much time to post until now.

Friday:

It was a normal day, just enjoyed playing with my ONE YEAR OLD.  I still can't believe he's 1 now.

 we brought his slide inside so he could play on it during the winter....he looooves it

 okay Benjamin, stop looking like such a big boy, mama doesn't like it

 this picture is the reason why the bean bag is at the end of the slide....sometimes his feet get caught underneath him on the way down.  Don't worry though.....he LOVES it when he hits the beanbag, he thinks its hilarious.  I have a little daredevil on my hands.

see?  He loves the beanbag.

Friday night Peter and Benjamin went to work on a computer for a lady in our church while I went to our Girls Night youth group.  It was Sports and Nutrition night so we had a lady talk about eating healthy and then we played volleyball.  It was a bit of a smaller group but it was still really fun.  I was really encouraged because one of the girls really seems to be seeking for things in her life and I was excited to talk to her more about her need for Jesus in her life.  It was a bit of a late night so we crashed shortly after I got home.

Saturday:

Benjamin slept until 10:10am.  Yes, he slept until 10:00!!!!  I couldn't believe it.  Peter and I woke up at 8 and it was the first time in a long time I actually really wanted to get up in the morning because I felt refreshed.  We made waffles and enjoyed getting a few things done in the morning before he woke up.  I was busy getting some decorations together for a friend's baby shower that afternoon.  There was no real theme but we used bright primary colors and decorated with toy cars and things since she was having a boy.  I took Benjamin to the shower with me and he did great, taking a short 35 minute nap while we were there.  I was really pleased he was so good since we were there from 1-4.  He came home and napped from 4:30 until 6:30 when I had to wake him up.....can we say growth spurt???  Peter worked from 12:30 until about 5:45 so the day went by quickly.  That night we just played around and gave Benjamin his first "big boy" bath in our tub.  He was a bit unsure for about 10 seconds then quickly loved it.

Sunday:

Sunday morning was spent at church, it's been a great sermon series and Peter and I are really enjoying it.  After church we switched cars with our friends and took their mini-van because we were babysitting their kiddos overnight.  Benjamin was loving having Elijah, Haddie and Micah over.  We all ate a quick lunch at home so we could get the 2 youngest down for a nap.  They both napped 2 hours and then we headed to Chuck E. Cheese!!!!  Of course, when I tried to take a picture of us there my memory card was in my computer at home.  DUH.  Oh well, it was a great time!!  4 kids at Chuck E. Cheese is definitely a super fun workout.  Came home and got the kiddos to bed and we vegged for an hour before going to sleep ourselves.

Monday:

We woke up and got Elijah ready for school.  I made waffles and we all ate breakfast and played together.  Benjamin napped great in the morning and I did laundry and cooked dinner while he slept and the kids played with Play-Doh.  We had lunch, then during the afternoon nap Haddie and I painted nails and watched a Princess movie.  We picked Elijah up from school then played at McDonalds for almost an hour.  My son is SUCH a climber.  He climbed the entire playstructure ON. HIS. OWN.  No fear, no second guessing.  Just climbing.  I was of course, a few steps behind him but he didn't need me.  It was his first time in the playland and I think we're going to have a McDonalds playland junkie on our hands, ha :-)

We came home and did homework, and did crazy dances in the living room while dinner cooked.  Jeremy and Kristen came home just before dinner and we enjoyed catching up with them while we ate, we were so glad they had a great time.  We gave Benjamin a bath, I ran to Rite Aid really quick(maybe more on that later?) and Peter and I ate the Reese's Peanut Butter Cup cheesecake our friends brought back for us.  Um, yeah, THANK YOU, it was amazing. 

It was busy having 4 kids but it went so amazingly well, everyone was really good and I had a blast.

Tuesday:

Just played with little man this morning and now he's napping so I'm blogging.  And thinking about that cheesecake from last night.  Hmmm, maybe we should go to Portland tonight....Cheesecake Factory anyone?

Better go before this little cutie wakes up :-)

Ready for some football?

Benjamin sure is.  TOUCHDOWN!!

(I'm loving the Mr. Potato Head shirt!)

It's been a super busy weekend, and will be be busy until Monday night so I'll post about it all later.

Enjoy the Superbowl :-)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BENJAMIN!!!!

My precious baby boy turned ONE YEAR OLD today.

I can hardly believe it.  They say it goes by fast....and it sure does.

Sweet little Benjamin sleeping on his last night of "infanthood."

I love when he sleeps with his little bum in the air :-)

When he woke up in the morning it was his birthday!!!

He was still waking up but I was ready to wish him Happy Birthday

I had already finished almost everything for the party later in the day so we were free to just play and enjoy some fun together.

Benjamin took a pretty long morning nap so afterward we went for a late lunch and met Daddy at McDonalds where Benjamin got his first Happy Meal complete with a hamburger, apples and apple juice.

 He hasn't hardly had any juice at all so this was a treat!

I'm pretty sure he was enjoying himself :-)

After lunch we ran a really quick errand then came home to play a bit more before his afternoon nap.

He finally fell asleep and slept about 30 minutes before his party was ready to start....we had to go wake up our sleeping cutie!

Wake up little boy, it's PARTY TIME!

We didn't plan a huge event for his party, but we're super lucky because our amazing friends have a little boy who was born on February 3rd too...but a year earlier so he was turning 2 today.  We love that our little boys share the same birthday so we decided to have a little dinner party with our families.  It was perfect!

Even though we weren't having a huge party I still wanted to have a few little touches that Benjamin can see some day and know that his Mama was really excited that he was turning one.  I didn't have a "theme" but just used a few bright colors.  Here's the decor...

 little star banner made out of scrapbook paper and ribbon

 Happy Birthday banner made of scrapbook paper and ribbon

 close-up of the banner

 view of the "party table"

 close-up of the tissue paper pom poms I made....super easy and cost $1.  I made 3 of them, yellow, red and green

 Benjamin's smash cake.  He LOVES the book "The Little Mouse, the Red Ripe Strawberry and the Big Hungry Bear" so I thought it would be fitting.  Nothing fancy AT ALL but fit the bill

 the cake next to Benjamin's favorite page of the book

presents, cake, festive plates, M&M's??  What more do you need to celebrate?

We snacked on M&M's, then ate dinner of chicken spaghetti, fresh fruit salad, green beans, and garlic bread.

Then, it was time for presents :-)

 Peter with the birthday boys Micah and Benjamin

 Micah gets a new Wiggles DVD

 Benjamin gets a new Wiggles DVD too!

 He totally recognized Elmo on his new bathmat from Mommy & Daddy

 Micah now has a whole lot of Dart guns to choose from :-)

 I think he could get used to the whole present thing!

 figuring out his new spray bottle from his friends!

playing the Elmo guitar from Mommy & Daddy

It was fun to watch our little boys open a few toys.  It's so joyful to see your kids smiling faces!

Then it was time for CAKE.

 we sang Happy Birthday to Micah!

 then sang Happy Birthday to Benjamin

Haddie helped him blow out his candle

then he started the tradition all one year old's enjoy.  SMASH CAKE.  The pictures show it all.

Oh yeah, this birthday cake stuff is awesome!!!

We gave him a quick shower in the sink and then engaged in some dart gun wars.

It was a great night, thanks for coming over Zderads, we love you guys.

The rest of the evening was spent listening to family members sing "Happy Birthday" over the phone.

Benjamin would clap as they sang :-)

And we just played with our adorable little boy who is walking like a crazy man.  He is soooo steady and really getting the hang of it, it's fun to watch.

 "you do realize your free time is dwindling don't you Mama?" says Benjamin

 TOUCHDOWN!

 walking around with one of his balloons....he actually tried saying balloon tonight too!

tickle time with Daddy!

Like all parties, this one had to come to an end.  Pajamas and bedtime had finally arrived and it was time for night night.  I only teared up right at the end of the night in sheer amazement of how quickly my baby is growing.  I love him so much sometimes I feel my heart could burst.  Oh, I have my moments of impatience, but being Benjamin's mommy is the greatest thing to ever happen to me.  Seeing Peter as a Daddy is the most amazing gift to watch.  Slobbery kisses from my now one year old are the highlight of my day.

Benjamin Daniel Klingler, you are ONE!  You are crazy, goofy, independent, stubborn, curious, observant, lovable and perfect in our eyes.  We are so glad we get to be your parents and will do our best to raise you to know and love Jesus.  I just can't stop smiling when I think about you because you bring us so much JOY.  Today we celebrated your first year of life and we hope you'll be able to look back at these pictures someday and know how much we loved you now and how much we always will.

Happy Birthday Benjamin :-)

Crafts & Coupons

What a full day.....and soooo much better than yesterday!

Today was spent working on a few crafty things for Benjamin's 1st birthday party, running a few errands, cooking dinner, a bit of laundry, and making Benjamin's smash cake for Thursday.

(I'll post pictures of the few crafts after Thursday)

Ben was much happier today and actually took a nap, woo hoo!

Here's my little guy staring out the window after dinner tonight.

 

I'm kind of new to the coupon world, at least in a more serious way, so I am really learning a lot and loving how fun it is to get great deals.  Here's what I've bought the past 2 days.

*  2 Finish Dishwasher detergent systems

* 2 Halls cough drops

* 2 StayFree Maxi Pads

* 4 containers of Dreyer's ice cream

* 1 box of Motrin PM

* 2 jars of Jif Peanut Butter

* 2 Dawn dish soaps

* 2 boxes of Ritz crackers

* 1 Milky Way

* 1 bag of M&M's

* 1 bottle of contact cleaning solution

* 1 tub of Wet Ones wipes

Guess how much all of that cost me???????

$0.00

Yes, you read that right.  $0.  Nothing.  Nada.  ZERO.

In fact, the nice people at Rite Aid actually PAID ME $1.15 to take all of that stuff off of their hands.

It seriously makes me giddy to get a good deal!  Rain checks, price match, manufacturers coupons....these are all words in my vocabulary now :-)  Hey Peter, since I just saved us some money, can we go to Hawaii now??  Peter??  Peter??  Peter, can you hear me??  Oh nevermind.