Great Wolf Lodge Take 2!!!

Our family has found a fun little winter getaway that works great for us.  Great Wolf Lodge!  Our boys are little fish and spend all day in the water, its not that far from our house, and is the perfect way to get some quality time together in the middle of the winter blues.

We headed out 2 days before Ben's birthday and we were sooo excited.  When we arrived we discovered that the boys were going to be gifted free ice cream anytime they wanted for our entire stay because we were celebrating their birthdays.  Pretty much worth the 3 hour drive right there, ha ha!  It didn't take us very long at all to check into our room, change into our suits and head down to the waterpark.  We came last year, but since Ethan was not even 1 year old yet, he stayed with my sister.  He had no idea what to expect but it was super fun to watch the boys remember things and have the excitement build.

We just soaked up the quality time with our boys and had a great time watching our fish enjoy themselves.  We had scored a great deal on our stay which included a resort credit.  Since we ended up getting free ice cream for our stay, we saved money and ended up using part of the our resort credit to let the boys play a few arcade games.  This is something they never get to do so they were delighted.  It was a great evening and we all slept great.  The next morning we were right back down at the waterpark and ended up staying until around 3ish that afternoon.  We drove a little bit out of the way to hit a Chick-Fil-A for dinner (there were none close to us at the time) and it was delicious!!  We got home late of course but it was worth it, we will always have wonderful memories of this trip.  Our boys really do ask us about once a week if we can go back.  Sure boys, get a job, then sure :-)

Happy 4th Birthday Jonah!!

Jonah Caleb, there are really no words to describe what you mean to our family.  Each of our boys has their own special qualities and you are no different.  You are thoughtful, you are giving, you are sometimes shy, you are goofy, you are funny, you are a wonderful friend, you are a fantastic brother, you are capable, you are loving, you are Mommy's sweet boy forever, and you are the twinkle in your Daddy's eye and he never wants you to grow up.

We had big plans to celebrate your birthday with a fun trip (which you were to find out about in your presents) so we kept your actual birthday day a little more low key.  We celebrated with donuts in the morning (your favorite), played in the backyard, met Daddy for your birthday happy meal at McDonalds, and went to a friends basketball game before coming home for dinner and blowing out your birthday candy candles.  We were going to have your request of smores with our friends the next evening so that's why you got a few candies on your actual birthday.  Since candy is your love language, you certainly didn't seem to mind!

You had a few fun gifts from your Auntie Amanda and Nana, a new movie from mom and dad, and your big present was finding out that we were going to go back to Great Wolf Lodge in 1 week.  You opened up our magnet from our trip last year, and when you realized what it meant, you and Ben were super excited.  It was a combination present for you and Ben since your birthdays are 10 days apart and I think it sure was a hit!

Jonah Caleb, you are such a joy in our family and we could not possibly love you more.  Happy 4th Birthday little guy!

Winter randoms

Sunday morning picture

When I take a picture on Sunday morning this is the one you save....

when it reality most of them look like this.....a more accurate representation of picture taking with 3 boys!

Ben lost his first tooth!

It was family movie night and although I can't remember if we were eating our usual pizza, I do know Ben was eating a mandarin orange and he was really slow in eating it and said it was hard to chew.  I thought he was being silly but before you know it, he had a tooth dangling!  It didn't even cross my mind that this was a possibility so it was a bit of a shock to us both.  It actually kind of freaked him out and he was crying, I think because he thought something was wrong and he would lose his tooth forever.  Peter ended up wriggling it out and just like that, our first little boy lost his first tooth.

Of course, the tooth fairy came for a visit and even though the boys know the fairy isn't real, its still a fun little thing for them.  Little Benjamin just keeps growing up!!