The Park

Our weather has been crazy. It'll drop to 20 degrees one day and then hit 50 the next. On a warmer day, we went to the park to try to shake the winter blues.

Let It Snow

We were sad to have my parents leave.  We took them to the airport only to find their flight had been canceled.  No one really seemed to know exactly why, other than because of weather.  They were originally told they couldn't get them out for four days.  Which wasn't going to work.  But they ended up getting a flight out of Tulsa so they rented a car and headed out.  We offered to drive but they felt it was best to just rent.  We were glad they made it and were able to get everything done they needed to do the next day.  We sure do miss them though.  We felt like the kids needed some extra attention after having to send Grandma and Grandpa off.  This was our second snow storm but our first time going out to play in it.  I was feeling some major mommy guilt about that.  So I am so glad we suited up and headed out.  It was a lot of fun.  The snow wasn't the best for a snowman but we did make an awesome fort.  I never took a picture of the finished product though.  Darn it. 

Jon's Birthday

On Sunday, there was a crazy storm.  Church was canceled for -26 wind chill, along with tons and tons of snow.  I think around 8 inches.  It was hard to tell because of all the snow drifts.  The plan originally was to drive up to KC on Sunday night so Jon and I could go to the temple on Monday.  Well that storm pretty much obliterated that plan.  We still had a special dinner on Sunday night with our all time favorite bacon wrapped shrimp.  It sounds good, but when you add pepperjack cheese it just about knocks your socks off.  My parents both loved it as much as Jon and I do.  On Jon's Birthday we decided to brave the cold since it had stopped snowing.  The plows had come through our neighborhood so we figured things would be decent.  Haha wrong.  I slid off the rode into one of the giant steel cables and mangled our new van.  Yes, shed a tear.  It was sad.  The damage was all cosmetic and not too bad really.  But it still hurts.  We took on the elements to go bowling.  Another first for the kids.  I rocked the house with my bowling skills.  The kids had a serious advvantage with their bumpers and a ramp, but seriously?  I'm ridiculous.  After bowling, my parents took the kids to McDonalds.  Jon and I went to the dollar theater and saw Ender's Game.  Another good show.  Kind of funny that we had never been to the theaters here in Springfield and then went twice in a week. 

For the birthday dinner, we made a mock-off of Applebees salad.  It was pretty fabulous if I do say so myself.  I also made a yellow cake with chocolate frosting.  I had saved like 12 egg yolks from an angel food cake I made so I wanted to use them up.  This was a perfect opportunity.  I thought it was a really good cake.  Cake isn't usually Jon's first choice but he's a good sport with my culinary experiments.  And I make him his fav chocolate chip cookies quite often.

I wanted to get him a new grill for his birthday.  My dad and I went and shopped around a bit but we decided to see if we could get Jon's grill working.  We did!  Yay!  But now I was idea-less for Jon's birthday.  Boo.  I still haven't fulfilled that birthday gift but we are leaning towards a router table.

Vanessa's OMG meet

It's Ozark Mountain Gymnastics, not the other acronym you were thinking.  Here is our gymnast pre-meet.  She is growing up so fast.  She's pretty adorable too.

 

Vanessa took second over-all.  They score each event individually and then give an average, or overall, score.  They did vault first and she did great.  Although it was pretty funny after each jump, she would turn and look to Tiffany (her coach) to see what she was supposed to do next.  I'm sure she knows what she should do.  Maybe she was trying to gauge how well she did on the jump, I'm not sure.  She did great on the bars.  She got all the way around by herself one time but did need a little bit of a spot.  I was thrilled to see her rock her dismount on the beam.  She has done a great dismount before, but never in a meet.  I was so proud of her.  Her floor routine was not her best but she still did great.  She seemed to remember the end better than she has in the past.  As Vanessa was looking over these pictures with me she said, "Mom!  I look like a champion!"  She definitely is to me!

 

Parents Come To Town

Jon had New Years Day off so we took the kids to their very first movie at the Theaters.  They honestly didn't even know what a theater was.  Because at first they didn't want to go and we had to tell them what it would be like.  I forgot to get a picture at the Theater with everyone but here is our embarrassingly large portions of left over snacks.  We absolutely loved the movie.  Brig stayed awake and silent through the entire thing!  He sat on Grandpa's lap and ate popcorn and drank Pepsi.  He's an addict.  It's seriously a problem.  Benson got really scared during the snowman fighting scene and said he wanted to go home.  Vanessa kept covering her eyes and asking my mom what was happening.  And Benson almost started crying at the sad part at the end (I'm not saying specifically in case anyone hasn't seen it).  His lips were quivering and his eyes were brimming a bit.
Dinner on New Years Day we had Mongolian Beef.  It's Jon's favorite and most requested dinner.

 

There were two days that Jon still had to work so one of those days we took the kids to Chuck E Cheese.  I know a lot of parents hate this place but I think it's worth the $10.  I don't have to argue with my kids about getting a ride on the rip off toys placed around shopping malls, etc.  Now I can simply say, we'll go to Chuck E Cheese sometime.  Vanessa's favorite this time was the tunnel and Benson loved whizzing around in his chair collecting tickets people left behind.

New Years Eve

My parents got in around noon which means they had to leave Utah around 5am.  Ugh, that's early.  We tried to make the kids let them rest for a bit once we got back to the house but that didn't really happen.  As soon as Jon got home, we opened presents.  My parents absolutely love to spoil these kids.  They got Vanessa a huge Barbie doll house.  It came with tons of furniture and it is huge.  Benson got Marble Works and a Disney Cars geotrax.  Brigham got a balance bike and the Dusty airplane.  They all got lots of books as well. 

 

 For dinner that night we had pot stickers and shrimp scampi.  We had Cheesecake Factory Cheesecake for dessert.

To Remember the Little Moments

Benson took a late nap so the plan is to let him watch a movie while I do some photog reading.  We have to get everything all settled in.

Me: " should we put your tubie in while we watch the movie?"

Benson: "No. Mom, I'll be fine."

I laughed out loud while reading.

Benson: "why are you laughing?"

Me: "I just read something funny."

Benson: "oh. Can you read it to me?"

Benson: "how do we Pause the movie?"

I show him. And then put my arms by him.

Benson: "mom! Move your arms! I need to lay down." As he lays where my arms had been. 

Me: "are you getting tired?"

Benson: "no. I'm just taking a rest."

Benson is now laying down pausing the movie over and over.

Vanessa walked into the bathroom, and I hadn't closed the door. 
Vanessa: "Mom, I'm going to close the door for you so Daddy doesn't see you naked."

Me: "Benson, Amy and Julie (PTs) are coming to play with you this afternoon."
Benson: "Hm.  Well, uh, hm.  Ok."

Benson was having a rough day this day. By 10am he called out from the playroom that he needed the bumbo. He hasn't been able to sit up more than a few minutes at a time. Here's his routine for getting his head up in the Bumbo.

Vanessa being a big helper!

This is one of those conversations Vanessa will one day hate me for document sting but I was laughing so hard.

Vanessa: "Mom, I need help wiping. I need a wipe. Not toilet paper. I used a lot and it's not working."

Me: "ok. Here."

Vanessa: "Mom. I had the biggest poop ever. It was this big!" Shows me with her hands

Me: "haha. Really?! That's good. Did you poop yesterday?" (Thinking maybe she hadn't pooped for a day, hence the size)

Vanessa: " ya. I'm just a pooping machine!"

Me: laughing really hard "that's awesome!" Vanessa totally got embarrased that I laughed tho :)

Vanessa: "what can water be?"

Jon: "steam, liquid or ice."

Vanessa: "that's it? Liquid? Really?"

Benson: "I wan to be Red. And Vanessa can be Princess Peace. And Brigham can be Super Y."

Me: "ok. I'll be Pig."

Benson: "no. He's a boy. Daddy can be Pig."

Me: "what's Red?"

Benson: "she's kind of a boy. But kind of a girl."

Family Fun

Jon did have Christmas day off but he still had to work the rest of the week.  So the week felt pretty ordinary.  We tried to spruce things up with some fun activities but it was mostly just regular life at the house.  The Friday after Christmas, we decided to head down to Silver Dollar City.  My issues with this place are vast, but we wanted a fun activity and we do have season passes after all.  Might as well get one more use out of them.  We took Benson's print out of his well-child check showing he is 36" tall.  And left it in the car.  Awesome.  But, the measurement station was closed anyway, since it was evening.  So we would have had to discuss his height with every ride operator and it would have been a case by case basis.  Oh well, the season is over and I don't have to feel guilty for not taking the kids every month.  We at least got full use out of the passes by going enough that they paid for themselves.  My issues aside, it was still fun.  It was downright crazy getting around.  We didn't think it would be so packed but we were dead wrong.  They have all kinds of Christmas shows and a light parade.  So that's what draws the crowds.  Every person that walked by in the light parade tried to shake Benson's hand and he wasn't having it.  He wouldn't even look at them.  He tends be a bit shy sometimes.  Benson did awesome in his chair.  It was so crowded and I think he only ran into one person.  He took both me and Jon out pretty good but we're used to it ;)  Towards the end of the evening the poor kid was exhausted and we had to have Vanessa drive it out of the park.  He literally couldn't even keep his head up.  He was driving blind.

 

A few shots of the random chaos that goes down around here.  We have been watching an embarrassingly large amount of movies.  But this weather is killing me.  My patient and creativity only go so far.  We play lots of tag and hide and seek.  Rocky loves to get in on the action, but the kids aren't such a fan of him playing.  He tends to knock them over.  Except Benson.  Benson dominates everyone with his chair ;)

 

On New Year's Eve we were so excited to go meet my parents at the airport!  We were absolutely thrilled to have them come visit.  We kept all the Christmas décor up and made the kids wait to open their gifts from Grandma and Grandpa. It made Christmas last that much longer, which is always a good thing.