Ben's 30th Birthday!

Ben is 30!! Yesterday was his real birthday!! We had a jam packed day, of course! Bridgit and Todd were here to celebrate from Iowa so we took the kiddies to the MOA so Ben could go on some rides :) Then we had a dinner party with our families and a few friends at Wiederholts... it was so much fun! We rented their party room so everyone got to hang out and chat before we had dinner! After dinner we went to Dugarels, a local bar in Hastings! After the bar we tried to go to Taco Bell but it was closed! What happened to them being open late?? So we headed to Perkins... not such a good idea... it was 1:30am! So we didn't crawl into bed until 3:00AM!! And of course Matthew was up at the crack of dawn... 6:45! UGH! It is going to be a long day but it was so worth it!! We had such a fun night!! Here are some pics!

Ben on the blues clues ride... Matthew was with him, but I think the photo is funny b/c he looks like he is all alone :)
Ben and his Wii! We surprised him! YAY! He loves it!

Ben and his cake

Ben and I at Dugarels :)

And Ben reflecting on his great b-day at Perkins! :)

Misc...

So I was going through my pics and found some fun things that we did in the past month that didn't make the blog! So here you go!

My sister found a new place for kids in Woodbury called "Little Kids, Big City" and it is set up like a little city. They have a grocery store, a fire engire, a car repair place and a post office. It is super cute. Matthew and Lukey had a blast until Matthew got into a fight over the fire hose... not a pretty site!

Here is M at that gorcery store.

And the car thing... they also had a station where you could put gas in and change the tires. CUTE!

And Matthew and Luke and part of my sister at the Post Office

And more post office...

And Lukey in the fire truck

Matthew has been taking naps in a big boy bed at daycare for weeks now. So he decided that he wanted to sleep in a big bed at home.... he and I went to Target to buy a rail and he was so excited... Ben got home late that night and put together the railing (see photo below with BIG SMILE). He finally finished at about 9... way past Matthew's bed time. So we go to put him in the bed and of course... he doesn't want to sleep in it. We have been trying for the past few weeks, not really pushing it though. And he isn't ready! he's 3, so we think it is about time... soon the crib will come down and we will have to play hard ball :( This is his room at my parent's house... it's my old room :) Isn't it so cute for him? Poor kids is going to have a complex sleeping in a girlie room!

Matthew has also enjoyed some baking! Here he is concentrating on decorating his cookie

And even better... eating it!

and the finished product... they are suppose to be bunnies... not sure why I did green frosting??

We also got in a trip to the zoo with Auntie Oopie, Marlowe, Dana and Kaden! I didn't take too many pics there, but here a few. :)

Matthew and Kaden checking out the aquarium...
And Marlowe loved the zoo sooo much that she slept right through it! :)

Spring has SPRUNG!!

The weather has been soooo great! Which means that Matthew and Daddy have been outside in their glory... playing playing playing!! Here are some shots from last night's "hockey game". Check out the sweet goalie pads :)


Not sure if he is trying to be a monkey or a goalie here??

One more thing...

Did I mention that I am single mom again this weekend? Ben got to go snowmobiling with his boss again! They left on Thursday morning at 6:30am for the U.P of Michigan where there is a ton of snow! They are having a great time! Except for when Ben took a corner a little too fast and fell off the snowmobile!!! Thank God he is OK but it could have been pretty bad had he not gotten out of the way! Stacy was on Angel Duty and watching out for him today! He will be home on Sunday so hopefully he will stay safe tomorrow too! We will keep praying for it! :) And I think that it scared him enough to be a little more cautious! Happy weekend to you all!

March updates

I have been neglecting the blog, so this could be a very long post... sorry! We have had lots of fun things going on! So I will show you what we have been up to with some pictures. Real quick though, I went to Grace's gymnastics competition in Milwaukee, with my mom, Mary (my sister in law), and Griffin! Correct, Matthew and Ben had a "guy's weekend"! It was fun to get away and very relaxing... I forgot the camera so I am very sad about that. But our Gracie girl kicked some fanny and got 1st in her level/age group! She is so talented and it is so fun to watch her! I am so very proud of her!! YAY Gracie!!

Matthew's b-day was on Monday! He is 3 now! He had a very fun day! I ran over to get donuts to start off the day. Also, the Birthday Fairy made a special trip over and decorated Matthew's room with balloons! (Of course I forgot to take a picture of that!) MeeMee and I took him to Pizza Hut for lunch and then the 3 of us met Daddy at the MOA for some rides and dinner! My dad was golfing in Vegas so he missed out on the fun! It was a great day! We had his 2nd family party on Wednesday and celebrated Elizabeth, Connor and my Grandma's b-day as well!

Here he is blowing out the first of many candles! :) We love to celebrate! :)And his big present from us... his first real bike! He loves it and is so excited that the snow is melting off the deck so he can ride around by himself! :)
So after all the festivities of the morning.... he took a bath and we always snuggle him up on our bed so he can watch cartoons before he gets dressed for the day... and he fell asleep... this was at about 9:30am! So cute! (the sheets were in the wash!)

He and MeeMee were on the balloon ride! He was so excited that she got to go with him! She hasn't been to the MOA with us before! :)

After the MOA we can home and he opened the rest of his presents from us and a few from MeeMee and Papa! He got a Hot Wheels rug to race his cars on... a big hit!

Here he is at his family party with his HOCKEY cake! He was so so so excited!! he would come up from playing to just to check it out.

Here is the whole gang that had b-days!
Opening MORE presents!

In his gear from the Michael and Mary... he wore this whole get-up home, under his coat and reused to take the helmet. he would have slept in it if I would have let him! He LOVES any type of equipment! So funny!

That ends the b-day extravaganza! :) Last night we stopped over to visit the Egan boys and they got him all dressed up as a goalie... he hasn't stopped talking about it ALL day! He was so proud! Connor and Cullen are the sweetest boys ever... they love to play with him!

We also had a visit from our favorite baby Marlowe!! She is getting so big! It was so fun to have them over! She is the sweetest, most perfect baby EVER!!
BABY FEVER!!!

The start of Matthew's b-day celebrations!

We had such a fun weekend! It was jam packed! Ashley and Jordan moved into their GORGEOUS new house!! We are so excited for them! Bridgit, Todd and the boys came up from Iowa to help, so we decided to celebrate some birthdays while they were here... Jordan's b-day is tomorrow, Calvin's is March 4th and Matthew's is March 9th! We had a birthday brunch this morning... we even sang Happy Birthday and put candles in the birthday boys' cinnamon rolls... then a little while later, we sang again and had DQ cake... YUM! Matthew will have another party on the 11th when we celebrate with my side of the family and have a joint party with Elizabeth who turns 10 tomorrow! YAY! Normally we have one big party for Matthew but it was hard to coordinate and we are trying to simplify.... not sure if we succeeded or not!?

We also had a party to celebrate my brother in law, Mike's mom! She was in the ICU about a year ago and had a prettty severe heart attack, they didn't think she would make it. She is a fighter and pulled through and is doing GREAT! So we went to a party to celebrate Mary Lee! What a great night it was! I forgot my camera though :(

Matthew and Carson blowing out the candles...
Matthew opening his big present from the Oakes', the Johnsons' and Grandma!He got a Leapster and even a game to go with it! He loves it!! He is actually sitting next to me playing it! :) Great idea Bridgit!!