Benny Boo is 7!

It's hard to believe my baby is 7--but I feel like that every year. He is becoming so mature. He's a sweet mama's boy who loves to learn and remembers absolutely everything. He's awesome in math and reading but prefers art and recess. He loves baseball, airplanes, Nerf guns, animals (esp lions, tigers, etc.), Star Wars, Legos, Jurassic World, and dinosaurs. He's starting to get that pre-teen attitude already with some talking back and thinking he makes the rules. Sigh. But he can be so sweet to his sister, speaks so intelligently/thoughtfully most of the time, and is becoming an awesome little guy. I just adore this kid.

Stats: 49", 56 pounds, size 1 shoe, size 7 (or small) clothes; favorite foods are shrimp and wonton soup; favorite color is blue.

Ben's birthday landed on a Friday, which is our weekly Dunkin Donuts day, so we started out there.

Then he headed to school, where he got to wear a birthday crown and his class sang him happy birthday. I had a half day, so my plan was to pick him up from school (rather than have him bused to Creative World like usual) and do something special, then get Liv and have dinner at a place of Ben's choice. But of course at noon daycare called to say Liv was sick, so there went those plans! :-)

Ben requested brownies instead of cake for his birthday, so Liv and I whipped him up a batch before we picked him up from school. Does this kid look sick---yeah...she's already learn how to manipulate the system.

That afternoon we went to Panera Bread for dinner at Ben's request (where Liv may or may not have spilled an entire strawberry smoothie on the carpeted floor minutes after we sat down, then proceeded to high-five and tell the kid who was lucky enough to get to clean up that mess that he was "totally awesome.")

When Dad got home, Ben opened presents from mom, dad, and Liv. Nerf bullets and another Nerf gun, a few PS4 games, and the much-asked-for Kindle Fire for kids.

That is a look of amazement as he opened the Kindle Fire, not disappointment. #hardtotell

The next day he had a party with 12 friends at Naperville Yard, where they do Nerf Wars. Ben picked out some crap at Party City for the gift bags (nerf-colored candy, some army toys, etc.), and that was about it for prep except ordering the cake. #mykindofparty

Ben was ready for the games to begin!

Before the Nerf war portion of the party, they played in a climbing tower and later played in inflatables.

 Trouble!!!

We wrapped it up with pizza and cupcakes and called it a day. I was more beat than the kids!

Happy birthday, Benny Boo.

Happy 70th Birthday Papa

Papa is a New Year's Day baby, and this new year he turned 70. Nana threw him a big party at Silver Lake. Liv was the life of the party, dancing and charming everyone. Ben did a little dancing, a little mingling, and tried his first kiddie cocktail--sprite and grenadine? A match made in heave for Ben, who adores both sprite and cherries. Overall, a fun night with the family.

Happy birthday, Papa!

Christmas Wrap-Up

Here is a quick wrap-up of Christmas. As I was still recovering from surgery, I wasn't really up for much this year. But we did still try to make it special for the kiddos. I heart Christmas.

First up, Liv's first holiday concert for Creative World. 

Chatting up Santa.

Christmas Eve!

Christmas morning!

Christmas dinner.

Until next year, Santa!

Fall Happenings

While the weather lately hasn't felt like fall (it was 72 degrees yesterday!), the leaves on the ground are a dead giveaway. And the turkey prep for Thanksgiving.

The kids were excited to help rake this year, so I bought them each a little rake and they "helped" Mike.

Check out some videos of the leaf-jumping fun:





We also bought a turkey a few weeks before Thanksgiving so that Mike could try out a new technique, spatchcocking. It was a hit--very juicy though the skin didn't get as crisp as Mike would like. Ben was allllll over helping prep the turkey (he loves big cats so he thought "prepping a tiger's dinner" would be fun--okie dokie...)

We also enjoyed the last of the nice weather with S'mores in the backyard in the firepit.

It's supposed to cool down soon to more normal November weather for these parts, but for now we are enjoying the warm days.

Around Here Lately

Since I'm way behind in blogging, here is a recap of things lately:

1. New faucet. Our old kitchen faucet finally died. I didn't want to spend money on a new one when we are planning to get new counters, sink and faucet in the next year or two. But the nice guy at Lowe's explained that a new one can be installed now in our current 4-hole setup and then used later for the 1-hole installation that I prefer when we get new counters. So I was able to spend money on a higher-priced (nothing crazy) faucet, knowing I will be able to use it for years to come. Mike installed it, saving us a little money.

2. Entryway update. I added this round, gold mirror that Emily Clarke featured in a room reveal on her blog. I knew this old, outdated faux leather ottoman and black mirror needed to be replaced, and when I saw this mirror, I knew I had a winner.

Out with the old, in with the new! (And I hung it a little lower so that shorties like me can actually see themselves without standing on tip-toes.)

While I was at it, I decided to put the show cabinet on this wall, freeing up space on the opposite wall. I envision a bench over there, but it needs to be narrow so I'm still debating/window-shopping.

3. Wreath swap. This wreath was hanging on the large mirror in the family room, but it was too small. I bought some cute striped ribbon at Michael and hung it on the smaller chalkboard instead.

Back Up and Running

If you've noticed my radio silence, blame Windows.

Ourr laptop met an untimely demise thanks to stupid Microsoft's stupid Windows 10 forced update gone terribly wrong (and unauthorized, might I add). I was unable to blog for a while as I weighed my options. I refuse to buy another Windows OS matching, so Mac it is. But we have a few more pressing financial goals right now (new floors, new paint, etc.), so I hate to spend 2k on a computer.

I was chatting with Mom about this issue and realized that I really only use the laptop to write blog posts (because I hate using the iPad keyboard) and print things. Enter the Anker wireless keyboard. With the purchase of this $20 keyboard, my first problem was solved. With the purchase of a $100 printer that supports AirPrint, my second problem was solved...saving me quite a bit of money replacing the computer.

Down the road I'm sure we'll bite the bullet and buy a laptop. Until then, this solution is working out quite nicely. I hope to be blogging more regularly now that I've gotten past my computer woes.