25 days until C-H-R-I-S-T-M-A-S!!!

Ben and I made a countdown!

You'll also notice that we "cut" his hair. I use that term loosely because we actually buzzed it. I miss his hair, but I think it will look nice as it starts to grow out! Caleb did a great job making it all even!

Thanksgiving Picture

Taken before I got really sick and we had to leave Charlotte earlier than planned!

(Back- Jill, Cam, Casey, Alanna, Carson, Me, Caleb.

Seated- Mom and Dad Weir. Wagon- Alex, Ben. Held- Emory)

Cousins!

Before you squash my holiday spirit, please hear me out…

I volunteered to plan Ben’s daycare class party. I really get into Christmas, so I thought it would be a lot of fun.

So far, I have a Santa Sock Hop theme. I thought it would be appropriate since we always have to take off our shoes to enter the infant room. AND….since Ben is the only boy in the class, he could dress up like Santa. All the cute little baby girls would get to wear Christmas socks and jingle Christmas bells while holiday music played.

I also plan to bring in a big white blanket to lay in the middle of the room which would serve as our “snow-covered” dance floor.

But then, I’m at a loss…..I’m trying to figure out cute little games or activities- some of which involve all the babies at once and others that can be done when each of the babies is in their “good mood” for the day. (If you’ve ever ventured into an infant room, you know that there are very rare moments when all the babies are happy/fed/changed/rested/etc.) Any ideas would be appreciated…

Ideas Needed:

Food
Games
Crafts
Activities
Decorations

Also, I found a really cute saying for a onesie that I hope I have time to make! I want Ben to wear a shirt that reads “Result of Mommy Kissing Santa”! Too fun!

BTW- there is a survey so you can tell me what you really think without me knowing how much of a Christmas scrooge you really are!

Turkey Cookies: Take 2

Aren't my turkey cookies beautiful?? (See this post for more information)

Explanantion: Last night, I used the correct amount of butter, which produced perfectly cooked cookies for the base of my "project":
Then I burned all the feathers! Like REALLY burned them!
Like "I was reading people's blogs and forgot they were in the oven" burned!

So, I threw out the feathers and made these beauties:

Turkeys are over-rated anyway!

Have a Happy Thanksgiving!

New Look For Winter!

I got my hair cut and highlighted this past week-end...YAY! The color did not show up enough for me, so I am going back to have it re-done.

This was an early morning picture (pre coffee), but you get the idea:

In other news, Ben and I are weaning! (Possibly more information than you wanted to know.) We've been cutting out nursing sessions over the last two weeks. He seems fine with this. He has slowly been losing interest....and I am just proud of myself for doing it as long as we have. Hopefully I will not have too many more sore days ahead of me!

Stupid Turkeys! No Wonder We Eat You!

I now know why I am an accountant!

Because THIS:

Does NOT look like THIS:
Where should I begin??

Last night, I had my "practice run" for Ben's Daycare cookies! First of all, let me begin by saying that the Betty Crocker recipe people are LIARS! Their directions SUCK!

Turkeys are supposed to be brown, right?? I had to keep telling myself that as each cookie BURNED!

If you go back and compare my cookies to the picture, you will see some obvious differences:

1) My Wattle/Gobbler thingey looks like a tongue. Ooops!

2) Definitely could not figure out the eyes. My turkeys actually somewhat resembled the basic concept of the (FAKE) Crocker cookies until I butchered them with the eyes!

3) My turkeys are brown because I actually cooked the cookies. I KNOW the LIARS used uncooked cookies. Otherwise, how would they have not even browned them one bit?? I can't serve RAW cookie dough to kids! Come On!

4) I bought the wrong sprinkles for the feathers. Shut Up!

5) My turkey beaks look like smiles! (I was NOT smiling as I made them!)

Here are some more pictures for your ridicule. But, in my defense, I was set up! There were too many odds against me.
This is William and his buddies:
Caleb got to eat Bob (The one is the first picture):

Unfortunately, I did NOT learn my lesson....so I will be making more turkeys tonight. Hopefully I learned a few things....

Inspiration

Ben is having a Thanksgiving party at school. I signed up to bring cookies. I am going to attempt to make these. Should be interesting....

Ben's Pictures!

Last month, Rebecca took pictures of Ben at his daycare. She is amazing. I love all the unique shots that she captures....not to mention Ben's signature smiles. Every time I look at the pictures, I see more that are my favorite! Hope you enjoy these:

Father and Son- not your typical picture, though. Brilliant!

Ben checking out his wall of pictures from when he was a baby!

Signature smile!

Ben vs The Mountain o' Toys

"What? This is how I play!"

He knows he's doing something silly....you can read that all over our faces!

Here's one for the wall!

Here is the link to the slide show: http://www.flickr.com/photos/rebeccaneubert/sets/72157609271829213/show/ (Rebecca, let me know if you would rather that I not post this!)

Hurricanes Hockey Game!

We scored some Canes tickets and thought it would be a really good idea to invite friends we have not had the chance to spend time with in a while! We had so much fun!! Kerry, David, Kelly, JD, Carson, Caleb and I rocked out our cheap Canes' T-shirts (with coats 'cause it's cold and snows in the stadium)!

The Canes won in overtime after a shoot-out. I think Kerry was even screaming by the end of the game.

All in all, it was a nice time with friends! Carson was such a good little boy the whole game....and Caleb's brother and his girlfriend watched Ben for us while we were there!! It was a nice, unexpected treat for the week-end.

Kelly, Me and Kerry

Caleb, David and JD

Date Night!


Had to get a picture of the zamboni! (These are Kerry's pictures, so I thought I should post it!)

Look at little Carson sitting in his own seat! They had to hold it down because he was so light. Too cute!

It was Carson's first Hockey game!

Ben's First Haircut at Magic Kingdom!

Flashback to Disney! One of my favorite things that we did the whole trip was get Ben's First Haircut!! There was a little barber shop on Main Street where he was covered with stickers (so he would stay still and look down), where he endured the clippers and the shearers and where he received his Mickey Mouse ears which read "First Hair Cut" on the back. Enjoy the pictures:

The before shot!

More interested in the stickers than the slippers!

Eating the stickers!

The stickers didn't work once the razor came out!

What do you think, Ben?

"First Haircut" ears

Family Shots!

What's New??

Just thought I would share some new things that I have either forgotten to mention or just over-looked.

Caleb and I are finding out what it is like to "be a real family". He was offered a position which allows him to work Mon-Fri, 7:00-3:00. In light of this news, I changed my hours so that I now work 7:30-4:00. This allows me to drop Ben off in the morning and for Caleb to pick him up. We love the new schedule and especially like having all week-end's off together. Caleb can still work off-duty.....we'll see how long it lasts, but for now, we love it.

Ben is walking now. Last night he even turned around to change directions. I am amazed every day at how blessed we are to have him in our lives.

Oh yeah! Almost forgot! All 280 (or 208) temporary employees with Revenue will be jobless as of November 30. We were also told that if things are not improving, permanent positions will be up for the axe as of February 1.

S-C-A-R-Y!

I still don't understand how cutting positions at Revenue will help the given economic state. Aren't we the ones collecting the money to pay for all the stupid....I'll just stop there! You get the point!

I did NOT want to go to work this morning.....because it meant I had to leave THIS:

Our friends' parents own a beach house. Now, when I say beach house, I mean "The Mother of All Beach Houses"! We were able to use it all week-end....and it was one of the best trips I have ever had =0)

THANK YOU JD, Pam, Kelli, Joel and Jacob for opening up your home to us!

We had every bed filled! My father, stepmother and two brothers joined us from my side of the fam. Caleb's father, mother, brother, brother's girlfriend, sister and sister's friend made it from his side.

Caleb and I felt like we owned a bed and breakfast because we were able to play host and hostess while all the grandparents tended to Ben! It was so nice to be able to invite our family to the beach and then watch them truly relax!

Here are some pictures of the house:

The house faces south which meant we had beautiful views of the sunrise and the sunset!

My parents slept here:

Huge common areas abound!

The kitchen and a dining room table is to the right that seated all 12 of us plus a high chair for Ben!

Our Room:

Caleb's Parents' Room:

Philip and Scott each had their own room!

Casey's girlfriend, Caleb's sister and her friend loved this room. Check out the double or queen sized bunk beds:

More common areas:

Casey's face lit up when he heard he had his own king bed to sleep on! Casey is REALLY tall!

Ben even had his "own room" in the owner's closet. He was the best baby ALL week-end! Again, we could not have asked for better weather, a better tempered baby or better company!