Busy Birthday Weekend

Saturday started off with Chris heading to work to pick up some things that he had forgotten for the party.  I got Bennett dressed and then we headed off to the grocery store for some cake related items.  We got home and started making the cake.  Chris got home just as it was about to go into the oven.  I put them in the oven, instructed Chris to check on them and take them out when ready, and then headed out to get balloons.  (Yay for hi-float which allows latex balloons to last about a week or so.)

When I got back, Bennett and Chris were on the couch watching Thomas.

Next on the agenda was grocery shopping- both for party food and food for the week.  (Yes, I know I had just gone to the store a few hours earlier, but that was just a quick trip to a close store for a few essentials and this was to a store slightly further away but that we like better.)

On the way home we stopped at the church's yard sale and picked up a game and a book.

Then it was time for lunch and nap.  Chris and I worked on a few party related tasks during nap, which was shorter than we would have liked.

Because nap was short there was a bit of time for playing before we headed out for our evening activity. 

Me: Bennett, please go to the front hall and put your shoes on.
Bennett: Noooo.
M: We're going to go to Sturbridge.
B: Yay! Sturbridge! (As he ran to the front hall.)

Yup, you read that right.  We were off to Sturbridge.  They were having a Harvest Party.  They were firing the kiln, firing barrels, the blacksmith, tinsmith and potters were working, there was a barn dance, fresh mulled cider, musicians, and lots more.  Bennett really liked watching one of the bands and stayed still for quite a while.  He also wanted to know where all the animals were, but by that point we couldn't find any of the regulars to ask.

He fell asleep in the car on the way home and went straight to bed.

On Sunday he woke up to a surprise visitor.  Grandpa had spent the night with us!  Grandpa also took Bennett for a few hours so that we could get the house decorated for the party.  This was helpful as we didn't have to be keeping an eye on Bennett and answering all his questions, but we also wanted to surprise him with all the decorations.  He wasn't quite as excited as we thought he would be, but after lunch and nap he seemed to like the decorations a bit more.  Before nap we were able to get one last monthly photo.

And here are a few pictures of opening presents from us as well as some other people who weren't able to make it to the party.

It's a Texas Longhorn which we're pretending is an oxen.  The horns look like those of Lance and Henry, but the coloring is more similar to Doc and Blue.

Someone likes his oxen!

Zingo Bingo, or as Bennett would say, "Mingo Mingo"

 Stay tuned for all of the party pictures!

Happy (almost) birthday!

Since many readers of this blog may wish to get Bennett a present, I thought I would share this here.  (However, presents are by no means necessary.)

As you are likely aware, Bennett is a huge fan of Curious George.  He already has quite a few books, but I'm sure he would love even more.  His favorite book seems to change every few days, but he pretty consistently picks a Curious George book.

His Amazon wish list has a few Curious George titles that he doesn't have yet (although there are many that aren't on the list) as well as a number of other ideas if you don't want to get anything Curious George.

Also, in an attempt to avoid duplicates, here's a list of the books that we already own/ know he will be getting.

Chris and I both like to be surprised by the gifts that Bennett gets, so please don't feel that you need to tell us what you are getting.  If you are concerned about him receiving duplicate gifts, you might want to consider including a gift receipt, if at all possible.  I do know that people have already bought him a few Curious George items from Kohl's as well as from Zulily so you might want to avoid those sources.

Other things that he likes playing with are his kitchen (he has more than enough fruits and veggies already), building with his Duplos, playing his pretend fife or shooting his pretend musket, firetrucks, and doing puzzles (he does 24 piece puzzles quickly and is likely ready for more of a challenge).  He also really likes farm animals, especially oxen.  (Unfortunately there aren't really any oxen toys readily available, or at least not that we've found.  We did just pick up a couple of Longhorn Bulls that are moderately similar.)

Due to generous hand me downs, Bennett doesn't need any new clothes, but if you want to get those for him I would suggest 3T pants (he's currently in 2T shorts, but I have a feeling his pants of the same size may be a bit short) and 3T or 4T shirts (he currently wears 3T shirts).  We just bought him size 9 shoes which are a smidge big, but not by much.

Hope these  ideas help!

Basketball, surfing, Curious George, and Sturbridge

Continuing the trend of late blog posts, here's what we did last week.

A co-worker of mine gave us a basketball hoop that his kids have outgrown.  It's perfect for Bennett as he's still using it on the lowest height.  He does ask frequently to go play basketball, but I think mostly it's Chris and I shooting baskets.

The theme for the week at school was "Beach Week" so one day they made boogie boards.  Here's Bennett using it as a surfboard.

One night Kelly texted me a photo of her kids working on their Derby cars.  Bennett asked to see it, and then he wanted to show me his "phone" with pictures of DJ, Davis, and Lydia.  And then we FaceTimed with Kelly and he got to see some of the kids.

We got Curious George Flies a Kite from the library.  (Why it's 3 times as long as the other books, I have no idea!)  As I was reading it one night I noticed the license plate on the car in one of the pictures.  Hmm, was this the 5th CG book that they wrote?  Why yes, yes it was.

And speaking of Curious George, apparently it's very important for George to sit with you while you watch Curious George on TV.

And now for our weekend.

For those keeping track, we've now been to Sturbridge for 8 weeks in a row.  Looking at their schedule for the coming weeks, they have events that we might want to go to every week except for two until November 9th.  So we could potentially end up going 21 consecutive weeks.  That would ultimately put our cost at less than $2 per visit.  And the per person would be less than $1 per visit.  Yup, that membership was definitely worth it!

Daddy got in on the cutout photo fun.

Bennett tried out the stilts.  He needs practice still.  Maybe he needs his own set?

On Sunday we were on our way to Nana and Grandpa's house.  We had a bit of extra time so we decided to run an errand.  I mentioned to Bennett that we were stopping at the store so that I could get something for his birthday party and he got very excited.  And truth be told, Chris and I are getting pretty excited about his party as well.  Hopefully all of our ideas turn out the way we are envisioning.  The invitations are about 2/3 done and I hope to get those wrapped up this week.  When do people normally mail children's birthday party invitations?  This coming weekend would be a little over a month before the party.  Too soon?  Just right?

Birthdays and ice cutting

Bennett turned 2 years, 4 months old.  Recently when people ask me his age I've been tempted to say that he's almost two and a half, but he really isn't.  A lot of development can still take place in those two months.

More fun playing with play-dough.  This time Daddy joined in, making a giraffe which then danced around for a bit.  For now we're sticking to one of the rules from school which is that you can only play with one color at a time.  This means we don't end up with nasty mixed together colors.  I'm sure down the line this might change as we want to make cooler items with multiple colors, but for now when all he wants to do is roll things out and cut them up, it works just fine.

I know this will come as a surprise to all of you, but on Sunday we went to Sturbridge again.  This past weekend was "Fire and Ice".  It's an event they have in both summer and winter.  In the summer there are antique firetrucks and icecream.  I'm not sure where the fire was in the winter, but there was ice cutting for the first time in a number of years.  Chris even got a chance to give it a try.  And then was interviewed for a promotional video that they were making.  It was very cold (I think it got up to about 30 degrees when we left) so we didn't stick around for too long.

In the evening we went to a surprise party to celebrate Auntie Hanna's 18th birthday.  Hard to believe that the little girl who was 3 years old when I first met her is now about to graduate from high school!

While we were at the party Uncle Andrew did some push-ups with a wriggly 30ish pound weight on his back.



The past couple of weeks

Here are a few things from our adventures over the past couple of weeks.
Bennett has always been a pretty picky eater.  He will consistently eat yogurt and pretty much any fruit, but that's about it.  Over the past couple of weeks he's surprised us with how well he's eaten some new (to him) foods.  Granted most of these aren't the healthiest, but at least he's eating.  And a couple of them he had previously rejected, so this is progress.  We can now say that he eats:

• Pizza
• Tacos,
• Salad
• Sour cream
• Cheeseburgers

What would have been Bennett's second skaing lesson was a bust.  The boy has a bit of OCD and he didn't like the fact that his helmet was in the skating bag and not on the shelf where it has lived for the entire summer/fall.  Unbeknownst to us, he took it out of the bag and put it on the shelf.  We only realized this after we got to the rink and had skates on.  We checked at the rental desk and in the lost and found box to see if there was a spare we could use, but no such luck.  And for kids, no helmet means no skating. So Mummy stayed off the ice with Bennett while Daddy skated.  Which was probably a good thing because Daddy needs more practice.  :) The following week we made sure we had the helmet and we think Bennett had a good class.  I asked one of the teachers how he did, and she said, "he can't get up, and he can't move on his own, but he was smiling."  Well, I guess if he's smiling he must have been having fun, right?  And we certainly aren't expecting him to be able to stand or skate on his own after only a couple of lessons.  It's just tough to see how he's doing since Chris and I have our lessons down at the other end of the rink.  Since none of the other parents of the Tot class are skating, they get to stand and watch and have a better idea of how the lesson went.

We came up with an idea for our holiday cards this year!  I really like the idea, but now I just need to find the time to execute it.  Making the necessary costume shouldn't be too difficult (I hope) but I need to get another big craft project finished up before I can begin.  However, we did pick up a necessary clothing item.  Hopefully Bennett won't be traumatized when he gets older and he realizes that I put him in girl's clothing.  :)

Mummy had a haircut on Saturday.  Bennett and Daddy tagged along because we were headed out afterwards and it was easier than me running home first to get them.  So Bennett did what everyone else in the waiting area was doing- reading magazines.  I didn't get a picture, but he selected Wine Officianado as his reading selection.  

When we got home later in the day, Bennett helped with some chores.  I think he needs a little more practice wrapping the cord on the vacuum cleaner.

We went and had our annual family pictures taken.  I'll share those pictures in a month or so after people get them for Christmas gifts.  While we were getting ready that morning Bennett lay down on our bed and had Daddy read him a book.  He'd never sat like this for a book before it came in handy when we wanted him to do a similar pose when we went in for our pictures.

Over the past couple of weeks we've had a number of chances for Bennett to visit Santa.  Given what a disaster meeting Sir Topham Hatt was, we were hoping that multiple exposures to Santa would be good.  We've lucked out that there haven't been any lines for Santa and he's now had 3 visits.  Unfortunately our plan isn't working.  He does NOT want to sit with Santa.  He'll tolerate sitting in one of our laps and giving Santa high-fives, but he's eager to get away.  When we do leave, he energetically yells "bye Santa" and waves.  This weekend we go for the "official" Santa pictures.  I'm not expecting them to be good at all.

Mummy's birthday was on the 18th.  Bennett helped open her cards and presents. Daddy helped Bennett make a card for me and Bennett traced his own hand for card.  I guess they do that a lot at school?  Not the most perfect looking, but nice to know what he was trying to do rather than the normal scribbles that don't look like much.


And that brings us to Thanksgiving!  He did really well in the car.  I'm sure he was getting antsy, but we brought a bunch of things with us to keep him busy.  And he took a nap for a little while, so that was nice.  He was pretty shy when we first arrived, but that was understandable given there were 22 adults and 3 kids and he only really knew 4 of the adults (Mummy, Daddy, Mimi, and Uncle "An-dew").  Shortly after arriving it was time to eat.  He was back to his normal eating habbits.  He ate cranberry sauce and a crescent roll, but that might have been it.  Maybe a little corn?

After eating we went outside for a little while to run around and burn off some energy- perfect after all that sitting!   Bennett loved being thrown around by Uncle Andrew and doing some chasing around. 

Then it was time to go inside for dessert.  At this point Bennett was a bit sweaty, hence the spiked hair. 

As I mentioned earlier, there were 3 children this year.  Bennett was the oldest at 2 years, R was 13 months, and T was 6 months.  Of the 3, Bennett had the least amount of hair and T had the most.  Not fair!  Not the best picture, but here are Bennett and R.  It was later in the afternoon at this point and they had both woken up from naps not long before, which I think is why they weren't much interested in having their pictures taken.

Speaking of picture taking, here are a couple of family shots.





Uncle Andrew, Bennett, Mummy, Daddy





The Smeals





Everyone who was there, minus 3 of the Smeals who left to go to another family gathering.



On the 24th I realized I had forgotten to take Bennett's monthly photo.  Understandable since he turned 26 months on Thanksgiving.  Although if I had remembered I probably would have brought along Paddington and the sign and taken the photo while we were in NJ.

On Sunday we went to Sturbridge with Uncle Andrew.  Daddy stayed home to work on some items for the store he sells at (wooden puzzles, ornaments, etc.)  It was COLD!  There also weren't many people there, probably due to traveling home and the temperature.  We saw them stuffing the root cellar with hay to insulate against the cold and we went into many more buildings than normal.  I guess that's understandable since we needed to warm up (any building with plaster, original wallpaper, or historic artifacts has artificial heat).  Plus with it being so cold we didn't really want to stand around and stare at animals too much.  But Bennett did get to see his beloved beep (sheep) and ocken (oxen) as well as neighs (horses) and cows.  I also learned that he knows one of our traditions- stopping at the general store to buy cookies.  As we walked along the common in that direction he said "cookie".  Hmm, too bad we were actually headed for the oxen.  But then we did go get cookies, which meant mittens had to come off to eat them, which meant freezy cold hands.

Over the past couple of weeks we've also noticed a bit of a language explosion for Bennett.  We can't wait until he becomes even more verval, but we've recently hear his variations of Andrew, mall, Santa, Patty, cookie, and numerous others.  Plus, he started saying "Mommy" rather than pronouncing it "mimi" which created a little confusion when around Mimi (grandma Breecher's name).  I'd rather that he pronounce it the British way with a U, but I guess for now I'll take it.  It did sound very weird to me at first though, having heard him pronounce it with Is for so long.

And in other family news unrelated to Bennett, one of the puzzles that Chris makes was featured on Apartment Therapy!  Unfortunately Chris was sold out of this particular puzzle at the time.  It's been relisted as a custom order, but so far we haven't seen any sales as a result.  Lots of increased traffic though, so that's good.

Until next time... stay warm!

Happy Birthday, Bennett!

Huh?  Wasn't his birthday over a month ago?  Yes, it was.  But Uncle Andrew and Aunt Gentry had given him an I.O.U. for a trip with them to the Boston Children's Museum.  After a bit of planning, we got schedules worked out and yesterday they took him.

And what's even better, is they decided to get a membership, which means he'll be back at least 3 more times so that they break even on cost.  :)

 

Riding the T.
He liked holding on to the bar.  :)

Bennett had ridden the T (the subway in Boston) once before, but it was back in June.  He liked holding on to the grab bar and flirting with one of the other riders.  (Although he was flirting with her reflection in the window.) 

Building with blocks (and having them fall down)
is lots of fun!


It was interesting to hear which rooms of the museum they had gone into.  Some of them were the same as where we've gone, but they also went into some different rooms.  It will be nice for him to get different experiences with everyone! 

One thing about the Children's Museum though is that they have a GIANT (3 story) climbing structure.  We think that Bennett would love it and probably could climb in it without problems, but that convincing him to get out of it could be a problem.  Luckily they came to that same conclusion, so it will likely be a while before he can try that out.

Uncle Andrew & Aunt Gentry also seem to understand
that it's necessary to always have pictures taken in cut-outs such as these.



Happy 2nd Birthday!- A Very Hungry Caterpillar Party

Bennett came downstairs on Saturday to presents on the table.  However, those didn't interest him.  He wanted the (unfrosted) cupcakes that were in the container behind them.  Which was weird, because he's never been much interested in cake.  Or so school tells us.  We don't generally eat desserts at home.

But before he could open presents, we wanted to Skype with Grandma and Grandpa in Georgia.  They were able to sing to him and watch him blow out the candle on his birthday pancake.



We chatted while we ate, and then they watched Bennett open his presents from Mummy and Daddy, as well as the gifts that they had left when they visited over the summer plus gifts from Aunt Suzanne, Uncle Paul, Rosaline and Dekota.

And then came the fun of playing with the new presents!  He really liked the gift he got from Grandma and Grandpa and put lots of train down the mine ramp and through the waterfall.

Then it was time to take our monthly photo.  Bennett is pretty well trained.  When he sees the chair sitting by the basement door, he knows he needs to sit down for pictures.  And then when he was done, he wanted to put the chair back at his little table.

Daddy and Bennett played for a bit while Mummy worked on party prep and then it was time for lunch and nap.  He somewhat resisted the nap, but he must have been tired because he fell asleep pretty quickly.  And luckily he took a nice long nap which gave plenty of time to finish getting ready.

While he slept Mumma made lots of frosting and got the cakes and cupcakes finished.  Daddy ran out to pick up balloons, photos, and some food for the party.  When he got back we finished decorating, baked a pie, and realized we were quickly running out of time.  Mumma texted Awesome Auntie Mel to come and give an extra set of hands.  Which worked out well because shortly after she arrived Bennett woke up.  Mel got to work cutting up fruit while Mummy and Daddy worked on getting everything else ready and all too soon people were arriving. 

Here's the spread. (Daddy made all the stands that the fruit is on.  Worked well to add visual appeal plus it took up less table space than having all the plates on the table.)

On Monday he ate through one apple.  But he was still hungry.

On Tuesday he ate through two pears, but he was still hungry. (Mel added the "bite" marks to the apples and pears.)

On Wednesday he ate through three plums, but he was still hungry.

On Thursday he ate through four strawberries, but he was still hungry.

On Friday he ate through five oranges, but he was still hungry.

On Saturday he ate through one piece of chocolate cake...

... one ice cream cone...

... one pickle...

... one slice of Swiss cheese, one slice of salami...

... one lollipop...

... one piece of cherry pie... (no one touched the pie, but of course I had to have it.)

... one sausage...

... one cupcake...

... and one piece of watermelon.  That night he had a stomachache!

Overall views of the dessert table and buffet table.

(I hand embroidered the text from the book by each food item on both sides of the table runner.)

This shot of the table is missing some of the food, but you can see the runner a bit better.

Beverage station. Bottles of water had either a picture of one of the fruits, a caterpillar, a 2 or a B.  The punch was Sprite mixed with a strawberry-lemonade concentrate that I made in early summer.

After eating it was time to go outside for some crafts.  There were three crafts that I had planned.

• Caterpillar bookmark made with their thumbprints.
• Egg carton caterpillar
• Tissue paper and clothespin butterfly

Again, I am super thankful for the help of my friends.  I showed them the supplies, told them (and showed- I'd made prototypes) what they were making, and they got everything set up and helped the kids.

I think I get negative points though for coming up with a craft that took too long to dry.  Sorry parents for making you take home gloopy caterpillars.

After crafts came cake!

Not a fan of his hat.

Blowing out the candles. With the candles on his pancakes he got one candle not problem but then took a few tries to get the second.  These he also had a bit of trouble with, and I think, in the end, I had to help.

After getting cleaned up we did the hokey-pokey.  He still needs to work on his left and right, but otherwise he does really well.

Then we ended with presents.  I won't bore you with those photos, but I would like to say how awesome and generous everyone is.  And it was the perfect amount.  I think we were on the last present when Bennett started to get tired of opening things.

Cutie Patootie Birthday Boy!

Decorations! I made 4 sets of these fruit garlands that we hung up in a few places. 

Caterpillar photos. I still have last year's photos up on the wall above the caterpillar.

Caterpillar balloons on the closet doors. Looks like someone erased the chalkboard a bit.

And in the front hall, in addition to some balloons and streamers, we had the giant cupcake and favors of "Caterpillar Food" (M&Ms).