First Dentist Visit & Pretty Flowers For Mommy

Ben had his first dentist visit today! He wanted Dan to take him, so I wasn't able to be there too:( Apparently it went really well, though! He cooperated, layed down in the chair, kept his mouth open for the exam and the counting of his teeth. He'll need to have two cavities filled, unfortunately.

Ben brought me home a special surprise, too! It was a beautiful rosebud and some filler. Pretty flowers! He was so excited to give me my pretty flowers and kept asking me if I liked them=) He was also REALLY excited to tell me all about his dentist visit. He got a new tooth-brush, a tiny package of dental floss and his own tube of tooth paste. You would think these were priceless treasures the way he showed them off. He also got a Thomas sticker and told me, "The doctor bought me this new toothbrush. She bought me a sticker! She was a nice doctor!". I'm not so sure he'll still feel this way after his next visit, though:/ Hopefully he'll do well when he has to get his dental work done. Poor guy. Below is a picture of Ben with the flowers, and a cute video of him.

Bradley's 1st Birthday

We spent the afternoon celebrating our friend, Bradley's first birthday. Much of the party was spent in the ball-pit they had set up in the front room. They had so much fun that I plan to do the same thing with our blow-up pool, too=) Not too sure Dan will like the plastic balls everywhere, though!


The Birthday Boy in his party finery.

Pure. Joy.

Ben's bestie, Ruby, is Bradley's cousin.
Ben was so happy to have his friend there!

A silly face from a very silly girl=)

Strollin and Rollin

Ben, taking his baby to work=)

She's so fast, she's a blur!

This poor sapling regularly gets worked over by them. I'm trying to teach them to be gentle, but it's just more fun to thrash the low branches around, I guess!

She shoots, she scores!

Having fun, racing strollers!

Ben's a very good Doll-Daddy. He picked these flowers and leaves especially for his baby.


He's not exactly the safest Doll-Daddy, though!

Sunny Days Are Here Again!

After almost a week of rain, we finally had one of those sunny days California is famous for. My friend Kim and I took the kiddies to a nearby playground for a little fresh air, exercise and playtime.


Lily and Ben

Lily, Hazel and Ben enjoying the slide

Hazel LOVES to slide=)

Emmie and her BFF Lily, sharing some girl-talk in the stroller.

Party Girl

The latest use for Ben's unused undies? Stylish head ware for Milly! Whenever she finds a pair of his undies, she insists that I put them on her head. I tried to explain that the whole thing smacked of frat parties and beer bongs, but she didn't care. In the words of the Great Eddie Murphy: My girl likes to party all the time, party all the time, par-tee all the tiiiiime. I see a wild and misspent youth in her future.

Happy Valentine's Day!

I tried my hardest to capture a cute picture of them together on the couch last night. Ben cooperated; Emily...not so much. She was picking her nose in almost every picture. Oh well! Here's the best of the bunch=)


Big smiles from Ben, Emily attempts to pick a winner.

This would have been decent if he didn't have a pacifier(his one true love, apparently).

Emily was heart-broken when I accidentially ripped the Valentine Ben was holding. She's very sensitive!

Ben looks adorable, Emily looks...determined;)

Girl's Day Out

After watching Ben and Dan leave for preschool on Thursday, Emily was quite insistent that we also "Go Bye-Bye!". I brought the girlies to the near-by mall for some coffee(for me), apple-juice(for them), bagels(for all of us!) and play-time in the kid zone. I, then, forced them to do some shopping with me, much to their dismay. Emily handled it by falling asleep and Hazel just squirmed and whined a lot;) I guess the female-shopping thing is a learned behavior and not something inherent! I'll turn them into shopaholics yet!

Taking a breather to enjoy their juice.

Emily enjoying the virtually empty play area. Lately, when another child is using something she wants, she screams at them until they walk away. Then she says, "Thank-you! My turn!" in a super-sweet voice. It's really quite embarrassing(and secretly hilarious)!

Scoping out the play area

Hazel, loving her un-diluted apple juice=)

Ben's New Backpack

Emily wasn't the only one to get a cool, new backpack! Ben got one, too, and he loves his just as much. The image is a motorcycle, but he calls it his "tricycle backpack"=) He couldn't wait to wear it to school and show his teacher.

Playin' Baseball

Since Ben loved his friend's T-stand so much, we got him one of his own. This kid is a pro! He loves hitting the balls around, and can ever hit them with his eyes closed. He loves to pull his hat down over his eyes and try to hit it. Silly boy=)

"Sicky Ricardo"

This is what I call Ben when he's sick;) Poor guy is feeling miserable lately. He caught a cold a few weeks ago and me thinks it's turned into a sinus infection. He has a terrible cough and a fever now. "Mr. I'm-NOT-Tired" has fallen asleep on the couch several times today and just hung-out there the rest of the time. You'd better not make him mad, either. He will unleash the wrath of a sick preschooler on you and your ears will likely bleed in the aftermath. Emily is ALSO sick, but she has different plans for us. The past two mornings, she's awoken at 5:30 AM and refused to go back to sleep. Last night, she awoke at 12:45 and wouldn't go back to sleep until 2:45. Did she stay asleep? Nooooooo. She woke up again(for the day!!) at 5 AM. I seriously want to die, myself. I am SO sick of my children being sick.

Big Girl

No sooner did I give her this new backpack, did she try to leave home:( Um, sorry, Emily. You're still all MINE for the next 16 years!

The Bottomless Pit(AKA Milly)

Once Milly has finished her meal...

She quickly, and stealthily moves onto Ben's. He doesn't like to share, on principle alone.
But, we ALL know he's not going to eat it.

He's a very picky, light eater. He'd much rather munch on an apple than eat the delish raviolies I made:(
See her little hand? She's even trying to steal that!

What can I tell you? She LOVES to eat! Good thing, because Ben leaves a lot of left-overs.

ANOTHER Birthday party!

Ben and Emily have quite the bustling social calender. It seems like all we do is go to birthday parties, lately! Today was Baby Wednesday's turn and everyone had a great time. The loved playing outside, kicking the balls around, exploring, stepping in dog poop(grrr). I had slightly less fun, as you can imagine. Nothing like standing behind the house, using the garden hose as a pressure-washer to clean off tiny toddler shoes! The food was great and I got cake out of the deal, so don't feel to sorry for me=) Ben made a friend at at the party and it was so cute to watch him try to keep up with his new, older friend Michael. Michael was about 8 years old and so sweet and patient with them both. Ben played with him for over an hour before we left. Emily mostly enjoyed eating and playing with Wednesday's new toys! She also loved all the babies that came to the party. They are only about 8 months younger than her but they seemed so little! What a big difference 3/4 of a year makes when your small.


Here they are exploring the back-yard and stepping in the dog poop. FUN!

Ben seems to be a born athlete and Emmie is pretty good, too! She loved kicking this basket ball around.

My favorite part of the day was watching Ben play with his buddy. He was so excited any time he could do something like Michael did. I think Michael enjoyed having two little kids so impressed with his moves, too=)

Emily, as always, enjoyed all the party foods. She finished her piece of cake, then moved on to Ben's!