Springs in the Desert

Disney On Ice: Toy Story 3

2012-01-24T12:33:00.000-08:00

Daddy surprised Mommy and Benson with tickets to see Disney On Ice: Toy Story 3! It was so much fun! Here are some snapshots of our favorite parts!

Benson sooo excited to go! (Thank you for the fun Toy Story shirt, Grandma and Papa!)...

One of the fun Disney merchandise/concession tables!...
Still excited!...

Let the show begin!...

Thank you for a fun and special time, Daddy!

Motocross Races

2012-01-24T09:26:00.000-08:00

In October, when we went to the Arizona State Fair, we stumbled across a motorcycle "stunt" show, which much to our surprise, Benson LOVED! He hasn't stop talking about motorcycles since! As a mom, of course I don't want Benson getting any dangerous ideas! :o) But, we truly do like to encourage Benson in anything he's passionate about, so we get to know more about him. So, Daddy surprised Benson and took him to the Motocross races when they came to Phoenix this month! The races were from 7 to 10:15 p.m. and Benson loved every minute!

Here are some highlights of their guy night!

Ready for the races!...
The hill their seats were closest to...
And they're off!...

Thank you, Daddy! You rock! :o)

Grandma and Papa's Fun Visit

2012-01-07T15:20:00.000-08:00

Grandma and Papa came to spend almost a whole week around New Year's with us! We had a ball!

We did so many fun things, but Grandma and Papa make even a simple morning at the mall just so much fun! Grandma played with Benson and the puppies!
And Papa gave Benson some riding lessons! :o)
One night, we rode the fun Christmas train again! The park had actually added more lights and features since we had been there two weeks prior, so it was even more fun! After the train ride, we went to our favorite restaurant here, Oregano's!

Of course, Buzz had to make the trip, too! :o)
After a week with Papa, Grandma and Daddy, Benson is ready for the big leagues! :o) We had so much fun playing sports!
Benson pitching to Papa...
Daddy pitching to Benson...
Grandma came up with the idea of all ideas :o), and we all literally went to Home Depot, and Grandma built Benson his own Michigan-themed goal post! Daddy dug a hole in the ground (So sorry, apartment managers...And also for all of the holes Daddy dug for golfing, too! Ha!), and Benson went to work! He LOVES practicing his kicking!

Look at his form! :o)

Grandma taught Benson how to make her famous homemade pizza so we would have the energy we needed to cheer Michigan on to a victory in the Sugar Bowl!
We even had a New Year's Eve double-date to the dinner-movie theater! Grandma and Papa, we are so truly appreciative for all of your investment in special playtime with Benson and spoiling us all! We had a blast spending time with you and miss you already! We love you so much!

Christmas Eve & Christmas Day

2012-01-07T15:13:00.000-08:00

We missed our sweet family in Florida so much, but we were blessed to enjoy a beautiful Christmas this year!

After celebrating Jesus at our church's Christmas Eve service, we continued the celebration with GiGi and Pappion at their home!
Benson tickled us with his precious expressions of excitement when he opened his stocking gifts from Pappion and GiGi!

Pappion and GiGi decided to also give Benson their big gift for him on Christmas Eve this year!...
Benson pulled off the blanket and walked away! He didn't even realize it was for him! Ha!

When we all explained that it was for him, he said, "It's for me?" Too funny!
He was thrilled! He was so happy!

Christmas morning, Benson awoke to a different kind of car that Santa brought him, with a stocking filled with goodies inside of it! :o)

Benson loves Toy Story right now, so Buzz was one of his prized presents! :o) Grandma and Papa also gave him the super cool Buzz pajamas that he wore on Christmas Eve night and most of Christmas Day! He loves them and often asks to wear them as clothes! Thanks to Skype, one of the best inventions ever :o), we were able to open presents with Grandma, Papa and Aunt Courtnee on Christmas morning, too! They spoiled us! :o)

Benson also had a ball "tatoo-ing" himself with the fun dinosaur stamp set that was a part of gift that Uncle Brett, Aunt Nicole, Hunter and Emmett gave him! I think the sugar from the cupcakes we had in celebration of Jesus' birthday had something to do with that! :o)

After Scott, Benson and I celebrated our family Christmas, early in the morning (Benson woke us up at 4:30 a.m.!), Pappion and GiGi came over! Pappion got his beloved Golden Tee Golf game! :o)
We had so much fun and are so blessed by the love of our wonderful family and friends!

Holiday Lights at McCormick-Stillman Railroad Park

2011-12-28T13:40:00.000-08:00

We made our second-annual visit to our local train park's Christmas train ride! This year, we went with our sweet friends, the Nelson family! Here are the boys (And an extra sweet little boy!) playing in the leaves while waiting for our turn to ride the train!

The train park has the actual train car that four U.S. Presidents, including President Roosevelt used. The train park has preserved the cabins and the "main" rooms, and that's where Santa visits the train park! :o) So, we took a tour and took Benson to see Santa. We all loved the train! And Benson was so excited to see Santa...until he actually did! Benson was terrified!

Here's an excerpt about the train:
The Roald Amundsen Pullman Car was built in 1928 for $205,000. As one of the last cars built by the Pullman Company, the Roald Amundsen is best known for its presidential travel. The car provided maximum security and was used at various times by every president from Herbert Hoover through Dwight Eisenhower. It was on this car in 1940 that President Franklin Roosevelt and Canadian Prime Minister W. L. McKenzie King signed the Ogdensberg Declaration, an agreement that provided for the joint defense of North America, now known as NORAD. The car was donated to the park in 1971 by Mr. and Mrs. Franz Talley.

We're already looking forward to the train ride next year!...We'll revisit whether or not we're going to see Santa as it gets closer! Ha!

Winterfest

2011-12-28T13:09:00.001-08:00

Our church hosts a free event called, "Winterfest," every year, with 18 tons of real snow, a live nativity, games, bounce-houses, a petting zoo, cookie-decorating and craft rooms, live music and more! Benson had a BALL!

The church also included fun local food vendors that you could purchase treats from, if you wanted to!
Because of the danger of getting hurt by older children and teenagers, there was a small area roped off with just a little snow for toddlers!
Benson was far more interested in the games and bounce-houses, so that's where we spent almost all of our time!

Benson is not afraid to cheer for himself! Ha! :o)

Mommy even screamed with excitement when Benson made the football in the top hole on this one! Ha, ha!

Buddy, you are so much fun! Can't wait 'til next year!

Edible Who-ville and Christmastime Fun

2011-12-14T19:09:00.000-08:00

Daddy and Pappion had to work this past Saturday night, so Mommy and GiGi took Benson out for some Christmastime fun!

First, we visited the Phoenix area's largest edible (mostly) gingerbread village, inspired by Dr. Seuss, at a local resort!

Even the T.V.s playing movies were in edible boxes!

There were some decorations that weren't edible, and this moving train set was one of them!

Then, we visited a local shopping center where "Mrs. Claus" :o) was telling stories, a band was playing Christmas music, and there was a little (fake) snow shower!
The lead singer gave Benson a tambourine so he could jam with them! :o)

"Snow" in Benson's hair...
We are having so much fun soaking in this most-special time of the year! Blessings, hugs and family fun to all!

Daddy and Benson's Snowy Playdate

2011-12-14T18:50:00.000-08:00

Mommy had a "mommy playdate," :o) so Daddy took Benson two hours north (Although it took 3 1/2 hours because of the driving conditions!) to Flagstaff to play in the snow!

They had so much fun building their "Michigan Man" a.k.a. a snowman! :o)
And naturally, Benson had to try to tackle it, too!
They found a man selling plastic sleds - enough said - boys will be boys! :o) Benson LOVED it!
Here are a couple of Benson's spills! Scott said he was laughing hysterically and begging to do it again and again!

Thank you, Daddy, for a super fun day of special memories! :o)

Thanksgiving Weekend

2011-12-02T12:01:00.001-08:00

We hope everyone enjoyed a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend! We had such a fun weekend, although we missed our special family in Florida so, so much!

I kicked-off Thanksgiving at CVS at midnight on Wednesday night/Thursday morning with my second-annual CVS "Black Friday" sale shopping trip! :o)

I did a good portion of the cooking, including my first-ever ham, which is a big deal for me, because I only have about a week's worth of meals that I know how to cook! Ha, ha! (I sense a New Year's resolution coming on!)

We enjoyed a yummy Thanksgiving dinner at Pappion and GiGi's home!

Our Christmas decorating started early the next day! Mommy helped get ornaments ready, etc., but Daddy and Benson decorated the tree together! Best buds! :o)

My wonderful MOPS mentor gave all of the mamas at our MOPS table passes to a new dinner movie theater that just opened near us, so we took Benson to see Arthur Christmas in 3D! I had the frozen hot chocolate! SO delicious! And so easy to make! It's just prepared hot chocolate blended with vanilla ice cream! YUMMY!

We spent the rest of the weekend grabbing some deals at the stores and wrapping! :o)

This is a fun and exciting time of the year like no other, and we wish everyone a special time of celebration!

Tasty Thursdays - Week 5, Final Week

2011-11-21T13:01:00.000-08:00

Gift-Giving for the Sports Fan

Both of these ideas are almost identical in cost to the first gift idea, the brownies, I posted in Week 1 - extremely economical.

For the sports fan, we're having some "pun" and spreading Christmas "Cheer!" :o) These goodies are so basic that they need very little directions.

Football Brownies & Chocolate-Covered Potato Chips

INGREDIENTS:
*Box of brownie mix (And eggs, oil and water)
*Regular potato chips (I prefer ridged)
*Chocolate morsels (I used a combination of milk chocolate and white chocolate)

DIRECTIONS:
*Bake brownies.

*Use cookie cutter to make football shapes.
You could absolutely top the brownies with chocolate frosting or leave them and just "draw" on white laces with frosting or even use the recipient's favorite team's colors to decorate the brownies.

I'll talk about the "cheer" and the wrapping a little further down...

Chocolate-Covered Potato Chips
Yep, it's that easy! That's how I roll! :o) I laid down some potato chips on some foil and drizzled some melted chocolate over them. If you like the combination of salty and sweet, you'll like this!

I got this idea from an item from a grocery store here, Trader Joe's.However, I personally thought that theirs had too much chocolate and not enough chip! :o) So, I drizzled the chocolate, rather than dipping the chips. But, I think the BEST taste is somewhere in the middle - not smothered in chocolate, but a little more than drizzled.

DIRECTIONS:
*Place chips on a foil-lined cookie sheet(s). (NOTE: I didn't do that in my picture and had to readjust!)
*Melt morsels according to package directions and drizzle over chips. (NOTE: Please see directions in the Week 3 link for how to make and fill mock pastry bags to drizzle the chocolate.)
*Refrigerate chips until chocolate hardens.

*Package and wrap in the recipient's favorite team's colors! Our favorite team is Michigan, so I used their colors! :o)
Here's the play on the word "cheer!" I originally wanted to make tags for the outside of the package, but after our insane week last week, that didn't happen. But, this works!

I hope these very simple ideas the last 5 weeks or so have sparked some fun ideas of treats you can give friends, pastors, teachers, doctors, etc., with a little extra touch of homemade thoughtfulness!

I am so appreciative for you checking out Tasty Thursdays this year!

Happy, Happy Thanksgiving to all! I thank God for you, our precious family and friends! Big hugs!

Tasty Thursdays - Week 5 Postponed

2011-11-17T16:01:00.000-08:00

Just like many families during this time of the year, our family caught the stomach flu and we've been completely out of commission this whole week. So, I thought we could have Tasty Tuesday next week, since next Thursday is Thanksgiving, and I'll share the final treats then! :o) Have a wonderful weekend!

Tasty Thursdays - Week 4

2011-11-09T17:02:00.001-08:00

Gift-Giving for the Practical Organization-Lover

Mommy has her hand in too many projects this week! :o) So, I'm tight on time, and since this is such a basic "baked good" idea, I'm not going to give a detailed description this week. But, I'm going to try to make up for it by giving two or three ideas next week!

My other challenge this week is that I've discovered that I am officially under a cookie curse! Ha, ha! All of the cookie cutters that I've bought for the blog this year have let me down so far and I'm so bummed! That's enough to make this grown woman cry! :o)

I love organizing and this is something that I would love to receive! :o)

A plastic ornament storage case filled with ornament-shaped cookies and an attached catalog or magazine with fun ideas! I didn't have one at home right now, but my first choice would be a Real Simple magazine for the organization-lover!

I simply used pre-made refrigerated cookie dough to make cut-out cookies, made some icing (See the Tasty Thursdays Week 2 link for the recipe, please), and let Benson go to town on decorating the cookies with sprinkles! :o) I originally wanted to make round ornament-shaped cookies, but the store I buy cookie cutters from was out of stock. So, I thought stars would work, but they turned out to be huge and didn't fit in the ornament slots! Grrr...

I also intended to invest some fun time into decorating the cookies, but decided to let Benson help because I didn't have enough time to be meticulous, and it actually changed my mind about how I'm going to give cookies away this year. I think it would be so precious and cute to tell the recipient that Benson put some love into their cookies, too! :o)

I'm so sorry that Tasty Thursdays suffered this week! :o) We're going to finish strong with a couple of fun ideas for the sports fan next week!

Almost time for turkey! :o) Hugs!

Extra Treat

2011-11-02T18:53:00.000-07:00

True story, Benson was eating graham crackers the other night and I just started craving s'mores, and I had a little idea! :o)

I zipped into the kitchen and melted two tablespoons of milk chocolate morsels and two tablespoons of white chocolate morsels in separate bowls. Then I slapped some milk chocolate all over a graham cracker square and refrigerated it for just a couple minutes until it hardened a little. Then I made a "marshmallow-shaped" dollop of white chocolate and refrigerated that for a couple of minutes. Then I took this picture and got my graham cracker and chocolate fix! :o)

It took such little time to make and I can make as few or as many as I want to, so I'm going to make these for myself all the time now! Ha, ha! Just in case you haven't figured it out yet, I think I literally have a sugar addiction! :o) I'll keep working on this recipe and see if I can improve it or actually add real marshmallow in some way! :o)

Tasty Thursdays - Week 3

2011-11-02T17:42:00.000-07:00

Gift Giving for the Coffee-Lover

Well, I've got good news and bad news! The bad news is that my order from Amazon for the "practical organization-lover" gift idea wasn't delivered in time to make it on the blog this week, so we're going to switch and look at a gift idea for the coffee-lover this week!

The good news is that I had some extra chocolate morsels and a sweet tooth, so I'm going to post an extra idea in a separate posting directly after this one! :o)

I wish that I could say this was my idea, but I found this concept online and knew I had to include it Tasty Thursdays because I thought it was such a creative idea! :o) The only thing that I did was change the kind of cookie and decoration I used. The original recipe makes a shortbread or sugar cookie with frosting. My mom's dad, my Papaw, always used to dip chocolate chip cookies in his coffee at night, so I chose to make chocolate chip cookies and I drizzled them in chocolate!

INGREDIENTS:
*Pre-made Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough
*1 1/2 cups of milk chocolate morsels

*1 1/2 cups of white chocolate morsels

DIRECTIONS:
*Using flour to avoid stickiness, like you would if making sugar cookies, make 1 1/2" balls of dough and flatten.

*Cut a rectangle into the side of the cookie about 1 1/2" deep and 1" wide. You might need to make adjustments.
*Bake according to package directions.
*BEFORE the cookie cools, use the edge of a knife to straighten the edges of the rectangular cut-out of the cookie.

*Melt chocolate morsels at 70% power in 30-second intervals.

*Place a gallon Ziploc bag in a small-ish, deep bowl, and pour chocolate into bag.

*Bag will work as a makeshift pastry bag.
*Drizzle milk chocolate over the cookies. Refrigerate for 10 minutes.

*While refrigerating, melt white chocolate morsels the same way and place in makeshift pastry bag the same way.

*Place decoration in the bottom of the container. Again, I got this container for free at Paradise Bakery/Panera. Using confetti under tissue paper works best when the tissue paper is white, but I only had red at home, so I made it work! :o)
*Drizzle white chocolate the same as milk chocolate.
*Refrigerate for 20 minutes.

Ta-da! :o)

*Place in container and wrap with (my beloved) tulle! Ha, ha!

You could attach a Starbuck's gift card or the very popular Starbuck's VIA Ready Brew coffee packets to this! Or you could put the cookies in a cellophane bag and place that in a coffee cup and wrap it! So many options for the coffee-lover! :o)

I hope this helps spark a gift idea for the coffee-lover in your life! :o) Happy baking!

Trick-or-Treating 2011

2011-11-02T13:29:00.000-07:00

We started our fun day by making pumpkin pancakes! I really wanted to buy a pumpkin pancake mold, but we already had a pumpkin cookie cutter, so the frugal girl inside of me decided to use that and hit the Halloween clearance sale and get the pancake mold for next year! :o)

Target sold these fun toddler-size Solo cup sets this year (Thank you for the fun tip, Ashley!) and I decorated Benson's cup with a happy pumpkin! :o)

Peter Piper Pizza (Similar to Chuck E. Cheese's) had a holiday special of 20 free tokens and a free kid's buffet if they came dressed in their costume! So, we played and had lunch there!

After Benson's nap, we decorated his McDonald's Happy Meal buckets! We didn't use them for anything, but he had fun decorating them and practicing his "counting" with our candy! :o)
Then we had a snack - cheese and crackers! I used the same cookie cutter for the cheese!
GiGi made "Boo Stew" for dinner, so we made Daddy's favorite, Funfetti Cake, for dessert! Benson did all of the sprinkle decorating!

Good job, buddy! :o)
Time to get dressed up! Go Blue! Benson had two helmets, a soft beanie helmet that Grandma sent him, and a hard helmet. He like the soft helmet better and wore that all night! Thank you, Grandma!

Years ago, Grandma and Papa bought us this fun Michigan artificial pumpkin. So this year, we let Benson decide if we were going to carve another pumpkin or decorate one a different way. And he chose to dress-up our pumpkin as Buzz Lightyear!

Ready to go! :o)
"Trick-or-treat!" :o)
GiGi and Pappion have continued a tradition from my childhood with Benson. He also gets a visit from "The Great Pumpkin!" Look at the sweet surprised look on his face! :o) Thank you, Pappion and GiGi!
Grandma and Papa also sent us a fun, festive package with loads of goodies! Grandma has a special tradition with Benson where she sends him recorded books for each holiday! Benson loves them and listened to this one over and over before bed! Thank you, Grandma and Papa!

We hope everyone had a fun family day!

Tasty Thursdays - Week 2

2011-10-26T17:18:00.001-07:00

Fun Gift Giving for Families with Children
(And animal lovers!)

"Reindeer Chow" or "Birthday Party Mix"
This is a fun take on the classic "Puppy Chow!"

INGREDIENTS:
* 3/4 cup (6 oz.) of milk chocolate morsels
* 3/4 cup (6 oz.) of butterscotch morsels
* 1/4 cup of peanut butter
* 6 cups of Crispix cereal
* 1 1/2 cups of confectioners powdered sugar

DIRECTIONS:
* Combine all morsels. Melt morsels in microwave at 70% power in 30-second intervals until completely melted.
* Add peanut butter to morsels. Stir until completely melted.
* Put powdered sugar in a gallon-size Ziploc bag.
* Put Crispix in a large mixing bowl.
* Pour melted morsel and peanut butter mixture over the cereal and stir until cereal is completely covered.
* Pour cereal into Ziploc bag with powdered sugar and close bag. Shake bag until cereal is completely covered with sugar.
Benson loves this part! Look at Mommy's little helper! :o)

I thought this would be a cute "baked good" for children to enjoy! I just bought these wax-lined brown paper bags at Michael's and decorated them with basic labels and stickers I made at home! You could embellish them as much as you'd like to!

Happy Birthday, Jesus! Party Mix for families that don't include Santa Claus/St. Nicholas in their festivities!

I thought domestic animal lovers :o) might get a giggle out of this presentation!

* I bought a large dog bowl and filled it with the chow.
* I bought 1 yard of tulle and folded it in half and wrapped it around the bowl and tied it off with a rubber band.
* I pulled and played with the tulle until I got it to look prettier! :o)
* Rather than buying ribbon, which costs more, I bought 1/4 yard of a different color tulle, and wrapped it around the other tulle and tied it off with a rubber band.
* I cut and fluffed up that tulle a little and I was done!
If you're not going to give it to the person/family within a couple of hours, I'd wrap the chow in clear Saran wrap inside the dog bowl before wrapping the bowl with the tulle, to keep the chow fresh! :o)

"Reindeer Treats"

INGREDIENTS:
* 1 roll of pre-made refrigerated sugar cookie dough (I'm a cheater!)
* 1 1/2 cups of confectioners powdered sugar
* Wilton Turtle Crunch sprinkles

DIRECTIONS:
* Preheat oven according to directions on cookie dough package. Sprinkle flour on your work space and roll out the cookie dough. NOTE: Keep your cookie dough refrigerated until you're ready to use it, because the cut cookies keep their shape better. Also, put flour on your rolling pin first. And finally, never wash the rolling pin (Or a sifter, while we're on the subject). :o) Just wipe it down with a dry paper towel.
* Cut dough with dog bone-shaped cookie cutter. NOTE: Use a small bone-shaped cookie cutter! I used a large one and I was so upset because I had to "re-cut" the cookies after I baked them because they were huge!
* Bake according to directions on package.

* Combine powdered sugar and 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract. Then add 1 Tablespoon of milk at a time until the sugar becomes a creamy frosting. (You can use just powdered sugar and water, it's just extra sweet!)
* Allow cookies to cool. Frost cookies.
* Immediately after frosting the cookies, sprinkles cookies with Turtle Crunch sprinkles while the icing is still very wet, so the sprinkles stick better. NOTE: I frosted and sprinkled the cookies on a wire cookie cooling rack with foil under it, so the foil would catch all of the "drippings." I like to frost cookies on a wire cooling rack, because when you frost cookies on a flat surface, the frosting can pool around the cookie and cause it to stick to the surface.

* Place cookies in the "treat bag!"
I hope these ideas are helpful or spark your own ideas that are even better! Happy baking! :o)

Pumpkin Patch

2011-10-25T20:53:00.001-07:00

We visited a different pumpkin patch this year, which is an actual year-round working farm. Disappointingly, we had an unexpected temperature spike here and it was a miserable 100 degrees the day we went, so our time was cut short! :o) But, we had so much fun taking in the farm life! :o)

Our little daredevil's first stop - a horseback ride! I know, putting a 2 1/2-year-old on a horse is controversial, but we decided to allow Benson to take one short ride, with Daddy by his side, and he absolutely handled it so perfectly and loved it!

Pappion teaching Benson how to rope one in! :o)

Daddy and Benson trying out their skills on some of the games!

Live animals! It's funny, Benson was crazy for the horses, but had very little interest in the petting zoo! :o)

Hay ride to the pumpkin patch!

Our hot and not-so-happy little camper! :o)
The hay maze!
Pappion checking out his horseshoe-throwing skills!
This kicks off my favorite time of year! Happy Fall to all! And big hugs! :o)

Sports Class - Weeks 6, 7 & 8 - Basketball & Football

2011-10-25T13:43:00.000-07:00

Here are some highlights from Benson's football classes! Scott and I think Benson liked football the most of all four sports!

We let Benson wear his football gear to his football classes! He was so into it!
Benson doing his football pose! He does this and "calls a play" all the time! He says, "Blue-42! Set! Hut, hut, hut!" Ha, ha!

Benson wearing his Michigan football helmet beanie that Grandma bought him! Thank you! :o)

All the kids putting their hands in together! So cute!Awesome job, buddy! Mommy and Daddy are so proud of your hard work!

Tasty Thursdays 2011 - Week 1

2011-10-18T14:24:00.000-07:00

Gift-Giving on a Frugal Budget and "Expandable" Gift-Giving :o)

In a perfect world, we could give everything we'd like to give, to everyone we'd like to give to! But, here's an idea to help stretch our reach as we love on friends and those in the community that we're thankful for!

"Dressed-up Brownies"

INGREDIENTS:
* 1 box of brownie mix (8" pan or 9" x 13" pan size)
(Will also need eggs, oil and water)
DIRECTIONS:
* Mix ingredients.
* Bake.
(I already had this brownie pan that Wilton makes, so I used it, but brownies baked and cut into squares is perfect!)
* Place decorative tissue paper in bottom of container.
* Wrap container with tulle.

(Tie in a knot. I didn't have to use one other thing to wrap this, just the tulle! I loved it!)
* Add decorative piece.
I found some shimmer tulle and a more glitzy decorative piece that I was tempted to buy and use, but my goal for this project was to keep the cost down as low as possible.

I'm not planning on giving a financial breakdown for each idea, but it's fitting for this one, because I wanted to challenge myself to create a gift, within our family's modest budget, that we could give to neighbors, families from church, holiday party hosts, Benson's pediatrician, etc., to show them our appreciation and love.

Out-of-pocket Cost Break-down:
* Generic Kroger brownies = $0.88
* Plastic container = FREE
(I went to Einstein Bros Bagels and Paradise Bakery (Panera) and asked for a couple of plastic containers for free!)
* Tissue Paper = FREE
(I already had it at home.)
* Tulle on sale at Hobby Lobby = $0.77
* Decorative piece on sale at Hobby Lobby = $0.59

TOTAL out-of-pocket cost = $2.24 (before tax)

We can afford to spread some cheer at that price! :o)

"Take-out Night"

Here's an expandable gift idea! One of my favorite gifts and acts of service is getting the gift of a free meal that I don't have to cook! Amen?! :o) You can adjust this gift to meet the personality and needs of the family that you're giving it to!

INGREDIENTS:
* 1 box of grocery store fortune cookies
IMPORTANT NOTE: I am in no way promoting fortunes or even fortune cookies. I simply thought they went good together with the "take-out" theme. :o)
* 1 cup of milk chocolate morsels
* Sprinkles
NOTE: Thanks to my sweet friend, Kelly, I already had fun red, pink and white heart-themed sprinkles, so I used them. But, there are endless sprinkle options available on the market! But, I highly recommend buying them at a craft store, like Hobby Lobby or Michael's, because those stores carry a broader selection and they are always sending out 40% or 50% off coupons in the mail, in the newspaper, online, etc., which keeps them at the same price or cheaper than the grocery store.
DIRECTIONS:
* Melt morsels according to package directions (70% power for 1 minute+), in a bowl as small and deep as possible. That will assist you greatly in the dipping process!
* Line a cookie sheet with foil and evenly dip fortune cookies, round edge down, and decorate with sprinkles immediately, because the chocolate will hold the sprinkles better.
* Place cookie sheet with fortune cookies in the refrigerator for about 10 minutes to allow the chocolate to harden. I prefer to let the chocolate harden for longer, because the chocolate is more likely to soften a little if you don't let it really harden, but 10 minutes will suffice.

* Place each fortune cookie in an individual cellophane bag and place them in the take-out box.

* Place gift card on top of fortune cookies.
I already had a Christmas gift card tin, so I used it. But, a gift card with a ribbon tied around it would be perfect!
* Close box and you have dinner and dessert in a take-out box! :o)
Of course, you could use tulle, ribbon, a bow, and/or a decorative tag to dress up the take-out box more!

Some families with younger children might appreciate a Chick-Fil-A gift card to grab some Kids' Meals on the go! A family with hungry teenage boys might relish a Taco Bell gift card for a quick and filling dinner! A busy married couple might be needing an Outback Steakhouse gift card for a date night! There are endless possibilities that can meet the needs of the gift recipient and your budget!

And don't forget, it's a gift card with a touch of some love from your kitchen! :o)

Thank you so much for checking-out Week 1 of Tasty Thursdays! :o) I hope these ideas are helpful or even spark other ideas! Enjoy!

Benson's "Concert"

2011-10-12T20:25:00.001-07:00

Our sweet extended family, The Doziers, gave Benson a super fun children's Christian sing-along CD for his birthday this year, and Benson LOVES it! He can't understand why the music classes we attend at two libraries in town don't sing these songs! Benson loves to "perform" a couple of his favorites, so we humored ourselves and I recorded him giving me a mini-concert! :o)

The B-I-B-L-E

Jesus Loves Me

I've Got The Joy

When I'm not getting onto him (haha), we try to say this as a reminder of how our attitude should be! :o)

Thank you so much, Will, Jamie and Hannah!

Tasty Thursdays are Coming Soon

2011-10-04T14:52:00.000-07:00

...Those were the tasty treats of 2010!

And Tasty Thursdays 2011 is already in the works and coming soon! :o)

This year, we're going to focus on the use of tasty treats for gift-giving!

I LOOOVE Christmas music! I have literally been listening to Christmas music since the second week of August! I truly believe that my love for Christmas music came from my Mamaw, my mom's mom. She had a contagious childlike excitement for Christmas! I think that's why my favorite Christmas music is that from the 1940's-60's.

It was while listening to that music during Christmastime last year, that I was inspired to use Tasty Thursdays, this year, to focus more on gift-giving, with a touch of old school homemade thoughtfulness. :o)

As I exposed last year, I am not a fancy baker - or a baker - in any way! I just love to bake and eat simple sweets, with a couple of rare exceptions! You will most-likely never see a fondant recipe on my blog! :o)

So, this year, there will be five Tasty Thursdays that lead up to the week of Thanksgiving! Jesus is the Reason for, the Meaning of, and the Focus of Christmas! And in His Name and in celebration of His Birthday, our family thoroughly enjoys loving on each other, our friends and our community through gift-giving and gestures of love and care! So, I thought it might be helpful to all of us if we celebrated Tasty Thursdays leading up to the week of Thanksgiving, so we could decide if we'd like to use any of these ideas for loving on people, or if these ideas spark other ideas, before the bulk of gift-buying starts on Black Friday!

Here's the schedule:
Week 1, 10/20:
Gift-Giving on a Frugal Budget
and "Expandable" Gift-Giving :o)

Week 2, 10/27:
Fun Gift Giving for Families with Children
(I'll also include a fun gift idea or two for animal lovers!)

Week 3, 11/3:
Gift Giving for the Practical Organization-Lover

Week 4, 11/10:
Gift Giving for the Coffee-Lover

Week 5, 11/17:
Gift Giving for the Sports Fan

And yes, each of these ideas will include a simple homemade tasty treat! :o)

I'll meet you here on the 20th! :o)

Sports Class - Weeks 3, 4 & 5- Baseball & Basketball

2011-09-24T20:44:00.000-07:00

When Scott and I went to Michigan, Benson missed one his baseball classes, but it worked out good, because Benson loves basketball and he gets to go to three basketball classes!

We love and appreciate that Benson is learning how to do things that he doesn't have the same kinds of opportunities to learn in our home environment every day, like listening to an authority figure outside of our family, standing in line and waiting his turn, encouraging others by cheering for them, etc.

Here are some highlights!

Way to go, buddy!

The Lion King

2011-09-24T20:27:00.001-07:00

We had so much fun taking Benson to see Disney's The Lion King on opening day last Friday! Our baby "cubby" is growing up too fast, as all the precious babies do! :o) We were so impressed with Benson's excitement and ability to sit in the theater and watch a movie! About the last quarter of the movie, he got up and stood by the chairs, and a little in the aisle, and then got back up in his seat for the "dramatic" ending! :o) Benson is our best bud and we are having the time of our lives with our sweet little big boy!

Fountain Park

2011-09-15T18:15:00.000-07:00

About 20 or 30 minutes away from where we live is a park that has a spectacular fountain! At certain times, it reaches over 550 feet tall! Once we got there, we saw that it also has a fun playground and a splash pad! There was so much grass! :o) We all had so much fun!

Here are a couple of highlights!

Trick or Treating Sneak Peek...

2011-09-15T18:13:00.000-07:00

Daddy and Mommy brought something home for our little Michigan Man to wear for Trick or Treating!...

Michigan vs. Notre Dame

2011-09-15T18:04:00.000-07:00

Scott and I were so blessed to be able to make a trip to see the Wolverines take on the Irish at the University of Michigan's first-ever night game, and be a part of the largest crowd to watch a college football game in history!

Here are a couple of snapshots!

Go Blue!

Birthday Party Fun

2011-09-15T17:47:00.000-07:00

Our sweet little friend, Grady, celebrated his 2nd Birthday over Labor Day weekend and kindly treated all of his friends to some super fun playtime at The Little Gym! :o)

Benson LOVED bouncing!

Happy Birthday, Grady! :o)

"Bring it on!..."

Only half of the cupcake made it into Benson's mouth! :o)...
Sweet Nelsons, thank you so much for treating us to such a fun time!

Music Class Cutie

2011-09-01T21:16:00.000-07:00

Of course I'm completely biased, but I snapped a couple of photos of Benson enjoying himself at music class today and stealing my heart all over again! I love you, sweet boy!

Sports Class - Weeks 1 & 2 - Soccer

2011-09-01T20:47:00.000-07:00

Benson recently started his first sports class! It's an 8-week class, focusing on some of the (very) basic skills of four different sports for two weeks each! The first two weeks, the focus was on soccer. More than anything, Benson is just running around and having so much fun! :o) And we are having so much fun watching Benson! :o) Here's a handful of highlights!

Stretching...

"Waddling" kicks...

"Soccer Stop"...

Some obstacle course practice...

And most importantly - "The Motorboat!" This is where the parents give the kids a ride on a parachute! It's so cute!
Great job, little buddy!

Aunt Courtnee's Stay

2011-08-12T21:50:00.000-07:00

We had the absolute joy of having Aunt Courtnee live with us for six weeks this summer, while she worked for a sweet friend of ours!

Courtnee had a humble sense of humor about her living arrangements! Because we live in a two-bedroom apartment, she had to sleep on the couch in the living room! Which meant she had to endure Benson's 6:00 a.m. wake-up call every morning when he wanted to watch t.v. and eat his waffle, because our only t.v. is in the living room! :o) We only have two closets in our entire apartment - not even one coat closet or linen pantry - just one closet in each bedroom! So, we had to be so creative with where to store Courtnee's clothes and belongings! It was like an Easter egg hunt just for Courtnee to get ready every day, because her things were in so many different places! But, she was an outstanding good sport about it!

While it's impossible to share six weeks worth of special memories, here are some of our favorites!

Courtnee's stay with us started with a Harry Potter extravaganza! :o) Courtnee landed in Phoenix counting down the days to the latest, and final, installment of the Harry Potter movie series. And Scott and I had never seen a Harry Potter movie, nor read any of the books. So, Courtnee introduced us to the world of Harry Potter and we were hooked! In two weeks, we watched all preceding seven movies and went to see the latest movie on opening weekend! It was so, so much fun!

Courtnee and I introduced each other to our food obsessions! :o) It's a long story, but somehow I became a veteran of Dunkin' Donuts couponing! :o) So, I took Courtnee to Dunkin' Donuts literally almost every single day that she was here!

Also, Courtnee introduced me to the delicious world of Thursday's $0.60 boneless wings at Buffalo Wild Wings! We also had a coupon for 6 free wings each visit, which made it a steal! :o) Thursday nights were glorious! :o)

I also introduced Courtnee to "couponing!" :o) We had some excellent shopping trips where we got some substantial items, but one day, between the grocery store and CVS, we bought these 11 full-size candy bars for a total of $1.19 plus tax, and we were pretty excited about our chocolate fix :o), so we took a photo of them!

Aunt Courtnee lavished Benson with so much love while she stayed with us (As always!)! She is absolutely headed into the right profession, aiming to teach Kindergarten or First Grade! Courtnee, we are so appreciative for all of the loving attention and care you poured out on our little buddy!

Courtnee, Scott and I also had a ball with you! You make all of the little pleasures of each day, even as small as a slurpee, so much fun! :o) We miss you already!

Aunt Courtnee, we are so thankful to God for you and we are so proud of who you are! We will always treasure this special quality time we had with you this summer! We love you so much!

Sleeping Cutie

2011-08-11T21:31:00.000-07:00

One day recently, when Benson refused a nap, we made him a "fort" in the living room and put on a movie for him with our portable DVD player.

And even he couldn't fight the exhaustion on his comfy little palette! :o)

The Grand Canyon

2011-08-11T20:45:00.000-07:00

I'm going to post more about Aunt Courtnee soon, but we were super blessed to have Aunt Courtnee stay with us for the last six weeks! So, in celebration of her time with us, and our 7th wedding anniversary, we visited the Grand Canyon!

This trip to the Grand Canyon was a new experience for us because we stayed the night in one of the lodges inside the National Park, so we were able to see so much more!

This is a beautiful field of flowers Courtnee snapped a photo of on the way there!

It's impossible to describe the Grand Canyon, but I took a short video trying to capture what it's like to walk on one of the trails around the rim and walk up to the literal edge, where there's no railing. We obviously didn't allow Benson to go anywhere near the edge, and we stayed a safe distance away ourselves, but when we took turns walking closer to the edge, I took this short video:

Benson LOVED walking the trails!
But, he wore himself out! :o)
Sweet boy! :o)

Aunt Courtnee took this funny photo of Benson just resting and taking it all in! Ha!

Happy Camper! :o)
We're so thankful for this majestic wonder that reminds us of the power and greatness of our Creator!

Our Little Slugger

2011-08-10T12:42:00.001-07:00

Benson LOVES his little tee-ball set!...

I love it when Benson wears his basketball sweatband to play tee-ball! Ha, ha!

Who is going to correct that little face?! :o)

Humorous CVS Trip

2011-08-10T12:30:00.001-07:00

While I was printing my coupons from the Coupon Center at CVS, Aunt Courtnee snapped this photo of Benson getting his feet and his dinosaur's feet checked out by the Dr. Scholl's machine!

Our Little Tiger

2011-08-02T23:59:00.000-07:00

During our second Chick-Fil-A "family" night visit, there was a precious lady there who was face painting the children, and Benson thought this was the coolest thing ever!

Rather than a small design on his cheek, Benson saw a photo of a face-wide tiger design and really wanted his face painted like a tiger! I didn't think there was any way that he'd sit still long enough, so I was very hesitant to allow him to get the tiger design, but I wanted to give him the freedom to do what he wanted...And I was shocked when he sat there like an ANGEL! He didn't move or whine one single time! I was so impressed with his patience for a 2-year-old!

The best part was that after his face was painted, he went into full tiger mode! It was hilarious! He started literally "roaring" around Chick-Fil-A and walking on all fours like a tiger! I don't know if we'll do this, but after seeing how much joy Benson got out of being a "tiger," I asked the face painter for her card and if she'd be interested in painting his face for trick-or-treating this fall!

Benson, you've always been our little "cubby" and we LOVE experiencing life through your eyes, buddy!

Enthusiastic "Reader"

2011-08-02T23:45:00.001-07:00

Before bedtime one night, we caught Benson "reading" a seemingly exciting story :o) about a horse and a duck to himself!

First Bowling Game

2011-08-02T23:33:00.001-07:00

Bowling might be my new favorite game to play with Benson! We went bowling for the first time this week and Benson LOVED it!

Go figure, he was so excited about his bowling shoes! Ha! I think he liked the loud noise they made on the hard floor!
Coolest bowling invention EVER! :o) Okay, maybe not, but certainly in the running! :o) They alley provides ramps for toddlers! Who knew?!

Our baby's first spare! :o)
Aunt Courtnee caught Mommy and Benson watching the other players! :o)
We're so excited to go bowling again soon!

Piggy-back Ride

2011-08-02T23:24:00.000-07:00

Benson loves piggy-back rides! The other night, Scott and Benson were playing "football" with Scott's "football field" blanket and miniature football figures that were actually his when he was a little boy (Thank you, Grandma and Papa, for sharing your special keepsakes!). And Benson told Scott that he wanted to give the football players a piggy-back ride! Ha! The things that children think of!?!? :o)

Little Monkey

2011-08-02T23:01:00.000-07:00

We visited two of Chick-Fil-A's "family" nights in July, and we had so much fun! The first time, a balloon artist entertained the children, and Benson absolutely LOVED it!

As we were walking away from the balloon artist, Benson, I think unintentionally, put the monkey balloon around his neck, which I think shocked even him! His face cracks me up!
Aunt Courtnee and I thought that was the funniest thing and it became the highlight of the evening! Aunt Courtnee had to get a picture with the monkey balloon around the silly monkey's neck! :o)

Football Fundamentals

2011-07-25T20:34:00.000-07:00

And so it begins...Over the last couple of months, Scott has been introducing Benson to a couple of his favorite sports! Benson thinks the time that he and Scott spend playing sports is the best thing since the Dorito and literally begs to play sports outside all day long! :o)

Scott thought it would be cute to teach him some "football fundamentals," as Scott called it! :o) The sound on this video is poor, but Scott taught him to spike it and "do the dance!"

We just signed up Benson for his first sports class, beginning in August, so it ought to be interesting to see him demonstrate this for his coach!

First Game of Miniature Golf

2011-07-25T20:21:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday, Daddy and Benson had a "daddy-son date," and went to breakfast and played Benson's first game of miniature golf! Somehow, the only pictures that were taken are of Benson playing on the slide (Ha, ha!), but Benson had the time of his life learning to putt with his Daddy!

Polite Performer

2011-07-25T20:09:00.000-07:00

Of course, I'm behind on posting this to our blog, but about a month ago, Benson officially entered his "performance" stage of development. Apparently, we allow our child to watch too much t.v., because he comes up with things that we have no clue where he learned them! When Benson sang this song to us a couple of weeks ago, we were totally caught off guard with his performance showmanship! :o)

Happy Independence Day!

2011-07-04T15:06:00.000-07:00

Well, I don't know what to say except it might actually be a sign of the end of times that I'm posting our Independence Day celebration to our blog on-time, on July 4th! :o)

Yay, America! :o) We went to a community festival and fireworks show last night on the 3rd!
Benson decided that everyone needed a ChapStick break from all of the celebrating!

After listening to the fun band play music, Daddy and Benson checked out the hot dog eating contest! :o)
Aunt Courtnee is visiting with us for six weeks while she works here this summer! Benson is loving having another playmate in the house (Because that is truly what he believes we all exist for - his entertainment!)! We were so tickled to share this fun holiday with her!
God bless America! :o)

2-8

2011-07-04T14:44:00.000-07:00

My sweet family treated me to a fun evening for my 28th birthday last weekend! It was extra special because my Uncle Randy, Aunt Krista and cousin, Kaleigh, were visiting with us! They were here for 10 days and we had a ball together! I am missing so many pictures from their time here, but we spent such wonderful quality time with them and miss them so much already!

This picture actually makes me feel old, because I was in high school when Kaleigh was born and she'll be turning 14 this month and entering high school herself! :o)

Fresh guacamole made right in front of your table! Yum!...
More yumminess...

The yumminess continues!...Thank you to ALL of my beautiful family and friends who made my birthday so much fun this year! So unnecessary, but deeply appreciated! XOXO

Mommy Is Incapable of Multitasking

2011-06-24T14:26:00.000-07:00

My beloved best friend of almost 15+ years, Jill, has a 2-year-old boy and a 1-year-old boy and can literally watch them, cook dinner, and talk on the phone with me for 30 minutes, all at the same time, and make it look so easy!

And then there's me...

I only have one 2-year-old boy and this is what it looks like when I multitask...

The other day, Benson had just woken up from his nap and I was quickly feeding him a peanut butter waffle and trying to get out the door to go somewhere. During the 5 minutes I was getting him out of his highchair and getting him ready to go, I was talking on the phone. So, I changed his diaper, threw his shorts and shoes on, and let him play on the patio (with supervision) while I ended my phone call, grabbed my purse, keys, his sippy cup, etc., right by the patio door. As soon as I asked him to head toward the front door, he just planted himself down on his little train toy on the patio.

And then I looked at him and it hit me...I hadn't even brushed his bed head, I had forgotten to wipe his mouth (and shirt) from his peanut butter mess, and look closely at his shorts - I had put both of his legs through one hole in his shorts!

I literally burst into laughter, which was followed by an apology, a hug, and snapping a couple photos (and hair-brushing, face-cleaning and putting on his shorts the right way!)!
The hair...
The face...
The unthinkable...

Sweet baby, thank you for reminding Mommy to slow down and laugh at herself! I love you so much, little buddy!

First Swing Ride

2011-06-24T06:37:00.000-07:00

We visited this new indoor amusement place in Phoenix called Jambo Park. It has a handful of kiddie rides, and while I was pushing Benson toward the train ride, he insisted on riding the swing ride! :o) He only met the minimum height requirement by an inch! Ha, ha! All of the other kids riding the swings were in elementary school, but B had a blast! I think we're going to have our hands full with Benson's adventurous spirit!

Tanner's First Birthday Party

2011-06-23T12:48:00.000-07:00

Benson and I were so blessed to be able to be a part of sweet T-T's First Birthday party! It meant more than the world to us to be a part of his extra-special First Birthday! I was BLOWN AWAY by the magnitude of creativity, and how far above and beyond Uncle Matt and Aunt Jill went to make T-T's celebration so enjoyable! The theme was "Up, Up and Away!"

Here are just a handful of the highlights!

The super cute Birthday Boy and his beautiful mama!

I love this cool shirt they had made for the Guest of Honor!

Our wonderful Miss Jamie and precious Hannah Grace, and Miss Amanda and sweet Chandler swinging and enjoying the party!

Aunt Jill made this beautiful airplane-shaped "smash" cake herself! If only I were that talented!

Hunter and Benson were so cute while they were eating cupcakes together!

Happy First Birthday, sweet T-T! We had a blast! We're so excited to continue to watch you grow, buddy! We love you so, so much!

Visiting Family in Orlando

2011-06-23T12:36:00.000-07:00

Benson and Mommy were so blessed to be able to visit our family in Orlando recently! As always, the trip was way too short :o), but we are masters at packing in so much fun! Daddy, we're so thankful for your generosity to make it possible for us to go and brave it on your own! :o) And sweet family, thank you so, SO much for the BEST hospitality we could ever ask for! We love you all so much!

Here are some of the highlights from our super fun trip (in chronological order)!

Aunt Jill knows how to make a normal weekday like a party for kids! :o) Our sweet DeMoors were so indescribably accommodating to us during our visit (As always!)! We are so appreciative and had an absolute BALL spending quality time with you all! Here's Tanner, Hannah and Benson playing Elefun! Aunt Jill and Uncle Matt have the best toys!
So sweet! Carson and Benson reading together! Gets me every time! :o)

Big boy Carson's swimming lesson! - In a matter of days, Carson has become a swimming sensation! I am so impressed, buddy! Excellent job! :o)

Tanner and Benson swinging during Carson's swim lesson! - Tanner is the most laid-back and gentle-hearted child I have ever known! T-T, you are such a sweet boy!

Kaleigh's 8th Grade Graduation! - Kaleigh is my first cousin, but she loves Benson like he's her baby brother! And Uncle Randy and Aunt Krista are so good to Scott and Benson and I! I'm so thankful that Benson and I were able to be a part of this special occasion! Congratulations, Kaleigh! We love you so much!

Aunt Courtnee showed us a good time at a local "college" restaurant called Lazy Moon Pizza for the biggest slice of pizza I've ever eaten! It was CRAZY good! What made it so unique is that you can choose from a HUGE variety of non-standard pizza toppings. I LOVE capers and I was actually able to get capers on my pizza slice! Nee, you know food is the way to my heart! Thank you!
Benson and Grandma had TOOOOO much fun together during our trip! They were like two peas in a pod! :o) Grandma, thank you for always being a kid at heart and making even the simple things so much fun!

Uncle Brett and Aunt Nicole (Who managed to stay out of every single picture I took while visiting! Ha!) made us a DELICIOUS breakfast one morning and we had a blast enjoying each other and watching sweet Hunter and Benson play together! Hunter has such a pure, sweet heart and is so passionate! It makes me excited to see what he'll be like when he's grown! Brett and Nicole, you are the chefs of the family and brilliant! Thank you for gracing us with your awesome hospitality! (And introducing me to the hilarious world of Brian Regan!)
Snuggle-time! :o)
Play-time!

We took the boys to Build-A-Bear Workshop and they made identical puppies with matching t-shirts to "think of each other" by! Then, once we got back to Arizona, we used fabric paint and put Benson's hand print on his puppy's shirt and sent it to Hunter! Then, Hunter is going to put his hand print on his puppy's t-shirt and send it to Benson. So, both of their puppies will have a t-shirt and it'll have their cousin's hand print on it! So sweet!

Grandma and Hunter and Benson snuggle-time! :o)

Papa and Benson had so much fun playing together during our visit! Benson is just at "that" age where he will wear you completely out, without even losing an ounce of energy himself (Although, I'm not sure it ever changes! haha)! And Papa did a wonderful job playing with Benson and showing him a good time!

Cousins Jackson and Garrett! - Somehow, I managed to not be able to get one single legible photo at Aunt Courtnee's 21st Birthday dinner! But, we had a ball with the whole family celebrating Aunt Nee turning 21! Courtnee is a super-star human being and aunt! :o) We had so much fun enjoying dinner with Jackson and Garrett, too! Hunter couldn't join us, but Jackson, Garrett and Benson wore matching Magic outfits and it was so cute! Jackson is almost 7-years-old and was so sweet with Benson and helped "baby-sit" him at the table!

This is a secret closet inside of a closet in the house that Aunt Courtnee rents by UCF and her and her roommates call it, "Narnia," after the movie! Benson LOVED it! You are so much fun, Aunt Courtnee!
We are already so, SO excited to go back and visit again! We love you all!

Happy Easter 2011

2011-04-28T15:05:00.000-07:00

We hope everyone had a beautiful and fun Easter celebrating our Risen Savior Jesus! Here are a handful of highlights from our Easter weekend! Big hugs to all!

Coloring eggs!...

Making Easter egg shaped sugar cookies!...

Benson made us a beautiful sticker centerpiece!

Hunting for goodies!...

Every time that Benson found a book, he sat down and started looking at it! So funny!
A tiny baby bird fell out of its nest and joined us for some fun!Happy, Happy Easter!

Mommy's Little Helper

2011-04-28T14:45:00.000-07:00

One of Benson's favorite, favorite things to do is vacuum. So, I decided to capitalize on his eagerness to be my helper! :o) I think I'm actually going to make him a cute little chore chart to build his understanding and confidence, and reward him for "helping" me! :o)

Daddy caught us just as we were finishing vacuuming!
"Swiffer-ing" his train table!...
Thank you, sweet baby! I couldn't do it without you! :o)

Sqeaky Clean

2011-04-28T14:36:00.001-07:00

We have a standing joke in our house that we're so thankful that Benson is going to lose his baby teeth because trying to get Benson to brush his teeth for the last year or more has been a daily wrestling match!

But, FINALLY, he decided he likes to brush his teeth! :o)

Here he is standing on a stool at the sink, brushing his teeth, like a big boy (Without us having to hold him down! Ha, ha!) for the first time a week or two ago!
(Please excuse Mommy and Daddy in their pajamas in the background!)

Visit From A Different Kind of Bunny

2011-04-28T14:19:00.000-07:00

I guess I haven't lived in Arizona long enough to know why this is, but rabbits, and particularly jack rabbits, are a staple in the desert. So, rabbits are common outdoor wildlife here, but because we're newbies, we still get such a kick out of seeing them in the bushes outside of our front door from time to time!

While we were packing at our old apartment, a small baby bunny actually jumped through a small opening on our closed patio and made a farewell visit to us! :o)

Big Boy Bed

2011-04-28T14:12:00.000-07:00

With a move around the corner and a broken crib from a little boy treating it like it was a trampoline :o), it was time for us to move Benson into a toddler bed in March!

Here's Benson's reaction to the first time we showed him his new bed!

Super Fun Visit With Grandma

2011-04-25T13:01:00.000-07:00

I'm waaay behind on updating our blog (I don't think I mentioned this on the blog yet, but we moved two weeks ago!), but a month ago, we had the blessing of having Grandma visit us for a whole week! We all had a ball and Benson especially loved every single minute Grandma was here!

When I "get onto him" now, he says, "I want Grandma!" So funny! - More funny for Grandma than for me, but still so cute! :o) Ha, ha!
(Choo choo fun at the train park!)

We visited many of the popular "play places" in the Phoenix area and we all played like two-year-olds!

You can count on Grandma to prove to all Chuck E. Cheese patrons that this ride is not just for children! Ha, ha! Grandma, we love that you don't take yourself too seriously! We all learn from your good sense of humor! :o)

Fun at the Children's Museum of Phoenix!...

We had a giggling good time at The Play Factory!...

We squeezed in some girly fun, too! :o) We had a "spa" day! We worked out at the gym and relaxed in the jacuzzi. Then, we came home and made homemade avocado and honey face masks! Here we are in all our glory! (P.S. It really softened our skin! I couldn't believe it! Ladies, try it!)
We had some yummy fun, too, when we took Grandma to a couple of our favorite restaurants!
Grandma, you are so special to us! The distance never gets easier! We miss you so much! But, we are so thankful for these chunks of quality time that we get to spend with you now, and for getting to make such fun and beautiful memories!

We love you so much!

Girls' Weekend

2011-04-14T17:54:00.000-07:00

During the summer before my 8th grade year of school, my family moved and I transferred to a different middle school. On my first day of 8th grade in a new school, God introduced me to my soul sister, Jill! :o)

Over the past 15+ years, we've been through every season and grown up together! And you can't walk with someone for over half of your life and not experience significant changes. But, through all of the transitions that come with schooling, moving, dating, engagement, marriage, babies, etc., we've always made our friendship a priority. My life wouldn't be the same without the blessing of Jill's friendship!

And we're even further blessed that our wonderful husbands agree! :o) So, a couple of weeks ago, Jill and I split a plane ticket and packed as much fun (And Starbuck's coffee!) as we could in a little over two days! :o)

After I flew in on Thursday night, we went to dinner at Tijuana Flats, which is one of our favorite restaurants! There isn't one in Arizona, so I savored every bite! :o)

On Friday, we had a fun picnic at the park with Mama Frye, Jamie and sweet Carson, Tanner and Hannah! :o)
I've had the privilege of visiting Florida several times over the past 18 months, but every time I return, my precious nephews, Carson and Tanner, and I have major playtime to catch up on! :o) I literally delight in every minute spent with them! T-T is such a happy, easy-going baby! And Carson is so smart and hilarious! He had me in giggles all weekend! And every time I'd hold T-T, he'd snuggle with me by grabbing my hair! Sooo cute!

Friday night, we went to The Cheesecake Factory for dinner, which is also one of our favorite restaurants!
We took our cheesecake to go, grabbed some Starbuck's (For the second time that day! haha) and went to paint pottery! We each made a plate for our family that says, "It's Your Special Day," to help celebrate our kids' special moments!

Here I am shamelessly diving into my Ultimate Red Velvet Cake Cheesecake! :o)
On Saturday morning, we hit up a community garage sale, which is one of my favorite things to do! I love to treasure hunt! :o)

After that, it was time to be refreshed! We met Mama Frye and Jamie at The Garden Gate Tea Room in Mt. Dora, and it was AWESOME!
What a gem! I can't do this place justice, but this tea room is a true treasure that has a certain "X-Factor" quality that just nourishes the female spirit! It was the absolute perfect place to go during our girls' weekend!
Best tea EVER!
Mama Frye and Jamie are two of the most special people in my life! They are genuinely positive people with pure hearts and I'm so honored to call them family! We had so much fun talking and laughing!
After shopping and getting yet another (delicious) coffee, Jill and I headed to the Pure Aveda Spa and Salon in Mt. Dora and enjoyed a Caribbean Spa Pedicure, which is by far the BEST pedi I've ever had!
Saturday evening, to top off our wonderful trip, Mama and Papa Frye were so kind to have all of the family and I over to their house for a cookout! Mama Frye even made my favorite brownie sundaes, which I'm convinced are magically infused with love and comfort! :o)
A major thank you to our wonderful husbands for watching our children and making this weekend possible!

Also a major thank you to the DeMoor, Dozier and Frye families for showing me such warm hospitality and such a fun time! I love you all! I'm already looking forward to Girls' Weekend 2012! :o)

Jilly, thank you so much for being such a true friend, sister and source of loving support all of these years! :o) I love you!

The Play Factory

2011-03-08T20:24:00.001-08:00

Benson and I visited a new play place today, The Play Factory, which was so much fun! Benson had the time of his life climbing on all of the equipment and sliding down the big slides!

He slid down this slide so fast, I couldn't even snap the picture fast enough!

He's in the bottom right-hand side of this picture - He was flying down this slide on his belly! Don't let the peanut exterior fool you! :o) This kid is not scared and he loves climbing and heights!

We're going to go back to The Play Factory this weekend! haha :o)

Happy 2nd Birthday, Sweet Benson!

2011-03-08T19:45:00.000-08:00

Our precious "cubby" turned 2-years-old this past Sunday!
Here's our sweet baby just days old!
And here he is at his first birthday celebration!
It's so hard to understand how God can use a small child to bless us and teach us, the parents, so much! But, we continue to be wonder-struck!

We truly missed our family and friends that couldn't be with us, but we had a fun day celebrating our special baby's special day! :o) Here are some highlights!

We had balloons in the hallway when Benson woke up! He had a ball kicking the balloons around!

Our little buddy enjoyed opening some gifts and playing with Daddy!

Our birthday boy in his new birthday outfit!

Uncle Matt, Aunt Jill, Carson and Tanner got him this super cute backpack, among other fun things, and he LOVED wearing it! He thought he was such a big boy!
We went to Benson's favorite breakfast place (Mommy is a bad influence!), Dunkin Donuts! We played at the playground at church and then we went to service and Benson went to his Sunday school class!

Then we went to Benson's favorite place on earth (haha), Chuck E. Cheese! He talks about this place EVERY SINGLE DAY! Except he calls it "Chuch E. Cheese!" We played for almost 3 hours! It was a blast!

We had a wonderful day, and even more importantly, we are so thankful to our Lord for Benson, because he makes every day of our lives as wonderful as wonderful can be!

Family and friends, truly thank you so much for helping to make Benson's 2nd birthday such a special time for our family! We appreciate and love you all!

Mommy and Daddy love you more than we can say, Benson! You are such a big boy and we love watching you grow! We are so blessed that you are our son! Happy, Happy Birthday, angel!

Happy Birthday, Daddy!

2011-03-03T19:12:00.000-08:00

We had so much fun celebrating Scott's 28th birthday this past weekend! There are many lovely things I could say about my husband, but one undeniable statement describing Scott is that the man is the most want-less human being I know! He never asks for anything but is willing to give so much! So, it's a true joy to celebrate him! :o)

One thing we were blessed to do was see a movie at our local new iPic Theater! There's only 8 iPic Theaters in the U.S., so we were excited when one moved in within walking distance from our apartment! :o) We reclined in comfy La-Z-Boy type chairs while a waiter served us food and drinks! It was a fun birthday treat!

Of course, I forgot my camera all weekend - AGAIN! (I'm so disgusted with myself! haha) But, we did manage to capture a couple of funny pictures with Scott's phone! Benson went to a friend's birthday party in January and finally warmed up to icing and cake, so it's fun for us to watch him play! His white shirt did not survive the blue icing attack! :o)

Happy Birthday, Scotty! We love you so, so much!

Morning Person :o)

2011-03-02T18:58:00.000-08:00

Wouldn't it truly be a wonderful world if all people were capable of this kind of cheer right after they wake up without even a cup of coffee?! :o)

Uncle Brett, Aunt Nicole and Baby Hunter Come to Visit!

2011-02-16T16:55:00.000-08:00

Uncle Brett, Aunt Nicole and sweet cousin Hunter were so wonderful to come and visit us! We had a ball with them! We had so much fun sharing a handful of our favorite places where we live with them!

Here's Uncle Brett and Hunter waiting to ride the train at the train park!

...And Daddy and Benson! (Benson was in charge of the tickets!) :o)

Here's the gang on the train, ready for a fun ride! Choo choo! :o)

The little guys loved the carousel! I failed to snap a photo of it, but Scott actually got on one of the horses and rode it with Benson! That right there is the difference between a daddy at an amusement park and a mommy at an amusement park! :o)

We even got to see the new exhibit at the train park!

Our most special times with Brett, Nicole and Hunter during their visit were when we were just relaxing at home together! It was so fun to see Benson and Hunter play together! Hunter is so handsome and genuinely is so sweet and laid back! The boys even sported their matching p.j.'s that Grandma and Papa got them for Christmas!

Sweet Sedona!...

Look at this crazy mansion that's right next to the Chapel of the Holy Cross! It belongs to some inventor from overseas!

We took Brett and Nicole to a couple of our favorite restaurants and "treat" places in Phoenix, but while we were on the trolley tour in Sedona, we found a unique place that Scott and I had never heard of that was authentically fashioned after a traditional Mexican village, Tlaquepaque, meaning the "best of everything," which was built in Sedona in the '70's. It didn't even feel like we were in Arizona! :o)

(Benson was obsessed with this statue!)
Uncle Brett, Aunt Nicole and sweet Hunter, thank you so much for the special and super fun quality time! We love you so much and miss you so much already!

Fun at the Aquarium

2011-01-17T19:34:00.000-08:00

Thanks to Groupon :o), Benson and I got to make a visit to the Arizona Sea Life Aquarium last week! Benson was a tiny bit scared, but other than that, he had a ball! Finding Nemo is one of his favorite movies, so he loved seeing the sea life!

These look like movie screens, but they were actually fish tanks full of real fish! I only took a picture of one side of the room, but the tank made a full circle around the room!

Some of the fish tanks had these magnifying "bubbles" that you could stand/sit under and see the fish or the sea life in the tank even closer!
Benson LOVED it!

There were two glass tunnels that you could walk through. One even had a see-through floor!

Finally, Marlin, Nemo and Dory fishies! :o) Benson got a kick out of seeing fish that looked like characters from Finding Nemo! He walked right up to the tank and said "Nelmo!" (He's getting much better, but he still sometimes combines the names Nemo and Elmo!)

There was also a fun playground!We missed Daddy :o), but we had such a fun time!

Christmas 2010

2011-01-09T21:56:00.001-08:00

Happy Birthday, Jesus!

We had a beautiful day celebrating our Savior, including a yummy birthday cake! :o)

Here are some snapshots of our fun family day!
I think somebody is going to follow in Daddy's footsteps! :o)

Benson LOVED opening his gifts and even got super excited over his new clothes! haha Way to be, little man!
Benson gave GiGi a little concert with his new keyboard!
Pappion and Benson had fun building with his new blocks!
Benson enjoyed his new toys all day!

We also had the pleasure of getting to skype with our wonderful family in Florida! We missed being able to hug your sweet necks, but thank you so much for sending the gifts, the stocking, the cookies, the p.j.'s, and ALL of the sweet ways you made our Christmas extra special!

We truly wish everyone a beautiful 2011!

Christmas Eve 2010

2011-01-09T21:17:00.001-08:00

Introducing our sweet little man to the true meaning of Christmas and celebrating Christmas through his eyes made this year even more special! We deeply, deeply missed all our precious family and friends in Florida, and we are so thankful for the special Thanksgiving memories we were able to make with them this year!

After Christmas Eve service at church, Benson began the evening festivities by reading to us! haha

Benson loved opening up some of his stocking stuffers at Pappion and GiGi's home!
Shockingly, Benson's favorite stocking stuffer was his new mittens! haha
Okay, correction, the candy in his stocking was Benson's favorite "stuffer!" :o)
Daddy and Benson watching a video made especially for Benson from Santa! :o)

The boys setting out cookies!
Grandma and Papa have a tradition of getting everyone in their family matching p.j.'s! So, here's Benson in his p.j.'s that matched his three cousins! :o) Thank you so much!

Here's a little look back at our sweet baby celebrating his first Christmas at 9 months old last year!

Special Christmas Craft

2011-01-09T20:33:00.001-08:00

Late (Always! Ha!), but as promised, here's our little special Christmas craft!

Last year, we started a tradition. I made a decision that when I'm old and gray :o) I want an entire Christmas tree in my home filled with only Christmas lights and the hand prints of my children.

So, last year and this year, we made hand print ornaments! We'll enjoy these ornaments in the mean time, too! :o) (Grandparents, we made one for each of you again, too! We are (I am!) just WAY behind on getting them to you! :o)

My wonderful helpers spoiled and surprised me by taking down and packing up all of the Christmas decorations for me this year while I was out one morning! So, I missed my opportunity to take a photo of last year's ornament, but next year, I'll post a photo of 2009's, 2010's and 2011's ornament! :o)

Here's our little memory-maker! :o)

Benson ~ 2010

Under Construction

2011-01-09T20:28:00.000-08:00

As random and unnecessary as this information is, please excuse our fall-ish blog design! I cannot figure out how to fix it! I hate it when I wrestle with my computer and I lose! :o) I'm working on it!...

Christmas Play Date

2010-12-29T20:35:00.000-08:00

We're running behind on our blog postings - Shocking, I know! Ha! :o)

We're also running behind in general! Ha! Mommy and Benson are WAY behind and STILL working on one final special Christmas craft, but for our little Christmas play date, we went to Imagination Avenue for their special Christmas music class and story time, and cookie decorating "craft!"

Benson LOVES music and story time!

Benson doesn't like icing, so he didn't appreciate the craft time as much! :o) It was a shame, because Mommy HAD to eat his cookie! Ha! But he dabbled in the sprinkles! :o)

We're looking forward to sharing our special craft soon!

Christmas Train Ride

2010-12-29T20:01:00.000-08:00

There's a local train park that we've blogged about before, but during Christmastime, they have a nighttime train ride through thousands (Or more!) of Christmas lights!

When we got there, we had to split up, so Scott and Benson got in the ticket line and I got in the line for the train ride. We waited an hour and a half for about a 9 or 10-minute train ride! Here's where we were in the line after waiting for an hour! Actually, I waited! :o) Scotty took Benson on the carousel three times and walked around to see all the "characters" that were there in order to entertain him for the 90 minutes! :o) Good thinking, Daddy!
The characters!...

Benson wouldn't go anywhere near them, but he kept his eye on them the whole time we waited! He was scared of them but extremely interested in their whereabouts! :o)

Our little sweet cheeks!
Wheee! The ride!...

(This isn't the train you ride! Just for touring and decoration!)
It was well worth the wait! We had so much fun! :o)

Tasty Thursday - Final Week

2010-12-29T19:10:00.000-08:00

December has been a fun month for me, baking my way through "Tasty Thursdays 2010!" This was a last-minute decision/dry run, but my tummy has had a ball :o) and I've already thought of some fun ideas for the next holiday season! :o)

Tasty Thursdays will be sometime before Thanksgiving next year, rather than after Thanksgiving! :o) Next year, I want to focus on the thoughtful (and often economical) gifts of homemade goodies for friends and family! :o)

Our final treat is my frugal knock-off from one of my favorite places! I'm making Iced Lemon Pound Cake Loaves!

I LOVE the Iced Lemon Pound Cake at Starbuck's, but my wallet doesn't! :o) So, I found a lemon bundt pound cake recipe on the side of a lemon cake mix box, then I just split it into two loaf pans and glazed it with some homemade icing. It's obviously not exactly like the loaf at Starbuck's, but it's a close second and it hits the spot when I have a craving streak! :o)

CAKE INGREDIENTS:
* 1 box of lemon cake mix
* 1 (3.4 oz) box of JELL-O lemon pudding mix
* 4 eggs
* 1 cup of water
* 1/3 cup of vegetable oil

ICING INGREDIENTS:
* 2 cups of powdered sugar
* 4 - 5 Tablespoons of milk (You can also use whipping cream, coffee creamer, or water, if you don't have milk)
* 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract

DIRECTIONS:
* Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
* Grease 2 loaf pans.
* Mix all cake ingredients with a hand mixer until there are minimal lumps. Batter will be very thick.

* Bake for 35 minutes.
* Allow loaves to cool.
* Mix icing ingredients.
* Pour over loaves. It's totally up to you whether you take the loaves out of the pans and then ice them, or ice them first and then take them out of the pans. Either works good!

If you take them out of the pans and then ice them, I'd ice them on a cookie cooling rack, otherwise the icing will pool around the loaf on your tray.

If you ice them before you take them out of the pans, take them out of the pans right after you ice them while the icing is still wet, because once the icing dries, the loaf will stick to the pan.

This is such a MOIST cake/loaf! I so hope you enjoy it!

Thank you so much for checking out Tasty Thursdays! Happy, Happy New Year and I hope 2011 is a "sweet" year! :o)

Tasty Thursday - Week 4

2010-12-21T21:19:00.000-08:00

Get ready!...Get excited!...Easiest recipe EVER!
Peanut Butter Cookie Cups!

I found this recipe in a different Christmas idea book that I received for Christmas last year and it's so easy, it's ridiculous!

INGREDIENTS:
* 1 roll of pre-made refrigerated peanut butter cookie dough

* 1 bag of Reese's Peanut Butter Cups Miniatures

DIRECTIONS:
* Grease mini muffin pan (You'll be able to fill approximately 3 pans; makes approx. 36 cookie cups).

* Roll dough into 1" balls and fill each muffin cup with a dough ball.

* Push down Reese's in the middle of each dough ball.

*Bake according to directions on cookie dough package.
I LOVE the simplicity! :o) I failed to take a picture of what it looks like from the side, but it looks like a little mini muffin, except with a Reese's in it! They're so cute! :o) I hope you enjoy this super easy recipe!

Merry, MERRY Christmas! We need to catch up on a couple of postings soon, but we wish everyone a beautiful, special family time! Hugs to all!

Tasty Thursday - Week 3

2010-12-16T00:54:00.000-08:00

Our Internet has been struggling to work, off and on, for the last 24 hours, so I'm going to have to call our cable company tomorrow and I'm on borrowed time right now, so I'll have to keep this post as short as possible! :o)

This week's treat is a green wreath cake!

I found this recipe in a Christmas idea book that I received as a gift and I thought it was so cute, but I had the idea to add food coloring to the cake batter to make it a green wreath, but you totally don't have to change the batter color!

CAKE INGREDIENTS:
* 1 box of white cake mix (Eggs, oil and water according to directions)

* Approximately 50-70 drops of green food coloring

ICING INGREDIENTS:
* 2 cups of powdered sugar

* 5 Tablespoons of milk (You can also use whipping cream, coffee creamer, or water, if you don't have milk)

* 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract

DIRECTIONS:
*Prepare cake mix according to box directions.
* Mix in food coloring.

* Put prepared cake batter in a greased bundt pan.
* Bake according to box directions. Allow cake to cool.
*Place a dinner plate on top of the bundt pan.
* Holding the plate and the pan together, flip them, so that the plate is on the bottom and the pan is on the top.
*Easily slide the pan off of the cake. I put a little too much cooking spray in my pan, so the outside of this cake browned a little too much, but it should be more green and the inside is much more green.
*In a separate bowl, mix together all icing ingredients.
* This is a completely optional step, but I prefer to transfer the cake onto a cookie cooling rack with foil underneath before I ice it, but keeping it on the plate will work good! Sometimes the cake will stick to the plate because of the drizzled icing pooling around it on the plate, so that's why I transfer it.
* Drizzle the prepared icing.
* This step is where you can get creative! You could totally "draw" leaves on the cake with icing and use something like red M & M's as the berries, or you could use just about anything to decorate your wreath however you'd like! But, I only bake simple things and I'm not very creative, so I used some Christmas decorations to complete my wreath! Obviously, they're not edible, so I'll take them off each piece before eating it!

Next week's recipe might be the easiest recipe I've ever heard of! It's only a 2-ingredient recipe and it's a crowd-pleaser! :o) We'll finally get to one of my favorite flavor combinations - peanut butter and chocolate! :o)

I'm sorry that this post is more rushed than the prior ones! I hope I didn't forget anything! Have a fun weekend! :o)

Tasty Thursday - Week 2

2010-12-08T18:43:00.000-08:00

For this week's Tasty Thursday treat, I'm kind of killing two birds with one stone, to be honest! :o) I actually have a couple of fun Christmas recipes/ideas that I'm looking forward to sharing soon, but I was asked to bake this recipe for a friend, so I decided to share it today because it's actually a super easy, cheap, and versatile recipe!

Today's treat is Frosted OREO Brownies! I found this recipe on the side of a box of brownie mix a couple of years ago and this is one of my "go-to" recipes! Apparently, I have a thing for OREOs! :o) I promise, NO OREOs next week! Ha!

INGREDIENTS:
* 1 box of brownie mix (8" pan or 9" x 13" pan size)
(Will also need eggs, oil and water)
* Approx. 10 DoubleStuf OREOs, quartered
(Use a little less for a 8" square pan)
* Approx. 7 DoubleStuf OREOs, crushed
(Use a little less for a 8" square pan)
* 1 can of vanilla or cream cheese frosting

DIRECTIONS:
* Prepare brownie mix according to box directions.
* Mix in quartered OREO pieces into prepared brownie mix.

* Bake mixture according to brownie box directions.
* After baking, allow brownies to cool.
* Ice brownies with frosting.
* Sprinkle crushed OREOs on top of icing.

The OREOs are the most expensive part of this recipe. The brownie mix and the icing are around $1.50 or less each. When making a full batch, the peppermint bark I shared last week costs significantly more than this recipe. So, this is a better recipe for making a good-sized pan of goodies to feed a small crowd but for less money.

It's also one of my favorite recipes to make because it requires absolutely no attention to detail! :o) I can talk on the phone, whip up a bowl of brownie mix, crush some OREOs, toss it in the oven, slap on some icing without it having to be "perfect," throw down a few more OREOs and I'm on my way!

Finally, you can cut this into squares as brownie bars or you can leave it whole as a brownie cake. Also, you can change the icing flavor and color. If you love German Chocolate flavored frosting, that would probably work, too! If you're using it for a Christmas party, you can make the vanilla frosting red or green with a little food coloring.

So, for all these reasons I think this recipe is a good one to have tucked in your recipe box! :o)

Okay, next week - Christmas-themed treat! Here's a hint: I'm going to use a lot of green food coloring! :o)

Until then, remember that families are always happier when there's a sugary smell of baked goods in the house! :o) Have fun!

Decorating Gingerbread Men

2010-12-06T19:23:00.001-08:00

This past Sunday, after church, we had a little fun family craft time decorating gingerbread men! We bought two kits with pre-made gingerbread men and they were BIG cookies!

Benson was such an attentive helper!
Good job icing that cookie, Daddy! :o)

Benson preferred to eat the decorations!

Good job, boys! When Mommy bakes sugar cookies soon, she has a job for you! :o)

O Christmas Tree! O Christmas Tree! :o)

2010-12-05T20:53:00.000-08:00

The day after we got back from Florida, we dashed off to Lowe's to pick out our Christmas tree! :o)

Benson even found one just his size!
What a big difference a year makes at this age! :o) Benson was such a big boy and good helper this year!

Look at that smirk! :o)
There's a star on top of our tree and our little angel beneath it! :o)

Magic Game

2010-12-05T20:51:00.001-08:00

Grandma and Papa are Orlando Magic season ticket holders, so they treated us to a game during our visit so we could experience the new Amway Arena! It is too cool!

It has an outdoor lounge on the second story (I think) and this is the view of Downtown Orlando from there!

The jumbotron - and all the bells and whistles - are off the chart!

It even has two play areas, one for younger children and one for older children! Benson LOVED the play area!

Thank you for such a fun time! Go Magic!