Save the Date and Whoopee Cushions

Time FLIES!!!  Everyone is growing up.  Oliver is a year old and Ben, well, Ben......

Save the Date

Ben came home from school one day recently and said, "something very exciting is happening at 4:30".  

I thought that we were in for something very cool on the NASA channel or maybe the President would be speaking to the youth of our nation on all the major networks.  

Then he said, "Me and Olivia are getting married."  

Screeeeeeeeeech.  Huh, what?

So, there's this website that they use at school during free time called Poptropica.  He can play it at home, too.  He and his friends can meet at certain hotspots on the website (movie theater, sewer, whatever) and, apparently, make life-long commitments.

This particular day (his wedding day) he and his fiancee were meeting at the Soda Shop.  See the above invitation.  

So, he does his homework (homework before vows), he goes to the Soda Shop, meets up with his soon-to-be wife and off they go to be betrothed.  

The only problem (besides the obvious) is that they couldn't figure it out.  They knew it was possible to get married in Poptropica land, they had seen it done, but they couldn't get anyone to marry them.  I suggested that maybe parental consent or counseling was required before they could get married, but Ben just shot me daggers.  Here he was trying to marry the cyber girl of his dreams and the mother of the groom is cracking jokes.

Where we stand today is that Ben is still available.  They never quite figured it out.  He was crushed at the time.  I was surprised that it took him so long to bounce back.  Let me tell you, that was a rough 10 minutes!  I guess it just wasn't meant to be.  I'm glad, really, I still haven't met Olivia and I had nothing to wear.

Whoopee Cushions

Oliver turned a year old on April Fool's Day.  It's still hard to believe.  We had a cupcake with a #2 on it (April Fools) that evening.  Notice his Christmas jammies (AF).  

Here's the birthday boy "opening" his card from Grandma and Grandad.

We officially toasted the King of April Fool's with a party on Saturday, April 4th at "the castle".  It was an April Fool's Day theme, so we had whoopee cushions, disguises, Laughy Taffy and a cake that was a riddle.  See if you can figure it out.  I'll put the answer at the bottom.  

Audra and Oliver with Pam and Jonathan (Audra's parents)

This is Audra trying to kiss Oliver.

Babies racing to the ball.

Erin helping Oliver open one of his presents.

Oliver is trying to keep Audra from the Little People Farm.  That's not polite, Ollie.

Pam helping Oliver to a little cake.

He's done.

We had a lot of fun and I again want to thank everyone for coming and celebrating Ollie's birthday.  Good times. 

Miss Jan gave Oliver this Elmo balloon at the little party she had at her house.  He loved it!

Here are some more pics from the weekend....

 

 

Thanks for tuning in!!  xoxo

**did you get the riddle?  

there's a crown, an olive and an "r"  

King Olive-R.  

GET IT!

Bedside Chats with Ben - Wednesday, February 24

There has been talk that our new president will be using FDR's "Fireside Chat" style in addressing the country and it's legislators.  

So, in the spirit of the "Fireside Chat", I would like to introduce 

"Bedside Chats with Ben".

Many times these chats are just a stall..."can I have some water?", for example. 

But sometimes he's calling me to discuss something that he's been thinking about in the quiet and comfort of his bed.  Most of the time you leave his room wondering how on earth his mind "got there" and, usually, it's pretty funny.

Last night's chat was just one question:

"What did Yankee Doodle stick on his head and call macaroni?"

And that concludes this Bedside Chat with Ben.  Sweet dreams.

  

Did you miss us?

That was the longest blog break, EVER!!  

Here's what's going on with the Esty's:

(Don't you think that should be Esties?)

We got through the Great Ice Storm of '09.

This family actually weathered that storm quite well.  We did lose power twice, but it was nothing like most of the people that I know.  One afternoon we lost power for about 4 hours and then the next day we lost power again for about 2 hours.  No biggie.  

AND our trees did really well, too!!  Thank you, Wade!

This was Monday.

This was Tuesday.

It looks like a pretty dusting of snow, but it's not.  It's ice.

There are a lot of trees around our house and going outside at night was so creepy because you could hear all the trees cracking and snapping.  No one was on the roads so it was a really eerie kind of quiet, except for the trees.  

Ollie is up on two feet, just not walking.  He'll stand up, decide he wants to go somewhere else, plop down on the floor and take off!  That kid can MOVE!  You can't look away either b/c he won't be there when you look back.  

He loves to "chase" the dogs.  Once he catches up to Lucy (and he only catches up because she goes to the door and stands there waiting to get out), he tries to grab her feet or her tags, which she hates.  She is the sweetest most tolerant dog on the planet. 

That look...

Oliver is also getting his first tooth.  

See it in there?

He's learning a couple of words, too!

He says, "mama", "hi", "dada" and "weeeeee".

Ok, while it's tempting to let you think that he is a genius and starting to speak at 10 1/2 months old, I have to be honest here and let you know that he doesn't really use any of them correctly.

Sometimes, in the early morning hours, you'll here this sweet little "hi" on the monitor.  

When he is being playful, he says (screams)  "da da da da".

When he is getting cranky and hungry, he says "ma ma ma ma".

Actually, maybe he is using them correctly.  Ha!

One is getting teeth while the other is losing them.  

Here's Wade tying a string to Ben's tooth so that he could work on loosening it up....shudder.  

Ben was just sitting on the couch, reading his book and tugging on that string.  

As of the writing of this, the tooth is still hanging on.

Ben has also started riding the bus to and from school.  It seems to be a good thing.  And he made a little bus friend.  Awwwwww.  

The bus picks him up a block away from the house at 6:55 am.  Yes, you read that right.  I can see him from the porch and I usually stand there until I physically see him get on the bus and head off to school.  

Then, about 3:05 in the afternoon, the bus comes screaming down the street...I'll get to this in a sec...and I watch him LEAP out of the bus and run all the way to the house.  He comes flying out of that bus like he is being thrown out.

"I just like to jump out"

That's what he tells me.

He's just a little dude getting himself to and from school.

Ok, supersonic speed demon afternoon bus "O".

I don't know if it's because the bus driver assumes that he has all the neighborhood children with him and therefore it is ok break the sound barrier as he barrels down the street, but I do know that by the time I hear the bus, it has already flown by the window and made me spill my hot coffee all over me.  That last part was a lie.  I was just re-living that scene in Top Gun when Mav and Goose buzz the tower.

I guess I just feel I have to question how safe a driver this guy is if he thinks that Mach 10 is an appropriate speed for a residential street.  I was thinking more like 20 mph.  

We were in Kansas City recently, too.  We had a short, but fun visit!  

LOTS of Wii.

I feel that I should tell you that, unless you are six year old Anastasia, I cannot be defeated at Wii tennis.  I'm not trying to brag or anything, I just wanted you to know.  

I will take you down.

It is becoming a little more difficult to take pictures of Oliver right now.  I will explain with a visual.

I flash the camera hunting for the perfect moment to capture....

He spotted me, the hunter becomes the hunted.....

it's over

I'll see you next week...yes, I mean it.

Love, 

The Esties

Elf Yourself

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

"The Big Chill"

We went to Ben's Christmas program at Owl Creek School recently. The program was called, "The Big Chill", and it was pretty cute!! My pictures, however, not so much....

The picture at the top is really the only cute one I got.


I don't think that the school cafeteria lights helped the photo quality, but I'm pretty sure they had nothing to do with my bad timing. I have so many pictures of Ben with his eyes closed!

We had our Luxe Christmas party this past week, too. It was very nice! We had dinner at the Springdale Country club...Wade and I both had a yummy steak....and exchanged our Secret Santa gifts. I was Ryan's S.S. and got him a wool scarf....that kid walks in to work half frozen some days after walking from class.

Betina was my S.S. and got me the BEST scarf and an awesome NARS makeup brush that I REALLY wanted! So sweet!!!

It was a lot of fun! Such a nice thank you from Juliette and Dr. Miller and so much better than the Christmas party I attended last year!!! The photos are on my Facebook page, but I will post them on here eventually....sorry I'm not prepared for that today.

Danny Spungen, whose grandfather in 1941 launched Peer Bearing Co., a ball bearing manufacturer in suburban Chicago that was sold earlier this year, said his family unanimously decided to thank the company's 230 employees with year-end bonuses of $10,000 and more, with the amount based on years of service.

How cool is that?

Look, it should never be about the amount. That's not the point. The point is that the gift has to mean something. Ten thousand dollars to every employee when times are tough is AMAZING, but what's more amazing is that the family decided unanimously....did you catch that part?

Or, really putting thought into how you can creatively stretch $10 into a meaningful gift for someone is, well, thoughtful.

Enjoy your family this season, enjoy Christmas for what it celebrates.

Bummer

Mom's Log 12052008

I'm constantly looking for signs that Ben hasn't grown up too much.  

I love this one!

Last night Ben called me in to his room after he went to bed.  When I got in there he said, kind of pitifully, "I think I pulled a muscle".  

Please keep in mind that he is in bed not moving around much but trying to go to sleep.

When I asked what (could have possibly) happened, he said that his stuffed fish fell out of bed and when he reached for it, he pulled a muscle in his arm.

Trying to ease the situation, I said that he probably didn't pull a muscle but just stretched a little too far.

He was a little annoyed that I wasn't taking this injury a little more seriously and shot his arm straight out and snapped, "I KNOW.  Look how  long it is now!"

Sweet Baby.