Ben's 4th Birthday!

This weekend we celebrated Ben's 4th birthday at Deanna Rose per his choice.  We had a small group to join us and he had a blast.  He was very excited to wear the new shirt I made him.  He even helped sprinkler his cupcakes and hand out the party favors.

Swinging

 

The boys

Only pic I could get of both Ben and Ash

We played one game which was pin the sticker on batman and although most kids enjoyed it due to the younger ages there had to be a little parental guidance with blindfolds on for some.  Everyone enjoyed the cupcakes and ice cream.  I have to say this party was a lot better than the one two years ago, but I'm sure that's just my opinion since at the last one I was pretty sick and Ash and I had pinkeye.

Ben readjusting his sticker

Jack's turn!

Quick acting to stop Ash from hitting the posts (this time)

Happy Birthday!!!

More jersey's!!!!!!!

Look Jack - baseball guys!

a crowd for presents

Everyone got to enjoy the nice weather and see the animals.  We were able to have pony rides, play on the tractors, have a hay ride, feed goats and just have fun.  The kids enjoyed themselves which was great!

Mallory and Ashley watching everyone on pony rides

Pony ride

well my fish was this big!

Ashley, Isabella and Ben feeding goats

Ben's girlfriend, Isabella

Milo and Jack feeding goats

Mallory and Rory feeding goats

After his party we came home for a quick bite and we were off again to his last soccer game.  He proceeded to score three goals and had one assist!  I'm happy to see that he has made a huge progression from the first game to the last and actually understands how to play.  He's great at defense, but has started to do better at offense as well.  Between him and Jack they make a pretty good pair out on the field.  I'm pretty sure the reason he has done so well is because of Jack who is a stud at soccer.

Goal celebration for Ben and Jack

Overall it was a good weekend and he had a lot of fun playing with Deebo and Papa in all the spare time we had.

All the kids :)

Fishing

On a day that seems like the first spring day this year, we definitely took advantage of it.  We started out at the zoo and Ashley was pooped by the end of it so we came back for a nap. 

Since I have been running more and did my first half marathon Ben has been asking of late if he can run with me.  So today I decided to take him up on it and we ran around the block.  We had to stop at home to get some milk, but then we were off again per his request.  We took another short jog for just about a block and he then wanted me to carry him.  Needless to say we walked home and that was the end of our run for today.

After Ashley took her nap we headed to the nearby pond to take Ben fishing.  We gathered some worms from under rocks at our house and took the fishing poles in the hopes of catching several.  Unfortunately the fish weren't in large schools and after a while we only ended up reeling in two.  Ben loved catching the fish and apparently can cast like a pro.  He even held one of the fish before tossing it back in the water.

Looks like we need to get Ash a pole though since she wanted to take part in the action as well.  By the end of the time there all the kids wanted to do was to throw rocks in the water so that kept them occupied for a while.

Overall it was a gorgeous day and it was great to spend it outside.  It was much needed for the kiddos after the raining and snowy days we've had.

Happy Easter!

We were able to see my side of the family last weekend and there were some good times with all the cousins.  Ben and Ashley tend to run and play and have a good time whenever their around which is awesome.  We celebrated Ash's birthday which happens to fall around the time of a few of the cousins birthday's but we were in town for my cousin's wedding and time was limited.  Ashley did receive some roller skates and was thrilled about them.  She did not want to take them off.

Yesterday we dyed the eggs and both had a good time although Ben liked dipping his hands in every glass finding the eggs more than using the utensils.  Ashley did a great job of coloring her eggs and the whisk was an awesome idea to keep her little hands clean while also getting the eggs the colors that she wanted.  We made Ashley and Ben eggs and of course Ash chose blue and Ben chose pink.  Regardless they still enjoyed the experience.

Then today the kids loved finding the eggs that were hidden. So much in fact that we had to re-hide them several times and they even were hiding them for each other to keep it going.  Luckily it was nice enough that we could play outside and run out some of that cooped up energy.  Ben and Ashley even had a good time on their roller blades and skated around for a while at home and at grandma and grandpa's.

Ashley is 2!

Today is my sweet baby girl's second birthday and already she's growing up too quick.  To start the day off she got to wear her new birthday shirt I made and was thrilled to have Nemo on.  In fact, I'm washing it now so she can wear it tomorrow to daycare to show off with her cupcakes and friends in her new classroom at daycare.

This morning Ashley helped mix and prepare the cupcakes for baking and she did a surprisingly good job without a lot of mess. 

Then we went to Grandma and Grandpas and she got Thumper (who's leg actually shakes when you press his foot) and a cute little doggy that says nite-nite when you press his hand.  Even though it was daylight savings last night she was still ready to go down for a nap right after lunch, but when she got up Ben helped her down the stairs so we could eat cupcakes and celebrate.  She was not a fan of the candles on fire so we had to blow them up pretty quick, but she did like my homemade icing.

Presents were up next and the mini dyson was a huge hit along with the gun that blows bubbles.  They weren't as excited about the castle at first, but ended up having fun playing in it and next step would be for them to color it.

As an impromptu outing we decided to head to a Mavericks game (the CHL hockey team) and of course Ben liked it.  Ash actually enjoyed most of it as well, but I think more for the fact that there was a lot to see and going on.  Overall it was a successful low key birthday.


I've enjoyed getting to see Ashley grow and develop into this little person who has a ton of personality, but is also independent, happy and just stinkin cute.  I can't wait to see what the next year has in store of us.