Getting Ready For Easter

The past few days we have been getting ready for Easter. I made some chocolate birds nest complete with eggs. And Ben and I made Easter cupcakes for brunch at my parents on Sunday and we also dyed eggs. I will admit that when I say "we" made cupcakes I mean that Ben ate breakfast while I made cupcakes. But he was my official taste tester! When it came to egg dying he was right there with me until he started to crack the eggs and I had to put him in his highchair while we finished which he was so not happy about.

Ben & The Bunny

Thursday we took Ben to go see the Easter Bunny. Vince & I had a feeling that it would be a repeat of seeing Santa but we knew we just had to do it! When Ben saw the Easter Bunny he started waving and saying Hi then went and gave him a high-five. Then we put him on the Easter Bunny's lap and the screaming and tears were out in full force. Once we took him off the Easter Bunny's lap the tears stopped and he started waving and playing with him again-go figure! 

St Patricks Day

It is a constant battle in my house...Irish vs Italian. I think that the Irish know how to party and the Italians know how to cook. So I think we have the best of both worlds in our house! But that the Irish have a better holiday to celebrate while V thinks St Josephs Table is better. I think he just doesn't want to admit that St Patricks Day is AWESOME! It has been 3 or 4 years since we were in KC to celebrate it so I was so excited for this year! We also got to be in the parade this year with the Harris family! Angela & Paige came up from Garnett and Carrie & Taylor from OKC! It was so much fun! Ben fell asleep right before the start of the parade and about halfway through we woke him up so he wouldn't miss his first parade! And I am so glad we did-he had a ball! Waving and Clapping! Waving and waving and waving with a huge smile on his face!

Marco Island 2012

                                               Our view for 7 days!


March 3-10 was our annual family trip to Florida and this year was our second year going back to Marco Island! This year we decided to rent a condo instead of getting a hotel room. And boy did we make the right decision! It was great having 2 separate bedrooms and a kitchen but I will admit we missed the pool bar a bit. I was having anxiety about the 2 legged flight we had to take. Unfortunately there is not a direct flight from KC to Ft Meyers so we had to stop in Houston and change planes. All I can say is that I hope to never fly with a 16 month old again! We landed in Florida about 2:30pm and got our bags, rental car and hit the road for our 45 minute drive to Marco. We stopped off for the necessity's for the night and then went straight to the condo. Ben went to bed early since he hadn't really slept much that day. We ordered pizza and poured our first vaca cocktails! It was perfect and the only night we actually managed to see the sunset. The trip pretty much consisted of getting up, making breakfast, walk on the beach, morning nap for Ben, lunch, beach, afternoon nap, dinner, bed for Ben and a nightcap for V & I. We did take Ben to the zoo in Naples one morning but other than that it was beach beach beach! It was perfect! I must admit I was very surprised at how much Ben loved the beach and the ocean. The kid literally ran through the sand and straight into the ocean-NO FEAR! He's going to take year off my life! It was a great trip with mostly great weather! The memories made are priceless! I can't wait for next year when we bring my parents and brothers and soon to be sister-in-law with us!

                                                                              Fearless!

16 Months

It just amazes me time and time again at how much Ben learns everyday. This walking, talking, running 16 month old is a little sponge. I must say the greatest accomplishment this month is his vocabulary. He is a talking and signing machine. Just in the past few weeks he has learned more words than I think I can count. My favorites as of late are...eat eat (not sure why but he always says it twice), cool, car, fishy, crazy, mommy, go, please, shoes and night night. He repeats us constantly which is pretty funny! But makes us realize we have to be careful about what we say since his little ears seem to be everywhere!  He can run now and just keeps getting faster. He has very strong opinions about his stroller now and would prefer to walk not ride. He still loves his fruit and hates milk. I think he is working on a new tooth or two-he has been super drooley the past few days. He is learning his body parts-his favorite to show you are his hair, eyes, nose and mouth. He is quite the little funny man too. He lifts up his shirt and pokes his belly button and says beep beep! He also like to try to lift up my shirt and do the same at the most inappropriate times! He loves "talking on the phone"! He will grab a phone or remote hold it up to his ear, start talking and the walk around still gabbing away. Again how Ben mimics us is so cute, funny and scary!

XOXO

We started celebrating Valentines Day a few days early since Vince was going to be in Philly for the actual holiday. So Ben and I made him some heart shaped brownies before he left!

One the actual day I made Ben heart shaped toast with grape jelly-he loved the special treat! Then I let him open his presents! He got flashcards, a water bottle and a puzzle! All were a huge hit with him! Since Ben spend the afternoon with his GG when I went to pick him up we stayed for a yummy Valentines dinner with my parents & Matt. I must say the best surprise was the chocolate covered strawberries we had for desert! One of my all time fav's! Ben also tried one for the first time and loved it too! Thursday at school Ben had his Valentines Day party! They had made bags for their valentines the week before and he made me a super cute valentine with his hand print at his party! His teachers said all the kids had a great time at the party and they all took great naps! When we got home Ben showed me all his valentines and yummy treats he got. It was adorable!

1st Snow 2012

Well winter finally decided to show up the past few days with crazy cold temps and snow today! Only an inch or two but still enough to break in Ben's snowsuit! It was so neat watching him see the snow this morning. He wasn't quite sure what to think. And then we went outside to play. He loved throwing snowballs! He was all smiles as he walked around and I showed him he could actually play with/in it! But once he fell down we had tears and tears. We didn't stay out too long because someone wouldn't wear his mittens! Hopefully next year he will really enjoy the snow!

1st steps in snow

 Tears after falling down

 Man...I LOVE that face

 Snowball!

 After throwing his snowball 

B & "Da"