For Matt

This post is for my husband. I have no doubt that the pictures below will make him proud :)





I will say that it is not only my shoes that Ben likes to wear. He will put on any pair of shoes that he finds laying around the house.

To make up for the pics of Ben wearing the heels, I will also post these pictures of Ella. She can't really be developing a love of tractors, can she???

Jump! Jump! Jump!

Ben was jumping on the bed tonight and Matt made a comment that Ben wasn't a very good jumper. I disagree - I think he is a GREAT jumper! And I have the video to prove it:

My parents got Ben this trampoline for Christmas. Isn't he hysterical jumping on it?

If you have your volume turned up on your computer, you can hear how I cheer him on!

Mother's Day Outing

Happy Mother's Day! I hope all my favorite moms out there had a wonderful day with their families. I told Matt that for Mother's Day, I wanted to take the kids to the zoo. Since we knew Sunday was supposed to be a yucky day, we went on Saturday. We first had brunch with Matt's brother, Todd, and his mom, at First Watch and then we all headed to the Columbus Zoo. The day was georgous and we had a wonderful time.

We started at the petting zoo. Ben had to pet and talk to all the sheeps and goats. (And look - Mommy cute all her hair off!)




Here are Matt and Ben checking out the Puma


The fish are always a big hit with Ben


I love these next two pictures of Ben. He really loves the zoo. He WILL NOT ride in a stoller at the zoo. He has to be able to walk up and check out all the animals himself.


Here's a picture of Matt, Todd and Patty


Ben and Mommy riding the tiger


Ella slept in the stroller during most of the zoo trip. She woke up towards the end and we were able to get a couple of cute pictures of her.



We had a great day. Thanks for my wonderful day!!

Weekend in Canton

Ben, Ella and I headed up to my parents for the weekend. We had LOTS of fun! Gigi made Ben these yummy cupcake cones. Ben really enjoyed them - especially the sprinkles!




There was a really bad storm on Friday night and we lost all power for an hour or so. It started to get warm in the house, so we opened the front door and hung out on the front porch and watched the storm. Ben really enjoyed splashing in the water and making footprints.


Here are Ben and Papa (and the goose):


And a picture of Gigi, Ella and I:


On Saturday, it was still raining. But Ben didn't mind - he put on his raincoat and headed outside to play!


Then, Aunt Erin, Uncle Josh, McKenna and Max came over! Ben and McKenna are BEST FRIENDS! They hadn't seen each other in a couple of months, so they were so excited to play together.


Here is my nephew, Max. Isn't he handsome?? Max was feeling a little under the weather, so he was extra sweet. Max and Ella are only 6 weeks apart in age, but he is so much bigger than she is.


Here is a picture of my sister, Erin and I:


Every time we are at my parents house, Ben plays with this pink stroller. It's meant to push around a babydoll in, but we decided to put Ella in the stroller. Ben pushed her all around the house. And as you can see from the picture, Ella LOVED it!


On Sunday, after breakfast with the Weber's, we headed to the park. When we first got there, Ella wasn't feeling so well....


.... but once we put her in the swing, she quickly perked up!


Here is Max in the swing. He is the CUTEST!!


Here are Erin and I with our babies. This picture makes me laugh because Max and Erin are so blonde and Ella and I are so dark. Are we really related??


Ben and McKenna had a fun-filled morning of swinging,


and sliding.


Nothing beats a day at the park with your best friend!


Thanks for a great weekend!! We love you guys!

Curb Appeal

We have a HUGE front porch AND back porch, and until now, they have been completely empty. I found some adorable black rocking chairs at Garden Ridge and red side tables at Old World Market. My mother-in-law, Patty, picked us up some huge ferns and put them in her mom's antique plant stands. I think it is coming together quite nicely. What do you think?



There is still more I want to do. I really want a 3 piece bistro set for the front right corner of the porch. And some fun throw pillows for the chairs. And some huge ceramic urns to plant flowers. And after taking these pictures I told Matt that I think we need to paint the front door - wouldn't red be a fun color?

My father-in-law, Doug, brought over more gravel for Matt's "Gravel Project". Ben thinks these huge piles of rock are here just for him to climb on. Look how proud he is of himself!


Ben also had his first golf lesson tonight. Matt bought him his first golf set - wood, iron, putter and bag. I don't think we're ready to change his name to Tiger yet, but maybe some day.


As for Ella, she is feeling a little under the weather. How can I tell? Well, can you find her in the picture below?

Look closer....

Here is a view from the other side. She NEVER falls asleep on the floor. When I picked her up, she was running a fever. It is so upsetting to have a little one who doesn't feel well.


Matt was taking a continuing ed class this weekend in Columbus so I took the kids and headed up to Canton to Gigi and Papa's house. We hadn't been there since Thanksgiving. We had A TON of fun, with Gigi and Papa, and Erin, Josh, McKenna and Max (THANKS Mom and Dad and the Webers!!). I took lots of pictures. I will post some later this week.

The Gravel Project

A few weeks ago, Matt started telling me about this Gravel Project that he was going to be working on. Although he explained it to me, I still really didn't understand what he was doing. So imaging my surprise, when Ella and I came home from an afternoon of shopping last Saturday, and drove up the driveway to see this....










Of course, Ben was PUMPED to have a REAL skid loader at his house! And he got to ride in it with him Daddy! Ben even has a toy skid loader that he plays with all the time







And what could be even more exciting that a skid loader? A DUMP TRUCK! Ben's Grandpa OWNS this dump truck - how great is that??!! Ben would sit in the front of the truck while Matt used the skid loader to fill it, and then they would drive to the back of our property to dump it. Ben was in heaven!










And Mommy had fun riding in the dump truck too!! (but I wore my hard hat!)

Big Boy Pants

Although Ben is no where near ready to start potty-training, we though it would be motivating for him to try on his big boy pants (aka underwear!). His Grandma gave him these for Christmas - they have dinosaurs on them! He seemed to really like them. (When he gets older, he is going to be so upset with me for posting these!! But doesn't he look adorable?)

Here we are joking around and playing before bedtime. Of course, I changed him back into a regular diaper before bed!


Around Christmas time, Matt bought Ben a DVD called "Elmo's Potty Time". And Ben LOVES it. We have watched it a million times already. I may go crazy if I have to listen to Elmo sing songs about going peepee and poopoo in the toilet one more time!

To my friends that don't have kids yet...... just you wait! I can't wait until you get to experience this too!!