Looney's Wedding

So one of Mike's friends got married yesterday. We contemplated going for a while but since Benny has separation anxiety we were worried. Last time we left him at the drop in daycare down town he cried (read: screamed, if you know Ben) for 45 minutes. They ended up calling me to come back early. Nice. So this time we were prepared had our phones on vibrate, well rested children, and paid extra for snacks and food. We have found that food is one thing that can help redirect Ben's fits.


So off we went. The kids did fine at drop off but I was expecting a phone call shortly. The kids made it 3.5 hours. When we picked them up Ashley was oblivious to the fact we were there. She still wanted to play. It makes it so nice that she loves to go to daycare! Benny did good. Although he did manage to aggravate the scab on his knee so he was a bleeder. They said he went through 4 bandaids while he was there.

But here are a couple pictures.


Here you can see our new couch and lazy boy chair too!


Mike will kill me if he notices this picture up. He hates it when I blog about him....So if it disappears you know why :)


This one just makes me giggle. We tried to take the self portrait picture and we kept cutting our heads off. I guess the foot difference between us introduces a challenge. hehe

Susan, do you recognize my booster?


Look at my toes. I think I have the longest toes ever. They are so silly.

Smores in the backyard

Here is Boca joining us for smores in the back yard. I think she managed to sneak up a few dropped marshmallows. Yum.



The kids loved their smores. It was the first time they have tried them.



Ben was a horrible sticky mess and ended up in the tub for a scrub down.



smores in the making

Ashley's new guitar!

Both kids have a fascination with guitars. Probably because Mike has a few around the house. We devoted his old one 12 string acoustic as the kids guitar so they played that one. But when Mike went to go pick up our new couch on Tuesday he came home with this little one.

It's the perfect size for her and she loves it. It has a case just like daddy's and they have been playing together in the evening. It is adorable.


We're working on teaching her the chords but she's having fun strumming away to baa baa black sheep and old McDonald (her own versions, of course).



Next up will most likely be a set of drums....maybe for Christmas. Mike already has a set of real drums, just kid sized.

Our Visit with Grandpa

The weather was really hit or miss the whole time Mike's dad was here. We did manage to go to the sprinkler park one day and we got in a few walks as well.

Ben is getting so big. I am shocked when I see him sometimes on how big he is really is.


Here is Ben and Grandpa taking a stroll



Can you believe it. My little babies are running down the sidewalk together. Holy cow. They're almost the same size.



Such a boy. Ben loved sitting in the tree. Ashley wanted nothing to do with it though.



But she sure loved the Dora lego set that Grandpa got her. She has played with it everyday since.

Our new van

So we ended up trading in the Rav4 and we got a new Honda minivan!

I love it and have had it on the top of my list for a while. Mike was not the keenest on driving a minivan but then he actually got in and saw how much room it offered in comparison to the Rav4 and the 4runner which was on the top of his list.

We tried the Toyota dealer first and they were ridiculous in their trade-in offer for the Rav4. Almost $6000 less than the Honda dealer offered us....Something is wrong when they don't even value their own vehicle. Anyway we came in within our budget. We are picking it up today because it needed to be detailed and after 2 stops at the dealers the kids were not in the best moods. So we are heading back up there today to pick it up!

Mike's dad is visiting and will be leaving tomorrow morning. This visit went quite quick but it was definitely nice to have an extra set of hands at the dealership.

Seriously....No Really?

Guess what I woke up to yesterday morning. Oh my so fun. Apparently Ashley decided that it wasn't fair that Chloe and JJ got to play with baby powder and she didn't. Such a blast to clean up too. Sweet darling! At least her rooms smells as fresh as a baby's butt...wait do baby's butts really smell fresh? Oh no, now I am confused.

Favorite Commercial

I am usually a commercial hater. I really don't sit around and watch them for the heck of it even on Superbowl Sunday. I have a DVR for a reason! But there have been a few that have really gotten to me and my favorite one of quite sometime is the do-groove campaign by Blue Cross Blue Shield of Minnesota. If you live in my area I am almost positive you will recognize this one but for those readers who are separated by distance I have included a link for your viewing pleasure. Click Here to See it!

The first one is my all time favorite but I like the second one too.

A picnic at the park

We stayed around home for Memorial day weekend. On Friday we took the kids to a movie, Saturday spent the day around the house, and Sunday we ventured out for a picnic and some playtime at the sprinkler park at University Park in GF. When the sun was out it was nice and warm but there were lots of clouds that the sun tried to hide behind. The kids did really well and enjoyed the park so much.

My little love bug! He is such a cuddly little guy

Ben was a little scared of the water shooting out of the ground at first but within minutes he was warming up to the idea.

The only challenge was keeping up with him. He was running out of the park on the grass and really kept us on our toes.


They also loved the play ground. The only problem we encountered was that it wasn't very easy to slide down the slides in a wet swimsuit. Note for future trips playground first, then water toys.





All tuckered out and ready to head home! It was such a good day and the kids were so happy after getting to spend the day outside.

My little boy is growing up!

My little Benjamin is growing so fast!!!! This week he has taken another step towards big boy hood! He has begun to refuse to eat dry cereal. He now wants it in a bowl with a spoon. He is doing so well with it also.


I was shocked the first day because he finished the bowl completely, milk and all! He uses the spoon great and is so proud of himself!

Look at those eyes! I truly thought my children would have brown eyes like me. But oh how could I ask for more beautiful eyes than these big, bright blue ones I have starring at me all the time.

Whorton hears a Who

So today we took the kids to see their first movie in the theater! We went to the newer theater in East Grand Forks because they have stadium seating and it's only 4.50 a person versus the *other* guys. We showed up at 12:15 thinking it started at 12:20...wrong it actually started at 12:05 but since we were the first people to show up for the movie they hadn't started it yet. Perfect! We had the whole theater to ourselves and our 3 yr old and 1.5 year old. They did really well through most of it. Ben walked around about the last half hour and we ended up leaving a few minutes early because they had both met their limits. But still they don't know the difference of whether they finished the movie or not so who cares.

Overall it was a good day. But both kiddies were pretty cranky this evening because they didn't nap... Ben did catch about 10 minutes of zzzz's but that was it. Yikes. But now they are both in bed and should be good sleepers tonight :)

Ok Heather I had to do it!!!!

Ok, so I had to do it. Every time I look at my friend Heather's blog I see her husband who really reminds me of my little brother. So I had to post a comparison shot!!! It might be the glasses and the shaved heads but still it gets me!

What do you think?

Family Picture Time

Mike absolutely hates....HATES...getting his pictures taken. Especially at the studio so it has been a while since the last time we went! But when he asked me for ideas for Mother's Day....my opportunity arose. I have been wanting to get them for a while!

So here they are. We went to sears and of course spent WAY to much but I think they turned out pretty cute!



This was the perfect opportunity for Ashley to wear one of the new fancy dresses Grandpa Bill sent! So cute. I whipped up a bow out of my crafting supplies and perfect.



If you look at Ashley's left eye you will notice the pink from where she got poked in the eye with a branch on our walk with Janelle and KK last night. So sad.



Benny was a good sport. Especially considering he didn't nap well. But they still turned out well.





This one was his own pose. We had sat him in the center and he was escaping by crawling away and when we called his name this is what happened.