Hooray for new appliances!

We got a new fridge! I know, it's probably not that exciting, but I LOVE it. The rest of my appliances are black, so we decided to go with that. It sort of seemed like a huge, black, monstrosity when I woke up the next morning, but I just needed a little time to get used to it. The cupboards on that wall are white and a white fridge just sort of blended in. This one stands out. I'm okay with that, I just needed to get used to it. I've never had a fridge this style before, but so far, I like it. It holds my food nicely, and I think that's pretty important. :-) Plus, Ben got me a water filter and the kids can get their own drinks now. Hallelujah!

(Yikes! I didn't notice until looking at the picture of Nicole that I'm almost out of milk! Uh, Ben, do you wanna stop at the store on your way home tonight?)

Free!

My parents took the kids on a "fish adventure" and then stopped by the store on the way home. At the register Tyler was concentrating on something then a light bulb went on in his head and he started piling candy on the conveyor belt. My mom asked him what he was doing and he said, "Look Grandma, they're FREE!" It turns out the candy was "buy one get one free" but FREE was written much bigger and that was the part that he saw/read so he was stocking up! What a funny boy.

Valentine's Weekend at the Coast

I love my husband. He knows it, too. My wonderful parents kept the kids for the weekend and let us use their beach house for a romantic getaway. It was so much fun! Here's a few pictures from our weekend.

We were giddy when we got there. Ben has been working a lot lately and we haven't seen each other much. We have been looking forward to this weekend for quite a while!

Ben had 30 beautiful tulips delivered to the beach house. He's such a good guy!

(when we got home, Nicole saw them and asked me where I got them. When I told her that Daddy got them for me she said, "I'm glad Daddy got you for a Valentine." I'm glad too)

For Valentine's Day we decided to make a big delicious dinner for ourselves rather than go out. We made personal sized potato tortes, butternut squash risotto, steak (for Ben) and salmon (for Kristi), and chocolate lava cake with vanilla sauce. We love cooking together but we don't get the opportunity very often. It was especially nice to not have little helpers offering their assistance every few minutes.


 

We took a break while things were cooking to take a few pictures. I like this one because it makes my butt look big.

The food was amazing.

We played Scattergories and Boggle A LOT this weekend. It was so much fun! We brought a puzzle, but we just weren't feeling it. After we got the edges put together, we quit. I'm pleased to announce that we didn't watch t.v. all weekend. We were having too much fun!

A man who washes dishes = sexy.

We were expecting a very stormy weekend, but it was actually pretty nice! We went to the outlet mall and spent a chunk of our tax refund. We thought we'd hang out by the D River for a few minutes on the way.

We went to the site of the NEW BEACH HOUSE! I'm excited, but not nearly as excited as my parents. If you want details, please ask them. They love to talk about it. :-) It's right on the beach. I mean seriously, it's RIGHT ON THE BEACH. I can't wait until it's done!

While we were at the property we walked down the beach a little bit. I got the bright idea to jump off the rocks. Don't look too closely, I look scared. Nice camera work, Benamin.

Eventually, we had to go home. Sigh. It was hard to leave. The weekend went way too fast. It was so nice to spend some quality time together. I was actually a little excited to get home to the kids. I missed them!

Thanks for a great weekend, babe. I love you. I hope you'll always be my valentine.

Art or Graffiti, it all depends on what you're drawing on

Tori is a budding artist. I have to tell myself that or else I'll lock her in her room and never let her out. Sigh. No matter how hard I try to keep things away from her, she manages to get her grubby little fingers on them and wreaks havoc on my house! This is some of her artwork from the last few weeks. Notice, none of it is on a parent-approved surface.

This is what Saturdays are for

Tyler LOVES his daddy. He worships the ground he walks on. And when they get to have some one-on-one time, Tyler is in heaven. Ben's been working a lot lately so Tyler has been extra exited for Saturdays lately. A whole day with Dad? What could be better than that? They decided to have a sword fight in the back yard. I'm glad they wore helmets, but I think Tyler had the impression that he was invincible because he was wearing a cape and a helmet. Unfortunately, his fingers were exposed. Sure enough, Ben's sword must have nicked Tyler's finger. Tyler told me "Daddy cut my finger with his sword! I kinda wanted to say, "well, if you're going to play sword fighting, chances are pretty good you're going to lose an appendage." But I just kept my mouth shut. Geez, hasn't he seen Monty Python?

How is that comfortable?

Tyler was doing his homework yesterday and this is how he chose to sit. He sat like that for like 20 minutes! My toes hurt just looking at him. But he did a good job on his writing journal, so I guess if it's not broken, don't fix it!

This is not going to end well...

Why do my brothers think it's a good idea to teach my kids these kinds of things? I blame it on too many episodes of Jackass.

Lullaby

Nicole sang this song to Tori to make her stop crying.

Don't cry, Tori baby
It's just me, Nicole
I'm your sister, not a monster
I will not ever kill you.

Oddly enough, it worked. She stopped crying right away.