Gustav Refugee Center

The Shillingburg hurricane shelter is now open for business! Cliff got here this afternoon and mom will be in and out this weekend/week. Of course, Dad is going no where. After Hurricane Rita, he's got a pretty good set up...generator, window AC unit, mini fridge. :) I think he's nuts. Personally, I think Cliff just wanted to come for a mini vacation. He and Brian are already on the XBOX shooting things. Ben loves having his uncle "Cliffy" around. Now we just need Aunt Em to come volunteer her time. No such luck...Gustav will not be affecting Las Vegas.

Ben is two!

Yesterday was Ben's birthday. I can't believe he is two years old. Oh, and the camera is not working...no pictures! We had a pretty uneventful afternoon/evening. Ben was very whiney and cried at the drop of a hat. We sang happy birthday to Ben several times and I'm pretty sure he loved it. Brian was exhausted and went to bed at 6:45 p.m. (I'm not kidding!). I brought cupcakes for his little friends at daycare today. One of Mrs. Ernestine's friends brought Ben a present today. Ben calls her Aunt Mary...so cute. He was so excited to see that she got him a dinosaur and a stuffed bear. Those are pretty much his two favorite things. He did his excited face and gasped for her. She LOVED it. I'm going to have to figure out something special to do for her. Anywho...back to work. :)

Saturday

So far, our Saturday has been pretty good. Brian mowed and cleaned the kitchen. I cooked and messed up the kitchen again. :) I actually made home made pizza...like, from flour and yeast and fresh mozzarella. For those who really know me, made from scratch is not something I do very often. I just finished sweeping. I swear, I swept up enough hair to make another chihuahua. Annie is shedding like crazy.

Ben has really been kinda moody lately...today was no different. I lost count as to how many times he has been in time out. He got those no-mess markers for his b-day. We got those out but all he wanted to do was pull the lids off and then put them back on. For some reason that I cannot recall, I didn't want him doing this. We went back to old trusty crayons but by that point, a melt down was moments away, so we switched on the cartoons. :)

In the pic below, Ben has his pacifier. He calls it his "pass." Pray for us...we are going to be saying good bye to his trusty pass in the very near future. Not looking forward to that. I just don't want him to be one of those four year-olds in the grocery cart with a pacifier. Anywho...hope everyone's weekend is going great!!


Yeah, he's sitting on the coffee table. Is that really going to have a negative impact on us? I'm still deciding. :)

Check this out!

Allie has another give-away today! It's these botanical scents for the home. They are awesome. Go check it out. Also, she is doing a "My Favorite Things" swap where you send your "swap buddy" three of your favorite things. Doesn't that sound like fun?! Check it out!
http://allieparkersthoughts.blogspot.com/

Blankie!

Two posts in one afternoon...I know, I'm out of control! I just had to show you guys the quilt that a family friend and Brian's coworker made for Ben's bday. Thanks Rita!! He LOVES it. He even calls it his blankie.

He said "blue" and "ribbit." So cute!


For those of you who don't know, my son has a quirky habit of smelling his blankets as kind of a self-soothe thing. Weird, I know.

Birthday Party!

So we survived the birthday party. I was thankful that it was low-key, although Brian doesn't think 20 people in our house was low-key. It was great to see family and friends. Ben was a little overwhelmed...didn't really share or say thank you. I think he enjoyed himself. He was sad when everyone left. He kept asking where mimi, grammy, and his papa's were. Last year, my grandparents got him a wooden train. To this day, it's his favorite. Well this year, they got him a "Handy Manny" tool set that basically SCREECHES the theme song. Ben LOVED it. We had to tape over the speaker to soften the blow of hearing "WE CAN FIX IT" 30 times, in rapid succession. :)

Thanks to everyone who came. We are so blessed to have friends and family who love us and our little family!

Opening presents with sweet Elisa.

Pre-party...in awe of the helium tank.

Fun stuff...

Brian and Ben are on the bed "rough housing" right now. I'm so glad that Brian does that with him. When Brian was gone for two weeks, Ben would come up to me and smack me or growl...not really my thing. Anywho...finished the stuff for the baby shower this evening. We are trying to get in b-day party mood for little Ben's birthday on Saturday. I think we're almost there...thankfully my mom and dad are coming tomorrow night, b/c Brian is helping out at a youth lock-in on Friday night. Remember those??

This week has been so incredibly crazy. I was finally able to head to Ikea and got a rug and coffee table. I got Brian's stamp of approval on both. :) Ben's been in time-out twice for trying to climb on/jump off the coffee table. Finally Brian said "why are you in time-out?" Ben said "stand on table." So stinkin' cute.

He kept saying "yook (look), flowers."

Brian made fun of me for "blogging" the coffee table. :)

Day off

So, I took the day off. Had the beginnings of a migraine this morning and slept it off...during a THREE hour nap!! Bliss, I tell you. Then got to hang out with my hubby. I'm going to miss him not being at home once school starts up again. :( We did some shopping on craigslist for a new coffee table. We are also planning a little stop at IKEA in Round Rock tomorrow for a new rug. Excited about that. IKEA is like a casino for us...we have to know exactly how much we can spend and once we get to that point, walk out! :) Not that I know much about casinos. Anywho...back to work tomorrow...court, visits...it never ends!!! At least I had today... :)

Sunday Morning

Brian's leading worship at one of our friends' churches today so we had a little more free time this morning before we had to leave. Ben was so much fun this morning...all over the place. He just laughed and sang and danced...and yes, there was some squealing as well. Here are some pictures of my happy boy. I can't believe he is almost two!! (I'm a little frustrated with the camera...I can't get consistent pictures with it. Some are grainy or blurry or orange looking.)

A perfect "cheese" face!

Nothing much...

Life is busy as usual...work is CRAZY!! My kiddos are having a rough time. I think it's just b/c of summer. Hopefully things will calm down once school starts for them. In family news, my brother-in-law & sister-in-law had their little baby GIRL!! Her name is Karis, which means grace I think. She is gorgeous!!!!! Her three big brothers are excited. Carrie and baby are doing great. I can't wait to meet her. In Ben news, he can now open doors, which makes bed time in his new toddler bed interesting. Daddy had to go in twice last night...tears were shed! He loves trying to open the door to the garage. We REALLY need to head to Home Depot and get those door knob covers. Ben's bday party is next weekend...I'm having fun planning it. I'm not stressing out over theme or anything like that this year. I'm just excited about getting together with our friends and families. Good times! I'm also helping plan a baby shower for a friend. I love buying little pink things. Little boys rock, but little girls' clothing is so much more fun. Anywho...that's my Thursday. I hope everyone is doing well!!

Big Boy

Ben is in his big boy bed. His crib also makes into a toddler bed. I'll admit, I cried when I saw it. But he's so excited about it. Here are some pictures. Now I'm drooling, once again, over Pottery Barn Kids bedding. He needs a $100 quilt, right???? Or maybe not, but I can still look. :) His "cheese" for the camera is improving, don't you think?

MONKEYS!!!!!!!! How cute!

I just don't know what to say. Who is this big boy?

Remember when........

Friday

It's give-a-way day on http://allieparkersthoughts.blogspot.com/ . I don't know why I'm telling you this b/c I really want to win the bracelet and this is only lessening my chance. :)

Today is a better day! No one has cried on me yet!