Easter 2013

What a great weekend. Easter is the one holiday I have claimed as mine. We don't travel. We enjoy time at our house and anyone who wants to make a road trip here is always welcomed.

Grandma and Grandpa B made the trip up Saturday morning. We loved seeing them and planned lots of fun while they were here. After visiting at the house and eating some lunch, we divided in two groups. Josie, Ben, Grandma and I went to the Snow White Ballet. Will, Billy, and Grandpa went to the golf bubble to hit some balls. Originally we had home they'd get to venture outside but it was wet and a bit chilly.

The ballet was amazing. I wasn't sure if the kids would grasp everything, but they sure did. Ben just got off the phone with Grandshe and told her, "The characters didn't say anything, the music said it for them." Bingo! Pretty impressive for a three year old. (We'll work on explaining they are dancers not characters later). Ben sat perfectly still on Grandma's lap the entire show. He was in awe.

Will loved having time with just Grandpa and Dad. Will is Grandpa's #1 fan. He prefers his waffles burnt because that's how Grandpa likes them. Will declared that Grandpa is his golf coach. He listened to his coach and had a fun afternoon with the guys.

Today we woke up and found the Easter Bunny tracks to baskets, ate oatmeal squares for breakfast, started prepping our Easter meal, went to church, dyed eggs, made sock puppets, did an egg hunt then ate at 12:30pm. It was a packed morning, but we didn't rush. We went at a pace to enjoy it all but keep things moving so the kids didn't get restless. We all (yes mom and dad too) took a big nap this afternoon. It was the perfect Easter.

Two funny stories from the weekend:
Will started pointing with his middle finger. He has no idea what it means, but it makes me giggle. Billy was just trying to explain to him to point with his pointer finger. In doing so, Will completely gave his dad "The finger". I am dying from laughter.

Ben was listening as I told him what might be in the eggs for the egg hunt. I mentioned that maybe there will be coupons for things like date night with mom. His response, in a very serious voice, was "coupons are NOT candy mom."

Happy Easter!

Ben having scooter fun (earlier this week)

Ben and Grandma at Snow White Ballet

Park time fun on Friday (Will on Left)

Ben finding his bunny tracks to his basket

Will showing off his new soccer/tennis shoes from Grandpa & Grandma

Let's dye some eggs!

Church time fun. Will in Blue, Ben in pink.

Will on the hunt. 

William James

Last night Will told us he likes when we call him Will or William. He doesn't like when we call him William James because that means he is in trouble. This is true....and funny he figured out the pattern.

We love a good dance party. Lately Will puts a flower hair pin on his shirt (like a boutonniere) and will ask me to dance with him. Last night he walked up to me with his chest all buffed up, pointed a finger in my face and said, "Mom... I'm gonna marry you." We acted out our wedding and then danced it out. It was somewhat demanding. I hope when he asks someone for real he does it a little more sweetly, but hey he has time.

Will has gotten really into sports. He digs basketball and tennis the most right now. He is anxious to try football this fall. Will recited to us out of no where that Dark Blue and Orange is Chicago Bears. Light Blue is Lions. And Notre Dame only wears their green jerseys when it's a special occasion. I looked at Billy for confirmation. Apparently the kid was right. He even knows the whole Bear's fight song. (See below).

Will is also the #1 dinosaur fan in the house. He likes the Brontosaurus even though he acknowledges the T-Rex is the king. It's the long neck that he thinks is the coolest. We were lucky enough to be invited to an awesome friend's dino party before getting to see Sue at the Science Museum.

My Dance partner Will

Dino Party, note Will can't keep his eyes off the dinos

Sue at the Science Center, Will, Ben, and Josie

Tennis love. It's in Bemis kid's blood

Sweet Basketball Dreams

Bear Down!

God made me that way...

People tell me all the time they can't tell the boys a part at first glance. Once you get them talking about their likes and dislikes it's pretty easy to identify who is who. Actually, once you get them speaking at all you can tell. Will has this husky deeper voice and Ben tends to shriek when he gets excited.

This morning as we walked into Josie's school Ben said in almost a whisper, "I like princesses because God made me that way." It was like he was processing it. It made me happy to know that he knows liking princesses is just fine and who he is. It also made me ache as I know that he has been asked why he likes pink and princesses. A little girl in his dance class told him he couldn't like Aurora because it was a "girl" toy. It was during class so I wasn't in the room. He told me about it afterwards. I asked him how he responded and he said, "Boys can like things that girls do." Pretty smart for three....

Ben in our Princess Tiana hotel room. He was in heaven. 

A Staple?! Ouch!

The boys received racer scooters for Christmas from Santa. Ben got pink and Will got green per their wish lists. Because it was 20 degrees and snowing outside, we let the boys ride inside. At first they were slow and barely moving so it seemed like a good idea. Plus how unfair is it to get a gift and ask them not to use it?! On Thursday, December 27th, (after only having the scooters a couple days) Will was really getting good! Maybe too good... he started going faster. He started turning corners. Unfortunately, he started to turn the corner a little too sharp in the kitchen and his head hit the corner of the wall perfectly on the right side of his head. His head started to bleed horribly.... There was no doubt that we would be going to the ER. Lucky for me, Billy had just gotten home from work. By the time we got Will's shoes on he wasn't crying. In fact he was just excited to get to ride in dad's car. There is only one car seat in dad's car, so it's a big deal.

An hour later, they came home. Will was completely fine the whole time. They ended up putting a staple in his head since it was in the middle of his hair. He never cried or winced. This might be a good time to mention Will has already had his head put back together once before. Yes, he is 3... we are averaging every other year at this point!

Staple!

Two seconds after he got home, Will gave me this confident thumbs up!

Christmas 2012

What a fantastic Christmas.... Here are a few pictures that capture some of our favorite moments.

Ben, Will, and Josie the night before Santa came! 

Merry Christmas!

Playing with our scooters and skateboard

Ben Darth Vader against Will Hulk

Ben and Will getting Grandshe to read 3D books

Will, Josie, Jules, and Ben at Bemis Christmas

Christmas Eve at Aunt Patty and Uncle Mark's house

Jules and Ben at church

Will and Jules

Magic Show with Maeve

Follow the Yellow Brick Road

Will, Dad, Glinda the good witch, Mom, Ben, and Josie after the show. 

In December we had a wonderful family experience. We went to the Wizard of Oz! The kids loved the show. It was the boys very first play (besides Friday Fundays that are shortened plays). They sat so good through the whole play completely mesmerized. It was a great production!

Afterwards we got to go on stage to meet Glinda the good witch and check out all the props and stage. Josie and Will were being shy. But Ben... Ben went right up to Glinda. He told her she did a great job. He told her he loved her dress. He told her all of these things with a huge smile on his face. Even the picture above, Ben couldn't stop starring at Glinda. He was awestruck.

Ben at intermission

Josie and Will at intermission 

My Boys

I'm behind on writing blogs.... I need to post about Christmas! But before I go to bed tonight, I wanted to record a few of the funny things the boys said today.

Will & Washington - We were backing out of the garage this morning and Will said to me, "Mom you remember Washington is #1?" We have Presidential flashcards and he loves to find Washington. When I said yes, he then said, "Yes, Washington is first and he looks like a vampire." It was very matter-of-factly.

I love you's -  Will told Ben (in a very sweet sing-song voice), "I love you Benny." To which Ben replied (while acting embarrassed), "Ah shucks!"

#1Fan -  We are getting ready to start basketball. Will keeps telling us after basketball he is playing football. He says it very enthusiastically and often. Today, Ben said, "Yes, and I will be your cheerleader!"

Sunshine - As I tucked Will into bed, I said "Will you are my life. I love you baby boy." Then he said, "Mama, you are my sunshine. I love you more." This is actually the second time Will has said this to me.... It melted me equally both times.

November 16th through 22nd of giving thanks

Well our project came to an end a week early. We were on a roll too! Once we went to Omaha for Thanksgiving our giving thanks project went on vacation as well. Here's the second part of our adventure:

Day 16: What a treat! Today I was greeted by 3 cuties who decorated cards for me with their daddy. Billy got me a Starbucks gift card too (he knows the way to my heart). It was great to be on the receiving end of project give thanks.

17: Billy gave blood at our church blood drive. He took all three kids with him. I thought this was really brave of him, but the kids did great. We had a good conversation about how his blood will be used.

18: We made a huge tray of goodies and breads for our local firefighters. The kids told them, "We are thankful for you. Thanks for keeping our neighborhood safe!" 8 firefighters were beaming from ear to ear. Afterwards Billy told me "it sure is fun to see how people respond to our thankful acts." I completely agree.

19: The kids and I put together a care package for our buddies Zach Longo and his mama. Zach is only 4 years old and had to have back surgery. We filled a box full of fun things for both of them to do in the hospital, books, gift cards, slippers, etc.

20: We made cards for our soldiers. A week ago we went to the Hy-Vee by the airport over the lunch hour. The kids were in awe when they saw all the soldiers there. They each saluted these men and women in uniform and said "We are thankful for you!" We decided to re-enact this act, with cards in hand. This time around we only found 2 soldiers. You should have seen us on the hunt! Each soldier received 3 cards from 3 excited kids.

21: We thanked a cute family of bell ringers for taking time out of their day to help others. My friend Jen was ringing bells with her kids on their day off from school. We decided to bring them cards and tell them thanks.

22: Thanksgiving. Every year Grammy B puts together our whole yummy feast pretty much by herself. This year, we decided to help her out! The kids made decorations and helped me put together the green bean casserole. We had fun and the kids made sure to let their Grammy and Grandpa know we are thankful for them.