Easter 2012

Oh my, how time flies! Everyone says it will, and it truly does... but sometimes it just doesn't sink in until you look back.

My Dad loves candy. He has passed that love on to me... among many other things, including a love for some of our family traditions. One of his favorites is the "bunny trail" that the Easter Bunny leaves from your bedside to your Easter basket on Easter morning.

Last year (2010, Ben 5 weeks):




This year (2011, Ben 14 months):




Hope you all had a wonderful Easter full of family fun and family tradition!

Things I Love... Again

My baby boy had really dry skin throughout the winter. Even though spring had arrived and brought some humidity along for the ride, his skin had not completely become smooth as a baby's bottom. Well, his bottom was smooth, but his back was still dry in patches. We tried the mainstream baby lotions, we tried Vaseline, Aquaphor, and baby oil. Nothing made his skin completely better.

Then I tried Caren enfants Moisturizing Treatment for Babies. Ta-da!!! I swear, overnight, after weeks and weeks of dryness, Benjamin's skin transformed back to the silky soft beauty the rest of his body still was. Amazing. And I love this stuff.



Funny thing is I had this in his room the whole time, but since we had "won" it at a charity auction a long time ago and really knew nothing about it, I just had the container stashed away with no intention of using it. Then one night we ran out of the regular stuff that was not really helping anyway, so I used this instead. And Voila!

The basket I won also had Cleansing Milk, which I like to use, and a diaper rash treatment which I have never tested because Ben has one lucky bum that has never had diaper rash. *crossing fingers and knocking on wood!!!*

What I like about this product:
*it is not tested on animals.
*it is safe for the face
*it smells yummy
*it contains Shea butter

What I'm not in love with:
*it contains parabens (as do the mainstream lotions but that doesn't mean it's a great thing)
*it's kinda expensive. I looked it up online and it is $17 for 8 ounces. This makes me happy my money went to charity. I'm normally cheap and would not pay this much for lotion. But now that I know how much I like what it does... Well, I might shell out the $$. We will see.

Has anyone tried the shampoo? I would love to know what you think!

Spring Beauty (oh, the flowers are nice too!)

My mom got this great pic of Ben... Can you say "He looks just like his Daddy!"


And I took a couple cute ones. Benjamin LOVES to be outside. SO MUCH. But he also loves to grab my camera... which results in a lot of up-close photos!




And because there's nothing better than getting sloppy with ice cream on a hot day...





Spring, we welcome you with open arms!!!

First Birthday Party Planning Tips

I threw Benjamin's 1st birthday party in February. It was great, but I learned a few thing I think are worth sharing. Hope they help you out!

1. Go to a Dollar Store. I don't know how similar they all are, but I went to a local Dollar Tree and they are loaded with party supplies. Unfortunately, I went to the Dollar Tree a few days AFTER I had already ordered and paid for all of Ben's balloons, table decorations and party favors. I could have saved a bundle. I'm sure they quality is less superior that at the party supply store, buy really.., who cares how great the quality is when you just need it to last two hours?

2. Don't buy your party favors at a party supply store. Same kind of principal applies as above... You can find the same things for cheaper elsewhere, AND you can find more creative, unique ideas at other places like Michael's, Hobby Lobby, Target or Walmart.

3. Do smash cake pics!!! Your birthday party cake scene may not provide you with great photos. I mean, if your kid cries and steps in his cake like Ben did, then pics are not really going to happen. If you do pics when it's just you and your kiddo, whether it's at a studio or in your kitchen, you will more than likely get a good shot of something adorable. The birthday party pressure is hard on the little ones!

4. Some decorations are not worth making. referencing this post, the 'Happy Birthday' banner took me like an hour to make. I could have bought one for $1.00. On the other hand, the timeline banner was personal, easy to make, and totally worth the 30 minutes of effort. Likewise, cake balls are not worth the time to make, but the displays were quick and easy and totally worth it!

5. Even if you plan a 'small' party, unless it's just your family, it won't feel that way. I really did my best to keep the invitation list small, but by the time you have family, a few friends, and a few children, the house is full. Which is fine. But don't trick yourself into thinking it's small.

A lot of there tips don't just apply to the 1st birthday party, and I will keep my own lessons learned in mind when I throw Ben's 2-year old bash! :). Please share your party tips!!

The baby boogie

Our little toddler has been dancing a lot lately. It's no surprise that he is dancing, since this seems to be a milestone every child hits. But Benjamin's style of dance is super cute and one of a kind.

Do you remember the commercial they made a long time ago about how hard it is to walk and chew gum at the same time? Well, it's kinda like that. He dances with either the top half of his body or the bottom half of his body. Putting it all together must be much too difficult!

When the top half dances, he stands still or walks and swings his arms around and crisscrosses them and smacks them together occasionally. It's very cute and silly. When the bottom half dances, Ben bounces his legs as he moves around, sometimes just moving at the knee and sometimes going up on tip-toes. I love watching him dance and can't wait for him to put it all together!

The tiny 3-0!

Saturday was my 30th Birthday! Another year has passed and I have gained a ton of mommy-wisdom, and left about 33% of the rest of my brain somewhere, so overall I am another year older but not another year wiser!

My wonderful, amazing, sweet, thoughtful husband planned a HUGE surprise for me! We were planning on going to St. Louis for the night because we were headed to the Cardinals game the next day. We had decided to have dinner there that night to make it special, and I had told my parents that they could invite their families, but that I would appreciate them not making a big deal about it being my birthday. Erik was in KC for a bachelor party on Friday, so he was planning on driving from that to STL for my birthday. This was all I knew.

I arrived at the airport on Saturday, Ben and bags in tow, and my mom met me at the car to help carry things inside. I thought I saw my friend Nicole's car, but my mom just kind of shrugged it off when I asked her "Am I walking into something here?" No one unexpected was in the airport... just Mom and Dad, and Jonathan and Jackson. So we board the plane and SURPRISE!! Five of my favorite people are already on the plane!! I was so happy and excited to see everyone, and to know that they were joining me for my birthday weekend!

We checked into our hotel (Erik was there, waiting) and got ready for dinner and GNO! The restaurant we went to was about a mile away, so we walked to it. When we arrived, we were led to the back of the room, which seemed strange, but since I knew we were kind of a large party, I just assumed we were being put in the back. Then I saw a private bar, then I saw a private room, and in the private room I saw balloons, and when I walked in I saw... tears. My own tears, clouding the vision of many, many, other of my favorite people! Surprise number 2!!! Friends from high school, friends from college, family members from both sides of my family... so many people there to make me feel special for my 30th birthday!

This was more than I could ever imagine! Each one of these people has such a special place in my heart. They all mean so much to me, and I was so happy to see them there, ready to celebrate my 30th. Erik had planned on my friends and me having a big GNO, but we ended up just going to a wine bar for food and a drink. I was exhausted. And it was perfect. We all knew we would have much more fun the next day if we weren't up until all hours of the night. I know it might sound lame, but 12:30 is LATE for me, especially when I know my baby will be awake at 6:00 a.m. as usual, wanting to play.

The game was fun, weather was perfect, the Cards got a win, and I had a chance to talk to everyone a little bit :) Thank you all so much for coming out to my birthday dinner surprise! Thank you for caring about me so much that you gave up a weekend with your own families to spend some time with mine. Thank you for making me feel so loved. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. The number 30 is tiny compared with the number of blessings I have in my life. All of you are among those blessings.

*Pics coming soon!