Kiersten baby's 4th birthday!

Kiersten was really excited to get to be class helper on her birthday, monday. She baked some chocolate chip cookies the night before to share with her friends at school.

Here she is posing with her cookies, and her dancing Mickey she took for show and tell. She had a really hard time deciding what to bring for her very last show and tell at school.

Kara needed to get in the picture too. Kiersten was really excited when I picked her up to tell me all the special birthday girl things she got to do. she even got a big card signed by all of her class mates.

After dinner, we put the computer on the table so daddy could watch her open her gifts via skype. She had a lot of fun things to open.

After opening gifts, daddy told her about her special birthday surprise, tickets to disney on ice next weekend. She was really excited, and so was Kara. He sent a link for them to watch a youtube video all about the show. This year is a princess/love theme, so it will be right up their alley!

I wanted to use up the rest of her birthday cake, so we just put the #4 candle on what was left of it.


Evie was so cute cheesing it up for daddy. She definitely knew he was watching her and thinking she was adorable. She was the only girl to finish her cake all 3 nights that we had it after dinner. Kiersten just ate the fondant off of hers, and very little of the cake.

The girls' last day of school was today. It was kind of sad. They made goodbye cards for everyone, and got some pictures from their buddies. Their teacher was really emotional saying goodbye. She gave Kara a final homework assignment to write a letter to the class from St. Louis. So I'll have to remember to have her do that once we're settled in. The packers showed up this morning at 8 and got started packing right away. my mom stayed behind to oversee things so I could take the girls to school. I also took Evie to the doctor, since she has run a fever all day yesterday and today, as high as 104.7 at times. She had to get a catheter to do a urine test, and that was horrible. she was so sad and crying, and then just wimpered in my arms after it was over. Then they couldn't even tell me if she had a uti or not, and said they wouldn't know til monday. So we'll have to watch her and if she keeps getting a fever, take her to the dr, in st. louis.
The packers finished up right as I was leaving to pick up the girls, so now my house is full of boxes waiting to be moved. We took the girls to godfather's for dinner, since I can't cook with everything boxed up. The movers will be here in the morning to load everything and send it off. We'll be in a hotel for the night, and then fly out at 6am saturday. so that should be fun flying with 3 tired and grumpy girls, especially if Evie is still sick. But it's worth it to bring us together with Ben again. We are all missing him like crazy!

Ben's 30th

What kind of guy brings his wife breakfast in bed on his birthday? Ben is that kind of guy. Yesterday was his 30th birthday, and I got to start the day with a delicious breakfast in bed, and all 3 girls up and fed first. It was even sweeter, because the reason he was up and cooking early, was due to Evie waking up at the crack of dawn. And since she had been a stinker, and kept us up most of the night, Ben got up with her and let me sleep in. Just another one of those small things that reminds me why I love him so much. People always say that you love someone because of the small things they do, and I agree. I love my birthday boy, and I'm so glad I married him. I married him because he's the kind of guy who makes me breakfast on his 30th birthday, and because he's the kind of guy who gives up his beloved football watching saturdays to take his daughters out for daddy-daughter time. He's the kind of guy that remembers to compliment Kiersten's pigtails, because she requests her hair that way just for him, and the kind of guy that calls Evie in to let her help take off his socks, since he knows how happy she is to help him. He's the kind of guy who plays nintendo with Kara, even though she slows him down, and messes him up. And when he unexpectedly beats a game after she's gone to bed, he doesn't save the game, so he can beat it again the next day so she can watch. When we got married I didn't know he would do any of those things, but I knew he was that kind of guy. I knew he told me on the first night I met him that his hero was his dad. I knew he was the kind of guy whose Grandma is one of his best friends. I knew he was a sweet, caring, and thoughtful guy, and I feel lucky to have snagged him! Happy Birthday Ben!

The girls were anxious for him to open his gifts.

His favorite birthday gift. He really wanted this hat, and kept saying he was going to just order it for himself. I knew his mom had gotten it for him, so I had to keep telling him just to wait and see if he got it as a gift. So he had a good idea he'd be getting it. If he looks trimmer in this picture than last year, that's because he has lost over 30 lbs in the last few months. He makes it look so easy!



Kiersten was the only one that wanted to help me make his brownies. She's a great little helper.

I completely intended to put 30 candles in his brownie, but he got to it too quickly, and started eating it. So after dinner, Kara said, "we haven't sang happy birthday to dad." I told her to go sing to him, but she said he needed a cake so he could blow out his birthday candle. I didn't want to make one, and he doesn't even like cake, so I made this candy cane out of apples and bananas. He was pretty surprised.

singing happy birthday to daddy.

Happy Birthday Benni-boo!

Ben turns 28 today! So for those who may not already know, here are 28 good reasons to love him!
1 he is a good back and shoulder rubber. Even though his hand gets cramps, he'll still do a good job.
2 he will pause or turn off the tv to watch one of Kara's little dances she likes to do. This even includes football.
3 he does almost all of the vacuuming around here.
4 he works long hours so I can stay home with my girls.
5 He's a cat person. He will never make me own a dog.
6 He can cook. He is by far the better cook between us, and usually cooks if we have people over. He still appreciates my cooking and likes the dinners I make.
7 He's really strong. He once picked up me and 2 of my sisters all at once when we were trying to attack him with markers. Also, he can open any jar or bottle.
8 He's well groomed. He is always flossing his teeth and clipping his nails. He is always very clean.
9 He likes to play games. He loves to win, and usually does, but he will still play games with me if I'm better than him. Sudoku and Dr. Mario are some of the very few.
10 He knows and will sing the "bum change" song.
11 He honestly believes our girls are the smartest and cutest kids on earth. Of course I agree with him.
12 He is a loyal fan to his favorite sports teams, even when they suck. He tries to say he doesn't care about the KC chiefs this year, but he still always checks their score, rewinds sports center if he hears them mentioned, and gets excited on the rare occasion that they beat anyone. He's done the same with the Knicks and the Mets.
13 He takes endless pictures our kids. He truly thinks everything they do is so cute and needs to be recorded in a photo.
14 He is happy to just be at home with me. He doesn't usually want to go anywhere unless we go as a family. I always feel like he wants to just hang out with me, and never feel like he would rather be somewhere else.
15 He puts up Christmas lights. Even though he thinks some people should get a kick in the butt for putting up so many and wasting so much electricity, he still puts lights on our house, and points out lights for the girls to see. He lets them be excited about those extra extravagant displays, and keeps his feeling about it to himself.
16 He's honest. This has gotten him in trouble with people from time to time, but it's a quality I definitely love. I know he will tell me the truth about anything. I know I will never have to walk out of the house thinking I look fine, when I really look like a wreck. He would definitely tell me. It might sound weird, but I also like when he tells me that something I do is annoying, or rude, because then I know what things to work on. And he tells me in a loving way.
17 He sings like Frank Sinatra. Maybe not exactly like Frankie, but I love the attemnpt.
18 He can fix things. I once took my sewing machine apart, thinking I could fix an issue it was having, but then I was clueless to put it back together. Ben had never touched a sewing machine, wasn't really aware of how they work, and didn't see me take it apart, but was still able to put it back together correctly and fix the problem I was having with it. Even when he doesn't know the actual way to fix something, he can always come up with some sort of idea to fix the problem.
19 He can pick out the girl's outfits. When he gets them dressed, I don't have to worry that they will be mis-matched. He also accessorizes them very well.
20 He's a nintendo freak. This usually makes gift giving a lot easier than it would otherwise be. I love that he likes the good kind of games, like Zelda and Mario. He doesn't play those war games, or the killing type games. If you want to see him excited, be there when he's just gotten a new game. It's like an 8 year old on Christmas.
21 He encourages me. I lost a good amount of weight this year, and he was there every step of the way telling me how well I was doing, and watching the kids so I could work out. he always said I looked good and didn't need to lose weight, but was proud of me when I did.
22 He takes care of the yard. Even though he always says it is a lost cause, and a waste of time, he is always working on it and making it look better.
23 He loves cereal. And he always notices and appreciates it when I buy his favorite kinds of cereal. It's a good strategy, because that makes me want to buy his favorite kind the next time too.
24 He hardly ever leaves his dirty socks on the floor because he knows I hate to touch them. But sometimes he will leave other clothes on the bathroom floor, because he knows Kara likes to pick them up and put them in the laundry hamper.
25 He knows lots of stuff. If I ever have a random question, I ask him first, because he usually knows. He somehow retains all the little bits of info he learns here and there.
26 He makes really good smoothies.
27 He goes to the zoo all the time. We seriously go to the zoo 9 or 10 times a year. He is always willing to go, and often it's his idea. He loves to see how much fun the girls have there.
28 He lets me go to bed early if I'm tired. He will stay up with the girls, feed them dinner, and put them to bed without my help, just so I can get caught up on sleep.

Those are just a few of the reasons I love my Benni-boo. I didn't even notice I went way over 28 and had to narrow it down. I'm sure I could easily think of a hundred!