Early Christmas Weekend

This weekend was full of holiday fun, so Ben got a little taste of what is in store for him in a little over a week!

On Friday night, Carl and I attended the ortho Christmas party at Dr Wheeler's house. Ben got to stay home with his favorite babysitters, but unfortunately was too tired to stay up late and party with them. I think he wanted to rest up for his big day at Disney World!

We drove to Disney Saturday morning and spent the day at the Magic Kingdom. Ben liked looking at all of the lights and listening to Christmas music, but he especially enjoyed exploring Tom Sawyer's Island (something we had never done before) and watching the parade. Ben's Disney dreams did come true when we gave him a bowl of ice cream to eat while waiting for the parade to begin!

We stayed until dark so we could see the Mickey Mouse show in front of the castle. Ben clapped along during the show and was impressed with the mini-fireworks display. I'm glad he's too young to know that this wasn't the main event. We weren't about to stay to watch the real fireworks at 9:00!

I was pretty excited about the children's Christmas program on Sunday, so we decided to keep the holiday momentum going and do our own little family Christmas after church. I made egg casserole (a Ben favorite) and started homemade cinnamon rolls (I've been having a serious craving for these!) before church and we ate brunch when we got home. Since we didn't get around to setting up Ben's Christmas present after a day at Disney, Santa actually came to our house during Ben's nap! Ben was delighted to find a surprise in the kitchen when he woke up!!

Ben has spent the better part of the past 2 days frying eggs, boiling water, and washing his hands. Obviously, pants are optional in his kitchen!

For Dad

Wish you were here!!

Visit from Grandpa and Nana

I cannot believe that this is the only picture I took of my parents with Ben while they were down last week! This picture was taken while on our 6 mile hike to the Alachua Sink in search of alligators! We saw a few (which was plenty for me!) but apparently there are hundreds of gators basking in the sun in this area when the weather is warmer. Ben was a trooper in the backpack and enjoyed pointing out the trees and birds that we saw along the way!

Ben had a great time with his grandparents. Grandpa had his first experience at Musikgarten class and can't wait to go back in February!! His only complaint was that it wasn't 30 minutes longer! Ben also introduced Nana and Grandpa to a few of his friends from playgroup and MOPS. He also had a great time hunting mice with Grandpa. That's right, we had a mouse in our house. The crafty little bugger had been in residence for about 3 weeks before Grandpa arrived. We set traps for him, but he would only tease us by leaving teeth marks in the peanut butter! A mere 5 hours after Dad set his special trap, we said goodbye to our little pest. Dad's innate trapping abilities must come from his South Dakota roots. And the bait we used - partially melted peanut butter cups! We caught him in his base camp, which was behind the couch in the sun room. We left a trap back there, just in case he had any friends, and Ben and Grandpa would diligently check behind the couch a few times a day to see if there were any more mice. Dad eventually ended up buying a Mickey Mouse stuffed animal at Target one day to place behind the couch and Ben still enjoys running to see if he is still back there!

Ben also had fun being Nana's special helper. He followed her around all day while she helped out around the house. He also loved their special playtime in the morning. My parents left early Sunday morning before Ben woke up and when Carl went in to get him he asked for Nana! At least he only has to wait a couple more weeks before seeing them again!

We took Ben to the Botanical Gardens on Sunday afternoon. He had a great time exploring the gardens!

If Ben sees a hill these days, you can be pretty sure he's going to run down it!

Exploring the butterfly garden

We took this picture of Ben snuggling with his sunscreen bottle last week. Ben loved getting lubed up with sunscreen twice a day during the summer and it has been a few months since we have gotten this bottle out. He discovered it after his bath one night and wasn't ready to part with it when we put him to bed. This is how we found him sleeping when we went in to check on him later that night!

Thanksgiving

We were very blessed to be able to share this Thanksgiving with family even though we were still in Florida. Aunt Kimmie flew in from Chicago for a few days and we celebrated the big day over at Auntie Marcia and Auntie Myrna's house. They served the most delicious food, and we made Grandma Myers' stuffing, Grandma Drake's yummy rolls, and Mom's gorgonzola pear salad to add a few of our family traditions as well!

Ben had the best time. He really likes to open and close the side table's drawer when he's at Myrna and Marcia's house. Well, he was thrilled when he opened the drawer on Thanksgiving. His Aunties had filled it with his favorite things - colorful, travel-sized toiletries and toothbrushes. He spent a good portion of the evening carrying around and rearranging his little treasures and brushing his teeth!

Ben also really enjoyed sitting next to Auntie Myrna at the dinner table. Her ratio of marshmallow to sweet potato was more to his liking than his mommy's, so he eventually refused to eat anything I tried to feed him and would only eat off of her spoon.

Ben needed to stretch out after his marshmallow feast!

We were sad to see Aunt Kimmie go on Saturday. Ben really misses their trips to the park, cuddletime with good books, and all of the really neat toiletries that were in her bag. Kim called today to let us know that Ben left one of his dirty socks in her suitcase to remember him by! We can't wait to see her in IL in a few weeks!

Important Announcement From Ben

Ben is excited to announce that he is going to be a big brother this summer! Baby Drake is due June 22nd (the day after Ben's 2nd birthday!). We had our first ultrasound yesterday and everything looks great. Baby had a strong heartbeat and was moving around like crazy! Right now he kind of looks like a kidney bean with little arms and feet. We are so excited to welcome this new addition to our little family!

Boogaloo Bakery

The Boogaloo Bakery is one of my all time favorite Nelson family traditions, and yesterday I decided that it was time to introduce it to Ben. It started back in the mid-80's when my sister and I would help my mom bake. It is a Nelson philosophy that proper baking cannot be done without great music in the background, so we danced/baked to Steve Winwood, Phil Collins, and Whitney Houston cassettes. My sister named the bakery - I believe she got the idea from the Goodmorning Vietnam soundtrack we listened to on repeat on our drives down to Florida. At one point, Robin Williams says, "Let's boogaloo 'till we puke!"

Two of Ben's favorite things right now include dancing and stirring, so this was right up his alley.

Cleaning up with Ben around is a little counterproductive. He empties cupboards while I try to put clean dishes away!

Ben had a great time baking, but he thought the best part was definitely eating the warm, gooey cookies when they came out of the oven! He really started dancing once he got his first taste!

Thought I'd share the recipe to these cookies since they were SUPER easy and delicious. They are thick, chewy, and chocolately - just how we like them!

Chocolate Cake Cookies

box chocolate cake mix

2 eggs

1/2 c. oil

1 c. semi-sweet chocolate chips

Mix all ingredients together. Bake at 350 for 8-9 minutes. Yield: About 3 dozen cookies

recipe and picture from www.beckyhiggins.com

Animal House

This is a video of Ben performing his animal sounds. Sorry for the poor quality - we had to record him on our webcam!

Scroll to the bottom of the page to pause the blog's music before viewing!

Happy Halloween!

Ben dressed up as a dog for Halloween this year. Nana made his costume and even hand delivered it from Illinois! Ben really enjoyed looking at himself in the mirror once he had the full costume on! He didn't like touching the "guts" while carving pumpkins, but Ben did have good time stirring the inside with a giant spatula. Ben sitting next to his Blue's Clues pumpkin

Ben knocking on his very first door!

This was Ben's reaction when we reached his friend, Fischer's house. Patton (the dog) lives here, and Ben was yelling "Pat, Pat" as he ran for the door!

Ben and Nana

Ben had the most fun "handing" out candy to the trick-or-treaters who came to our door. Halloween is a pretty big deal down here - many even people decorate their homes with Halloween decorations and lights. We had a little over 200 kids this year, which is actually fewer than we had last year. Of course, we were in the middle of a cold spell, so the 60 degree weather could have kept some people away!!

This is a picture of Ben giving his Aunt Kimmie a re-cap of the night! They talk on the phone almost daily, so Ben is really starting to get the hang of talking on the phone!