Go Grizzlies!

Tonight, Benny had his very first flag football game. This is the first organized sport he's been a part of, so we were excited to see how he would do. Coach Kurt asked Mike to assist with coaching the team this year, so Dad was there to give Ben an extra boost of support...which was a good thing! He is one of the youngest and littlest on the team (5/6 year olds) but he actually did a decent job of paying attention and trying to follow his coaches instructions (most of the time!). We are proud of him!

The huddle

Pure chaos...but pretty funny to watch. Kids were grabbing other kids flags at random...didn't matter if that kid had the ball or was on your team! Ben seemed to enjoy defense more than offense at this point. He would get mad when someone else grabbed the flag...even if that person was on his team. I guess he has a bit to learn still about TEAM sports. :) Oh well, at least we can see the competitive spirit shining through already.

Taking some quality coaching from Dad...

Can you tell what the boys are often distracted by during the game? At any given point half the team can be found messing with their mouthpiece. Mike had to tell Ben to pick his up out of the grass and put it back in his mouth about five times.

The game ended in a tie...but I don't think Ben was keeping score. He was just pumped to get some blue juice and cheez-its.

Quick story from a week or two ago...Mike had the team play a game at the end of practice called "Grizzly in the Middle." One kid stands in the middle as the Grizzly. The other kids stand on one end and have to run across to the other side without getting tagged by the Grizzly. Mike blew the whistle and all the kids started running to the other side. Mike said Ben just stood there and wasn't running. He said, "Benny...run!" Ben put up his hand like he was holding a gun and began pretend shooting the kid in the middle. Mike said, "What are you doing?" Ben said, "Dad...I don't need to run, I'm just going to shoot the Grizzly." :) We knew right then and there we had a superstar on our hands! Ha ha! Who needs to run when you can just shoot your opponent? :) I love that kid!

Way to go, Benny! We are proud of you!

Eric and Erin

My little brother, Eric, and his girlfriend, Erin, made the nine hour car ride from Missouri and spent the last four days at our house hanging out. We had a lot of fun and a lot of laughs...at poor Eric's expense. He's a funny guy. :)

I told Eric I needed to dedicate a post...just to him...for all of the funny things he said and did over the weekend. The most memorable being..."Hey Mike, do you have any songs on your iPod by Fleet Macwood?" When Mike started laughing and said..."Fleet Macwood?" Eric corrected and said..."I mean Mac Fleetwood!" We had a good long laugh about that one and made sure by the end of the weekend he knew it was Fleetwood Mac! He also kept referring to "espresso" as "expresso" and frequently belted the wrong words to songs all weekend. He is a good sport though and took all of our teasing like a champ...even when Mike ridiculed him relentlessly, last night, over a shoe purchase he made at the outlet mall. Mike even texted my other brother, Adam, to let him know that "Eric just purchased a pair of women's boat shoes." Mean...but funny! :)

Eric and Erin

Dinner at the Winking Lizard...one of our favorites! Mike was trying to do the silly Nattie smile, but of course she decided to actually sport a normal smile for this picture. :)

We went on a short hike at the Ledges Trail in the Cuyahoga Valley National Park one VERY HOT afternoon. The top right picture is what happens when your one and half year old decides she doesn't want to hike anymore. :)

Riding the train at the outlet mall...the only thing that made the shopping excursion bearable for Ben and Nattie. :)

Just some random pictures from the weekend...Eric and Erin posing in the American Gothic painting at Crocker Park....Eric sporting some lovely shoes Mike made him try on at DSW...and Erin reading Clean Eating magazine, while I read some celebrity gossip trash. :)

We ate like pigs the entire time they were here and just to prove it...here is our dinner last night...just the four of us (Ben and Nattie had already eaten). We somehow managed to eat almost all of this! I don't know why I can't figure out why I've gained so much more weight this pregnancy?!

Finally, 1 - Nattie eating raisin bread for breakfast with her friends, 2 -Ben sporting his new flag football jersey. He was very pumped to be assigned the #1!, 3 - This is what happens when Daddy is asked to put a bow on Natalie. :)

Thanks for coming to visit, Eric and Erin, we had fun and can't wait to see you, again, soon! Love you!

Not lucky, just blessed!

I thank God for allowing me to spend the last 11 years (eight married) with my best friend. We've had our ups and downs over the years, but at the end of the day, I have never doubted that he was the person I was supposed to spend my days with. He makes me laugh, puts his family first, and, most importantly, loves Jesus. I'm not lucky...I'm blessed. Happy Anniversary, Mick. I love you!

A little video montage, set to some love music, for your viewing pleasure. :) I apologize, in advance, for the fact that 99.9% of these photos are self-portraits of the two of us.

Lake Michigan

We snuck away this weekend to spend some time on Lake Michigan with my extended family (when I say snuck...I'm serious...my doctor WOULD NOT have approved a trip five hours away...but I REALLY wanted to go!). It was fun to spend 48 hours with people that I love and don't get to see nearly often enough. It was two days of sunshine, swimming at the pool and beach, and staying up late playing games. I love my family.

Beach buddies...

Hanging out at the pool...

Cute kiddos sharing ONE noodle. Ben kept begging everyone to come get on "The Noodle Express" and was yelling "all aboard" from across the pool. :)

Daddies and daughters...it was fun to spend some time with my brother Adam, sister-in-law Jenny, Emma and Audrey too!

She LOVED the lake. She would run in and out over and over.

The beach!

Nattie feet...

Love you and miss you already IL fam!

37 weeks...

I've had a few requests for a belly shot, so here ya go! This was taken this evening after I got home from work. I'm looking a bit tired and I desperately need a haircut, but the belly is really all anyone cares to see anyway. :)

About a month ago the fluid level around the baby was pretty low and my doctor was making me do a lot of resting, but since then things have improved a lot. I've been drinking WAY more water than I was and that is helping. I don't usually drink anything BUT water, but apparently the more the better...duh, Ali. Oh well..glad I figured that one out because I DO NOT like lying around all day (although I know in just a few weeks, when I am very sleep deprived, that will sound heavenly!). :)

This pregnancy feels a little different than the other two...probably because this time around I've gained 40 lbs (you'd think chasing around two kiddos would have caused LESS weight gain...uh, no!)! That's more than double what I gained with Ben and a solid 15 over what I gained with Natalie. What in the world?! I don't know if I'm just eating more or what!? Oh well...at this point I don't really care and I just have a good laugh at the doctor's office each visit when I've gained another two pounds in less than a week....awesome!

We can't wait to meet our little guy soon!

Cookies, a Photo Scavenger Hunt, and Silly Bandz

On Saturday, we spent some time at an outlet mall in PA. I purchased some new cookie cutters at a kitchen shop, so on Sunday, Ben spent the better part of the day begging me to make sugar cookies. I, finally, gave in to his wishes. :)

Mr. Helpful

"Dad...do not TOUCH my cookies!" (Daddy has a problem stealing/eating the cookies before they are finished!!)

Proud of the finished product!

The problem is now we have WAY more cookies than we can possibly eat (Ok..well we could easily down them all...but then I'd want to vomit!). I might have to bring these lovely works of art into work tomorrow. I'm sure my coworkers will appreciate a blue horse sugar cookie...or perhaps a red dog bone?

At about 5 pm today, Ben was, apparently, bored. He said "Mom, I know what we can do...a photo scavenger hunt!!" (Like I was really hard pressed for things to do?!) We did this last summer and haven't done it again since....but I wanted to make it a little more interesting this time. He did a great job taking all of the pictures on his own and had a blast!

My favorite Ben response was to #11..something that makes you laugh. He first said "when I toot" and I told him that was a little too difficult to photograph. :) Next, he said..."a clown"...we didn't have one. Then he said "Oh...you know that one show I watch with Daddy...America's Funniest Videos." Again, we couldn't photograph that. Finally, he resorted to Mike Wazowski from Monsters Inc.! :)

Oh...and he was kind enough to choose me for #9, but he had already used me for #7, so I told him to pick someone else (thinking he'd go for Daddy..although in Dad's defense he wasn't home at the time!)...but he got really excited and said, "I know...my Zhu Zhu pet!" (If you have young kids you've probably heard of these little creatures!)

I thought he would pick something like a hat or a bat for #1...but he made me smile and quickly picked his sister..."Nat." Of course she was very pleased to smile for the camera...ha!

Finally, if you have pre-school through elementary age kiddos, then you MUST have been made aware, by now, of all the rage that is SILLY BANDZ. I don't get it...but then again I haven't been in that age bracket for awhile now. Well, if Ben is into something...then Nattie is too! Here they are sporting these cool (??) bracelets!

Idlewild!

On Friday, we headed east a couple of hours to Pennsylvania to spend the day at a cool kids amusement park called Idlewild. There was more to do there than we could possibly have done in one day and I definitely think we'll be going back. I think Ben and Nattie had a blast!

This is my favorite picture from our day. I love how Nattie is looking at Ben. :)

Nana might kill me for the top left picture...but it makes me smile for a number of reasons...1) The way Ben is practically sitting in her lap (it was one of those really nauseating rides!), 2) Nana's hair!, 3) The fact that she knows I'm going to be taking pictures and actually takes the time to wave (Oh..and if I had taken video of this...you would have been laughing listening to her and Benny laughing!).

We could have easily lost Nattie in the ball pit...she kept sinking. Luckily, Papa was there to rescue her!

Nattie loves sweets like her mom and dad...so much so, that she decided to simply lean over and lick the chocolate sauce right from the cup it was served in. That's my girl!

It is no surprise that this is how the fun ended. If you could have been in the car with us the 30 minutes leading up to this, you would have realized how wonderful this actually was!