Baby Benjamin

I made my sister, Kylene, a tin for pictures of Ally and then one for pictures of baby Benjamin and I realized, as I was getting ready to print some pictures for Benjamin's tin, that I hadn't even blogged about his birth!

My sister wasn't due until the end of September, but her water broke on September 4th. Benjamin wasn't in position and once your water breaks, they don't do any nudging to get them into position, so she had to have an emergency c-section. She had had a very long and difficult labor with Ally and was looking forward to an easier one this time. I don't think a c-section would be classified as easier...

But, even being so early, he was perfect and healthy. Lungs were developed and he was able to go home within 2 days. She has so many great pictures, but I thought I'd just share a few here.

I love, love this one of Ally running down the hallway to see Benjamin for the first time.


And, Daddy holding her up to see him through the window.


And here's Benjamin Thomas--7 lbs, 10 oz, 21 1/4 inches long.


First family picture.


Ally holding her little brother for the first time.


Here are some pictures from when Slade, the boys and I went to see Benjamin.




Russ meets Benjamin.


Rand meets Benjamin.


Here are just some pictures I will print and crop for Kylene so she can put them in Benjamin's tin.
















And, here's Ally's tin.


It's been a rough recovery and adjustment as Benjamin got jaundice and there was the fear of him having to go into the hospital, hospital visits every day to check his levels, waiting for hours at the hospital for the okay to go home and so on. But, Kylene is a trooper and my mom has been a HUGE help for her. It makes me smile to have another nephew.

April Fool's Family Night

I decided to have an April Fool's Family Night a few days before April Fool's. I found so many fun ideas I decided to prank the boys' lunches, too. No need to let good pranks go to waste, right?

My favorite of their lunch pranks was switching their chips. Randall loves Cheetos and Russ prefers anything other than Cheetos. So, I opened Russell's Doritoes from the bottom and put Randall's Cheetos inside the bag.


I sealed the bag with some great clear scrapbooking adhesive I had (the backing of the tape is red so you can see it, but the tape is clear).

I did the same with Randall's Cheetos bag, filling it with Russell's Doritoes.


You can't even tell!!


Then, just for fun, I put "worms" with their apple slices. I actually made a hole in one of Russell's and put one of the worms to look like it was coming out of the apple. He thought that was hilarious.


For dessert, I cut up orange Starburst to look like cooked, cut carrots. I wanted to use green ones to make peas, too, but I couldn't find any green ones. Russell wasn't sure what it was supposed to look like until I told him when he got home from school, but he enjoyed eating them. *grin*


I put a clear, plastic worm sticking out of Russell's peanut butter sandwich.


And a purple, stretchy roach-like yucky bug on top of Randall's sandwich. I wasn't sure if Randall would find it funny if it was inside the sandwich, so I didn't prank him.


Here is a complete lunch. In Russell's, I also included some silly jokes, just for fun.


I found out from Danielle the next day that the prank of Russell's chips had been announced over the loudspeaker as the funniest April Fool's joke they had seen. I think Russ was pleased, but a little embarrassed. I thought it was great!

Our Family Night didn't go exactly as planned, but it was still a lot of fun.

I had seen on Family Fun's website the idea for Shepherd's Pie, made to look like dessert. I changed the recipe up a little (in other words, ruined it...) and this is what I got.

The "filling"



The "strawberry cool whip on top"


Yeah, that looks disgusting, doesn't it?! A little too much red food coloring took away from the look of strawberry cool whip...

But, after a little convincing, the boys were excited to have "dessert" first.


Russell's face is priceless when I put a piece on a plate. How does that song go? "You say it best, when you say nothing at all." *grin*


Then, the plan had been to go in the broad daylight to Christy's house (they don't have a window from the livingroom to the front yard, so I thought we would be safe if we were quiet) with toilet paper, plastic forks and dumdum lollipops. We were going to "toilet paper" their house. We worked on what we wanted to make the toilet paper say on the grass, "Gotcha!" or "Happy April Fool's Day!" or something like that. Then we were going to make a smiley face out of lollipops. We were so excited!

But, I checked the weather and it said severe showers in the early morning hours, so I decided not to leave a huge mess for them to clean up. That wouldn't be much fun.

We didn't tell the boys about the change of plans, though. We got in the car and headed out, with the boys thinking we were heading to Aunt Christy's to TP them.

I had printed out some April Fool's scrambled words for Russ to unscramble on the way there. He thought it was great...


...until he discovered that all the words unscrambled to be "April Fools" He didn't think it was so funny then. In fact, he wrote, "Not funny!" across the top. You can see it in the picture. Then he wrote "So. Not. Funny." I thought the periods added. perfect. emphasis.


The boys never did realize we were going the totally wrong direction from Christy's house until we drove into the parking lot at Baskin-Robbins. I said, "Hmmm, ice cream sounds kinda good..." and Russell figured out what was happening.


They were bummed when we explained that we weren't going to TP Josh and Julia's, but they were excited about ice cream. Especially when we told them that there would be a surprise in the ice cream store.

The surprise was a little late, but what a great surprise it was! You would think these kids never see each other!


So many choices...


It was a great evening and a fun family night.

Randall said he wanted me to send him an April Fool's lunch every day. I think that's a good sign that he enjoyed it. We all did.

And, what could be a better ending to such a fun evening than finding out, just before heading to bed, that we are pregnant!

Yeah, yeah, April Fool's! *grin*

Valentine's Day Family Night

Last night, our church 789 group (7th, 8th and 9th graders) offered free baby-sitting for the church. They've been doing it for years and they won't accept any money. It's very sweet. This year was very organized and seemed much less chaotic than it has other years.

So, we celebrated Valentine's Day Friday night with three other couples and one single from our Small Group. We ate dinner at Posados and then talked and laughed until about 9. The babysitting was from 6-10pm.

Then, tonight, we had a Family Night celebrating Valentine's Day. Slade was gone all morning because he had to take his mom to the airport in Dallas. So, while he was gone, the boys and I worked on a Valentine's Day surprise for him--Oreo Truffles. Slade loves them and I figured they'd be easy enough for us to all do together.

The main ingredient--Oreos, crushed or chopped in food processor.


Next, cream cheese


Rolling the truffle centers into balls.


I tried to dip the balls into melted chocolate chips, but it was so thick! So, I called Josie, who made delicious buckeyes last year and she told me how much wax to melt into the chocolate. That made all the difference!


I was going to do pink and white sprinkles, but the white chocolate hardened too quickly. Oh, well.


The finished truffles. I was so, so pleased with how they turned out! The top right ones had crushed Oreos on top, but the crumbles didn't stick, so they're not as pretty.


The boys helping put the truffles in small muffin wrappers.


Randall "helping" by eating the extra chocolate.


The final result. They fit perfectly into this glass dish I just bought on a whim at Wal-Mart. Two layers of Oreo goodness!


Russell ready to take the gift out to Slade. We made Slade stay out of the kitchen all afternoon!


The boys then got to open their Valentine's Day surprises.


Russ working hard to get the lid off.


Randall very excited about his mini craft set.


They both got mini scissors, a mini stapler and a small tape dispenser with tape.


And big balls of gum. Both boys love "sugar gum" as they call it, because they rarely get anything other than sugar-free gum.


As soon as they had checked out the candy and such, they grabbed their staplers and started stapling everything in sight.


No, I didn't cut myself making mashed potatoes... This is the red food coloring I added to make red potatoes.


The dough was supposed to make a heart as it cooked, but it... didn't... Oh, well.


The table set for our dinner. Pork ribs, red mashed potatoes, red heart-shaped (sorta) rolls, corn and red juice.


After dinner, we all wrote on these index cards what we loved about each other. It was sweet to hear what the boys said (after a bit of prompting...)


It was a fun way to celebrate Valentine's Day. And, now I must go eat (yet another) Oreo truffle. And, you must, too. So, follow the recipe below and make them yourself!

Oreo Truffles
1 pkg Oreo cookies
8 oz cream cheese, softened
16 oz semi-sweet baker's chocolate or chocolate chips, melted

Crush Oreo cookies in plastic bag (using rolling pin) or in food processor. In mixer, combine crushed Oreos and softened cream cheese until a thick mixture is formed.

Roll into balls, about 1 inch in diameter. I chilled them, but I don't think it was necessary.

I used gulf wax (about 1/4 of a bar) in the chocolate chips to thin it. Then, using a toothpick, dip Oreo balls into melted chocolate and place on waxed paper. Chill about 1 hour.

You can reserve some of the crushed Oreos and sprinkle over the balls before chilling, if you want. I melted white chocolate chips and drizzled them over the chilled Oreos.


Put in cute Valentine-y mini muffin cups that you bought the year before for about a quarter and pat yourself on the back for thinking ahead and not even knowing you were doing it. Then eat an Oreo truffle and enjoy God's gift of chocolate. Then eat another one.