The deck...

Sorry about the darkness of the photos- I took them at night...  duh :)

Ben has been working his little heart out on our his newest project.

The Deck.

Here is a picture of the deck looking out from the corner of the deck.  The 1/2 hexagon jutting out of the middle, Ben calls his observatory... bahaha!

A different angle.  The floor of the "observatory" (bahaha, I can't say it without laughing) and the railing hasn't been completed yet.

 Henry saying, "Mommy, what you doin' out hewe in the dawk?"

 There will be a stone walkway along the side of the house.

The deckboards need trimmed...

 Bad picture- really dark, but you get the point.

Awfuls and Benas

Henry's favorite saying right now:  "I hoooongry"  

Ask Henry what he wants to eat, he usually says bena or awful.

In English, that's banana or waffle.

I love this kid :)  My sweet Henry.  I hope you outgrow your speech impediments someday, but for now, I'm going to love every minute of it, because it is so dang cute!

So, here's Henry with his oh-so-loved, never-leave-home-on-an-empty-stomach favorite foods:

Benas and Awfuls:

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He also likes donuts- but those come out "dooonut" and to pronounce it correctly, you have to be from Minnesooooota.  :)

Mommy loves you Henry!

Live Creatures... Open Immediately (but not before you refrigerate them)...

Wade and Henry got an ant farm for their birthday from my brother and sister-in-law.

(Don't worry... they asked if it was OK before subjecting me 

to this craziness that comes with having 2 boys.  *sigh*) <-- don't let me fool you, 

I love every minute of being the mommy to 2 boys.

So, being the mommy of 2 boys should have prepared me for what came in the mail the other day.

It sent chills up my spine.  weird.  

Although, I knew what was inside, it just really made me shiver.

But, it didn't even phase Wade.  Here he is holding the test tubed ants.

So, the directions say to place them in the refrigerator for 15 minutes to make them "calm."  Have you ever seen a calm ant??  me either.   And in this test tube, they looked pretty calm... so I decided (and I'm always right) to forego that direction and put them straight into the habitat.  Bad.Idea.  REALLY BAD.

I had ants all over my counter... and BIG ants no less.  

They are what I would call a perfect picnic ant- HUGE.

And no, I didn't pick up my camera to document that part of this story. Sorry.

But, I was relieved to know that it is illegal to send a QUEEN ant, so there is NO possible way these ants can reproduce in my house. (I'd like to know whose job it is to make sure there are no queens?!?!)

So, thankfully Wade came to my rescue and told me to "calm down mommy, I'll get them."

And "get them" he did.  He's a regular ant wrangler.

And here is their new home:

The booklet says the typical ant will live 2-3 months, but some can live up to 1 year.  Wade and Henry are curious and investigative with these little fellas.  They love looking at them, and they even found out that if you blow across their air holes the ants go CRAZY because they smell food on your breath.

All in all, it was a great gift for the boys to get.  They love it.  Me, not so much, but I'm loving the curiosity that has grown out of my boys because of it.

Colts V Bengals Tailgate!

My family recently went to a Cincinnati Bengals and Indianapolis Colts game where we tailgated before hand!  It was super fun.  Most of my dad's side of the family was there.  We lucked out and parked right next to this amazing RV that had a large flat screen TV on the outside of it, and music pumping!  Fun times! :)

Fun family times :)

Kickball!

So, do you remember when I said I was behind on my blogging?  Well, here's another LONG overdue blog... :)

St. Mary's is raising funds to pay for the new school and church, right?  So, what better way to raise money than to host a Kickball Classic?  Here are some pics to highlight the day:

Our Team!

Auntie M kept Henry entertained for us.

Dad helping my niece, Ava kick the ball.

Wade waiting his turn in the dugout.

Yours truly and my dearest.

Uncle Brian kicking, and yes- he's always that animated. and hilarious.

My cousin, yes, I'll claim her :)

It's the Benjamin- maybe a homerun kick??

And ME!  No, not a homerun kick!  haha :)  (check out the calf muscle- ridiculous!  Maybe caused by my new love of running... I just wish the rest of my body would follow suit and tone up too!)

Take me out to the ballgame...

My dad won tickets to a Reds game in September.... yes, I'm that far behind in my blogging... :)

Anyway, they were AMAZING seats, and he asked my brother, niece (Ava), Ben, and Wade to go with him.  I talked Ben in to taking my camera along to document the adventure:

Go Reds!

This was their view - no zoom :)  great seats!

Ben even got creative with the panoramic feature on my new camera.

Not sure why his hat was turned inside out... go figure??

They had private seats where a waiter came around to ask them if they wanted anything- Ben said it was pretty cool! :)  It was a once in a lifetime experience because we will never spring for expensive seats like that again.  If we go to a Reds game, it's the $5 nosebleed seats for us!  So, I'm glad Wade got to enjoy this game with papaw, daddy, Ava, and Uncle Kyle in style! :)

So we had our 4th annual Halloween party... and here are some of the costumes.  (Sorry, I didn't get everyone's picture taken, it was a busy night.)

Here's the winner of the overall best costumes:

Patrick won Most Original for being Cousin Eddie from Christmas Vacation.

Here's my fam! :)  We were Scooby Doo- Ben was a monster.  I was Velma.  Henry was Shaggy.  Wade was scooby

Jeff won for funniest.  He was Mr. Clean.

It was fun :)  But next year, we are thinking about doing an adult only dance.