Lunch date

Seth has the week off for Carnival/Lent, err something.   Yesterday he said to me, "Hey mom when you are done with your shower do you want to have a picnic with me and Benj?" (I want to write Benj and I, but that's not how he said it.  And I am slightly embarrassed that my shower was so close to lunch.)

"You bet!"  I always say yes when a cute boys invites me on a picnic. (Eric won my heart when he took me on a picnic with Tacobell.) "Do you want me to make sandwiches?"

"No.  That's okay."  He had already taken everything out to the picnic spot.

We had chips, granola bars, fruit snacks, and gold fish.  You read it right, not a fruit or vegtable in the vacinity.  And did I correct them or encourage them to choose at least one produce item?  

I surely did not.

If you were lucky enough to have your best friend born into your family, 

you were mighty lucky, indeed.  

 Not a good picture, I know, but you can hear his laughing squeal in this one, cant you. 

What a face!  And I think he is even cuter on the inside. 

His ninja moves are freakin' awesome. 

It's trying to be spring. 

 I heartily approve.

Know what I like better than spring?  

Two cute boys, who also cleaned up after our picnic was through. 

Second star to the right

Benjamin is pretty infatuated with Peter Pan and all things related.

"Isaac's a lost boy.  (after thought) And a blockhead." 
When Peter comes back to find that the lost boys have attacked Wendy he says, (click on the play button.)

"My Tink likes you but you're a big ugly girl."

Me: Benjamin, put your coat on.  We need to go.
Benjamin: I'm not Benjamin.  I'm Peter.

Me: Hey Benj, do you need to go potty?
Benjamin:  My name's not Benj.  It's Peter.  Yeah, I gotta go potty.

Benjamin:  Hey Wendy, is this a ham samwhich?
Me:  Yep.  And if you eat it all up, Benjamin, you can have a cookie.
Benjamin:  My name is Peter.

He didn't call me mom (or mother which is his usual), for two months. Just Wendy.  Poor fellow sorta looks like he needs a mother.  Bust his let him dress himself, and he feels big and independent because of it.

Birthday in Disney Paris

We had planned on taking the little gentlemen to Disney for Benjamin's birthday.  Eric had something at work and he couldn't take off.  What to do?  What to do?  I decided it would be better to go on my own rather than not go and be bitter about it.  So we went.  

We found a good grocery in the train station right outside of Disney, yummy baguettes for breakfast kept three little dudes happy and full.  They were really good.  I think this will be our new norm before we head into the park.

 Disney Paris is awesome.  I LOVE this magic bean stalk.  Another thing I love is the dragon lair beneath the castle.  There is a huge animatronic dragon that is a little unnerving when it lifts it's head up and snorts. Unnerving, but super cool.  And the pirate caves to explore are super cool too.

We were there during the transition time.  We saw three different parades as they were shifting to the Christmas themed parade.  We were also there for the last night of the firework animation show.  We missed the Frozen show. Drats.

I learned that the hotel lobby has a character meet at 4 pm everyday.   You dont have to be staying at the hotel so we tried it out.  AWESOME!!  We got to see lots of characters and interact with them not just pose for a picture and get an autograph.  Goofy was a hoot.  And Mickey would dance with the children, or tussle their hair.  Later we went to City Hall and Mickey gave Benjamin a birthday phone call.  The cute lady gave Benj and his two brothers a coupon to get a free gift in the shop.  Very cool!

So the photo below is blurry but I am adding it anyway as it was my favorite photo bomb ever.  We were visiting with Chip and ready for a picture when Dale jumped in front of the camera.  It made me laugh out loud.  Dale then pointed to Isaac's holey (not holy) mouth and then pointed back and forth from his holey mouth to Isaac's.  He then gave Isaac high five.  Evidently they are part of an elite group of cool holey mouth dudes.  I loved him because he happily made Isaac feel special. 

Happy Birthday Benjamin!!!

Just a reminder that Benjamin threw up at the hotel our last night.  He slept well, and the next day he seemed fine.  Ha.  Too bad Eric wasn't there....for lots of reasons...one of which, he would have kindly cleaned up the throw up mess. :)

Paris with the Mère

HALLOWEEN

Autumn...(contented sigh)  I love you.   The crisp air, scarfs, the leaves changing color completion, and of course Halloween.  We celebrate it all month long around these parts. 

side note:  One of my best talents is choosing good friends.  In the words of Lacey, "I'm not just good at it.  I'm really good at it."  One such friend is Erin Glover, who is a blogging diva.  She caught some pictures of our wii characters. Her blog is linked here.  Go way back, there are like 10 blogs with the little men in it, including USAG trunk-or-treating. :)

 Benjamin's costume was my magnum opus.  He told me he wanted to be Bowser, from Mario Wii, months ago.  DRATS-They don't sell Bowser costumes...so I made one.  He looked awesome, though he wouldn't wear the shell front or a jagged necklace , but you could still guess who he was.  

 I was inspired by a Coorduroy book, who made a dragon costume.  I liked how he did the mask as 
a hat.


So on Halloween we went trunk-or-treating.  And the following Saturday we went to the property party, which is always awesome.  The kids run around, we dance and eat yummy food.  Good times!

Family Pictures...round I