1 Second Every Day - 2017

Aulani 2017 Trip - Video

Hip Hop Dance Class

Ben has been attending hip hop dance classes for about a month now on Mondays after school.  The class takes place in a studio where it's nearly impossible for parents to watch, (we wait in the lobby) but last night the teacher let us in for a sneak preview of the routine they have been working on.  And it's the cutest thing ever!!!

1 Second Every Day - 2016

New York 2016 Video

Hawaii 2016 Video

Disneyland 2016 Video

The new iPhone operating system makes these really fun videos for you based on what location your photos are tagged in.  I had to post the ones they made from our trips this year.  Here is Disneyland's:

1 Second Every Day - Q1 2016

Book of Mormon
DC
Birthdays
NYC
HAMILTON
Boeing Tour
Superbowl 
Martial Arts
Flag Football
Yard Work

Food

And a WHOLE LOT of hanging around the house.

Week in Photos: Brief Power Outage, Flag Football, and Fun New Words

I have not done a good job capturing all of the amazing BIG words Ben has been using lately.  It's always so funny what comes out of his mouth these days.  Sometimes, Greg and I still cannot follow his train of thought.  Ben's response sometimes to a request we make will be "why not?" which always leaves us confused.  Or he will come and tell us some elaborate story about things that make no sense at all, but seem to be painting such a clear picture inside his mind. 

And then other times, he will throw out words that we didn't know he knew, and use them perfectly.

One night Ben had asked for his "chocolate milk" (just warm milk that he still has every morning and night).  He asked for it earlier than normal, so Greg and I kept trying to delay it as late as we could since we think it helps him sleep better.  Finally, after multiple requests, Ben quietly said,

"It's just impossible to get my chocolate milk".  

We laughed so hard (and eventually got him what he wanted).  I had no idea he knew that word and it definitely inspired me to use new/different words for things since he seems to be paying attention :)

We lost power last Sunday afternoon during a BIG windstorm.  I was certain that it was going to be out for awhile based on the weather forecast calling for heavy wind all evening long.  We decided to go spend as much time as possible at the YMCA and had such a fun time doing so!  Ben went to the kid's club for almost 2 hours while Greg and I worked out (Our Hawaii countdown has us motivated).  Then Greg took Ben swimming for awhile and he loved that :)

And BONUS - we went home to restored power!  An unexpected and lovely surprise.

We are 3 weeks into a 6 week flag football program.  Snapped this as practice was ending.

And here is a video my mom took from his first practice - I'm assuming it was during warm ups.  Look who is so fast!

Texting my mom pictures since she just got an iPhone and it's fun.

Modeling my shades.

 

Raleigh and Rachel came over to play and Raleigh was so damn cute on this digger I could barely stand it.  (And wearing a pair of Ben's hand-me-down pajamas made it that much cuter to me).

 

NYC Day 2

Day 2!  My favorite day!  We packed SO MUCH into this day and I wish I could relive it over and over and over again.

I had bought tickets for us to go up to the top of the Freedom Tower (One World Observatory) at 10 am on Friday morning, which is all the way down town.  We slept in until 8:30 (and loved it) but it didn't leave us enough time to walk there.  We grabbed some coffee at Duncan Donuts and hopped on the subway, which left us enough time to get more coffee and bagels downtown.  We found a little cafe/diner that apparently was a FDNY/Construction worker hangout.  Literally every single person in there had a hard hat or uniform on.  

Snapped this on our way into the Freedom Tower.

 

This picture had a filter on it, but it was truly the most beautiful day in the city!  Cold, but not too cold, and so clear!

We were immediately impressed when we walked into the building.  Everyone was so friendly - you can tell they want to provide you with a welcoming experience.  They are truly celebrating the city and what has happened and how they are overcoming it all.  

After we checked in (complete with a full airport-style security screening) there is a big massive screen that shows a map of the world, and as each person is getting their ticket scanned, a dot shows up showing where that person if from.  So cool.

Next we took the Sky Pod elevators up and I'm so glad I got a video of it!

The doors open up to the most incredible views.

They also had iPads available for rent that had custom mapping technology on each that would move around with you as you walked around the building.  It basically showed you a picture of what you were seeing out the windows, and then allowed you to click on and learn what each building was and it showed a video of it's history.  We didn't get them ourselves, but we should have.

After spending a good amount of time up there, we headed back down for more coffee before our next destination: The 9/11 Memorial Museum.  It was a somber experience to say the least, but we are both so glad we went.  They did SUCH a good job with memorializing each and every person who lost their lives on 9/11 (and also those from the 1993 bombing).  

Our next mission for the day was to make our way to the West Village to get pizza at Joe's Pizza.  It was a bit of a trek from downtown, but totally worth it.

But before we even left downtown, we randomly happened to walk RIGHT BY Trinity Church, (where Alexander Hamilton is buried) and RIGHT by his grave.  I couldn't believe it, actually.  On the same day we were seeing Hamilton on Broadway, it was so crazy to me that his happened by accident.

 

 

Next up was pizza - and it was just as good as Greg had told me it would be.

 

We ate it in the park across the street.

 

As we made our way back to our hotel (which was a long ways), we strolled through Washington Square Park:

 

 

After naps and showers, we were ready to head out for the whole reason we were in the city in the first place: HAMILTON.  As we walked to grab a bite to eat first, I must have checked my pockets a hundred times.  I was SO SCARED I was going to lose a ticket!  Serious anxiety, haha.

We stopped at Urbanspace Vanderbilt and I got a fish sandwich.  Greg got a gyro.   

 

And then it was time:

We had to wait outside the doors in line for awhile.  I stood up on the top step looking around to see if I would spot any of the actors on their way into the theater.  (I did: Daveed Diggs aka Thomas Jefferson).

 

Inside the theater, we headed to our seats.  When I bought them, I really was buying the best seats I could with what was left.  (The show is now completely sold out for the next year, I hear). Our seats were in the 3rd row of the front mezzanine, so I wasn't entirely sure how close we would be.  But luckily, the theater is SO small and our seats were SO good!  I could see every facial expression.  

 

And amazingly, the ENTIRE original cast was in the show that night.  I had been wondering/worrying that one or two would be on vacation or sick (unnecessarily, as I'm sure the understudies are fantastic).  I was particularly concerned that the writer/composer/star, Lin-Manuel Miranda, would be out for some reason, as I was so excited to see him in particular - but he was there, and it was wonderful.

With our wine sippy cups, waiting for the show to start!  It took me nearly the entire show to drink my 1 glass of wine.  I don't know if I blinked the entire time they were on ;)

 

After the show (which exceeded ALL my expectations, and Greg's - he loved it!), we walked over to Carmine's for a big dish of pasta to share.

Miles walked on 2/26: 10.75

Carbs consumed: All of them

Week in photos: Alivia turns 1, Martial Arts, and Lisa's Totally Rad 80's Birthday Party

We absolutely love our membership at the YMCA.  So many fun opportunities for Ben to try new sports and activities.  This month, we started up with "Intro to Martial Arts", which my mom takes him to on Wednesday afternoons.  It's a fun way for him to get some energy out and play games like "Samurai, Samurai, Ninja" (a take on Duck, Duck, Goose).  

Here is a picture from his first class.  It looks like it could easily be confused for a Cheer-Leading practice.

Shauna and Brandon threw a "fancy" party for Alivia's first birthday.  We had fun dressing up and visiting with some friends - some of whom I hadn't seen in years or since high school! 

Me and Kim:

Kim, Shauna and Me

The birthday girl enjoying her cake!

Me and Greg - rare opportunity to be dressed up.

Party boys waiting to sing Happy Birthday (and sneaking frosting).

 Ben loving his color baths.

Fun with emojis

Mira and Callie came over for a play date (Maylee was sick).

Ben came up to me one evening and told me he wanted to "be by himself with me".  So we read books.  With this particular book, Ben is able to read about 80% of it on his own!

Lisa's birthday was last weekend, and she has had several years of having extremely fun and unique parties!  (Last year, for example, we were trapped in a room with a zombie).

This year, she and Evan rented out a roller-skating rink and we all had a BLAST!  Since it was kid friendly, we decided this would be the perfect time for Ben to try skating for the first time!

It was 80's themed, so I tried to make my hair as big as possible...which was more challenging than I expected.

I brought a cake :)

The boys :)

Me and Benny.

Skating for the first time is HARD.  This is how most of the night went:

And by the end, he only required one hand to hold and was doing a great job!  He had the BEST time and told us afterwards that he felt so proud of himself.  (I was so impressed that he never gave up, even if it was super hard).

Me, Lisa and Crystal

The cake lady at the bakery convinced me to get trick candles ;)

The party was from 8:30 - 10:30 pm, so Ben predictably crashed on the ride home.

2015 - 1 Second Every Day

Reviewing his Schedule

For the past few months, we have had the following conversation about 80 times each day.

Ben: Guess what?
Us: What?
Ben: It's Wednesday

It happens on Wednesdays, and it also happens every other day of the week.  I have no idea how it started, but OMG it went from cute to annoying quite quickly.

Yesterday, I finally sat him down, told him he was wrong, it was NOT Wednesday, and broke down the days of the week and what we do each of those days.

I think it helped - I hope it lasts:



Cabo in Videos

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



"I need some help"

Photo Catch Up and Ben Says

These "catch up" posts have been coming more regularly lately (which makes it a lot easier for me). :)

I have been bad at keeping track of some of the things Ben has been saying and doing lately that have cracked us up, but one in particular I made note of was the other night after we both yawned at the same time.  He said "Mama, we YAWNED together"!  Minutes later, we must have both sneezed closely together, which prompted him to say "We yawned together, And we bless-you'd together"!

Unrelated, but Callie snapped this picture after Ben and Maylee got their nails painted, haha!  I guess she started with just one nail, but Ben kept requesting another one, and another one.

On Ben's last day at Callie's (sob) she bought him, Mira and Maylee a special "friendship bear" for them to always keep to remind them of one another.  SO cute.  I'm not sure if he completely understands yet (and I also have not been very clear that we won't be going back each week), HOWEVER, every time he sees the bear I tell him what it is and we talk about the girls.

A few photos I snapped from Becca's bachelorette party in Leavenworth!

Steph and I met up one morning and took the boys to the Play Happy Cafe and followed up with McDonald's for lunch.

One morning on the way to dropping Ben off at school, we stopped for a bagel.

Our little artist.

We went out to dinner with the Cougans, but beforehand, Ben snapped a few pictures:

I wanted to carry Raleigh home in the Ergo, and before we left the restaurant, the hostess exclaimed  (to me, because I was holding him), "He is sooooooooooooooooooooooo cute"! To which I jumped in before Rachel could respond and yelled, "THANKS"! LOL! #mine

A little Waldo searching.

Out for a little walk and found a bomb stick.

Ben often mixes things up like "I", "me" and "he", and will refer to himself as "he" more often than not.  During Superbowl, the boys were outside playing and Ben kept running to open the door to yell at me "We guys are playing catch with the footballs"

Ben, wanting to do everything Laryd did, snagged a spot in Dan's lap, too.

Fresh out the bath in his cozy bear robe.

I had some errands to run at the mall one day, so we stopped for a ice cream cone for lunch (since I was craving one) :)

And in case you are ever wondering how long it takes a 3 year old to eat an ice cream cone, the answer is 37 minutes.  Not kidding.