cha cha cha cha changes

so far this year has been full of changes.  the most recent being the rearranging of our house.  we have discussed the need to have the kids in their own rooms for a while now and have gone back and forth on the best placement for everyone.  (2 bedrooms downstairs and 1 up)  the upstairs room was full of storage things so we had to figure out a place for all of that and the living room was being overrun by toys.  last week, I started the process by putting some of the storage stuff into the attic space.  the job seemed like it was going to take forever!  then, Sunday morning, Seth and I both kept working at it and before we knew it all the storage stuff was put away, so we decided to keep going and called Seth's parents to see if they could come help with the kids and move the dressers and beds.  by dinner time we had successfully moved our bedroom upstairs, Eleanor in our old room and most of the toys out of the living room.  the next step will be to take down the border and paint Ben's room but that might take us a little while yet... (sorry Buddy!)

Saturday, we took the kids to the mall of america to go on rides but it was pretty busy and after 4 hours, Eleanor was only able to get 3 rides in and Ben was going stir crazy.  at the end of the day, I asked Eleanor what her favorite part was and she said it was getting the bouncy ball out of the machine in old navy!  it was a quarter. lol.

last night Seth and I had a date night and went to a movie.  I don't think we've been to one since Eleanor was born!  we saw the Hobbit.  we were the only ones in the theater!  it was good, but almost 3 hours long, so we just grabbed a quick dinner at arby's.

 Ben is a climber!  every time I turn around lately he is on top of something!  lol

 Benjamin's room

 Eleanor's room

the living room during the rearranging process... it was the holding area for all of the toys. 

new year, new schedule

so far, 2013 has been good to us.  Seth has started his straight day position and we are all loving having him around in the evening.  we all had the weekend off together.  mostly we just lounged but  Seth also got some work done at the Biscay house.   Ben is working on his molars, walking everywhere and climbing!  his new skill is climbing Eleanor's stool!  and he loves playing with his big sister!  Eleanor is still loving learning.  she can now count into her thirties and is starting to recognize words!  I swear, sometimes I think she has a photographic memory!

 Ben's other new skill is tantrum

 Eleanor, chilling in her "tent"

 hours of fun with a laundry basket

 what a big boy!  he wants to help with dishes!