free at last!

Poor Ben has been stuck in the house with his sick mommy for almost 3 weeks! It is still so stinkin cold outside, but Ben saw an opportunity to chase Daddy outside on his way to work and there was no way he was coming back in the house. So we played in the sub 30 temp for over an hour! Mercifully there was a non frozen patch of dirt that Ben could dig in for a while. After a while he looked up at me almost confused and said, "cold?" I said, "Yeah it is really cold. Do you want a warm bath?" He said, "House, bath, please" and bolted back to our house. We were both popsicles!

making chocolates

This my amazing Grandma Richens. She makes chocolates. But not just any old chocolates. Hand dipped pieces of chocolate goodness from heaven. For those of you lucky enough to sample them, you know what I mean. I literally cannot eat another other chocolates that come in a box. Only hers will do. She has spent years perfecting this art. I am so happy I could be a part of it this year and spend some time with her doing something she loves.

These are the beginnings of what is to come. I believe these are the almond joy and cherry nut insides. The almond joys are unbelievable. I can't eat an Almond Joy candy bar now. They just can't compete.

Yes, that is her hand covered in chocolate! How divine! I took a turn to give her a break. It was the best time of my life. It is like finger painting for grown ups! It was lucky that I was good at dipping because I did it the rest of the day.

Surrounded by chocolate. Tons and tons of chocolate. My little vision of heaven.

The chocolate has to stay right around 80 degrees otherwise it gets too hard or too hot and when it cools it turns white. We can't have ugly chocolates!


The process from beginning to end.

My grandpa has always been my grandma's right hand man. For those of you who don't know he is a tough guy: still rides a motorcycle, snowboards, snow skis, water skis, goes camping, the usual grandpa stuff. But I love him best when he stands by my grandma and smiles and helps her do the the things she loves and needs help with. He is not below putting sprinkles on the chocolates and I love him for it!

Oh my mother! How I love her! My grandma and my mom are two of the strongest women I know. They have overcome so much in their own lives and they are always there with support and love when I need them. I have a lot to learn from them.

Taking a pizza break. He bought the garlic chicken pizza just for me because I told him it sounded good and I like things spicy.

The end.

highlights continued . . .

Let's just say Ben wasn't a fan at all of ice skating! We made it once around the rink by sheer willpower of his mother. He screamed the entire time! Don't worry he found a loving grandma who took him inside to buy him french fries. So spoiled.

This picture is proof that I still exist and that I do in fact interact with adults too!

Ben got a Lightning McQueen bike for Christmas (no worries Christmas post is coming!). He loves it. The only downfall is that it makes lots of sounds, but it is great entertainment when we are stuck inside on cold days.

How do you resist mini converse shoes? You don't! You simply buy them and smile every single time your wrestle them onto little feet.

highlights of the last bit of our lives

Ben is obsessed with Wall-e but my mother has forbidden me to purchase it for our house because she wants him to have something he loves at her house. So one day Ben was relentless in his pleading for Wall-e. I found some clips on You Tube. He stayed right there for 30 minutes begging to watch them over and over and over!

This year I learned how to make homemade chocolates from my Grandma Myrna! Wowza! It is intense! It takes her a couple of weeks to get them prepped before they are even dipped! She is amazing. These chocolates are unreal. Seriously. I got to be the official dipper this year. It was so much fun!! I am a self proclaimed chocoholic and this is as close as I will ever get to rolling in it! I loved every single second, not to mention all of the snitching. (The pictures from this will require a secondary post!)

Ben has found another uncle to drag around! Davis! Ben fell in love with Davis over Christmas. He still calls him on his toy cell phone all the time. So cute!

Who doesn't like sledding? Especially when you have sled dogs to pull you up and down the hill and someone to snuggle with. Ben doesn't know how good he has it to have all these people tote him around and love him and do whatever he feels like! What a life!

we are alive . . . barely

I think I have officially earned the award for the biggest blogger slacker in the world. It has been an embarrassing amount of time since my last post. But you know what. Life happens and I got really really behind in EVERYTHING. So hopefully I am back and will do better!