Benihana for $12??

Last night, we decided to have our "last" nice dinner out for a while. The baby could be here any day and we KNOW that is going to change things drastically for us. Money is pretty tight so our options were limited, but Meghan knew EXACTLY what she wanted. Earlier this year, I cashed in some of my points from my company credit card for some gift cards to a few of our favorite restaurants (Chilis, etc) but I surprised Meghan by getting a $50 gift card to Benihana. We both LOVE teppanyaki and the Japanese style cuisine but its a little pricey so its a rare occasion that we can go.

We decided to bring Addison along...for one, babysitters are expensive and for two, we thought she'd really like it. We were right! She loved the chef and he totally tried to make her smile while doing his thing. I wish I had pictures! They had a Filet Mignon and Hibachi Chicken for two deal for $39 so we went for that and got Addison an order of the fried rice (she LOVES rice). Not only do you get the entertainment but great food already cut up into bite size pieces! What service!!

Addison had a blast and was continually asking for "more". More rice, more chicken, more birthday singing, more smoke, you name it she wanted more of it! haha In the end, after dinner for two, a cherry coke, and two orders of fried rice, the bill came to $51.89...so our total cost was $1.89 plus tip!! Not bad for a top notch dinner. I guess my job and traveling has its perks.

PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT:
Those of you with a Benihana nearby may want to sign up for their Birthday Club. They apparently send you a "$30 birthday certificate" which the couple next to us was using. You can use it during the month of your birthday! I can't think of a restaurant with a better deal than that!!
http://assets.fbmta.com/clt/bnhn/lp/join/join.asp?q=thechefstable

Another first for our little girl

Last Saturday, Meghan decided she couldn't take our daughter having a "mullet" any longer so it was time for Addison to get her first haircut. A half a year ago she barely had hair, now it was about down to her shoulders!

Obviously, she didn't know what to expect and I think she is too young to really try to explain it so instead we found a place that is geared toward kids. We found a few places, but ended up choosing Kids Kuts Family Hair Care which is conveniently about 3 minutes from our house. They have some coupons on the website too so at least it felt like we were saving some money too! :-)

The appointment was scheduled for 1 pm and when we got there we found a cute little hair salon with playground toys for the kids to sit on while they are getting their hair cut. This was a nice distraction for Addison. She picked out the horsey and held on tight the entire time. Our stylist was great with her, though Addison had her usual stone face on when a new person is talking to her or touching her. Even with some coaching from mom, she wouldn't even crack a smile though she didn't cry or protest at all.

Mommy is really happy with the result as Addison's hair is now nice and even and can start growing in consistently into some long pretty blonde hair! I think we found our stylist at least for a while...anyone up in the north suburbs should consider looking up Kids Kuts...plus they do adults too!

Funny story of the week: Meghan, Addison, and I were at Target getting a few odds and ends. We were at the checkout and Addison was in the shopping cart. There was a young girl taking care of us and Addison looked up at her, looked down about midway and then pointed and said "booboos" which you might be able to guess what that means. I looked at Meghan and started laughing...I couldn't contain it as this was a word her mom taught her recently. Thankfully, I don't think the girl caught on but I laughed almost the entire way home.

Preparing to grow our family!

Well summer is here. We've been keeping busy getting ready for the newest addition to our family. Our little boy should be here sometime in June or at the latest, July 1 (our set induction date). Meg has been having lots of contractions and was put on bedrest (kind of). The baby is doing well, the doctors just want to keep the baby in there as long as possible so that its full term. Meghan is very much ready for our little boy to come out, yet we need to hang on to July 1 if possible (for insurance reasons). In the end, I think he'll be out sooner and we'll just make due with the expensive delivery.

We are very much excited to meet our little boy though!! We still don't have his name picked out...we are close but just can't get past the final two, maybe we'll just wait until he comes out and see which one he looks like! :-) Addison is transitioning to being a "big girl" very well. She has her new big girl bed which she loves. We had it in her room for a week or two to let her get used to it but now she's been sleeping in it for about a week and is doing SO well. There have been a few occasions where we've moved her to her crib but each day is better and better!

I've been busy working on our basement. I have a goal of finishing it before our little boy gets here. Last weekend I had a few friends over to put up drywall on our walls. It was a long day but its done and I even have the bedroom taped and mudded (with the first coat). I think I'll finish the rest tonight and then start sanding Thursday or Friday night to get ready for coat #2. I think I am still on track with the project unless the little guy comes early! I can't wait to have the basement finished though. I feel like I can never find anything down there cause its all crammed in two little storage rooms. I am also really excited to have a 4th bedroom in the house. I'll get some pictures to post soon!

With all of this going on, its keeping us pretty busy. We've found time to see a couple Twins games at the new stadium though...it was a real treat! What a great place...baseball should ALWAYS be outdoors!! Two of our friends, the Roelofs and Normans, have had their second kids...both boys. That means all four couples (Roelofs, Normans, Hidlebaughs and Rasmussens) will have their first child in the same year, their second child in the same year and each will have 1 boy and 1 girl...you couldn't plan it any better! haha Our kids should be really close I think.

I wish I was better about blogging consistently but I'll try to do better. I love the comments though, it helps to know that people are actually reading the blogs!

Vacations lead to busyness

March was a BUSY month. It was FILLED with travel, some for fun, some for work. Early in the month, Meghan took Addison on a trip to see her best friend Beth down in Missouri. They had their first Southwest Airlines experience which wasn't too bad I hear. Before they could get back, I had to leave for a conference in California. All in all it was an entire week before I saw my wife and daughter again. It was lonely...but I kept busy at home by building some MUCH needed storage shelves in the storage room. Its amazing how productive I can be when I have no other responsibilities around the house! :-)

The conference was very interesting, I go to it every year to catch up on what is happening in the aerospace industry. Most years its at the Beverly Wilshire (on Rodeo Drive and via Rodeo...shopping mecca for my high end readers), where Pretty Woman took place. I actually usually stay elsewhere though to save the company a little money...its a Four Seasons hotel, its NOT cheap. I had yet to see any celebrities there in all three years I had been there. I came close this year, Sarah Palin came through the lobby of the hotel about 2 minutes after me. The guys at my table for Lunch saw her and said hi. I guess she was very nice and friendly...she does have a new book and TV show to sell though so being friendly is in her best interests!

Shortly after we both got back, we had a vacation to Puerto Vallarta planned. It was a VERY unique vacation in many ways. It was our first vacation with a toddler which made it quite unique and extremely tiring. The first half the trip was rough, the 24 hour flu swept through the family. I got it the night before we left so I was basically worthless on the trip there. A couple nights later it was Addison's turn, which is something I wouldn't wish on ANY parent. Last was Meghan who got it the night after Addison after sacrificing herself all night with Addison. Luckily, Doug and Jeannie (Meghan's parents) were with us or I don't know how we would have managed!

We did manage to spend some time on the beach though. Addison loves playing in the water...she HATES the sand though. She hates it so much she won't even let us set her down in it, we have a great video but its not on this computer. It worked out to our advantage though cause she wouldn't leave the beach mats we put down.

Addison's top 5 favorite things about Puerto Vallarta were:

1. The tigers and birdies which we visited many times a day to ROAR at.
2. The waterslide that she would go down with her dad...over and over and over
3. The slide at the mall nearby (see video below)
4. Playing in the ocean and pool
5. The water fountain in the hotel lobby (see video below)

While the vacation was tiring and not nearly long enough, it was SO memorable. I can't help but to think how fortunate we've been with vacations during Addison's life. It won't always be like this but we are taking advantage of the opportunities that God blesses us with. I am sure we'll be back in Puerto Vallarta again one day though, its a wonderful place and Paradise Village is a great resort.

The worst part of vacations, beside them ending, is coming home to a pile of work. At my job, I am a one man team so when I go on vacation, everything just waits for me...it makes vacation into both a blessing and a curse at times. I am just now, weeks later, finally getting caught back up again. I would take this vacation again in a heartbeat though...seeing the joy on Addison's face as she experienced the ocean was priceless!!

Changes...to our home

God's been so generous with us. While we aren't quite to the point where Meghan can stay home (hopefully once we sell our rentals we should be able to do it though) God's blessed us so much. Recently we found out that not only are we getting a nice tax rebate but I also got a bonus which I TOTALLY didn't expect. Honestly, with layoffs and stuff, I just didn't think they'd be giving out bonuses this year. I was besides myself with joy when I my boss called me with the news though. One nice thing with both of those is that we always tithe off of each of them and we usually do something different and find some new charities (besides church) to donate. This is kind of fun cause I like the idea of helping people out and using that money we've been blessed with. Now its time for us to figure out where we want to give the money too...there are so many good organizations out there that need money!

The other fun thing is that we decided to take a big chunk of that money to finish our basement. We aren't going to put in the bathroom (yet) but we are going to have a finished bedroom and an additional den area down there. Luckily, the old owners did a LOT of the dirty work leaving us with a few smaller things to do to finish. Basically, we need to put down some carpet (the expensive part) and then paint, install a closet, and do some finishing touches. It will be nice to have the extra den so we can move the Wii and the other game systems we have down there so that if someone wants to play, they can at any time! :-) We rarely play though so we'll see if that changes very much.

A big step for us in this process (and probably the most fun step) was getting new furniture. We decided to move our current stuff downstairs and get some new stuff for the main room. This is really the first furniture that we've bought together. Almost everything else in the house was either one of ours from before our wedding or a gift at our wedding. I picked up the furniture on Saturday night and got it all set up, it looks SO nice. We decided to go with leather so our furniture is more "kid-friendly". It was tough to make a decision but we ended up settling on a couch and two recliners. The recliners are amazingly comfy, I think the couch is going to be jealous cause I don't see us using it too often! haha

I also started working on some new shelves in our storage room in the basement so we'll have a place for all our stuff in there! The first one turned out nice...now I just need to move it into the room, and secure it to the wall. Not something you can do alone! Since Meghan is visiting Beth in Missouri this weekend I had a lot of extra time so I spent most of the weekend organizing, cleaning, and building. It was quite productive but I sure do miss my girls. I am off to California in the morning for three days so I won't see them again until Thursday morning. Its going to be a rough 6-day stretch.