How Time Flies!

The birthday boy

We happily celebrated Benjamin's third birthday this past week. It is very hard to believe that my youngest could possibly have gotten so big. He came charging into our bedroom at 6:30 in the morning and announced, "Today is my birthday!" After birthday greetings by all the siblings the festivities began. Well, at least a little bit, we still had older sisters to get off to school.
We started with one present; a ride on motorcycle. Benjamin loved it, everyone else began to experience those good old pangs of jealousy that always accompany another's birthday.

"Where are the pedals?"


On to breakfast, Apple Jacks specially requested by the birthday boy. Then the poor kid had to wait for the rest of his celebration until after everyone else came home from school. He thought it was great to wake up from his nap and find the house decked out with streamers and balloons.

Lance was busy all day (he took the day off work) making the cake. He was so excited to try something new. He made a four layer cake, half chocolate, half vanilla. Slathered in between the layers was pudding, chocolate for the chocolate side and butterscotch for the vanilla side. It was so tall Benjamin could barely see over the top to blow out the candles.



Of course after came more presents. Lance and I always try to find gifts throughout the year for the kids. Normally not a problem but this year with the move we had a couple of vital items lost somewhere out in the garage. He and I braved the labyrinth of boxes and were able to find the missing gifts, not a task for the faint of heart. Each of the kids had made him a card and gave him a gift. He was thrilled about each one. How our little Benjamin is loved! Hugs and excitement for him all day.



Benjamin we love you so much. You have added such a flare of excitement to our family. We love your tenacity, your exuberance and the love you have for each of us. We feel blessed to have you as a part of our family. Happy Birthday my sweet little boy!!

Immagination

We have had quite a few imaginary friends travel through our home over the years. Rebekah with Noodle the alien was the first. He showed up after I encouraged her to eat her carrots one day explaining carrots are good for your eyes. Immediately after lunch the then three year old informed me there was an alien sleeping on the couch and the rest is history. Rebekah and Noodle had many lively adventures and there were times when her conversations with him were so lifelike it was as though he was really there.
Katelyn followed up Noodle with Petunia, a very large "boy lion with a big mane" (think Aslan big for those of you who have seen the recent Narnia movies). Katelyn was also around three and Petunia showed up to explain the strange noise she heard while playing by herself one afternoon. He helped her with the transition as we moved to Missouri bounding up the stairs and leaping onto her bed to cuddle with her at night. A couple of times I even caught her feeding him under the table at dinner (evidently lions don't like beans either as they were still there). Petunia has ridden on the top of the van to church and accompanied her on many outings.
Joshua had a very brief visit from an imaginary ghost named Curtains who bore an uncanny resemblance to Casper. Curtains was his companion when needing to venture anywhere in the house by himself. Putting his clothes away, cleaning up his toys, or moving from one floor to another without a sibling or parent. Curtains also explained any noises or shadows that might make him nervous. Joshua's Curtains was here just long enough to give him confidence in himself and then left.
Benjamin has now inherited Curtains. His Curtains is a person whether ghost or not we're not sure. Curtains #2 has fingers for tickling, he also has hair, feet, and a face, sometimes he is bigger than Benjamin and sometimes smaller. Now for all the imaginary friend conversations I have heard in my day I've never heard arguing, until now, "Curtains, it's your fault I dropped that rock! Why did you make me drop it?" and "Curtains don't do that!" And yes I have checked in on them to make sure they were getting along.
Why all the information about my children's imaginary friends? Because Benjamin passed along a Curtains story that only he could come up with. I thought I would share it with all of you.

Benjamin: "Mom Curtains went to church on Sunday."
Me: "Oh, what did he do at church?"
B: "He sat on the bench and ate some bread and drank some water."
Me: "Then what happened?"
B: "Those guys up there called his name and he got to go up and talk in the microphone!"
Me: "That's exciting! What did he say?"
B: "He said, 'OOH ME BUM!!'"
Boy that lucky Curtains, I bet they never ask him to speak in church again.

I love this age with their vivid imaginations. It's a little sad as they get older and their imaginary friends are replaced with real ones. However they served their purpose at the time they were needed. Thank you Noodle, Petunia, and Curtains (even though it sounds like #2 you need to stop picking on Benjamin), you've been great friends and well loved and you can live with me forever!

Fall Fun

We are loving the cooler weather here in Missouri. The summer is so unbelievably hot and then here comes fall with mild temperatures and beautiful colors. We love being outside then, unfortunately I usually forget to take any pictures. We did have the opportunity to visit the local corn maze. Everyone had a great time, and each child had a chance to "lead the way" through the maze. Some of them were a little better at it than others. We definitely had a couple of times where we were going in circles. It was a long maze with two parts, after a while the boys were getting very tired. We tried the piggyback thing and discovered that Benjamin must be afraid of heights because he didn't stay up on anyone's shoulders for long. We went early enough that it wasn't "haunted"yet. However that didn't stop Lance from jumping out and scaring the kids a few times. We were even challenged to compose our own special poem about corn. Here is ours, "Corn, corn, good for the heart, the more you eat, the more you want more corn." We were supposed to recite our poem at the ticket desk for a goody. Imagine our children's surprise when they had to recite it for none other than our bishop. They suddenly clammed right up. Rebekah and Katelyn were eventually coaxed into performing and each received a sucker (Rebekah hates suckers). Lost in the corn maze

"I've always wanted to be an animal"

As we got a little closer to Halloween Lance came home from the store with little pumpkins for the kids to decorate. We all sat down for Family home evening and the kids colored their pumpkins with markers. Everyone's design was as individual as they are. Rebekah covered hers with a family of dragons. Katelyn drew double faces, one on each side. Lance drew a face for Benjamin to color in. Joshua, Just drew with all the colors, all over the entire pumpkin. Then added a tiny face for fun. Unfortunately we aren't sure which had more marker on it, the pumpkin or Josh.


Despite the coloring fun everyone claimed they wanted to actually carve a pumpkin too. After a lot of persuasion Lance brought home a big pumpkin. We waited until the day of our ward Halloween party to carve it. We discussed what type of design we should put on it and everyone agreed it should be a dragon (the previous night's viewing of "How to Train Your Dragon" I'm sure had nothing to do with it Ha Ha). With the design in mind we got to work. Lance cut the top off and we informed the kids they now had to "gut" the pumpkin. All their exuberance quickly wore off as they realized what that would mean. Their fearless leader Rebekah volunteered to go last. After a lot of "not Me's" Benjamin stepped up and loved it, for three whole handfuls. Joshua was next, "It feels like wet grass" he informed us all. Evidently handling wet grass leaves much to be desired because he also only took out about three handfuls. Next up, Rebekah, two dainty pinches with the loveliest expression on her face. She will still argue that she took out handfuls but we have the pictures to prove otherwise. Last but not least Katelyn, she took out a couple of good sized handfuls with slightly less complaining than her sister. Unfortunately that still left a good portion for yours truly to scoop out. Lance then did the carving with only the captive audience of Joshua who really seemed to find it intriguing. The finished product was quite impressive, but I don't think we'll be carving our own again anytime soon. Maybe they'll grow out of their squeamish stage (I really was surprised by the boys lack of enthusiasm).

The Finished Product

Following the thrill of pumpkin carving we had everyone get dressed up in their costumes. I know some people spend weeks planning and creating the perfect costume. We are not those people. We are the buy the costumes for $1.00 on clearance after Halloween the year before and break it out for this year kind of people. Then after our day of fun we add it to the dress up rotation. Next year they can choose from a dress up costume or any new ones we may have. The system seems to work for the most part. Unfortunately Rebekah grows so tall so quickly she often has very little selection of things that will actually fit. This years line up; a bride, a sorceress, Wolverine (humorous as he doesn't even know who that is, he just likes the claws) and Superman.
With everyone dressed up and our pumpkin in tow we headed off to the ward trunk-or-treat. After our kids went through the line once, we dug through their bags and gave away half of their candy to the other children still coming through (yes we re-gift too). Our guys still end up with more than they know what to do with. We lucked out this year that our ward activity was the day before Halloween so on Halloween proper, we turned off all our outside lights and sat in the basement as a family hanging out until bedtime. That way we didn't have to worry about trick-or-treating/ers on Sunday. Everyone had a great time. We still have plenty of Autumn left to enjoy and are looking forward to the Holidays that so quickly approach.

Thoughts from my children

A story by Katelyn;

I see a cow.
I see a big cow.
I see a big, fat cow.
I see a big, fat, brown cow.
I see a big, fat, brown and black cow.
I see a big, fat, brown and black cow on my lap, OUCH!
I do not like that cow!

The End

P.S. Did I mention that I hate that cow?


A profound thought from Joshua;

"My shoes are white, and bird poop is white, so if a bird poops on my shoes no one will know."


And for those of you who are wondering Benjamin woke up Lance from his nap the other day with this;

"Dad, when I'm 19 I'm going to be a missionary! I'm going to get baptized! I'm going on a mission. Then I'll be a football player and the ball goes in the net and comes out the teeny, tiny hole."

Just a few of the fun little things said at our house during the past week. Their little brains are always turning, always working and I don't always understand where this stuff comes from, but it sure can make my day.

Busy, Busy, Busy!

Alright so it has been a few months since my last informative post. I kept finding reasons to procrastinate; the new pictures aren't on the computer, so much time has passed that will be old news now, I can't post on the new thing because I haven't posted on the others, etc, etc. Then I thought why not just throw everything together in one post. A recap of our summer if you will. So here we go...




We ended the school year off with the annual time killing field trips. Lance loves to get time off for those and go as a parent chaperon with the girls. Katelyn's kindergarten class went to the Discovery Center; a hands on, learn how a ton of stuff works, kind of place. We had been there before but they discovered a whole new area we had never seen, and it's more fun with classmates and Dad.


Rebekah's field trip was to the Springfield Cardinals game. Now before you say "How is that educational?" they did get to watch weather balloons being launched and learn what they can teach us. No pictures of that though, so I guess we know which Lance thought was more exciting.



Playing dress-up and reading are always favorite past times for the kids. Believe it or not they really do get along most of the time. This particular dress-up picture we have husband wife dynamic duo Mr. and Mrs. Superman/Girl, with their daughter the cheerleader (no super powers) and their son Buzz Lightyear. I am not exaggerating when I tell you they played this game for three days straight. As for the reading on the stairs? I don't know, but they sure were enjoying themselves and not messing up their clothes before church, so you will not hear a complaint from me.

I think we wore them out.

After school let out we travelled up to St. Louis to visit some cousins we hadn't seen in a while. Thank you Dan and Sylvia for letting us come to your lovely home with our four rambunctious kids. They still talk about the great time they had and Benjamin and Josh want to go back and play with "Poppy".



In June we all headed down to Texas to meet the newest cousins on my side. Welcome Matthew and Seth. My girls enjoyed being big enough to actually help a little with the babies. And it was great having all the cousins there to play with. We are definitely going to have to make a habit of getting together annually.



Of course while we were there we had to check out what Texas had to offer in the way of caves. My kids are pretty comfortable with the cave thing, and I think everyone was just happy to get out of that Texas heat. There is something to be said for that constant temperature. Warm in the winter, cool in the summer, hmmm, if it weren't so wet we could just move in. While visiting the caves we discovered that the old saying "everything's bigger in Texas" applies to their insect life as well. Rebekah wanted to keep that thing as a pet. "Dad, since we can't have a dog, can we have this huge bug? I think I'll name him Buddy." No we didn't keep it.




After the Texas trip everything else kind of blurred into one long day. A few highlights: an afternoon at the theater to watch a production of Peter Pan (the boys had a new hero for about a week), an amazing professional fireworks display right out our back door, a David and Goliath family home evening complete with marshmallow stones, and a trip back to the San Luis Valley to visit with friends and family. Despite all of that the kids always like to go back to the favorites, a good book, a great game, or a quiet afternoon coloring at the kitchen counter.
We had a great summer and look forward to a productive and fun school year. With a third grader, first grader and afternoon preschooler we are always on the run. What am I saying the two year old alone keeps us on the run. You should all look forward to many more exciting updates from us.

Fun With Hair

Often while getting ready for school or church and it's time to get their hair done the girls will ask for braids. Then they say they plan on sleeping with their braids in so they can have "poodle hair" the next morning. We'll even braid their hair after a bath or shower when it's still wet and the curl stays in longer. There seems to be a problem though. Every time we take the braids out there is one section that is curl free. We have tried french braiding and regular braids (the only two I know how to do). We have tried just one and also one on either side of their heads. We have even tried some strange twisting their hair into little knobs all over their heads thing. Then one night Rebekah came to me with her solution. "Mom, I want 6 braids." I had my doubts about her actually keeping them in to sleep in but I gave it a try. She ended up with 8 braids all over her head. Katelyn came out, took one look and requested the same thing. I had even more doubts about her keeping them in all night but she also ended up with 8. Of course we had to take pictures.




Here is Before


Amazingly enough they both slept all night with 8 braids each and the next morning had the curliest of curly "Poodle Hair". And we still found sections without curl, but they were still happy and evidently got some comments at school (nice ones).



























Here is the after






Not to be outdone, the boys had their own excitement with hair. Joshua found he could spike his hair(with a little help of course) and he had "Dinosaur Hair". Very cool!



I am most definitely wearing it like this to church tomorrow!
Hey, my hair is just naturally this cool!


What could we possibly do to top all of this excitement? Next post... "The Haircut"

A Trip to the Past

A little over a year ago I started reading the Little House books by Laura Ingalls Wilder to the kids. We needed something to do while we waited for Lance to come home from work. I have fond memories of all of us piled on the couch around my Dad reading those same books. As I hoped my children loved them, especially the girls. I'm not sure Benjamin ever understood what was going on and we lost Joshua around the time Laura reached 11 or so. Rebekah and Katelyn enjoyed just about every minute. What started as a fun activity to wile away the after dinner before bedtime hour turned into our favorite pastime. When we would drive in the car for an extended period of time (Lance driving of course) I would read to them. There were times when I would have to strain my voice to be heard in the far back row of the van, and they couldn't always see the pictures but it passed away many a long mile.
Of course when we started Lance was not home so he missed Laura and her family living in the big woods of Wisconsin. The excitement of Ma slapping a bear, Laura's birthday and Charlotte the doll. However on those rides in the car he would hear the stories and be just as engrossed as the kids. By the time we hit about the fourth book we couldn't read unless he was present. It slowed down our progress a bit and we had to find other things to do while waiting for him to come home, but it started a great Saturday evening and Sunday afternoon tradition. We all eagerly cheered Laura on as she took her teachers examinations, held our breath as Almanzo and Cap raced a blizzard to bring in the wheat to save a starving town.
Laura's story became important to our family and we were sad as it came to an end. We read the final book and on the last page was a picture of a bread plate and a caption reading that it and other artifacts were housed in the Laura Ingalls Wilder Museum in Mansfield Missouri.

Missouri!! Are you kidding?!
I have read that series I don't have know how many times and I guess I just never thought about it. But now we live in Missouri! Where is a map!! Can you believe it Mansfield is only about an hour away from us! If we had known that we could have taken my parents and Lance's Mom (who read that series to her fourth grade class for years) when they came out a couple of years ago! What are we waiting for? The next nice weekend that Lance had off we went; reading of course. What did we read? the book On The Way Home, Laura's journal entries of their trip from South Dakota to Missouri.
We get to the museum and they have so many things from the books. Pa's Fiddle, Mary's braille slate, dresses that Laura made the writing desk where the hundred dollar bill was lost, numerous pictures and artifacts. Then you get a tour of the house that Almanzo built, unfortunately no picture taking is allowed inside the home. After you tour that home you drive down the road a short way and tour the home that Rose had built for her aging parents. You hear the story of how Rose tried to teach Almanzo how to drive and he crashed into a tree while pulling back on the steering wheel and shouting "Whoa!"
Lance and I had a great time looking at everything. Unfortunately this home is where the adult Laura lived I think the girls wanted to see some of the places where the child Laura lived. Add to that the fact that you can't touch or handle a lot of things and that makes it a little more boring for the younger set. However, they enjoyed seeing some of the things they had read about so frequently. And Rebekah realized she is already taller than Laura was as an adult. Lance and I felt it would have been fun to spend a little more time there if the boys had been older, most of it was lost on them and they began to get very wiggly.


The only pictures we could get were of us sitting on the steps of the porch.


So what are we reading now that we've finished the series? Well Rose's adopted grandson Roger Lea MacBride who had heard all of Rose's stories and had all of her journals and letters has taken a try at writing about Rose's life in the style of her mother. We are only on the first book, and I had to ask how many times we're allowed to renew a book from the library (as long as there is no hold on the title, unlimited), but so far we are enjoying it.


Now you all know what we do for fun. Read together, learn a little history and drag the kids to historical sites (hopefully someday they won't think it's so boring).