Update

Friday night Chloe (Anna's bff) and Anna asked me if they could help me make dinner. I will admit that while I appreciated their enthusiastic desires to help it was Friday night and I really wasn't planning on doing anything too special for dinner. I told them as soon as I could drag Ben in from outside we'd figure out what to do for dinner and see if they could help. When I finally managed to come back in the house with a screaming Ben in tow the girls had written out lovely menus based on recipes from a cookbook they had found. When I broke it to them that I really didn't have the ingredients for their chosen meal they said, "But we already made the menu!" I reminded them that perhaps they should check with me before they make their plans (a common theme with us) and told them that I had some spaghetti sauce in the freezer that we could heat up and then with a few minor alterations to their menu it would work. They hunted down a tablecloth (sadly I rarely use one unless we have company), cut some forsythia and put it in a vase, set the table, baked cookies, helped me boil the noodles and heat the sauce, and prepared several fruits and veggies for side dishes. Before long they produced a meal that put me to shame. I wish I had 1/4th of their energy and creativity. We love Anna and Chloe.

Abby has become super tight with a darling little girl in our ward/neighborhood. They are in the same class at school and are on the same soccer team. Her name is Paige. I feel so blessed that both my girls have found a best friend who share their great imaginations. Sometimes they'd have a friend come over and unless there was some structured activity to do they were bored. Paige and Chloe are both so great at imaginative play, I LOVE it. Anyway we took Paige to the park with us on Friday. At first they were playing "Adventure Girl" from "medieval times". Don't ask me how they know what the heck "medieval times" is. They were running around the playground very dramatically and not at all self-conscious. Then they sat in the sand and pretended they were starring in their own televised cooking show as they made sand cakes. Such great stuff. I love overhearing what they come up with. We love Abby and Paige.

I can sum Nate's existence up in two words: Star Wars. Seriously there's not much new to report on him because I've already mentioned this new found obsession in my previous posts and we're still very much in the throws of the magical world of Star Wars. He honestly talks of nothing else. In fact the girls (who also have developed a great interest and affection for Star Wars) have each separately totally snapped and yelled, "NATE, stop talking about Star Wars!!!!" A statement I have fought long and hard not to say myself. In fact as I type this he is light-saber fighting with his cousin, Rex. This is his personal heaven, Rex and Star Wars. We love Nate and Rex.

Today when I tried to put Ben down for his nap he kept crying and saying, "bakah-ball!" (basketball). He could hear Rex and Nate playing and it broke his heart to be missing out. He's starting to say little phrases and I can't get enough. The other day at nap time he was resisting until I said, "Do you want Daddy to put you to bed and sing to you?" His reply, "Yes, Itsy Pidah" (Spider). Oh, so cute. This morning when a little boy named Connor got in the car for carpool Ben surprised us all by greeting him very casually saying, "Hi, Connuh." My absolute favorite thing though is whenever he's thrown a tantrum and has calmed down he comes and finds me and very sincerely says, "Sah-ey, (sorry) Mamma." We love Benjamin!