Update

Ben, Josh and I were driving along Main St. the other day and I’m not sure what Ben was doing, but it was busting Josh’s gut.  He was dying laughing which is always so funny and cute.  When he finally came up for air, he said, “Ben ahways makes me waugh (laugh).”  Several hours later we drove that same street, but this time it was just me and Josh.  He got a wistful smile on his face and repeated, “Ben ahways makes me waugh” nostalgically.  Nothing better than my kids delighting in each other.  Josh is really into saying prayers lately.  He’ll beg to say our dinner prayer or evening prayer.  He doesn’t feel constrained by conventional praying positions, like closed eyes, kneeling or even sitting still.  Sometimes he’ll kneel with his face in the couch and pray for quite some time things that none of us can hear.  Other times he just kind of wanders around the room, “thank you dat Ben can feew (feel) bettow, thank you dat Nate can feew bettow, thank you I can gwab dis bwanket (as he grabs a nearby throw blanket), and on and on and on and on.  We’ve started allowing the kids to quietly start eating dinner.  When we suggest he finish his prayer, he gets quite indignant and starts over with renewed zeal.  We love Joshua.

Yesterday Ben had a cup of ice water.  He took a nice big drink and exclaimed “Whew, frain breeze!”  He mixes words up like that all the time, and I hope he always will.  I love it.  Yesterday was class pictures at the Elementary school so I told Ben I’d help him pick out something special to wear.  I found a nice red polo type shirt that I bought for Nate a few years ago.  Ben’s eyes lit up as he asked, “Is this a golf shirt?”  He recognized it as the same type of shirt that basically serves as Brennan’s uniform.   This child literally beams when he’s excited, I can’t wait to see that picture cause I’m pretty sure he was still beaming standing there proudly in his golf shirt by the time they had that class picture taken.  Ben is extremely sensitive when it comes to things against his skin.  He won’t wear clothes that have weird seems or linings etc., in the inside.   He also hates the vicks type stuff I’d put on his chest at night to help with his croupy cough.  I always waited til he was asleep because he was a much less formidable foe asleep.  A few nights ago I went in to put it on him, but it was gone.  I always put it on a little white shelf in his room.  It was gone and I couldn’t find it anywhere.  The next day I asked him about it, he gave me that caught-with-your- hand-in-the-cookie-jar look.  “Ben, did you really take it?”  He waited as long as he dared before finally admitting to hiding it and retrieving it for me.  I don’t know why, but that really cracked me up.  We love Ben.

Nate is going through a really cute transformation.   For the first time in his life, he does his hair every morning.  He even asked me to buy hair gel.  He actually does it really well and looks so handsome.  He’s also kind of into clothes all of a sudden, I think the clothes he wants are kind of skater-ish.  Not sure about that, but it’s fun to see him find his own sense of self.  He came home from basketball practice tonight laughing so hard he could barely talk.  Evidently there was an older sister of one of his teammates there.  One of Nate’s friends was quite taken with her.  Nate came home and relayed the following (between fits of laughter):  “I figured out that Kade likes Porter’s sister cause he just kept talking to her and telling her stuff like all the things he likes, like he said, ‘I like picking cherries.’ and then then he totally missed the ball because he was staring at her!”  We were all dying laughing because of how amused Nate was by his own story.  Love that boy.  We love Nate.

Abby had her final performance for the storytelling festival experience yesterday.  She got to perform at a local college’s festival.  She nailed it.  It never gets old watching her get up in front of a really big crowd with total confidence and poise.   Aside from how proud and happy we feel watching her be so good at something, what parent doesn’t hope for confidence for their child?  One of my favorite things our kids do usually on Sunday afternoons is play “pollies”  as in polly pockets, but the boys actually play with their action figures.  They all set up elaborate houses and yards, etc. and all play together for hours.  It’s usually Abby who instigates it.  Each night while I’m making dinner and Joshy gets a little whiny it’s usually Abby who dials in and distracts and entertains him.  She’ll sit and play toys or talk to him or make him laugh.  I don’t usually even ask her to, she’s just tuned in to the people she loves.  The other night one of the kids had kind of a big melt down, Abby sighed and said, “I hate it when someone in our family is sad.”  We love Abigail.

Anna and Chloe have started the process of producing/directing a play.  I always have mixed feelings about these productions of theirs, because it kind of takes over all our lives, but I love that they have that kind of drive and confidence.  Anna lets me read her journal and I love it.  She’s a great girl.  She’s got such a funny, sophisticated wit and writes really well.  She’s very self-aware, but not in a crippling way.  I’m so grateful for a 13 year old who is really comfortable with herself.   My parents had a sleep-over with the grandkids who were in town.  They had their hands full with 8 kids,  ages 13, 11, 8, 5, 5, 5, 4 and almost 3.   My Mom kept telling me over and over how helpful the girls were, especially Anna.  She saw what needed to be done (or stopped ) and then jumped in and helped in her creative, fun way with the little kids.   Anna, Nate and Abby got to stay up late with Grandma and Grandpa and play Skip-Bo.  Anna was thrilled to win a round, she’s got a healthy dose of competitive genes from both parents.  We love Anna. 

Adventures of Josh

Here’s Josh having a leisurely morning watching his show:

Here is a video of him playing while we down at John and Jamie’s. 

An Early Spring Break

We had a great Presidents’ Day weekend.  Anna had a soccer tournament down South.  We loaded up Thursday afternoon and headed to John and Jamie’s house.  Brett was there too which always make everything fun.  He’s a fabulous uncle!  We arrived Thursday evening, unloaded, said hi, and went for our traditional Golden Spoon frozen yogurt run.  Then back to J&J’s for bed. 

Friday we got up and and at ‘em for our 45 minute drive further south for Anna’s 1st game.  It was a gigantic complex of field after field after field.  She played great and they won the first game 1-0 – yay!  Joshy and I rode back home with John, Jamie and Brett so I could put Joshy down for a much needed nap.  Jamie kindly listed for Josh so I could go have a few hours of shopping by myself – every mother’s dream!  Brennan and the kids went to lunch, swam at our friends’ hotel and hung out in their room.  So nice of them to host – they had a blast. 

Josh and I drove back and met up with everyone else for the 2nd game.  It was such a good, hard-fought game, but we lost by one. 

Ben was having a great time with our neighbor, Clay

We drove back to Grandpa and Grandma’s that night and got the kids settled into bed.  None of them protested.  We had a great visit with Brennan’s cousin, Cody, and Jamie and Brett.

The next morning we had a little bit more leisure time to hang out and be mellow at Grandma’s before heading out to the last game.  This time Brennan’s Dad, and his wife, LeRoy and Janet, came too.  Anna was delighted to have such a great cheering section. 

Once again our girls played hard, but lost.  It was a fun game though.  We went to a quick lunch with LeRoy and Janet before parting ways again.  (Why didn’t I get a picture???) 

Saturday night Jamie made a fabulous home-cooked meal and we enjoyed a nice evening with them.   We planned on leaving first thing Sunday morning, but Brennan woke up Saturday night so sick.  He slept in as much as he could Sunday.  I assumed we’d stay til Monday, but he wanted to get home.  Poor guy drove us home through some scary slushy roads while he was miserable.  It was good to get home though.  Brennan happily went to bed.  The 4 big kids were able to go to my parents’ for a cousin sleep-over and Joshy and I went to see my cousin who just came home from a mission.  

When I Grow Up.…

I’m fortunate enough to be associated or related to a lot of people I would love to be like when I grow up.  The one that’s been on my mind lately is an aunt of mine named, Karen.  Karen passed away about 5 years ago from brain cancer.  It was one of those deaths that broke your heart.  Some deaths make sense to me, and some don’t.  Hers was one that didn’t make sense to me.  She and her sweet husband have 8 kids, the oldest was in her early 30’s and the youngest was still in high school.  Anyway, one of their sons is getting married soon and I went to the bridal shower for his soon-to-be wife.   He was there too, which was great.  It was so fun to see the two of them together and see how in love they are and how great they are for each other and how happy they are.   My uncle was also there and after this sweet couple opened their gifts, my uncle stood up to present them with some extraordinary gifts.   Gifts that Karen bought before she even knew she was sick.  I think he said when their oldest child got married, she zeroed in on exactly what it was she wanted to bestow on them at such a significant milestone and then bought 8 of everything. 

These gifts weren’t fine china or embroidered kitchen towels, these gifts were much more significant than that.  My uncle explained how important it was to Karen to pass along her values to her children.  They had carefully and I’m sure, prayerfully, selected things like a book from a parenting class they attended 3 times when they were in the throes of parenting their 8 kids, an artist's rendition of the Salt Lake Temple,  a special framed quote, a favorite book about marriage, etc. 

Frankly, it blew my mind.  There were all these things, many of them wrapped by Karen perhaps before my cousin had even been on his first date.  Here was a mother, who before she knew her life would be cut short, knew what mattered to her and what she wanted to matter to her kids.  She boiled her priorities down to the most essential and then made sure she would be able to gift each one of her treasured children and their spouses with all of what made her happy in hopes of their happiness.   I watched in awe as this beautiful bride-to-be, who never on earth met Karen, was being given the gift of Karen.  It was beautiful and so inspiring.  I want to be that kind of mother.

When I grow up, I’d love to be more like Karen. 

Benny George

Perhaps you’ve noticed that I’ve been pretty smitten by the youngest little guy in our house, but Ben also has a good hold of my heart and has been extra sweet lately.   First of all, look at those eyelashes, I mean how is it even possible to have those kind of big blues and such luscious lashes.  Another thing that is so totally Ben is his cowlick right in the very front and center of his hairline.  I have always loved it, and he has always hated it.  He’s tried everything to get rid of his “swirly”, from cutting it, spending a half-hour in the bathroom wetting and shellacking it.  Sometimes he’ll have temporary success and come out beaming, but it’s always back. 

He’s been sick a lot lately, he has a definite vulnerability to coughs, he’s had a virus, a sinus infection and croup all in the last month or so.  He’s had to be homebound a lot and it’s nearly killed my active, social little guy.   The good news is he’s the easiest person in the world to please, one little game or book or anything like that sends him into fits of pure joy.  He’s always been one of my kids who expresses himself with his entire body.  He literally smiles from his head to his toes. 

On day 3 of confinement, he was past contagiousness but I kept him home from school because he was still coughing so much, I took him and Josh to lunch.  There was one of those indoor playgrounds and they both wanted to go play.  I asked Ben to please stay right with Josh.  He did.  I watched him walk into the little room and notice a bench where they were supposed to take their shoes off and store them.  He hoisted Josh up on the bench and focused very hard on getting his shoes off.  He got them off and then stayed right with him as they played.  It was one of the scenes I’ll always remember.

Nate decided he was ready to move downstairs on Saturday.  I think Ben was a little sad at first to lose his roommate, but in typical Ben fashion – he went with it and ultimately was so excited he was begging for bedtime.  He started working really hard.  I could tell he was tired, but he kept right on working – taking Nate’s stuff downstairs and helping me find the right place for his things.   It was so gratifying to see him work so hard with such a good attitude.  His middle name is for my paternal Grandpa who would love Ben.  My maternal Grandpa would love him too,  Ben reminds me a lot of him.  He inherited lots of traits they both had:  competent, independent, cheerful, hard working, and scrappy.

Bren and I brought fortune cookies home for the kids the other night.  Anna’s fortune said something like, “You would be wise to keep your eyes wide open this week.”  Not surprisingly, both girls were totally creeped out.  Sweet Ben said, “maybe you should keep your eyes open so you can see Jesus.” 

I love that boy.  We all do.  We love Ben!

January Blues Buster

Here’s one thing my kids do at our house while we wait for Spring.

Abby’s Exciting Results

Abby competed at the district storytelling festival last week and did great.  She performed her story twice in front of 2 judges each, for a total of 4 judges.   Based on their performances some of the kids were selected to go on to perform at a local university’s storytelling festival.

Yesterday we got the letter inviting her to move on!!!  She’s so excited, we all are.  The letter also included the judges’ evaluations of her performance last week.

I happen to think this last judge was maybe off her rocker a little, you can tell because her math is wrong, which I think we can use as evidence to suggest her judging was also wrong .  Way to go, Abby!

A Long but Very Cute Interview with Josh

The Adventures of Raising Joshua

Joshy is certainly an adventure lately.   He’s as sweet and charming and entertaining as ever, but he’s also started to develop a relationship with trouble.  One, he quite enjoys.  I think I kind of thought I was done with the days of having a screaming child in the store, or chasing a toddler down the aisle or through racks of clothes.  Josh has always been a pretty pleasant little errand-running companion… until recently. 

Whenever we’re in the check-out line he’ll always find a treat and ask me if we can get it.  I’d always say, “No, not today, please put it back.”  and he would.  The other day, when I asked him to put it back, he paused, I saw him consider his options and I saw him start to smile and turn and hightail it away from me as fast as he could with a pack of bubble gum trying to to open it while he ran.   I caught him, but it wasn’t pretty.  He didn’t scream or pitch a fit though, he just did his low, manly, slightly maniacal laugh. 

The other day at church I was doing my best to keep all the kids contained and at a reasonable reverence level by myself because Brennan was out of town.   We were on two rows (in the back, the gym, of course) and he loves to walk from row to row.  He got up to do that (I assumed) but instead kept right on walking to the back of the gym and then to the side door.  I sent Nate after him who reported that Josh decided he needed a drink.   He’s doing that more and more, just deciding he needs to head off somewhere or the other without wanting to bother me about it I guess. 

At the doctors office they had taken us back to the room but we had to wait a while there.  Josh opened the door and said, “I’ll be wight back, Mom” and shut the door behind him.

I gave Josh a blow pop and let him watch Mickey Mouse Clubhouse in my bed before his nap.  He came into the kitchen to ask for another sucker, but I said no.  He protested but I held my ground and went about cleaning up.  A while later I went in to my room to check on him and there he was snuggled under my blankets.  Such a cute cozy scene, I thought to myself until I noticed a blow pop wrapper on my pillow and then when when I lifted my blankets off him sure enough there was a blow pop in his mouth.  “He smiled and said, ‘are you mad at me, Mom?”  I couldn’t believe he’d somehow managed to sneak into the kitchen, drag a stool up to the pantry and steal a blow pop from the very top pantry shelf and then sneak back into my room without my noticing.  It was one of those moments you’re not sure weather to be horrified or really proud.

He tells me all the time that his dinner or breakfast or lunch is “de-wishous, Mom!”  He also comes in very sadly and tells me that “evuh-body isn’t being nice to him”.  He loves “bu-Annas” and wants lots of “sew-Up” on his “cupcakes” for breakfast.

When Brennan suggest he shouldn’t have something Josh is quick to say that Mom said he should.  He does the same thing to me, only asserting Dad’s wishes.  Cracks me up every time.  Can’t blame a guy for trying.  Actually I can, but not when he’s two.

We love Joshua.