Better Late Than Never?

I DREAD Tuesdays. I have this whole year, they are horrible. It seems like I'm always supposed to be in 1,326 places at once on Tuesdays which though it's crazy I have to admit in some ways it's nice to have most things on one day and then my other days a little bit more relaxed. However, the craziness of the day makes the real reason I dread Tuesdays even worse. Anna has ballet on Tuesdays. When she gets home from school we can look forward to something like this:

Me: "Hi girls, how was school? Anna, I need you to get ready for ballet so you won't be late."

Anna: "WHY DID YOU SIGN ME UP FOR BALLET???? I HATE ballet!!!!!

Me: "Honey, do we really have to have this conversation every single Tuesday? At some point can we just go with the fact that yes I signed you up and I believe we talked about it and you believe we didn't because I'm trying to ruin your life and that either way you're going to finish out this year and after your recital neither one of us will even say the word 'ballet'?"

Anna: "I'm not going."

Me: "That's fine, but you won't have any privileges all week."

Anna: "But I'm supposed to play with Chloe tomorrow!!!!!"

Me: "Then go get ready for ballet."

Anna: "OOOOOOHHHHH! I HATE ballet!!!! Why did you sign me up? (stomping down the stairs)

After 7 months of the above my dear child walked in yesterday after ballet and casually says to me, "Mom, can I take ballet next year?"

Are you kidding me? I know I should feel happy that she's finally seeing the light but instead I feel like this kid has some nerve!

Birthday Bash

Tonight we celebrated the big birthday. Unfortunately only my parents dared come to our illness infested house. We're so glad they risked it and joined us for this special occasion.

Golf clubs were a big hit!

He has a way better swing than I do and even keeps his head down. Brennan couldn't be more proud. (prouder?)

New bike and helmet, woo hoo!

Quilt made by Grandma and also a big hit!

the cake, and the happy recipient.

Happy, Happy Birthday Benjamin George!

Look who's 2?!!!! My baby, that's who! When I was pregnant with our fourth child I never could have guessed what he would bring to us and how much personality would be housed in that tiny little body.


Here are some of my favorite photos of him:

I know I just posted that one in the pool, but his eyes and pool match and I love it.

Ben is truly one of a kind. Almost every week at church someone stops me to tell me how much they love to watch him and how he seems to light up a whole room. It's hard to explain, but I'll try: he is exuberant, he is opinionated, he is happy, he's a handful, he is forceful, he's friendly, he's confident (like off the charts confident), he's stubborn, he's joyful, he's radiant.

This sweet child has brought us so much joy. He came during a difficult year for me. After he was born my amazing vibrant aunt and mother of 8 died, I was finally acknowledging that two of my sweet children were showing signs of anxiety/OCD, both my Grandpas died, and because of those things and other events my foundation -- my faith, was shaky. When I felt dark and heavy and hopeless he was full of light and love and hope. My little Ben, sunshine boy, positively radiated light and love. When I held him, or when he smiled, or when I watched him sleep I was able to shut out the clouds I had let gather round me and gradually heal. His effervescence was honestly pivotal in my journey through doubt and fear back to the light of faith and love. My faith is back only it's much stronger. I will forever be grateful to Heavenly Father for the gift of Ben at that tender time and that he was and will always be a reminder of all the blessings and love Heaven has to offer.

I guess that was a little heavy for a 2 year old birthday tribute, sorry!

We love Ben. Happy Birthday!

Stubborness and Stinkiness

Just a little update. Nate is really quite sick and has been since Tuesday. He is quite brave and easy to care for when he's sick except when his stubborn streak kicks in. For instance he's had a fever that really gets going if we don't stay right on tylenol or motrin. By Wednesday night he decided he'd had enough medicine and since then it's been a major battle medicating him. I literally can't force his medicine without Brennan there to help restrain him. Good times. I tried to take him to the doctor on Wednesday to rule out strep but he flat out refused. The appointment was last minute and I had about 5 minutes to drop Ben off at my Mom's and get Nate down there, I knew there was no way I could get there in time once he had decided he was not going to cooperate. I finally told him if we didn't go now we for sure had to go in the morning. Thankfully he stuck to his deal and cooperated the next morning. Oh and I was positive it was strep, it wasn't. It's funny that you can have 4 kids and still have no idea what you're doing as a parent!

In other news, I reached a new mothering milestone. My oldest child got a "purple card" at school which means she managed to breeze through green, yellow and red to the worst of all "purple." This is the big one where they have to call home. Evidently she giggles uncontrollably often and as you can imagine disrupts the class. Her teacher was nice about it and told me of all the the things to get in trouble for, this was definitely one of the better ones, at least she's happy. Oh dear, little stink!

I'm soooo ready for a nice mellow weekend. Yay for general conference, I love it, I need it!

Benny Singing Some Neil

Brennan is kind of obssessed with Neil Diamond so we've all become fans. This morning Benny was walking around singing. After several times I recognized it as "Coming to America" by Neil Diamond. I'm not sure why he had that on his mind because we haven't listened to or been singing it recently, it just must be in his blood. With some effort I finally got him to do it on camera. This will probably my last post for the day too.

Nighttime Prowler - HELP!

So lately we're having a problem of someone skulking around our house in the dark. It's my almost 2 year old. Last night we put him to bed at his usual bedtime of 7:30 and at around 8:30 Brennan asked me to see which one of the girls was lurking in the hallway. I turned the corner and didn't see anyone then as I headed back to the family room I almost tripped over Benny and his blankies sitting there half in the hall and half in the open hall closet. Psycho. I looked at him and he smiled up at me. In the middle of the night he suddenly appeared in our room. We took him back. At 6:00 am I thought I heard something. By the time I managed to drag myself out of bed I found his door open and he was nowhere in sight. I searched the whole upstairs while trying to keep from panicking completely. Just then Anna came up to go to the bathroom (don't get me started on the fact that there's a perfectly nice bathroom downstairs right next to the girls' rooms that they NEVER use) and reported that when she got out of bed to come up, there was Benny and his blankies sitting on her floor. Yesterday morning at around 6:30 am he went into Nate's room and sat on his head.

Now let me just say that this child has been such a great sleeper. He goes to bed at 7:30 pm and wakes up at 7:00 am end of story. Evidently he has turned into an insomniac. Mostly though it is really unnerving wondering if I'm going to hear him when he decides to come out and take a stroll through the house in the middle of the night. Brennan suggested I put a bell on his door which I'll probably do despite my worry about waking Nate up every time, any other suggestions?

"Hey Everybody it's Family Night"

Penny in the flour is my kids' favorite family home evening game. Every time it's one of their turn to choose the game for FHE, this is what we get to do. For those of you who have never played, you carefully pack a cup of flour and turn it upside down on a tray on the table. Then you place a penny on top of the flour and each take turns slicing a part of the flour away. If the penny falls on your turn you get to go in after it without using your hands. They LOVE this. In our family instead of trying to avoid making the penny fall our kids take huge swipes hoping to have to dig the penny out with their faces. Here are two of last night's participants: