Benjamin George

Yesterday Anna and her friends, Chloe and Sadie, were here and couldn't find enough female models to dress up, so they resorted to Nate and Ben. For some reason they didn't get a picture of Nate who was supposed to be a cowboy and dressed in overalls about 3 sizes too small with a belt and a cowboy hat. Good stuff. Anyway, Ben was the baseball player, the girls were cracking up because he totally hit this pose without any coaching.



I want to attempt to record some of the things Ben has been saying lately. Some of my favorites are instead of saying the word "don't" he says "can't." For instance, "Ben, what do you want for lunch?" "I can't want lunch right now." Love it. I know I've mentioned this one before, but it's one of my very favorites thanks to a slight lisp and that is "yeth" (yes.) I also can't get enough of when I do something for him and he yells "Sanks, (thanks) Mom!"

The other night he was running around repeating some silly rhyme he picked up from the kids. I believe the real thing goes something like, "Oops, I'm sorry" and then at some point, "I know karate." But for one entire evening he happily went around singing, "Sanks and sorry, I know karate!"

Also his new favorite thing is to come up to me with both hands behind his back and say, "MOM, close your eyes I hab (have) a prise (surprise) for you!" So I close my eyes and then he tells me to open them and then he gets super excited as he reveals something like a sticky note or some other terribly exciting thing. Cracks me up.

A Real Day in the Real Life

Anna is practicing the piano for the first time all week before she needs to go to her lesson in 20 minutes. She is not loving the fact that she is not able to sight-read the songs and play them perfectly. She wants me to stand by her and I guess offer moral support while she practices. Brennan comes home and I need to talk to him. Anna yells for me the entire time I'm talking to Brennan. I finish with Brennan and go back to Anna to tell her it's time to go to her lesson. She says she refuses to go and locks herself in my room. In the meantime Brennan calls me into examine some weird wart thing on his arm and to ask me what he should do since he's sure I gave it to him because I had something similar on my neck a few years ago.

I leave him to ponder his problems to go and tell Anna about all the privileges she's going to lose and the money she owes me if she doesn't hightail it down to piano that second. Our exchange is accompanied by Nate who is now "playing" the piano and loudly protesting the addition of Benjamin attempting to make it a duet. Anna is yelling (through the door) that her 16 year old darling sweet girl down the street piano teacher is going to be so mad at her saying, "Fine, I'll go, but I might not come back because she is going to KILL me!" I refrained from yelling, but couldn't hold back the sarcasm (I know, I know, it's equally if not more damaging) and said, "Yeah, she totally seems like the murderous type, have fun!"

I just got back from picking her up. She happily bounded down to the car. I resisted saying "You're alive!" (baby steps) and instead said, "So, how did it go?" She shrugged her shoulders and and smiled as she said, "Fine, she wasn't that mad." Oh, the drama.

We Ate, We Laughed, We Cried.

I returned from my adventure yesterday afternoon and Brennan and the kids not only survived, but had a really nice time. Brennan cleaned and entertained and cared for the kids and house like a pro. I was missed though and that's always nice.

As for me, well I had a fabulous time. It was our 2nd annual Women's Conference with my Grandma, aunts and adult female cousins (and cousin in-laws) on my Dad's side of the family. I think there were about 17 of us. This group of women consists of amazing women who are incredible examples of womanhood and motherhood, and just plain fun. I made sure I took my camera, and then managed to leave it in my bag without taking one picture.

We met Friday morning in the Temple and enjoyed a beautiful session there. Afterwards we reconvened for a nice lunch downtown and then headed to our Church's Humanitarian Center where we had a tour. I had never been there before and was blown away. For a church consisting of 13 million members to be able to render such significant service to billions of people all over the world just blew me away and inspired me to contribute more to the cause. This organization through the millions of volunteers and donations is sending clothes, food, school supplies, hygiene kits, newborn kits, wheelchairs, quilts, preventative eye care programs, training for midwives to be able to increase survival rates of newborns, etc., etc. It was so inspiring and if you haven't been to your local LDS Humanitarian Center, I highly recommend it. I can't wait to take my kids and start working with them for the cause.

After our tour we went to my Mom's house who was kind enough to host us. We made dinner and chatted and then ate, of course. After dinner some worked on tying a quilt for the Humanitarian Center while we all chatted. I think we wrapped up the chatting somewhere between 4 and 5 am. This is always my favorite part. We laughed hard and even cried as we shared our struggles and talked about the things that make women cry especially in the wee hours of the morning.

Fortunately most of us slept in until about 10 am and then woke to a yummy breakfast. After that we gathered to listen to my aunt's sister-in-law who led an inspiring discussion on how we can find joy in suffering through our Savior. Again there were tears as many opened up and uplifted us by their strength through their trials.

It was a perfect blend of uplifting, spiritual, meaningful and fun. Thanks so much to Liane who organized the whole thing so wonderfully, to my Mom for being the perfect hostess, and Melanie and Brynn who travelled some serious distances to be with us. Also, my cousin, Mandolin, even managed to join us for a little bit after having a beautiful baby girl and an appendectomy. Those who couldn't be there were GREATLY missed! Thank you Brennan for making it possible for me to go! As much fun as I had, it's always nice to come home and be hugged and loved by my own dear family whom I really missed.

Considerate or Condescending?

I'm leaving my little family for a little over 24 hours tomorrow and I will be at a far away location approximately 3 miles up the street. I'll be leaving my kids in the care of their very competent, very involved father who was kind enough to take the day off on Friday. The same man who was smart enough to marry me (however,not without some temporary lapses of intelligence and doubts):), who manages to provide for a family of 6 and 1/2, who excels at his job, etc. So why did I trade carpool days so as not to leave that to him? Why will I make sure I get the kids dressed before I go or at least lay out clothes (think flip-flops with socks and paper shorts, etc.)? Why have I spent most of this morning helping Nate get his homework done early so that it will all be signed and ready and in his backpack ready for tomorrow afternoon? I will refrain from making a dinner ahead of time for them, but I did consider it. I'm telling myself that I'm just trying to make things easier for him, but if you were him would you be insulted? For the record, these things do not insult Brennan. He never minds me making life easier for him whether it's out of consideration or just plain control freakiness.

Weekend Update

We had a really nice weekend. Friday night Anna had a party so the rest of us watched a movie together at home. Saturday we got some things done and then that night my parents took the three big kids along with some of their cousins to a local college production of Peter Pan. The kids LOVED the play and I am so grateful my children are getting exposure to so many plays and musicals due in large part to my parents. Brennan and Ben and I had a really nice time shopping for a couch and grabbing a bite to eat. It was so much fun having Ben all to ourselves, he was such a happy, good-natured companion. Sunday we made it to church semi on-time and Nate even walked into primary by himself without any tears. Yay!!! Then we joined some of my family for our monthly dinner at my parents'. All in all, a great weekend.

Brennan almost never gets embarrassed, but last night my Mom was praising him. He nervously kicked her rug for a minute and then kind of sheepishly said, "Yeah, I really don't want to talk about it." and then laughed awkwardly. It was so funny and cute. My verbose family is just too much for him sometimes :). We love Brennan.

It's really strange to have Anna be getting a real social life. It seems like 4 out of the last 6 weekends she's had some kind of party on Friday night. There were a couple of parties that were supposed to go until 10pm!!! I have to remind myself that she's not 5 anymore. I told her that we may not find out the gender of our baby when we have the ultrasound and it's KILLING her. She brings it up almost everyday and begs us to find out. We love Anna.

Abigail was telling me about a friend of hers that has $100. I said, "Wow, how did she get that much money?" "I don't know, I guess her parents don't forget to pay her her allowance every week." Ouch. Poor girl, I did remember to pay her this week. :) We love Abby.

Nate got a little CTR ring from church and wears it constantly. For some reason, I think it's the cutest thing ever on him and I love watching his little hands do things with that ring on. He's been really obsessed with football lately and asking me when he can start playing. Then one night watching a game with Brennan he saw a guy break his leg. A few minutes later he said, "Mom, never mind I don't think I want to play football." Poor boy, he just doesn't have the luxury that most boys do of feeling invincible. We love Natey.

Last night Ben happened by the window and noticed it was snowing. His face lit up as he said, "Mom! It's snowing, Santa's going to come and bring me presents!!!" He was so excited I hated to explain that Santa would be coming in just 11 short months. We love Benny.

Where Has the Week Gone?

Oh yeah, here's where my week went:

It's about 600 pages and I must admit after I read the intro I was having a hard time getting excited about reading that huge a book all about suffering and revenge. However, after I got past the first little bit, I was completely hooked and couldn't put it down. I finished Thursday night and then spent the next few days paying for neglecting everything else. I love a good read though, and the catch-up was well worth it.

So, on to the rest of our week. We had such a nice little break with the kids out of school on Monday and Tuesday it was great. Monday morning we woke up and met my parents and Macy and Liza and their kids for breakfast. Afterwards we went to Liza's and had a nice visit while the kids played. I love those spontaneous low-key get-togethers. Thanks for making it happen, Dad!

Tuesday I woke up feeling terrible so I put Anna in charge and went back to bed. She did a fabulous job of entertaining all the kids and I got some wonderful sleep and felt much better. They had a great time playing and staying in their jammies most of the day. It was so nice not to have to rush around doing the school thing. I love those days when they really get to interact and just play and be kids.

Friday my angel mother came over to be my personal cleaning lady. She knew how crummy I've felt and that I was discouraged with not having the energy to keep up with my house lately so showed up and worked miracles for several hours. I can't tell you what a difference she made in that time and it was so nice to get a jump start.

Thank goodness my Mom came that day because it had been a rough one. It was my one day I didn't have to drive anyone to school except that Anna was running late so I had to send the carpool without her and drive her myself. Then Nate refused to get ready for his afternoon Kindergarten when he was supposed to and therefore missed his carpool. My Mom kindly took him for me. One of the very most frustrating things for me is putting so much energy into getting my kids where they need to be when they need to be there but in the end having no real control over making it happen. Deep breath. I know, it's life, but it kills me. It had all the makings of a really bad day, but having someone love me enough to come make my can-opener sparkle and wash out the garbage can etc. put it all in perspective and brightened all our lives.

Okay, one more random thing, can anyone put my mind to ease that not if, but when there is an earthquake a child on the bottom bunk will not be squished to death?

Next Time I'm Driving

Anyone else a little unnerved by the fact that a few geese can take out both engines of a plane????? Seriously, all these years, I've been worried about things like hijackers and storms and really I should have been worried about geese? Doesn't it also strike anyone else a little odd that for all our advanced technology we haven't figured out a way to keep birds from being sucked into the engine? Weird.