Nothing Cuter

If you just ignore the big smudges on the glass, the goofy basketball jerseys/jammies, and the fact that Benny is mid cough, there's just nothing cuter to me than these four little faces. The cuteness factor goes up immensely because there's a glass door between me and them and I get to enjoy their cuteness with a much needed little break for my ears. These adorable children are VERY loud.

Weekend Update

It's been a busy time for all of us, what with the state high school basketball tournaments (nope we don't actually know anyone on any of the teams) but that has just kind of become Brennan's thing and he usually takes the kids so I'm supportive :)

The girls and I sang in church on Sunday and it was so neat to be able to do it with them. First of all, they helped me be brave. I get so terrified to sing in public now, but I figured if I put my cute little girls out front no one would even notice me. They both did so well, I was so proud of them. We sang an arrangement of "I am a Child of God". Anna had to start out with a solo and did beautifully. Her voice is so pretty and clear and she has a really good ear for music. Abby had a solo right after Anna's and came in perfectly. She didn't seem at all nervous and made me smile when she leaned right into the mic for her part. After her solo, she looked back at me with a big grin knowing she had nailed it and wanting to see my approval. I was grateful she managed to hold still throughout the song, which she hadn't quite managed during any of our practice sessions. I managed not to pass out, so all in all I think it went quite well.

Yesterday we got to go see Anna's class demonstrate some of the self-defense skills they've learned through Radkids. It was so neat, I highly recommend this program. They had these two big guys in a big red padded suit with helmet and all. Then each kid was able to fight one of the guys off using their newly learned skills. It was so impressive to see tiny little Anna be picked up by this big guy and watch her fight her way out. Most of the kids were a little tentative, not Anna. I love how scrappy she is. We love Anna.

I took the girls over to my brother's future mother-in-law's house the other day so we could try on some darling dresses she's making for the wedding. Anna immediately focused in on their dog and Abby just got super comfortable and chatty with this sweet woman. She was asking her all about her grand-daughters and how old they are, etc. It was one of those funny moments where I was watching a grown woman in my little 8 year old's body. We love Abigail.

Nate's hair is pretty short, so I don't usually even worry about combing it, but the other day they had class pictures so I actually did his hair. When I was done I said my usual cheesy mom saying, "Holy handsomeness!!!" which always elicits a huge grin from him and then he asked in all sincerity, "Mom, do you think even more girls will like me when they see me today?" He's got his father's confidence. We love Nate.

The other day Ben accidentally kicked Abby's head. She might have over-reacted a bit and started crying. Ben quickly said, "Oops, I'm sorry." It sounded so grown up and caught us all off guard so we all, including Abby, started laughing. I don't think he knew why we were laughing, but he didn't miss the fact that Abby went from tears to laughter in about .3 seconds and said, "Abby, you're a faker head!" We love Benjamin.

Book Recommendation

My Mom gave me this book and I am LOVING it. It's too good not to share.

It seems like every time I turn around I'm hearing about kids who at younger and younger ages are dealing with depression. I guess it's very common for kids going through puberty to experience depression and we're not very far from that stage at our house, yikes. A couple of my kids deal a little bit with anxiety and so I've always worried they might be more prone to depression later on in their lives. I'm so thrilled to have this book that basically just teaches me how to teach my kids cognitive therapy. Which for those of you who are unfamiliar with cognitive therapy, it's basically just a method of learning that our feelings are not just the result of our circumstances and actions, they are actually the result of our beliefs about those circumstances or actions. This makes perfect sense given that we have probably all seen two different people experience the exact same set of circumstances and yet feel totally different about that same experience. Anyway, basically, when we become aware/conscious of our beliefs and thoughts, we can then evaluate them and adjust them which then gives us power over how we feel rather than our circumstances dictating what mood we're in.

In the first part of the book the author lays out his belief (backed up by research and case studies) that we can immunize our children for depression. He talks about the fact that how optimistic a person is has a direct relationship with how likely that person is to be prone to depression. He and his colleagues adapted cognitive therapy methods proven to help people overcome depression into a program to teach to young kids the skills they need to be more optimistic and avoid depression and saw impressive results. The second part of the book is the actual program adapted for parents and teachers to teach to their own kids. Even if you think all that sounds like a bunch of hooey, it really is a fascinating, insightful book.

Happy, Happy Birthday Mom!

Happy Birthday, Mom - the big 60 today!

I love this picture, because it's so typical of my Mom to be found taking advantage of every moment she can with her grandkids. I've written lengthy posts about how great my Mom is before, so I won't today. I just wanted to wish her the very best and say, I love you, Mom!

The Ultimate Dora Fan

My cute little neighbor, Aliza, is the world's BIGGEST Dora fan. She is also a finalist in the Dora Super Fan contest. So, if you get an extra minute you can click HERE to vote for her. Just scroll through the pictures until you see the one below and then click on the "VOTE" button. You can vote every day per computer. If you do vote, you can leave a comment on her Mom's blog each time you vote and be entered to win a drawing for $100 worth of scrapbooking supplies. Woo hoo! I am so not a scrapbooker, but my girls would die of sheer delight with all those goodies. Go, Aliza!

Baby

Just in the last week this little babe is moving like crazy. I love this part of pregnancy, feeling that baby move is just so amazing. I can't wait til the kids will be able to put their hands on my belly and feel him/her. Very exciting stuff.

Every time Nate looks at my tummy he says, "Mom, your baby is getting huge!" At least he's restricted his commentary to my belly. He's right though, my belly did seem to pop out over the last week or so. My memory card on my camera is full so I can't take a picture of it, probably wouldn't anyway, but I did find a picture that gives you the general idea:

Yet Another Update

We've had a real taste of Spring this last week and can even tolerate a few storms here and there now that we feel confident Spring will come.

The biggest news of the week is that my mom took the three big kids plus two of their cousins to the state capitol to watch my Dad in action on the senate floor. Afterwards my Dad joined them to show them around his office and then for a tour of the Governor's office. Jamie, Brennan's mom, called me so excited just after 5:00 because she'd just seen them all on the news. I recorded the 6:00 news and sure enough while someone was being interviewed my mom and the kids walked right behind and we got a great view of all of them. When they got home they had no idea and were SO EXCITED to see themselves on the news. They're feeling quite famous.

Anna is getting to experience a program at school called Rad Kids, which is a safety type course that has really impressed me. They even learn some self-defense skills and much to her delight she's found her new skills very handy around here. Nate is always trying to tackle or "fake" fight with everyone around here. He's both really impressed and really frustrated at her new abilities. Anna has lost a bunch of teeth lately and each time leaves a note for the tooth fairy. She has quite a collection of notes now and treasures them. I heard her talking to her friend we carpool with who also lost a tooth and the friend reported that she had left a note, but the tooth fairy didn't answer her note, just left money. I got a good laugh out of that. Then, Anna's other friend told her that she had borrowed some money from her mom recently and some of the money had some blue ink splotches on it. Well, when she lost a tooth and got her money from the "tooth fairy" it also had blue ink splotches on it. They're both very suspicious now and Anna keeps asking me if I'm the tooth fairy. My reply so far is, "Anna, do I look like a tooth fairy?" Her reply is, "Mom, I need to know because if it is you my kids aren't going to get any money if you don't tell me." LOL. I think I'm going to have to tell her today which I'm sad about. We love Anna.

Abby had a good friend get her tonsils out and so we got some popsicles to take to her along with a note that Abby made for her. The note had a poem which I wish I would have written down before she took, but at the top of the card she wrote "Congratulations!" I thought that was so funny and cute. Abby ate over at a friend's house the other night and when I picked her up she was so excited to tell me about some of the yummiest bread she had had and then pulled out a piece she had saved for me to sample. I've noticed lately that while I'm making dinner the other kids are getting in their last little bit of playing Abby loves to sit on a stool up to the counter and fill me in on her day and her thoughts. She loves to express herself, I'm so glad as we are all the richer for it. We love Abigail.

My nephew, Rex, who is also Nate's best friend, called last night to tell Nate there are two really big NBA games this week and maybe they could both ask their Dads and go to it. Rex hung up the phone and told Ryan he had a plan. Nate hung up and started begging. Brennan called Ryan to see if Ryan he had been involved with Rex's planning. I don't think he had been up to that point, but rest assured the four of them are going to one of the games this week. I think it was sweet of Rex to include Brennan and Nate in his plan. Nate is so much happier now that he can work off some of his energy outside. He and Ben spent the morning golfing in their jammies out in the backyard til they got too cold. We love Nathan.

When Ben golfs he always crouches down to read the green before he takes his shot. When he golfs inside (yep, he golfs inside and plays basketball - winters are long) he's discovered that one of the stacking rings on a baby toy makes the perfect tee for his ball. There might be a lot of golf on tv at our house. However, I'll take golf over boxing, we had a rough week around here after Brennan let the boys watch a boxing match with him. I'm so grateful for Ben and his happy sweet temperament. He is like a living breathing anti-depressant. His smile lights up all of our lives and lately he's been laughing a lot. He loves to play tricks on me and gets the biggest kick out it. There's nothing more delightful than the good hearty laugh of a little one. We love Benjamin.