Happy Birthday Ben!

Today my baby turned two! He was so excited it was his birthday because he knew that meant presents! He had a hard time when it was Sam's birthday and we told him on his birthday he would get presents-he remembered! We had Grandma T and Thomas over for dinner, presents, and cake and ice cream. I'll post pictures soon (I always say that don't I).

Ben is a great kid and he fills our house with love...and screaming. Ben has a very strong personality and often vocalizes his opinions very loudly. He is not timid or afraid of much (except dogs due to his run in with a roaming dog in the backyard). He is always willing to give a hug or blow a kiss. He loves Emily and Sam so much and is sad when they are sad. He loves to cuddle and read a book but also loves to play with trains, trucks, balls, dinosaurs, blocks, or whatever Sam is playing with. He is excited to show off his new room to anyone who visits our new house.

I am always amazed at Ben and the happiness he brings to our family. Ben can be a handful (those of you who know him, know what I mean) but he is worth every minute. Emily and Sam adore him and put up with so much because they want him to be happy. Lately Sam and Ben have been buddies and they play with each other a lot. It is sweet to see these two brothers play with each other and take turns. Emily loves to baby Ben and he eats it up.

It has been a crazy two years since Ben was born. We got a house ready to sell, sold a house, finished residency, moved across the country, started a practice, and bought a new home. Wow! Happy Birthday Ben! Your family adores you!

Happy Birthday Sam!

Today my little Sam turned 5 years old! Where did the time go? He has been so excited. He has been counting down the days for about 10 days. My mom, dad, sister Vicki and her new baby Dimitrie came up this week and they gave him some birthday gifts (I hope to post pictures later). He has been playing with them non-stop since. He will disappear to his room for hours and when I check on him, he is playing with is Matchbox Mega Rig Space Shuttle, Launcher, and Rescue Copter. He loved Vicki's Car Doodle kit and was so excited to open his birthday cards this morning at breakfast. We are having friends over tonight for cake and ice cream and more presents. He can't wait to see what is in store tonight.

It is so fun to see him so excited and happy. His primary teacher gave him a small gift and he just feels so special today. We love this little guy so much!

Daily Musings of Nothingness

Ben was sick last week and now he is back to his happy, giggly, messy self. Sam is sick this week. I would rather my almost 5 year old be sick than my almost 2 year old. Not that I want Sam to be sick but he just lays around, rests, and is willing to be cuddled. Ben cried and was irritable, constantly. Any questions.

I went to the school this morning to get the Read-A-Thon daily prizes organized. The principal forgot to draw the winners and announce them. Tomorrow I'm going to do it for her and give her a written note to read and hope it gets done correctly tomorrow. If you want something done right....

I went to Brad's office after the school. I didn't have much to do. Tobie showed me the inventory list we have to do for tax purposes. I really hate stuff like that. We'll do it later.

We had someone come over tonight and talk about renovations on the new house. I wonder how we will pay for them? Cash or loans. Now or later. convenience or total inconvenience.

I miss Rochester's library. A LOT! My new one only lets me check out 50 books at a time. Can I get a gold card for the library. They don't know who they are dealing with. 50 books at a time; what a joke!

I reread Twilight. It was better the second time. Just like the movie.

I spent Monday cleaning my house. I got rid of all the little clutter piles that mysteriously appear around the house. Today you could never tell that that was how I spend President's day.

Yesterday Ben wrote on the wall with a pencil and on my computer screen with a pen. Brad said that he was lucky it happened while he was at work.

When Rick came over this evening he asked Emily what grade she was in. Her reply, "I'm in first but I read at third."

Ben loves to wear shoes. Especially mine, Brad's, Emily's and Sam's.

I took a nap today and I didn't even feel guilty about it. It was lovely. Unfortunately, the kids made a mess in my office. It was worth it.

I made dinner tonight (shock!) and everyone loved it and ate it (shock again!!). Emily even gave me a hug for making the best dinner ever. Hawaiian Haystacks: 2 chicken breasts, cooked and cubed added to 2 cans of cream of chicken. Dilute with milk to desired consistency. Serve over rice. Top with Chinese noodles, cheddar cheese, olives and add a dash of lemon juice. Emily will have the left overs for lunch tomorrow.

I love Emily's lunchbox-sized thermos. It keeps food hot or cold. Makes packing a lunch much more imaginative.

Even though I had a nap today, I'm going to bed now. Thanks for reading my random thoughts. I should do more posts like this. So easy!

Sam's Preschool Program

Sam's preschool did a short Thanksgiving program. My very introverted child hardly moved his mouth the entire program but his costume was cute. Here are the picture highlights.

I enjoyed it but I'm not sure Sam did.

Okay, I did get a smile out of Sam but only when Ben jumped up and sat down next to him.

Trick or Treat

Halloween was a highly anticipated event in our household this year. As with most children, the thought of buckets of free candy is one of the most exciting events of the year besides Christmas. Emily and Sam kept asking how many more days until Halloween. Emily informed me that we should have a countdown to Halloween just like we have at Christmastime. Emily kept asking when would we decorate, when would we carve pumpkins, when is it time for trick or treating, etc, etc, etc.

Here are the kids in their costumes. Isn't Emily adorable. Somehow she did not have her pom poms with her for the picture but she was in too big a hurry to get the picture over with so the fun could begin. I neglected to take a picture of her during her school Halloween parade (I forgot my camera, what was I thinking!) My neighbor took one for me but I haven't got it yet.

Here is my valiant knight in shining armor. He looked so handsome and brave in this costume. As you can imagine, the sword was the best part. This pose was his idea.

Now here is my adorable Benny. One thing about Ben-he LOVES dogs. I mean LOVES dogs. Whenever he is throwing a fit or being difficult all I have to do is say, "Benny, lets look out the window and see if there are any dogs" (our neighbors have two small dogs that occasionally are outside). His strong desire to see a dog usually saves my sanity. So when I was digging through the Halloween costume box, I was so happy to find Sam's old dog costume (he wore it when he was 2 years old). I knew it would be perfect for Ben.

Sure enough, Halloween night he allowed Brad to put the costume on him and was even delighted to be wearing it (he wore it all night without a fuss). When Emily stood in front of the door to have her picture taken, Ben waited for his turn and wanted me to take his picture as well.

I couldn't resist taking a picture of the back of the costume. Isn't that tail the cutest? When I tried the costume on Ben, I pointed out the tail to Emily and Sam. Ben then turned to see and looked just like a puppy chasing his tail-around and around. What I wouldn't have given to have a video camera at that second. My kids were so excited to go trick or treating in our new neighborhood but we found out that the neighborhood does a trunk or treat instead. Our kids were soooooo disappointed. They did not want to trunk or treat. That was until I asked Emily's neighborhood friend if it was fun. She gave Emily the low down i.e. You Get Tons of CANDY!!!!!

Emily and Sam did not have school on Friday and so we spent the afternoon making paper bats and spiders and Kleenex tissue ghosts to hang up in our car for the Trunk or Treat activity that evening. The kids had a ball and made a huge mess. But it was totally worth it to see how hard they were working and how much fun they had doing it.

Brad's mom was able to join us for our evening festivities despite recovering from a nasty sinus infection. We had our traditional chili dinner, then dressed up, and headed to the Trunk or Treat activity. I thought the car looked pretty cool and we got many compliments on the decorations. I was surprised that we were one of the few to decorate. Party poopers!

The Trunk or Treat was a success and sure enough we got plenty of candy (and gave out plenty). Ben was SO EXCITED!!! After the first two cars, he realized that people were giving him candy. He would hold up his hand and they would hand him his candy and he would walk away giggling and giggling and giggling. He would not wait for Emily or Sam but continue on to the next car where he would hold up his hand or reach into the bowl, he was not shy at all, and get the candy. Then he would walk away giggling and giggling and giggling. It was a riot to watch him.

Sam said to me as we were walking around, "Mom, I really like Halloween."

After Trunk or Treating we headed over to Grandma T's. It was so fun to spend the evening with Dianne and have her a part of our holiday. Here she is with our crazy gang. Do you like my Hippie Witch costume? I bought it on clearance an few years ago for $2.90. I get so many compliments.After seeing Grandma at her house, we went to Steve and Tobie's to go trick or treating with their family (we promised the kids they could do some traditional trick or treating). Emily, Sam, Mikey, Ben and Sean had a great time trick or treating the neighborhood. I should have got a picture of them. What was I thinking! The fun continued with more candy, giggles, running from house to house, and more candy. Sam and Mikey got tired and all the boys headed home. Emily wanted to keep going and so Tobie and I walked one more cul-de-sac with her. She scored because every house gave her a handful of candy. I think it was because she was so darn cute.

It was a fun Halloween spent together as a family. As we drove to Steve and Tobie's, we passed the hospital and Brad laughed and said, "Ha, Ha I'm glad I'm not there." It hit me that even though Brad works hard all week long, his weekends and holidays are free to be with us. I am so happy about that!

Toy Rotation

I am a firm believer in toy rotation. Not only because it is a good practice in home organization but because I am a recovering toy buying freak. It is true. I went through a period a few years back where I bought an insane amount of toys. Just ask Brad...or anyone else who visited my house. (BTW someone once asked me if I ran a day care because of all the toys)

Most of these toys were from the line of Fisher Price's Little People. I love these toys. I love the imagination they spur when children play with them, I love the memories I had playing with Little People toys with my sisters, and I love that Emily played with them for hours on end when she was younger.

Now I have the space to display all these toys but not the desire to either
A) See them scattered about my entire house while I freak out that the construction set is getting mixed up with the airport set and the airport set is mixed up with the zoo set, etc. (I am a little compulsive that way.)

or

B) See them sit there while no one plays with them and than I feel bad that they are not being used and memories are not being made creating fun Little People adventures with each other.

So to make sure the above mentioned things do not happen, I store each set with ALL the pieces (if a piece is missing I can't rest until it has been recovered-I know, I know-totally compulsive). Then I store the sets in plastic bins and place them in my storage room until the time is ripe for toy rotation. I had the house set out but now no one is playing with it so I packaged it up (no missing pieces, much to my relief) and stored it away for another playtime in the future.

A few days ago, I needed to get a few things done so I took out the Little People Amusement Park and Construction set bin and let Ben and Sam have fun. Here they are digging in. Sam had exclaimed, "MOM, I forgot about these. I LOVE THESE!" It was just like Christmas morning but in October and it didn't cost me so much.
Sam can hardly wait to figure out what adventures the Little People will experience today.
Ben is thrilled with new toys. Although, every toy is new to him.

So the moral of this post is that toy rotation is a great thing. I makes your old toys new again. Brad told me we didn't need to buy anything for Christmas, we just needed to wrap up their old toys and give them to the kids again. As much as I would like to do that, I do still have that insane toy buying freak deep inside of me. It sometimes sneaks out at Christmastime. Oh boy, oh boy!

Sam's New Shoes

While shopping at the huge superstore in my neighborhood, Sam stuck his foot in the shopping cart so forcefully (why he did such a thing is beyond me) that while pulling it out, his cheap copy ($5 at the aforementioned superstore) of a Croc broke. Tears and sobs erupted. I told him it was okay because he has another pair of shoes at home. But he was not consoled. He was teary all the way to the car and eventually it came out that his other shoes were too hard to put on and now he'll never be able to get his shoes on again.

I unloaded the groceries into the car and turned around to go back into the very huge store with two upset boys in tow. We don't want to have a barefooted boy in Idaho now that winter is looming.

After about a mile of walking, we arrived at the back of the store where the shoe department is located. We found a few shoes similar to the ones he had broken but they were unacceptable until we found these: Once he saw them he could not be persuaded to select another pair. I don't know if it was the cozy fleece lining, the transformer symbol (he saw a Transformer DVD, the cartoon version, at my mom house), or the bright yellow that was so enticing. Whatever it was, it was love at first sight.

Now every morning Sam comes upstairs dressed and wearing his bright yellow transformer shoes. At preschool he made a point to tell his teacher and all his classmates about his new shoes. No longer do we spend time looking for his shoes because he rarely takes them off. As you can see from his cheesy grin he is a happy boy!
I'm glad you got something you liked buddy and $10 wasn't too painful.

Gymnastics-Level 2

Emily has been in gymnastics for just over a month. Tonight they told us she was ready to move to the next level! We are so excited! Emily is thrilled but a little nervous. She is excited to learn new skills but worried about being in a new class. We know she will do great. Can I say again how happy I am that she is in a serious gym that really teaches and evaluates the kids. Too bad she had to wait until she was 6.

The only down side is now I will have to go to gymnastics twice a week-once for Emily and again for Sam. Currently they take the same night with just a little over lapping. Now Emily's class is 1 1/2 hours and not taught the same day as Sam's. Sam said he loves gymnastics and wants to continue. So I guess I'll be spending more time at the gym (too bad I can't get a workout at the same time huh!)

Sam's First Day of Preschool

Okay, so I am massively behind on my blogging. I can't help it; so much has been going on but really that is for another post. I just had to post pictures of Sam's first day of preschool before way too much time lapses.

Sam often gets overlooked as the middle child (sorry buddy). It could be that he can be quite mellow and shy and the fact that he has two dominant siblings, but he is a special little guy. I'm glad that he has the opportunity to be the first kid in the family to attend preschool NOT taught by me.

His preschool is held in the basement of a house in our neighborhood. When his teacher built her house, she designed a room for teaching preschool. It is decorated so darling, and she does a great job teaching and with the kids.

It is within walking/bike riding distance from our house. Some days we go in the stroller. Some days we go in the bike trailer, and some days Sam rides his bike while I push Ben in the stroller. It is wonderful. I will miss this when it gets too cold and snowy.

Gymnastics

Emily loves gymnastics. She took for about 2 years in Minnesota but I pulled her out because I was frustrated with the gym; I felt she wasn't progressing due to their lack of teaching (yes, I'm bitter).

So today Emily went to her first gymnastics class in Idaho. It was for 5 - 7 year olds and Emily had a good time. Despite being out of gymnastics since March, she performed really well on all the activities. After the class the teacher pulled me aside and told me Emily was too advanced for the class she was enrolled in and invited her to join the "by invitation only" class. I was really happy to find a gym that takes notice. Emily is thrilled that she will start learning new things. I'm thrilled that my monthly tuition will be put to some good.

The class is scheduled at the same time as one Sam can attend so I think I'll enroll Sam as well. It is in the evening and at first I was disappointed until I decided Brad can keep Ben home! Sam gets to try out next week for free. I wonder if he will be the only boy? It is described as a co-ed class but who knows. Sam and I were watching the Level 1 Boys class and he thought it looked fun. We will see how he likes the intro class. When I asked him which activities he wanted me to sign him up for he stated he wanted to take ballet classes. Maybe Sam spends too much time playing with Emily. (That is Ben crawling in the background wearing Emily's pajamas.)My mom is playing dress up with Emily and Sam. Any question why she is the great grandma ever!Poor kid. He is going to hate these when he is older.

Sam's Trick

I posted Ben's trick so I better post one of Sam.
He is using a fly swatter to hit the car. He figured this out all on his own. At the end he says, "I speeded it." (In case you couldn't hear.)

Lemonade Stand

While I was getting ready for the garage sale, I realized that it would be nice to have something for the kids (Emily especially) to do while I’m manning the sale. Rosemary’s kids sold cookies at their garage sale and I thought it would be fun for the kids to do something similar. I talked to Ann about it and we both decided we didn’t want to make cookies (or anything else for that matter). She suggested we use my lemonade stand and sell lemonade. I also decided the kids could sell freezer pops (or Otter pops depends on what part of the country you live). Emily was THRILLED with this idea. One thing you might not know about Emily is she is an entrepreneur and highly motivated by money.

My mom gave me the above lemonade stand last summer. She purchased it at Target when it was 75% off. She bought all they had and gave one to me and my sisters. My kids have a ball with it and beg to sell lemonade. We live on a cul-de-sac so I rarely let them do it for numerous reasons.

But the garage sale was a perfect chance to use it. As soon as Emily came home from school on Friday she immediately set it up. They had fun with it for awhile but eventually lost interest because we didn’t have a lot of people coming through later in the afternoon and it was a bit on the cool side. I think they also ate most of the freezer pops. At the end of Friday they had $2.60 which they immediately spent at Target on nail polish ($1) and a foam sword ($1).

Saturday was another story. Despite being 9:00 in the morning, many kind people were willing buy a small cup of lemonade for 5 cents or a freezer pop for 10 cents from a few eager kids. As the morning went by they were selling many cups of lemonade and lots of freezer pops. Most of the people were very generous and gave a quarter and didn’t expect change. Emily, Sam, Alyssa, and Anders greeted everyone who stopped by with a friendly, “Would you like to buy a cup of lemonade?” As they left Alyssa even told them to, “Come again!”

I was amazed that they stayed interested and profitable until about 1:00 pm when things started slowing down and they sold (or ate) all of the freezer pops and we ran out of lemonade.

In the end they made over $22.00. I was surprised by the amount of money they earned. It was kind of people to support the kids’ enthusiasm and buy a cup of lemonade. I think it was a good lesson for them as well. Emily even gave a few kids a free freezer pop just because she either knew them or she wanted to be nice.

Emily and Sam chose to use the money they earned to buy their bikes (that was our theme of the garage sale). One of the first things we will do after we move is bike shopping!

I wonder what our next entrepreneurial project will be.

Conversations with Sam

I had the following conversation with Sam this morning just as Emily left for school.

Sam (looking longingly out the window as Emily walked down the hill): I wish today wasn't a school day.

Me: Why buddy?

Sam: Because I love Emily. I want to play with her.

My heart melted to witness such tenderness.

Speaking of Polly Pockets

So I went into Emily and Sam's room to return the Polly Pocket who so kindly posed for my haircut picture and I found them playing with the Polly Pockets.

This is Emily explanation of their play:

Emily: Mom, remember the story in our scriptures that a man can have two wives (she is referring to Jacob, Rachel and Leah). Well, we are pretending that he (Playmobile SWAT team motorcycle man) is getting married to these two (dolls). They are sisters. They are twins.

Me: Hmmmm (how do you respond to that?)

Here is a picture.

At least each "wife" has her own car.

Bugs and Birds

Every Sunday I have Emily and Sam tell me two things they learned at church. Yesterday when I asked Sam what he learned, he replied, "I learned about bugs and birds." I thought this was an unusual reply. I asked him what he learned about bugs and birds in church. He said, "Well, I'll tell you a story." He proceeded to tell me the story about the early Utah pioneers whose crops were being eaten by crickets. The seagulls came and ate the crickets and saved the crops "so the people had food to eat."

So I guess he did learn about bugs and birds at church.

My Three Girls?

Emily really wishes she had a sister (and a pet) so she uses her little brothers to act out her dreams. Here is a picture of her brothers dressed up as her little sisters (we took it tonight).

The boys are so excited to be a part of her play that they are more than willing to do whatever she wants (well, Ben doesn't really have a choice). I'm sure in a few years Sam will be mortified that he dressed up in "girl" clothes (you should see some of the pictures I have-hee hee). Earlier this evening she had Sam crawling around on the floor with a jump rope leash, pretending he was a dog.

I'm glad Sam is willing to play because there is no way we are getting a pet (who knows about a little sister-or brother-just to clear up any speculations).

50 Degrees-Hopefully

I just checked the weather forecast for the week. We might get up to 51 degrees!!! I'm so excited I can hardly stand it. It is currently raining/snowing and is 37 degrees (with a feels like temperature of 28 degrees) I say raining/snowing because it was raining but now it is snowing a slushy snow.

Emily got all dressed in her rain gear-rain boots, rain coat, umberella and went outside for exactly 3 minutes. She decided it was too cold and the rain/snow was not fun. By the time Sam got all ready to go outside, Emily was already undressed and had moved on to another activity. Poor kid. He didn't want to go outside without his buddy.

Maybe later this week he'll get a chance. It is Spring Break and some sunny, warmer weather would be lovely.

You know he's our third baby when...

It is interesting how things change with the more children you have. With the first baby everything is by the book. You read up on what food to give when, what to expect each month in regards to milestones and abilities and make sure you do it all according to what they say.

With the second you try hard but you're busier. You hope to do everything the same as with the first but you just don't have the time like you did. It is harder to keep a second baby on a schedule because child #1 has play dates, school, or just sometimes needs to get out of the house before everyone goes crazy.

With baby #3 everything goes out the window!

Case in point: When Emily was young she didn't get her first taste of candy until she was almost two. I held back on fruit snacks (choking hazard!) and lollipops (never!-way to sticky) for so long.
When Sam came around, Emily was already "exposed" to all that and so he was introduced to sweets much earlier but still within reason.

But BEN. Now he has 2 older siblings who gets way to much candy from holidays, parties, school, etc. They love their little brother and are so willing to share. See what I mean: "But Mom he likes it!" We (or should I say they) have created a monster!
He's only 10 months in this picture. What have we done!

Best Friends

Emily and Sam can be the best of friends. Brad and I just love it when they play nicely, help each other, and care for each other.

One night Brad and I went to check on them just before going to bed and we found them both asleep in Sam's bed. I'm sure Emily felt scared and wanted to have someone with her.

As we were taking pictures, Sam rolled over and put his arm around Emily.

I hope they can always be there for each other.

Happy Birthday Sam-He's 4!

Sam had his first "friend" birthday party this month. He turned 4 and I decided he should have a party since we are moving. So we threw one together and invited his favorite people over for some Jungle Fun.

Welcome to the JUNGLE! (It looked cuter in real life.) We started the party with Hippos in the Mud (oops I forgot the take pictures with all the kids). After some more animal games and opening the presents, we had cake and ice cream.

Sam chose chocolate cupcakes and ice cream cones. Yummy! Yummy!After we ate, we went on a Lion Hunt. We acted out the poem "Going on a Lion Hunt" and then I had clues all over the house. The last clue led us to the LION. The Lion was a pinata that Sam, Emily and I made (it took a few days but was really easy). Sam chose the colors for the pinata and what candy would go in it (FYI-never use lollipops! After the kids whacked it, the lollipops were crushed to smithereens-not what you want to fall out of a pinata! Imagine my horror when the pinata is finally broken and out comes the candy and small pieces of lollipops along with it.)
Here are the kiddos gathering the candy!
Thanks for coming everyone!
Alyssa M., Emily, Blake C., Abel P., Hayden B., Mason C., Sam-The Birthday Boy!