Merry Christmas!!

Months are flying by and I don't know where they're going.  Did I really not update this blog all month?? Well, I can't let the year end without at least a little something.

Despite the horrors of November's illness, we've managed to have a wonderful holiday season.  We had several families over for Thanksgiving and had a fantastic meal and fun games afterwards.  Then we kicked into Christmas mode.  Christmas music played every day at our house, we made Christmas crafts and ornaments, drove through the festival of lights (a 4 mile stretch of road, shut down to outside traffic and decorated with over 1 million lights), celebrated Advent every Sunday after church, made gingerbread men, made paper snowflakes, went to the Nutcracker ballet, went to Holiday Nights at Greenfield Village, etc.  It has been so fun.  This year we also put up a big paper Christmas tree on our sliding glass door and decorated it with paper ornaments we made, each labeled with gifts we want to give Christ this coming year.  The kids put things like "be more reverent in sacrament meeting," "be nicer to my brother/sister," "obey mommy and daddy."  I enjoyed watching them think about what they could give rather than what they could receive.

Christmas was so fun this year too.  At the beginning of the month I showed them Elder Rasband's talk from the church's Christmas devotional in which he tells the story of a mother who had nothing to give her kids on Christmas except for some cookies she stayed up all night making out of juice she boiled off a squash.  The story says that the kids were thrilled to receive their little squash cookies.  I reminded them how blessed they were and that daddy works very hard to make the money for presents and that they need to remember to be grateful rather than demanding.  Several times during the month I reminded them of the squash cookies and apparently it sunk in because they were darlings.  Very grateful and sweet and seemed to genuinely appreciate their gifts rather than display the attitude I saw last year of "is this it??" and "why isn't there more?"

Christian was so excited about the first gifts he opened that he seemed to completely forget about the rest.  He ran off happily with his Jake and the Neverland Pirate ship and bandana, his toy phone, and his toy kitten and despite Bella calling, "But Christian, you have more!"  he didn't come back.  So I quietly took several large presents and hid them away again.  I'm set for his birthday!

On Christmas Eve we did our traditional nativity reenactment.  This year Kelly was a sheep. "Come along sheep-y, we have to find Jesus."  This was the first year that Christian wasn't the baby Jesus.  My little baby's growing up.  He insisted on being Joseph, riding his sword as a donkey.  In fact, he was so focused on riding the "donkey" around Bethlehem that Mary had to do all the talking at every inn.  "Knock knock. Can we stay here?"  I was angel/wise man/innkeeper/narrator.  Basically the star of the show. :)  As usual it was a blast and highly entertaining.

Other than holiday festivities, I've been enjoying just having two kids at home.  I love Benjamin to bits but he's a pessimist through and through and sometimes it's nice to just have my two optimists home with me.  They are endlessly creative and have very similar interests.  Their latest fascination is to pretend to be cats.  So Bella made them little cat ear headbands and every day they get out bowls and pretend to drink, make themselves little cat beds on the floor, and crawl around meowing and bumping my legs insisting I pet and brush them.

 The funniest was when Mumbo also drank from their bowls and they got fur in their mouths.  That kind of put an end to the water bowls on the floor.  They still love their Mumbo, though.

And so do I.  Although my heart still aches for the baby that never comes, he's been a wonderful addition. His favorite place is under Benjamin's bed where the heater vent is and secondly, our small couch.  Even when it was covered with presents on Christmas Eve, he made sure to claim a spot.

 Christian is on a quest to learn his letters.  Up to this point he's shown absolutely no interest and even resisted efforts I've made, so I laid low.  My other two knew all their letters (upper and lower case) and their sounds by the time they started preschool.  They both started reading by their second year of preschool.  So I was curious why he showed such resistance.  Not worried, but just curious if it was the effect of being a third child or just simply his personality. But recently he told me that he'd like to start learning them and so we've done a letter each week.  We decorate one window in the house with window crayons showing the letter and all things we can think to draw that start with that letter, we do a craft or two that week with that letter as the theme, we practice writing it in various mediums (shaving cream, paint, crayon, etc.) and we talk about it and point out that letter as much as possible during the week.  Results are mixed.  Some letters we've had to stay on for 2 or 3 weeks before I feel like he knows it.  We're on "I" now and it's still not really sinking in.  I asked him today to identify an I which I saw on a sign and he looked at me quizzically and said, "F?"  So we still have a ways to go, but then, out of the blue on Sunday during church he whispers to me, "how do you spell bacon?"  I'm homeschooling Bella this year and so the phrase, "how do you spell...?" gets asked a lot around here.  I figured he was just trying to imitate his big sis who was also asking that question from time to time as she composed a letter to daddy which she planned to give to him after sacrament meeting.  I was trying to listen to the talk, so I quickly rattled off B-A-C-O-N and turned away again.  "Wait, what?  Say that again, B and then what?"  I kept my eyes and one ear on the speaker and more slowly whispered the rest of the letters.  Not for a minute did I think he was actually writing the letters.  I figured he was making scribbles and just pretending to write.  Not until I got to N and he said, "I don't know how to write N," did I look down.

I was amazed.  I held his hand and moved it on the paper for the N and then I did a little happy dance inside and gave him a big hug.  Why in the world of all words, he chose bacon, I'll never know, but I was really proud of his first word.  I know this doesn't make him an Einstein, but it made me happy to see his progress.  Not only did he recognize the letters I said, but he knew them well enough to write them himself without looking at them first.  My little boy really is growing up.

Well, that's been 2013.  Looking forward to another wonderful year.

The Eternal Sickness

This month has been a blur.  Where did November go?  All we've done is be sick.  We have all been sick at our house.  First Benjamin, then Kelly, then me, then Christian, and finally Isabella, with quite a bit of overlap amongst us.  It's been brutal.  Congestion, coughing, nausea, headache, sinus pressure, body aches. I'm not completely better yet, after 4 weeks of coughing, but I'm on the mend....I hope.  There was a week where I never slept more than 3 hours a night due to coughing fits.  I spent three nights in the van in the garage because I was keeping everyone awake with my loud, barking coughs.  Kelly sometimes coughed so hard we would all just stop and stare at him in shock and fear, half expecting blood to come spewing onto the floor, as he stood doubled over hacking.  So, we've been taking it easy, hanging out at home, and doing little this month other than falling asleep at random times when we just couldn't take it anymore. I found Bella in the basement like this one afternoon.  (Mumbo had been asleep too. It was adorable. Sadly, I woke him when I took the picture.)

I guess this month hasn't been a total loss - we did manage to dig a large tunnel.  Let me explain.  There's a park near our house with a large, long pile of dirt.  It's been there so long that grass and weeds have begun to grow on it.  We have no reason why it's there in the middle of  the park but it's the main attraction in this park for as  long as we've been going there.  Location for King of the Hill, secret spy fort, pirate's hideout - you name it, this hill has been it. This month Benjamin decided he would like to dig a tunnel through it, big enough that he could crawl through.  I handed him a small shovel that I had in the car for playing in sandboxes and went to push the other two on the swings, figuring he'd give up soon when he discovered how much work that would be.  Benjamin is no friend to work.  He'll shirk anything he can, so I really wasn't expecting him to stick with such a task.  He proved me dead wrong.  Four hours of digging later, he had a tunnel he could crawl through.  FOUR HOURS!  It was crazy. We'd all helped some in the process, but the majority of the work was his.   He really impressed me. 

He was the first to go through and then everyone else wanted to try it too.  The whole tunnel was just about as long as he is, so his feet would just disappear at one end as his head emerged at the other.  Everyone thought it was awesome and crawled through multiple times. 

 We had planned to return, but our wicked illness took its toll and we haven't yet.  Can't say I'm sad about that.  Never have I had so much work cleaning clothes - jackets, gloves, shoes, pants, etc.!! Dirt everywhere! And my car seats!  I won't be reminding them about the tunnel any time soon.

Benjamin just loves doing stuff like that - building forts, digging tunnels, even crafts and similar small things with his hands.  He just loves it.  Whereas I have trouble getting him to sit and practice his writing for more than 5 minutes; he'll work on a fort or project for hours without distraction.  If only everything in school could be so hands-on.

Halloween

What a fun busy last few weeks we've had!  Camping, a visit from my mom, the primary program, my birthday, and Halloween.  It's been a lot of fun.

As soon as soccer was over and we had a Saturday free, we went camping with some friends of ours.  I have to admit that I wasn't all that excited to go because originally it was going to be Kelly's trip with the kids to have some quality time with them while I got some quality time with  my book. I was going to read, sleep, and clean the house before my mom visited. The situation changed, though, and I ended up kind of being guilted into going.  In the end I'm glad I went.  My house ended up being a mess for my mom, but it was a lot of fun outdoors.

 Only downside - the dumb rain that didn't let up nearly the whole second day.  Jackets and a rain fly over the picnic table solved most of that, though.  The kids were great sports.  They had fun playing on the playground, at the beach, and around the campsite.  Not until they were all soaking wet did they start to grumble...and sing "This is the song that never ends..." Incessantly.  That's when we packed up and headed home.  Not a moment too soon.

The next day my mom came and we had a great time as she did my dishes every day and bought everyone new clothes and toys. :)  We also enjoyed time at Greenfield Village and various playgrounds and restaurants. 

 She and Benjamin also went alone to Best Buy to check out all the fun gadgets - the highlight of his week. Used to be that he'd ask my mom to take him to Toys R Us.  Now the "toy store" is Best Buy.  My little boy is growing up ;)

At the end of her visit, we had the primary program in church.  That's were all the kids 3-11 years old give talks and sing songs and basically take over all of the service in the chapel, or in Mormon terms, "sacrament meeting."  Since I'm primary president, I was in charge of writing and directing the entire thing.  That was stressful, but the kids were wonderful.  Benjamin and Bella had their parts memorized and had practiced so much at home that Christian even learned Bella's part.  They got up there without fear or trouble and it was wonderful.  There were several people in the audience crying so I know the spirit was strongly felt and I'm glad.  It makes the stress worth it.

Just cute photos of Christian reading to Mumbo and napping with Mumbo sometime this week.  How he loves that cat!

Finally it was Halloween.  I am so jealous of those who get adorable photos of their kids in costume.  I have neither a good camera nor any good skills and I completely forgot to take pictures of trick-or-treating until after it was over when we all looked like drowned, muddy rats from being out all evening in the rain.  So, that picture will not get posted, but here's a cute one of me and Bella before the church's Halloween party and one of the kids at church.  Christian was a train conductor for his preschool party and at church, but switched to being a mailman for trick-or-treating.  Benjamin was a Dragon Ninja but the head cloth bothered his face, so people kept asking "Are you a knight?"  After 3 or 4 times of being asked that, he got a sword and started saying "yes."  Bella was originally going to be a witch with me but at the last minute I found a gypsy costume that was just so Isabella that I couldn't pass it up.  Purple, sparkly, and with the fake midriff, it just screamed Bella.  Sure enough, she loved it so much that the witch costume was forgotten.  She was a happy tinkling gypsy for days.

I also had a great birthday.  Kelly bought me chocolate cheerios as my present.  What more could I ask for?  My visiting teacher brought me dinner so I wouldn't have to cook (my least favorite thing to do) on my birthday.  That was inspired.  I couldn't have been happier at that moment.  The kids made their beds so I wouldn't have to.  I felt very loved. :)

I also had a friend of mine watch Bella and Christian so I could help out at Benjamin's school halloween party.  I really wanted to see how he interacted in school with his friends.  It was pretty much what I expected - he doesn't really interact.  He's alone a lot.  That was sad to see, but not surprising.  He's been telling me that he's having a hard time making friends and that he's alone most of the time.  I didn't know what to tell him.  I saw the Indian kids hanging out in groups of Indian kids and the white kids hanging out with other white kids and then Benjamin not really with either group.  He likes school and we're very happy with the program and the academics, but I hope he manages to find someone he can connect with on a more personal level.

 Now it's on to Thanksgiving and Christmas!  I'm excited.  Once my birthday is over, I'm okay with all the Christmas garishness in the stores.  It's at that point that I start to enjoy it and get excited too.  This time of year is really so much fun.

Another Season Has Ended

Soccer ended this past Saturday.  I just had to post this adorable picture.  All three with their trophies.  They were so proud.  The coordinator asked me to coach the three year old team next season again.  We'll see if I do that or not.  Bella's asking me to coach her team again and I really hate missing out on all her games because I'm coaching Christian, as much as I love coaching his team.  Decisions decisions.

The other day I was practicing soccer at a park with my kids when a cute little 3 year old boy came over with his mom and asked to join us.  My kids, being the introverts that they are, kind of ignored him and kept playing, but my heart went out to this little guy and I brought him into our game.  His mom stood on the side and watched as I played a game with the 4 kids, using our bikes and trees as goal posts.  When we got tired and the kids went to "hide from zombies" she said (in all seriousness), "Wow, you really seem to know what you're doing out there.  Do you play professionally?"  I couldn't help but laugh out loud.  Yes, compared to 3 year olds, I'm a pro!  Nicest compliment I've gotten in a while, though.  Made me feel good. :)

So Excited!

I love General Conference.  We've been getting excited around here.  I've been avidly collected supplies for games and activities to keep the kids focused on the talks.  My favorite thing this year, though, is an idea that I found online.  It's called "Who's coming to dinner?"  The woman was much more prepared than I am and planned 2 weeks of visits, but I'm just doing 3.  For the three nights prior to conference, a different member of the 12 apostles "comes to dinner."  I printed large photos of President Monson, Elder Uchtdorf, and Elder Eyring and each night I tape one of them to an empty chair at the table and we spend dinner talking about this man, his history and family and then I share a short video from my favorite talk of theirs.  It has been wonderful.  I also insisted that everyone speak German on the night we did Elder Uchtdorf. :)  I want this to be a chance for the kids to get to know these amazing men better so that when they listen to them speak, they feel more of a connection to them.  They are each such amazing, interesting people with so much to teach us.  Can't wait to hear the prophet speak.  What a wonderful way to spend time as a family this weekend.

Enjoying Fall

I've said it before, but I really love this time of year.  The weather has been beautiful and we have spent nearly every day outside.

Of course, there's soccer.  I'm coaching Christian's team this season.  What a fun bunch of kids!  Nothing beats coaching 3 and 4 year olds.  They run as a pack, fight their own team members for the ball, and repeatedly make mad dashes at their own goal.  But they give me hugs after the game, point at the sky and yell "giant flying alien!" to distract the goalie when they are trying to score, and there is nothing funnier than a 3 year old trash talking the opposing team.  I love it.  I only regret not getting to see my other kids play more.  So Kelly kindly takes pictures.

Getting action shots of Bella is tricky since she's very rarely active.  "Did you notice how I look like I'm playing but I'm not really playing?" she asked me after her game one week.  She likes the practices, but hates the mob scene of the games.  Maybe it will come.  Or maybe not.  She's admitted she's only there for the post-game snack.  I'm okay with that.  At least she's out and participating...most of the time.

And she's not the only one who spends more time sitting than playing.

After soccer we like to go do something as a family (since we're on all different fields during the games).  This past week we went on a bike ride in Maybury Park.  That was so fun.

No trip to a park is complete until Benjamin has spent some time in a tree.

It was our first time with Christian on the double bike.  He loved it.  He kept singing the song, "Daisy, daisy, give me your answer do...I can't afford a carriage, but you'll look sweet, upon the seat of a bicycle built for two!"  We have the veggie tales version of that song where Larry the cucumber and Junior asparagus sing it and he can't get enough of that song now that he is also the proud owner of a bike built for two.

I was telling Benjamin about the huge climbing rope my aunt and uncle used to have in their back yard when I was a kid and how my Aunt offered me a dollar if I could climb to the top.  I did.  Then I promptly climbed to the top 2 times just to see if she'd pay up again.  She did.  My aunt is awesome.  Benjamin immediately wanted a climbing rope too.  Although I assured him I wasn't paying him money.

 So now we have one too - only about 1/3 the length of the one from my childhood, but it's a lot of fun.  We attached a board to the end so it's also a swing and we've spent many hours on it and in the tree aka. "my fortress" as Benjamin calls it.

Even things that don't need to be outdoors, we've done outdoors lately.  Christian and Bella decided to form a "book club" which meets "every Friday at 2pm" (or whenever they deem it to be Friday at 2pm, ie. whenever they want).  They go to my bookshelf, pull down whatever books catch their eye and pretend to discuss them.  It's adorable.

I don't know why it has never occurred to them to discuss a book they've actually read, but I think using my books makes them feel more grown up.  Sometimes they will even put their book descriptions to music, which Christian is especially good at.  He loves making up songs.  I've managed to get a few on video, thank goodness.

Yes, Bella's hair really is that messy.  She HATES brushing it.  She has the most sensitive head on the planet and I literally have to put in ear plugs if I brush it because she screams so much my ears hurt afterwards.  I can only fight her on it so often during the week and other days I just choose to ignore it for my own sanity's sake.

Those two also decided to start a lemonade stand, but I was in the middle of making dinner and couldn't keep an eye on them in the front yard, so they said, "That's okay, we'll do it in the back."  I also didn't have any lemonade, but that wasn't even mentioned.  They simply set to work with an old blender from the laundry room and some paper cups I gave them.  10 minutes later I heard, "Lemonade for sale!  Lemonade!! Anyone want some lemonade!?!"  I went outside to find this:

She'd hung a sign that said, "Lmnad 2¢" I questioned their ingredients and was informed it contained milk from a sippy cup forgotten in the car, water, soap, and grass.  Yum, yum.  I gave her two pennies and pretended to drink.  Christian was so curious, though, that he actually drank 2 huge gulps!!!  The kid won't touch apples or grapes but he has no problem with soapy grassy milk!!!  It really is all in the presentation.

Benjamin wanted to go mini-golfing this week, so I took them.  Sadly Bella fell asleep on the way there and slept through the entire thing but the boys had a lot of fun.  It wasn't my day so I managed to drop and break my camera while there and lose the game, but it was a nice afternoon anyway.  This is the last picture that camera ever took.  Good bye 7th camera in 7 years.  What is it with us and cameras??

Christian is in Preschool!!

I can't believe it.  My baby.  Preschool.  But here he is.  Such the third child - I took him there without a single thought of taking a photo.  It wasn't until I got there and saw other moms taking pictures that it occurred to me that I should take a picture too!  So I pulled out my cheap-o flip phone and took a few.

 Sorry Christian, not the best for your special day.  I really was emotional about it, though.  He is my sweetheart and I can't believe how grown-up he looked that day with his new clothes and hair gelled for the special occasion.  And despite my certainty that he'd cry, he held it together and had a great day.  It helped that just as he was about to lose it, one of the teachers grabbed his hand and said, "Hi Christian!  It's so good to see you!  I love your hair!  Want to come play?" and pulled him away from me at top speed while waving me away from behind her back. He was so startled that he forgot all about crying.  Genius woman, I tell you.  I was the last one to pick up and so all the teachers were talking to him as I arrived.  When I got him and walked out, I heard them all swoon to one another, "He is so adorable!  What a darling boy!"  Made me proud.  That's my Christian. :)

Cider Mills and Samaritans

I love this time of year!  School, cool weather, soccer, cider mills, leaves.  Can wear jeans and finally stop shaving my legs every day. :)  It's the little things.  First order of business - visit my favorite cider mill on their opening day.  It was a perfect day and I was in such a good mood that I even promised the kids cider and donuts - something I've never done before because I'm a nazi like that.  They were flipping out with joy.  Then I saw the sign - Cash or Check Only.  I had neither.  "There's an ATM right over there," the lady informed me.  Did't have an ATM card either.  Just had my credit card.  Why are there still places that don't accept credit cards??  So I stood there with my change-for-parking-meters bag counting out nickels and dimes trying to scrape together the exorbitant price for a couple measly donuts and some juice while my kids looked on with tear-filled eyes at the thought that they weren't going to get their treat after all.  I ended up $1 short of the price to get them each something, so I started to negotiate, "Who wants to share a cup or who doesn't really need cider and just wants a donut?"  Just then a woman came over to me.  "I have three kids and they would flip out if they didn't get their cider and donuts when we come here.  Take this."  She handed me a five and 2 ones.  "O thank you!!," I said, "I actually even just need one dollar."  "Really!? That's all?" she said, "Then really, please take it," and she left me her dollar and walked away.  So nice!!  Everyone got their donut and cider and called it the highlight of their day.  May heaven smile upon that good Samaritan.

The corn box.  Since it was opening day, the corn was still all in the box, not scattered on the ground, and it was still fresh and sweet smelling.  So much fun.  Even I played in it for a while.  I couldn't resist.  How often do you get to be buried in corn?

The obligatory hay bale jumping photo.  See here and here for previous year's photos.   I take a picture of Benjamin jumping on these bales every year.  Fun to see the progression.

Even Christian wanted to get into the action.  It was at this age that Benjamin jumped from one to the other for the first time, but Christian is a very different boy and there is no way in the world he'd have made it, so I encouraged him to just try jumping to the ground by himself.  He thought he was hot stuff that he could do that.

With the beginning of a new school year, I encouraged the kids to set some goals.  I read "The Entitlement Trap" by the Eyres and they talk about this concept a lot in there.  Having kids set goals in various aspects of their lives at the beginning of the school year, even starting at a very young age.  Bella decided to set a goal to learn to ride her bike without training wheels.  Benjamin started riding without them at age 3 and was standing up on his seat and trick riding at 4, so when Bella hit 5 and still had no interest at all in learning how to ride without them, I was a bit discouraged.  I try not to compare, but I guess I was a little.  However, once she decided she was going to learn, she was gung-ho.  Not sure what changed, but she set that goal and she went out and practiced non-stop.  In one day she was doing it.  I was floored.  It just took her wanting to do it and she could.  She was able to ride past 2-3 houses before toppling.  On day two she rode from our house to the park two streets over and back without trouble.  On day three she did it again and on day four, to a different park, even farther away.  It's official, she rides without training wheels and she's good!  We are very proud of her.  Check out her grin in this video from the first day.  She is so happy!  I love that.  I love seeing my kids work hard and achieve something and find happiness in it.  Now we need to find a new goal!

Just had to post this.  Christian loves Mumbo ("I miss Mumbo whenever we are not home") but the feeling is not mutual.  Mumbo tolerates Christian.  Tolerates the screeching and the backwards brushing.  He tolerates the stuffed animals riding his back and the cars rolling over his head and the blankets being wrapped around him.  Chrisitan just can't get enough of Mumbo and bless Mumbo for being a good sport.

Last Week of Summer and a Special Dinner

The last week before school started we tried to do as much as possible - cider mill, parks, play dates, swimming, trip to the Imagination Station in Ohio, and huge Labor Day party with our church.  It was a busy, busy week, but tons of fun.  In addition to all these festivities, I stole an idea from a friend of mine and we had a back to school dinner for the kids.  I've read about her back to school dinners on her blog for years but never wanted to do my own because either only one of the kids was going to school or it just seemed like too much work.  However, this year I was super excited to do our own because it is the first year that all three kids are in some form of school and I wanted to make a big deal about it.  So I followed her theme idea and went with "Be your best self" and decorated with bees.  The kids and I made them together so they don't look half as beautiful and professional as hers, but I thought it was fun to do it all together for their special day.  Bella made crowns for herself and the boys.  But Benjamin refused to wear his saying it was too girly.  Then they picked the menu - spaghetti and garlic bread - and chose the table decorations (all their favorite toys).  They got shooed out while I set it all up to surprise them a bit.  I made place cards that say "Welcome back to school" and their name.  I also wrote the theme on the window along with some more bees done in my pitiful art work style. See, I do art with kids, not always because it's fun and I want to teach them, but often because my art looks like a kid did it, so if I do it with them, I have an excuse.  Anyway, I wrote " 'Bee' your best self - Bee Prayerful, Bee Kind, Bee Hardworking."

Benjamin's place setting, complete with legos.

Bella's place, with Hello Kitty and Ariel.

Christian's with cars and planes.

The theme written on the window.  The sun light behind it makes it hard to see in the picture.

The kids loved it.  They loved having toys at the table because that's normally against the rules.  They loved seeing the bees flying on the fan, and they loved the food.  Kelly and I talked briefly about the theme and being the best you can be in those areas and how God will help you if you seek Him.  How they are children of God and how they should reflect that and be an example to others.  Kelly also gave all 3 of  them father's priesthood blessings.  They were all excited about that and Christian was so sweet and still.  Benjamin seemed the most touched by it, though, and has mentioned what he said in his blessing many times since.

It was a very special and fun evening.  We don't get many dinners together since Kelly is almost always at work or church during dinner time, but he made a special effort to be home and it was a great experience.  Thanks to Andrea for the inspiration.