Camera Shy

So I have been updating my profile in a variety of places and I realized that I don't have many recent pictures of myself. I gave Michael a hard time about not taking any pictures of himself with Benjamin at the fathers and sons outing and now I realize that I am the same way. It is much easier to take pictures of my adorable children and all of the fun things they do than it is to take pictures of myself. Oh well! I guess I will have to get over my camera phobia after all!

Mom Got Tagged by Tamara

I tag Jillian and Sarah.

1. Where is your cell phone? the kitchen counter
2. Your significant other? Michael
3. Your hair? shoulder length
4. Your mother? is a wonderful women
5. Your father? loves the outdoors
6. Your favorite thing? being immersed in a good book
7. Your dream last night? stormy
8. Your favorite drink? orange juice
9. Your dream/goal? do the best I can every day
10. The room you're in? family room
11. Your hobby? which one?
12. Your fear? the end of the world as we know it...............
13. Where do you want to be in 6 years? living in the same place with two children in school
14. Where were you last night? in bed
15. What you're not? a salesperson
16. Muffins? Blueberry
17. One of your wish list items? quiet time for 2 hours each day without interruption
18. Where you grew up? southwest U.S.
19. The last thing you did? ate a cookie
20. What are you wearing? pajamas
21. Your pets? ants and spiders in the garden
22. Your TV? has survived our entire marriage
23. Your computer? includes Vista.....need I say more....
24. Your life? changes every day
25. Your mood? fiesty
26. Missing someone? my mom
27. Your car? is still running, thankfully
28. Something you're not wearing? jeans
29. Favorite Store? the library
30. Your Summer? looks to be eventful
31. Like Someone? each person as an individual and collectively as a group
32. Favorite Color? purple and pink
33. Last time you laughed? this morning, giggles with my children when we woke up
34. Last time you cried? a few days ago...
35. Most happy when...I can sit in the one clean room in our house (usually a different room that got cleaned that day)

Tagged by Breck

Benjamin and Bekah have been tagged.

I went to Tom & Megan's blog where my children got tagged by their little boy Breck,

which means I need to tell you 6 fun facts about each of them.

1. Benjamin loves dinosaurs, pirates, and sports.

2. He calls himself a big boy because he doesn't wear diapers anymore.

3. He wants to grow up and be a "giant" like mommy and daddy.

4. He found a ticklish spot on Mom that she didn't know she had.

5. He is a greater helper when he sets his mind to it.

6. He is the "sun" that brightens his parents' lives on a daily basis.

1. Bekah thinks walking means wobbling around while holding onto both of Daddy's hands.

2. She loves food and expects everyone to share whatever they are eating with her.

3. Her gigle will make anyone laugh.

4. She loves the sheep across the street.

5. She loves electronics.

6. She recently learned how to make herself sit up.

Like Megan, I tag anyone who reads this. If you don’t have a child, do your spouse.

We Bought a House!

We finally broke down and bought a house. Thank you to the economic stimulus check that helped us move through the process. We are hoping to move in at the end of the summer if all goes well. We are so excited!

Our Knight in Shining Armor

Benjamin received his birthday present from Tyler, Grammie Jo and Gran'pa Garry today. He was so excited that he "dueled" with Tyler for a long time after he opened his present. (Tyler is 4 and has a matching set in black.) It was great because his dollar store sword is sadly broken, but not thrown away because Benjamin loves to play Heman and Good Guy with his sword and come to save the day.

House Hunting

What a day! We started at 9:30 this morning looking at houses. We looked at 7 houses this morning before noon and one more this evening. There was a couple that we liked, but it needed a lot of work. Most of the others were really old, really trashed, or needed a ton of work. That was kind of disappointing, but we gained a greater understanding of why some of those homes have been on the market for so long. Oh well, we'll keep looking since we only started looking seriously 2 weeks ago and have only seen a little more than a dozen houses so far.

The funny thing is that Benjamin thinks it is a great adventure. He asks to play with the toys and run in the backyard at every house we go to. He wants us to find a new house soon so that he can have a basketball hoop and a dog. We try to tell him that he can only have one thing at a time. Today he helped us count the bathrooms in one of the houses and told us which house he liked the best. When we tell him that the toys don't come with the house he changes his mind on which house he likes the most.

Bekah has been a trooper. She smiles and coos at everyone we visit and the tell us how cute she is. She even let the dogs get up in her face at one house today. (They were poodles that were smaller than her.) Looking at houses doesn't bother her as long as she is moving and out of her car seat.

If anyone has any suggestions on house hunting we welcome them. This process is more tedious than we imagined, but it is nice not to feel like we have to rush into a home and there is a lot on the market to look at.

Fathers and Sons Outing

Benjamin and Michael went on there first camping trip this last weekend. Benjamin was so excited that he packed his backpack three times last week and talked nonstop about going camping with his dad. He even got more excited when mom took him to the store to get treats to make smores. He thought camping was a great adventure.

Here are a few pictures of "The Posse" as Michael described them. I guess a few of the boys got together and explored the camping area and they took turns being the leaders. Michael said it was quite cute that they all stuck together and went exploring.

Now Benjamin keeps telling me that we need to go camping as a family with our friends Jeff & Shara. He sure loves to be outside.

Bekah on the Move

Bekah is still trying to figure out how to crawl and/or walk. This is how she very efficiently gets around our house with her adorable "butt-scoot." I thought I would share the way she moves because it is so darn cute! She is more interested in standing up lately and she loves her johnny-jumper. She just isn't interested in walking because it is too much fun to sit and giggle while brother runs back and forth

The Cure for Eating Grass

I have discovered the cure for eating grass. Though this item is designed to be used for such a thing, it didn't occur to me to use it outside until the other day when Bekah decided to wake up early when I was outside working in the garden. I usually only use this item when we travel overnight somewhere. But, when I used it outside the other day with a few toys and it kept Bekah entertained and off the grass.

My Garden is Growing!

Spinach & Onions

4 rows that got weeded today

Tomatos & Bell Peppers

One of the perks about living in the house we are renting is that we get to have a garden. So I planted so seeds before I went to New Mexico back at the end of March and they are really growing. When the seed packet says that they need 70 days to sprout they weren't joking! I feel like I'm going at this blind because I haven't done a garden all by myself before and I haven't helped with planning and planting the garden since I was a little girl. Thus, I am super excited that something is growing. I appreciate my husband's input on what we should plant and watching the kids from time to time so that I can get some weeding and watering done.

Reading Books

My children love books. This is a picture of Benjamin reading stories to his sister on a Sunday afternoon. Talk about precious!

Benjamin thrives on going to story time at the library. If he had his way we would spend hours every day at the library or reading books. He will even read books to calm down to get ready for his nap. We have to limit the number of books we bring home from the library or mom wouldn't be able to carry them all.

Bekah will sit and look at books for 15 to 30 minutes at a time. The amazing thing to me is that she turns the pages (board or paper) so nicely because she does an excellent job of shredding my magazines and newspapers. I hope that this is a trait that she will carry throughout her life.

I love books as well. Most recently I have gotten hooked on JoAnne Fluke's cooking murder mysteries (Blueberry Muffin Murder, Strawberry Shortcake Murder, etc.) which include yummy recipes with the mystery. They also aren't as gruesome and gorry as some of the other murder mysteries I have read. Since I have had children I have had to start listening to books on CD so I can get my story fix and still have my hands free to do things around the house. I even had Michael hooked on books on CD for a while because we didn't have TV and it gave us something to do together in the evenings. I love books and when I have free time I try to read as much as possible.

Job Changes

Michael is changing jobs again, but this time it is for much better pay and long term. He will be doing graphic design and web development for a company that creates online courses. The most exciting part is that he will get to work from home, so we will get to see more of him than we do now. Hopefully, the children will learn quickly that dad still needs to work even though he is home. We are excited and are looking forward to the change in 10 more days.

Benjamin's Birthday

After weeks of insisting that he was going to have a dinosaur birthday party, Benjamin's day arrived. We had some friends come to the park where we ate "dinosaur" cake and played on the toys. Benjamin was elated!

Bekah's birthday

Bekah turned 1! I can't believe how fast this last year has flown by (now that it is over). It feels like it was just a few weeks ago that Bekah was born. She loved opening presents and eating cake (she loves to eat). It was a good day.

Happy Easter

Happy Easter! So I'm a couple months late, but hey at least I get to share pictures of our beautiful children. These pictures were taken at our niece's baby blessing in Brigham City.

Below is a picture of all of Michael's family who was able to make it to the blessing, including both of Michael's grandmothers.

What does your baby eat?

So I was spending some time working on the internet while Bekah was playing with toys. And she did something.......unique that resulted with the following dialogue with my husband on messenger (he was at work):

Charlynn says:
you are not going to believe what your daughter just did

michael.jenkins@byu.edu says:
what?

Charlynn says:
do you want the long version or the short version? both versions include calling the doctor

michael.jenkins@byu.edu says:
long i guess

Charlynn says:
so i was sitting there checking my email and hear bekah p0oping across the room. i decide to let her get it all out and finish what i'm doing before i go change her

michael.jenkins@byu.edu says:
right

Charlynn says:
meanwhile the smell keeps getting stronger and stronger. when i finally get done i go to get bekah and see that she has something all over her pants. she has a crayon in her hand and so i assumed that she had been eating crayons again. wrong!

michael.jenkins@byu.edu says:
oh gross

Charlynn says:
she is covered in, and surrounded by poop

michael.jenkins@byu.edu says:
yuck!

Charlynn says:
so i take her to the changing table to start cleaning her up. i take off her shirt (which is mostly clean) and find more poop on the front that I didn't notice before

michael.jenkins@byu.edu says:
i am so sorry

Charlynn says:
than I go to clean her hands and realize she had squished it pretty good without leaving any "solid" evidence. then i realize that it is not leftover macaroni and cheese on her face, but her own feces. so i called the doctor and told the nurse what happened.

Charlynn says:
unfortunately, she (the nurse) said that it is better for her to eat her own poop rather than someone else's. talk about gross!

michael.jenkins@byu.edu says:
yuck

Charlynn says:
the nurse said that Bekah should be fine unless she develops diarrhea in the next few days

michael.jenkins@byu.edu says:
i swear she will eat anything

michael.jenkins@byu.edu says:
ok that was probably the grossest story i have heard

The moral of this story is that pooping children deserve undivided attention. Sorry to gross anyone out but this is one of the unique aspects of motherhood that I thought I would share.