The Halo Effect

Our little angel with a halo. We were at the gardens in the early evening one night and I couldn't resist taking pictures of Bekah with the sun behind her. Michael calls this the halo effect. I'm not sure what the correct photographic term is, but I was working on improving my ability to take this kind of picture.

Opening Presents Video: Bekah

I took a couple videos of Bekah opening presents on her birthday. This is the better video of the two, where you can see how fast she is at opening presents and that she likes to put on all of the new stuff she receives. She was so excited!

(More pictures of her birthday will come later.)

Cardboard Boxes make Great Forts

Benjamin loves to play doggie lately. You know, the game where he pretends to be a doggie who wants to be petted and crawls around on the floor and Mom or the friend is the owner that takes him for walks and tells him what a cute dog he is. On Wednesday, he was asking what he could use for a dog-house and I actually remembered that we had this big box in the garage. I went and brought it in for the children (or maybe I sent the children to ask Michael to bring it in, I don't remember) and I was not surprised to find the children turning the box into a fort instead of a dog-house. Bekah even thought it was a good place to go to "seep" (sleep) with her "b" (blanket) and one of the decorative pillows from the couch. Unfortunately, Benjamin has been so busy that I haven't yet been able to have him in the "fort" while my camera is turned on and in the same room, and I only caught Bekah because she was having a sleepy moment. Where do kids get all of their energy?

Mommy, Paint my Toes!

A couple of Sundays ago I decided to paint my toes before church. It was actually warm enough to wear sandals to church and I wanted to have cute toes! Bekah, ever observant, watched me do it the whole time and begged for me to do her toes too. Since she was already dressed for church, I quickly painted one coat on her fingernails and told her we would do her toes later. She didn't let me forget. The next morning she brought me the fingernail polish and asked me to paint her toes AND her fingernails this time. The most amazing part was that she held still so that I could do the painting neatly without getting it all over her or the bedding. Pretty fabulous for a 2 year old who doesn't hold still for much of anything! We love our little princess!

Family Time

Tonight we had some high quality family time playing "Hungry Hippos" and "Candy Land." When we came home from church the children asked if we could play a game after I opened the coat closet to put my coat away. My response was that we could after naps, and this time I actually remembered. After Benjamin and Bekah finished their dinner, we went to the game closet and pulled out a game. We each picked which color of hippo we wanted to be and set up the board accordingly. Bekah wanted to be pink, of course, and Benjamin picked orange, like a tiger. Then we dumped the marbles on the board and started "eating."

Bekah was very innovated at getting the marbles when her hippo wouldn't grab the marbles fast enough. She simply reached into the middle of the game and grabbed a handful of marbles or she held the mouth of her hippo open and dumped the marbles down its throat to the storage tray. When all of the marbles were gone from the middle of the board we filled up the launch trays and announced "shoot 'em" and enthusiastically shot all of our marbles into the middle of the board, laughing when the marbles bounced off the board because of the force with which they were launched. Then it was time to "eat" the marbles, to which we furiously pounded our hippos to see who could get the most marbles and the last marble. Benjamin usually won the most marbles, and he and Dad would be head to head on getting the last marble.

Upon on completing a good 10 rounds of "Hungry Hippos," Benjamin announces that he wants to play Candy Land. Bekah latches onto that idea with a gleeful, "Candy Lan! Candy Lan!" while running in place excitedly. So we put the one game away and got the other one out. We made it through one whole game with the attention of all family members remaining constant in order to have Bekah make it to the end first with Benjamin a close second. Bekah loved turning over the cards, but didn't quite grasp the concept of moving her piece around the board. Benjamin did a great job of identifying colors, counting spaces, and making sure that everyone's pieces were facing in the direction they were suppose to be traveling.

It was a wonderful way to spend part of our evening. I can't believe how fast our kids are growing up! I love being able to play board games and card games with my children. I love spending time as a family and doing things that we all enjoy. I love being able to laugh with our children and watch as they learn new things. Watching how their minds work is the best magic I have ever experienced.

Kitchenette Before and After

Here is the before picture I forgot to take.

Thanks, Victoria, for emailing it to me!

After, which I already showed in another post.

Yard Work

This week it has been warm and dry enough to try to get caught up on some yard work. It took me three evenings to mow all of the lawn because all of the growth from our intermittent spring storms. Michael has been working on tearing up the grass for where we are putting our garden box and now that is done we just need to level it off so that I can start planting. This morning I was weeding the front flower beds when our cute Bekah brings her bucket and says, "I help." She was too cute to resist so I asked her to pick all of the yellow flowers in our yard, and she studiously set to work pick the tops of all of the dandelions. Unfortunately, I have to run to the store for some major weed-killer since the dandelions thought they could take over my lawn since the lawn has been mowed. I think yard work is never-ending, but it is so nice to be able to be outside.

Bigotry at its Best

I went to the store this morning, after taking Bekah to the doctor, to pick up a few things. As I was picking out my last item I get verbally assaulted by this random lady. She tells me that I shouldn't talk to my children like that. I said, "Excuse me?" She replies, "You're kids are too cute for you to tell them to 'Shut up and sit down.' Can't you talk to them a different way?" Having never experienced this before I tell her that I have already tried it five times a different way and this is the only thing that works. To which she responds that she is going to call the police on me because if I treat them that way in public she "can only imagine how they are treated at home." Still trying to decide which ketchup to buy I tell her that they are treated the exact same way at home and she call the police if she wants to. Then we get to good part. She starts asking me if I have a temple recommend and that if I do I must have lied because the way I treat my children is one of the questions and I don't treat my children well enough to have temple recommend because she can see my garments. I promptly respond that that is none of her business and how many children does she have? She emphatically pats her chest and says that she has seven children like someone should give her a gold medal or something. To which I respond, "Well, I feel sorry for them," bend over and ask my children to "please get up," and coax them down the aisle to the checkout stands.

On top of all of her insane comments, the woman did not take time to even look at my children for brusing before starting to make accusations and threats. I am glad that I don't run into uneducated people like her every day or I think I would become a hermit. How can you judge someone to be abusive on a single incident? I mean, unless you see obvious bruising, hitting, or typical abusive responses going on. I do admit that I need to yell at my children less, but that does not mean I abuse my children. Research says so and since my children have been evaluated by a therapist, my therapist who is trained to recognize abuse or neglect, and determined to be functioning fine and not suffering at mine or my husband's hands I think that is a better indication of how my children are being treated than some woman's biased evaluation of a single incident with busy children in a grocery story.

I think the thing that bothers me the most was her self-righteous attitude about having some many children and questioning my temple-worthiness. As far as I know, "Do you yell at your children?" is not a temple recommend question and my doctor had just told me that I can start using timeouts with Bekah just like I do with Benjamin. If my doctor, who just saw my children and evaluated the health and well-being of my youngest is not worried about my parenting, I don't think the opinion of a complete stranger who can't mind her own business is worth much. I just wish that people would move beyond the idea that they have the right to judge someone else's worthiness status outside of a position of authority, especially when the general authorities of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have told not it is not our right or something we should do.

Needless to say, it was an interesting and stressful visit to the grocery store.

Easter Morning

Book Junkie

I am a book junkie. I admit it. I have taken the first step in the ten step program toward recover. The question is, do I really want to recover?

I am addicted to books. Especially library books because I can explore a variety of topics and world within the pages of a book. I cannot leave the public library without a minimum of two to three books, regardless of it being the second or third trip to the library that week. Sometimes the books are non-fiction, sometimes fiction, sometimes children or juvenile books, sometimes books on CD, sometimes books by favorite authors, or sometimes a book by an author recommended by a friend. It doesn't really matter, I always find something to take home to attempt to read or listen to.

The best part about feeding my habit from the library is that I can attempt to read and read books without any monetary expense. If I find a book that is offensive or that I don't like I simply return it for someone else to take a chance on without feeling like I have wasted valuable resources. If I find a book that I really enjoy and would like to read over and over again, I have found motivation to actually go purchase the book to add to our bookshelves. In fact, this is the best for my children who love to have books read to them but rarely want the same book read more than twice, if that. We can check out 20 books, enjoy the adventure or knowledge held within their pages, and return them to share with others.

Yep, I'm a book junkie.

Making Dinosaur Eggs

The cracked is proof that Mom knows what she talking about when she says don't squish the egg.

We decorated "dinosaur eggs" at the dinosaur museum. The hollow eggs were very fragile and we crushed a couple in the process of coloring and painting them.

The Guts of the DVD Player

I've always wondered what the inside of the DVD player looked. Okay, not really but when Benjamin put the VHS in backwards the other day I had to take the thing apart so I could get the tape out. While I was at it I figured I would take pictures to document the experience. Oh the things you learn when you have children!

Refinishing Furniture, Just in Time

I forgot to take before pictures of this little kitchenette. When we got this from Michael's sister it was peeling yellow paint and you could barely see the hardware under the grit and paint. At the beginning of last month I started the paint stripping process. I found 5 layers of paint and went through two cans of paint stripper to get down to the wood. After I was done chipping away at the paint I sanded all the surfaces down and scrubbed the paint and grit off of the hardware. Then I painted it with some mis-tinted paint I bought from Lowe's. (The mis-tints are super cheap, by the way.) Michael helped reinstall the hardware and I applied the vinyl flowers (the pink strip at the top of the kitchenette) and burners (see 2nd picture) to complete the project just in time for Bekah's 2nd birthday. Here is the finished product.

I couldn't wait to give it to her so we had her open up some of here birthday presents early so that she could fully enjoy her new "kitchen." She was delighted and I can't get her or her brother to stop playing with it. The only down side is that I don't think I am going to make this a new hobby. It takes a huge amount of time and energy to refinish something properly, but this project was definitely worth the effort I put into it.

New Words, Broken Record

Bekah's vocabulary is booming. The downside is that when she learns a new word she likes to repeat it over and over and over again. For instance, this a picture of "Sheep. Sheep. Baaa. Goat. Goat. Baaa. Sheep."

Bekah also likes to say good-bye to everything and everyone. "Bye dinosaurs. Bye Granpa. Bye Sweet Pea. Bye Dad." All the way home. Whether that is five minutes or several hours. Bekah loves that she can talk and communicate more effectively now.

Easter Egg-streme

On the Saturday before Easter, we went Jeff, Abby, and Jeff's parents to the Easter egg-streme at a local venue. There was a massive amount of people there and the kids had a ton of fun with the activities.

Abby, Bekah, and Benjamin waiting for their egg hunt to start.

Mom, did they blow the whistle yet?

Hood on, hood off. I want those eggs!

The field of eggs. Can you imagine the children's excitement in waiting to go and get all of those eggs?

Go get 'em! The mass hysteria begins.

One minute Benjamin was next to us, the next he was halfway across the field filling his bucket. Good thing he was wearing his bright orange coat!

Bekah even got a bucket full, and then she wouldn't let it go. My eggs!

Abby holding tight to her dad with her eggs.

Benjamin delighted to have so many eggs.

Now, onto the other activities.

Benjamin was going, going, going the whole morning.

Here he is doing the sack race and trying out the tricycle scooters.

The Easter Bunny was there! Benjamin was okay with getting his picture taken, but Bekah wanted to share her eggs with him.

I want a tiger face!

Grrrr! I'm a tiger!

Mom taking pictures. Apparently I'm not the only one who likes to take pictures of the photographer.

Drawing with chalk. Bekah and Abby really liked this activity!

We had to pry them away from the chalk.

Bekah got a balloon dog.

Benjamin chose a balloon sword.

Benjamin raced through the inflatable obstacle course so fast that I was only able to get a picture of him after he came out the end.

And last, but not least, the train ride. A tractor pulling water barrels painted like cows took the children on a ride across the grass. Bekah lasted until he turned the tractor on and then she decided that she was done sitting with brother and would rather watch then ride. Whew! What a day!

Dig 'Em, Dig 'Em, Dig 'Em

Last fall I attempted to put in garden boxes for spring planting. Unfortunately, when the snow melted I discovered that I had put the one completed garden box in the best shaded spot in our yard, not a good spot for trying to grow plants that need a lot of sunshine. So, we turned the completed garden box into a sandbox and decided to put in more boxes on the other side of the yard.

The kids love it! And the best part is, they stay out of the garden area because they have their own place to dig in. Now we just have to finish filling it up with sand and get a cover to keep it from turning into a kitty litter box.

The Real Meaning of Easter

Even though there is a lot of hype about the Easter Bunny and candy around Easter, the real reason we celebrate Easter is to remember the Atonement of our Savior, Jesus Christ. His sacrifice for our sins in the Garden of Eden and the giving of his life on the cross are vital to our salvation and eternal life. Without his sacrifice for us, we would not be able to be forgiven for our sins and be able to be resurrected after we pass from this life.

I am extremely grateful for the willingness of Jesus Christ to make such a sacrifice for us, and for a loving Heavenly Father who would allow him to do it. Happy Easter!