October Birthday Party

Benjamin and Bekah were invited to a joint birthday party for two of there friends about halfway through this month. About 30 or so kids were attending and the kids had so much fun with face painting, pinatas, cupcakes, and games that we heard about it for days afterwards.

Gymnastics

We enrolled Benjamin in a weekly gymnastics class to give him somewhere postive to channel his excess of jumping energy. He loves it! He is learning to tumble (forward and backward), walk on a beam, hang from bars and rings, turn a cartwheel, and listen to his teacher. He has mastered forward tumbling and somersaults ever time he gets a chance.

Witches at Gardner Village

A couple of weeks ago we went on a scavenger hunt for witches with my cousins and their children. We had to find witches that hoola-hooped, flying over a pond, wearing a read hat, and many, many more. There were so many witches that the pictures I was able to take don't do justice to all of the fun creations we checked out. Unfortunately, trying to keep track of my two precious children in a very large crowd of people limits my photography abilities, but we had a lot of fun!

Halloween Decorations

Over the las few days we have been making decorations for our windows and about every other day. The first day Benjamin and Bekah colored gingerbread men to hang up. On the next day, we made pumpkins by cutting out shapes from various colors of paper. Another day we made pipe cleaner spiders and skeletons (thanks for the idea, Margot!). Today we colored Frankenstein monsters and added those to the window montage. The pictures below show the window display before the monsters and after the pumpkins.

Hay Ride

I went on my first ever hay ride last week with Benjamin and Bekah. It was fun! I only wish it could have been longer because around the block at Farm Country was not long enough. Maybe we will have to go again this week!

Quotedable Bekah

Bekah is learning new words all of the time and surprising us with the funny things she picks up. Today we were getting ready to leave and she exclaimed:

"We're going to the store! That's Awesome!"

At least she is latching to the encouraging expressions we try to use when they accomplish something new.

If you give Bekah a warm cookie . . . .

. . . . the result is:

Ponderisms

I received the following in an email from my mom. It made me laugh about life in general.


PONDERISMS
1· I used to eat a lot of natural foods until I learned that most people die of natural causes.
2· There are two kinds of pedestrians: the quick and the dead.
3· Life is sexually transmitted.
4· Healthy is merely the slowest possible rate at which one can die.
5· The only difference between a rut and a grave is the depth.
6· Health nuts are going to feel stupid someday, lying in hospitals dying of nothing.
7· Have you noticed since everyone has a camcorder these days no one talks about seeing UFOs like they used to?
8· Whenever I feel blue, I start breathing again..
9· All of us could take a lesson from the weather. It pays no attention to criticism.
10· In the 60's, people took acid to make the world weird. Now the world is weird and people take Prozac to make it normal.
11· How is it one careless match can start a forest fire, but it takes a whole box to start a campfire?
12· Who was the first person to look at a cow and say, 'I think I'll squeeze these dangly things and drink whatever comes out?’
13· If Jimmy cracks corn and no one cares, why is there a song about him?
14· Why does your OB-GYN leave the room when you get undressed if they are going to look up there anyway?
15· If quizzes are quizzical, what are tests?
16· If corn oil is made from corn, and vegetable oil is made from vegetables, then what is baby oil made from?
17· Do illiterate people get the full effect of Alphabet Soup?
18· Does pushing the elevator button more than once make it arrive faster?
19· Why doesn't glue stick to the inside of the bottle?
20· Do you ever wonder why you gave me your email address?

Dinner Conversation

Benjamin: Bekah, what did you learn in nursery?

Bekah: I play toys.

Benjamin: Did you have snacks?

Bekah: Yeah.

Benjamin: And sing songs?

Bekah: Yeah. I sing Sunbeams.

Benjamin: Wait! It's my turn to talk!

Made Up Songs

To the tune of "Three Blind Mice":

Two cute kids.
I love them lots and lots.
Two cute kids.
I love them lots and lots.
I never know what they're going to do next,
and sometimes the house is just a wreck.
Two cute kids.

Benjamin wanted me to make up new words for the song so here is another version:

Two cute kids.
They like to play in the sun.
Two cute cute kids.
They like to run and run.
They like to run and play in the sun.
They like to have fun, fun, fun.
Two cute kids.

"No, Mom. I wanted to know what the words were that comes after 'two cute kids'," Benjamin informs me, and then proceeds to sing the first version.

Apple Pie Filling

Today I spent the whole day trying to get things done around the house and succeeded only in doing 8 to 10 (double-sided) scrapbook pages. This evening I went over to a friends house while Michael went to Boy Scouts at the church. My friend (Raegan), myself, and our friend (Stephanie) canned 32 quarts of apple pie filling in just over 3 hours. Thank goodness for apple corer, peeler, slicer machines or it would have been an all day project!

The Computer is Not Fast Enough

Last night I as sitting on the couch watching "The Biggest Loser" with my husband and playing on the computer. (By the way, click here for links to episodes and info on the show.) I had three or four windows open at the same time doing different things and I was rotating through them frequently while watching and comprehending the show. Michael looked over at me and just grinned. He finds it entertaining that I have to do so many things at the same time, and I find it easier to concentrate and focus when I am doing two things at once. The funniest part is that I have yet to find a computer and internet connection that can keep up with my mind and the things I want to accomplish.

In other parts of my life, the computer helps me watch shows and listen to books on CD while I try to get caught up on my scrapbooking (I'm done through March 2009) or work on other projects. I received a new CD/Cassette player for my birthday (Benjamin damaged my cord two years ago and I haven't had one since) and that has increased my ability to listen to music and books while I am cleaning, which makes cleaning much more enjoyable because my mind has something to focus on other than what I need to do next. When I don't have numerous interruptions from my children I am able to get a lot done. I also like to listen while I cook and have found that I am more capable of remembering what needs to be done and completing the task at hand because I find myself wanting to stay in the kitchen because I don't want to miss part of the story.

I also use the computer to keep in contact with friends and keep up with what is going on in the lives of people I don't get to see every day. (I've recently developed a Facebook addiction.) I find myself amazed at how different our lives are and how far apart those of us who came together to go to college in one place are now. Without the computer it would be much harder to keep up with what is going on everyone's lives and how the children are growing and changing. I feel more connected than I think I would otherwise. Now, this does not mean I don't like to talk to people on the phone or in person, because I do, I just feel more connected to people that I have lived near in the past. I tend to have a quiet and self-conscious personality when I am in groups of people so I don't get to know as many people as I would like to. I find myself worrying about being an imposition on them or if we have things in common and so I am not as open as I would like to be. Also, I have been hurt so many times by "friends" that I have a hard time opening up and trustin others so my friends tend to be few and close and I often believe that people don't know me as well as I would like them to. I guess that is why I blog and enjoy reading other people's blogs because you get to see the "real" personality of a person and the things that are important enough for them to share with others.

I really am attached to my computer even if it is not fast enough to keep up with my mind. I do not think I will find a computer quite that fast, without being dangerous, in my lifetime, but you never know.

My One Productive Day

Today is Monday, and for once it has been a productive morning. All of the bathrooms are cleaned from top to bottom, unloaded and reloaded the dishwasher, the kitchen counters and floors are done, the pantry is reorganized, the kids are bathed, and I can't believe it's only noon. Usually, it takes me all day to do that so today has been good because my "helpers" were actually more helpful and self-entertained than is normal. My helpers usually come behind me undoing what I have cleaned up or making more messes to clean up.

Now that doesn't mean that everything I cleaned this morning will stay that way al day. I'm willing to bet that by 6 p.m. every room that I cleaned will have some sort of mess in it. Such is life at our house, and if I am really lucky I will get a little bit more cleaning done before the day is through. And, I'm sure I will not get much cleaning done the rest of the week. :D

Gifts for You (Done!)

A few months back I posted a Gifts for You opportunity. I'll make you a gift, but you have to offer the same opportunity to others. This week I finished all of the gifts (some I finished a few months ago, but this week I completed the project) and had them mailed off. I hope everyone liked what they received. It was a lot of fun coming up with things for others just because, and it is good to have one more goal completed!

Girls' Night (OK, Moms' Night)

The first weekend in October is General Conference weekend for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. That means two two-hour sessions for all members on Saturday and Sunday, and one two-hour "Priesthood" session for the men (ages 12 and up) on Saturday evening. Tonight Michael ended up with tickets to the Priesthood session (something hard to do when the tickets are divded up to a world-wide church with 100,000s of members) and so he went with some friends.

With Michael gone for most of the evening, that left me needing to do something to occupy myself and the children while he was gone. What had looked like an evening of scrapbooking and trying to occupy the children turned out to be lots of fun instead. I went to Farm Country with the wives and children of the friends Michael went to the Priesthood with. Afterwards we came back to our house for pizza and more visiting. It was a lot of fun and aI hope we can make it a new tradition to have a get-together every six months when the men go out Priesthood meeting (the meeting is broadcasted to local stake centers in addition to being held at the Conference Center downtown). It is nice to have someone to share the time with and to develop friendships with.

Battery Super Hero

This morning I was replacing the batteries in a new toy when I had the following conversation with Benjamins.

"Who's the battery super hero?" says Benjamin.

"A what?" I replied, puzzled.

"Who's a battery super hero?" asks Benjamin with a delighted grin on his face.

"Oh! Battery super hero!" I say as it dawns on me what he is trying to say. "I guess I am."

"That's right! The battery super hero," Benjamin declares triumphantly as he pushes the button on the toy to listen to it make noise.

Today, I earned a new title: Battery Super Hero. It's amazing how many different titles you earn for doing little things while being a mom.

Plein Art Festival

Push a button, pull a lever, see where the water comes out at.

Water Fountain Sculpture

Bird Show at the Zoo

When we went to the bird show at the zoo we were able to get seats at the front so we had a great view of the birds.