Happy Birthday Auntie Kim!

Take 1:

Take 2:

Take 3:

Ben was just a tad embarrassed, so he's acting silly! But we had fun. Happy Birthday, Kim!

Jonah and the Big Fish

Episode 1: Jake is Jonah

Episode 2: Ben is Jonah

In conversation with Ben

I was reading a book to Ben and he asked about an expression on the faces of the people in the book. I told them the people were curious and he replied, "They're not cruious, they're not monkeys." Apparently only Curious George is curious.

As we drove past the newly renovated casino near us, Ben looked at the waterfall on the outside of the casino and declared, "Look! The zoo!"

b: Mom, where is your cheese?
j: I ate it.
b: I'm going to eat mine. Where is the cheese?
j: In your tummy.
b: Will you open the door (pointing to his tummy) so I can see the food?

Ben has a strong opinion about pickles: he does not like them! Because of that, he told me today at lunch while eating Mickey D's cheeseburgers that "boys don't like pickles." I also don't eat the pickles so he then told me that "girls don't like pickles." Jake always eats our pickles and after semi-arguing with him that we did not need to save the pickles until dad got home from work, he told me that "daddy's like pickles."

Today is a cloudy day and as we were driving home from preschool Ben asked where the sun was. I told him it was behind the clouds. He was quiet for a moment and said, "I think the sun is at preschool."

Ben likes watching Little Einstiens. The shows focus on a particular piece of classical music and an artist. I have downloaded most of the songs for him to listen to and this is when Ben will sit at the computer and be still and really listen to the music. One afternoon we were listening to Grieg (In the Hall of the Mountain King) and Ben looked outside and as the wind was blowing the trees he said, "Mom! The trees are dancing to Grieg!"

Jake and I must use the word "bummer" more often than not. Now Ben has adopted the word and just hearing it come out of his mouth is really funny. He will say, "Awww, that's a bummer."

Jake must have shown disappointment or some kind of emotion around Ben and he told Jake, "Dad, get happy." That must be a preschool expression he learned.

As Ben is learning gammar, he mixes up tenses. His current phrase is, "What you did?" I crack up almost every time he says it. Or he will say, "We goed to the store." or Who's going to comed over today?"

As he refers to something we did in the past, he expresses it as something we did "last year" (even if it was something we did two days ago).

He pronounces earlier early-ler
girl is glirl

One Saturday morning Jake was letting me sleep in and I heard him sing a song to Ben about being a little more quiet...the tune was to: are you sleeping, are you sleeping, brother john....etc...
The lyrics:
Mama's sleeping, Mama's sleeping
Let her sleep, Let her sleep
You don't wanna wake her, You don't wanna wake her
Let her sleep, Let her sleep

and then I just listened to them play...it was a good extra rest time.

V-Day 2009

My parents and sister came for the weekend to help us get our yard cleaned up and to celebrate LOVE weekend. Dad chainsawed, we dragged limbs, raked leaves, mom and Jake constructed a compost pile.... and then we ate a grand meal at the end of the day.
mom and dad
AKA curt and kathy
AKA grandpa curt and grandma jo

auntie aunite and ben

the girls plus a ben

playing ball with andie

LOTS of play day pictures

My very own Handy Manny.

Ben playing the recorder very loudly.

Jetta playing the drums.

Mesa sleeping through the parade of instruments.

Easton making cheese pizza.

Lauren and Ellie checking out the Sesame Street toy. Denise and Quinten.

Emily with her girls.

Kris and Mesa.

Denise with Quinten and Dalton.

Smile Mesa!

Ben and Tate playing with the Mr. Potato Head toys.

Mesa and her new toy.

Dalton, Ben and Tate with the new "hoop loop" Hot Wheels toy.

Lydia Jane

Watching all the big kids wears me out!

Emily's cooking show...how to make amazing chocolate chip cookies.

Ellie, Ben, Easton, and Quinten

Teague: the coolest kid here today.

Jetta, Tate and Ben

So who goes with who? :-)

Kris, Teague, Tate, Jetta, Mesa

Emily, Lauren, Ellie

Denise, Dalton, Easton, Quinten

Lydia Jane and Kathryn

WE HAD A BLAST!!

Hard Hat

Ben had to wear his baseball helmet outside at my request this time because of all the melting and falling ice. No concussions or stitches on my watch!

It's not that great of a video, but the sound is great. It's sounds like a down pour outside, but it's really just all the melting. And, you can hear the cracking of limbs. It's not a welcoming sound! I think the melting part is just as dangerous as the ice storm part. I just saw ice fall from a power line and it sounded like a waterfall!! And, there are some limbs hitting our roof---uh oh.

But, we do have power now as of early this morning (Thursday). When we returned from staying with friends, we had lights and heat!!

Our house, is a very, very ,very, COLD house

It's Wednesday afternoon and our power went out Tuesday morning around 9:15---it's still out. We did stay home last night and survived and we have hot water so we had some good showers this morning. Right now our house is about 45 degrees so we are NOT THERE :-) We are on campus to stay warm. We have dinner plans and a place to stay the night with heat. Here are some amazing pics of the weather. Below is our dogwood tree in our front yard. The ice is one inch thick.

Major icicles!

a true weeping willow

a huge branch of the willow is on the ground

some of our big trees losing branches

the willow again

our poor fence took a beating

luckily this branch missed our house!

Our house, is a very, very, very, SICK HOUSE

A week ago Tuesday we took Ben to the doctor with a 104 temp and a crazy virus. He ended up with throat and mouth ulcers that hung around for 4 days. He ate enough yogurt and applesauce for all of Siloam that week. We took Ben today to the doc because even though the virus is gone he now has a terrible head cold, a double ear infection and sores on his nose and lips from wiping and crying...he's miserable.

Jake started feeling bad Tuesday and went to the doctor today and he has strep and feels terrible. Not a good way to start the first week of the semester. So both of my boys are on amoxicillin and wanting to sit on my lap :-) Jake got pushed to the couch---poor guy. Ben is easier to snuggle.

In conclusion, nurse mom is fighting off germs with rubbing alcohol---the place smells CLEAN.

Our House, is a Very, Very, Very Fine House

It all started this fall, that is, choosing to, or having to, update our 20 something year old home. Our garage door opener stopped working so we bought a new one. We now have cool censors so a certain Benjamin won't get smooshed accidentally.

This year my mom and dad celebrated 35 years of marriage and they bought US a gift :-) The doors are beautiful and really make our living room pretty. No more black sliding doors, no more air leaking through, no more tacky white blinds. Now we just have to get the blue thing down and do a little repair from where it's drilled into the wall.

We thought we had a ghost in the house. But really it was our main breaker box that was melting. Now that the whole thing is brand spanking new, our refrigerator and washing machine won't compete for energy. Good thing we were saving for windows or we would just be without electricity....Mr. Electric doesn't do payment plans.

We bought new windows!!! Although the main breaker fiasco spoiled some of our savings for the windows, it will all work out. The windows are amazing. They look pretty with the brick and they actually keep the cold air out! What a concept.


The bay window in the kitchen really looks great.

Whether we're forced to update or choose to, it's great to have a healthy house.