Sunday, February 24, 2008

eyebrow wonder


Benson's nursery leaders told us today that they were very impressed with Benson's extreme eyebrow raising abilities. Apparently since it works so well with his parents, he's decided that raising his eyebrows to other people will get him what he wants. He told us all the way home, "They were veeeery impressed."

Friday, February 22, 2008

fishin for fun


We've been getting bored lately, Benson and I. It's hard for us to have so much fun with family for 3 days and then come home to nothing. We made a fish pond recently, and Benson bought some bubbles with his allowance money but, ugh. We are finding it difficult to find ways to fill the many hours in a day. What do you do? Any suggestions?

Tuesday, February 19, 2008

fyi

If your toddler/preschooler wakes up an hour after he went to sleep, crying and unwilling to talk, it may be followed by hours of incessant vomiting. It is a good decision to remove them from your bed at this point, and to also keep your library book out of vomiting range. A bowl in which to barf is optional, as they will probably miss it every time anyway.

Thursday, February 14, 2008

blogging in a new place

I just wanted to do a post from Monticello, where we are currently stuck. I hate snow. So, hello from Monticello. Be glad you are not stuck here with a little boy who asks every 2 seconds if it is time to go to Frampa's house yet.

Tuesday, February 12, 2008



So Benson is obsessed with eggs. I don't know how this happened but he is seriously in love. We bought him some wooden eggs from Target a few days ago and he's hardly put them down since. And when he does put them down it's usually in a blanket-nest which he usually ends up sitting on to keep them warm. It's a little weird but I have to say that I love it when he loves anything because it is so fun to see him so excited about something. I'll post pictures of him with the eggs later.

Sunday, February 10, 2008

wow



I just unloaded and reloaded the dishwasher only to realize (when I went to put in the soap and -lookie there!- it was full) that I just filled my cabinets with dirty dishes. Anyone else have a good weekend?

Saturday, February 9, 2008

hands up!


This is a photo of our family's favorite dinner game: Hands Up! This was started by Banks a couple of weeks ago. Basically all you do is when someone raises their hands in the air everyone at the table has to raise their hands and shout, "Hands up!" Ok so we are kind of weird to do this but Benson and Banks really love it and giggle while we play so it makes for a more exciting dinner. I tried to upload a video of it but neither blogger or photobucket could do it so I guess you'll never see it.

Thursday, February 7, 2008

haircut




Here is Banks practicing his "Blue Steel" look. Doesn't he look just like Ben here?



Well Ben did something awful today. He coerced me into cutting my precious baby boy's hair clean off. I cried and I hate it. If I could glue his little downy chick fuzz back on I would. No longer can I rub my nose in his soft fuzzy hair. And when we cut it off, the smell of baby was washed down the sink. This is a tragedy.

general life stuff


Benson thinks this is his gun and runs around going, "Bam bam bam!" all the time.



Banks loves to help with the dishes and here he is doing that and kissing for the camera.


Well I haven't posted in a while so I figured I should put something on here. The problem is that I've not got a lot to write. Ben is working hard at school and trying to find the fastest path to graduation. I am just doing regular mom stuff, as usual. Benson has a chore chart now which I have to say is the most genius thing ever. He is so much more cooperative now it's amazing. We are ever working on getting the whining under control but I think we are making progress. And Banks. Oh Banks. He is sick -again- but getting better and still so cute! And we are all nervously watching the weather report in anticipation of our trip next week. That's about it!

Saturday, February 2, 2008

learning to be a parent


It's a little late but I've started reading about how to be a good parent. I was poking around on BYU's online classes site and decided to check out the free course about having a happy family. I can't say that there is anything totally earth-shattering in the course so far but one thing in particular has really made me decide to focus a little more on a certain area. Here is the quote that struck me in particular:

"What is a basic human need? It is something a human being must have to grow and develop and be emotionally healthy. I believe that there are four basic human needs: the need to feel significant, the need to feel important, the need to feel worthwhile, and the need to feel valuable. You must intentionally make sure that these basic human needs are met in your home. There is no greater gift, in terms of personal well-being, that you can offer your children. If you look for the opportunity, you will see numerous chances to help your children feel valuable, important, significant, and worthwhile every day."

Although I don't think any of this comes as a surprise, it's nice to be reminded of a specific, doable goal to focus on in my parenting. We all want our kids to turn out to be nice people, but sometimes it's hard for me to remember what exactly I'm supposed to be doing to achieve that goal on an every day basis. This is something I am really going to try to always keep in the back of my mind when dealing with my children.