Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Save Me

Luke just came up to me, and in his most helpless sounding voice said, "Mom, can you save me from the evil Ben?"

I looked at Ben who flashed me his biggest smile.

What's a gal to do?!

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Go-go-go-Maddy

Tonight was rough. I was tired and worn out, the house was in disarray, there was chaos and NOISE everywhere, and Ben was up to his usual tricks (today's highlights were: smashing pears and bananas on the floor and then getting into my makeup and making a general mess of EVERYTHING). I was frustrated, and frankly out of patience.

However, in the midst of it all....well, after everything had been cleaned up anyway, I sat at my computer to help Syd with some homework....thinking to myself "does it ever end??" Still tired, still frustrated. It was at this point in time I noticed Madelyn. She was "rockin' out" to Joseph and the Technicolor Dream Coat, which Brek had playing on the iPod. It was as though she was completely oblivious of anyone else in the room. She was dancing all over the place....head flipping, hair flying, body moving. It was the cutest thing! And despite myself, I couldn't help but smile. And the more I watched, the more I smiled.

Thanks Madelyn for cheering me up!

Sunday, October 25, 2009

Boom, Boom, Fire Power

Yesterday for dinner, Brek cooked halibut. It was delicious. But, as usual, Sydney, Madelyn, and Luke stuck their noses in the air as they were sure they wouldn't like it. (I'm pretty sure they have never actually tried halibut, but they were sure!) Despite the grumbling, they were each given a portion of fish and told to eat it. I am happy to report they all ate it, and no complaints.

I looked over to see Luke's plate almost empty (an uncommon sight) and exclaimed, "Oh, good job Luke! You ate all your fish! Now you will have big strong muscles. Next time Ben tries to hurt you just go 'boom, boom, boom' and maybe he'll stop."

A huge grin spread from ear to ear as he flexed his muscles. We all laughed and that was the end of that, or so I thought.

Soon this conversation was forgotten. Dinner came to an end, dishes were done, and I went with Brek to visit one of the families he home teaches. When I returned, Luke filled me in on what I had missed.

"Mom, Ben hit me."

"Oh, Luke, I'm sorry. Are you OK?"

"I hit him back."

"Luke, you shouldn't hit him back! That's not the right thing to do."

"But mom, I did what you told me." And then (while flexing his muscles), "Boom, Boom, Fire Power!"

Here's a visual.


Boom, Boom



Fire Power!




Oops. I guess the moral of this story is....Be careful what you preach! They just might listen to you every now and then!

Saturday, October 24, 2009

Nature's Beauties

I love the seasons! Every one of them.

I love the beautiful colors of the leaves in the fall, the crisp, cool air, leaves falling to the ground. I love winter. I get excited like a little kid when the first snow falls. But I also love to see the snow go, and watch as the world starts to turn green again. I love to see the tulips as they start to poke their green stems out of the ground. I love to be outdoors again....without a coat. And then comes summer. Relaxed summer days, fun, fun, fun in the water, beautiful flowers.

But right now, I really love fall. Everywhere I go, the leaves are falling to the ground....beautiful red and yellow leaves. And it smells like fall. The season of holidays is quickly approaching. Halloween, Thanksgiving, and my personal favorite....Christmas!

The other day as we were driving home, I stopped the car and told the boys to go play in the leaves. I just happened to have my camera in the car.

As much as I love the pretty leaves, they don't hold a candle to these two little guys!



Friday, October 23, 2009

Pizza and Potty Training

This afternoon I ran some errands. Josh was in charge.

I returned to find Ben running around in nothing but his birthday suit. I asked, but not much of an explanation was given. It boils down to this. Ben had decided he wanted to go potty, and everybody was too lazy to put clothes back on him. (Kids being lazy? Shocker!)

Anywho....here we are, an hour later, and he is still running around in nothing but his birthday suit. Why? Well, it's an experiment of sorts. You see, when Ben is not wearing a diaper he tends to run to the potty whenever he feels a need to....you know. Sooooo, I guess we'll see what happens. When I told my dad of my experiment, he said, "If you step in something squishy in the middle of the night when you get up to go to the bathroom, just hope it's a banana!"

(And I do get up to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night. One of the joys of pregnancy, you know.)

So, back to my return home. I brought pizza. Ben came running and climbed up on a stool. And thoroughly enjoyed pizza and breadsticks....while still in his birthday suit!

It made for a comical dinner, I must say.

Happy, Happy Birthday

Another birthday has come and gone....scratch that....two more birthdays have come and gone.

Last weekend was party time around here as we celebrated Ben and Brek's birthday. Ben's cake had seen better days, thanks to Ben. He snuck into the cake and pretty much made a big mess of things. Nothing a little extra frosting couldn't fix.

Brek's cake was actually not a cake at all. He requested his mom's delicious apple blueberry cobbler. However, 38 candles on one apple cobbler makes for trouble, let me tell you. Especially when the cobbler is still hot!

Candles + hot cobbler = candles melting....from the bottom up. OOPS! Nothing like 38 colorful pieces of wax floating in the cobbler!

Brek was a good sport to share his birthday with Ben (in other words to share ME with Ben). Unfortunately, my time was completely consumed by everything birthday-ish....birthday breakfast, clean-up, wrapping presents, making dinner, clean-up again, cake/dessert, clean-up again....etc. Not to mention this partying all took place on Sunday, so of course there was the usual: choir, YW lesson, getting kids ready, etc. I was completely spent and exhausted by the end of the day. Brek would have probably preferred to just have me simplify and spend more time with him. I must admit, I am not very good at simplifying sometimes....especially when it comes to birthdays. I want to make the day special. I guess I am still learning.

But despite it all, at the end of the day, Brek gave me a big hug and said, "Thanks for the birthday!" Because that's the kind of guy he is....wonderful. He knows my heart and my intentions. He loves me despite my faults. He thinks I am the greatest (boy do I have him fooled!) He is my biggest fan. I love him dearly!!!! I am one lucky girl!



This was Josh's little creation. He so wanted to decorate something with icing, and in his haste, chose a piece of bread. Yes, it says OLD. He thought he was pretty funny!

The beginnings of the apple cobbler/candle fiasco.


Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Pumpkin Patch Fun

We arrived at the pumpkin patch just as the sun was going down. But that didn't stop us from finding 6 great pumpkins! We told the kids they had better choose fast, and luckily there was a multitude of fantastic pumpkins. Here is a recap of our "quick" trip in pictures.



Syd and Saydi: cousins and the best of friends







Remember that monster Ben I was telling you about? This is a classic Luke face when being bullied by Ben.

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Happy Birthday My Little Monster


See this little guy?? The cute one with big brown eyes who just turned two?

Don't be fooled by that cute (messy) face and those big brown eyes. Because I'm here to tell you....he is a monster! In his sweet little way, he goes around the house wreaking havoc. Tearing things apart (like my keyboard, which is now missing keys....AGAIN), dumping things (like corn starch all over the kitchen), demanding things, insisting things, etc. He is one strong-willed little man.

If you give him a fork and he wants a spoon instead, watch out for flying forks. If he wants something Luke has....watch out Luke! OR if Luke tries taking something Ben has....watch out Luke! Ben is not intimidated by size. It's pretty much his way or the highway!

But man is he cute! He has started talking, and of course some of his main words are MORE and No No. I'm afraid he hears the latter a time or two every day. He actually says all sorts of things....in a way that only a mother could understand. You know how it is. My favorite is his latest and greatest. When I ask him something, he nods and says sweetly, "Uh-huh." Unless of course he says, "NO!"

For example, one morning as I was practicing with Josh, Luke began to scream. Almost immediatley, an angelic looking Ben came to find me. You know, the sort of angelic look that means....It wasn't me mom!"

The conversation went something like this.

Me: Ben, did you hurt Luke?
Ben: (sweetly) Uh-huh.
Me: Is Luke sad?
Ben: Uh-huh.
Me: You should go give him a big hug and tell him you're sorry.
Ben: No!
Me: Oh, but Luke is sad. You should go give him a hug.
Ben: No!
Me: Is Luke your buddy?
Ben: (ever so sweetly) Uh-huh.

And so it goes.

Ben is a classic example of....well, the power of example! He watches his older siblings and imitates their every move. Especially his pal Luke. Each night before Luke goes to bed, we say prayers with him. Quite a while ago, Ben decided he wanted to be just like Luke. So, although he doesn't talk, the minute Luke is done with his prayers Ben stands up and folds his arms. This is his signal that he is ready to pray. He stands there while you say a prayer for him, then gives you a hug and kiss and happily lays down. Talk about soothing the savage beast!

Tonight I got home late from a meeting and went around checking on all the kids. Ben stirred as I opened the door, and instantly he was on his feet, folding his arms. He can never pray enough you know! I said a short little prayer, which he ended with Amen (a new development), and he gave me the usual hug and kiss.

I love that kid!!!

Thursday, October 15, 2009

Meat On My Bones

On Sunday Brek made a roast in the crock pot. However, after church, dad called and said we were welcome to come over and eat because they had tons of extras, including his famous mashed potatoes. Most of my kids happily passed on the roast and crock pot potatoes, anticipating yummy mashed potatoes. But Syd wanted some of dad's delicious dinner. (Brek wasn't too offended. He was thrilled to have tons of leftovers to take for lunches.)

As I was scooping out the potatoes and carrots, I asked her if she wanted any meat. (Most of my kids are not huge meat eaters. Sometimes they like it....sometimes not.)

She looked at me and said emphatically, "YES! I love meat. And besides, Mr. Larson said I really need to start putting some meat on my bones."

I guess she took him literally!

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Ultrasound Time!


So, it's official. This little babe growing in my tummy is a boy! ANOTHER boy! And I would have to say there is no doubt as to this baby's gender. Even I could tell it was a boy, and that's saying alot!

The girls were a little disappointed, but not really. It's hard to be disappointed when you know there's a new baby on the horizon! And when I told Syd the baby was due on March 6th (one day before her birthday), she jumped up and cheered. However, Syd and Maddy are seriously outnumbered now....5 boys to 2 girls.

Brek said we now have our own basketball team.

Natalie (a dear friend) said more great pianists and missionaries.

All of the above are true! I think it would be safe to say that I will be sitting through A LOT of sporting events in my life! And our home will be ringing with music for many more years to come. And, oh how I hope my boys will all serve missions! I LOVE my boys, and couldn't be more happy. Either way....how could you possibly go wrong??!! Another little spirit to bless our home. Another new little personality.

I can't wait to meet him!!

Monday, October 5, 2009

Let It Snow

Yesterday morning, Luke came into my room and woke me up.

Luke: Mom, it's snowing outside!
Me: It is?
Luke: Yep! So, is it Christmas today?

Saturday, October 3, 2009

All's Well That Ends Well

Soooo, tonight Brek asked Josh and I to put the tarp on the boat as he was running out the door to go to priesthood meeting. Brek, Scott, and Josh (sortof)....OK, mostly Brek and Scott spent the two hours in between morning and afternoon conference cleaning the boat. And I mean CLEANING! (If only they were that thorough in the house....ha-ha!)

Anyway, as they were leaving for priesthood session, they decided it just might rain while they were gone and wreck all their hard work! Brek attempted to back the boat into the garage, thinking that would be a quick fix. Only problemo with that plan is the fact that our garage is not tall enough for our boat.

So, with the boat half in the garage--half out, he runs into the house asking us to put the tarp on, then runs back out. And like the obedient people that we are, out we went to do as we were told. As we were pulling the tarp up, over, down, etc. the boat all of a sudden started moving. At first I thought I was maybe imagining things. But sure enough, the boat was rolling right down our driveway! I ran to the front of the boat, pushing with all my might to try and stop it. Meanwhile, I was screaming at Josh to help. Apparently, he was helping, trying to pull from behind. But I didn't know that and kept yelling for him to help! I'm sure we were quite a sight....big-belly pregnant mom yelling at her son, both frantically trying to stop a moving boat that weighs....ummm....like a gazillion tons or something!

I was seriously paniced about the boat rolling right across the road, into my neighbor's yard, and heaven forbid, crashing into their house!! But luckily, as the boat rolled off our driveway and onto the road, it came to a stop. I would like to say it was because of our massive muscles, but alas, I must give credit to the leveling of the ground.

I would NEVER bother Brek when he is at something important like priesthood meeting....until today. There we sat with the boat right smack dab in the middle of the road, wondering what to do. Believe it or not, we actually attempted to PUSH the boat back up onto the driveway. Yeah...that went well! And with every other guy over the age of twelve being in the same meeting as Brek, we were sort of stuck! So a text was sent requesting immediate help and Brek came to the rescue.

Moral of the story: Don't EVER try to stop a moving boat...especially if it is moving downhill! And especially if you are pregnant! You might look like a serious idiot!