Welcome home Henry Paul

I asked for prayer back in September for my friend who gave birth at 26 weeks... well, after a long road down in Little Rock, they're heading home today!!! We want to welcome you home Henry Paul. We know we probably won't get to meet you for awhile, until RSV season is over, but we can't wait until we see you for the first time!

Lights on the square

Future make-up artists

Benji with two of his friends (each of them did their own face paint, if you couldn't guess)

Benji's priorities

Today I asked Benji on the way home from gymnastics if he wants to stick with gymnastics next semester or switch back to the music class. He told me, "Gymnastics has suckers. I'll stay with gymnastics." Great - sugar is the motivational point of gymnastics for him. (They give them suckers at the end of each class, which I don't even understand since gymnastics is fun in its' own right - no need to bribe with sugar for fun activities, leave that for the NOT fun things - like shots.)

Then later in the evening we were saying what we wanted to thank God for in our evening prayers. Benji listed all the Christmas paraphernalia (tree, Christmas eve, stockings, toys, etc.). Shearn Yoong asked him, "You know Christmas isn't just about presents, right?" He answered honestly, "Yes it is."

We obviously have instilled great moral values into our children. Imitate us.

So you think kids aren't observant?

Here's the extent of the conversation:

(Scene: Benji running around the house)

Shearn: Benji, what are you doing?
Benji: I'm running.
S: Running? What's that on your ears?
B: It's the white thing
S: White thing?
B: Yeah. I see people running with white thing

White thing. The ubiquitous iPod earphones! I was flabbergasted. Never has he mentioned anything about the "white thing" until yesterday. That just tells you how observant kids are. Don't think they are not listening or watching you! Because they are!

Over the weekend, I also let the kiddos play with the iPod Touch. I was just curious how they'd pick up on technology. Boy are they fast learners at such young age! Benji immediately picked up on doing taps, swipes, flicks, pinch ins and pinch outs on the screen. Zac can only do swipes at this time, and it's pretty cute to see him do it with his stubby little index finger while saying, "Swhyp" "swhyp".... Steve Jobs harps about how Apple products are so easy to use, even kids can do it. I guess it's true in this case.

Finally, it seemed like Benji is currently on a tongue out picture mode.... *sigh*.....

Back to two piercings

Last night, out of the blue, my nose ring stud just fell out and got lost somewhere in my house. For those who have never had one, it's really strange that it suddenly fell out. They are designed so such a thing wouldn't happen. But what can I say, I'm special. It's kind of sad looking at my nose - it looks so naked now. I think I'll try again in a few months, maybe on the other side, hoping that the second time around my body won't react so negatively. (I've had a large bump next to the piercing for the last 6 weeks. It wasn't infected, but my body still didn't like this foreign object stuck in its' nose.) So it appears, that for now, I am back to just two piercings (my two ears).

Some Thanksgiving pictures

Benji with his cousin Eli (too bad Benji isn't smiling as cutely as his cousin is!)

Zac

Row, row, row your boat

Zac had to recruit Nathan's help in pushing big ol' Benji

Thanksgiving is over...

...which means it's time for Christmas. Well, most of the retailers thought the Christmas season began on November 1st, though I think the season officially begins TODAY. Benji got in the spirit of the season by announcing today, out of the blue: "Mommy, don't fill my stocking this year because I want Santa to come down the chimney and fill it up." I guess he thinks Santa will give better loot than his cheapskate parents! And no, we don't do the whole Santa-thing with our kids, so the poor little kids already know that Santa's not real. But I guess Benji's really trying to make him real even if we tell him it's just a fun story. If he tells Grandma, I bet she'd humor him though. In fact, I still get presents from Santa but the handwriting on the tag looks suspiciously like hers. :)

A first that I wasn't ready for

Yesterday was the last warm day for awhile, so after nap we headed to the local park. Benji needed to go to the bathroom soon after arriving, so we headed toward the less-than-pristine-clean bathrooms. I began heading into the women's side, but out of nowhere Benji said he wanted to go to the men's bathroom alone. I hadn't thought he'd want to do this for a long time to come so I didn't have a decent reason why he couldn't. So I sent my son into the dark and vaguely scary men's bathroom at the park. He re-emerged a few seconds later (I guess urinals are quick - ?). Some "firsts" are celebrated, but I was not quite ready for this one. I guess I've heard too many scary men's bathroom stories. From now on, I'm still going to require him to come with me. Maybe in another year? It's hard to know until we reach that time.

Trip to California

This past weekend we had a girl's weekend - my first trip away from my kids in 4 years. We had a wonderful time. The other three friends who came are all friends from elementary school, and whenever we get together, there's no lag time but we're immediately back to where we last left off. There are not many friends like that in life and I love you girls so much!

Brunch in San Francisco

Linda and Laurel at the beach

Picnic lunch at Santa Cruz Beach

Joyce and Laurel in Palo Alto

Palo Alto (yes, it really was warm enough for a sun dress!)

San Fran

We plan on making this is a yearly reunion, and I can't wait until next year.

Playing doctor

Our kids' latest favorite game to play is doctor. One of them is sick, and the other one repairs him with our play tools (do you see the wooden hammer in this shot?). They can play this game for an hour.

If your kid is talking too much...

I swear that Benji asked me to tape this paper over his mouth. He thought it would look neat (he had decorated the paper with markers). You know what, I was fine with it because I needed a break anyway!

Our poor deprived children

It's true. We have no T.V. Does this mean we are anti-media? No. In fact, we adults watch a very healthy amount of movies on our computer, but we do limit our children quite a bit. And it seems that Benji is starting to catch on.

A few days ago Benji told me that for his 3rd birthday Zac wanted a T.V. and that for his 5th birthday he wanted a T.V. too. Then yesterday he got to watch a T.V. program at a friend's house and on the way home he told me, "We need to buy a T.V. and set it up and watch it."

Our poor deprived children ... but we have no intention of stopping the deprivation anytime soon.

Have you canoed yet today?

The boys and I went to vote on the way to Bible study this morning. I tried to talk it up and explain how important it is to vote as an American. Once we pulled up to the parking lot, Benji wanted to know where the canoe was. He thought we were going BOATING. Voting isn't nearly as fun as boating - but they did have free candy so all was not lost.

No more training wheels

Where did my baby go?

Ditto

People always ask me how I'm doing, what's new in my life. This is a hard question for a SAHM (stay-at-home mom). I could say a million tiny things or nothing at all. I tend to opt for the second answer. But here is the answer. This is the answer I didn't write but it still expresses myself 100%. My friend Hannah sent this blog post, so I thank her for giving me the words that expresses the answer to that common question of "How are you doing?":

Domestic Monastary

Bible reader

I do read the Bible regularly - I really do. I find much encouragement, wisdom, and insight from its' pages. However, I also enjoy novels immensely.

This afternoon I picked up my current novel "The Septembers of Shiraz" by Dalia Sofer to take outside with me to read while the boys enjoyed playing in the warmth of a fall afternoon. Zac and Benji wanted to move to the backyard, so Zachary asked me to come to the backyard with my Bible.

Apparently, Zac thinks anytime I'm reading a book, it must be a Bible. I am sorry to burst his bubble that his mommy really isn't as holy as he thought I was!

(By the way, "The September of Shiraz" is a good read if anybody is looking for a book.)

Congratulations and Argh - all in 5 minutes

I was disciplining Benji in his room today while Zachary, completely on his own, went to the bathroom, took off his pants and his diaper, scooted the stool to the toilet to sit down without the potty seat (because he is a big boy now and he just can't stand that baby potty seat anymore) and proceeded to poop in the potty all by himself. Pretty impressive for someone who just turned two a few weeks ago! I quickly went to another room to do some *small* thing after offering him much praise. Well, in that *short* time he managed to get off the toilet, somehow smearing poop on the stool (but there was none on his foot so I really don't know how that happened) and putting the ENTIRE roll of new toilet paper into the toilet. And that's the 2nd time he did the whole toilet roll in the toilet trick - the first time was a few days ago. Congratulations and Argh - all in 5 minutes.

Big mistake

Benji intercepted the "One Step Ahead" kids' catalog in today's mail. Big mistake. He now is in full-swing coveting mode and has about 100 things he wants for Christmas. It's better to not even know that so many toys exist in this world. Oh well, I guess he's going to be one disappointed little boy on Christmas day.

The power of cheese

If you want to win the hearts of our sons, give them a piece of cheese and they will love you forever.

(Kristin is currently number one on their food list since she gave them cheese on Thursday.)

Benji with his block creation

These are the same blocks my brother and I played with as a kid. My mom doesn't throw much away, which is lots of fun for me because all my old toys are re-visited.

Sweet brothers

Benji's plans

Benji just told Shearn Yoong on the phone that his plans for the afternoon are to go to Barnes and Noble, kill deer, and ride bikes at Mud Creek. Too bad for him that none of those three things are on MY to-do list ... especially not the killing deer part.

At least he provided me with comic relief.

Clothing woes

Basically I feel like complaining so that is what this post will be about.

It is getting colder here in NWA so I went through my long pants. What a depressing event. I knew I had put on a few pounds, but I didn't think it would be that bad. It is. Unless I am looking for the skin-tight look with fat hanging over the waistline. I am not looking forward to 1) wearing the same 2-3 pairs of pants all winter long or 2) spending more money on clothes. We'll see how long I can last with the same boring choices until I do number 2.

I went through Benji and Zac's clothes this past weekend. I have no idea how I bought literally twice as many pants than shirts for Benji for this winter. This means he can get grass stains in the knees but better not have too many spaghetti stains up top.

Zac's short and seems to have a small waist, so even though I have tons of 2T pants, most don't fit him.

The only one of us without a true clothing issue is Shearn Yoong. He's lost some weight from riding more lately. Technically, he has a clothing woe because some of his pants no longer fit. But I think if clothes are too big that does not count as a woe.

Deer hunting

We saw a car today with a deer strapped onto the top. We couldn't tell if the deer was killed from hunting or from a car accident. But whatever the cause, this gave Benji the idea for him to get his gun (which he has none) and go kill some deer to eat the meat. Here's what my 3 guys are doing in the back yard right now.


Now, I'm not against hunting. I know that I have friends whose husbands hunt. That's fine. However, I have to say that I'm glad that my husband doesn't. But it appears that our sons might coerce him to start - at least with bats.

And why am I sitting inside here at the computer? I told them that hunting is a "boy thing." This is my way of getting out of anything I don't want to do. I works quite well. Shearn Yoong did point out that Sarah Palin, the famous moose hunter, would not have approved of my answer. Too bad. :)

Why is it...

Why is it that Sunday is the only day of the week that the boys consistently sleep past 7 a.m.? And today is the only day of the week where we have to be somewhere (church) at 9 a.m. on the other side of town. We had muffins in the car for breakfast today. Maybe we need to switch to the later service.

Cutest frog I know

Zac

Least likely

If there had been a poll in high school as to who would be the least likely to get a nose ring (like all those polls that go in the year book), I would definitely have been one of the top 3 choices.

But my friend Britni and I went to get a nose ring (actually, a stud) yesterday evening. As two SAHMs, we stood out just a bit from the other folks going in for piercings and tattoos. I had gone to vote in the school board election on the way. I also had brought my knitting to do in the car if I had to wait for Britni. I doubt that the other patrons were into voting in school board elections or knitting. But being out of the box is more fun than living within expectations all the time. UPDATED: But who knows? Maybe all the other patrons are hard-core knitters and were campaigning for school board positions. If I don't want people to judge me, I shouldn't judge them, right?

Turns out that it doesn't hurt too much and only takes 2-3 minutes.

I was going to include a picture but if you've seen one nose ring, you've pretty much seen them all. So I'll spare you a close up on my nose pores.

UPDATED:
Here's a picture for you Hannah. You need to click on it to make it bigger to actually see the stud.

Snuggle time at the park

Water anyone?

We came home from Bible study this morning and when I went to fill up our water cups for lunch, I realized that we had NO WATER. Yikes! [There is a busted pipe - the City is working on it.] We drink a lot of water around here. What to do? Thankfully Shearn Yoong had accidentally left our sports water container full of water from the weekend. Of course, I'm sure the boys would have been just fine to exist on juice alone for as long as necessary. But we'll make a grocery store run after nap if the water isn't back on. This also means that I guess I just can't cook dinner tonight. It's a tough life.

CD Player troubles?

We've been having issues with our CD player in the Civic off and on for a while now where the CD just won't eject. Lately, we can't even insert a disc nor play the CD. The kids ended up having to listen to NPR or Family Life or whatever Laurel may be in the mood for. Not too shabby in my opinion, but Laurel finally said that she would like the player fixed or replaced. I finally was able to carve out some time this afternoon to see what's up with the player. As soon as I slid it out of its bracket and turned it face down to unplug the connectors, I heard some metallic clinking sound coming from the inside. Uh-oh, this can't possibly be good, I thought. In my mind, I was thinking this is so bad I probably need to replace it. So took it into the house to open it up. I told Laurel, "Listen to this". Her first reaction was that it sounded like coins inside. Coins??!! Who would........ Why would..... nevermind..... In this household, that *could* and *would* be a possibility. I opened the top panel up and sure enough, a quarter was peeking at me from underneath. In fact, I dug up two other quarters in there.


Good news is, we didn't have to spend money to buy a new one. In fact, our CD player just GAVE us 75 cents to spend. Can't beat that! Now if only there's some $100 bills in there somewhere....

Happy birthday Zac

Dreds like Hannah

got me in stitches

A friend and her friend started the blog got me in stitches to share crochet and knitting projects, hints, advice, etc. I am now a moderator as well (which lets me put pictures and posts up). Come on over if you crochet or knit ... or if you're interested in starting. It's lots of fun!

Prayer

My friend Nikki gave birth to their son Henry Paul at 26 weeks gestation yesterday. He is in the Little Rock NICU and will be there for a very long time. Even if you don't know this lovely family, I know they (and I) would appreciate any prayers you can offer up on their behalf.

Much more comfortable than jeans

Since I am renouncing jeans, I have a new pair of pants to choose from:


For people who are real sewers, they know that a pair of pajama bottoms is just about the easiest thing to sew. However, since I am NOT a sewer, I am very proud of myself and my pants!

Spider lily

Is this not the most beautiful and interesting flower you've ever seen? They are similar to the surprise lily (they suddenly pop up in mid- to late-summer, normally after a large rain), but they are very rare in this part of the country. I never saw one until last year when my mom's neighbor gave her some, and she passed a few along to me. This is one of six that are currently blooming in our back yard.

Jeans

The favorite American attire - good ol' jeans.

Well, not for me.

I have finally decided to quit trying. I have been trying to find a pair of jeans that fit well for YEARS and have never been able to find even one. And folks, this week I tried on some that cost over $100... and they STILL didn't fit well.

I am now officially a khaki-wearing person. I am tired of wasting my time on this illusive dream.

Fall

This week I have been wearing socks. This means it's official, folks - summer in Fayetteville is winding down.

I can't wait to see the leaves changing color soon.

Appreciation for toilet paper

Even if my sons bicker (see yesterday's post), at least Benji appreciates bathroom products.

A few minutes ago Benji asked me, "Mommy, who gave you fancy toilet paper and fancy wipes?"

I normally buy the most expensive paper products (Cottonelle toilet paper, Viva paper towels, etc.) but decided to give the cheap stuff a try in order to be a little more thrifty. Obviously, Benji thought the new toilet paper and wet wipes are great.

Bicker, bicker, bicker

Lately all my kids seem to be doing is bicker, bicker, bicker. And the crazy thing is that Zachary hardly uses his words, but they can still annoy each other all day long. I'm seriously worried about when he actually starts doing more talking - then I can only imagine the escalation. :(

Can you tell it's been a rough day so far???

Any advice on bickering children? Except banish them to different rooms. Or perhaps hire a full-time baby-sitter every day?

Gift from Nona

Here is the cute baker's hat that my mom sewed for Benji for his birthday (along with the mini bread pan).

Hope or hopeless

Monday and Tuesday this week were very discouraging for me in the mothering department. Benji seemed to relapse into some old behavior that I thought we were done with. The endless repetition of discipline [otherwise known as normal-life-with-two-young-children] was getting extremely tiresome. I woke up this morning feeling little hope for my 4 year old son who can be such a handful at times.

Then this afternoon God showed me this verse and reminded me of the song based on it:

"And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us. " (Romans 5:5)

Hope in Benji is disappointing. But hope in God is not disappointing. Why? Because He has poured His love into our hearts. Even if I have no reason to hope in Benji, I always have reason to hope in God. And I also will believe God for those desired changes in Benji - whether they happen tomorrow (my preference) or in 20 years, depending on God's timing.

And I also have hope that this verse can be an encouragement to another weary mom or dad out there. Blessings on our tough role as parent.

Finger knitting

Benji and Zac both enjoy seeing me knit (for about 5 minutes and then they want me to stop and play with them). So I though Benji might like to learn to do a modified knitting called "finger knitting" which is basically using your fingers in lieu of needles. He caught on pretty well and made the necklace for his giraffe (well, he made about 1/3 and I did the other 2/3 because he got tired).

More sugar?

A few days ago, Benji told me, very scientifically, as if he had recently read the research in the most up-to-date scientific journal, "Mom, did you know that kids need to eat more sugar?"

Nice try.

But I'm not falling for it.

Time for the cake

Benji will be four on Monday, but we had his party this morning.

The party involved cake and party hats.

It involved party blowers.

It involved helium balloons and friends.

And it involved Daddy. (He took the day off to spend time with the birthday boy.)

Combine all these ingredients - one happy birthday boy. Mission accomplished.

Welcome baby Alex

Our new nephew arrived this morning, and we want to welcome him! We haven't seen him yet (plan to make a trip this afternoon), but we already know he's a cutie. My parents-in-law arrived in town 2 days ago - and how considerate of my sister-in-law to wait until they had arrived to go into labor!

This makes yet another early September birthday. We now have 2 friends and 1 nephew who have birthdays within 4 days of Benji's birthday. We moms are going to have to coordinate which day to have whose party!!

More home improvement

Yep, we're on a roll. Once you start, it's hard to stop.

Here's the new color of our living room. And this time it was me (Laurel) to do the painting (a first for me). It took 2 days, but I have to say it was easier than I expected. Also, you get the house to yourself and you get to turn up the music as loud as you want! :)


Next week I'm hoping to recruit several of my home-decorating-savvy friends to do a shopping trip to help "accessorize" the room. Home decor is definitely not my talent - so it's great to have friends who love to do it plus are good at it.

Anybody need to use a cake pan?

Benji's 4th birthday cake is currently baking in the oven. Therefore, the house smells all homey and chocolately. Yum! I realized that I am starting to have a collection of specialty cake pans. I currently own:

- tractor pan
- car pan
- animal head pan (can be used to make a pig, cat, dog, giraffe, or bear)
- duck pan

And I'm sure I'll be adding 1-2 every year with new birthdays.

They just sit in my cupboard other times of the year, so if anybody close by ever wants to borrow any of those, just let me know. I know if Sheryll hadn't moved far, far away - we would have been swapping back and forth. Check out her blog for her most recent cake creation for baby Jonah's 1st birthday.

Zac in his boat

Bye-bye bib...

...hello stain remover.

How old is too old to wear a bib?

Since Benji will be 4 in 2 weeks, Shearn Yoong and I decided that perhaps it's time to take the bib off Benji at meals. So yesterday was his first bib-free day. And here's the problem. I am the one who does laundry. And my job has been really easy up until now. Neither boy hardly ever stains their clothing ... because I am OCD about using bibs. Bibs are really great inventions. We adults should use them too!

So if you see me at the supermarket stocking up on stainer remover, you'll understand why.

New Bathroom!

After about a month living on just one tiny bathroom, all of us are glad that we finally have our other bathroom back! It's by far my biggest DIY project, and we absolutely love how it looks now. Everything except the bath tub and fixtures was replaced. Looking at it now, we sorta want the bath tub replaced..... Oh well, we'll survive.

There goes the old sink and most of the vinyl floor.

New floor being installed

Through the project, Benji has shown a keen interest in helping. It's actually quite amusing watching him imitate me. I would normally have a hurried pace as I move in and out between the bathroom and the garage. Benji would follow right behind me and imitated my hurried pace. He enjoyed doing the little tasks I gave him, although he would typically declare needing a break after about 5 minutes on the job! He does come back to work some more, but it's peppered with breaks constantly. Here he is with Grandpa and me putting the cement board down; prepping the wall for painting. He also got to do some mudding, hammering, sweeping and painting. So helpful. Best of all, he kept me company.

Here are some pics of the new bathroom. I've yet to finish caulking and reinstalling the door, but otherwise is usable at this time. We'll possibly need a new vanity mirror. The boys took their first bath in the new bathroom last night.

So what are some of the lesson learned from this project? For one, IKEA products assume you have a perfectly flat and 90-degree angled walls. Yeah, like that's gonna happen. So we have a bit of a gap along the right side of the counter. Second, I'm glad that Grandpa has tools. Boy, I can't imagine how much money I would have to sink into this project if I had to get all the tools myself. Thank you Grandpa for the tools and the help. Third, save yourself some trouble and rent a wet saw to cut porcelain tiles! It's worth it.

We also want to thank all the playgroup ladies for giving their valuable input and ideas toward this project.... and others to come I'm sure.

County Fair

Anticipation - Benji has been waiting for the return of the county fair ever since last August. He asks when the county fair will arrive about once a month all year long. Here he is waiting for the train to arrive so he can get started on his first ride of the evening.

At first Zac is not so sure about this train ride thing. This is a little scary.

Wait a minute! This is actually really fun. He did the "more" sign lots tonight.

When Zac saw the carousel, he kept saying, "Neigh, Neigh" (his word for horse). Both boys enjoyed this ride as well.

Once the tickets were gone, we went to see the animals. You can tell the real cowboys from the city folk in a second - and we are definite city folk. If you can't tell from the picture, that's a rabbit they're petting up there.

Conclusion: the fair was a hit.