Five and a Half

Benjamin is now five and a half. He's the very youngest in his kindergarten class, but you wouldn't know it. He's bright, average height, and socially on target. 

Here's his picture day shot after I grilled him all morning about smiling for the photographer. Cute, but obviously insecure. 

So I casually asked him if he wanted to go back on re-take day. He consented, and I'm so glad he did. This is the Benjamin I know and love.

Benjamin is a very good boy. Yes, he's possessive. He's also crazy competitive and wants things his own way a lot of the time, but he really wants to do the right thing, and I can see that more and more these days. Last month, he wrote this letter all by himself to Santa. (post edit: I did open up the Target website for him to copy out the toys he wanted- he does not know how to spell "Samurai" correctly on his own!) My favorite part was the line "I sinc I bin good," pronouncing the "th" in "think" the way he does out loud. It was just such an honest line. He obviously knew he'd made a lot of mistakes this year, but was deep down really trying to be good. 

This week, we've had packages from aunts and uncles and Grandmas and Grandpas piling in, overwhelming the tiny circumference of our fake Christmas tree. Benjamin has kept careful count each day, and finally decided to write an amended letter to Santa. Honestly, this is what he wrote:

Santa,
We really have too many presents. Please don't bring any presents.
Love, Benjamin

Melt. Yes, you may have whatever you most wanted on that Christmas list! It is sort of ironic how just last week I was writing how infuriating the boys were being, and how Santa shouldn't come...It must have been his obsession with the straws, since I haven't had to use the toy time-out box at all since then.
So lastly I thought it would be fun to do a little questionnaire with him again. Here it is with his responses.

1. What is your favorite color?  Blue.

2. What is your favorite toy?    Legos. I mean, Iron Man stuff.

3. What is your favorite fruit?    Oranges.

4. What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch?    Rings and meatballs.

5. What is your favorite outfit?    My fuzzy pants and my Lego Star Wars shirt.

6. What is your favorite game?    Chess...no, Angry Birds!

7. What is your favorite snack?     Nutella and pretzels.

8. What is your favorite animal?    Polar bear.

9. What is your favorite song?    Joy to the World.

10. What is your favorite book?    My Lego Ninjago book and Iron Man and Spiderman.

11. Who is your best friend?     I play with Timmy at school, so I like Timmy.

12. What is your favorite drink?     Orange juice.

13. What do you like to take to bed with you at night?     I like sleeping with my cuddles (his blanket) and my monkey and my Santa hat.

14. What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast?  Crepes. 

15. What do you want for dinner on your birthday? I want to go to McDonalds.

16. What do you want to be when you grow up?  I don’t know yet. Maybe go to [Daddy's company] or maybe I’ll grow up to be a Baseball player. 


I sure love this little guy. Even if (and perhaps, in part because) he isn't quite so little anymore.

Baby's First Haircut

 It's always a bittersweet moment for me when it comes time to give my babies their first haircuts. It's one of those last things that make them babies and not little people. 

Nora's hair has been getting straggly and wispy for a while now, so I knew it was time to take action.

And here's the final result. I guess I felt the need to add that bow when she ended up looking a lot like Peter. It's still a little sad when I look at her and those sweet red curls are gone. 

I'm not too jazzed about it yet. It kind of reminds me of my little sister's pageboy haircut, circa 1991 (remember that, Miriam? You're lucky I couldn't find a copy to put up!). She may have to be my first child to have professional haircuts. My boys have never had that privilege! 

Naughty or Nice

These past few weeks...where do I begin? It's been a little rough around here. Benjamin and Peter have been especially awful, and I've tried about everything; taking away privileges, time outs, taking them aside for one-on-one time, lessons about kindness and Christlike behavior...oh, and maybe also some threats about Santa not coming this year. But it seems like every time I'd turn around, they were fighting about who got the blue bowl, who got to sit where, who got to turn on the Christmas lights, who had the toy first, who gets to use the sink first, and on and on and on!! I believe they're good kids who know how to choose the right. I know this is a phase and it will pass. And I know I'm not alone in this at all - right? Right?!?

So yesterday, I remembered this pin I saw (it was actually about kids leaving their things on the floor, but I tailored it to fit my needs), and decided to try it out.

Source: madsmemories.blogspot.com via Sarah on Pinterest

I explained to the boys that if they fought over a toy, it would have to go to the "Time Out Box," and that they couldn't see it again until they had done something to earn it back. So far, it seems to be working. They haven't attempted to earn anything back yet, but I can see them working things out before they explode at each other. Progress!

The other thing we've been doing is adding "straws" to "Jesus' manger" whenever we do something nice for someone else this month. The goal is to make baby Jesus' manger soft before He comes on Christmas. This was a tradition I had growing up that I wanted to pass on, and so far, Benjamin has been the most excited about it.

Honestly, a lot of it has to do with Peter. He is a sensitive little guy, and is at an especially volatile stage right now. He can be so sweet and cooperative one moment, then a complete terror the next. This past Sunday, we went to our monthly fast and testimony church meeting, and he really wanted to go up to the microphone. Since I was wrestling with all three kids at that moment, I asked Paul to take him up there. He did, and Peter told everyone about how he likes to read the scriptures every day and that he knows that Jesus loves him. It's moments like these that I live for! Of course, by nursery, he was kicking and screaming because he wanted a particular chair that another boy was sitting in. Primary is just a few weeks away. :)

December?!

How is it already December, I'd like to know? Thanksgiving has come and gone, and now we're going into Christmas full force. We drove up to Indianapolis for the break to see Paul's cousins. We had a wonderful time, but managed to come away with only two pictures, both foggy and unappetizing. I love Thanksgiving. I love getting together with friends and family, and I love good food. We had so much to be thankful for this year. 

As I was digging through Benjamin's backpack this morning, I found this Thankful Book he made. I had a good chuckle. You think he's trying to tell me something?

I am thankful for my mom making cake.

I am thankful for food.

I am thankful for cake.

I am thankful for cookies.

We may have to make lots of cake and cookies this Christmas season. :) We have our tree up, most of our decorations out, and are getting gifts ready. It's a busy time, but I really love this season. And I love it even more, seeing it through my children's eyes each new year.

Melt.

Man, this little girl already knows how to break my defenses. This afternoon when I finally went in to get Nora out of her crib from her should-have-been-two-hour-but-somehow-only-twenty-minute-nap, I noticed she needed her diaper changed. As I laid her on the changing table, she just grinned up at me, then sweetly pressed her hand on my arm and said, "Mama. Pretty." Seriously, how could I be mad at that?!

New Couch!

We've had our beautiful new couch for a couple weeks now, so I thought it might be time for an introduction here...

I love the subtle herringbone texture and the warm camel color. Neutral enough to transfer gracefully through my fickle design kicks. :)

And I'm slightly obsessed with the little turned caster feet.

It's also super comfortable and sturdy (with a great warranty), which means it will be around for a long, long time.

Pretty much everything in our house is from a yard sale or inherited, so this was our first real furniture purchase. I've been waiting for it for a long time- it was my motivation to get us completely out of debt (student loans, cars, credit cards), and we finally did it! Maybe that's part of why I love it so much.
A big improvement from our old one, which had broken supports, mouse-chewed holes, pen decorations, and on top of that- was way too big for the space. Yeah, I'm not missing this old one much...

Maybe is time I get some new duties...

See that pile of leaves the boys are in? That's just from the front of a small strip of lawn on the side of our driveway. We spent most of Saturday raking and bagging (our city requires us to buy their overpriced bags, which I suppose pays for their removal) roughly 20 huge bags worth of leaves. It was satisfying at the end of the day to see our yard so clean again...but only for a few minutes, since the neighbors' leaves blew right back in. Oh well. Those are the prices you pay for living in such a green area.
It's been a really warm November so far. Yesterday, it got up to about 80 degrees! I could live with Winter if it stayed like this. But for the past two days, I didn't get to enjoy the weather. Instead I was downtown, fulfilling my civic responsibilities as a juror. It was a really interesting, frustrating, tiring, and rewarding experience. I originally was scheduled for jury duty last month while Paul was out of the country, but I got it moved so he could stay home. Paul played the part of Mr. Mom perfectly. Seriously, kids were fed, bathed, taken to and from school, dishes were washed, laundry was done, groceries were bought, dinner was ready at the end of the day, and the house was even in decent order when I got home. He's a star.
I went in yesterday morning, armed with a few books. I was sure I'd be sitting in that giant room with 500+ other people for two days. After a few hours, things finally got moving, and they called the first round of jurors- 36 people, and I very relieved to be among that group.  We moved slowly up to our room, where we found out that we were on a civil case and the attorneys asked us different questions. Being the boring stay-at-home-mom that I am, I was pretty quiet through all of this. No, I did not have any experience driving a truck, no I did not have any real legal knowledge, no I never had business dealings with these particular companies...and so forth. And so I was picked to be on that particular jury. Also a relief, since those who were not picked had to go back to that giant room and go through the long process all over again.
Our case was pretty boring, although I feel some surge of excitement that I now have permission to talk (and even blog!) about it. :) We watched the same clip of surveillance footage and google map images and heard the same story over and over for two days. Basically, a company was trying to get actual and punitive damages from some FedEx driver for "knowingly" damaging a communication line that ran over a parking lot. Besides the footage, there wasn't much to go on to determine motive other than the guy's testimony that it was an honest mistake- that he wasn't even aware of causing any damage until he was later shown the tape.
Being in the same room with a bunch of strangers for a few days was the most interesting part though. Since we couldn't discuss the case, we talked about all sorts of other things. I had lunch with another young mom, who I never would have otherwise met. I got to hear all sorts of fascinating stories and open up a little about some of my beliefs. When we finally got to deliberate, it was as if the floodgates opened, and what was really on our minds all spilled out. It was a pretty clear consensus among us, which I thought was interesting. I wondered if it would be when during the closing statements I found myself waffling. Anyways, it's over. I'm glad it's over, but I'm also glad I got to have the experience. Maybe I'll even look forward to it the next time I'm called in for jury duty.