Boys Will Be Boys

Wanna see the awesome-ist Groupon ever?

Check out what Musselman’s Honda Raceway had for HALF OFF:

 

 

KART RACES!!!!

It was really fun to watch the guys figure out their karts and put that pedal to the metal, though I was wishing I was there with them!

(the cool photos were courtesy of Fabric Flit Fly, she takes WAY awesome-er photos than I do and has some wicked editing skills)

I’d say it went over pretty well as a Christmas gift. Now I’ll have to try it for birthdays, anniversaries (hint hint), and St. Patrick’s Day gifts!

 

Peace

For 2012, WordPress set up an automatic daily email with all sorts of great writing prompts.

Sadly, I don’t read them often and they are deleted quickly. Though I need the prompts, I feel some pressure if I get them every day.

But yesterday’s prompt was “peace”, followed by, “What gives you peace”?, showing a lovely photo of the ocean.

Now there are plenty of ways that I find peace, mostly because I have a strong belief in a Supreme Being and can find comfort in the scriptures, the words of the prophets, and prayer.

But today, filled with 3-hour glucose tests and missed appointments and sheer exhaustion (and I don’t even have a newborn yet. sheesh!), I did NOT know how on earth I could blog about peace.

And then, when I went to tuck in my boys, I found it…

Looks like they had a busy day too!

Shall I?

Shall I…

Wake up feeling achy and groggy from a sleepless night due to heartburn and pee breaks?

Leave late for church because Oli refused to go #2 in the potty AGAIN?

Get pulled over for speeding because I am late for church?

Try really hard not to cry about being pulled over?

Realize that because I grabbed my primary bag and my scriptures that I forgot my purse and DON’T have my drivers license with me?

Pull out an expired insurance card to show Mr. Officer?

Try to get my boys to be friendly enough to talk Mr. Officer out of giving us a gazillion-dollar ticket (or taking me to jail for not having a license)?

Explain to the boys WHY cops have such bright lights (as Mr. Officer writes and writes and writes)?

Cry like a little girl Shed a few tears when I’m handed a warning for no license and a “waste of a finite resource” ticket (only $35 dollars and no points for your license)?

Why, yes. Yes I think I shall.

How was YOUR Sunday?

 

 

 

 

 

Parenting is HARD, Yo!

My sister-in-law has “Parenting is HARD, Yo!” as a category on her blog, and lately I think I’ve been thinking about that one liner all the time.

Now, I only have two kids, both boys, they are not super close in age (4 1/2 year gap), they aren’t teenagers, and they don’t go to school, so I know that some of you are thinking, “Wait a second….what the HECK are you whining about?”

Well, I’ll tell ya.

I’ve learned (and I’ll say it over and over and over and over again) that every phase, whether good or bad, comes to an end.

Sometimes this gives me hope. Example: Oli got over his “why” stage recently, which was very very nice.

Sometimes it makes me sad. Example: Oli also outgrew liking kisses. He is back to wiping them off and claiming, “dat’s gwoss” after each little smooch. He is also kicking everything that doesn’t do what he likes/says. Even the dishwasher.

But Mr. B is in a phase right now, and it has just about drivin me to tears! And baldness, because I want to RIP my hair out sometimes.

That phase is…

Boundary Pushing.

Yep. Here he is, all of 7 years old, turning 8 in October, getting prepared to be baptized, and he decides that he is going to start pushing those buttons.

I don’t have a problem with giving him choices, and I don’t have a problem with offering him those choices, I am just frustrated with him making the WRONG choice.

I understand this is totally normal, and I am trying to embrace this new phase of independence. But sometimes, I can look at my son and SEE the wheels turning and see the idea form in his mind, and I KNOW he is going to push whatever boundary happens to be set in front of him. Normally, I don’t have any issues enforcing the consequences of breaking or pushing whichever rule he chose to challenge, but this week was a HARD one for me.

We had our family meeting 2 weeks ago and discussed some family rules that we would all obey, and one of them was about lying. If anyone was caught lying, they would be grounded from everything for one week. Considering we live in a remote area and are a happy home-school family, this is a BIG deal. We have to go out of our way to ensure that we have a good blend of school time vs friend/socialization time. But when we said grounded from everything, we meant everything. Even Awana.

And then…Mr. B lied.

And not even about something BAD.

He lied about

washing

his

hands.

“I promise I washed them.” he claimed.

I looked and then I sniffed, and there was FOR SURE some gross-nasty-dirty-boy-germs growing on those out-stretched hands of his.

He looked me in the eyes and then averted his gaze. We both knew he was lying. I looked at him and simply told him he had broken one of our family rules and that he was grounded.

His eyes got wide and he said, “Ok, that’s fine. But I get to go to Awana, right? We have to finish the second part of the story.”

“Nope. Sorry buddy. Grounded from everything. For one week. I’m so sorry you lied to me, it makes me pretty sad.” I replied.

“What? That’s. NOT. Fair! It’s inside-out night tonight!!!” he claimed.

“I know, we were pretty excited about that. We’ll just have to wear our clothes inside out next week.” I said.

He stormed off (funny enough, he went and washed his hands) and went to his room for about 40 minutes.

When he came out, he had tears in his eyes and said, “Momma, I’ll stay in time-out for 7 hours if you let me go to Awana tonight and hear the second part of the story and see my friends. It’s the story of the miracle of the sheep’s wool NOT getting wet and then getting wet (Gideon’s story from Judges)”

I turned around and gave him a hug and said that that wasn’t the consequence for lying.

He leaned back out of my hug and looked me in the eyes.

“Well, I’ll stay in time-out on The Bench of SHAME (his name for the time-out bench in the living room) for 7 or even EIGHT hours if you let me go. Or I can pick up dog poop (and he shuddered).”

I just shook my head.

He was silent for a minute. Then, “Howabout you ground me from everything for a MONTH except Awana? That’s more fair. Or if you go rent Tron on Blue Ray and don’t let me watch it? I would HATE that.”

There were more tears in his eyes and his voice cracked on the last word.

“Those are great suggestions, and if you choose to break another rule, I might use one of those, but you chose to lie, and the consequence for lying is being grounded for a week. I hope you understand that.” I said softly.

Rolling his eyes, he stepped back and said in a mocking voice, “Oh, yeaaaah…I understand it. Blah, blah, blah. But I DON’T like it!!” and he stormed back to his room.

The afternoon was quiet and passed quickly with Mr. B playing with building sets at the table, but every 30 minutes or so that great big tough 7-year-old boy would look up at the clock, get a little teary-eyed and he would sigh.

Bedtime came quickly, and after prayers & putting Oli in his crib, I tucked Mr. B in. As I did, he wrapped his arms around my neck and whispered, “I’m sorry I lied, Momma.”

“I know you are, sweet boy.” I replied, hugging him back.

Walking out of the room and wiping a tear from my eye, I said goodnight and shut the door.

Like Cat I said, Parenting is HARD, yo!

 

Walls

With his favorite stocking cap on, Oli learned that running into brick walls is not nearly as fun as it looks on TV.
Poor little guy.

Poor Sad Pout!!

The magic Monkey Bag can help with all bumps and bruises!

As a mom to two boys and one on the way, all I can say is at least there wasn’t any blood!

New Year, New Goals

Yep, it’s already the 11 of January, 2012! Has anyone else noticed that the past few years have ended with a sort of theme? Like 2009 was a bad year for everyone, 2010 came and went waaaaaay too fast, and 2011 was just…well, there.

I totally feel a hopefulness and light-hearted nature when I talk to folks about 2011, and that makes me HAPPY!

So to add to our own year full of hope, and taking a tip from Money Saving Mom, we got together as a family and started talking about what we wanted to get done this year and I think that we’ve come up with some great (and yet oh-so-attainable) goals. You might notice that they are mostly religious goals (sorry to some of you who are reading this who will be bored/offended by this) but I realized that as a family unit, we were missing a few keys that I know help families stay happy and strong in a world so BENT on ripping them apart.

January:

Family – Have Family Home Evening every week, and start potty training Oli (2 1/2).

Personal – Go for a walk every day, even a short one.

February:

Family – Pay tithing on every earning and make tithing jars to help the boys with this principle.

Personal – Make tithing jars for boys get ready for this baby.

March:

Family – Take care of the new baby. That’s ALL we are gonna focus on this month. Oh, and Mr. B added that he is going to be especially nice to his brother, which will be nice.

Personal – Take a shower every day and take care of the baby.

April:

Family – Watch General Conference either at home or with family (traveling with the new guy might not be so fun).

Personal – Continue to try to take a shower every day and take care of the baby.

May:

Family – Focus on General Conference talks during our Family Home Evenings. Bless the baby.

Personal – Go for a walk every day, take a shower every day, and get over having this baby already!

June:

Family – Have family prayers (with Daddy) every day.

Personal – Read my scriptures every day and start jogging.

July:

Family  - Read scriptures every day together, even for 5 minutes.

Personal – Go for walks (jogs) every day, watch caloric intake.

August:

Family – Nice attitudes….KINDESS to our family and to others.

Personal – Same as above, but start more excercise.

September:

Family – Attitude of Gratitude, write in thankful journals once a week.

Personal – Same as above.

October:

Family – Watch General Conference, prepare for Mr. B’s baptism. What the heck? My son is going to be baptized already? Whoah, I’m gonna need a minute.

Personal – Get a grip on yourself and help your kiddo prepare to be baptized!

November:

Family – Prepare for Christmas and focus Family Home Evenings on General Conference.

Personal – Start making Christmas gifts so there won’t be any late night cramming this year!

December:

Family – Look back on another amazing year, and focus on the true, sweet meaning of Christmas.

Personal – Ditto.

See, I/we have a WHOLE MONTH to work toward our goal and see it through. Very attainable, AND if we do all these things, we’ll be happier AND healthier, yay! What are some of YOUR goals for 2012?

You should totally make some, it’s gonna be a great year!

 

Little Hands

I walked past the dishwasher and saw this:

Little Hands

 

and sighed.

I didn’t sigh because it was there, I sighed because I had company coming and I was going to have to wipe that little handprint away forever.

That little handprint is a daily reminder.

I watched one two-year-old little boy pick up his plate, spoon and cup, balance them in his unsteady little hands, and toddle over to the dishwasher to put them away. He put them in wrong, upside down, and on the wrong rack, but then he slid the rack back into the dishwasher, reached down and shut the door, leaving these little handprints as evidence of his helpfulness.

His grin was a wide as the Grand Canyon when he turned around to face me, and THAT’S what I see when I look at those little prints; a proud and happy boy who turned to his oh-so-proud Momma to say, “Yook! I do it! I keen up, aaaallll done. I go pay wif cars now. Bye Momma!” And just like that, he is off to play and explore and do all the things that little boys do.

But for a few more days, I look at those little prints and SMILE and remember that moment and that grin before I wipe them away forever.

Or…until the next meal time.

 

Once Upon a December

How did people post to their blogs in December? I just don’t get it! As Christmas day drew near, the last thing in the world I thought of at the end of the day was, “Gee, I think I’ll neglect the baking and cooking dinner and laundry and cleaning I need to get done this evening and sit and down at the computer for a spell.”

I think there are others out there who are just a little more organized than me. Or are more diligent in using the short amount of time we are alloted every day. Once I get on the computer, it can be really hard for me to stop using it, so I chose to stay away from it a lot in December.

BUT, that doesn’t mean that I didn’t do stuff, because I did!

Like I wrote this little poem one morning before my chiropractor appointment:

T’was two weeks before Christmas,
And all through the house
I could smell stinky sewage
And perhaps a dead mouse.
The kiddos were ready
To start their big day
But all I kept thinking was,
“Why do boys stink this way?”
When what to my wondering eyes should appear?
But a tub of grey water
Nasty stuff, as I feared!
So a call to the Septic man
Was Momma’s next step
And as you can see,
Our yard’s quite a wreck!

Diggin' Holes

Dirt clods are fun to throw...till Momma catches you!

Gila Man helping out, trying to lower the fee (it didn't work)!

We’ve been here for 5 years this month, so it was time to have the septic pumped, and luckily there were no other issues with it, so we are done for another 5 years (hopefully!).

Later that day and the afternoon of the next, I HAD to make strawberry jam before my pathetic bunch of strawberries went bad. Turns out that I didn’t have enough strawberries for the jars I had, so I grabbed the peaches I canned this summer (thanks for the canning lesson, Camille!) and decided to make a batch of peach jam – it turned out so so so so yummy! I’ll definitely do it again next year!

When my boys found out how yummy it was to eat the jam, they both wanted to take part in making it, which was great with Mr B (7), but not so easy with Oli (2), so I came up with some chores for him to do while we made jam:

Wash that cup!

Scrub That Sink!

As you can see, child labor is a popular pastime in this household. He LOVED being in the sink, and he felt like he was a part of the “crew”, so it all worked out perfectly!

We had some friends from church who got some cut Christmas trees from Oregon and offered us one for FREE! Since my artificial tree is in sad shape, we ran over and picked it up. It smelled soooooo good and we had a fun time decorating it. It was hard to get used to not folding the ends of the branches over the most breakable ornaments, but we only lost three this year, so I consider that a decent rate of loss.

GrinsReaching way up!

 

Way up high!

 

We went to see Santa this year, even though it’s been a few years since we’ve told Mr B the truth about the man who sneaks into people’s houses at night. Oli thought he was creepy until he saw the candy cane he was holding, then he ran right up and sat in his lap! (funny side note: the candy bags the boys got had mostly Halloween candy in them with a candy cane thrown in for good measure!)

Big Kid with Santa

 

Little Guy with Santa

 

Candy Bags!!

In the next few days, we got to visit friends and family, and after visiting Aunt Dee Dee, Uncle Mel, and Grammie in The Big City, the boys got to take home a gingerbread house. We decorated and ate it in the same afternoon. Let’s face it; it’s hard for a kid to look at a cookie covered in frosting and candy and not take a bite/pinch/poke/prod/lick.

Excited Much?

Decorating!

Finally, all that work for EATING!

All grins when he finds out that he really gets to eat it!

 

Christmas Eve brought a little surprise; our neighbors invited us over for a small get-together and Nativity scene. It was the CUTEST thing I had ever seen. The kids acted out the scenes while the adults read the parts and every child had a part. Mr. B was one of the Three Kings and did a great job for no practice. )

One of the Kings

 

Little King

Finally, (yes, FINALLY), Christmas morning was upon us, and my parents spent the night on Christmas Eve so they could be there when the kids opened up their gifts. It was a super fun morning, but I’ll admit that it was hard to get the ball rolling and get breakfast ready AND be to church by 10am. Honestly, I really wanted to skip it, but I had already told Rachel that we would sing in the choir and I didn’t want to back out. It turned out to be a wonderful meeting and only lasted one hour, and at the end, I was so VERY glad we had gone. It was a perfect way to focus on what the day was TRULY about, and the rest of the afternoon was fun and relaxed.

Christmas morning photos:

One of Oli's favorite things! (he's asking me, "Momma, you-a open dis, pease?")

Looks like you CAN send a gift to a family member in another country and have it get there in time...who knew?

Mom's New Fossil Purse (I may or may not be jealous of this)

PJ's made by Nana (aren't they cute?!?) and a dart gun from Uncle Mikey.

Hat from Momma and markers from the grandparents

We finished up the year by having a fake and totally tweaked New Year’s party. I was NOT about to let my kids stay up ’till midnight and then attempt to keep them from having meltdowns for three hours in church the next morning. I have to draw the line somewhere!

So, Sunday night (New Year’s Day) at 6 pm, we set the clocks ahead three hours and started the festivities. We popped popcorn, drank hot cocoa (or hot tea for me), started watching New Year’s movies and had a great time until “midnight”, when we looked up the 2012 dropping of the ball (thank you YouTube) in Times Square and counted down to the new year in our own little home. Then we shouted, “Happy New Year”, jumped around a little, and put the kiddos to bed.

It was 9:15 when they fell asleep.

I think we’ll do this every year until the kids leave the house…..think it’ll work?

What a wonderful month to reflect on family and The  Savior and realize how truly blessed and lucky (and sneaky) we are! Here’s to another great year of learning and growing (literally) and living!

I am NOT Gonna Lie

Nope. I am NOT gonna lie. I’m not gonna say, “Life is all rainbows, and unicorns and butterflies all the time. And I never disagree with my husband and I love every single second of being a mom.” But I’m not gonna be all “My kid is driving me crazy and I want to pull out what’s left of my super-fine hair”, either.

I think there’s a very healthy middle ground here.

My son, my first born, is so much like me it’s scary (except that he’s smart. super-duper smart. which he did NOT get from me. but all those weird mannerisms? yep. totally my fault).

It’s scary because I was a WEIRD kid.

I thought about strange things.

I DID weird things.

I said stupid things.

I wanted to be good but I made me plenty of bad decisions.

And so, sometimes, when my son does/says/acts/reacts to something in our lives, I’m all like, “What the heck?!? Did you really just do that?” and in my mind, I’m all, “What the HECK? Did he really just do that? Wait…I remember doing something like that when I was around his age, and I did it because I was so totally curious and excited I could hardly sit still and I had to, I mean I just HAD to reach out and DO that thing I knew I wasn’t supposed to do.”

Sometimes it helps me be a better mom to look back at myself and my life and understand that I have a little “Mini-Me” to raise.

I may or may not have read a hundred or so few parenting books in the attempt to bridge the gap I sometimes feel as a mom, and one of the best pieces of advice came from an audiobook called, “Loving Guidance: Setting Limits Without Guilt“. While I don’t always agree 100% with all the info I’m presented with, I will take a few golden nuggets of advice from one book or another and compile them into a great set of guidelines for our own individual needs as a family.

The golden nugget from the above mentioned book was actually quoted from a song, “Ac-cent-tchu-ate The Positive“.

“You’ve got to ac-CENT-tchu-ate the positive

El-lim-in-ate the negative

Latch on to the affirmative

But don’t mess with Mr. In-between”

Cliche, but please just let me say:

Best.Advice.EVER.

I mean, you can apply this to ANYTHING or ANY situation you are in.

Stuck in traffic? Awesome! I can listen to one more Christmas song before they become taboo once more.

Rainy day? More cocoa for me!

No money do go on a date? I wanted to Redbox a movie and hang out in my pj’s with my own yummilicious air-popped popcorn and  watch that movie as a family anyway.

Kids are arguing again? Awesome!  A time out for them and that means I can use the restroom without someone knocking on the door!

Great advice for me, and super-DUPER advice for a me as a mom.

Seriously, what kid doesn’t respond to positivity?

We were having a hard time with home-school and getting stuck on Phonics (our worst of the worst of the worst subjects. this is the hair-pulling-out moment of every day), so I made a few changes last week to see if we couldn’t get going on a better note.

* We begin every school session with a prayer. NO exceptions.

* We did Phonics right away while we were all gung-ho about school.

* We start 2 hours later so Mr. B can have some fun time with his Daddy in the mornings while he’s home.

* I started praising him for the sight words he DID remember & the sentences he COULD read, and then we simply reviewed what he missed without drawing attention to it.

And WOW. What a difference.

I thought I’d try it with my little one also (not in school, obviously, but just around the house) and it sure did boost our spirits.

Then I tried it with my husband, who I totally thought didn’t need it because he’s an adult and can give himself his own virtual pat on the back (there’s an app for that, right? he probably has it).

But it worked wonders. It was soooo nice because when you focus positively on someone else, they usually reciprocate it!

So.

Do you have one of those areas, like Phonics, in which it’s HARD to “Ac-CENT-tchu-ate” the positive? (Please, please, please tell me that you do. That even though I’m weird and strange, I at least have something in common with other humans?) I dare ya, I triple dog dare ya, to try to find at least one good thing about it or it’s source or it’s outcome.

I can’t say that I’m perfect. Or that life is perfect. Or that my spouse or my kids or my dog or my family is perfect.

But by looking for those positive parts of every thing, DANG!!! All those things are at least AWESOME!

Dear October

Dear October,

I didn’t really mean to ignore you. I LOVE you! You in all your fall crispness and beautiful orange and brown colors and cool evenings and family activity time…sigh. You are just great.

But I WAS a little bit busy. And we had computer problems. Then I was so pukey and sick from this little Bean growing inside me that I just didn’t have it in me to blog or share photos.

Since we upgraded to Lion I have found that it’s SUPER easy to upload photos, though our internet is so slow I don’t even know where to begin to upload them all.

How about a quick overview? Would that help? It would? Great. Here’s a swift look at the month before all the craziness begins:

We made sure to take a trip to Apple Annie’s for pumpkin (and Sunflower) picking! It is so fun and TOTALLY worth the trip!

Getting cozy with the pumpkins

Proof of the Pickin'

Official Cart Pusher

It's a team effort!

The Perfect Pick

Out in the field

Choosing a sunflower amid all the BEES!!

Corn Maze Fun!

Corn Sand Box!

 

Fun times for all, though Oli broke down no less than 3 times because we had to get off of the tractor-trailer that hauled us out to the field. I think he wishes that he was born on a farm!

After that, we had to get ready for my Mr. Bentley’s 7th, yes, I said SEVENTH, birthday. Where did the time go? Who is this gargantuan boy who has grown 4 inches this year and talks constantly about atoms and matter?

Callie made an AMAZING (not joking, it was a masterpiece) cake for our special day. It was the most delicious chocolate/banana cake with a “candy-land” theme on top! This cake totally made my month!

Playing with Aunt Dee Dee

So amazing, I didn't want to cut it!

I think he liked it!

Who wears it best? (most hilarious purse swap EVER!)

To wrap up the lovely month of October, we did end up dressing up this year. I have such mixed feelings about Halloween…here’s where I stand:

It is what you make it. If you make is spooky and all about the devil, well then….that’s what it is.

If you make it a fun holiday surrounded by family and friends and good times, then it, to, is what it is.

That being said, we generally dress up if there is some sort of carnival or party at one of the local churches, but I just CAN’T bring myself to send my kids out the door begging house to house for candy. I think it’s bad manners (something my husband and I totally disagree on). HA!

Mr. B was an astronaut this year and he LOVED being so comfy in his suit, while Oli was a turtle, which was cute while he walked, but gross when he tried to crawl around on the ground.

Astronauts are the best heros EVER!

Turtles are number ONE!

Kids on parade!

After that, it was us gearing up for the Thanksgiving and Christmas time craziness. But don’t think that just because you went by so fast and because I didn’t blog about you that I don’t love you, October. I do, see! So much that I’m willing to tick December off by stealing some of it’s glory!