Scouting

Ben earned his wolf rank and 2 arrows tonight at Cub Scouts. Scouts has been so much fun for all of us. I've enjoyed the one-on-one time it has allowed me to have with Ben. I'm so proud of him for working so hard, and really taking it to heart and doing his best on each goal that he did. Good job Ben!!!

Surprise!

Grant's Birthday is this weekend. Knowing that he didn't want to have a party, and knowing that he isn't getting a present on his Birthday from me (because it will come later), I thought it would be fun if we threw him a surprise party. The kids were so excited. I did all the cooking, and I gave the kids the tape and streamers so they could do all the decorating. Ben and Trevor planned the activities, and all of us girls put on our best party dresses. We ended up doing what every 30-something man would want to do at his Birthday party: pin the tail on the donkey, limbo, and a dance contest. It was a lot of fun. Happy Birthday to the best man in the world!

Two Peas in a Pod

Ben and Karmin look so much alike--and each day I see how similar their personalities are as well. They are all Grant. Any characteristic that they have that I could actually think comes from me happens because Grant and I both have that characteristic.
Trevor looks just like Grant did when he was a kid (although, I think Trevor has my ears), but his personality is all me. Lydia is turning out to be the same way. She is all me...and therefore all Trevor.
Tonight when I was making dinner I noticed that Lydia was falling asleep in her chair. This is not an isolated incident. She falls asleep sitting up quite often. I have a whole file on Trevor of pictures of all the different places we have found him sleeping. So as I watched Lydia fall asleep (my hands were busy cutting up meat so I couldn't go lay her down), I watched Trevor sleeping at the table. I don't think you could pay Grant, Ben, or Karmin to take a nap. No amount would ever be enough for them. However, if Trevor, Lydia, and I got paid to take naps...we would be awfully rich!

Just my favorite

I'm taking an online photography class, and in preparation I had to take several different pictures before the class started. I am pretty sure that I will have to take the same pictures at the end of the class to see if I've improved. Anyway, I just love this picture that I took of Lydia, so I thought I would share.

Run, Run, as fast as you can

Ben's school had a walk-a-thon a couple of weeks ago. Ben was so excited about it--he even practiced beforehand. He ended up getting first place out of all the second graders at the school. He ran over 5 miles in one hour. He was pretty excited when he came home with this "First Place" ribbon. Today he got to go to a special pizza party with the other winners from the other grades. I was proud of him for setting a goal, practicing, and then doing his best.
When we leave late to go down to the bus stop (every day), we race down the hill so that we make it on time. Now I don't feel so bad for losing (every day) because he really is super fast.

Hazardous to Our Health

After 7 years, it finally happened! We got our family pictures taken. (Just as a note, we have had snapshots taken of us at family gatherings, holidays, etc., but nothing were we dress up, smile at the same time--ya know the important stuff.)
Trevor's black eye was almost gone. There was still a line there, but I think it wouldn't have been too noticeable unless you were looking for it. Somehow, Tuesday night he got a huge scratch right underneath it, so it just accentuated the black eye.
Trevor and Lydia ended up getting colds, so yes they will have runny noses in the pictures.
About 10 minutes into getting pictures taken, our TOUGH Karmin got hurt. The kids were jumping off of a low rock wall and somehow Karmin twisted her foot. She still isn't walking on it today. Karmin never gets hurt, so whatever she did, I know she is not faking it. The poor thing.
Today, per Dr Dad's orders, Karmin is supposed to keep her foot up, so she gets the designated sick blanket to use. This is my blanket that my mom and sister made me for Christmas one year--and it never got finished. I love this blanket, and my kids love it too. My mom used to tuck me in on the couch with this blanket and Ted and Blue when I didn't feel well, and I guess the tradition has continued on. It's motivating her to stay down a bit.
Pictures are stressful. Hoping no one has bruises or not sick, getting somewhat coordinating outfits (at least pants without holes in them), having everyone clean and fed...no wonder it has been so long. However, I think it was all worth it. The session went really well. The boys LOVED it. It was a ton of fun, and I'm very anxious to see the pictures.

You know life has been TOO crazy when...

1) Your kids find a box to use as a table because your real table has no room on it
2) Your daughter wears her swimsuit (when it's in the 40's outside) because you're pretty sure she doesn't have any clean pants

Double Digits (Again)

Grant and I have been married for 10 years today! It has been a wonderful ten years. It has gone by so quickly. I think back to our first date. I was so young! If one of my girls came home at the age of 18 knowing that they were going to marry the man they had just gone out on a simple date with, well, I probably would lock them up in their rooms.
To make a long dating story short---I knew that day that there was something special about Grant and that we would have a unique relationship. I tried to talk myself out of it meaning that I was going to marry him. It didn't take long for me to be swept off my feet...approximately 22 hours. Behind his back I was head over heels in love. In front of him, it took me about 4 weeks to show him that I was even interested. I was so shy (wait did I say was?). But it all worked out perfectly.
I have loved being married to him. I've loved everything about Grant--his honesty, his generosity, his knowledge, his muscles, and I could go on. I've love everything about marriage---working together, setting goals, our kids (could have done without the morning sickness), and how we just get along with each other. I am pretty sure we have the perfect marriage. And I am still so in love with this (near) perfect man!

Black Eyes (and I don't mean Peas)

Look at this shiner Trevor is now sporting:
This was taken the next morning. It gets dark every day. Isn't that great?? Especially since we are getting family pictures in ONE week. We haven't had family pictures since Ben was 1 1/2 years old. I've been planning this for about 8 months. I guess if nothing else it will be a snapshot of what was going on in our lives...and a reminder to a child not to wave a broom around when his brother is standing right there.

Double Digits

Lydia is 10 months. I can't believe it. This month was a huge one for her...a bit bittersweet (it's fun to see her get excited about everything, but she is not a little baby anymore). She went from scooting around on her bum, to "crawling" backwards, to finally crawling. Her curiosity is taking her all over the house. She got two teeth at the end of the month. And she also went down to one nap a day. Our little girl who was so content just sitting and playing quietly suddenly learned that the world is at her fingertips. She doesn't just sit any more. We find her in the oddest positions in her bed, and she is starting to be more vocal. Whenever we call for one of the kids, she mimics us by yelling, "BUHHH!" She is starting to wave a bit. It is more of pointing at the person she is waving to. Her favorite thing to do is laugh and/or dance, and her favorite noise is hearing the door open in the evening. She knows that Dad will be making his appearance any second. She loves it!
In this picture she is yawning, but you can see those teeth if you look closely!

2 For 2

On Wednesday, Lydia's 2 teeth finally made their appearance. She did pretty well with it. She was a bit fussy in the morning, but really that was all. It was pretty easy.
This week we started our journey on the road to getting a better mouth for Ben. And it's going to be a long one. And a pricey one.
Monday I took him to the orthodontist. Our dentist had recommended taking him there because Ben has an extra tooth. So the dentist said the orthodontist would know which of the two adult teeth should be pulled. I thought we were just going in there to find out about the tooth and to get a better idea of when he would get braces. Ignorance can be bliss sometimes.
The orthodontist said that Ben's jaw isn't growing properly. The side with the extra tooth is normal, and the other side is short. He is developing an overbite, and I think he told me a few other things that are wrong, but I don't remember now. So anyway, to fix all of this they want to put an appliance on the bottom teeth and an expander on the top. When he told me that I started thinking of Darla in the movie "Finding Nemo." And I was thinking, "Seriously? His teeth are that bad that he has to wear something like that?" Not to worry, it's not what I thought it was. They are just these things that go in his mouth and are barely noticeable (unless he wants to take them out at the lunchroom and wave them around and show everybody how cool it is--because that is what Drake does in his class). So now Ben is excited because Drake has one too.
In the end, he will have to get 3 teeth pulled, get appliances in for a long time, a set of 4 braces towards the end of that time, then wait a couple of years and get another complete set of braces.
Oh yea, I almost forgot why I was writing...sorry about the tangent. The orthodontist also wanted the baby tooth by the extra tooth pulled, and then the same tooth on the other side pulled...to keep things even. So Lydia got two teeth, and then Ben had two teeth pulled the next day (the third will be the extra adult tooth when it comes in). We are in dental paradise here. Here is a picture of Ben (with his lips still very numb) after getting his teeth pulled:
On the way home from the dentist he kept asking when "this hard thing" was going to go away. I thought he was talking about the gauze. He kept pinching it and playing with it, and once he took the gauze out "this hard thing" was still there. Finally I looked in the rear-view mirror, to find that he was talking about his lips. He couldn't feel his lips and he couldn't figure out what was there that was so hard. I told him that they were his lips and that he should probably stop pinching them because it might not hurt now, but once that medicine wore off, he might have some split lips from being pinched so much...and that might hurt.