Dada will make us strong

Benno went from absolutely refusing to say prayers to suddenly monopolizing the praying. If you don't begin praying quickly enough, he will jump right in and say it for you. Every night at dinner & for family prayers he volunteers...and if someone else is chosen after he's already volunteered, he'll make everyone wait while he says his own prayer following the first one... 

...what was that I said about 3 year olds before? 

It's a good thing he's so cute about all of this. I decided I had to capture it on video before he moves on from this love of praying to refusing to do it again. 

My favorite part is that he misunderstands us when usually we'll say "...and please bless the food that it will make us strong..." but he says "...and please bless the food so Dada will make us strong..." Although in this clip, as Anthony so generously points out to Benno, he forgot to bless the food.

And I love the bit about the toy room too, haha. And our "flamily's" good, fun day tomorrow.

My brother is brilliant

My brother David is brilliant...and brilliantly funny. You must read his redundant story. I love it.

Zachary is ONE!

Well, a month ago it was his birthday anyway...we just passed the 13 month mark.

I can't believe I neglected to get a photo of his cake before he dug into it. Oh well. It's the messy baby we're interested in anyway.

I bought this great rocking horse from our neighbors' yard sale over the summer & have been hiding it away since then just to give it to Zachary for his birthday. I think he likes it. : )

(Haha...don't you love how he's a blur of activity while the horse itself is barely rocking?)

So at a year old, he had 4 teeth (as you can see)...full head of hair (as he had all along)...wasn't quite walking then but was taking cautious steps...according to his dr appt, he was just under 20 lbs (grr, want to turn his seat around!) and I forget the height measurement but safe to say he's a peanut--his percentiles were pretty low. Aside from rocking his horse & riding his bee (his other favorite toy...sorry, I don't have a pic yet), his favorite activity was (and is) splashing in the potty--the older boys have been trained very quickly to close the lid, though the stinker now knows how to lift the lid...so other than the potty habit, this wonderful little guy is such a joy to have around...

We love you Zachary!!! So happy you & your beautiful blue eyes are a part of our family! Happy 1st birthday (a month later!)

Flashback to summer

I need to get started putting together a photo book of our enormous summer trip...so I've started going through photos. I found some here on George's computer (I give up using mine...darn you, iPhoto '11!) which I hadn't seen before, plus this video Anthony took when we ran into the bison herd in Custer State Park in South Dakota.

This was an experience we won't forget.

This pic here is in beautiful Alpine, UT...you'll have to ignore the ugly electrical box & power lines...if you can imagine those away, isn't that so pretty?

I liked Colorado's sign. We love Colorado...really a fun place to visit!

Ok, I posted photos like this before but I saw this again and it just takes my breath away each and every time I see it. I can't believe we were there. Amazingly beautiful. This was in Rocky Mountain National Park at 12,000 ft over sea level!

I believe this was in Missouri somewhere out in the boonies. We just liked that all the roads were named with a single letter. Here we are on route 'D'.

Adam-ondi-Ahman...what a peaceful place that was.

I  just like this....the open road before us, beautiful sky...

This I've shown before too...what an interesting place this was. And look at those clouds!

More of the Badlands...

We did a lot of this all along the way. I love that George caught this rather mundane moment.

I love Independence Rock. That was SO cool to be there in person to see. Such a strange feeling of connection to the past to trace your own finger along the lines they etched into the rock to say "I was here!"

Is that beautiful or what?

I think this was a pic George took while doing a bike trail up into the mountains behind Jenny & Terry's house in Alpine. I am always a sucker for those rays of light streaming through the clouds as if the dews of heaven were distilling upon us.

Anyway...all of this is making me miss that trip. SO fun...we saw so many places and did so many wonderful things and saw so many people we love. These photos especially just remind me how much I LOVE this country. There is SO much beauty here...I love these road trips we take because I can take in so much of the beauty and dream of what it might be like to live in these different places too.

Roller skaters, we are (not)!

On Black Friday, rather than join the throngs in the stores, we took the boys roller skating.

I spent a lot of the time sitting in a booth at the side staying with Zachary (and Benno who decided after 5 seconds that he didn't like it) but that was way more fun than actually skating...I laughed so hard. The boys are like noodles, slipping and sliding with arms flailing, and funniest yet is that they are so flexible that many times their feet would slide out from beneath them into the splits. I might not have laughed so much if they were actually getting hurt, but they were fine and determined to keep at it.

Here is a particularly good example (I hope the video quality isn't too bad...you might have to do it a couple times to figure out who's who and where they are...I don't know how to add markers to the video) where Aaron in a long-sleeved camo shirt slips into view right in the middle, with George there to "help" though George then stumbles & falls...and then as they are getting up, you can see Anthony coming around in his long-sleeved white shirt, stumbling his way around...meanwhile I am giggling my head off.

They spent 2 HOURS skating around the rink just like this. By the end, Aaron was so sweaty and hot  but he was just as determined as ever. Christopher was much more cautious and stayed in the beginner's mini-rink at the back most of the time, only venturing out if George or I was there to hold his hand for a turn around the big rink. He didn't overestimate his ability like the other 2. 

As we left that day, all 3 boys were asking when we could come back again! Glad they enjoyed it--I sure did!

Benno, my Benno

This handsome little fellow sure has been a trial handful lately--not just lately, I should say, but pretty much since the day he turned 3. 

I know I've mentioned before how much I dislike 3. 

Terrible '2's is a total misnomer...it's all 3 (at least with boys...I wouldn't know about girls...) He can be the sweetest child ever one moment, showering me with love and kisses and the sweetest I love you, Mama!s...and possessed demon child the next, screaming and clinging and terrible.

One of the sources of the demonic behavior surrounds clothes... He is very opinionated about which clothes he wears and how. For the most part, I leave it alone...not a battle I really care about fighting...but sometimes we have somewhere special to go or an activity that requires wearing socks or a coat or a certain kind of shoes and that's trouble!

Another issue lately is his car seat. He knows how to buckle/unbuckle it on his own...so you can imagine where I'm going with that. That made an especially long, harrowing trip to AZ & back for Christmas that much more pleasant.

He drives his brothers crazy because he knows where each of them stashes their secret treasures...even when they move them to new secret spots...and helps himself to them while the boys are safely away at school...and like a little tornado of destruction, in a matter of minutes turns their bedroom & toy room into total chaos.

 

With his most favorite person in all the world (next to his mom & dad of course), his cousin Nora. 

(Notice he's got 3 or 4 shirts on...he always does that with the bottom layer usually his pajamas.)

I don't know that he's any worse than any other 3 year olds I've known, but it sure feels like he's the worst in the moment he's screaming like a maniac and driving everyone bonkers. You can't stay mad at this little guy for long though when he comes striding over, plants a kiss on your cheek and says with a cheesy grin, "Am I cute?" Good thing all 3 year olds are cute because I'm convinced none of them would ever make it to see 4 otherwise!

As cute as you are Benno, I can't wait for you to turn 4!

Mmmmm....Thanksgiving!!!

*I'm still having iPhoto issues but I miss my blog. So I'm making it work.*

Who doesn't love Thanksgiving??? It's only the BEST meal of the entire year (including, especially, the pumpkin pie--that was just for you Candy J!)

I love Thanksgiving for a lot of other reasons too of course... I love the history behind it...you all know I'm a bit of an American history buff. And counting blessings makes me happy too, so a day devoted to that is naturally a happy day!

And Thanksgiving is fabulous simply as another opportunity to gather with loved ones. We are so blessed here to have my wonderful sister now living nearby and she even volunteered her house for the big meal this year. 

I made the little turkey placesettings (thank you Our Best Bites) but the rest of this lovely table is all hers:

Katie & Benno (who is sadly entering that phase of childhood when they forget how to smile naturally.)

Just looking at this photo is making me so hungry. So, so good... Katie's turkey was SO good that I don't think I'll ever make a turkey again as long as she's spending Thanksgiving with us. SO, so good!

Snow Day

Ok, all my truly snowbound friends, get a good laugh out of this:

A couple days before Thanksgiving, it snowed & they canceled school...

Would school have been canceled where you are for this?

The boys got all bundled up to go outside to play in it and all were back in within 20 minutes complaining that there wasn't enough snow to play in. 

These snow angels make me laugh--so appropriate that they are "green angels" here in blue OR!

Not a Turkey

Aaron's Thanksgiving turkey is disguised as the Easter Bunny.