Bentley's Bedtime Equation

scary cartoon

+ active imagination

+ bedtime

= falling asleep on the couch

with the Christmas lights for company

Happy Birthday Warren Jon!

Warren as a little guy
My brother Warren celebrated his birthday today!

You can read more about him on Mindy's blog,

or check out his cute family here.

Warren - I hope you had a great day!

Love you!

Jenny

Today . . .

. . . we decorated.

Then, Maxwell pouted because our star is silver, not gold.
Three of the six stockings fell down at least once.
Someone nearly knocked over the tree, and
the ornaments fell off one side of the tree.
I'm not sure whether the last two happened
around the same time, or not.
Ruby's not talking.

Max says he'll like Christmas when our star is gold.
Jonah LOVES Christmas.
Bentley is ready to see Santa.
And, Ruby's not sure what's going on,
but she likes it so far.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I'm Grateful

I'm grateful for these four funny kids

(and for a fifth one on the way).

And I'm hopeful that they won't get

the yucky stomach bug that's bugging John and me.
Happy Thanksgiving!

ps - did you see Mr. Nielson's

"Thank You"

on Nie Nie's blog?

My Funny Maxwell

When we walked to school this morning,
it was about 30 degrees outside.

Here's what Maxwell was wearing.

hat

coat

long sleeved shirt

shorts

leg warmers

flip flops

My face was numb by the time we got to the school,

but he assures me his toes felt fine.

Jonah's Baby Brother

While the older boys were at school today,

Jonah, Ruby, and I went to Target.

We picked up a few groceries, and looked at

the DwellStudio for Target layette.

Before Dwell, Amy Coe designed a layette collection for Target,

and I've loved both, but haven't purchased many things from either

for my babies because in the store you can only get pink or blue,

and I've never known in advance which one I needed to buy.

Today, Jonah helped me pick out a

kimono sleeper for his little brother.

Jonah held onto it in the store, handed it to the cashier,

held it on the way out to the car and on the way home.

Once home, he opened it and carried it around the house.

He showed it to everyone who came over,

and made sure they knew it was for his baby brother.

And tonight, he decided to sleep with it.

Can you tell he's just a little excited about this baby?

Cauliflower

I stole this picture from Mindy's blogpost yesterday.

It's of me (probably about Ruby's age) pushing

the family dog in a stroller.

As Jonah and I looked at the photo,

his first comment was, "That dog hates you?"

Because the dog is obviously in distress.

What?

I have no idea why that was his first impression,

but maybe he was right.

Before I came along, Mon Petit Chou-fleur

(the dog's name means my little cauliflower and we called her Show-Show for short)

was an "only child." Maybe Jonah can sense

the dog's resentment or something.

I just thought it was a fun picture.

And what would Ruby give to have a puppy

to push around in a stroller? She'd be thrilled!

The chances of that happening are slim to none,

so hopefully she'll be content with her doll.

Bentley's Advice:

"The best way to get what you want

is to cross your fingers."

Sadly, that didn't help BYU tonight.

Despite our loss, I had a great day.

Elizabeth babysat this morning while
John and I went on a date.
For lunch we tried Las Tarascas in Provo.
The people there were so nice,
and the food was as fantastic as we'd heard it was.
If you're in the area, you should definitely stop in.

Today is my birthday, so I took the day off.
(i.e. - I didn't fix meals or do laundry.)
John made us pancakes for breakfast,
Liz fixed lunch for the kids, and John made dinner.
I was able to watch nearly half of the
ill-fated football game.
AND I got a bunch of wonderful gifts.
It's been great!
And now, with any luck, I'll enjoy a movie with John,
and then get a nice night's sleep.
(fingers crossed as per Bentley's advice)

ToonTown

We start them young around here.

Bentley has been watching John play computer

games since he was a new born.

I think Bentley is 3 or 4 months old in this picture.

Here's another one, a couple of months later.

It's amazing to me that John can hold one of the kids

on his lap and they will be content

to watch him play computer games.
(Why aren't they that interested in my blogging?)

The most recent computer game obsession

around our house is ToonTown.

It's not a new fascination, they've played the game

off and on since this past summer.

The most recent development in the game, however,

is that both Bentley and Maxwell have saved up

enough money to "subscribe" for one month.

Now they are able to advance in the game,

they can have more than one Toon on their account,

and they can get really cool "gags."

John has been nice enough to help the kids by playing with/for them on occasion,

to really help them get far. We're hoping that by the time their

subscribed month is over, they will have done everything

there is to do in ToonTown and they won't have an interest in renewing their

membership for another month. Wishful thinking? Probably.
The two older boys usually let Jonah play on their

accounts when they are out of "computer time,"

and even Ruby is into the game.

Bentley created a Toon for her, Miss Pearl.
Pearl's not advancing too far in the game,
but Ruby doesn't mind.
She's just happy to be playing.

The Ultrasound

We had our ultrasound today. :)

The baby looks healthy

and everything seems to be going well.

The technician tells us that we have a

little BOY!

All three of the baby's older brothers were

hoping for another little sister,

but Jonah is walking around the house chanting,

"Baby Brother! Baby Brother!"

He also smiles, sighs, and says,

"I love my baby brother."

Maxwell is disappointed, but I think he'll come

around once he gets used to the idea of a boy.

Bentley hasn't heard the news yet.

I offered to find him at school to tell him,

but he said he'd wait till he gets home to find out.

Ruby is just happy that we're having "a baby."

At least as far as she understands it, she's happy.

We'll see how she feels once the little guy is here. :)

John and I are simply happy that our little boy

looks healthy and hope that things

continue to go well for all of us.

Thanks everyone for you input

on my poll and my post.

Ultimately, I decided that although I

really do love NOT knowing,

it would be fun to find out for a change.

And so far it HAS been fun. :)

Maxwell's Week

This week, it's Maxwell's turn to be a

Student of the Week.

He's pretty excited, because last week,

Bentley was a Student of the Week,

and he got to choose where we ate dinner.

Tonight, Maxwell chose Chili's (because they have cheeseburgers).

That worked out nicely, as Bentley also had an unused

gift certificate for Chili's from last week - 2 "free" meals.
The kids weren't quite as well behaved as they

were at Mimi's, but it was still a nice evening.

And now we're finished with

Student of the Week until next year. :)

Story Time

Jonah's Joy School group went to the library today,

and Ruby and I were able to go with them.
First, the kids listened to story time.

(well, most of them listened, some were more interested

in exploring the library) :)

Jonah is in the white shirt, front and center.

After story time, a librarian talked to the kids
about taking caring of books.

I'm so glad Jonah had a good time,
but it also makes me feel pretty guilty.
I don't think I've taken the kids to story time
at the library since before Jonah was born.
I used to take Bentley and Maxwell, but it never ended well.
Most often, Bentley insisted on being part of the
entertainment, and disrupted things.
Other times, he just wanted to run around the library.
The last story time that I can remember involved Bentley
dancing on the stage and several other little kids joining him.
I had a difficult time getting Bentley,
Maxwell, the double stroller,
and my very pregnant self out of the library
as quickly and quietly as I could.

Who knew that Jonah would actually sit and listen
at story time? Poor kid. He's three years old,
and he'd never been to story time before.

(I guess we HAVE been to the Teddy Bear Picnic,
so I haven't completely neglected the kid.)

Rocket Update

On Saturday evening,

we set off to launch Bentley's rocket.

The first two attempts failed.

The third can be considered a partial success.

The rocket fell over, and slid 10-15 feet

along the ground.

Bentley and John are devising some

modifications to the rocket,

and we hope to have a new launch date soon.

Ruby Speaks

Yesterday, Elliott posted this video of Sophie singing.

Ruby loves watching it, and we're all impressed

with how well Sophie can speak. She's amazing!

It reminded me of a video I made of Jonah,

just over one year ago. He was 2 1/2 years old,

and a few months after this video was taken

he really started speaking English.

I'd made the video so John and I could remember

what it was like to have a conversation with Jonah

back when we had to decipher everything he said.

You can watch that video here.

While I was thinking about it,

I decided it would be fun

to make a video of Ruby saying the

English words that she knows.

We forgot a few, like Liz, Sophie, Jesus, please, and sorry,
but here's Ruby showing off her language skills.

The Haircut - Part 2

Ruby and I went to see Heidi today

because I needed help with my roots,

and I was tired of looking at this:

After my color was on, John brought Ruby
to the salon. At first, she was a little nervous.

But when Dad and her brothers came inside to
watch for a few minutes,

she started hamming it up and being goofy.

I'm really happy with Ruby's cut,
and I think she is, too.
Thanks again, Heidi!
see Ruby's first hair cut here
Oh - and Ruby can now add "Heidi" to the short list
of words that are clearly understandable when she says them.

Boy or Girl?

Our 2o week ultrasound is next Thursday, and I'm

really excited to finally get a glimpse of our baby.

With our first four children, we've waited until

they were born to find out the gender.

I LOVE THAT.

I like speculating on the sex all through the pregnancy.

Finding out beforehand seems like knowing what's

under the tree before Christmas morning.

My sister, Mindy, is the kind of person who

LIKES to know what's under the tree.

I don't. I'd rather be surprised.

BUT . . .

it does seem like it would be kind of fun this time

around to know the gender before the baby is born.

It would be different. (for us, anyway)

So . . . what do you think?

I'm still leaning towards not finding out,

but this is the first time I've seriously considered

the alternative, so I might be persuadable. :)

PS - there's a poll in the sidebar :)

The Pilgrims Have Landed

Today Maxwell's kindergarten class enjoyed a

Thanksgiving feast in the cafeteria.

He was really nervous because he is incredibly picky.

A week or two ago, he came home from school

very excited about his upcoming feast.

I thought it would be fun to look at the menu:

Turkey Roast

Potatoes and Gravy, Roll

Fresh Fruits and Veggies

Fruit Salad/Peas and Carrots

Pumpkin Pie

Choice of Milk

And just like that, the excitement was gone.

"I don't like ANY of those things!" he said.

(not true - he does like chocolate milk)

Yesterday, he asked if he could take a sack lunch.

This morning, he wanted to make sure his teacher

knew that he didn't like the food they were going to eat.

I kept telling him to just try a little of everything,

and he could eat pizza with Jonah, Brody, and Ruby

when he got home from school.

When I picked him up after school today,

I cautiously asked him how lunch was.

He said, "I'm not going to tell you, but I'll give

you a clue. I'm too full for pizza." (huge grin)

Turns out that he liked the meat,

(the "turkey?" I asked. "No - the MEAT")

he didn't like the potatoes and gravy,

didn't try the fruit, DID eat one raw baby carrot,

and he loved the whipped cream on the pumpkin pie.

I think he ate some of the pumpkin filling, too.

Hurray for pilgrim food!

(And hurray for Maxwell trying something new!)

Bentley's Week

Bentley is one of the "citizens of the week" at his school.

Tonight we used one of the many gift certificates

that come with the title "citizen of the week,"

(the "buy one get one free" - "come into our shop" kind)

and took the whole gang to Mimi's Cafe for dinner.

(Just like we did the last time Bentley was citizen of the week)

And just like the last time, they all behaved themselves.
It was really fun to go out and not have anyone
climbing over or under the table (or something).

The kids' meals came with a special dessert:
dirt and worms.

Jonah wasn't sure what to think of them at first,
but he eventually got used to the idea,
and on the way home he even claimed that
the dessert was his favorite part.

This is also Bentley's week to be the "Star Deputy"
for his 1st grade class. Just before lunch,
we all went into his class to tell them about Bentley.
He was happy to see us, but we might as well
have stayed home. He had no problem
doing most of the talking.
From what he and his teacher have said,
I get the feeling that he does A LOT
of talking every day in class.

Lunch

One day last month, I ate lunch with Bentley at his school.

It was great! John came home for lunch and

watched the other kids. I had a nice visit

with Bentley and didn't have to make lunch.

(one of my least favorite chores)

Sometime last week, Bentley asked if I could come eat

with him again on Tuesday. I said that I'd like to,

but I didn't think I could because unlike last time,

I wouldn't have a babysitter for the other kids.

I toyed with the idea of taking Maxwell, Jonah, and Ruby

with me, but remembered that our friend, Brody,

would be eating with us that day.

So, the idea was scrapped.

Until I went to pick Jonah and Brody up

from Joy School today.

For some reason I changed my mind.

Maybe I just really didn't want to make lunch.

I rationalized that I was going to have to feed them

at one place or another.

Eating in the school cafeteria really couldn't be

that much harder than eating at home.

Getting from the car to the school was tricky,

but we all made it inside; just as Bentley's class

was walking down to the cafeteria.

We followed them in, and Bentley's sweet teacher

helped me juggle all the trays and chocolate milks.

The kids all found a place to sit, and for a few minutes,

they sat and ate their food. Here's proof.

Then, Ruby spilled her chocolate milk on her shirt.
A kid at another table threw a grape tomato at Bentley.
Jonah wouldn't eat because his food was too hot.
Ruby spilled more milk - on her pants this time.
Maxwell found a girl from his class and stopped eating.
Bentley wanted to show the kids how the heater
puffed his shirt out when he stood over it.
Jonah had to go to the restroom - RIGHT NOW.
I (nervously) left Bentley in charge
while I took Jonah to the restroom.
When we returned, Ruby had spilled more milk.
On herself, the bench, and the floor.
Bentley announced that he was finished eating,
so we started to clear trays and gather jackets.
Bentley ran out to recess and the other boys followed him.
I finally tracked everyone down,
we signed out at the office,
made it back to the car without losing anyone,
and drove home.
As we walked in the door, I thought,
"At least I don't have to fix lunch."
And Jonah said, "Mom, I'm hungry."

Family Ties - Part 2

A while ago, I posted about the bloggers

on my side of the family.

I intended to follow that up with a post about

bloggers on John's side of the family, but spaced it.

Maybe it's good that I waited, because it was just

recently that two of his younger brothers joined in.
Anyway, here's the rundown on bloggers in the R* family.

My father-in-law, Brent, blogs at

Trying to Retire in Pasadena.

My mother-in-law, Carla, has several blogs.

Her personal blog, Enjoying Eden.

Her quilting blog, Needle in a Quiltstack.

and her (really good) recipe blog, Eden's Harvest.

My sister-in-law, Ginger, started me off on this

blogland adventure with the example of her blog,

Paisley and Polkadots.

Her husband, Elliott, blogs at Chucky Larms.

My sister-in-law Judy has several blogs, too.

Her personal blog, Mindless Chatter;

a blog for her amazing photography, Judy Phan Photography,

and a blog for quotes, Quotealicious.

Next, is my brother-in-law, Lyle.
According to recent studies, 82% of women would
rather be dating him than their current boyfriends.
How can you not want to check out his blog?
Shrimp n' Steak.

The twins are blogging newbies. I'm so glad they
decided to join the rest of us in blogland.
(Now we just need a blog for Joseph.)
Hugh blogs at Twenty Somethin'.
The playlist on his blog is worth the click.
Charles calls his blog, I'm Still a Guy
proving that guys can blog, too.
(And John still won't start a blog.)
Charles wife, Laura blogs at Laugh and Love.
I like the Christmas playlist she has going right now.

Elizabeth has been blogging about college life
since her freshman year. She's a senior now,
and out of the dorms, but you can still follow along
at Dormitory Living 101.

Last, but not least, is John's youngest sister, Cleo.
Her blog is called Teenage Insights.

So there you go.
With all of these great blogs to check,
as well as the ones on my side of the family,
and all of our wonderful friends' blogs,
(plus a handful of perfect strangers' blogs)
is it any wonder that I'm always behind
on blog reading? :)

Sundays Past

me, Mindy, and Mom - spring/summer 1979

Bentley is 7!

Today our Bentley turned 7!

He chose green pancakes for breakfast,

Wingers for lunch (with Mom),

and cheeseburgers for dinner.

He also got to open presents.
I think this gift might be his favorite.

It's a rocket.
Today he and his Dad put it together.
Hopefully they'll have a successful launch
sometime in the near future;
and with any luck I'll post a few pictures.

As an added birthday bonus, he got to spend the day
with his cousin, Kylie
as well and Grandpa and Grandma H*
and Uncle Greg. (cousin Kenna was with her other grandparents)

Bentley also got to play in the leaves with his brothers.

To add to the excitement, BYU won!
Ok - he probably doesn't care too much about that,
but it was still nice to have a good win today.

More about Bentley here.

Early Birthday Celebration

Saturday is Bentley's 7th birthday, and he got to start

celebrating early! To say that he was excited

would be a major understatement.

At school today he got special

treatment: line leader all day, birthday cards from

all the kids in his class, he took cupcakes to share,

and he got a special book from his teacher.

Then, tonight, he got to have a few friends over
for a birthday party - Space themed, of course.
(Let me just say that limiting the guest list was really, really hard to do! Next year,
I've got to find a way to have an affordable party with unlimited guests. It's
just way to difficult to pick and choose who will come. We ended up letting him
choose just 8 children from his class at school - and even that was really hard. sigh)

My parents and and my brother, Greg,
happened to be in town tonight,
so John and I had lots of help with the party.

Blowing out all 7 candles wasn't easy,
but Bentley managed to do it. :)
I wonder what he wished for . . .
I don't think he wished for a trip to the moon,
there is no doubt in his mind that he's going there.
Maybe he wished for a super fast space ship so
he can travel to Pluto. He'd really like that. :)

Side note: as he was eating pizza with his friends,
he told them he was going to open their presents
alphabetically by the first name of the person giving the gift.
This kid cracks me up. :)

5 Senses

It was my week to teach Joy School, and this time

around we learned about our wonderful bodies.

Today we used our 5 senses by finger

painting with chocolate pudding.

The kids heard me mixing the pudding,

they could see the pudding,

the could smell the pudding,

they touched the pudding with their fingers,

and best of all, they got to taste the pudding.

I'm always a little nervous about this particular
lesson, because there's so much potential for a BIG MESS.

Luckily, the kids were too busy eating the pudding
to try wearing it on their arms,
throwing it at each other,
or painting the chairs and tables with it.
It helped that there were two other parents
there to keep the kids from going nuts.
Thanks Tammy and Cyrene!

Demolition

Last week, the kids carefully constructed this

Halloween gingerbread house.

Today, they destroyed it.

Although they enjoyed building it,

I think they had more fun taking it apart.

Sharkey

"This is Sharkey."

Sharkey is Jonah's imaginary "son," "pet," "friend," etc.

In this picture, he's holding Sharkey in his hands.

Sometimes he asks me to "hold" Sharkey for him,

either in my hands, or in my pocket.

Jonah and Sharkey have been friends since

the end of August, and we hear about Sharkey a lot.

Yesterday, Jonah followed me around the house for

an hour telling me about Sharkey while I worked.

"Sharkey loves broccoli."

"Sharkey is smaller than me."

"Sharkey takes naps when he's tired."

"Sharkey will go on a mission when he's . . .

. . . how old are boys when they go on a mission?"

me - "19"

"Sharkey will go on a mission when he's 19."

"Sharkey is going to Brazil on his mission, like Mikey."

And on and on and on . . .

After about 45 minutes I was trying desperately to

think of someone I could call who would let Jonah

tell THEM about Sharkey for a little while.

So if you see my name on your caller ID,

be sure you want to know all about Sharkey

before you answer the phone. :)

Maxwell's Show and Tell

Maxwell took this picture of Brady

for show and tell today.

He also shared a few thoughts about
that intellectual dog.

You can click on the picture to see

what he had to say.

Matinee

Yesterday, the boys and I went to see

High School Musical 3.

They aren't really into High School Musical these days,

but when they WERE into all things HSM,

I promised to take them.

(Plus, I like musicals.)

So we went.

I think the older two boys really liked it.

Jonah really liked the first hour.

After every song for most of the second hour

he would ask (hopefully, and not too quietly),

"Is that the end?"

Ruby got to stay home with her Dad and took a nap.

That's her, saying "huh?"

"Why did the BOYS get to go?"

Good question, Ruby. Here are the answers.

Reason 1: It was nap time.

Reason 2: Ruby is scared of movies in the theater.
Reason 3: I *thought* 2 hours was too long for Jonah,

I KNEW it would be too long for Ruby.

Sorry Ruby. In another year or two we'll
go to a matinee without the boys.
High School Musical 4, maybe?

Halloween Review

Halloween ended up being one long, busy day,

but I think the kids had a lot of fun.
First up was Maxwell's Halloween Parade.

He was disappointed that it wasn't a "real" parade

(those are outside),

but he looks like he's having fun, anyway.

After lunch, the kids and I went back to the school
for Bentley's Parade. He seemed to enjoy it, too,
but our silly camera wouldn't focus when he was smiling.
Rats.

After dinner, we met up with Jennifer
and her girls for Trick-or-Treating.
It was no easy task for the two of us
to keep all 6 kids together, but we made it
through the night without losing anyone.

Ruby loved Trick-or-Treating.
By the end of the evening, her bucket was completely
full of candy. She could barely lift the thing,
but refused to let me help her carry it.

And not only did she want to carry her own candy,
she wanted to push the stroller (by herself)
while carrying her candy. I made her ride for a while,
and she punished me by making Jennifer
carry her for a while. Sorry, Jennifer.

About halfway through our evening, we stopped
by the house to see John. Jonah's bucket was
only half full, but he decided he was finished.
He ate candy and helped John pass it out for
a little while, and then he went to bed.

Probably the smart thing to do.

The rest of us, however, pressed on.
On our way home, we even stopped by the scary house.
The Grim Reaper startled Maxwell,
and Bentley tried to scare a werewolf,
but ended up being pretty scared himself.

After all of that, the only nightmare last night was
Jonah's. He woke up crying because he didn't
get to set the table earlier in the day.

By the way, Emily over at Acte Gratuit
passed on the word that November is
National Blog Posting Month.
Evidently, "they" (whoever "they" is) are encouraging
people to post once a day for the entire month of
November. Maybe this would be a good time to bring out
the Encyclopedia of Me that I've put off for the last year.