It's all downhill from here . . .

Today we went sledding

(along with half the people in the county - it was crowded!).

A lot of the snow had already been worn off,

but there was enough for us to sled on

(and just enough patches of grass for Bentley

to wipe out repeatedly - on purpose).

The search function on my blog has been broken for awhile now,

so I like to link past posts for my own benefit.

Here are the posts of sleddings past:

2006 - I was hoping to get labor started, but it didn't work.

It was almost another week before Ruby was born.

2007

2008 - John took the boys - no photos. :(

Where were you?

A few days ago, Ruby and I were looking at photos,

when we came across this one -

Sophie and Ruby, June 2007

"Look Ruby! It's you and Sophie when you were babies!

Sophie was holding onto your dress, isn't that funny?"

Ruby - "Where were you?"

"Um . . . I was standing right there . . .

. . .next to Aunt Ginger . . .

. . . and Aunt Judy . . .

who was taking your picture."

Ruby (chin quivering) -

"But I was crying and crying for you."

"I was right there." (guilt)

Ruby (now crying) - "I was crying, 'Mommy! Mommy!'

because Sophie grabbed my dress. I was so sad."

"Ruby, you were okay. It was just for a minute."

(And it made a really cute picture.)

Ruby - "But I was crying for you!" (sob, sob)

Remind me to take down the Santa photos before she

starts asking where I was when those were taken.

Who's Milo?

The other day I overheard this conversation-

Ruby: My Mom is soooo mean!

Jonah: I know! She never lets us play on her bed!

Ruby: Yeah! She only lets "Miwo" be on it!

Jonah: Who's "Miwo?"

Ruby: My brother. Remember?

Jonah: Oh yeah.

45/52

Our annual Christmas photo

(Every year we take a photo and I frame it the next year.

Most years we use a timer, this year our home teachers helped us out.)

2006

2007

2008

Just your everyday . . .

. . . skateboarding wizard.

44/52

with Ruby before her tea party

Talkin' 'bout my girl

Today was Ruby's birthday!

Here she is with her Dad just before their date.

She's been looking forward to her birthday
for a looooooong time, and loved just about
every minute of her day as "the birthday girl."
(There was that one fight with Jonah . . . )
It's hard to believe that she's 3!
Happy Birthday Ruby!

Ruby's Birth Story

Ruby's 1st Birthday

Ruby's 2nd Birthday

No Tears!

Last year, I made a wish that there would be

no tears at our annual Santa picture this year.
And it almost came true!

Ruby cried BEFORE the photo because
Jonah sat on the rocking horse.
Jonah kindly moved aside and let Ruby
have "her spot" and by the time

the photographer snapped the picture

all traces of tears were gone.

Our Scary Santa streak is one I am happy to break.

43/52

me with all of the kids post tree decorating

8 Months!

In the last 2 weeks, Milo's personality has exploded.

He's more animated and so interested in

everything around him.

He's also noisier. He loves to yell and growl.

He can sit up, but isn't mobile, yet.

(The Christmas tree is safe for now.)

It's so fun to see his personality coming through.

He's an adorable little guy,

now if only he would sleep at night . . .

42/52

John, Bentley, and me

Bentley was baptized a member of the

Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

yesterday morning by his Dad.

His Grandpa and Grandma R* came from

California along with Uncle Lyle.

Grandpa and Grandma H* came from

Idaho, and brought Aunt Mindy.

Warren, Becky, Kenna, and Kylie made the drive, too.

(Warren came prepared for a Bakugan rematch with Bentley.)

Uncle Mikey and Aunt Elizabeth were also there.

Bentley, always the entertainer, took a little

swim in the font following his baptism.

Milo yelled a lot, and consequently got to spend

some quality time with Lyle in the hall.

Maxwell and Jonah cheered Bentley on,

and Ruby kept an eye out for the Holy Ghost.

(She's afraid of spirits, after all.)

I think we're all glad that Maxwell has a summer

birthday - the next R* family baptism should

take place in much warmer weather.

She Did It!

3 days in a row without an accident for our Ruby,

so today she got a new dress and leggings.

The new clothes were serious motivation for her.

If I'd offered one of her brothers an new shirt if they were accident free,

they'd have told me to keep it. The boys were all about action figures.

Ruby would have been excited about a toy, too, but I had the dress and

was just looking for an excuse to give it to her. This was perfect.

Here's hoping that she can keep it up without a prize.

41/52

This week I get to volunteer in Maxwell's class

for a program called Junior Achievement.

I like being in his class and meeting his classmates.

But my favorite part is the way Maxwell

treats me while I'm in the class.

After a long weekend with a cranky little boy

who has the meanest mom in the world, it was

so nice to have Max really like me.
Even nicer, he liked me after he got home, too.

For a little while.

Oh Ruby

I don't have a Project 52 ready for this week,
but I did have a photo of Ruby that I wanted to post.
While I was uploading it, I found these others
from the last couple of weeks.
I didn't want to do another collage post,
but it seemed like the best way to share these photos
of our sweet, funny, mischievous, fashion-forward girl.

We're Blue

Go Cougars!

It was a . . .

. . . very happy Thanksgiving.

40/52

With Jonah, Max, and Milo and sporting the sweet Bills shirt

that Brianna and Spencer sent me for my birthday.

39/52

For part of Bentley's birthday date,

we went to Baskin Robbins for ice cream.

When John was a kid, he'd go to 31 flavors

and choose vanilla over all the other flavors.

Bentley takes after his dad.

He had a difficult time deciding between

vanilla ice cream

and

vanilla frozen yogurt.

The frozen yogurt won.

But it was still vanilla.

How to Stop a Baby from Crying, by Jonah

When your baby cries,

run in circles around him, and chant,

"Milo's a zombie!"

THE END

Many Thanks . . .

. . . to Moose and Beej for the awesome armbands.

It's like you gave the kids super powers.
They love them.

Five Random Facts and Fun

First off, did anybody see this post

on c jane's dear c jane blog?

I won a giveaway over there this week!
(Proof that it CAN pay to be a busybody)

Second; in answer to a question that Lyle posed

in a comment about Milo -

Milo likes computer games,

as long as he is the one playing.

Third; Ruby is branching out.
She now does hair AND makeup.

Fourth; this morning Jonah woke me up
to tell me that there was snow on the ground.
"That's crazy!" I said.
Jonah got defensive really fast.
"I'm not crazy!"
No he's not. Imaginative, but not crazy.

(Jonah is behind the play house here.)
I'm glad Jonah's not crazy,
but I am not loving the snow.
I hope it's just visiting and the nice
sunny weather will be back for a few
more weeks (at least).

Fifth; it's been almost two weeks since Maxwell
has been on this blog. So here is he with Jonah.

They wanted to be smiling or fighting in the photo,
but I asked them to smile instead.

A new way . . .

to play in the leaves.

It begins . . .

Bentley's just a little excited about Cub Scouts.
He spent the evening pouring over his new scout book,
and memorizing all kids of scout stuff.
Tomorrow he gets to go to his first den meeting,
and they're using REAL TOOLS to make a bird house.
At least one of his siblings is dangerously jealous.

7 Months

Milo likes his siblings, walks and being outside,

cereal, applesauce, peas, sweet potatoes,

growling, blowing raspberries,

and this cute hat from his Grandma R.

Milo doesn't like being quiet in church,

laying on his tummy, or green beans.

38/52

Our Bentley is 8 years old!

This birthday was extra special for him,

because it was his "Golden Birthday" -

he turned 8 on the 8th.

Bentley is really excited to start Cub Scouts,

(although he's kind of nervous about shooting BB Guns at day camp

- he asked me if someone could die if they were shot with a BB.

I'm just glad he was worried about accidentally hurting someone,

and not planning to use the gun to get someone on purpose.)

and about getting baptized next month.

Since this day in 2001, November 8th has become

one of my favorite days. I'm so glad that

Bentley is part of our family.

Rubylou Who

Ruby continues to come up with new ways for me to style her hair.

This one reminds me of the little Who Girl from the Grinch.

37/52

reading with Maxwell and Milo after school

Halloween Roundup

Mikey - Robin
Elizabeth - Pirate
Bentley - Storm Shadow
Maxwell - Clone Trooper
Jonah - Snake Eyes
Ruby - Screaming Thumbellina
Milo - Growling Lion

I'd like to write something intelligent, but I'm too tired. :)

Halloween Party 2009

Milo (the lion), Ruby (Thumbellina), and Jonah (Snake Eyes)

The year that Bentley turned 3, two traditions began.

I wanted to have a "friend party" for Bentley's birthday,

but there were at least 10 children in the neighborhood

that were his age, and it seemed like 10 kids would be

a little overwhelming for a birthday party.

I'd heard somewhere that a good rule of thumb for

parties was to invite the same number of guests

as your child is years old. That became our tradition.

With Bentley's birthday only a week after Halloween,

I decided that to make up for not inviting everyone

to the birthday party, we'd have a little Halloween party.

I'm not sure why I thought a large number of children

would be easier to entertain at Halloween than at

a birthday party. I was pregnant with Jonah at the time,

so maybe I can plead temporary insanity. Anyway,

our Little People's Halloween Party tradition started that year.
Some years the party goes better than others.

This was one of the others.

The surprise hit game from last year turned into a flop

this year, but hopefully the kids will forget about that part,

and be happy with the candy and prizes they took home.

Plus, wearing costumes is always fun,

even if the games are lame, right?

Some or our past parties:

2006

2007

2008

Career Exploration

The other night at dinner, we were talking about careers.

Maxwell decided that he would like to be an artist.

And he says that he's figured out how to be an

artist, make lots of money, and not do any work.

His plan is to borrow another artist's work,
copy it, and then sale it as his own.
I told him that was illegal, and he would
probably go to jail if he did it.

He immediately asked,

"But . . . what if I have a gun?"

Dad's answer,

"Then you'll go to jail for a really long time."

36/52

photo by Bentley

With Milo at the BYU Homecoming Parade.

H o m e c o m i n g P a r a d e

This morning, we went to Provo

for BYU's homecoming Parade.

I hadn't been since I was in college,

and besides thinking that the kids would

enjoy the parade, I wanted to see Mikey march.

So . . . I told John that I was thinking about

taking the kids to the parade.

He said, "have fun."

But then he so nicely agreed to come with us.

We hurried down there just after 9am,
but opted not to wait in the mega line for pancakes.
Candy can count as breakfast, right?
Because they ate a ton of that.
Mikey and the marching band were at the
very beginning of the parade
(which was MUCH longer than I had remembered).
The band sounded great.
Mike says he thinks he could hear me screaming at him
over the band, so maybe then could be a little louder.
It was a long and kind of trying morning,
but I had fun and I think the kids were pleased with
their haul of candy - they got a jump start on Halloween.

On the way home, I thanked the kids

for coming with me to the parade.

A couple mumbled "you're welcome,"

but Jonah shouted,

"Mom! You made us have to come with you!!!"

That's not technically true.

They were excited to go, but did beg to leave

after waiting for an hour and a half for the thing to start.

She Does Hair

Ruby isn't content with just giving herself a new hair cut.

Now she's giving me detailed directions in styling her do.

Here's her favorite look:

two bows with the hair up high

three ponytails

three clips

"BEAUTIFUL!" she says.
As long as she's happy.

And we're not going to Church that day.

Forgiven

Yesterday, Maxwell gave a talk in Primary,

and I missed it. I was in the mothers' room with

Milo, and I totally spaced his talk.

Luckily, John remembered, and Maxwell

ended up not needing help.

After church, I told him that I was sooooo sorry

to have missed his talk. He said it was okay,

and that he could give his talk for me later.

Then he said,

"Knock knock."

Who's there?

"Apology."

Apology who?

"Apology accepted."

I got the feeling that he felt he was

being VERY generous in forgiving me.

I'm so glad he let me off easy,

I might not be so lucky if it happens again.

35/52

This week's Project 52 is from our annual visit to

Pumpkinland!

This is pretty typical - Ruby didn't get to sit exactly

how/where she wanted to, so I was

trying to coax her onto the hay bale.

John snapped the photo, and we didn't

bother trying to take another one.

At least we got 3 out of 5 kids looking, right?

Here are a few more photos from our visit.
It was a beautiful day!

Pumpkinland 2006

Pumpkinland 2007

Pumpkinland 2008

How to draw angels

Bentley used a "How to Draw Angels" book from

school to draw Michael - the angel of wind.

He added a microphone in the angel's hand,

but decided that an angel with a microphone was weird.

So he changed it to be a light saber.

Because that's NOT weird.

Guess who's not alseep . . .

. . . but at least he's happy.

34/52

(Jonah, me, Ruby, Bentley, and Maxwell after church today.)

John's been sick for the last week, so he stayed home

from church today (along with Milo),

and I took the other four kids to church.

I know there are people who go to church every week

without someone to help them, and I think that's amazing.

Taking these four without John to help me

was a really big deal.

1st Food, 6 Months, 1000 Posts

Milo was introduced to the world of "solid" foods today,

when he ate a little cereal at lunch time.
His reaction was mixed - not an outright refusal,

but he didn't seem thrilled with the offering.

Ruby, however, was VERY excited.
She clapped, cheered, and gave Milo a kiss.

Also in today's news, Milo is 6 months old today,

and this is my 1000th post!
What an exciting day! :)

Naturally

The current Joy School Theme is The Earth.

We're learning about nature - today we talked about plants.

One of our activities was to pretend to be seeds.

The kids all curled up on the ground, and as they

got water and sunlight, they grew and grew,

until they became full-grown plants.

After the plants were grown, I asked each child
what type of plant they had become.

We had some lovely trees and flowers,
and then we had Jonah.

His seed grew into a CORN DOG.

Maybe we need to go back and learn about plants again.

Confidence Builder

I volunteered to make dinner for some people tonight,

and as I was preparing the meal, I told Bentley

and Maxwell that I was a little nervous.

They asked why, and I said that I just wanted

the people to like the meal.

Bentley said, "Oh that happens to me all the time."

When I asked him what he meant, he explained,

"A lot of the time you make food that I

really don't like, and it's okay!"
Add that to his comment as he came in the door

tonight, ("What stinks?") and I was feeling

really good about taking dinner over.

33/52

Now I'm caught up! Thanks, Mindy!

Jonah, Ruby, and me at the park on Friday.
It looks nice outside, but it was COLD.
See the snow in the mountains?
Jonah brought a coat, and then put it under a park bench.
Awesome.