The Speed of Light

This blog has been a little heavy on Ruby and Jonah lately,

probably because they're with me most of every day,

and I take more pictures of them.

I don't have a new picture of Bentley by himself, but here's

a little story about Bentley from yesterday.

After church, Bentley was in his room changing

into play clothes. Suddenly, I heard a loud noise,

like someone had kicked his door. Turns out, he was

trying to see if he was as fast as the speed of light.

He ran across his room, and then tried to stop

an inch in front of the door.

Instead, he crashed into the door.

Nice.

For more about Bentley, you can read about

his space knowledge competition with Mindy.

Spreading the Word

Design Mom is currently hosting "Ask Design Mom Week." As a fun twist, she's also giving away a $300 shopping spree to Peek . . . Aren't You Curious. So click on over to ask away or to just get some new ideas.

6/52

Maxwell took this photo today.

Jonah and Ruby decided that they had

babies in their tummies. Ruby lost hers

in favor of some banana bread, but

Jonah posed with me for a profile shot.

39 weeks!

Another Haircut

On of the things that I forgot to put on my list,

but have planned to do before the baby's birth,

is to get Ruby's hair cut again.

Heidi planned to do that for us, but her baby

came more than a month early

(Heidi - I hope you are both doing well!),

so today Ashley cut Ruby's hair.
Isn't this a perfect "before" photo?

And here's the "after" photo.

Ruby is getting to be a pro at this hair cutting thing.
She's come a long way since her first haircut,
and was even better behaved today than she was
the other time she got her hair cut.

An aside: Today I told Jonah that I didn't know
when the baby was going to be born.
He thought that was quite silly.
Obviously, the baby will be born on his
BIRTH DAY.

Jonah's right, of course.
We just don't know what day that will be!

(Not Quite) Ready for Combat

Last week, my sister, Mindy, came to visit us.

The kids love to see Mindy.

I think part of that love might be due to the

presents she gives them each time she sees them.

(Jonah, Ruby, and Mindy at the mall)

This time, Mindy brought a Tinker Bell doll for Ruby,
(Ruby's previous love - she now prefers Teen Titans)
and Nerf swords for the boys.
Not just the boys who have been born,
she brought a sword for our new baby, as well.
Mindy thought that if nothing else,
Ruby might want to use it to play with her brothers.
It also served as a weapon for Mindy or Greg
when they were engaged in battle with
Bentley, Maxwell, and Jonah.
The kids were pretty happy that their little
brother was given his first sword,
and they make sure it finds its way to his space
when they are finished with it.

Build-a-Bear or Build-a-Bank?

Jonah really likes money.

For Christmas, he asked Santa for an allowance.

Unfortunately, Santa was unable to break family law,

(allowance starts when you turn 5)

and Jonah had to be content with $10 all at once,

instead of a steady income of $1 each week.

He saved most of that money

(he did spend $5 on ToonTown), and also

saved some money that he got for Valentine's Day.

He was given even more money for his birthday,

and in anticipating that event, he planned to go to

Build-a-Bear to buy himself a new friend.

Jonah's plan temporarily changed when his

brothers informed him that he had

more money than either of them.

Jonah decided to save all his money, until

he was the richest person in our family.

After a few days, however, the lure of a

new Build-a-Bear won out, and off we went

to the mall to spend his money.

He chose a dog, added a barking sound,
and found a shirt on sale for $2.
If I remember correctly, the dog's name is Cute Dog,
and he joins Jonah's panda, Cool Panda.
I often wonder if there is a limit to Jonah's
amazing imagination. I guess when it comes to
naming stuffed animals, he likes to keep things simple.

5/52

This photo is a 2 for 1.

Today I asked John to take a photo of me to

to document how big I'm getting,

and Ruby jumped in the shot.

So this is week 38 of the pregnancy,

as well as week 5 of Project 52.

The Baby's Quilt!

Here's a quick shot of me with the baby's quilt.
I posted a few more pictures here.

Hannah Hogs the Bed

It looks like Ruby made sure her doll, Hannah,

was tucked in nicely for bed.

What a nice mother - sacrificing her

comfort for her baby's comfort.

In other news - I've finished the baby's quilt
(hopefully I'll get around to posting pictures),
and this week I taught Joy School for
the last time before the baby is due.
I love checking things off of my list.

Skating 101

My friend, Erin, had her birthday party at the

skating rink tonight. The older kids and John and I

have been skating a few times in the last year or so,

but it's been about 3 years since the entire family

went skating, and tonight was Ruby's first time ever!

I didn't expect either Ruby or Jonah to skate,

but they both really wanted to try it.

Ruby skated, danced, (see above photo)
and pretended to play video games.

Jonah was fearless. He took off by himself,
and did lap after (slow) lap around the rink.

Maxwell started off with regular skates,
but partway through the evening
he chose to switch to beginner skates.
That's when he really started to have fun.

Bentley toughed it out on regular skates the entire time.
He's amazing. No matter how many times he falls
down, he gets back up and tries again.
He says he had a great time, because even though
he fell down a lot, he was able to skate faster
than he did the last time he went skating.

4/52

Maxwell took this picture of Jonah and me

after we got home from our lunch date on Thursday.

When Jonah turned 2, we started the tradition of

birthday lunch dates. The boys go with me,

and Ruby goes with her Dad.

That works out nicely, because I like to eat out,

and John would rather stay home.

He's Four!

Today Jonah celebrated his fourth birthday.

He's been looking forward to it since he turned 3.

I hope the day lived up to his expectations.

Here's a rundown of Jonah's big day,

including his requested meals:

Breakfast - scrambled eggs and toast (thanks to his Dad)

Joy School with his friends

Lunch - date with Mom to Chili's

He got a cheeseburger, corn on the cob, and root beer.

Extra computer time!!!

Dinner - Kraft Macaroni and Cheese

Dessert - yellow cupcakes with blue frosting

One funny story - before they went to school this morning,

Bentley and Maxwell were trying extra hard to be

kind to Jonah. Their latest favorite thing is

"Knock Knock Jokes" (sigh), and Maxwell used one

to try to show Jonah how cool Jonah is.

Maxwell - Knock knock.

Jonah - Who's there?

Maxwell - Jonah.

Jonah - Jonah, who?
Maxwell - Jonah's the best guy in the world!

Jonah - But I'm not Jonah. I'm the king of the ocean.

(For heaven's sake Jonah, take a compliment

when your older brother offers it - it's not like it happens

every day or something. At least Maxwell tried.)

I like it when they're friends

I wish they had gotten along this well tonight.

sigh.

Steps That Make People Cool

written by Bentley

Step 1: spiky or mohawk hair
Step 2: watch (not a digital one)
Step 3: short sleeve shirts
Step 4: skateboard
Step 5: jeans or shorts
Step 6: long socks
Step 7: Vans shoes

3/52

We took a bunch of pictures tonight,

and I don't like ANY of them.

John declined when I asked for his help

(he thought he might get in trouble for

suggesting the "wrong" photo - where

would he get such an idea?).
So here's a collage of photos that I don't like.

I'm counting the collage as my 3rd photo.

(This is MY Project 52 so that should be okay, right?)

Hopefully we'll have better luck next week.
Although as I get closer to having this baby,
I think it will be more difficult to
like any photo that I'm in.
I'm looking forward to my first photo
with our new baby. :)

Backwards

Not long ago, I managed to send Bentley to school

with his pants on backwards - and neither of us noticed.

His teacher mentioned that just before they took

a class picture, she saw that his pants were on

backwards, took him aside, and asked him if he wanted

to go to the restroom to change them. He did.

She said that since they were cargo pants she can

see how easy it would be to make a mistake.

What a nice thing to say; but I was still embarrassed.

So yesterday morning, when I noticed that Maxwell

had his red Cars shirt on backwards, I was so glad that

I had caught it before he left for school.

Only, when I asked him if he knew it was on backwards,
he said, "Yes. I'm Robin, and Robin wears a plain
red shirt, so I have to wear mine backwards."

I wonder what his teacher thought.

Do you think the two teachers compare notes?

Why Is This Fun?

Irony

Jonah isn't the only 3 or 4 year old around here
who thinks that he is an animal part of the time.
When I taught Joy School last week,
we had a bunch of little cats and dogs running
around on all fours. Before starting any story,
snack, or project, the kids had to be reminded that
at Joy School they were PEOPLE, but
that when it was time for free play,
they could pretend to be animals.

The current Joy School theme is
Relationships and Communication.
Each school day, the kids are sent home with
a short note telling Mom or Dad what they learned that day.
I thought it was really funny today when I read,
"We remembered how to use words to tell how we feel instead
of fighting or hurting our friends. One of the best things about
humans is that we can talk."

I guess the Joy School creators are assuming that
the children in Joy School are humans.

Dinner Conversation

Jonah helped me make cookies today.

It's something I used to do with Bentley all the time,

but it was a relatively new experience for Jonah.

He was so excited, and he did a great job.

At dinner tonight, I asked Jonah to tell his Dad about it.

Me - Jonah, tell Dad what you helped me do today.

Jonah - Meow! Meow! Meow!

Me - Jonah, speak English please.

Jonah - But I'm a cat.

John - Not at the dinner table.

Me - Jonah, please turn back into a person.

Jonah (looks exasperated and says to himself) -

Transform into *Robin!

Then says to his Dad, - I made cookies.

John- You made cookies? That's great.

Jonah - Meow! Meow! Meow!

John and Me - Sigh.

*as in "Batman and Robin" or the "Teen Titans"

2/52

Here's photo #2 of my Project 52.

John took it for me, just before we left for church.

I was pleasantly surprised that all four kids wanted to be in it.

The dress that I'm wearing
is perhaps my least favorite item of maternity clothing,
and yet I've worn it for all five pregnancies. Go figure.
Here's what I've learned from this dress: fat people should not wear plaid.

For good measure, here's a photo of John with the kids.
Ruby was really nervous about the game John was playing.