4/12

Watching a scary Tarzan movie with the kids.

Under the Sea

She's not actually "under the sea," but her dance

class does meet downstairs, does that count?
Ruby started Fairytale Ballet yesterday.

Nine weeks of princess costumes and dancing.

What more could she ask for?

There was a moment, just as the class started,
when I wasn't sure Ruby was going to go in.
She had looked forward to her first class for MONTHS,
but at the last minute she hesitated, ran back,
gave me a hug, then walked to the door.
She looked back again, and I was afraid that would be it,
but she followed the other girls and her
teacher into the room.
John had all the boys, so I got to sit outside the glass
and try to take photos without the flash.
Most of them are kind of fuzzy, but you can
still tell that she is having a great time.

One of my favorite photos, is the one where the girls

are sitting on the floor with their teacher,

and Ruby has her hand in the air.

Bentley's hand is in the air pretty much non-stop

at church or at school. He always has something to say,

or a question to ask. Ruby may take after her big brother.

My other favorite photo is the one where she is holding

hands with another little girl and running.

She was supposed to be sashaying, but the girls had

an awful lot of energy built up. They flew.

And Ruby was grinning the entire time.

We Love Fathers!

Hope you all have a great day!

One of the Gang - For Better or Worse

Milo is a big guy now!
He is 14 months old (and a week),
and recently he's been let out of the house,
and into the back yard with the big kids.
He loves it!
The other day, Milo was outside playing
with all of the other kids while I made dinner.
Bentley asked if he could push Milo in the swing,
and I said sure. After a few minutes I looked
out the window and saw all five kids
playing on (or next to) the old swing set.
I thought it was sweet, so I ran over to the
counter to grab my camera,
and quickly snapped a picture.
Then I looked at it and saw Milo's feet
above his head, and Maxwell trying to dive
under the swing while Bentley pushed it.
Ruby was cheering them on.
I'm not sure what Jonah was doing.
(He went by "Kangaroo" this week, but that sure doesn't
look like a kangaroo-type move to me.)

Anyway, Milo survived (he's resilient like that)

and Bentley has a few more guidelines

to follow when pushing his baby brother in the swing.

By the way, Milo absolutley loved the crazy swinging.

Boy-Trapped

(Bentley, Ruby, and Maxwell - Ruby is "boy-trapped")

Whenever we sit somewhere (usually at the kitchen table),

the kids like to check to see if they are "boy-trapped,"

"girl-safe," "girl-trapped," or "boy-safe."

If you are a girl and surrounded by boys,

you are "boy-trapped." If you are a girl and surrounded by

girls, you are "girl-safe." And vice versa.

Because she's outnumbered, Ruby is usually "boy-trapped."

She should be used to it by now, but most of the time

she will either deny that she is surrounded

by boys, or she will cry. (Great strategy, huh?)

After one meal today, Maxwell shared this thought.

"Hey Ruby, you are ALWAYS boy trapped

because Heavenly Father and Jesus are always

with us, and they are both BOYS."
Leave it to Maxwell to take something really good,

and make it sound bad to Ruby.

He is so funny.

Are my kids the only ones who worry about

whether they are sitting by girls or boys

every time they eat a meal with their family?

Happy Birthday

to the man in the duck hat.

Otherwise known as
Dad,
Pa,
Campa,
Homely,
and Coach.
Hope you had a great day,
and that you got to golf with Mike.
Love ya,
Jenny

When You're 8 . . .

. . . happiness is BB guns,

bow and arrows,
bouldering,

launching rockets,

and being goofy with your friends.
When you're the Mom,

happiness is . . .
. . . watching your 8 year old at Day Camp,

and bringing him home in one piece

(I was kind of worried about that part).

I know he loves me . . .

. . . because he lets me take pictures like this on his birthday,

when he would rather not do presents, or a party.
He even changed a dirty diaper on his birthday.
Now that's what I call love. :)
Happy Birthday John!

Bunk!

After years of going back and forth on the bunk bed

issue, we bit the bullet and built the beds.
The boys are *really* excited.

Now if we can just figure out how to get the
boys to go to sleep in their bunk beds.

New Do For Ru

Last fall, Ruby cut her hair.

Since then, Heidi has trimmed things up

for us while we waited for Ruby's hair to grow.

Today she chopped it.

The cut is really cute,
Ruby will be nice and cool for summer,
and most of the weird layering she did is GONE!
Thanks again, Heidi!

Grammer Lessons

Ruby has a few pronoun issues.

She almost never says "he" or "his."

Instead, she uses "him" or "him's."

This morning, I said something about Milo,

like, "What do you think he's doing?"

Ruby kind of sighed and with exaggerated

patience corrected me.

"Not he, Mom, hims."

Oh Well

Yesterday at Target,

there was a kid SCREAMING

somewhere in the store.

Not just a tired, whiny cry,

but an all out hysterical fit of screaming.

You could hear it all over the store,

and it seemed to last for a long time.

Having a kid throw a tantrum in public is awful,

and as I listened to the kid at Target,

I tried to remember

the last time one of my kids had done that.

And I couldn't remember.

It had been a REALLY LONG TIME,

(mostly because I'm able to leave at least a couple of

kids home with John when I go places) .

Today, I met a friend and her kids at the park.

It was a perfect park day.

Not too hot in the sun, not too cold in the shade.

Families came and went, and for part of the time,

we had the park to ourselves.

It was great.

(Jonah at the park a couple of weeks ago.)
Then, just after the 5 minute warning that we
were going to pack up and head home,
Jonah started screaming.
He was on the toy in the above photo,
trying to go down while Maxwell was going up.
Neither would budge, so they were both stuck
and a line was forming behind them.
I tried unsuccessfully to get Maxwell down,
and then managed to remove Jonah.
That's when the SCREAMING really started.
I packed the kids up, walked the long walk
to the car, and put Jonah in his car seat
while he SCREAMED all the way.
So much for my long stretch
without public tantrums.

From Faux Hawk to Mohawk

Three years ago, Bentley watched American Idol

and discovered the faux hawk.

This summer, (or at least this week)
he is sporting a real Mohawk.

He's loving life
(well, he loves his hair and his skateboard),
what more do you need?