Today

Assembling Ruby's new bed (with lots of help from the kids).

Staying up late to finish "The Big Biography Project"

Also:

babysitting

visiting teaching

scouts

little athletes camp

totaling reading minutes for March

(Maxwell read for over 1000 minutes!)

Tomorrow -

dental checkups for all 5 kids!

The goal - no cavities.

Trial and Hair

One thing about life with boys, hair is pretty easy.

But with Ruby, it's anything but simple.

First, she didn't have hair.

After YEARS of baldness, she grew hair!

This long awaited hair had a weird texture,

and did weird things, but it was hair!

Finally, that strange hair grew out!

And then, she cut it!!!

Eventually, it grew back, and with some help from Heidi,

Ruby was sporting a cute little bob.

The one thing that has been consistent in all

of these hairy situations is her aversion to styling her hair.

I don't remember ever fighting my Mom about hair.

(Maybe she remembers it differently.)

But Ruby hates to have her hair done.

Recently, John helped Ruby put a "hair chart" together.

I get to do her hair on Sundays (church),

Tuesdays (dance), and Fridays (preschool).

Ruby gets to choose on all of the other days.

She is still reluctant to have me do her hair,

but I have The Chart to back me up.

On Friday, she picked this style from my

friend (and sorta sister-in-law) Karlenn's blog.

Ruby left it in ALL day!

Maybe by the time she starts kindergarten

(we have about 16 months)

she will let me do her hair everyday!

(fingers crossed)

Our Champion

Jonah is the first of our boys to qualify for our

elementary school's new Champions' Club.

Last fall, our awesome new principal introduced the club.

Each grade level has different requirements,

but all the grades have to fulfill at least

one requirement in each of eight areas:

Art Smart, Word Smart, Math Smart, Music Smart,

Nature Smart, Physical Smart, Self Smart, and Social Smart.

Each Friday, the principal announces the names of

the newest members of the Champions' Club.

The new champions go to the office, where they

receive a medal and a certificate.

I was still at the school Friday morning when Jonah's name

was read. He marched down to the office with his

chest puffed out and a HUGE smile on his face.

He was so excited to join the club and get his medal.

And I'm sure it didn't hurt that he did it before his brothers.

My Guy Milo

Tonight, after his bath, I put Milo's diaper on him,

and put stuff on his eczema. Then, while he admired his

skinny diapered body in the full length mirror in his room,

I put the eczema stuff away in the bathroom.

Before I finished that task, I heard Milo yell "Nakey!"

and caught a glimpse of him running down the hall,

diaper in hand. The rest of the family was at the kitchen

table, having a snack before bedtime, and Milo was

rewarded with lots and lots of hysterical laughter

from his father and siblings. As I led him back to his room

to replace the diaper and add some pajamas,

he looked up at me, grinned, and said, "Funny!"

I agreed that his siblings thought he was "funny."

He is really going to think that living sans diaper

is the way to go after tonight's reaction.

Sacrament Meeting Minutes

John and me in our green/BYU,

and the family eating dinner and watching The Game.

Today John and I "got" to speak in Sacrament Meeting. When we were asked to speak, one of the first things that I thought of was, "what are we going to do with our kids?"

Luckily, Mikey got back from Denver late last night and missed his early morning church, so he came with us. It was nice to have an extra helper during the meeting. (It would be nice to have an extra helper every week. Would anyone like to apply for the position?)

John and I sat with our kids for most of the meeting, but they still managed to keep things interesting. (Except for Jonah, who was either really sneaky, or really good.)

Here are some of the high low-lights.

• When I went up to speak, Ruby waved and mouthed "Hi Mom!" until I stopped my talk to say "hi" back.
• Milo flew off the bench, landed with a thump on the floor, and jumped up with an "I'm okay!"
• Bentley and Maxwell frowned at me for a good part of my talk (while they tried not to laugh).
• During John's talk, he mentioned a "battle" with Bentley over sleeping when Bentley was 1 year old, and ended that part of his talk by saying that Bentley had won the battle and the score was Bentley - 1, Dad - 0. At that point, Bentley stood up in the middle of the meeting and flexed his muscles for everyone to see.
• After John's talk (and during it), Milo tried to escape from our pew to go up on the stand with his Dad. During the closing song, I gave up the fight and let him go. He was kind of slow about going up, and didn't make it to the stand until just after the prayer started. He looked over the side, and shouted, "Hi Mom! Wooby! (Ruby)"
• Bentley and Maxwell came to blows over a piece of paper that they had ripped in half. They both wanted both pieces.

All in all, I'd say it was a pretty successful meeting. Here's hoping that it will be a very, very long time before either of us is asked to speak again.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Now I Know My ABCs . . .

John is really good about teaching our

kids the alphabet, and then teaching them to read.

Lately, he has been working on the ABCs with Ruby.

Milo almost always sits in on their lessons, and he

seems to be catching on a little quicker than she is.

He now knows all of his letters.

Ruby knows most of hers, and asks Milo for help

when she gets stuck on a letter.

Here's a video of Milo showing off:

A B C - Take M from jenny on Vimeo.

Now we just need to get Lyle up here to teach Milo colors.
I think he taught Bentley in one morning.
Lyle?

This Little Ninja Turned 6 Today!

We love our little ninja/animal lover/speed racer/. . .

Jonah's Day -

He chose scrambled eggs, sausage links,

and toast with nutella for breakfast.

(He also asked for apple juice, but his mom forgot.)

His lunch requests were:

Grilled Cheese Explosion Mac and Cheese

and a milkshake.

And for dinner, he picked pizza, cheese sticks,

and chicken from Papa Johns with orange soda.

After dinner he opened gifts from family,

and got to blow out the candles on his cake again.
this year's friend party pictures and details here

Jonah's Birth Story

Jonah's 1st Birthday and here

Jonah's 2nd Birthday

Jonah's 3rd Birthday

Jonah's 4th Birthday

Jonah's 5th Birthday

Dear Spencer,

Hey little brother!

I have a few questions for you.

Do you remember when you lived in Utah,

and worked at Sportsman's Warehouse when you

weren't at school, studying, or at practice?

The kids and I stopped by to visit you a few times.

Remember this trip?

It's amazing that we all lived through it.

Anyway, the kids remember you working security,

and it's had some interesting repercussions.

Lately, when I take Maxwell and/or Jonah shopping

with me, they find the security cameras in those

little balls in the ceiling, and then make faces,

hide, and pretend that they are stealing things.

So my big question for you is this -

based on your experience working security,

how likely do you think it is that we

will be tackled by some security guy

after we walk out of the store?

Love, Jenny

Singing In the Rain

12/12

This is the final photo for Project 12!

Now what?

Maybe I'll get ambitious and try

something like this.

I wonder if I could get the kids to cooperate

every month???

Moving On Up!

Last week, Bentley got his purple belt in karate,

and this week, he began the intermediate class.

He now gets to learn sparring, rolling, and a new form.

Here are the pictures from his belt advancement.

On Thursday, the kids have their tip/belt test,

and then the next evening they are awarded their new belts.

Here are Bentley's show kicks from his tip test.

Tip Test - Show kicks from jenny on Vimeo.

And here are his show kicks from his belt advancement.

Purple Belt Promotion - Show Kicks from jenny on Vimeo.

One last video, this one is a little longer.

The orange belts (soon to be purple belts)

show the form taikyoku nidan.

Bentley is 4th from the left.

taikyoku nidan from jenny on Vimeo.