Guinea Pigs

Last week I received a letter in the mail from a group on campus. Essentially it was asking to use my child has a guinea pig for research for a number recognition study. I didn't think anything else of it, until my phone rang.

These people had my address and phone number?

The lady asked if I had received the letter and if I would be willing to allow my child to participate in the study. Turns out they wanted Lincoln, but just happened to also have a study for kids Bentley's age as well.

I signed them both up.

Lincoln's test involved him sitting on my lap watching a movie of a ball bounce. Then pause. Then bounce some more.

He did fabulous. Turns out 6 month olds can differentiate between 6 bounces and 8 bounces when the ball changes size while bouncing.

Bentley's test required him to play a computer game. Blocks would flash on the screen, or beeps would beep and he was suppose to count them. Then two choices would be given, one showing a correct amount of blocks and the other an incorrect amount. He then had to touch the correct amount. The test is for 3 to 6 year olds. I don't know if he actually counted (he most definitely didn't count out loud) and when the choices were given he would say "mmm" and quickly pick an answer.

He scored a 70%. Not bad for guessing.

2 for the price of 1

Chod is a wonderful gift giver.

If he were giving gifts to himself.

So, when I opened a subscription to Craft Christmas morning, I knew it was because he loved his subscription to Make. He really loved it, and every year he asks for it. We have all of his 4 issues, full of projects he and the boys can do when they are a little older and other projects he thinks my dad would love, sitting on our bookshelf. I feel that a subscription of $35 should deliver more than 4 issues a year, and have never renewed his subscription since the first year.

My first issue came, and Chod read it to me trying to make me love Craft as much as he loves Make.

Honestly, I was a little disappointed in it. It was full of "holiday" projects and was all red and green. Christmas was a month old. And the projects were blah. Most likely because they were green. And I'm not really into knitting plastic grocery bags together to make my clothes.

The next week my second issue came. In 2 months my subscription was already half over. This one looked more promising and was all about parties. I still haven't read it.

Two days later I got an email from Craft letting me know that they are discontinuing the magazine.

Make will fill my remaining issues.

Merry Christmas Choddie.

Our Royal Highness

If Lincoln is our President Lincoln, then Bentley must be a king.

A king with a very weak court.

Every morning as he is exiting his bedroom he announces, "Bentley is awake now!"

How sad he has to do his own announcing.

Riding in style

We broke out our Christmas stroller and took her on her maiden voyage yesterday. It seemed like a nice day, but was still rather chilly. So the boys were able to wear their adorable "my cousins went to Chile and all I got was this hat" hats. They were the two cutest bugaboos on the road.

Heart Attacks

I almost forgot about our most exciting Valentine's activity. It involved a little breaking and entering, parking illegally on campus, and decorating not just 1

Chod

or 2

Katelin

or even 3

Tameka

but 4 computers!

Whitney

We also left them little boxes of chocolate covered pretzels with heart sprinkles

Having 4 family members who work in 3 offices in the same building and using Chod's work keys did make for quick work. It took less than 20 minutes and we didn't even get a parking ticket!

Going once, going twice, SOLD!

I love Enrichment Service Auctions. I like to see what talents others have and are willing to share. And I like to watch people fight over goods. And I like to bid prices up and then back out at the last minute. And I especially like to buy stuff with imaginary money.

All of our Valentine making paid off at our Enrichment Service Auction last night, when you were awarded 2 points for everything you had made in the last month. Those 200 Valentines (and yes, I counted all of them) gave me a great lead in points. I started the night off with 1048 "dollars" and went on a little shopping spree. I managed to come home with:

Cheesecake
Earrings
30 min massage
Hair cut and style
Sewing lessons
Babysitting

Which may sound like I was an auction hog, but a few of the items I was the sole bidder on.

I think I'll schedule my babysitting and then cash my mini day at the spa (cut and massage) while wearing my new earrings and eating cheesecake.

Friends on the Internet

We took Valentine's very seriously this year. Bentley loves to make stuff, and says "I helps you Mom" whenever scissors and glue are involved. So we have been little crafting fools. It started in the middle of January when we created a snowman out of paper and then snowflakes. I quickly grew tired of snow things so we moved onto Valentines.

We made butterfly Valentines for cousins and friends. They were glued and re-glued together with Elmers. Which made it extremely easy for him to pop googly eyes off of plastic, so these kept us busy until the end of January.

Then we moved onto the Valentines for our long weekend. We planned in advance to create Valentine mailboxes and exchange Valentines while we were there. 50 people required 50 Valentines....per person. So our family of 4 created 200 Valentines! Mine, Bentley's, Lincoln's, and Chod's. Thank you friends on the internet for supplying ideas and PDFs.

Know of any good St. Patty's crafts for a 3 year old?

We spent the long weekend at Albion Campus Grove with some friends and some family.

Love Bug

Our little Lincoln is 5 months old! He is about the happiest baby ever. Unless he is hungry, and then his lack of patience shines through and he is all "Feed me NOW or I will DIE"! He loves his solids and downed an entire jar of sweet potatoes on his first introduction. He has a little tooth creeping in on the bottom. And living up to his nickname of Stinky Linky, he is averaging 2 blowouts a day. We have moved up a diaper size and tried a few brands, but nothing can stop it. He can roll from his back to his tummy, but then he gets really mad (hates tummy time). So he prefers to roll onto his side and stick his foot out to balance him there.

Bentley loves his baby brother. Now that Lincoln is starting to interact more, Bentley asks to hold him and plays games with him. Nothing is better to a mom's ears than 2 brothers giggling together. Although, the other day when Lincoln started crying I asked Bentley what was going on. "Uh, I bugs him."

I don't really remember what life was like with 1, but my memory leads me to believe that I accomplished a lot more in a day than I do now. Dang those kissable cheeks.

Helping me breathe

I have a nasty head cold. The only things keeping me functioning are
Ayr. A little weird but it really works.

And the frog humidifier I swiped from my boys' room. If you have to have a humidifier it might as well be cute.

Do as I say, not as you hear

Knowing we would be going to the game last night and it would be a late night for Bentley, I pleaded with him to take a nap.

He didn't. So we ran some errands and seeing he was close to sleep on the way home, I took a few detours. When he was finally asleep I pulled into the driveway. It was late in the day for a nap, but I figured it would be okay...late nap for a late night.

Chod was already home, and as I carried Lincoln in the house I explained, "I've been driving around and finally got Bentley to fall asleep. He needs to take a little nap before the game."

"Okay, I'll go get him"

"Don't wake him up, he needs to sleep."

"Okay."

What Chod heard: Bentley feel asleep while I was driving. Wake him up.

Having one ear can sure get a person in a lot of trouble.

Hey! Hey! Hey!

We donned our Aggie blue and cheered on our nationally ranked home team last night. Bentley was so excited to get to wear his "Bull Shirt" and go to a basketball game. It has been years since Chod and I were at a game, and the first for both Bentley and Lincoln.

Lincoln now understands why BYU refuses to play in the Spectrum. It is a rough place for babies to be. He was startled again and again by the cheering, and almost brought to tears a few times. But he toughed it out like a champ.

Bentley got to see Big Blue (he prefers him far away, none of this up close stuff), eat popcorn, and watch basketball. On the way home he said "Bentley's first basketball game. BIG basketball game." I don't think he has ever seen that many people in one place before.

Go Aggies!

From Pittsburgh to Cincinnati

Today brings the end of "Share your mission with your family weeks."

We first went to Pittsburgh and enjoyed our "Lite" version of Primanti Bros. sandwiches. The slices of bread were supposed to be 1 1/2" thick, ours were more like 1/2" and instead of 6 pieces of meat, we had 2 and instead of 2 slices of cheese we had 1. Chod and Chris added a fried egg to the top of theirs. I was a little leary of the idea of the coleslaw, but they were actually really good. I think we might have them again some time.

Bentley's favorite part was the Klondike bar.

Then Chris took us to Cincinnati with a little Cincinnati chili.
not done 3-way

or 4-way

but 5-way! The chili was a little different than I am used to. Maybe sweeter instead of spicier? Probably because it has cocoa in it. So the onions added a little kick. We also had Kentucky Derby Pie, but I didn't get a photo of it. It was yummy (good job Chris). Think pecan pie with chocolate chips.

Did you enjoy mission foods in your house?

Love you too

Bentley must be the most loved little boy in the world, if he isn't, well, at least he thinks he is. A few days ago as we were getting ready for the day, out of the blue Bentley says:

"Keese, Lanie Lou, 'Son, Brent!"

"What about Keese, Lanie Lou, Hudson and Brent?"

"Um, they love me."

And then this morning:

"Aunt Deid, Chris"

"What about Aunt Deid and Chris?"

"They love me. They love Linc."

He will also, at the most random times say, "love you too, Mom." It isn't preceded with me telling him I love him, he just knows he is loved...by lots and lots of people.