How about now?

Last night I was describing to Chod a weird pain that starts at my ankle bone and shoots up my leg, but it only hurts sometimes and I don't know what is causing it.

Bentley was concerned. "Mom, your ankle hurts?"

"Sometimes, but not right now."

Then he kicked my foot.

"Now does it hurt?"

Time for those bunkbeds

Just minutes ago Bentley entered the office and exclaimed, "Mom, me just so happy! Lincoln can get out of his bed all by himself!"

And on cue Lincoln waddled in laughing behind Bentley.

Bedtime just got a little more difficult.

Together forever

Yesterday, Chod's Grandma Luain went through the temple for the first time.

Then she was sealed to her deceased husband.

Then three of their children were sealed to them.

Then Grandpa Lowell was sealed to his parents.

"Three generations " was the buzz in the dressing room. It was a very special day.

Me not like girls to win.

Losing is one of Bentley's least favorite things to do, but a girl winning is so much worse than losing.

In our house there is only 1 girl--me. Which means I'm not allowed to win at anything without a fit being thrown. No Uno, Blockus, putting my shoes on first, or doing my seat belt up first is allowed. I am being suppressed.

One day I made the mistake of inviting Chod to race us home. Bentley, Lincoln, and me in one car and Chod in the other. We won. Bentley cried. When I asked him why he said, "Because me wanted my dad to win, not a girl." I tried explaining that he, Bentley, was the winner so there was no reason to be sad. Apparently if you are on the same team as "the girl" it is better to lose than to have her win.

Last night we raced to the elevator. Boys vs. Mom. Mom won. As we were eating dinner at The Old Spaghetti Factory Bentley announced to the entire trolley that I was a mean mom. When I asked why? He responded "Because you just winned!"

My little bandito

We were eating dinner when Bentley looked at Chod and with disbelief and maybe a little disgust on his face asked, "Dad, is you kidding me?"

"Am I kidding you about what?"

"Is you kidding me, you really just ate the last tortilla?"

Some moments in this house couldn't be funnier if they were scripted.

Muscle Tricks

Sometimes things are a little boring in the middle of winter. Luckily, Bentley has found a way to entertain himself, and a house of adults if the situation is right, with his muscle tricks.

Teamwork

9 o'clock church

7:55 Start the dishwasher, then jump in the shower

8:14 Chod comes upstairs with a beard of shaving cream. His electric razor is dead.

8:15 Chod runs bath water for boys. We are out of hot water.

8:16 Lincoln gets put in the lukewarm water. I'm ironing white shirts.

8:17 Bentley climbs into the tub and yells "Lincoln pooped in the tub!"

8:17 Bentley jumps out.

8:17 Chod sets Lincoln out of the tub.

8:18 There are two naked boys running around the house

8:19 Think of at least getting a diaper on Lincoln, but decide to finish the last arm of the shirt.

8:20 Bentley yells, "Lincoln pooped on my floor!"

8:20 I start cleanup on Lincoln. Chod starts cleanup on the floor.

8:21 I notice poop smeared clear down the front of me. Lincoln has poop on his foot. We have no hot water.

8:22 Chod flushes poop + wipes used in cleanup down the toilet. Toilet clogs.

8:24 Wipe faces. At least their faces are clean.

8:35 Can't find Lincoln's shoes. Bentley starts looking for his Book of Mormon.

8:36 Fix hair, find ties, tear house apart looking for shoes.

8:40 Find Lincoln's shoes in my purse.

8:47 Pack church bag.

8:50 Load everyone in the car.

8:58 Walk into church looking somewhat put together, and hopefully we don't smell like poop.

Mi casa, su casa

"Do you know what curious hor-hay (Jorge) is mom?"

"Nope"

"It's Spanish for Curious George!"

Looks like Chod has been giving Spanish lessons again.

We've got worms

Growing up we had chickens and dogs to feed our food scraps to. We don't have that luxury here.

During the fall we bought some worms, and Bentley has become our local worm wrangler. These are composting worms that eat our fruit and vegetable scraps, our oatmeal, our shredded junk mail, and some cardboard. They are pretty amazing little things. Not quite as productive as the chickens and they eat pretty slow, but I doubt many chickens could live in a rubbermaid container in my kitchen without drawing attention to themselves.

Originally, they were put in the garage but when it started getting into the negatives Chod brought them inside. It was my crazy idea to get them, but Chod has become a fan. With the warmer temperature inside we have a lot of worm reproduction going on and more worms means they eat more of our scraps resulting in more compost for us.

Silent, contained, and they don't smell. They are the perfect first pet(s). Soon we will have enough to divide and sale. I think they may be the beginning of Bentley's mission fund.

The Count

Chocolate is for sharing

"I want what Dalanie is eating."

"I didn't see it, what did she have?"

"Me don't know. It was chocolate, and not healthy, and I want some!"

The whole fam

It isn't very often that you get to play with all of your cousins, on both sides of the family, in one weekend.

We returned from a great weekend in Idaho with two exhausted boys.

Winter Walk

It was a wet day to go snowshoeing, but we did it. We invited friends to join us and between the 2 families there are 5 boys! We went to Sherwood Hills, where the trails weren't marked very well and it took us a while to decide on a direction, but the scenery was great. Bentley wore his new snowshoes and walked quite a ways with us. The boys played and played and by the time the wind started to pick up and the snow started to fall hard they were tired, and the parents were tired from pulling sleds/carrying boys so we turned around and headed home.

Funny how it took an hour to get out and only 15 minutes to get back to the car.

Welcome 2010

They humored me and wore these awesome 2010 glasses. Actually, Lincoln loves them. We celebrated at 7 and were all sound asleep well before midnight.

Happy New Year!