Size of the Dog

You've heard the saying "It's not the size of the dog in the fight, but the size of the fight in the dog" right?

We'll our Bentley put it to the test.

He was getting ready for bed and showing off his brawny body--flexing his huge muscles, and trash talking Uncle Ty. He's pretty sure he would beat Ty in a wrestling match because his muscles are so big. Ty laughed at the invite to wrestle the little guy and instead challenge Bentley to an arm wrestling match.

There was a little help from Lincoln, but as you can see they got him.

Kindergarten Program 2011

Oh kindergartners! Bentley had his first school program and was pretty insistent his dad take the day off of work so he would be sure to make it. His insistence paid off and Chod was there (although he didn't take the whole day off).

I got to help make their reindeer shirts. Pretty sure I got the worst job there--painting 30 little kindergartner feet and then washing each one off.

Bentley got put on the front row, and did great. I was surprised he knew the songs because he never sang them at home.

The proud dad and little brother.

Climbing a Wall

Somehow Santa fit a climbing wall in his sleigh for our boys.

At first Lincoln thought he was too little and the wall was too dangerous. And now he just thinks the wall is too little.

And Bentley exlaimed that he had asked Santa for a stuffed mole and not a climbing wall! But he's climbed it his fair share too.

It makes their hands and feet and arms tired and they can only climb it about 3 times in a row before they need to rest.

If you find calluses on our boys hands, you can be sure they didn't come from working.

Looking for Rudolph

On more than one Christmas Eve, my dad was able to convince my sisters and me that the red light on top of the Burley water tower was, in fact, Rudolph.

So Saturday night on our way to Logan for the last errand before Christmas, I pointed out every red light I saw. But instead of believing, Bentley scrutinized.

"That light's not moving."

"I think its just an antenna Mom."

Either we were eager believers, or this kid is smarter than we were.

Christmas Eve Carriage Ride

While Chod was starting the big Christmas surprise 2011, the boys and I went on a carriage ride. Uncle Ty let Lincoln sit up front with him. He invited Bentley too, but he needed to go to the bathroom and was way more concerned with how many more minutes this was going to last. Lincoln loved the horses, Tammy and Linda, and even sat on Tammy. She's a big horse and he's just a little guy.

Merry Christmas

Its Tradition

Friday night we headed to SLC to see the lights and finish Christmas shopping. Usually, we make it a quick trip down, see the lights, and come home. But this time we cashed in one of our free nights with Marriott and made a trip out of it. From the way they were acting, you would think our boys don't get out much and that it was their first stay in a hotel. And while we are not world travelers by any means, it was definitely not their first time out of the house. But they went crazy over it.

Chod made me aware of our family tradition of eating at Crown Burger before seeing the lights. I'm pretty sure it isn't a tradition, as we've only eaten there once before ever....but whatever makes the man happy.

We saw the lights, the boys darted in and out of people, begged to go back to the hotel, and whined about being cold. Just before heading to the car I asked if there was anything else they wanted to see, and Bentley asked to touch the temple.

We wound our way back through the crowd and the boys touched the temple. (Which has become a tradition), stopped by the visitor center and headed to the car.

We worked our way through the hoards of people heading to the the Conference Center for the Christmas Concert and Chod was carrying Lincoln. Bentley and I followed behind and noticed Lincoln holding his hand out to the crowd. I finally realized he was hoping for someone to give him "5". No one did, but his hand made contact with a lot of shoulders. Most were too occupied with getting in their seats to notice. Finally, at the very end I asked a little family if they would help a kid out--so his tally for the night was five "5's" from them.

We made it back to the hotel, warmed up with hot chocolate and went swimming.

The boys loved our trip and it was a great end to another semester!

Mouse Trap: The Game

Maybe it is white trash, maybe its total redneck, maybe its complete paranoia--but a couple months ago I snagged a package of mouse traps for the garage. You know, cause even though we haven't spotted a mouse yet, I believe one can never be too prepared in preventing a rodent invasion.

It just so happened that there were 4 snap traps in the package, and coincidentally there are 4 members of our family. So we created a little game. We each claimed and initialed a trap, picked out our bait, and selected a spot in the garage for it. The plan is every time a trap catches a mouse we'll (Chod) put a tally on it. When spring comes whichever trap is the most successful will be deemed the winner. The prize is yet to be determined.

We're still on even playing ground at 0 mice for each.

The Anticipation is Going to Kill Us

Our boys went crazy the day we told them we are going to have a baby. Bentley has been baby hungry (for a sister) ever since Lincoln was born, and he immediately started planning.

"We need to put the carseat in the car."

"Oh, we need to go get the Bumbo down!"

"Are we going to need a new stroller?"

"Wait! Our table only has 4 chairs--where will the baby sit? Oh, I know, I'll move my chair over by Dad and then the baby can sit next to me!"

"I know we can name it Honda!"

This all happened in a matter of minutes as he was running frantically around the house. We calmed him down by explaining that these things can all wait a few months until the baby is actually here. But he insists his chair stays in its new spot, and for weeks he has been set on Honda for the name.

(So it can be part of the "car club" like Bentley, Lincoln and Hudson.)

Although over the weekend he added two more options to the name list. Lightning and Princess.

Nap Time with Boodle

Lincoln snuggled up to me yesterday for nap time. Although there wasn't much napping as it is really hard to sleep while he twirls your hair, plants kisses on your nose, and whispers "You're my best friend." and "I love you mostest." with peanut butter breath.

But I'd trade a nap any day for that.

Mystery Solved

Yesterday, when I left my check-up with 3 prescriptions in hand I felt a little validated in the survival mode our house has been in lately. No longer do I feel guilty that I took 3 naps a day with Bentley while he was home sick. Nor do I feel bad at the number of meals we've eaten out in the past month or two. Or the hours of TV our boys have been watching for that matter. And the boxes of apples still waiting to be turned into apple pie filling? Now I know why I haven't gotten to them. When Chod brought up the Christmas decorations last weekend and I asked that he put them back because I wasn't putting them up yet--that's excused too. Things have been really sad around here and I'd been crediting pregnancy with the way I was feeling, thinking I was a wimp and needed to just deal with it. But apparently I've actually been sick.

Here's hoping I feel better soon.

Thanksgiving

We decided to stay home for Thanksgiving this year because Bentley was sick. And it was so nice to spend it with just the 4 of us and not have to share our time, while Chod was home, with anyone else. Lincoln helped Chod with a few projects outside because the weather was gorgeous. And Chod wished we had Christmas lights to hang up outside with the rest of the neighbors on the perfect 50 degree day.

My original Thanksgiving assignment was the water and an appetizer, so I was really excited to be able to fix the entire Thanksgiving meal by myself--and cooking all day is fun when you don't have anything else to worry about doing. The boys didn't last long, and after a bite or two Bentley retired to the couch for another nap. But that's okay because Chod really likes leftovers so I didn't have to cook for the rest of the weekend.

We have so much to be thankful for. Really, when we look back at the craziness of the last year it is easy to see that 2011 has been good to us. Very, very good.

Almost a Gold Medalist

A while ago Bentley found Chod's stash of race medals and came out of our room holding them. In awe he asked, "Did my dad really win all of these races?"

I knocked Chod off the Olympic podium Bentley had him standing on by answering, "Win? Oh no, Dad didn't win any of those."

"But then how did he get them?"


Then I explained that when you run really long races that are really hard and a lot of people start but not that many finish, like Chod does, you get a medal just for finishing the race.

And like that his confidence was returned. His dad runs really long races that are really hard and gets cool medals.

Break out the Snowshoes

Friday it snowed and snowed and snowed. Most of the day it didn't stick but we still managed to accumulate 10". Which isn't too shabby for one of the first snowfalls of the season.

The boys bundled up and went out to help Chod shovel the driveway yesterday morning.

Bentley's jack-o-lantern looks a little chilly. I'm not sure how he's survived finding his way to the garbage can, but there he sits.

Bentley tried to make a snow angel before he pulled up his hood, resulting in more snow down his coat than he wanted.

 Much better success with a hood!

Then Chod took them sledding. Turns out the cemetery has the favorite sledding hill, so they didn't have to go far.

After they got back we made cookies and watched the Turkey Trotters run past our front yard. A little snowy, but not the worst day I've seen for a Turkey Trot.

Sunday Dishes

Sunday after dinner, I announced that dishes were up to the boys and headed to take a nap. As I was laying in my room I could hear Bentley hurrying back and forth between the table and the dishwasher. I laid planning the surprise reaction I would give him when I discovered the dishes were done. And I couldn't help but smile and think what a cute, sweet kid he is as I listened to his shuffling.

Then all of a sudden he appeared in my doorway, threw his hands in the air and shouted "DONE!"

It turns out Chod had gone to put Lincoln down for nap (and possibly got one of his own) and had told Bentley he was old enough to take care of the dishes. So he did.

Losing Teeth

A few of Bentley's teeth have been loose for a while, but he rarely plays with them and doesn't like us to wiggle them either. So we judged how loose they were by how far forward they lean. Last Tuesday (11/8), after a game of Hide And Go Seek, and right before bedtime, Bentley was sitting on Chod's lap. Chod asked him when he lost his tooth. And he had no idea he had lost one--but there was a hole. We asked if he had swallowed it, "Maybe." Or did it get spit out while he was brushing his teeth, "I don't know, maybe." So our first lost tooth was really lost!

Chod stood up to start the search and spotted a little white speck on the floor. Sure enough it was the tooth! We have no idea when it fell out, but Bentley knew what to do with it.

The next morning he was pretty excited to find that the Tooth Fairy had left him a 50 cent piece in place of the tooth.

And for the record, it is Kennedy on the 50 cent piece, not Andrew Jackson.

Still Working for Cars

As soon as we were back to the car after seeing Cars 2 this summer, Bentley has been saving to buy it. And last Sunday when he saw an ad for it in the paper he was so excited and asked when he could buy it. So I told him to remind me on Tuesday and we would go get it. Sure enough, Tuesday, when he got home from school he started nagging me to go to the store. We ate lunch, then Lincoln took a nap, then I made dinner, then Chod came home and we ate. The wait was killing him. So at 7 that night he gathered up his money and the two of us went in search of the movie.

Our first stopped was Lee's (to save time and a trip to Logan), but we couldn't find it there. And when we walked past the Redbox Bentley made sure I knew he did not want to get it from there, because he wanted to be able to keep it forever and not have to take it back.

 We found it at Smith's Marketplace (who also had Redbox by the front door that caused concern).

And he took it up to the registered, emptied the contents of his bag and handed over his coupons. The man in the electronics department was very patient as we counted coins and complicated things with coupons.

(If there's anything this kid loves as much as money, it's coupons.)

Bentley had the movie opened before we were out of the parking lot and couldn't wait to watch it. It was bedtime by the time we made it home, so we compromised by watching the Shorts that night.

 And the next day he hurried home to watch it. The moment he had been waiting for.

They watch while having a picnic in the front room complete with "Super Agent Sandwiches. Pretty sure it was everything he had hoped it would be.

Mixin It Up

We (I? I'm not sure Chod really ever gets a say in my crazy ideas) decided to do something different this Halloween. Maybe it's because we didn't have a party or even put up Halloween decorations. Or maybe it's just because we want to be the coolest house on the block.

So we made homemade cake doughnuts to hand out to the trick-or-treaters and parents. I'll be honest the parents were way more excited about them than the kids. The kids had no idea what to do with them. Do I put it in my bag? Do I eat it? But a group of teenagers did comment that it was "EPIC". That was pretty big.

I had never made doughnuts before, and it was actually a lot easier than I was anticipating. We borrowed Ty and Tameka's Camp Chef and set it up outside (so my house wouldn't smell like fried dough). They graciously offered a dutch oven and oil to the cause (left over from their doughnut frying at their Halloween party). And Chod threw together the cauldron serving bowl when he wasn't impressed with how I was presenting them. Pretty impressive, right?

Being our first year in the neighborhood I had no idea what to expect and made 7 dz doughnuts. I closed up shop when it started sprinkling and the boys called wanting a ride home. So we only handed out 5.5 dz but I'm sure the other 18 doughnuts would have been used had I stayed.

Rumor is they were the talk of the neighborhood. Next year we may need more than 7 dz.

Franky and The Fish

I had a great idea months ago for our boys to be The Cat in the Hat and his fish. Well, Lincoln was so excited to be the fish. That was easy. All that I had left to do was convince Bentley that being The Cat in the Hat would be awesome.

Ha!

It was a battle of the stubborns. He wanted to be a spider. I wanted him to be The Cat in the Hat. It was an argument that continued on and on and on. I told him that as long as he could fit in Lincoln's spider costume from last year that would be fine, but I would not be making him a new spider.

We almost agreed on him wearing his vampire costume last year. But I had seen this cute Frankenstein hat on a blog and offered it as a 3rd choice. #1 being The Cat in the Hat and #2 the vampire. Expecting him to choose Frankenstein I made a trip to JoAnn's to pick up the fleece on Saturday, and before he went to bed that night I had Chod check and double check on what he was going to be. Bentley answered a vampire every time. So I didn't worry about making Frankenstein.

Until Monday morning when he woke up and said he was going to be Frankenstein. Since I already had a game plan and wasn't in the mood to argue with a very tired boy, I whipped up his hat while Chod found some jeans we could cut up and a blazer. He turned out pretty cute if I do say so myself.

And that fish? He was adorable. I should have gotten video of him walking up the street trick-or-treating. His little tail fin moved just right!

Parable of the Pumpkin

Bentley's been begging to carve pumpkins for most of the month, but we've held off telling him they would rot before Halloween.

So he snuck out front and decorated a few by himself, which kept him content until we finally got around to carving.

We ended up with a lot of pumpkins this year. The garden that came with the house had pumpkins growing and we had planted some in our "Logan garden" too. So the boys had plenty to choose from. I'm not sure how Bentley picked his, but Lincoln chose the greenest one to carve.

We de-gutted them. And then Chod had the boys use a marker to draw their faces on.

Before he went at them with the Dremmel.

When he finished Bentley's and said, "Hey just like you drew it!" Bentley disappointedly replied, "That's not how I thought it was gonna look."

(I have the same problem with my ideas and what they actually end up like too.)

Criss Cross Applesauce

I feel like I've spent all day canning apple sauce and apple butter. I started while Bentley was at school and just finished mopping the floor.

Bentley and Lincoln took turns turning--even if they didn't want to share the responsibility. It was nice to have helpers in the kitchen.

I wish I was one of those people who feel a great sense of accomplishment after canning, but I just feel tired and I have burns on my hands and arms from the splattering applesauce. Maybe in the morning, when I see my rows of sealed jars I'll feel differently.

Exercising in the Bathtub

 This gem is from the beginning of the month and I just found it on my phone.

Exercising in the bathtub has not, nor will it ever be encouraged by this blog.

Oh My Bentley

Bentley's teacher asked that we fill out a little questionaire and he draw a self portrait. I gave him some ideas (one included googly eyes) and left him to his own devices. This is the result:

Let's start at the top. He has spiky hair and horns on his head. The blue dots on his face are moles, and the purple dots are freckles. He has green spiky teeth. And more spikes on his shoulders, claws on his hands, and my absolute favorite--purple jet pack engines on his legs. Oh, and he's wearing a cape.

I'm not sure what this says about his self perception, but I'm sure a therapist could spend days analyzing it.

One of the questions was "What is your favorite book/story?" I'm supposed to read the story to the class during Bentley's hero week. So when he answered, "The Book of Mormon!" I tried to persuade him to a different option. So he then said the Bible, and then The Doctorine and Covenants and finally we settled on 3 Billy Goats Gruff. Which I'm sure the class will enjoy listening to in its entirety.

Oh my Bentley.

Status on the House

1. We got the grass seed planted 11 days ago. Just in time for it to start raining every single day. Which is a good thing since if we would have waited it would be too wet to plant. It is starting to come up. And that is exciting.

2. Saturday we painted our last room. The pink room is no longer pink.

3. There are 4 closet doors waiting for their last coat of paint and the 3 downstairs doors are almost finished as well. But who's counting?

4. Chod has the baseboards for downstairs cut. They need to be primed and painted. Once they are painted, I'm done. The rollers, brushes, and drop clothes will be packed away and I'm hiding all the paint cans.


5. We have yet to hang anything on the walls....but the time is nearing!


6. Our first house guests arrive this weekend.

Rollercoaster

Not long after we were married Chod told me that he had always thought he would marry a girl who scrapbooks and loves rollercoasters.

And to that I told him that he should have done a better job of looking for those things in a wife, because I wasn't either.

I can handle the rides at Disneyland, but even some of the rides at California Adventure are too much for me. But that doesn't mean Chod has given up hope of vacationing in Sandusky, Ohio , rollercoaster capital of the world!

So when we got tickets to Frightmares! I knew he would be excited.

 

I encouraged him to leave me and the boys in kiddieland and hit up the big rides, but he insisted he wanted to stay with us. I think he was trying to persuade the boys into loving coasters as much as he does. Luckily for him, Lincoln was exactly 36" (they measured on every single ride) and would go on any ride Chod proposed. Bentley used me has an indicator and would only get on the rides I would. 

As we walked right onto rides Chod commented that our boys had no idea what it is like to wait in the heat in long lines in the summer--and they don't.

Bentley was freezing and ready to leave the park, but Lincoln wanted to close the place down so he and Chod stayed and rode while Bentley and I got the car. And then he still wanted more.

Looks like Chod's found a coaster riding friend.

Lincoln Movies

Our Linky is such a funny little guy. He already quotes movies, picks up song lyrics really quick, and had Bentley's Primary Program part memorized before Bentley did. Here are some Boodle movies for your viewing pleasure.

Linky Boodle Dandy

Trogdor

Making Progess, Rocking Out

So we don't have much of a backyard, which didn't bother either Chod or I when we bought the house. I figure nothing is way better to work with than a huge mistake that needs to be fixed.

 There's a shed and a little garden area, a peach tree and a lot of weeds and gravel.

After talking to some neighbors we learned that there hasn't been grass back here for 12 years. And a few owners ago had a son that worked for a gravel company and he hauled in a lot of gravel. Then they realized what a mess it was and they sold the house, rumor is because they didn't know how to fix the backyard. So, a neighbor and the previous owner hauled 3-5 dump truck loads(depending on who you are talking to) of gravel out of the back yard! So much for not having someone else's mistake to fix.

I've spent many hours trying to get a vision of what this backyard should become, but haven't come up with anything good yet. Finally, last Sunday I drew up a plan of Phase 1.

Our goal (maybe it was just mine, but Chod is a willing participant) is to get grass planted this fall. No way am I dealing with a muddy winter and spring without grass back there. Phase 1 includes grass, a shade tree and fruit trees, and an expanded garden area. We'll deal with Phase 2 when a good idea comes along.

Monday it was tilled and we've spent the past couple days raking rock. It is hard to believe that they hauled of that many dump truck loads and there is still so much rock.

 

 Chod's starting a new landscape company called "Little Red Wagon Landscaping". Isn't that cute? A wheel barrow maybe more efficient, but we were using what we had.

We got it de-rocked as well as its going to be and smoothed out this morning and I was itching to throw down some grass seed, but Chod talked me into waiting until we had the tree planted.

 I'm pretty excited for this tree and hope it doesn't die this winter or I will be really sad.

 See all those little rocks? They could drive a person crazy.

Our lone tree. The peach tree is no good and it's coming out, and Chod has been trying his hardest to kill the quakies in the front yard and then they'll come down too. So there is a lot of pressure on this one to grow tall.

And tomorrow: grass!

Choose the Right (or Left)

Bentley has been a little down on being left-handed lately. Today, he was pretty upset when I picked him up from school and insisted he did not want to be left-handed and asked if he could ever change it. I told him that some of the coolest people are left-handed (including myself, Lincoln, and a few of his uncles). That did little to console him as he said, "But I just want to choose the right!"

Which brings up the fact that I thought raising lefties would be no problem, since I am left-handed.

Well, what I often forget to realize is that I'm a pseudo lefty. All I do left handed is write and shoot a gun. I throw, use scissors, eat, play sports, paint--everything else with my right hand. So I'm really not much better than a right-handed parent when it to teaching him how to hold scissors.

But I will gladly buy him the left-handed notebooks when the time comes.

I see Paris, I see France

We drove passed the apartment tonight and Bentley told us how he misses that place. When I asked what he missed, "I miss seeing Paris from my bedroom." It's not the first time that he's told me how he used to look at Paris from his room. Not sure what he was seeing, but he insists if he looked to the east he could see the Eiffel Tower. (He doesn't even know which way East is, but Chod says that's the beauty of an imagination.)

In other Paris related news, last week he told me that he is glad we don't live in France. Why? Because then we would have to drink wine. And that's against the Word of Wisdom you know.  I tried to explain that just because you live in France doesn't mean you have to drink wine....

It appears everything he knows about Paris and France come straight from Ratatouille.

Zucchini Boat Races and S'mores

What do you do when you plant a garden and then buy a house with an existing garden and you end up with 4 zucchini plants? A little time lapse between pickings results in HUGE zucchinis, and some weeks we harvest over 20 between the two gardens! If your friends won't take the zucchini, invite them to have zucchini boat races with you!

So last night we took them to the park and carved them into boats. Bentley was talking trash from the very beginning.

Here's Bentley's finished boat--he sprinkled sand inside and then tried to trick us into thinking it was really cinnamon.

And we roasted s'mores. It was our first experience with campfire marshmallows. And they make for a huge s'more. Grocery stores have replaced the Hershey s'more bars with Halloween candy so we tried out Reeses and Dove chocolate with caramel. There were no complaints about the chocolate choices.

Kinda messy!

It was getting dark by the time the race began, and most of the zucchinis flipped over and it was hard to spot the dark zucchinis in the black water. Bentley is pretty sure his won, and Lincoln tells the story with his boat coming in first place. So it was the perfect race for some competitive kids.

And we still have plenty of zucchini left!