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!