5 Things You May Not Know About Me

I have now been "tagged" to share with you five things that most people don't know about me. So, here goes:

1. I am an e-mail checking addict. I seriously check my e-mail at least a dozen times per day. I rarely get anything personal, but I can't help but check, . . . just in case. If regular mail were delivered more than once per day, I'd probably get a lot of exercise running back and forth to the mailbox.

2. I once dropped my cell phone in the toilet. . . . I'd rather not elaborate.

3. My son used to drive me crazy at bed time, . . . draaaaagging out his bedtime routine, and then begging and crying for me to snuggle him (which always meant another 10-15 minutes). Don't get me wrong, I love to snuggle, but not after an hour of a battle of the wills. So, now, after each Family Home Evening, Ben receives two coupons: one is good for "Another 15 minutes" and the other, for "A Snuggle with Mommy or Daddy". It has worked like a charm, with the added bonus that we rarely miss Family Home Evening.

4. I once walked out of the bathroom at work with my dress tucked into my nylons. Yup. That was pretty embarrassing.

5. About half of each of my two front teeth is fake. Let's just say, it's usually best not to eat the handle bars on your bicycle.

O.k., there you have it! I "tag" Sarah, Linda, Leon, and my James.

Benjamisms II

Two cute stories from yesterday:

I was taking the girl who cleans my house to her home when Ben asked her, "Do you clean at your house, too?"

"Yes. I have to clean my room, and I have one Saturday chore."

"Oh, 'cause I was thinkin' if you had to clean our house for so long, and then go home and clean your house, that's a lot of cleaning!!"

**************

Then, later, Ben was taking an Easter basket to our next door neighbor's little boy. He had been gone for longer than I thought was necessary, so I asked James to look out the window to see where he was. He said that Ben was walking back to their door with something (not the Easter basket) in his hands.

After even more time had passed, I looked out our window to see where he was.

At first, I couldn't see him, but soon he came bounding out of their door, took two steps, then turned and went back and talked for a minute. Then, two more steps, then turned and went back and talked for a minute. He repeated this three times. Then, he did a cute little gallop back to our house.

Later, he told us that he had given flowers to them. (That's what James had seen him carrying back to their door.)

Lessons with Ben

Ben had the lesson for Family Home Evening this week. Since Easter is this Sunday, I told Ben that I had an idea for his lesson. Then I got out of our Gospel Art Kit the pictues of The Crucifixion, Burial of Jesus, and Mary and the Resurrected Lord. I asked him to teach us about what was happening in these pictues.

He did a beautiful job giving an account of the events portrayed. He asked me questions and I answered them, and I asked him questions and he answered them. He let me know that Jesus had power over death, and that He chose to suffer and die for us. I asked him, "What do we get from Jesus suffering and dying for us?"

Ben said, "So we can repent." "That's right. And also," I prompted, pointing to the picture of the Resurrected Lord. "So we can be resurrected!" he finished.

Then, it was apparent that Ben felt the lesson had gone on long enough. "I'd like to hear your testimony," I said. "I don't have one," Ben said. "Oh, that's o.k. You're still young and learning." Then, pointing to the pictures, I said, "Do you believe all of this is true? That it really happened?" "Yes," he said, without hesitation. "Then you do have a testimony. That is your testimony!" "Oh!" he said, with big eyes and a smile.

For the record, I believe it's true as well! I am so grateful for our Savior and for our Father's plan for us! Happy Easter!

Some Updates . . .

It seems like it's time to write something on my blog. I'm just having trouble coming up with anything interesting. So, I 'spose I'll give you some updates on our little life here:


I finally decided to get a dog for Ben. We discussed it, and I explained how he would need to help take care of it. He was excited, and wanted to go get the dog. We had two lengthy stops to make before the animal shelter. Then, the drive to the animal shelter was muuuuch loooonger than I had anticipated. When we were finally two blocks away, Ben announced, "I don't want a dog!! They're too much TROUBLE!" By this point, I was grumpy, Brianna was crying because she needed a nap, and Ben was giving me attitude. I pulled into the animal shelter parking lot, turned around, and went home.

Instead, we bought season passes to a family water park. In addition to our zoo pass, this will be our entertainment for the summer! This way, when our knees and hands get wet, it will be from chlorinated water, not from wet doggy nose.

Brianna had her 9 month check up last week. She is growing wonderfully and normally. However, the doctor (the only one in the practice that I really don't like) let me know that in her estimation, Brianna is a drama queen. Brianna is well into the stranger anxiety stage. Add to that that she was stripped to her nothings, forced to lay down (which she hates), and was being poked and prodded by a stranger, and it's no wonder that she was screaming her head off. The doctor said that when she screams like that, I shouldn't "play into it", or I'll just create a LOT of problems. Well spoken, for a lady who had a nanny raise her kids. Thanks, but I think I know when to comfort my daughter, and when to not "play into it." (NOTE: This is the same doctor who, at Ben's 3 year old check up, told me that Ben was the most socially backward 3 year old she had ever seen. Then, she spent the remainder of the appointment telling me all of the things I needed to get him involved in in order to "fix" him. When we left that appointment, Ben said, "I will talk to a BOY doctor. I will not talk to her!")

James began his Pediatric rotation yesterday. It was only a 16 1/2 hour day. Thank goodness it's only a THREE month rotation! I've been told that Brigham Young said, "The key to a happy life is eight hours of work, eight hours of play, and eight hours of sleep." I wonder if Brigham Young lived his definition of a "happy life"??

I still don't have my Cub Scout Charter renewed. But, hey, it's on my list for this week. Does that count for anything?? I was really stressing about this a couple of weeks ago, but I had a lot of other things on my plate that needed my attention. I talked to James about that, and he said, "You shouldn't stress about it. You've already lost the charter, the best you can hope for is to get it back. It's kind of like when I enter a room and the patient has already died. I shouldn't stress, because the best I can hope for is to bring him back." Um, . . . thanks for putting things into perspective!

Well, that's all the news from Lake Wobegone, where the women are protective, the men are exhausted, and the children are smart, beautiful, captivating, and perhaps a wee bit dramatic!

That's Our Girl!

Brianna's unique way of crawling:

Brianna's unique way of sleeping -- folded in half:

Brianna, herself:

I Love To See The Temple

Today was unofficial Ward Temple Day it seemed. We had our testimony meeting today and many testimonies centered on Temples. There is a dear elderly couple who joined the Church 40 years ago, but were finally sealed in the Temple this week. The missionary who originally taught them made the trip out all the way from Idaho to be at their sealing!

Then, another dear sister who had had some pretty serious issues in the past finally made it back to the temple this week after a seven year absence. She bore a beautiful testimony today.
She made a wise comment recently that went something like this:

Any life or choice

that would keep you out of the Temple

is not worth it.

The only life that is worth living

is the one that keeps you in the Temple.

In Primary, my counselor conducted and, as her message, shared a story related to the temple. Then, I taught Sharing Time, and the principle for today's lesson was: I will keep the commandments and live now to be worthy to go to the temple. I felt kind of lucky to be the one to teach this lesson, considering the beautiful experience that we had so recently with Brianna's sealing.

So, in honor of today's unofficial theme, I thought I would share some of the beautiful photographs that my talented husband has taken of various temples. I hope you enjoy them!

Maybe We Should ALL Get Dogs -- BIG Dogs!

This link was sent to me by a dear friend. The information available at this site can be disturbing.

www.FamilyWatchDog.us

When you visit this site you can enter your address and a map will pop up with your house as a small icon of a house. There will be red, blue and green dots surrounding your entire neighborhood. When you click on these dots a picture of a criminal will appear with his or her home address and the description of the crime he or she has committed.

This site was developed by John Walsh from Americas Most Wanted. This is another tool we can use to help us keep our kids safe.

This does a really good job of ridding you of any false sense of safety.

To Bark or Not To Bark

We are contemplating buying a dog for Ben. Are we crazy? Perhaps. We are not animal people. Although both James and I were total animal lovers as kids, somewhere along the line the wet noses and dirty paws lost their magic for us. So, why would we consider a dog now?

Here's my "PRO" list:

• It would help get Ben, and probably all of us, out of the house more regularly.


• Pre-school will be ending soon with a loooong summer ahead. Ben has one friend that he plays with on a regular basis, and that is only once a week. A dog would provide a constant playmate for Ben, because, no matter how much I play with Ben, it is never enough.


• I think that a dog could help Ben with the transitions coming up in his life: transitioning to Kindergarten, and then to a cross-country move, complete with a new school etc.


• A chance for Ben to learn some responsibility (though I think this is wishful thinking on my part.)


• Ben worries about everything, including getting dirty. Maybe if he had a dog to play with, he would have so much fun, and enjoy playing outside so much that he might forget to be worried; maybe he'd even get dirty like little boys are supposed to.


• A chance for Ben to feel unconditional love from someone besides his parents and sister on a daily basis.


• We have a HUGE backyard, but rarely go play in it. It would be a great yard for a dog, and a dog would be great motivation to get outside--at least for Ben!

Here's my "CON" list:

• Did I mention the wet noses?


• Poop in the yard.


• James is highly allergic, so this animal would have to be an outside-at-all-times pet; and it does get hot and cold here.


• Cost. It isn't cheap to have a dog.


• An outside pet is dirty. (I wonder where Ben learned to worry about being dirty??)


• Our backyard backs up to FIVE neighbors yards; four of whom have at least one dog. That could equal a whole lot of barking.


• We are planning to put some money into making our lawn healthier this year, as we will be putting the house up for sale next spring. We would really not like it if our dog was digging up the yard.

Wow. The journey through my mind as I try to reason things out can be a long and somewhat confusing one. A complete Pro/Con list, and still, I (we) can't decide. I would totally appreciate any advice, insights, different points of view, etc. that you could offer to help us in weighing this decision.

Princess On The Move

After four rounds of antibiotics and a perpetual ear infection for the last three months, Brianna received tubes in her ears on Tuesday. She did great and the surgery went smoothly. They said that they anticipated no complications. They did, however, warn me that she may be clumsier than usual for the rest of the day from the anesthesia.

Clumsy?? Ha! Not our little Princess. Instead, Brianna took the opportunity to begin crawling! Not in the traditional sense of the word, mind you. She has developed her own unique method of crawling. She always begins from a sitting position, leans forward and places her hands on the ground. Then, she puts one foot on the floor, while keeping the other leg in sitting position. With her hands and with her one foot, she maneuvers around the floor. I think that she feels that it would be beneath her dignity to crawl on hands and knees. (Maybe that stems from the 'Princess' nickname?)

Some Moms Only Get Dandelions

Ben placed this nearly unidentifiable penny in my hand, and lovingly said, . . .

"For being my Mom for so long."