Ben Is Growing in the Gospel

A while back, Ben was having some trouble at school. He had gotten into a bit of trouble for misbehaving. There are a lot of rowdy boys in his class, and it seems that he was just trying to fit in with them.

At about that same time, we read the story in the Book of Mormon about Lehi's vision of the Tree of Life. We talked about the different elements of his vision: the Tree, the rod of iron,the mists of darkness, the large and spacious building with the people laughing and mocking.

When we read the part about the people who had made it to the tree, but then, after partaking of the fruit, became ashamed because they were listening to the voices of those who were laughing and mocking, all of a sudden, Ben said, "that's like me." He realized that when he was misbehaving at school to try to fit in, he was like those people who were paying attention to the people in the large and spacious building. He knew that those people aren't on the path that leads to Eternal Life.

A few minutes later, he asked with some concern, "Mom, do you think I'm holding to the rod?" Ben is a good boy, who reads his scriptures, says his prayers, goes to church, tries to do what is right most of the time, and loves his Heavenly Father and Jesus. I told him that I was sure that he was, but that he might feel the mists of darkness all around him at times. I assured him that if he continued to hold to the rod and to move forward, that he would make it.

Ben has been doing great with his behavior at school since that time.

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Ben wanted to teach Family Home Evening this week. He chose a story from our New Testament Reader as the basis for his lesson. The story was about Jesus teaching his disciples about prayer.

After the song and prayer, Ben read the story to us. As part of the story, it talked about how Jesus taught that we should not use the same words over and over, but that we should think about what we're saying. When he was finished reading, he shared that he had forgotten about that, and had sometimes (I'll insert here, that it has been OFTEN) used the same words over and over again. He asked if we had ever had that problem. Then he reread the part in the story that taught about really thinking about what we are saying when we pray, to reiterate the importance.

After we had discussed the many points that his lesson brought out, he led us in an activity where we would demonstrate either the right way to pray (head bowed, arms folded, eyes closed) or the wrong way to pray, and the others would have to say if it was right or wrong. It was a wonderful lesson.

Neither James nor I helped him to prepare this lesson AT ALL. We were so impressed. Since giving this lesson on Monday, Ben's prayers have been much less repetitive, and it is apparent that he is thinking about what he is saying. He is a special kid, and I am privileged to be his mom.

Finally, ... Success!!

I've been trying to come up with a song for Ben that would meet his approval. I've finally done it! To the tune of "Are you sleeping, Brother John?", I bring you Ben's song:


Benjamin, Benjamin,
I love you!
It is true.
You are very good, and
You are very smart, and
I love you!
It is true!

Childhood Traumas

Poor Brianna had a rough day. First of all, she and Ben and a friend were playing on the swingset in the backyard. I was keeping an eye on them through the kitchen window while I worked on dinner. I heard a little screech, and quickly glanced out. What I saw made my heart skip, and I ran at full speed outside. Brianna's pigtail had gotten caught in the chain of the swing. However, before I could reach her to rescue her, she had torn free, leaving behind a significant bunch of precious hair. OUCH!!!!
As I was trying to comfort her, she said, "I heed a binkie. I a baby." We've been telling her lately that she's a big girl, and binkies are for babies. She got her binkie. (She says 'heed' for 'need', so cute.)


Then, tonight, after the RS Birthday party, Brianna was given a helium balloon. She was incredibly anxious about her balloon as we left the Church, and wanted me to hold it for her. I did so, but had to continually assure her that I had a good hold of it and that it wasn't going anywhere. The poor girl was nearly sobbing.
She was fine holding her balloon on the ride home, but then when we got into the house, she did begin to sob. I tried and tried to get her to tell me, in a coherent fashion, what was upsetting her. Finally, I understood "Rock-scissors the string." She calls scissors 'rock-scissors' from the game "paper/rock/scissors". So I realized that she wanted me to cut the string. I had her show me where to cut the string, so as not to risk further upsetting her. She had me leave about four inches of string. When I handed it back to her, she again began to sob, and told me to "Rock-scissors more." So, I cut off all of the string.
When I handed the balloon back to her, she seemed satisfied, and tried to set the balloon on the floor. When it immediately started to float, she began to freak out. Finally, I realized that she thought the string is what makes the balloon float, and that a floating balloon for some reason was really freaking her out.
I wasn't able to get her to calm down, until I placed the balloon under an empty laundry basket. Even then, she stood back cautiously watching it, and asking, "Not going up?"





So, please, when Brianna's birthday rolls around, DON'T SEND BALLOONS!

Reality Check

As we rushed out the door to the bus stop this morning, I had a horrible realization. I said to Ben, "Oh my gosh! I haven't even brushed my hair yet. How bad is it?"

Ben replied, matter-of-factly, "Bad."

Privacy

Last Saturday, during a Star Wars party I had for Ben and a couple of his little friends, Brianna went into the bathroom for an extended period of time. Brianna is not yet potty-trained, therefore, this is usually not a good sign. So, I went to check on her. I found her sitting underneath the sink.

She said, "No, Mommy! Need pri-cy"

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Speaking of privacy, I promised you a while back to tell you about our strange robin that lives in our tree.

One morning, I opened the shade in Ben's room, and saw that the trees in our front yard were full of birds. I quickly called Brianna to come and see the birds. As we sat there and watched, we witnessed our robin driving off all of the other birds. He/she would fly directly at them, and when they would fly off of the branch -- to save their skins (and feathers) -- our bird would land right where they had been. He/she systematically cleared all the other birds from our trees in this manner. When he was all alone, he returned to his favorite tree. I sat there, watching him and thinking, "You are a strange little bird." and, "Are robins territorial??" After just a moment all alone in his tree, he POOPED and immediately flew off.

I figure he also just needed some "pri-cy".

"I So Safe"

A few weeks ago, I heard Brianna calling out to me, "I so safe, Mommy. I so safe." I followed her voice to the stairs, where I found her -- not so safely -- coming down on her tummy, head first.

Brianna has been out of gymnastics for the last eight weeks. It gave her time to get her tonsils out, and to fully recover. For the most part it was good to have the break. However, this eight week period also coincided with this new phrase that Brianna has adopted whenever doing something that puts her in harm's way: "I so safe."
Here are some examples. Of course, they are in public:

Who needs gymnastics, when Home Depot provides uneven bars? And, they conveniently move around the store with you!!

Toward the end of our Home Depot shopping trip, I heard the LONGEST announcement I have ever heard over the PA system. It detailed how parents are responsible for their children's safety, and how the carts are not for playing on. I just kept nodding, and saying out loud, "I know, we'll cover the hospital visit."

Brianna is signed up for gymnastics again. Maybe if she has a safe outlet for her climbing, and swinging, and jumping she'll stop giving everybody heart attacks?

Square Foot Gardening 101

Your text for this course: All New Square Foot Gardening, by Mel Bartholomew. (Available at Amazon.com for $11.99 + S&H.)

The basics:

• Square Foot Gardening eliminates the wasted space of conventional "row" gardening.
• It eliminates the wasted work of weeding all of the wasted space in conventional "row" gardening.
• It also eliminates the wasted seeds planted that will later be "thinned out" in conventional "row" gardening.

Conventional gardening calls for tilling an area, fertilizing and amending the soil to make it ready to plant seeds. Then planting seeds in rows, the length of the garden and about three feet apart. Then, with that nicely tilled and fertilized soil, you have a lovely place for weeds to grow: in those wide spaces between rows.

In Square Foot Gardening, you build a garden box, Mel Bartholomew suggests a 4' x4' box out of 2" x 6" lumber. (You can make the boxes any length you like, but no more than 4' wide, because you need to be able to reach comfortably into the middle to care for your garden.)

Then, you mix your own, perfect soil to fill the boxes. That way, you don't have to worry about having your existing soil pH tested, amending it, etc. "Mel's Mix" for soil is made up of equal parts (measured by volume, not weight) of

• peat moss,
• coarse vermiculite,
• and compost.

The peat moss and vermiculite hold the perfect amount of water for your soil, and the compost provides the nutrients. If you are buying the compost, be sure to buy at least three to five different kinds of compost. Most compost is made as the waste product of a specific industry (i.e., cotton, or mushroom, etc.) and therefore isn't well balanced. Your own compost is most ideal. (We bought ours.) You need enough mix to fill your boxes to 6" deep.

Divide your garden box into 1' x 1' spaces. We used thin strips of wood found at Home Depot. You can use any thin, but firm material. This is an important step, do NOT skip it. A Square Foot Garden that is not divided into 1' x 1' spaces IS NOT A SQUARE FOOT GARDEN. Dividing your garden box has the following benefits:

• it creates easily defined spaces -- a defined space is easier to maintain;
• it makes planning your garden easier - one crop per square;
• it gives character to your garden, and looks nice.

Plant your seeds! (Or starter plants) To simplify this, we will think of our plants as coming in four sizes: small, medium, large, and extra large. (We are talking about the end product, and not the seed size.)

• For small plants, we will divide our 1' x 1' space into sixteen small, evenly spaced areas, and will plant sixteen seeds, one in each of these smaller spaces.
• For medium plants, divide 1' x 1' space into nine smaller, evenly spaced areas. Plant nine seeds.
• For large plants, plant four per 1' x'1 space.
• For extra large plants, plant one per 1' x1' space.

Using this method, you can plant what your family will actually eat, rather than a whole row, with a whole seed packet. In conventional row planting, everything in that row will be ready to harvest at the same time. Rarely will a family eat 20 cabbages at once. In Square Foot Gardening, you can stagger the planting of your crops so that the harvest is also staggered. When a crop is harvested from one of your 1' x1' spaces, you can add a scoop of compost to that space, and replant the space.

For more specific information on when to plant and how many per space of different plants to plant, please refer to your text.

Well, class, that's all we have time for today! Happy Planting!

Our Weekend

I so wish I had taken a before photo of this area on the side of our house. It was overgrown with vines and weeds. There was a big pile of sticks and branches that had fallen in our yard over the last several months, and it just looked trashy.
We spent the majority of our Saturday hours cleaning up this area, finishing our garden boxes, running to Home Depot and the nursery for more stuff, mixing up the dirt, and filling them.

In the end, it looks pretty nice, and we are excited to get our seeds started during family home evening tomorrow. If this looks foreign to you, we are trying the Square Foot Gardening method. We each have our own garden boxes. It's fun to see the kids' excitement -- we let them choose what to plant in their boxes. Brianna chose strawberries, flowers, and bell peppers. Ben chose honeydew, sunflowers, raspberries, blueberries, pumpkins and more flowers. In Square Foot Gardening, some of these larger things can only have one seed planted in the square. Hopefully these little ones will be happy with their harvest!


To reward our hard work, we bought a grill, and had our first grilled steaks (from this grill) this afternoon! Yum! Our last grill caught fire, and therefore didn't make the cross-country move. Is that a happy man, or what?

So, are you going to grow a garden this year? If so, what are you planting? Do you have any advice for us novices? Happy Planting!

Moon Sand and The Invisible Man

The other day, we were all a bit on edge, and getting on each other's nerves. I remembered that I had a brand new package of Moon Sand in the top of my closet. I had purchased it for Ben for Christmas, but then decided to hold off. I decided it was time to break it out. It was a gorgeous day, nearly 70 degrees and sunny. So, I poured out the Moon Sand into a big plastic bin, and we all went out onto the patio. The kids LOVED the Moon Sand, and they played and played -- NICELY and PEACEFULLY -- for well over an hour. I felt like a good mom for that time frame. Let me just say, though, that I am VERY glad that I didn't give this to Ben in December! This is definitely an OUTDOOR activity, unless you are less picky about sand on your floors; OR your kids are older and cleaner at play.

It really is a great activity, and it gets us out of the house, using imaginations, and cooperating (well, relatively speaking.)

The other morning, Ben was taking a LONG time to get dressed. Finally he came down all dressed for school. A short time later, I needed to get something from his room. That's when I ran into HIM! Yes, the invisible man really does exist!!

A Silly Poem

Sometimes we wish
we had a third hand
To help to accomplish
All our demands.

But listen to me
And soon you will see
All of the trouble
That third hand would be.

When your friend desires
A big party to host,
She'll ask for your hands,
Because you've got the most.

When working the garden
Your spouse will want you.
For your hands can dig,
And plant, and water it too.

At Church you will serve
In the Nursery, no doubt.
At once you give snacks,
Wipe tears, and wipe snouts.

Oh wait just one minute!
We already do!
We do help, and dig, and wipe!
And we do it with TWO!


So, what would you do differently if you did have a third hand? (And, as long as we're pretending, pretend that that wouldn't be weird.)