I'll miss this stage

Ben has a white board in his room. He and I have been writing notes back and forth to each other. This one was my favorite. (It was a little easier to read before Brianna decorated it.)

The one and only, Brianna

Today Brianna announced: "I love Pete."

Pete is a boy in Ben's class at school. He lives in our neighborhood, and we've had him over a couple of times. This announcement would have come as a total shock, except that for at least the last month, she's been easing us into the idea.

Several times a day, she talks about Pete. She asks where Pete is. She calls every blonde-haired 4 to 7 year old "my Pete". Often when we get into the car, she wants to "see Pete's house". And, at Ben's class Christmas party, she followed him around, continually patting him on the arm, and saying, "Hi, Pete."

I didn't even know that 2 1/2 year olds were capable of crushes! I'm not sure what she sees in him. I mean, he is a really cute kid. But he's also a six year old boy; which means that he's obsessed with poo, farts, burping, boogers, etc. I know, because I live with a 6 year old boy.

Ben keeps telling everyong that Brianna thinks Pete is "hot." I don't know where he heard that, but I don't think it's helping the situation.

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Speaking of farts . . . (By the way, my family wasn't allowed to say that word when I was growing up, but Ben has somehow persisted in it's usage since starting school.)

Brianna learned the word "fart" from her brother. At our family Christmas party at my parents house (you know, the one where we weren't allowed to utter that word), Brianna recieved a great deal of attention from her boy cousins, ages 6 to about 10, as she announced over and over, "I farted." Each time she said it, she would bust up laughing, and so would all of them.

For days and weeks afterward, she kept telling us, "I say, 'I farted' at the party." And she would just grin from ear to ear. Apparently she was the life of the party for those boys, and she enjoyed being so.

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On Friday, Brianna put her toothbrush and toothpaste in a baggie and came to me and said, "Go a trip." When I told her, "No, we're not going on any trips." She said, "Party?" I think the holidays have been to her liking. All of the trips, to see family, and all of the parties have been right up her alley. Or, maybe she just wanted to try out her popular "I farted" joke again.

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If Brianna is awake when James gets home, she always goes with him when he goes to change his clothes. She always picks out, and insists he wear a "Buckeye" shirt. If he takes too long to go change his clothes, she'll go to his closet and bring out a "Buckeye" shirt for him to wear, and tell him to go change.

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And, for a look at what happens when mommy is really into a book, and not really paying attention to what her kids are up to take a look:

Can you tell what's on their heads?

Yup. They're pull-up diapers. . . . At least they were clean ones.

Don't be fooled. She may look innocent, but that would be dry erase marker under her eyes.

It's really hard to get mad at that face.

Reflections of the Holidays in Pictures

Thanksgiving .... Note the VERY fancy dishes!

The boys and their technology.

Stealing a great idea from a great friend, we created a taste-testing group. We became connoisseurs of BBQ potato chips -- Lays Kettle Cooked came in an undisputed first place.

We also became connoisseurs of Root Beer - with A&W being the clear winner, and with Shasta Root Beer being likened to poison..
Here we are tallying up the votes

Festival of Lights here in our small town. We know how to do it right, eh?

Acting out the Nativity with some friends. Our little angel had a message or two to deliver.

Note Ben, I mean Joseph's stiff soldier-like arms.

Brianna's look of total disbelief to actually have received Barbie and the Diamond Castle!

Our Clone Trooper.

Yes! More Star Wars!

Brianna was totally posing for this photo.

Happy New Year to one and all!!

Public Service Announcement

Do your child's tonsils touch in the middle?

Does she have difficulty breathing in her sleep? When awake?

Has she ever sounded like this...

If so, it is time to get an appointment with your local ENT.

Please consider that doctors normally don't like to take tonsils out before the patient has reached the age of 3, therefore, dramatic video (like the one shown above) is helpful in making your case.

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Brianna's HUMONGOUS tonsils (and adenoids) are coming out January 5th. I've told her that she's having surgery to remove her tonsils, that it will hurt, and that she'll get ICE CREAM. Thankfully, she's focused on the ice cream.

James asked her what kind of ice cream she is going to have. Her answer: purple.

Merry Christmas!!

Ben offered our family prayer before we opened presents. Often his prayers are repetitive and said with the urgency of a race. Today, he thanked Heavenly Father for the birth of Jesus Christ -- without being prompted.

It has been a wonderful, peaceful day. I'm so grateful for our Savior!

We are having a "Fablis" day! Hope you and yours are too!

Merry Christmas!

Dear Santa,

Give Credit Where It's Due

Yesterday, I took my kids to see Santa at the mall. I took Brianna early in the day, and she just LOVED him. She wouldn't sit on his lap, but when he asked what she wanted for Christmas, boy did he get an earfull! Not much of it was distinguishable, but her whole face was lit up, and she was talking very animatedly. He got several high fives and "Merry Christmas"es from her. And he gave her a book about Santa's flight around the world.

So, when Ben got home, she was so excited to tell him, and she asked if he wanted to go see Santa. Ben was a bit skeptical. He's really been trying to figure out if Santa is real this year. So, he asked, "Where did you see him."
"At the mall" I replied.
"Then it's not the REAL Santa." he said.
"Well, he's as real as mall Santa's get." I said. "Do you want to go?"
"Yes." he answered.

I think this Santa just added to Ben's confusion. He had a real white beard and was a very sweet Santa. As soon as Ben and Brianna were done visiting with him, Santa got up and started walking through the mall. (I'm guessing he needed a bathroom break.) Brianna was RUNNING after him, calling his name. And Ben just kept asking me, "Why didn't he just use magic to get to the bathroom?"

When we left, Ben said, "Don't you think we should give him something? I mean, he gave us these books, and we didn't give him anything." So sweet.

After the mall, we drove around looking at all of the beautiful lights on the houses. There was one house in particular that I wanted them to see. It may be home to the Griswalds, . . . not sure. Well, when we got to that house, the lights weren't on yet, so we drove around that neighborhood, and then I decided we better get to the store and buy groceries. I told them that we would drive back by after the store to see if the lights were on yet.

Just as we pulled into the parking lot of the grocery store, I heard a terrible sound. I stopped the car and got out. We had a VERY flat tire. So, I called James to see if he could come rescue us, and we went inside to do our shopping.

In the store, we bought stuff that we could eat right then, because it was dinner time and we were starving. After we paid, we ended up eating just inside the doors, with the kids seated in one of those car carts. Every time the doors opened, we froze.

James did get the tire changed, with the help of another shopper who ran home and brought his BIG jack. (Thank you, James! -- Oh, and other shopper!)

Then we loaded the kids back up, and I drove back to the Griswald's. We weren't disappointed. The house and yard were lit up in all their grandeur! After driving slowly by a couple of times, we headed home. I said, "Now, wasn't that worth it?"

Ben said, "Yes! That was totally worth it. It was even worth the flat tire. I think Heavenly Father worked in our lives so that the bad became part of the good."

Wow! Forget Santa. Forget the Griswald's. Ben's comment was the highlight of my day.

Careful! . . . It's Contagious!

Yesterday, when Ben got off of the bus:

Me: How was your day?

Ben: Great!

Me: How are you feeling?

Ben: Great!

Me: You're feeling really good?

Ben: Yup.

Me: Oh, I'm glad to hear it, because you've got gymnastics in a minute.

Ben: Well, I do have a fever, and my throat hurts. My head is hurting too, and I'm a little dizzy.

(I took his temperture and it was normal. He went to gymnastics.)

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This morning first thing as Brianna came down the stairs after waking up:

Brianna: Dad?

James: Good morning, Brianna.

Brianna: Fevers, Dad. Gotta Fevers.

(She definitely had the same type of fever as Ben.)

What's in a Dream?

Last night was a bit rough. The sleepy bug bit me hard at about 6pm. I couldn't believe I had another hour and a half to fill up before the kids' bed time. By 8:30pm it felt like midnight. James and I crawled into bed and quickly fell asleep.
At the real midnight, Brianna woke up. She has a horrible cough, and she just sounds awful trying to breathe in her sleep. I comforted her and put her back to bed. Within ten minutes or so, she had another coughing fit, and was asking for me again.
I gave her some cough medicine, and took her back to bed.
At 4am she was awake again and coughing like crazy. I rubbed her chest and back with Vick's -- which seemed to really help -- and carried her back up the stairs. On the way up, she coughed her horrible cough again, and I whispered in her ear, "Oh, baby! I'm so sorry you're sick." She whispered back, "It's o.k."
I slept the rest of the night in her room snuggled up to my baby.
I had THE strangest dreams. If you are a dream interpreter, please stop reading now. I really don't want to know.

First off, when James came in to kiss me goodbye and pray with me, he interrupted the team party. You see, I had just coached the BYU football team to their first ever SEC Championship! James was impressed, he said that no other BYU coach had been able to achieve that.

Then, I drifted back to sleep after he had gone. This time I dreamed that Ben and Brianna had a new baby brother. I rushed to the hospital with Brianna, where we found James lying in the hospital bed, holding our newborn son. Ben was also in the room.
When we came back to visit, I assume the next day, we found James mining for gold, with our baby strapped to his back. As I approached them, suddenly the baby was no longer strapped to James' back, but to the back of a tiny, fluffy blue bird. And, he had shrunk to about the size of an Andes mint. (James was still there, busy mining for gold.) I wanted to hold my baby, but as I reached for him, some LARGE bird of prey caught sight of the little blue bird and my boy and decided that they would make a tastey lunch. I hit the bird (eagle/hawk/whatever) with the umbrella which I conveniently had in my hand, which didn't make the bird too happy, but gave the little blue bird just enough time to disappear.
Then, I panicked because the little blue bird just disappeared with my boy on it's back. But don't worry, I found it hiding under the rocker recliner that was right there in the mine.

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If those dreams weren't enough to make your head spin, let me describe for you what Ben chose to wear for school today: The high temperature today will be about 45 degrees. He chose shorts and a long sleeved shirt, with a light jacket. He hurried out the door before I could see him. When I heard the door shut, I ran after him and called him back. (It wasn't even time to go to the bus stop, he was just trying to leave before I could give my two cents about his outfit.) When I called him back, I told him he was going to freeze. He said, "I have something on underneath." He sort of had that "up to something" look, so I pulled up his shirt to reveal: James' old wrestling outfit!
Well, at least I talked him into wearing a coat!

Andes Mint Brownie Cookies

1 brownie mix (I used Albertson's brand)
1/4 c. flour
1/4 c. vegetable oil
2 eggs

Mix above ingredients.

Add:

1 pkg. Andes creme de menthe baking chips (found in the baking isle next to the chocolate chips)

Form into balls with an ice cream scoop, or two spoons, or with your fingers. (Eat a little dough.) Bake at 350 degrees for 10-13 minutes. Take out of oven and drop onto counter. Eat the deliciousness, and consider -- maybe -- sharing. . . . Maybe.

P.S. These are only REALLY yummy for two days, then they become quite stale. Of course, I continue to "suffer through" eating them, but thought you might want to be warned ahead of time.