sad cookie story cooked up by ruthie

who stole the cookie from the cookie jar?

it was so paul, over and over and over.

ruthie got frustrated and asked if she could store the ice-cream-bucket-turned-cookie-jar in the upper oven.

sure. i was busy with laundry and was glad for the help.

then i took the older girls to jazz class.

and tim came home and started to make dinner.

and i came home and smelt that undeniable smell of burning plastic.

we searched around the stove. again. and once again. minutes passed. and again we checked.

then tim suddenly threw up his arms as he raced for the oven, preheating for the chesse meltdown for the stuffed bell peppers.

what was left was 2 burnt cookies, an ice cream bucket handle, and a small lump of very clear something on the oven's bottom.

and a horrbile, do-not-open-the-oven.

everybody was very sad until i told them, well, there is another whole bucket of cookies in the freezer.

(really, how can a family of 12 cookie-eating-people mourn the loss of a mere 2 cookies?!?!?)

sad cookie story cooked up by benson

chirstmas time always brings a treat plate from sarah, my sil. we love, love, love treats! a little too much.

we keep the treats in the microwave since the pesky ants like to take an occasional stroll through the kitchen.

we also do responsibilties and chores during the chirstmas break, including 20 minutes of excersize everyday.

ben loves to time himself...on the microwave timer. he did it right but when the timer ended, he thought he needed to push a button to make it stop, like on the oven. start and stop both have that "st" and the beginning.

our smart microwave immediately started up. seconds later, i look over to see a fire in the microwave. plates with foil cover apparently shouldn't be microwaved.

i screamed (so unnecessary, that didn't help anything.) and immediately stopped the microwave, hoping the fire would burn out from lack of oxygen. it didn't.

so i grabbed the plate out and threw it in the sink. and soaked it.

sadly, even with my love of treats, i am unwilling to eat burnt, sogged ones.

lesson learned: eat dessert first, you might ruin it for later.

all different but the same, ruth and jakey

all the kids here have such different personalities, but some areas do overlap. both ruthie and jacob have such deep desires to please others. both write notes after notes to us parents. both like to do secret cleaning acts around the house.

ruthie (8) will always leave a note signed saying it was the halloween witch or the family's secret santa. i always say we have to up our security to keep out these break-in cleaners to play along. she loves to tease.

jacob (7) wakes up at 6 am to quickly clean any kitchen mess. his latest joy is that he can change stinky diapers on his own. jacob especially can go from night to day in his personality and his behavior when we point out what a helper he is and how grateful we are for him.

love these kids so much, they want so little from me, just a little notice of them and a little compliment of how much i need them goes oh so far with them.

a trophey for you, benson

the last game for the seaon for benson's soccer team was last saturday. he got a trophy and a medal for attending all the practices and the games. (one time, we did have to do two games in one day since we were out of town for one of the games. it's very relaxed team and they encourage you to do so.)

benson is pretty spacey on the field but was he ever focused after that time! he hasn't put the trophy down or taken the medal off, except for church and to sleep. the medal isn't to bad because he hangs on his neck. but it's absolutely silly to see him walking all day with that trophey around the house. he's so proud of it! makes me so happy seeing him so happy!

watch out for what you wish for, benson!

every year, our children do "secret santas" with each other. it's usually arranged although a few times we just drew names out of a hat or cup.

the kids are suppose to do secret acts of service leading up to christmas and then buy a gift for that person for christmas. the older kids are really good at doing this. but, as you can imagine, mary, jane, paul, and johnny need some help. usually that requires tim or me to step in for them.

this year, jacob and benson were assigned to mary and jane. their secret acts have included playing extra with them, writing cute notes to them, and cleaning their room. sure, it goes unnotcied by mary and jane but benson and jacob feel the joy of service, it's all over their faces.

however, i also assigned (on accident) mary and jane to be secret santas (i prefer secret siblings but it isn't catching on). mary and jane have left small candies and notes for jacob and benson.

last week, benson complained to me that his secret santa wasn't cleaning his room, only leaving him notes. i asked, did he think the s.s. should do that stuff? benson answered, i wish they would.

uh-oh! did someone just accidently give me permission to clean out,  i mean clean up their room?

hehehehehe. done and all is well again. (boy, what a mess that was!)

boys love their flashlights

good thing is we are going to save so much on our electric bill!

my parents gave all my sons (jakey, benny, johnny, and paul) little flashlights with their christmas presents that they opened at our family party on saturday (they still have one more for christmas from my parents). all day and night long, they go around in their new costumes (also from my parents), with all the lights out, shining the flashlights to light the way.

bad news is, we're going to need some new batteries very soon.

the wheel off the bus

everyone of my kids has been in love with the "little people's" bus since always. tee got the first one from my dad for christmas when tee was only 2 years old. 11 years later, we still have it plus we added another one to our collection since it was in such in high demand. no longer does tee play with it but now johnny and paul are all over it.

the newer bus is slightly more "air dynmaic-y". and that makes all the difference. both boys want the originally bus to the point that even though recently the old bus lost one of it's wheels (to the disappointment of tee, who is still looking for it), it is the boys always argue over.

some things just can't be replace.

why no pics? lost the camera, about to lose my mind if i don't find it soon. been over a week, the house is searched, no where, it's really lost. along with that wheel.

spelling bee for holland and ruthie

ruthie and holland were both picked from their classes to be in the spelling bee. holland was miserable about it, ruth, excited.

of cousre i went to see them, i was so proud of them!

ruth made it pretty far and holland past that. but neither won the school-wide title. i'm still super proud! it's hard getting up there in front of everybody and spell out loud! so much pressure!

holland was fine when he was disqualified. ruth was heartborken. i caught up to her as she ran to the bathroom to hide her tears. i told her how proud i was of her, how she made it so much farther than so many others, and she ought to be happy in what she accomplished.

by the end of the day, both holland and ruthie stated happily that the spelling bee was their best moment of the day. ;)

mj are doing their part to keep the house smelling pretty

just love how mary jany go around saying, "bum! bum!" everytime they need a diaper change!

of course, nobody else is allowed to say it. yeah, i'm prissy that way. ;)

it wouldn't be proper without turtles for holland

thanks to my sister, elizabeth, holland had a made-for-him cake for his ordination lunch. turtles for holland, of course!

big turtles are made with only 12 cupcakes each!

notice the individual cupcakes, about 10 of these, and 24 mini cupcakes just frosted

yup, he's happy!

holland's priesthood preview

holland was ordained to the aaronic priesthood sunday nov 27, 2011. it was so wonderful!

fun thing - during the priesthood preview (the primary presidency had it the sunday nov 20 during his primary class time so it was perfect for us), the bishop's second counselor, brother carlos carroll, was retelling the sad story given in conference about the guy who saved all his money to go on a cruise, went, but stayed in his cabin the entire time, believing he couldn't afford anything, only to find out at the end of the cruise, everything was included in the ticket price.

holland inturrped brother carroll at this point (rasied his hand and was called on) and blurted, "this story could never have really happened. they would have given him a pamphlet telling him all this in the very beginning!"

of course, the first time i heard the story during conference, i had this same question for tim, but i was never going to say that during a live discussion. i love how holland spoke his mind.

everybody laughed, of course, as that wasn't the point of the story, but brother carroll dropped the story and picked right up on holland's point.

we can't ever reach our full potential if we don't read our pamphlets, the church handbooks, the book of mormon, the conference talks. his brother, the deacon's assistant, (also bro. carroll) also made an analogy of how the auorithy and priviledges of the priesthood resembled his cop's uniform and rules. love it all. especially holland.

they don't keep score but benson does

benson's been playing soccer on this little team. unfotunately, their team always loses. and not by a little, by a lot! he played 2 games on saturday (one was a make-up one, has to play a certain number to get the trophy at the end of the season.). the first one was 6-2, the second on 6-0. his team has actually never won.

i know the teams are noncompetitive but it sure would be nice if they won once. i didn't think it would matter so much to ben but he was so sad that day. makes me sad for him.

if johnny only knew what was in the basket for him

at target, shopping for christmas presents for the kiddos, johnny and paul were lagging behind me, complaining they wanted to go home.

johnny turns to me, "mom, you're wasting my time! you're not wasting your time but your wasting my time."

i know i shouldn't laugh when he is being rude, but i can't help it. what a little stinker!

wasn't i clear enough with what i wanted from johnny?

this is what to expect when being passive-aggresive with a 4-yr old (johnny).

me -"hm, that shirt's a little small."

him -"yup." continues to put it on and runs out of the room to go wait for his school bus to take him to preschool.

like the saying goes, if you want something done your way, you got to do it yourself.

i had to go find him the shirt i wanted him to wear, take it to him, and ask him to change. wow. shocker.

paul sure showed me!

everyday, after lunch and johnny has climbed on his mini bus to go to preschool, paul and mary janey take their naps.

i told paul the time had come.

he said, no. then he ran to his room, screaming, "i won't take a nap!!!," shut the door, and hid in his bed under the blankets.

well, if he feels that strongly about it, maybe i should just leave him alone this one time.

mary's innocent heart

we went to check out mary's hear murmur at the cardiologists. i felt a lot silly since i knew this was such a minor thing and i have so many friends and a nephew with real heart conditions that actually a cardiologist visit. but gotta do it anyway.

her murmur came back declared "innocent." they tried to get her to do a sit-up to get the muscles in her abs to tighten and possible get rid of the murmur for a moment. but she wouldn't. (she only had to come up a little)

so the doc wants us back in 2 years, as a 3 year old "since she'll be more coopertaive then."

i thought of paul and wondered what 3 year old he knew that was so cooperative.

and, i'll take that innocent result to mean we really don't need to come in 2 years.

it's all in the beholder's ears, from paul

randomly, paul approached me and said he didn't want to take a nap. i said, okay, don't take one.

then paul blurted out, "you go to your room! you lay down and you take a nap!"

tim, who was sitting with me, was appalled paul would talk to me like that and reprimmended him for it.

but, i don't know, i think it was kind of considerate of paul.

elisa is the new fairy

i'm so proud! elisa has been invited to be part of the tooth fairy council! elisa, you are so wonderful! i don't know who is happy at the new arrangement, her or me!

Dear Elisa, October 12, 2011

This is a very, URGENTLY, high top, most exclusive, notable and at all cost, CONFIDENTIAL letter!!!!! So, before you indulge yourself in these glorious words written just for you in this once in a lifetime letter, look around to make sure you are all alone. And, if you are not – RUN! HIDE! GO SOME PLACE SAFE!

Or, if you are alone, then, by all means, carry on........

you are alone, right?????????

Dearest Elisa, (it only seems appropriate to repeat the heading as we are starting the letter for real now...),

You are hereby invited to join

The Royal and Elite Group of the Fairies of the Teeth,

commonly known as Tooth Fairies.

You have been chosen and selected by your incredible diligence and ever-faithful communication skills in building a long lasting relationship with your tooth fairy.

This is how the tooth fairy deal works. As you can imagine, a single tooth fairy cannot possible fly to gather in all the teeth that children are constantly losing. Nor, unfortunately, can magic really rule in this beautiful world.

Therefore, loving parents that wish to bring the wonderful world of magic to their children's lives carefully titter to the sleeping child's room and replace the tooth with a small something in exchange. Sometimes, as is in your case, the parent fairy royally messes up by forgetting and then having to make excuses that really only make the blameless tooth fairy seem clumsy. BUT, it is NEVER really the fairy's fault and ALWAYS the parent's fault. And, no, you cannot exchange your parents for more mindful parents. These things, called families, are quite permanent.

NOW, normally a tooth fairy position is reserved for parents only. HOWEVER, as it is clear that you are much better at this tooth fairy thing than either of your parents (and your father even being a dentist, of all things!), this invitation is being extended to you!

You, dear Elisa, would be in charge of collecting the teeth of your younger siblings, and then replacing the teeth with small items that your mother would provide you. A small note could be left behind for the child as well, should you like.

BUT, this must be kept confidential for all children relish in believing in what could be and the magic of fairies.

Will you, Elisa, accept this very special letter and become part of our team? WE NEED YOU!

This letter will not self destruct so you must keep it hidden at all costs so that NO ONE else will ever attempt to read it! YOUR LIFE DEPENDS ON IT!
Please let your parents know your answer when you are ready to entrust yourself (or walk away) to this enormously important and wonderfully powerful position.

YOU COULD BE THE NEXT PERSON TO BRING

SMILES TO THE CHILDREN IN YOUR FAMILY!

Love,

holland, that's all i have to say...

holland is a little blunt sometimes. he doesn't realize the social white lies or withheld information that most other people surround themselves with.

we were applying for gilbert classical academy. a school from 7-12 grade in the gilbert school district. they require applicants to fill out an application, but why, i don't know, as admittance is done on a lottery draw.

still, we want in so we fill it out.

one of the questions was to the student, asking, "why do you want to attend?"

i had told holland that at the end of the application, it needed a signature below the statement that all had been filled out correctly and truthfully, so holland shouldn't be misleading on the answers he put. i had meant, don't write that you want to go if you really don't want to.

but he took me very literally for the whole thing and wrote for the question of "describe your study traits" -

"i always do my homework right after school, i get straight a's, and i always try my hardest unless i am having a bad day."

oookayyy. i was tempted to erase the last part because it doesn't need to be that descriptive, right? but, it had to have holland's signature on it and he was doing what he felt was right.

so there you go, school. holland admits he won't try on those days. and what's with an application anyway?

-----------------------------------------------------

we were at payless for shoes for holland. i pointed out the different types of shoes.

"regular (running) shoes, basketball shoes, or these skater shoes which are pretty stylish..."

"no," he said, "i don't have style. i just want black tennis (running) shoes."

yes, you are your dad's and my child.

the details matter to paul

for halloween, we did wizards, except for mad scientist tee and batman paul. since everybody had new costumes but paul (and for tee who did it the REAL way of just finding things around the house), i went to target and got him some new batman jamas to use for his costume (needs jamas anyway.) i showed them to paul, thinking naively how excited he was going to be.

but paul, 3 years, snuffed at them, and said "i don't like black batman! i want blue batman!"

i didn't even notice! batman has different outfits? apparently.

and, since johnny had blue batman jamas from last year, that's what paul wanted to wear. which made tim very happy because it saves us money. but me? not so much. who ever heard of high-water pants batman? (paul is 1 1/2 years younger than johnny but they wear pretty much the same size as johnny is skinny and paul, well, we like to say he is our buff football player.)

daddy knows best when it's bedtime for mj

thanks to smarty-pants tim, mary and janey now sleep in a bed. all because he decided to leave the door open for that first night and everytime the girlies tried to sneak to the door, he would put them right back. it only took three times to get them to stay!!!

sure, for the next few nights (until last night, actually) i would get up and check on them throughout the night, when i woke up with johnny or paul. and, yes, they would be asleep on the floor near their bed (just far enough in the room so tim wouldn't see them, the little stinkers!), but i simply put them back in bed and we are pretty much good to go.

lesson learned: keep the door open to keep them in bed.

{one time, i caught them out of bed during nap time, both playing. i walked in, they saw me, and frantically they both started running in circles, trying to get to the bed. they actually ran right into each other. good thing they weren't hurt because i couldn't stop laughing at the circus clowns for a good ten minutes!)

mj's words again

mary will repeat almost anything you say to her. both girls ( 18 months) say lots and lots of words. (just like every smarty pants out there predicted.) the one word which they don't say?

"no"

whew! can't complain about that!

ben10's blue eggs which weren't

yesterday was benson's (he likes to be called ben 10, like the cartoon character even though we don't actually watch the show.) 6th birthday. for his breakfast, he requested blue eggs and ham. we settled for blue eggs and bacon. (apparently for nati's birthday when we still had her, i made her pink eggs and bacon and the kids thought that was so cool. i'm thinking that's pretty gross.)

holland (11) warned me that i could never make blue eggs as eggs just have too much yellow in them so they would have to turn green. i underestimated the power of dyes and yes, they were green. i told the kids that anyone that thought they were green had broken eyes and these eggs were true blue. of course, my kids are all turkeys so they all played along.

i guess i could have made the eggs yolkless then they would have been blue for real. whatever happened to just asking for colored pancakes? that sounds so much more appetizing. but the kid was happy so i am, too.

diaper times with mary and jane

last week, i was attempting to get mary's (18 months) diaper changed. she laughed at me and started running away. i warned her,

"mary, get back here!"

she stopped in her tracks and then started backing up to me, like i had hooked some invisible tether to her and was dragging her backwards. it was hilarious!

i have seen benson (just turned 6 yesterday) do it several times, but never my little baby! so funny!

---------------------------------

mary has a bad habit of pulling off her diaper when we foolishly leave her without pants or a onesie on.

yesterday, paul (3) ran over to me, yelling that mary had her diaper off. i quickly ran to her (don't like to find surprises) and found mary and jane laughing and laughing.

yes, there was mary diaperless and there was jane, wipey in hand, chasing mary around the room.

well, at least they have the routine down. maybe i should have stayed away longer to see if jane would put a diaper on mary as well. that would be having my cake and eating it, too!

elisa's view on pants

last year, i bought some pants for elisa (then 9). she tried them on at home as i had bought them without her. she came back without them on and said they didn't fit her.

i was confused becasue i pretty much knew what fit my kids and what didn't (at that young stage of their lives.)

i asked, how so?

she siad they were too tight.

"really?"

"yes." then she added in an embarressed whisper, "i had to undo the button to get them on and off."

i just smiled. really, if that was why pants didn't fit me, i think i'd be pretty happy. she has NO idea.

i knew i should have dressed mj alike

it was so humiliating! so completely embarressing! i actually had to take mary and jane to the store in completely and totally different outfits!

really, it was my own fault. it started with me asking elisa (10), who mostly always dresses the twins in the morning to at least put something on them. she had left them in diapers only, complaining that she couldn't find anything in their drawers that coordinated or matched. true, the person in charge of laundry has been slacking in putting away clothing properly.

so i said, it doesn't matter much, i'll just change them after breakfast. okay, she said, and did as told.

but i was running later than i thought i was and needed to go to the store immediately after dropping the kids off at school. so as we started loading up,

i took a look at the twins, complained they didn't match

and got a total "i told you and you told me to anyway" warning glance from elisa.

fine, fine, i did. so off we went to the store. no it's not really a big deal.

but as i checked out, the cashier asked me, after closely looking at the girls, are they twins?

yes, i said.

she looked harder and longer, then said, "well, yes, you can kind of see the family resemblence."

are you kidding me? they're identicle! and sure, their rna is showing up different, but "you can kind of see a family resmeblence?????"

i just said, yup. just goes to show ya that clothes totally make the person, or in this case, the twins.

words of wisdom from holland

last week, as i sat sewing bits and pieces here and there on each halloween costume, holland (11) came over to me and sat watching.

he asked, "mom, is it better to have lots of houses that are only halfway done or is it better to only have one but it is all the way done?"

i immediately thought of our house in progress and said, "one house, all the way finished. a house only partway done is of no use."

he didn't say much else until a few minutes later, as i commented on how i excited i was, being almost finished with one costume.

he said, "exactly mom. that's why i am trying to help you see that one house completely finished is much better. you should focus on one costume and just get it done."

i can't believe my own son is trying to teach me life lessons through analogies already.  i have to admit i was clueless to what he was talking about until after he explained. makes me feel silly and proud.

ps - i finished all the costumes! a whole week before halloween! yeah me!

tee is tim jr.

i have to post for observation reasons. i use to think tee (and really all my kids) took after my side of the family, you know, no drama with the bodily injuries. but now i am wondering if they take more after tim's family who were basically b.f.f.s with the e.r. gang.

it seems that just in the few months since school started, though, that this kid is always injured somewhere, with black eyes from a friend's party (okay, technically that was in may) to dog bites from hikes in the canyons (yes, i was pretty cranked on that one since the bite was deep and blood, ew, and what if the dog had something...tee had been bending over, tying his shoe when the yappity dog charged him and bit down hard on the back of the ankle. it took over a week and healed but it was sore and tee of course acted all brave all the hike out until he came home and then soaked in all the sympathies).  and then there was the chemical burn all over his leg from a cleaning spray the nurse applied to his backpack that got on his leg when he rubbed up against it (you don't want to know more, thank me for stopping here.) and all the other inbetweenie owies. he always has to get wrapped up in ace bandages...not the black eye, though...

now he has an extremely sore arm resulting from being knocked down in the hallway at school, by a friend, naturally. poor muscle strength to the hand and can't use the wrist, for real, not pretending. not thinking it is broken because no swelling and it is improving slowly. of course, it's wrapped.

tim says he only got more wounds the older he got, which would be consistant with how much he still obtains injuries. but, like tim's mom, i can't stand it when my kids get hurt! why can't tee just be reasonable and be more like me?

or, i could just ground him from having any more friends.

poor tee

the other day, tee was talking to one of his girl cousins.

this is the equation:

{he responsed to her question, thinking it was all just talking, no big deal}+ {and the girl, a few minutes later "teasing" said something about her being judged}+ {only tee, thinking she really was just teasing, just threw out a careless shrug} = [poor girl is now thinking since tee didn't say he disagreed with what she said, it all must be true.]

tee was so baffled when it all came back to us. obviously, we know he didn't do anything wrong. or the girl.

i tried to explain to tee that girls converse differently than boys. tee just says it up straight and done with. and if tee pretends to tease, then he really is.

BUT, a girl will look for pauses, facial expressions, body language, and absence of converstion to find things to read between the lines.

should i feel more sorry for tee or for his future wife?

mj will do anything for laughs

signature of mary and jane: pretending to be panting. the difference between the girls is jane also sticks her tongue out like a little puppy while mary reminds dignified and keeps it in. don't hyperventilate!

this would be a good example shot...except it is mary with her tounge out and jane being more contained. talk about uncooperative for the camera.

mary thinks she is so grown up

laying on her tummy, mary mirrors what a teen might do on her comp.

don't worry, no real computers will ever be in the bedrooms;)

tim's trash is benson's treasure

tim took out the falling-apart-keyboard to our laptop and switched it for a new one. benson ended up with the old one. never seen a boy so in love with his tech. {i hot glued the falling off keys back on.}

love how he carries it with him everywhere he goes and actually looks up the letters on it.

tee's toe

awhile back, tee got an ingrown toe. we did homecare and took care of it. so we thought.

saturday, tee propped his foot up on the sofa next to me and showed me a pussy toe. gross. he had been trying to do the same things we had done the first time around but for some reason, it wasn't working.

the next few days, tim and i tried to help him. didn't help. i threatened a doc's trip to get some antibiotics for the infection. tee agreed if it didn't get better by wed. tuesday, i outlined the swollen area with a pen for referencing the next day.

definitely bigger area the next day. so, we got in to see the podiatrist (thought of you a nd jeff, sara!).

zippity-zap! the doc had the toe numbed, sliced and the hidden treasure (a part of the nail, split off from last time, lodged under the skin.  he showed it to us. double gross) within ten minutes. and we got the meds.

amazing. nice guy but hard to get a straight answer. tee kept asking if after the surgery, would he feel better. the doc would say, most people say it feels a lot better after than what they feel when they come in.

tee wasn't satisfied. i told tee he could be special and be the small percent that didn't feel better. at first the toe, while unnumbing was uncomfortable for him. by the afternoon, tee couldn't stop raving about how much better it felt, he was so in love with it.

i guesss he broke down and went with the crowd. good thing, in this case.

holland points out, a different result requires a different process

everynight, as we carry the babies to bed, we whisper their nightly prayers for them in the ears. so sweet, right?

well, they don't think so. in fact, they cry in protest the entire time, squirming to get away from us. for they are clever enough to understand prayer leads to bedtime.

holland, last week, decided to pipe in. he explained the pattern to me. i agreed.

he suggested, the twins probably won't think postively about prayer this way. i agreed.

he continued, so maybe their prayers should be offered several minutes before bedtime so the twins don't fight it so much.

duh! i agreed.

silly how sometimes something is so simple it is overstepped.

mj show a little remorse

should one twin hurt the other, either by hitting or snatching the item of want away, while the other twin cries her pain out, the first one (while holding the prize far out of reach, mind you) will console the other by gently stroking her hair. lovely.

mary and jane prefer the door

{one thing babies must do is keep constant in their parents' minds all night. it ensures the babies will remian top priority in the waking moments of the parents' day. mary and jane, being quite exceptional in all ways, have mastered keeping their parents concentrated on their well being all the little night through.}

poor mary and jane! they always insist on sleeping by the door. tim and i always transfer our babies out of the crib at 1 year of age, usually because the next baby is coming and we don't want the current baby to feel displaced. and it has always worked very well. the babe transfer no problem (into a toddler bed.)

earlier steps to loving the floor, napping with cati

but i didn't do that when mary and jane were one because cati still shared a room with them and i thought the twins might be disruptive to their cousin. so, it wasn't until after cati went to live with her dad for good that they made the transfer...or didn't make it.

where mj are suppose to sleep

currently, their bed is a full size bed that is only the box spring and mattress high. they can climb on and off easily. but they mainly only choose to climb off.  at night, they reach from our arms for the bed, start their moaning cries, wait for us to close the door, then, no matter how tired they are, they climb out of bed and lay by the door, crying themselves to sleep there.

once upon a time, when mary and jane use to sleep in bed

tim and i have tried to transfer them back to bed after they have been asleep for awhile, but they only wake up to repeat the whole process. so we sadly just leave them be.

now they prefer the company of the doorknob. and wild jamas to match their ways.

it makes me so sad for them but other than put them back in cribs, i don't know what else to do to keep them in bed.

doc visit for mj

took mary and jane in for well child plus shots visit. ended up feeling genereous and let johnny and paul join the girls for added flu shots. mary has a heart mummer, that she didn't have when she was born. we have a follow-up visit with a specialist but i'm not concerned.

janey and mary cried so hard. only janey was crying since we got there (she wanted to play on the playground set so bad) and mary always cries when i put her down and others are around (so before the shots as well.). still, i know hurts.

but this time, i got a free pass! tim came with me (he has flexable hours on fridays) to help watch the boys on the playground and came in to ask bill guaze, my fav p.a. ever (even doc), about the flu shots. so, when tim came in, "somehow" he ended up holding the girls for their shots while i got to hold and comfort them. it feels good to be the nice parent! (this is the first time tim has ever been with me to a well visit so it's really only fair....).

i also brought along cookies for a "you were well behaved treat." but paul was holding the bag and smashed them into a gazillion pieces. the kids still ate them.

jacob's bb, and holland and tee

we got jacob a basketball. we want to put him on a team so he can also get the excercise but what we thought would be a good choice is really just too far away. so for now, jacob just can't get enough of having tim go out with him after dinner and shooting away! love the bonding time!

holland is also suppose to be on a soccer team but that didn't work out. so, that still needs to get done.

tee takes a weight camp class every mon, wed, fri at 6:30 am from his school. it's good to have the kids involved!

benson scores happiness

benson is in soccer. more like soccer school, according to tim. but he loves it. it's once a week on saturday. and he gets a ribbon every week! what kid doens't love ribbons! and of course he looks awesome in his soccer clothes (we just put some together, we aren't buying the uniform) and cleats and guards. what a cutie!

dance away, girlies!

elisa and ruth are now in dance...again. this time with studio 3, which convientently is just right by their elem. school. they take ballet and jazz. they love it! which is good, because we would make them take it anyway!  hehe!

mary and jane say hi.

love it that mary jane always go "hiiiiiiiiiiiiii-eeeeeeeeeeeeee" whenever i open their bedroom door to let them up for the morning or nap, whenever i walk in the house, whenever i turn around to unbuckle them from their carseats. happy, happy times!

teasing tee

the best entertainment i get out of the house is tee's junior high school scene. i drive tee to school everyday because we live out of district but this jr. high has the program that tee was invited to be in that puts him in all the advance classes with a class to make sure he succeeds in them. sweet! (plus i am secretly living out my childhood dream that my mom would drive me to school...sigh...but she couldn't because she was too busy getting an education down at the u of a.).
so, while i am driving and trying to not run over the kids, i get to be entertained by tinyteens. like the time i watched this kid run across the street then do a careful hair check before taking a cool stride to the school. or the time i watched a cutie girl play blowing kisses with her mom as she got dropped off. tee mentioned to me that the girl was in his grade.

so i said, "oh, then you should do the same with me. you should blow kisses to me as i drive away!"

the look on his face was so priceless, a total shocked look as he tried to figure out if i was actually being serious. i wasn't. and he didn't blow me kisses. but that's okay. tee is actually very sensitive towards me and always has to hug me goodnight at the end of the day and always has to say hi when he gets home from anywhere. he's a sweet kid.

johnny teaches paul

after helping the two boys, paul (2) and johnny (4) to clean up for the hour, i sat down, tired on paul's bed. paul glances over at me and says, "mom! get out!"

johnny immediately reprimmands paul, telling him that was rude. i smiled, thinking how sweet johnny was. then, he continues, "you say, 'get out mom, PLEASE!'"

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awhile back, i was trying to buy yummy breakfast foods tee could eat on his numerous campouts with the scouts. i picked up some oatmeal breakfast bars. tee tried them and declared them awful. i wasn't even brave enough to try them once after they were unwrapped and i could see what they looked like.

but johnny wanted one. i kept saying, no they're awful!

one day, johnny kept asking over and over for something. finally i understood. he was saying, "i want an awful bar." it was just all bleary together.

hahahaha. well, we had so many left over, why not let him try it? so i gave him one. he took one bite, spit it out, and cried, "yuck!"

yup. they're awful bars.

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johnny loves to search the book of mormon. he will grab one of the blue copies and carry it all day, day after day, with him, opening it up, searching for hours through it pages, so he can find......his name!

yup! he turns page after page until he finds the name john in the postnotes, and everytime excited exclaims, "my name! my name!"

what would it be like if we had named him nephi?

mj again

i was at the girls level, chatting, "hi, mary! hi, janey!" when mary runs up to my face and shouts back at me, "hi!" first time! mary is also calling out, "daddy." oh, so sweet!

more fun times!

Benson says, after a silly comment about Jacob's "electricuted" hair when he was born, "You're hilarious!"

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Running down the hallway to retrieve his m&m treats for good toilet training, Paul blurts out to his dad, "Let's do this thing!"

mj's words

mary says "mom!" that's okay, janey says "dada!" and "ma!"

both mean the same thing. "i want something so give it to me!"

the girls are so cute and love baby dolls. mary has learned to blow into the recorder, so fun. both love to read. janey has continued to socialize, letting many others hold her, namely her grandmas. mary continues to cry if someone other than immediate family hold her.

ruth and drinking water

after being at the law lodge, a cabin up in heber, az, for my family reunion with the kowalskis/espiritis, ruthie (8), proves the spoiled life she has with the water filter we use when drinking our gilbert water.

"mom, why didn't they have very much water to drink?"

confused, i said, "but they had lots. you just turn on the sink faucet and drink as much as you want."

she thought about it then said, "so you wash your hands and drink water from the same sink???? weird."

jane's walking!

she started taking meaningful steps last tuesday, may 16. this week she is just going full walker and even carrying toys with her, especially a little doll, wherever she goes! janey also bounces with the beat to the little songs that are played around her! so funny... go janey!

mary is so proud of her, too. mary just claps with glee whenever janey comes near her. we love it!


******update*******

one week later, mary is up and walking too! around and around they go!

benson's preschools

benson is enrolled in two different preschools. he uses the last name of the teacher to talk about them.

"we going to packer's?"

"tuesday and thursday are for chapman."

or the old familiar,

"there are two chapmans. the boy chapman and the girl chapman."


for packer graduation tonight, he was adorable! they performed several songs and all included actions. he was rockin' out tonight! we are soo proud of you, benson!

benson's words

his response to what we say?

"got it!"

"pretty much,..."

"dude!"

"I love you! No backs!"

practice makes perfect

during november's general conference for our church, we were priviledged to hear a special musical number by the tabernacle choir with three men assinged for solos and duets and trios. the music was beautiful and newly 5 year old benson, in wonder, stated his opinion:

"wow, dad, they must have practiced a lot!"

benson's handing out smiles

as benson walked up to the entrance for mrs. chapman's lollipop's and rainbows preschool, he suddenly turned around and yelled across the expansive front yard to me,
"i like your clothes!"

i was wearing blue, of course.

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after several shopping trips of benson pleading for an alarm clock, i finally gave in and let him pick out a simple $8 one for him to share with jacob, his roomy. as we started on our way home, benson joyfully took the alarm out of the packaging, declaring,
"thank you, mom! from now on, jacob and i will always keep our room clean....but that isn't a promise because a promise is something you never forget, and well, we might forget to keep it clean sometimes."

too honest! ;)

Johnny loves..

Buses!

MJ

First fight. Six months old. Over a car. (well, toy car.) It's the beginning.

Ruth on where paper comes from

"Mom, how long will it take for the printer to make some more paper?"

Elisa

DAAAAdy! DAAAdy!

Tee

Indiana Baby in search of the Sippy Cup!

Holland on MJ

at 1 month...
"huh. They aren't identicle; this one cries more."

at 7 months...
"Mom, I know how to tell the twins apart. When they look sad, they look like Mary. When they look happy, they look like Jane."

Benson's Words

"Don't cover me up with my 'sheep' (sheet) tonight, Daddy."

Jacob's Dad

Waking up from after surgery on his broken arm, Jacob calls questioningly from the hospital bed in his darkened room:

"Dad?"

"Yes, Jacob? I'm right here."

"You're always there for me, Dad."