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.