A story.

Today Benton and Brita were messing with my sewing machine. Peter asked them to stop touching it. They asked why and he replied that it was broken and we didn't want to break it more. Benton said that he wanted to look at it and started reaching for it again. I told him to look with his eyes. He squinted. I laughed.

Some days are just crappy.

This was one such day. I finished it by breaking the blade off my serger by hitting a hidden pin. I'm going to bed before I spend too much more time crying.

I can come to you

Peter was leaving for work and wanted to say goodbye to everyone.

Peter: Hey, Benton, come here for a minute!
Silence.
Me: Hey, Benton, Daddy wants you.
Benton: Hey I'm in the computer room.
Silence.
Time passes.
Benton: I'm in the computer room.

It's just as easy for Peter to move as Benton I suppose.

Fast Sundays

Sometimes I wish it was fast Sunday because that means that I'll have someone ringing my doorbell that wants to see me. Granted it's just the deacons collecting fast offerings, but still.

Oooooh, ahhhhhh

Tonight we were driving around looking at Christmas lights. The kids were screaming at first with the excitement of seeing the lights, so I told them they had to say "Oooooh, ahhhh" when they saw the lights. I realized too late that this is a fireworks thing instead of a Christmas lights thing. Anyways, they were fairly compliant and it was really funny. They kept forgetting what they were supposed to say so there were a lot of "AhhOohs." And most everything they said was really fast which just made it really funny. OohAhh! OohAhh! My favorite was when Brita said Ooooh ahhh at some lights out her window and Benton said, "No! My oooh ahhh!" He's very obsessed with having cool things to see out his window.

Reading

Today I was reading The Foot Book to Benton as I was trying to put him down for a nap. (Which he rarely takes anymore, but he is sick and said he was tired.) It wasn't the best choice. Something longer and boringer would have been better. After I finished reading it he started repeating it. And looking for the "feet in the morning page." It was pretty cute in a non-sleeping sort of way.

He was counting something today--cars in a I-Spy type book. "One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, seventeen, eighteen, eighteen, twenty-one." It was pretty cute.

Brita's gotten pretty good at reading words with the basic sounds in them. She's also gotten "sh" and "ch" down pretty well. Peter had her read a story from the Friend for family home evening the other day and he doesn't know as well how she reads. She did a really good job and could figure out words that I didn't think she'd be able to. I guess it's good to have someone challenge you every once in a while.

Mima was all sorts of interested today when I was reading to Benton, too. She got a huge grin on her face and tried to turn the pages and giggled. Pretty stinking cute.

Brita continues to describe various things she shouldn't as "stinking."

That's all.

Remember how I promised you pictures..

Here are more than you could ever want. They're all in both color and black and white, but I thought I 'd give blogger a break. I was going to leave out a few where I looked especially cow-like, but then I just stuck them all on here anyways. So, here you go. Jenilyn did great. And my family is adorable. Don't you think?

For Cordelia

Lion

When I was in grad school Peter would give me things to entertain myself so that I didn't have to work on my thesis. Or do homework. Or anything useful. One day I came into my office and there was a kit for a lion. So I made it. And remade it. And remade it. But this is how it's been for over five years (not counting reattaching the legs, tail, and head when kids have pulled them out). And now you see why it takes me so long to clean anything. (Only two packages of Smarties left.)

Computer room

I've been cleaning my computer room for the last four days. I think I might be able to finish today. I'm starting with the desk one Smarties at a time. Thankfully there are only a couple left.

Pictures

We got our pictures taken by a lady who used to be in our ward on Saturday. I was kind of dreading it, but it was actually really fun. She's a great photographer. She interacted so well with the kids and even got Mima to smile at her. Seriously, I can't even believe how much she had them wrapped around her finger. Hopefully the pictures turn out. I really, really want to see them. She said she'd have the CD to us in a week, so it's not like I have that long to wait, but I'm a very impatient person. I hope they turn out. I'm being repetitive.

I'll post some on here when I get them. You know, in case you doubted that I would.

Anyways, if you're ever in the area and want your pictures taken she's fabulous.

Please take a number

Brita was sitting at the table coloring a picture when I (Peter) heard Benton get some cheese out of the refrigerator. He sometimes forgets to close the door, so I asked Brita if she could see if the fridge was open. She replied in a whiny voice: "But I'm giving the opening prayer in primary on Sunday."

Sorry, maybe that was a little too much responsibility...

Go Illini

About 18 years ago I semi-regularly bought clothes from garage sales for my doll Tiffany. One was an Illini jacket. At the time I had no idea who they were or why there would be a jacket in the world that needed to be bright orange and say Illinois on it. But Tiffany needed a jacket so I got it. Most of Tiffany's clothes ended up in the baby clothes bins when we got baby clothes for the kids. The Illini jacket didn't have a size left on the tag, so it went in the box of the littlest clothes. All the littlest clothes ended up on the floor one night when I was changing out sizes for Mima. Benton also ended up in our room that night because he always ends up in our room. The jacket ended up on him because he is obsessed lately with changing his clothes. So one morning he came down to breakfast like this:

And now you know why.

Happy Halloween, part 2