Family Home Evening

Tonight for family home evening we learned about where everybody goes when they go to church depending on what age they are.  I took my paper and divided it into the three hours of church, wrote ages across the top, and then we listed where everybody was supposed to be when.  It was pretty interesting to see what the kids knew and didn't.  They kept trying to get everybody to go to Relief Society.  They only learned about YM and YW in the last month or so.  The squiggly lines next to high priest mean the age is variable.  Oh, an I had no idea that people could be called to be a high priest.  The things you learn when you're teaching FHE.

But, the most exciting part of all of this was the pictures the kids drew.  Mima drew the picture of the church in the top right corner.  But guys, she drew it upside down!  I was so impressed.  She must get her artistic genes from Peter.

In other news, holy cow those are cute people!  Mima's been getting so much older lately.  She still loves her Hello Kitty shirt that we got when Brita was 9 months old, though.

Piano player extraordinaire

Brita was helping Elias practice the piano today.  He was pretty good.  Brita says he was like "bang, bang, bang."  He really, really enjoyed it until he stood up and tried to eat the book and I made Brita get him down.  Fun kid.  Kids, I suppose.

 And for your added enjoyment, here's Benton, who I would not let photobomb his brother.  So he got his own picture.

Welcome

My mom did a cross-stitch of a poem when my oldest siblings were little.  It's been hanging in her house ever since, as far as I know.  I've always liked it.  It pretty much sums up how were were raised in my mind, with people being more important than whatever was going on.  It's:

Welcome!  

Although you'll find our house a mess, come in, sit down, converse.

It doesn't always look like this, sometimes it's even worse.

Anyways, for some reason that's what came to mind when I was looking at this picture.  

What I really came here to say was, You should all come visit us!  Look how much seating we have in our living room!  Room for one and all!   

We might even use that vacuum and pick up all those wipes if you come visit.

Irene was laying on a pillow on the ground and Elias came crawling speedily toward her.  She starts shrieking, "No! No, Elias, I'm not yummy!"  Elias tried to steal her glasses and eat her regardless.

Irene has a joke.  Just one.  She picked it up in the car one day.  She tells it a lot.
Q.  Why did the orange stop in the middle of the road?
A.  Because it ran out of juice.

Not THAT lazy

Peter is reading One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish to the kids. He was reading and having the kids finish the rhyme for him.

Peter: By the light of the moon, by the light of a star, they walked all night from near to...
Everyone: Far!
Peter: I would never walk. I would take a...
Benton: Nap!

National Museum of American History

We went to the National Museum of American History on Friday. It was really fun. We were too busy looking at things to take pictures, but we got one of the little girls drawing on the chalkboards on the bottom floor and one of us in front of the Washington Monument. We walked a little over four miles. There's got to be closer parking. :) There are so many amazing things in that museum. Amazing.

Well, at least they know the words...

Mima: Hey Irene, you want to play soccer?
Irene: No.
Mima: Do you want to play basketball?
Irene: Yes.
Mima: Okay, you be the basket, and I'll be the ball.


Benton: Do you know what a king's grandson is called?
Me: Um...
Benton: In Russian?
Me: No.
Benton: You don't know very many words in Russian, do you?
Me: I don't even know what a king's grandson is called in English!
Benton: A grandson.

Laws

Benton:  I know one law.  It's thou shalt not kill.  But I know one way that it is okay to kill somebody: if they're trying to kill you.  Then it's okay to kill them back.

Songwriters

Brita and Benton wrote this song at least two years ago, probably more.  It's still going strong.

It's a classic.

Featuring Brita, Benton, Mima and Irene as the choir; with a cameo of Elias as himself.

The world could use a few more Bentons

So tonight before bed, I sent Benton up to sit on his bed a little early because of something that happened.  He was crying and wailing when I went up to talk to him so I helped him calm down and he explained that events might have been taken out of context and he hadn't really deserved to go up there.  I felt a little bad about it.  Then he handed the piece of paper that he had been working on before I had sent him up.  It was a card.  For me.

For those of you who might not read Bentonese, it says, "To Mom" on the outside and "Mom, I love you. You are nice" on the inside.

Then I felt very guilty.  At least he thinks I'm nice sometimes, right?  He's a good kid.