Benjamin videos

Last Sunday Benjamin was sitting next to Jed on the couch and suddenly said, "Dad, I'm going to teach you about the gospel." I grabbed the video camera and recorded while Benjamin told Jed all about Amulek & Alma the Younger. He began when they were tied up in prison, but quickly realized that he needed to give the background details, so he flashbacked to describe how Alma repented. He forgot to mention that Alma repented when he woke up after seeing the angel, so at the end of his prison-crumbling story, he added that on. I can totally read where his little mind is going, and it was so cute to watch him work through how to relate the story to his Daddy. Jed's favorite part is when Benjamin says, "the whole prison BAMMED on their heads." I laughed in the video when Benjamin described the picture of the armor as a "transformer body." :)

This is a video of Benjamin feeding the ducks in our yard. There are lots of ducks in Michigan during this time of year. They are our little friends, and Eliza loves watching them through the window. Jed and I were cracking up how Benjamin was eating their bread every now and then. He stayed out there for a long time feeding them. And it was also so funny how he hucked the pieces of bread at them - at first they were scared of him, but then I guess they got used to it. :) When he came inside he ran up to me saying, "Mom! Mom! I felt good serving the duckies!" Jed said, "Were you feeding the ducks?" and he answered, "Yeah, and I didn't even squish them. They are nice and healthy. Do you see how big their tummy is?"

I caught a flasher on camera...

It's March, and it feels like spring!

Happy St. Patricks Day everyone! We had a fun party with some friends at our home. All the kids were decked out in green, and we ate lots of green food! I have to admit the bright green muffins (and the green pancakes we had for breakfast as well) looked, perhaps, a little unappetizing, but I can't pass up the green food coloring on St. Patty's day! ;) It was beautful weather outside, so the kids all got to run around the yard. It was a fun day. 

It's been such great weather lately. We played outside the other night when Jed came home early. Notice Eliza's scrunched up nose in this picture - she is making that face all the time lately and it's so funny! 

Eliza loved the riding toy, and Jed (being the entertaining Daddy he is) tied her to it and then pulled her around with a rope. Hilarious!

The other day I took Benjamin and Eliza to the pet store to look at the animals. Ben had gone there for preschool the other day and had really enjoyed it, so I wanted to go there with the kids too. 

Here's Eliza checking out the guinea pigs. She loved standing up by the glass and looking in at the animals all by herself. 

As you can see, she was NOT happy to have to go back in her stroller when it was time to go. 

Benjamin is such a sweetie. The other morning I wanted to get in the shower before Eliza woke up, so Benjamin got all situated in my bed with some toys and books to wait for me. He was so cute, reading his scripture stories while I got ready for the day. :)

Of course Eliza has an appreciation for cool car toys because she's got a big brother. She plays with trains, cars, dinosaurs, and blocks more than any other girl, I'm sure. :)

the beginning of the end

Benjamin has discovered that the computer is the best toy EVER. Suddenly my little 3 1/2 year old is a computer game junkie. He just loves playing games on the computer. It started with The Friend magazine online. They have the BEST website.  We sat down to look at it one day and the first thing we clicked on was a huge selection of church pictures turned into jigsaw puzzles. BINGO! If you know anything about Benjamin, you know that BENNY = PUZZLE. He was in HEAVEN! He quickly made the rounds and did all 16 puzzles. Then he stopped using the puzzle shapes' outlines hints, and within the day he was doing the puzzles at turbo pace.  It was so funny - he was seriously GLUED to the computer. It reminded me of MYSELF when I'm reading a book.... can't tear myself away. Anyway, he was addicted to the Friend website and it was actually a cool thing because they play primary music to go along with the puzzles, so I would sing along to it as I did chores, and he would show me his finished puzzles and ask lots of questions which gave me an opportunity to teach him more about the scriptures. Soon he was navigating the entire website and eventually he discovered the Scripture Readers. We read from the Book of Mormon Stories reader every night, but the one of the computer is special. It has someone reading the words while the pictures are displayed on a slideshow, in a movie format. Wow! Now, as you know, Benny also equals MOVIES, so this was really exciting for him. He listened to and attentively watched chapter after chapter in the New Testament reader, Book of Mormon reader... I was laughing to myself thinking if this was what he wanted to watch, then I'd let him watch 'movies' all day! :)  Anyway, a week or so later Jed introduced him to an online preschooler game and that was the beginning of the end. Now he has his own little website icons just for him that he begs me to play on ALL DAY. I mean, he begs me ALL DAY and he wishes he could play on them ALL DAY.  Believe me, it starts BEFORE breakfast. :) Oh, that kid is hilarious. I'm wondering what Jed and I have done to our child...

Well, in case you are interested, here are our favorites. And if you have any favorites, go ahead and share! 

Online Childrens Games

The Friend - http://lds.org/ldsorg/v/index.jsp?vgnextoid=ae20e975d2a2b010VgnVCM1000004d82620aRCRD&locale=0 - This is such a fun website for kids! Benjamin absolutely LOVED LOVED LOVED their jigsaw puzzles. There's also online coloring, slideshows, Matt & Mandy stories, etc etc.

Building Blocks for a Better Future - http://bblocks.samhsa.gov/children/games/ - they have a fun memory game.

Kaboose Fun School - http://funschool.kaboose.com/preschool/index.html - "Fishin' Mission" is a super fun game that works with addition skills. "Stack it or Build it" is super fun too - one of the games is a crane that puts numbered blocks in order. I was pleasantly surprised when Benjamin immediatley put blocks numbered with 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33 in the right order. It's great practice! And the "Color and Play" is like the Friends website where you can color online. 

parties parties

It must be the season for parties because all our friends in this ward have been getting together a lot! Tonight we had a big Bunko party - we had probably 15 girls there, and it was a blast. We all brought our wedding albums and looked at pictures, played Bunko, and chatted. It was pretty fun. Last weekend we had a baby shower for Angie at Tasha's house. Kacey was deemed the official photographer, and by virtue of sitting by her I was her assistant, so we took a self portrait. :)  I brought edible chocolate bowls filled with chocolate cake with a white chocolate & almond mousse and a white chocolate drizzle. 

It was fun to make, and I'll post the recipe soon on The Sisters Cafe. :) The week before was Anona's baby shower. It was super fun to hang out with all our friends at Janese's house, while a blizzard raged outside. I made chocolate covered cheesecake pops for that party. Yes, I love making party food!  Aren't those pink pom-pom balls that Melody made the cutest baby girl decorations?

I just love my ward. There are so many fun girls who live here. We're all friends and there's the coolest feeling of unity and love here. It's so neat. For someone like me who lives far away from family, this is such a great blessing. I'm super glad that we got accepted here for residency. I get to enjoy this great place and all my friends for four more years!