Greenfield Village

There is a family attraction here called Greenfield Village, which is a pretend village modeled after the early 1900's. Three friends and I took our kids to this village last Thursday for the afternoon. There are a lot of interesting buildings and homes of interest, like Henry Ford's birth home, the house belonging to the Wright brothers, etc. But we didn't go into any of those with the kids. We went on the carousel a few times, ate a picnic lunch, checked out the glass blower shop, took an 'omnibus' ride which is a type of wagon pulled by two big horses, and enjoyed a long ride on a train (pictured above). Last of all we went to visit the farm, and that was the best part! Unfortunately my camera ran out of batteries, which was lame because Benjamin had so much fun with the sheep! There was one really big ram that walked right up to us in his stall, jumped up with his front legs onto the fence and swung his head over to see us. Benjamin would shoot his hand out to pet him quickly, and every time the ram felt him he would move his head to see who it was. It's hard to explain, but this ram was so responsive. It was pretty cool. I mean, normally animals don't flinch when you touch them, but this big old grandfather ram was attuned to every touch and seemed to be really interested in the kids. Anyway, we also saw lots of chickens, cats, and a rooster in the barn. We had to keep the kids from chasing the chickens, which is always so tempting!

I went up to the boys while they were gathered around this grate and asked them what they were looking at. They told me there was a crocodile down there and they were watching it. Benjamin is telling me about the crocodile in this picture.

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These horses that pulled the omnibus were huge! They let the kids pet them as they drank out of their trough.

oh, were you tired?

Benjamin is right at that stage where he gets tired in the early afternoon and needs a nap, but if he does happen to take a nap, he doesn't get tired for bed until really late. So, this past week I've been keeping him up and then putting him to bed early. As you can see, sometimes he just gets too tired to play and ends up taking an impromptu nap! I found him like this the other day during his alone playtime. Can you believe that position? I stepped over him in order to get this picture. I took a few pictures, then stepped over him again and left, and he slept on without so much as a flicker.

I thought his expressions in these Home Depot pictures were cute. As usual, his awesome Daddy took him to do the project this month.

And here's the beauty of the family. Her latest achievement: Rolling over! She can roll from her tummy to her back now. She has been laughing a lot lately at all of Benjamin's antics. He will jump off a chair and bounce over to see if she is going to laugh, and sure enough, she laughs and laughs. Then he does it again, and again... They are a perfect pair. He performs, she laughs. It's an unstoppable combination!

Wanna come over? We're normal, I promise.

Long lost brother ;)

Guess who stopped by on Monday?! My brother who I haven't seen in over a year! He lives in Utah and had a quick business trip in Detroit, so he squeezed in a visit to his littlest sister between all his meetings and conferences. Isn't he great? I thought he would only be able to stay for 30 minutes, so I felt pretty spoiled when he stuck around for two hours! He got to hold Eliza (the only granddaughter in the family) for the first time. She officially welcomed him to the family by spitting up on him. Lucky guy. (Good thing he's used to his own baby, so he didn't mind too much. :) ) Benjamin had fun with his Uncle Matt outside for awhile, and then he and I watched as Jed and Matt had a darts championship. :)
Thanks for coming by to see us Matt! I was so happy to see you!

Parade!

We went to a city celebration last Saturday with two other families. (The same families we went on the Memorial Day bikeride with.) It was such a fun day! The kids loved the parade. When the Firetrucks came blaring by, Benny covered his ears. :) There were lots of old classic cars, drummers, police cars, firetrucks, motorized mini airplanes... And best of all - the cheap parade candy! :) Ugh! But kids love it! Benjamin hasn't had so much candy in all his life. He was going through it like there was no tomorrow... (and there wasn't. I threw it all away the next day. But he seriously had free reign on his candy bag all that day, so don't think I'm a meanie!)



Afterward, we went to the local small airport and they had a few helicopters that the kids could go inside and look at. And the navy and airforce pilots were showing the kids the equipment inside - they were so cute with the kids! Here's Benny in the cockpit - I had to do some serious bribing to get him to smile for me here.

So much fun! And here's a random 2 1/2 minute home video, for your viewing pleasure. :) The first part is a clip of our family scripture study. Benny is holding Eliza. Every now and then he will ask to hold her, and he always feels like such a good big brother when he does. It's pretty cute. The second clip is of Benjamin making Eliza laugh. Unfortunately, I didn't get any of Eliza laughing, but I did get Benjamin falling off the bed, which is pretty funny. It's right before the 1 1/2 minute mark. :)

Memorial Day

On Memorial Day we went on a big family bikeride and picnic to a metropark. We went with two other families and it was such a blast! Between the three families, we had 6 adults, 5 children on bikes (including a 3 year old), and four little ones distributed among three bike trailers. :) Eliza was strapped in her carseat and sitting in the bike trailer pulled by Jed. And Benny and his friend Abram were sitting together in a trailer - just behind Jed in the picture.

After the bikeride we had a picnic, and then we explored the nature center (and saw lots of cool turtles there). Then the kids had fun skipping rocks, and just throwing handfuls of rocks, into the water. What is it with throwing rocks in the water that can keep Benjamin occupied and having fun for hours on end? He kept jumping off the dock, just where the water lapped on the rocks, and once he fell back and soaked his pants. So we took them off, and laughed as his little bare white legs were seen running back and forth on the dock as he worked on eliminating rocks from the shore, one handful at a time. :)

Stealing Toys

On Sunday, Benjamin was telling us about his day at church. This was eye-opening as to what goes on in nursery…

I bust out laughing every time I watch the part where he gets frustrated with Jed and says, “I need to tell something!!!” And I also can’t help but laugh at the part when Benjamin is walking away from Jed (right after Jed says, "What did your teacher say?"), and totally trips on Jed’s feet and disappears from the camera for a moment because he fell over. :)

Earlier this week, Benjamin said to me,“Want to color with me?”
I said, “Sure. I’ll get you some paper. Sit in your chair.”
As he was climbing into his chair he said, “Got my paper?....” and then when he saw the paper sitting there for him he said, “OH! Thank you, Mommy! You are wary nice to get paper for me!”

We checked out a book this week from the library about a duck who happens to mention, “I was born in the spring” at one point in the book. Well, this week Benjamin came out with, “I’m having a hard time, Mom… because I was born in the spring.”

Benny and I were playing catch with a foam soccer ball in the kitchen, and Benjamin was getting excited every time he caught the ball. At one point he excitedly said, “We’re being BYU! I’m BYU!”

He’s really into making up words lately. He was drawing the other day and I said, “What’s that?” and he came up with, “rabbitbonking.”
Me: “Oh… Interesting…”
Ben: “No, it’s boatankin. Wait – no, it’s mount-tainkin.”
Hmmmm…

Jed took Benjamin on a Father & Son's campout on Friday night. Jed's been getting Benny excited about it all week. This was Benjamin's first experience with camping, sleeping in a tent, and perhaps even eating a smore! They had a lot of fun. Jed said that Ben was constantly wandering off... he would find a group of people, sidle up next to one of them, and then ask for some of whatever they were snacking on. :) A true scavenger. They went to bed at about 10:30pm, but Benjamin seemed to be wide awake. He asked Jed to tell him stories, and then they sang some songs... Finally, Benjamin fell asleep at about 11:30pm. He woke up at 3am or so saying he was cold, so he got into Jed's mummy bag with him. Sure enough, at 6am Benjamin woke up and was ready to go. It doesn’t seem to matter when he goes to bed… he’s still up at the crack of dawn! Jed took him on a walk in the woods in the morning. Benjamin particularly liked exploring the forest during the entire campout. Anyway, they had a lot of fun.

Here’s a video of clips of Benjamin at the campout and describing it to me at home. (The first clip is funny when he tells his little friend, Eirik, that he should take ‘that’ out of his mouth, saying “it’s dirty” when it was only a cookie. J And in the next clip, he is talking to his friend, Abram, about the colors on his shirt, and mid-conversation he tries to take a swig of Abram’s rootbeer!)

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family time...

We had this equation going last week....

It's raining all the time here + Jed is super busy = Our lawn is like a thick impenetrable jungle

At least it's dazzlingly green, though!

Look, Benj is getting a free ride. And Jed's back is probably breaking... He carried Benjamin around while he did the entire front and sides of the yard. And during this time I was lounging in a patio chair with my sunglasses on, holding the baby monitor and watching Jed slave away. Aaaaah, what a life.

I overheard this conversation between Jed and Benjamin today. I thought it was funny.

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J: "What do we do with our ears?"

B: "Hear music!"

J: "What do we do with our nose?"

B: "We sneeze!"

J: "What do we do with our eyes?"

B: "Cause we see things."

J: "What do we do with our mouths?"

B: "Cause we eat things."

J: "What else do we do with our mouths?"

B: "..... Eat meat! Meat is yummy!"

J: "What do we do with our hands?"

B: "Cause we pick apples."

J: "What do we do with our feet?"

B: "Cause we walk."

J: "What do we do with our hair?"

B: "Cause we go outside."

J: "We have hair so we can go outside?" *pause* "What do we do with our hair?"

B: "Cause we comb our hair."

J: "What do we do with our elbows?"

B: "We can go 'OW!' "

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Every Tuesday Benjamin and I go to the library along with some of our friends. Now that storytime is over, we do puzzles with the kids, pick out a dozen new books, and chat. Then we head out to the park for an hour. It's so fun, and Benjamin and I both look forward to Tuesdays every week. Here we are at the park last Tuesday, with the library in the background.

Oh yeah, and for my cute friends/family who noticed my haircut in my previous posts - Yes, I did cut off my hair. It was getting way too time consuming. :) Now that I have short hair again, I remember how much faster it is to dry it and style it. I guess this means my friends will see me wearing a ponytail less in the upcoming weeks! Won't that be a shocker!

Friday night I had a date with myself doing hair bows for Eliza. Yeah, it was so fun! I'm hooked. I've made lots of different ribbon bows and flower clips, but she doesn't seem to have any clothes to match them. Hmmmm, maybe I am working backwards here with the accessory thing....

I'm addicted to BOOK SALES!

There's something so exciting about sifting through hundreds of books... looking, searching, hoping.... to find that author, that title, that you recognize and love. And there's something so thrilling about coming across that treasure, and snatching it up with exultation!
It makes you want to yell, "YESSSSS!!! Look what I discovered! Yipppeee!"

Yeah, well, I confess that I'm actually not exagerating. I LOVE LIBRARY USED BOOK SALES! They are exciting, thrilling, and fabulous! Every time I go to one, I can't wait to call my sisters or mom and tell them what I've found. Many of the books I love are older, out of print novels, so these book sales really are like searching for treasures. And you can't go wrong with $1 a book! Just look at all the exciting finds I've triumphantly carried home from book sales in the past year.... Of course, this is just a sampling. And they are all hardback, too... :)I've found pristine copies of Eragon, 1776, Daughter of the Forest, Bourne Ultimatum... And I've found copies of older and more difficult to come-by novels like Trade Wind, Tregarons Daughter, and Mistress of Mellyn. Oh, boy, this is so much fun!
This morning I went to the largest library book sale I've ever been to. I've been looking forward to it all week, ever since I found out about it last Saturday. It was 40 minutes away from where I live, and worth every minute of the drive. I even made arrangements to drop off Benjamin at my friends house so I could search through tables and stacks of books without distraction. Yes, I was in heaven. For almost three hours. And I could have stayed longer.
This is one of my favorite hobbies. I love collecting my favorite books. I have them all in a nice bookcase in my front room, where I can enjoy seeing my collection grow. Of course it's fun to own your personal favorites, but it's the process of finding them that makes this such a fun hobby. I just love it. :)

Mothers Day

Look at those two cute kids of mine! Benjamin is going to be three years old in 2 months, and Eliza is four months old now. Mothers Day reminds me how blessed I am to get to be a mommy. :)
I have to add what a sweet husband I have.... Jed went to the hospital (he's on an OB rotation now) at 5am on Saturday morning. He worked all that morning, all that evening, all that night, got a 1 hour 45 minute nap, worked all the following morning, and got home at 9am on Sunday. He got in the shower and then headed off for 3 hours of church with us. When we got home from church, he proceeded to do all the dishes from Benjamin's and my pancake breakfast. And it wasn't until he was done that I could finally talk him into taking a nap! He was going on 36 hours of no sleep, but he still wanted to serve me for Mothers Day. He must truly love me!

Happy Mothers Day!

since i made a post when i started this goal...

...I'll update you now that it's 97 days later. I finished the Book of Mormong Challenge, to read the Book of Mormon in 97 days in tribute to the life of President Gordon B. Hinckley. I never thought I would be able to do something like that, but incredibly, it wasn't really that difficult once I committed to reading out of my Book of Mormon every day. That was the first step - reading every day. The second step was to get out of the mindset of, "If I read two verses, that counts as reading my scriptures." I'm afraid I've fallen into that many a time. And the third step that helped me was to read my scriptures during the day instead of right before I go to bed. I tried to read them during Benjamin's nap, or while I was feeding Eliza. Or immediately after I put Benny to bed. (Oh yeah, and the fourth 'step' or change that helped me (a ton), was to read the scriptures on the computer at lds.org or to read them on a pocket pc. For some reason I was able to concentrate so much better than when I read them in a book. My mind wanders so easily when I'm reading them in book-form. Weird, I know.)
It was a neat experience to be so diligent about reading the scriptures. I liked how I got the 'big picture' of the Book of Mormon. At the end, in Moroni 10, Moroni says that when we finish reading the book that we should ponder about how merciful the Lord has been to the children of men from the beginning. Because I read through the book quickly this time, I feel like I'm better able to recognize the magnitude of His mercy to the Nephites, from the beginning of their civilization to the end. And how merciful He is to each of us by acting as our advocate, and giving us the opportunity, through His love and sacrifice, to be perfected in Him. It is amazing how much faith each of the prophets in the Book of Mormon had, and to hear their testimonies and teachings of Christ and the Plan of Salvation. This truly is a remarkable and true book of scripture. I'm thankful for it. And I'm thankful for the legacy President Hinckley left with us, a legacy of faith and righteousness.

Our Fishing Adventure

Melody invited us over to 'fish' in the pond behind her home this morning. The boys had a blast. Luckily Preston and Eirik let Benny have a turn with their poles. My poor deprived son doesn't have a pole of his own. But, nevertheless, they all three had a blast! :)

After playing by the pond for awhile, we went for a walk in the forest. Here's a picture of Melody and Janese. And then we took a picture of the three of us - Melody got designated as the picture taker. :) It is so green here in Michigan! Isn't it pretty? And only 1% of the foliage is out so far. Soon it will look like an impenetrable jungle.

I just had to make this picture big - isn't Eliza's expression hilarious?

The big 2-5

My birthday last Saturday was SO fun. The day was jampacked with fun little outings, and then Jed had a surprise date all planned for me in the evening.

At 8am the kids and I headed out to a Mom2Mom sale - that's where an organization (like a church) will put together a big childrens items garage sale. You can find tons of Childrens Place, Old Navy, Gymboree, Carters, etc clothes there (in pristine condition) for absolutely nothing. Imagine finding a DARLING Childrens Place dress for only $2. It's the most enjoyable shopping ever. :) I'm completely addicted to these sales, and I go ever Saturday morning.

Afterwards we went to Payless and Benny and I both got a new pair of shoes. We hurried home and fed Eliza, and then we were off to the Home Depot so Benjamin could make his monthly project. This month it was a little pencil holder with flowers coming out....

And there's sweet little Eliza hanging out while we hammered away at the pencil holder. :)

Jed took me out on a special date that night. We dropped Benny and Eliza off at our friends house at 5:30pm and then went to Moro's Dining for dinner. When Jed was doing his Family Practice rotation, the drug reps took them to Moro's a lot. You would never know from the outside that it was a nice restaurant. All it is is a windowless section of a strip mall, with a door and a sign that says "Moros" Inside it is a tiny tiny restaurant, but people will wait and wait to get a table. And boy, it's worth it! We got the 'flaming goat cheese appetizer' and then they brought out delicious salads, then bowls of yummy clam chowder. And then finally our entrees. Ahhh, it was so fun! I love going out to restaurants where it's a long dining experience. I ordered the Filet Mignon (I never knew meat could just melt in your mouth like that!) and Jed ordered a veal dish. Anyway, it was awesome.

After dinner, Jed told me that we were going to the movies. :) He had made arrangements for our friends to put our kids to bed. So we went to see "Iron Man" and we both really enjoyed it.

It was such a fun date. I love how Jed always plans surprises for me on special days. It's so exciting! He made my birthday very fun and special. What a great husband!