we're patriotic around here

Today Benjamin was helping me cook, with a chair pulled up to the counter. He accidentally fell off the chair and crashed on the floor. I gave a gasp and bent down to pick him up, but he jumped up quicker than I could reach for him and said enthusiastically, "I'm not hurt! I'm not hurt!" He said it in a really amazed voice while he showed me his unhurt arms and shook his head; it was so cute. I said, "Oh, I'm so glad!" and gave him a hug and some kisses. Then he told me -again, in an amazed voice, "Jesus saved me from being hurt!" It was the cutest thing I've ever heard.

Eliza had her 10 month appointment today and got a few shots. She was only in the 50th percentile for weight, which surprised me because she is so chubby - her thighs are seriously adorable! The nurse told me that she looks just like Benjamin. And then this afternoon my good friend, Christina, told me the same thing. It makes me so happy that they look alike! For some reason I just love that!

The Pledge of Allegiance - Benjamin learned this a long time ago, at the beginning of October or so, but it took me until now to finally video tape it. It's pretty cute! He is really good at memorizing, and retaining words from books, lyrics from songs, etc. In the video the second time he recites it he repeats "One nation under God" twice, and it sounds like an accident, but he actually did it on purpose as he makes very clear afterward! When I went back and watched it again I could see that little smile come on his face as he repeated that section, as if he was enjoying a little personal joke. He's got a funny sense of humor. :)

(My voice is loud compared to his voice in the video, so you might have to turn it up to hear him.)

Halloween night

On Halloween night we went trick-or-treating with some friends in their neighborhood. We started at 5:45pm while it was still nice and light outside. Benjamin lasted about 1 1/2 blocks, at the end of which he was seriously dragging. He started out excited, enthusiastic, and running ahead with the 'big boys'. A block later he was listless, tired, shuffling, and moving at a snails pace. He asked Jed to hold his candy bag, then he asked Jed to hold him, and finally he said, "I don't want to go trick-or-treating anymore." I was pretty surprised! This was me: "What? You're done? You're going to pass up all this free candy? ...if I hold you can we keep trick-or-treating? No? ....can we just go to three more houses? No? ... oh fine." :)













We headed home and then we all ate dinner (there were a few families) and hung out. They had a little spook alley in their backyard, in their playset, which was fun for Benjamin. He ended up getting a second wind, by the way. We danced on their back porch to "The Monster Mash," "Ghostbusters," and "Thriller." That was the best part of the night - very fun! And at the end we had a little fireworks display.
It was a fun Halloween. And Benjamin is already talking about next Halloween.... exactly a year away.... :)

Happy Halloween!

Benjamin had a Halloween Party at preschool last Wednesday. So each of the three boys' whole family came to preschool and we played games and did crafts together. It was really fun. The best part of the afternoon was playing "Ghost, Ghost, Boo!" which was a twist on "Duck, Duck, Goose." Everyone sat in the circle, and the kids had SO MUCH FUN chasing each other and being chased. Having the Daddys in the circle added a whole additional level of excitement! I was laughing the whole time. It was really fun.

Below is a picture of Benjamin concentrating as he painted his pumpkin. Anona planned some really fun crafts and activities for their preschool party. Thanks, Anona!

Yesterday we carved pumpkins as a family. It was fun, as always. Jed let Benny draw the eyes and mouth on their pumpkin and then Jed carved it out. :) They are being displayed with pride on our front porch at the moment, awaiting Halloween night tonight! We're getting excited for the festivities shortly to come! Happy Halloween everyone!

Trunk-or-Treat Party

We went to our church 'Trunk-or-Treat' party on Friday night. (Without Jed of course. My, I feel like he isn't in any pictures I've been posting lately. He's been here, there, and everywhere, but not home! He is very busy these days, doing lots of shifts and flying different places for different reasons. In fact, he's out of town now and as soon as he gets home he'll be going to Pittsburg for national examinations. Luckily, he has next Wed through Sat off and so we get to have him to ourselves for all the Halloween festivities! He doesn't know yet, but his time is booked with carving pumpkins as a family, getting our friend to snap some family pictures of us with the Michigan autumn colors, watching a movie with me after the kids are in bed... I can't wait for my husband to be available again!)

Well, that was a tangent. Anyway, the Trunk-or-Treat was really fun. Our friends, Dian and Troy, planned the event and it was a blast! There was a chili cookoff for dinner - I had about 10 taste-testing mini-cups on my plate. :) I brought Brittany's wonderful Jalepeno Cheddar Cornbread. Oh my, I loved it!

We had a bunch of fun stations for the primary children, which the youth were in charge of. I would have been able to enjoy them more if I hadn't been in charge of them! :) My sweet friends took care of my children while I was running around trying to get stations up and running. When everyone was going outside to do the trunk-or-treating, I was still running around- this time cleaning up the activities. Benjamin said, "Mom, I'm going trick-or-treating!" I asked him to wait for me, but nope. He disappeared in the crowd. I found him later walking around with my friend, Anona, and her boys. I was thankful that my friend took him with her so that he could enjoy his favorite part of the night. :)

On the way home he had his bag of candy on his lap and chowed down on his loot until we pulled into the driveway. He was wasting no time. The aromas of chocolate, watermelon suckers, and tootsie rolls filled the car all the way home. :)

"You don't shove it."

Some of the funny things Benjamin has said to me lately... They get funnier as you go... The last two are my favorite.

10-9-08
Erin: Do you need help?
Ben: NO. ....I need somebody to help me.
Erin: Who do you need to help you?
Ben: YOU. ...because you’re the Big Winner.

10/10/08
Ben: I’m squishing bad people! Bam! Bam! This is my sword. (It was a square wooden block with a little handle)
Erin: Why don’t you squish mosquitos? (in an effort to curb the violence...)
Ben: No, I’m squishing people. …I’m killing people. Bad people. Who don’t believe in Jesus Christ. Like the Lamanites. Bam! I just squished a Lamanite.

_____
Lest you think he’s all rough and tough, he’s got a very sweet soft side to him. I was cutting up a head of broccoli or something like that and he came up and said, “Oh Mom, that’s beautiful!"And he'll often tell me, " 'Job doing that, Mom. You're really good doing that.” Too funny.
____
Whenever he asks a question and really wants an answer, he ends it with, "Yeah? Yeah?" It's a great way to make someone answer you, really. Since he asks about 25 million questions a day, I imagine a lot of his questions aren't answered. I guess it's his way of letting you know this question is a priority. “Are we going home? Yeah? Yeah?”

10/14/08
Background – Benjamin and I have a little joke that there is a party going on in his tummy, and his bites all get to go to the party. I think it started a long time ago when we were talking to his green beans and they wanted to jump in his mouth because there was a party going on down in his tummy. Anyway, tonight when Benjamin was finishing his dinner, Jed was holding a piece of chocolate licorice and pretending that it was talking to Benjamin. He was talking with a Southern African American drawl, and Benjamin was watching and responding directly to the licorice. This conversation went on for a long time, and I was busting up laughing. Jed’s accent was hilarious and their conversation was just so funny! Here’s a condensed version, and try to imagine Jed’s accent…
Jed: “Hey Benjamin, can Ah go to the pah-dy too?”
Benjamin enthusiastically nodded ‘yes.’
Jed: “Oh good, ‘cause Ah’d really like to go to the pah-dy.”
Ben: “No, it’s a party!”
Jed: “That’s right. A pah-dy.”
Ben: “Not a potty. A party!”
Jed: “Is there a potty at the pah-dy?”
Ben sort of shook his head ‘no...’
Jed: “You mean Ah gotta go in my pants? Oh, wahll, Ah don’t know about that… Mah mahmmy doesn’t like it when Ah go potty in mah pants.”
Ben: “No, it’s not a potty. It’s a PARTY. Can you say ‘Party?’ (in a helpful voice)
Jed: “Pah-dy.”
Ben: “Say, P- P- P- PAR-TEE.”
Jed: “Pah-dee”
Ben: “You keep saying toilet!”
**Jed and I laughing**
Jed, eventually: “Just eat me ah-ready!”
Ben, talking directly to the licorice: “Okay. (with a smile) I love you!”

______
A few minutes later, Benjamin said something that had me laughing again. For background, Jed came home from work a few days ago quoting part of a Weezer song that went, “If you don’t like it, you can shove it. But you don’t like it, you love it.” Jed thought it was a pretty funny line and quoted it a few times for my enjoyment. :) Well, earlier today Benjamin was eating lunch and started talking to himself, “If you like it, you shove it…” We laughed in surprise, and I said, “Um, I don’t think we should teach him that… he’ll repeat it some time.” Jed agreed and we told Benjamin that it’s not polite to say the words “shove it.” So anyway, after this conversation with the licorice, Benjamin said to Jed, “You love it. You don’t shove it.” (Saying it with a little shake of his head and this funny ‘sweet’ intonation that I can’t reproduce in type.) Jed responded, “Oh, we don’t say-” and Benjamin said, “But I said, ‘you don’t shove it.’ I didn’t say ‘You love it. You shove it.’ I didn’t say that.” Then he turned to me and said, “Mom, I said, ‘You love it. You don’t shove it.’ That’s nice. That’s really nice, Mom.”
Oh, boy, I’m laughing right now. It was hilarious.

________
Home video clip for my family's viewing pleasure.

Hayride and Pumpkin Patch

Last weekend we went to a pumpkin patch with a big group of friends. It was very fun! When we got there we played in a child-size train, sat in an old fashioned tractor, went down slides, and Benjamin even got to drive around a tractor-bike. :)

Then we all gathered for amazing apple cider and donuts. (I don't like donuts, unless we're talking cider mill donuts - made at apple orchards and such. Those are incredible!)

After our donut break we went on a HAY RIDE to a PUMPKIN PATCH! It was fun to walk around the pumpkins. Benjamin thought it was especially fun to stomp on the rotten ones and get "pumpkin juice" on his shoes. Very gross!

Here's Benjamin showing how strong he is and trying to lift the big fat pumpkin. Arrgh!

And here he is giving me the look saying, "This is the last smile you're gonna get, Mom."

Jed's got the day off. This calls for a celebration!

Last weekend we went to 'Fun Acres', a family farm nearby, for the medical student program Fall family activity. Jed was working that night at an ER an hour away, so I went to the party with the two kiddos. It was really fun. First we enjoyed a pizza dinner and visiting with our friends. Ben didn't eat; he was having so much fun running around with the other kids - getting in and out of the hayride trailer, sitting on the tractor, running up and down the grassy hill, walking along the bales of hay... He loved it. After dinner, when it was dark outside, we went on a hayride. A big blue tractor pulled us in a flat trailer lined with squares of hay. Eliza, Benjamin and I sat in the corner, and Eliza was all snuggled up and cozy with two little blankets wrapped all around her. I was in heaven with getting to snuggle with her on my lap and Benjamin sitting next to me. It was wonderful! And the hayride was cool too. :)

Jed had today and yesterday off work. We had SO MUCH FUN having him around. (The past two months have been very busy - it feels like he works every single day, and the commutes have been long.) We all felt very spoiled getting to hang out with him all day. When Eliza got her bath she had me, Jed, and Benjamin all hanging out in the bathroom with her, talking and playing with her. Jed wanted to play with her while she was in the tub, and of course where ever Jed is, the rest of the family can be found. We can't help but follow him around all over the house. :) So Eliza had a fun bath! I kept telling Benjamin he should just get in the tub too, so he can reach the toys and play with them easier. Finally he agreed and we popped him in there too. He was very good about sharing with Eliza and being sweet to her. (whew! :) Afterward, I got Ben out and we snuggled on the rocking glider in Eliza's room. He loves being wrapped up in his towel. Then Jed brought Eliza in and plopped her down on the other side of me. So I got to snuggle my two kids in their towels at the same time. That was fun. :)

The weather has been beautiful and warm, so we went on a family bike ride on Monday. Then, around 3:45pm, Jed suddenly burst into the kitchen, with Eliza all strapped up into her carseat and said, "We're leaving! Come on!" We loaded up in the car with me being totally out-of-the-loop about what this surprise outing was all about. :) Our first stop was to our friends home where Jed dropped off both kids to be babysat! And we embarked on a surprise DATE! We pulled into the movie theater and Jed treated me to a movie - Eagle Eye. It was really good, I thought. And so INTENSE! Then, on the way home, Jed surprised me by saying we were going to pick up some dinner too. We went to a really yummy grinder shop and ordered Reuben Grinders. (a grinder is a delicious toasted sandwich - I never heard of it when we were living out west; it must be a midwest/eastern thing.) We both love Reuben sandwiches, and this place makes yummy ones. Anyway, our date was so exciting and fun! Jed is the best at being spontaneous while also having his surprises well planned out - and he loves to surprise me. It's so exciting! I just loved spending one-on-one time with him, and going to a movie and dinner is so special to us - a night out! Yay! After our dinner we went and picked up the kids. Then I fed and put Eliza to bed while Jed got Ben ready for bed. We'd promised him all day that for Family Home Evening we would do that cute haunted treehouse craft that my mom sent him for Halloween. So, even though it was 8:30pm - one hour past his bedtime - we started on a major family craft! We had so much fun hot-glue gunning that haunted treehouse together. Benjamin just loved it! And Jed was totally into it too - he was the hot glue-gun man, and he was actually in charge of it all. I was a sidekick helper. My two boys were totally having a blast with it! I need to get a picture of the end product. It’s really cute. We ended at 9:30pm, read scriptures and popped Ben into bed. Very late night for him!

Preschool update

Last Wednesday I hosted Benjamin's little preschool. It was a fun day. Our lesson was on nests and eggs. I happen to own a really cute book about how it came to be that all birds build different nests, and the book also goes into some detail about the materials the birds use to build them. After reading our book, we made a 'nest' on our living room floor out of a bunch of blankets. Then we all sat in our nest and read a book about an egg hatching. (I own a cute book that worked for that too - that Aunt Mindy gave to Eliza when she was born, called, "Ruby, in her own time.") Then we all pretended to be eggs in our nest and we all hatched out and became baby birds, and then I pretended to be the mommy bird and brought them all pretend worms and seeds to eat. It was fun to see them play acting. (The picture is of them sitting in their nest at the end of preschool, once Eliza was awake. They were all sitting in a row listening to me read them another book about eggs, and it was so cute how even Eliza looked like an attentive little student. Benjamin is helping her look at the camera...)
After that we went outside and filled up our birdfeeder with birdseed so the birds could have lots of food. The boys are showing the camera the birdseed in their hands. Anyway, we also did a little craft, and we ate hardboiled eggs for a snack. The boys got to break and peel the shell off their egg, which didn't end up being a mess; however, I should have confiscated the egg yolks before they started to try to nibble on them.... THAT was definitely a mess - pieces of crumbly yellow yolk all over! :)

I jotted down some funny things that they boys said during our preschool.... At the very beginning we say a prayer while the kids are sitting around the table. Abram volunteered to give the prayer, and it went like this, "Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for chairs, thank you for tables, thank you for school, thank you for sharpeners, In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen." I thought it was pretty cute, especially since Abram just adores his pencil sharpener and shows it to us every preschool day. :)

At the end of reading them the book about the eggs hatching, I pointed to the nest and said, "And look! Now there are lots of little baby birds inside the nest!" Garret looked up at me excitedly and said, "I wish I had a gun, and then I could shoot them!" He had the biggest grin on his face, like that would be the nicest thing to do. It was so funny, and surprising! I think he was imagining going hunting like Nephi and bringing the bounty back for dinner, or something like that. It still makes me chuckle remembering... you never know what kinds of things are running around in their heads!

Ever since Benjamin went to Christina's house (Garret's mom) for preschool, he's been asking me if I'm strong. The first time he asked me it was because he wanted a ride on my shoulders and I said I wasn't strong enough and only Daddy can give him rides. He said, "Are you strong?" and I said, "No, Mommy's not strong." Then he said, "Oh, well, Christina is strong!" That made me feel pretty puny! Mommy is such a weakling. :) I think gets that from when Christina was showing them how to squeeze orange juice out of a cut orange, and probably said something like, "You have to be strong, like this." Since then he's asked me lots of times if I'm strong. I've been telling him lately that I am strong, and then he'll say, "Like Christina?! You're strong like Christina!" I keep thinking I need to tell her how she has become the hallmark of strength to Benjamin. :)

And now for a little Eliza update -

She is getting to be a pretty good little army crawler now. It's fun to watch her. She'll see something interesting and you can just see the determination in her as she embarks on a mission to reach that piece of paper or that ball across the room. Sadly, Benjamin will often recognize that little "I'm on a mission" army crawl she has, and will quickly run and snatch up what she was going for, and put it somewhere safe where she can't "suck on it." It's actually makes my heart go out to her - poor little thing can't play with anything interesting when Benjamin is around! Just this morning while I was exercising, Benny kept taking things that she was crawling to, and then he would throw them in his room, close the door, lock it, and then come back looking like he had just saved the world. When I asked him to find her some toys, he came back with a few tame-looking toys that he didn't mind sharing with her (toys that were completely uninteresting to him). Luckily Eliza has a mommy that will stick up for her sometimes; I insisted that Benjamin let her play with a blown-up balloon this morning, although he was very much against it!

She's been teething lately, but for the most part she's pretty happy during the day. But on some nights she may get up two or three times! Once I give her some tylenol, though, she'll sleep through the night. She's getting into a stage where she wants to be held by Mommy, and she sometimes will cry if I leave the room or even turn my back to her. I've never felt such devotion! :)

I love going into her room in the morning and lifting her out of the crib. She is such a sweetie, and loves to see me. It's so cute!

Eliza is 9 months old this week

Eliza turns 9 months old this week. She is starting to be adventurous and moving some good distances with her nearly perfected army crawl. I'm glad that for the most part she's content to stay in the vicinity that I put her... I'm not quite ready for a full-blown mobile baby yet! I think it's because I worry about our hard, cold and uneven slate floors... And did I mention cold? Whenever I pick her up after she's crawled onto the slate floor her little arms and legs are like ice cubes. With winter coming, the floor is not going to be a pleasant place to be! Granted, she'll be wearing long sleeves etc. We'll see how it goes.

Last night she didn't want to go to bed, so she got to stay up later with me. I gave her a magazine and she ripped it up and ate it all while I was putting clean sheets on the bed. Okay, she didn't really eat it all, but she sure did try! I had to fish a few bits of it out of her mouth- Even though I was good about catching her before she sucked on a page for long. Boy, those magazine pages disintegrate in about .2 seconds! She really enjoyed it, though. "Ah, there's nothing like the printed word."

Later that night she discovered how fascinating a mirror can be. :) It was fun to hang out with her one-on-one, even though it was past bedtime! She was so smiley and cute!

Henry Ford Museum

My friend, Jenny, took us to The Henry Ford Museum two weekends ago with her summer pass. Boy, this place is amazing! It just kept going and going. First we saw all the presidential cars and read the plaques about the special features built into them, and then there were a whole bunch of real trains exhibited. There was one called the Allegheny, and it was massive. Benjamin and I are standing in front of it - and you can make out the monstrous wheels behind us. That's just the wheels, and it goes UP from there - the train was enormous! There's also a picture of Benjamin standing by a train with a snow plow at the front. Isn't it huge? After the trains, there were lots of carriages, and then we saw a whole exhibit about airplanes, and the history of flying. There was tons of information on the plaques - and it was all interesting. It killed me that we had to move along so fast - you could spend days here. And then there was a display about the progressive changes in America in locomotion and inventions. Every now and then they had kid-friendly play centers that related to the exhibit - and at this one they had building blocks for making cars, and then they had ramps to race them down. I'm not describing it well at all, just check out the picture. :)

Let's see, then there was an incredible section of the museum dedicated to the history of The Unites States of America - including the Revolutionary War and the founding fathers, the slave trade, the KKK, the African American fight for equal rights. They even had the actual bus exhibited (and you could sit in it and listen to an audio recording about the events that transpired on it) that Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat to a white passenger. Then the history continued on, and then there was a section on the different generations. First there was the "War Generation", then the "Baby Boomers" (and it gave the years that included each generation), "Generation X", and "The Next Generation." It said on the Baby Boomer plaque that "You know you are a baby boomer if... you knew someone who left mainstream society to join a commune" - I've been meaning to ask my mom if she had an interesting story to tell me about this! "Generation X" was the most fun - the last year included was '79 so I didn't really connect with some of the stuff they had on exhibit, but part of it was totally 80s - they had a typical teenager bedroom exhibit, and there was a big "Depeche Mode" poster on the wall, and a clear telephone (where you can see blinking lights and neon wires - my sister and I had one of those - our brother Matt gave it to us! I remember thinking I was SO COOL), tons of 80s-ish clothes in the closet, and a miniscule Macintosh computer on the desk. There was a TV playing 80ish music videos and you could dance along with it and see yourself IN the music video too. The "next generation" which is me, was kind of dissappointing - they said in essence "what will you make it?" Bummer - I wanted to see all the things that I grew up with! We didn't have any more time to explore the museum, but there were exhibits on firearms, and the progression of steam engines (they were ENORMOUS, but they were still able to display them all under one roof). Oh man, I could go on and on. This museum was so cool! Next time either of our parents come visit us, we're taking them to see it. I just know my parents would like it. Even my dad!
ANYWAY, after the museum we had a little picnic on the grounds. This place is beautiful. There were tons of geese on the lawns and it was fun to watch them. Then we went to Greenfield Village, which I've blogged about already. We saw a ton of new stuff this time, and we stayed for quite awhile even though we were only planning on taking a stroll. We got a ride in a Model T car. The driver was so cute to the two boys, who got to sit next to him.

Benjamin's hand is on the driver's knee. Isn't that cute? And you can't really see Eliza in the picture, but she looks so sweet. (You can click on it to see it big, and then hit the browser's back button after - don't "x" out of the screen.) She isn't respresented very well in the pictures from any of our excursions - she just sits happily and serenly in her infant carrier in the stroller. She's a good little companion.

There is a big lake in the corner of Greenfield Village (the place is huge - like a real village!) that had tons of geese and some ducks in it. They were pretty tame, and Benjamin was trying to touch them.... :) Oh, so close!

Anyway, we had such a fun day. I can say for myself that I was absolutely EXHAUSTED by the time we got home! The Henry Ford is a really neat place.

Jed's home! Let's go play!

Jed has been doing an 'out' rotation this month at an E.R. in another city. So he's been staying during the week at a friend's house in that city. And then he comes home for the weekend. Last week when he got home, we headed out to spent some family time at the beach at Lake Erie. It's only about 5 minutes away. As you can see, Benjamin and Jed thew rocks in the water. Like father, like son. Now we all know where Ben gets his infatuation with rocks and water... :)

We had fun being together again, enjoying carefree time away from the distractions of home.
What do you think of Benjamin's new haircut? Yeah, I was giving him a haircut last Monday and I accidentally made it look kind of uneven, so I just buzzed it off. So Benjamin got a spur-of-the-moment buzz, and when Jed got home on Thursday he was pretty surprised to see him! Can you also see the remains of Benjamin's black eye? He got it about a week ago when he fell on the corner of some piece of furniture.

This is the funniest picture of Eliza. She's trying to reach the camera, but the sun was in her face...

Detroit Childrens Museum

Last weekend I planned an outing with a bunch of friends to visit the Detroit Children's Museum downtown. It was a fun little place. They had a whole bunch of interactive toys. It was perfectly geared toward Benjamin's age.
And nextdoor to it was the Firestation. The firemen were very sweet to show us their firetruck. They turned the lights on for us, and showed us the cab, etc. A very fun day.

First day of Preschool!

Benjamin started preschool today! I can't believe how big he is. What a handsome sweet kid he's become. When I interact with him during the day I always think of him as being so big and grown up. But every now and then I look at him objectively and realize that he's still pretty little - I mean, he's just three! I know that a few years from now I'll be looking back on these pictures and thinking he was such a little guy. I hope I'm cherishing every minute with him...

Look at those three handsome boys! And their first-day-of-school excitement.

My two friends and I are doing a rotating home preschool. We hold it once a week for two hours and take turns having it at our own homes. We have a little curriculum we're following and a schedule of what we're doing during the 2 hours. Today was at our house.

We start with an opening, which includes a prayer, discussing what day it is, going outside and checking and reporting on the weather, and reciting the pledge of allegiance to the flag (we have one by our front door, which is convenient). That was an especially cute part of our preschool experience today. Three little boys and I facing our big flag waving by the front porch, and having them recite the words of the pledge of allegiance after me. How darling!

Our lesson today was "My Name and Age." We talked about birthdays and looked at pictures at each of them when they were babies and at each

of their birthdays. We practiced tracing their names. Benjamin is at a disadvantage since he has a super long name. :) Abram was done with all six of his names when Benjamin had only completed two. Luckily he doesn't recognize the injustice yet. :) Don't worry - I didn't make him finish them all. :)

The funnest part of our day was the activity - making their initials out of pretzel dough! They actually helped me make the dough (pretzel dough is the easiest dough in the world) and then we had fun shaping it. Then they got to 'paint' the dough with the egg-wash before we popped the pan in the oven to bake. Pretty exciting. :)

Anyway, we had a fun day. All three of the boys had a blast showing each other the contents of their pencil boxes. They each compared scissors, enjoyed their personal box of crayons, and revelled in stuffing their papers into their treasured backpacks. Oh the backpacks. They were darling when it came to their backpacks! We couldn't move rooms or do anything without them strapping on their backpack. Even while we were mixing the pretzel dough, they were all either wearing their backpack or trying to put it on. What cuties!