Busy Day

Today was a busy day for Kory. He woke up exceptionally early, after a rather sleepless night, due to an unexpected milk bath and two night terrors.

He began his day taking a totally awesome picture of his sister.

A picnic lunch was really fun!

Sliding is super fun! He's lucky to have such a great big brother to play with!

Then I made them a tire swing to play on. Kory played and played and played...

Till he just couldn't play anymore.

Outdoor play

Here are a few pics of the kids that I really liked.

Big Fun

The weekend saw some awesome additions to our home, upping our fun quotient significantly.

I've been begging Joe to get me and old tire and fill it with sand for years! Finally, Julie took pity on me and helped me get the tire myself. That was a month ago. On Saturday, Joe finally brought me a load of sand. I think he overdid it, but the kids aren't complaining.
Goats! As mentioned in the Bennet Blog, we got goats. I'd like to point out that I put in the last t-post and finnished the pen all by myself Sunday so we could bring out goats home.

Kory's goat still needs to be bottle fed, and he LOVES doing it!

They spend as much time as they can with their goats. Jake had named his "Goaty" but has since changed his mind to "Faster." Jake doesn't have terrific diction, so if you come to my house and hear Jake calling "Bas-tard!" across the yard, you'll know your ears are deceiving you.

Kory thinks his pet is a sheep and his name is "Goat." I'm sure we'll sort it out.

What Best Friends Do...

A best friend gives you fridge-rights, and their last Coca-Cola.

A best friend makes quilts for your kids.

A best friend finnishes your sewing projects for you, accepting that you are a big sewing retard.

A best friend makes up words with you. Even if they are grammar nerds, too.

A best friend never really mocks your Harry Potter obsession--at least not when you're around.

A best friend thinks you are hysterical, even when you are just obnoxious.

A best friend thinks your kids are a stone riot, even when you are nanoseconds from murdering them where they stand. This is good-it allows your kids to live.

A best friend doesn't treat you like a weird preachy hypocrite when you go all churchy on her toukus.

A best friend tells you really personal stories so you can joke about them later, no matter how serious or heart-breaking the situation.

A best friend thinks of you when she purchases things at Wal-mart.

A best friend will text you from public restrooms.

A best friend will get accidently pregnant with you, just so you don't feel like the only tricked moron on the face of the earth.

A best friend likes you just the way you are. You don't have to pretend with her, even though sometimes its hard to stop pretending.

You're never too young for DaVinci

The following link was listed with toys appropriate for a 6 mo old baby girl:

http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=10858597

What did you think? Too much?

Check out the crafty-ness of me!

I made this for my mother-in-law for Mother's Day and I'm really proud of it.

Because attitude is everything!

Jake was early diagnosed with ADHD last year. I kind of thought the doctor was jumping the gun a little--4 seemed awfully young, and how can you tell if a kid has a disorder or is just a kid? But, in the eighteen months since then, he has shown very little improvement. So, I have bowed to the likelyhood that Jake does indeed have ADHD. This really concerned me when I thought of him starting school in the fall! I loved school, and I think its important to Jake's future success that he have a good experience there. I don't want him to think that because he doesn't think like the other kids or work the same way that he isn't smart. He's actually really smart, he just has a really hard time sorting things out. I got some books today about ADHD and how to help your child learn to work with it. It is such a comfort to know that:

1. He isn't this way because I am a bad parent.

2. The things I have noticed about him aren't all in my head.

3. I have every right to be frustrated.

4. His way of thinking and viewing the world is unique, and I can teach him how to use that to be successful.

5. I can arm us both so that we can be prepared to succeed in school and reach his full potential.

I can't help but think of Ether 12:27:

And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them.

I know that one of the most powerful tools I can give Jake is teaching him about the infinite love of Jesus Christ, and the infinite power of the Atonement. Teach him that grace isn't just about sin, its about filling all the deficits in our lives. I know that by trusting the Lord, Jake's weaknesses can be strengths! Can you imagine that kind of energy and determination, that drive and that desperate need to do well, that power in intuition, all chanelled into building the kingdom of God?

I can give my child tools that will make him unstoppable! Look out Satan! Here comes Jacob--warrior for truth!

Couples Therapy in a Divine Sense

Have you ever been reading your scriptures and something completely unrelated pops into your head? I was reading the other day (I can't even remember what I was reading) and the following just barged right in:

Think about your relationship with your spouse. You love him. You trust him. You feel a need for him, and he has a need for you. How did you build this relationship? If you're like me, you spent a lot of time together. You talk to each other about things that matter to you. He knows your secrets--good and bad. You have fun together and find joy in each other. When you need help with something, you call him, because you know that he will try to help you. He earned that trust because you gave him oppurtunities to prove himself trustworthy. You let him serve you.

The Lord often refers to Himself as the Bridegroom and Israel as the Bride. If you consider that when Israel is referred to, the Lord isn't just talking to Israel as a whole, but to each of her children individually, then you can see, for the sake of metaphor, how you, personally, are the Bride of Christ. So then, what can you do to build your relationship with Christ?

• How can you spend more time with Him?
• How can you take time to talk to Him about things that matter to you?
• How can you listen to Him better?
• How can you confide in Him more?
• How can you find joy in Him?
• How can you give Him oppurtunities to prove He keeps His promises, that He loves you, and that He can be relied on?

Building a relationship with Christ is the same as building a relationship with anyone else; it takes a lot of effort. And like any relationship that you feel has gone south, all you can do is change yourself. The good news with Christ is that, unlike some spouses, he wants to work on the relationship too. He's waiting for you. It takes time, it takes patience, and it takes faith, but I know if you try He will more than meet you half way.

I really felt like this was a message I was meant to share, and couldn't think of a way to do that until yesterday. So, I have recorded it for myself (and now that I've written it down I will remember it more often) and let it out there. Thanks for indulging me.

Horses!

My kids love animals, and since Joe's cousin Emily and her husband Marty moved just down the road, and keep their horses nearby, their favorite thing to do is stop at the arena and see the horses. When Kory sees Marty at church, he almost invariably asks about "Marty's hosses" (which is how he says horses). Tonight they invited the boys to come ride, and they had the best time! Thanks to Starks for being super-awesome!

My little cowboys!

Jake


Kory

What a weekend!

Last weekend was totally shot thanks to the paralyzing flu I was suffering from. My house still has not recovered from that lapse in my duties, so naturally I spent this weekend catching up.

HA!

If you know me at all you know that's just not true. Joe actually took most of Saturday off, and took me and the kids to Burley to see one of his cousins get baptized. Usually Joe's extended family can be a lot to take--there's so many of them (6 uncles, 3 aunts, plus spouses and kids and grandparents!) and as a group, we all tend to be pretty loud and they argue a lot. Have you seen "My Big Fat Greek Wedding?" Make those people Idaho hicks, and you will have a fairly accurate representation of what its like: "Everyone's always eating, eating, eating, and into each others lives and business and you never have a second alone just to think! The only people we know are Greeks, because Greeks marry Greeks, to breed more loud, breeding, Greek, eaters!" Ish. However, at this event there was a fairly limited amount of Ward to be found, so it wound up being pretty low key. My kids had a great time, and I was glad to spend so much time with my husband.

(For the record, I do love Wards. They are very nice and very generous and love to have a good time. Its just if you get a group together that is that large, with that much personal history, stuff is bound to get a little crazy!)

Church was nice, though a little crazy, as the only place we could find to sit was with another family--it's hard to keep your kids behaving well when they have new and exciting books and toys to pillage. I did say something sort of stuped while teaching my Sunday School class, and I'm not sure I recovered from it, but hopefully my ward family knows me well enough to just call me a nerd and move on, and not be offended by me. I may need to issue a public retraction (if its good enough for John Stewart, its good enough for me).

During Relief Society I had one of those rare experiences where the Spirit constrained me to speak. I've actually made a goal to keep my mouth shut in Relief Society for the month of May; I'm trying to develop listening qualities, and learn to draw on others instead of always talk so much. So when the Spirit directed me to bear my testimony during that portion of our class time yesterday, I was not willing at first to do that. It took a few promptings and my baby falling miraculously to sleep to get me to obey, but I did. I'm glad I did, because I love that feeling that comes when the Spirit gives you words and you get swept away in it. I actually felt myself say at the end, "The Spirit compells me to share that, and I do it in the name..." Such a thing has never been that strong before. I suspect the experience was for me alone. It was about obedience, about feeling the power, and I am remarkably insecure and I really need the validation that comes with feeling the Spirit like that. Maybe I don't totally suck after all.

I am so blessed to have the calling I have, and the oppurtunities I've been given to share the Gospel with my friends and family. Can I take just one second and testify to how vital the scriptures are in our lives? Because of my many oppurtunities, I'm simultaneously studying the Doctrine and Covenants, the Book of Mormon, and the Old Testament. I'm amazed at the ways they all work together, and how it really is one big circle, each book part of the great whole of all God has to share with me. I have learned SO MUCH since last year when I was called to teach. I am so grateful for all I have gained, and all that is yet to be gained from really feasting on the words of Christ. It's worth having a messy house for. :)

More Dancing!

In the continuing series where my family shakes their cute booties, here is Raena. She likes Shakira, but only Spannish Shakira. She doesn't groove at all to the English albums. It's weird but true.

If the video is shaking its because I'm trying to inspire her. Now there's a video to see...

Several new things...

I have so much to tell you! And since I can't get the picture order right, it's going to be just a little random.

First picture: Kory got a big boy bed for his birthday! We got it at IKEA, which was an experience all by itself! IKEA is HUGE! It has a giant show floor on the top floor, and all the pieces to the furniture on the bottom. It's a giant maze of Swedish ingenuity! Kory really likes his new bed, and took to it with almost no trouble at all.

Here is Kory's birthday cake. Morgan was nice enough to point out that someone left a giant number 2 on my counter. (Get it? Yeah, he's funny, but gross.)

I really want my kids to understand why we celebrate things like Easter and Christmas, so in the week before Easter, we did a few activities to help them learn about the last week of Christ's life, including the triumphal entry. I told them the story, showed some pictures, and then we made these palm fronds and sang "Hosana" from the Children's Songbook. They really enjoyed it.


Lastly, TA DA! My new table! Some of you will know that I had uncharitable feelings toward an uppity German woman who beat me to a beautiful dining room set at DI. Well, my feelings were asuaged by this stellar find on Craig's list! It's hardwood, from Pottery Barn and I picked it up for a steal! We love it! It has one additional captain's chair, and you can see the other leaf leaning up against the wall. It will suit our needs for years to come!

I asked Jake to play with his sister so I could finnish dinner. This is the great activity he came up with.

It was a huge hit.

Peas!

Vegetables...not a favorite yet...