...specifically the last six months in the Ricks household. I keep a file on my phone of funny things the boys do or thoughts that I have that I might want to include in a blog post. Unfortunately, more often than not these do not get developed into a full blog post due to time and laziness and children. As I read over these little notes, I realized that maybe what I need is a twitter account. These little snippets are like small windows into my life. So, here are my notes that I never published from the recent past. In other words, this is my life in 140 characters or less.* **
*Mostly 140 characters are less
** With some side notes and embellishments
David John: Today we learned about taste bugs.
Me: Taste buds?
David John: No, bugs. They are on your tongue. They taste things for you.
At gymnastics, my child is the one seeing if his head can fit in the center of the octagonal mat while everyone else is doing handstands.
The best way to get a baby to eat something is to first throw it in the garbage. Then, he will dig it out and eat it.
"Mom, I will take this chapstick to gymnastics in case I run out of that smell."
Benjamin: I need a thing!
Me: What thing?
Benjamin: The thing I can't find! The thing for the other things!*
*It turns out he wanted a plastic container for his legos. He was super frustrated that I didn't immediately know what he was talking about.
Being a good wife means I can hear what my husband says, replace all the nouns and verbs and figure out what he actually means.
"One little mommy jumping on the bed, she fell off and bumped her head! Uh oh! That was my only mommy! I mean, that was my last mommy."*
*What? I had predecessors?!?!? How long did they last?
Me: Okay guys, we have time to do a quiet activity. (All the boys go down to the basement.)
Gabe: Hey guys, who wants to rock out in a band?!?
The only thing worse that running late with children is being early.
A truck in the parking lot suddenly shot backwards and almost killed us, but we're okay. As my child said, "At least we didn't catch any diseases."
My wrist is now too fat for candy bracelets. I think that's a sign. Maybe I should stop eating them?
My purse was lost. When I found it I was worried that someone may stolen my credit cards but then I realized that it would be impossible to find a credit card in the depths of my purse. Now where are my keys?
We gave our boys cards with pictures of temples to look at during the sacrament at church. We hoped it would help them be reverent. Instead, they made up a game called "Castle of Doom" complete with loud sound effects.
Overheard: "We have all the hot dogs in the world, so no one can defeat us! Bwahahaha!"
"It smells like barf..... or cheesecake."
"Are these balloons filled with floatium?"
My son is singing a self-composed musical about a violent triangle between Spider Man, an astronaut, and a soldier.
While cleaning out the couch cushions we discovered year-old raisins and pieces of pasta. Tobias wanted to eat them.
Me: No, Tobias. That is yucky.
Tobias: No yucky! Bite.
He ate them anyway.
"Um, mom? Should we be getting a new baby? Our one makes a lot of messes."
Monday, April 27, 2015
Monday, April 20, 2015
Benjamin's Fourth
Our Jami turned four on April 1st. When he was born on April Fools Day we knew we were in for some trouble and he has definitely been a challenge but he's a cute challenge.
On his birthday, we made monster birthday cupcakes courtesy of a kit that Grandma sent.
He also opened many birthday presents from friends and family. He's a fun kid to give things to because he's so joyful in his reactions.
Grandma sent some party favors which included slinkys for everyone. It turns out that slinkys make for really fun pictures. Certainly the boys had a blast.
Since it was his birthday, we even let him take a few pictures so that Marc and I could have a photo with our party hats on. Not too shabby buddy.
Later in the month, Benjamin had his birthday walk at his Montessori preschool. It's a very cute little ceremony where the child lays out a sunshine and the months of the year on the floor and then the child walks around the sun for each year of his life and the teacher reads something about the child about each year.
At the end, he gets to blow out a candle and serve a special snack to the class.
Benjamin loves preschool and seems to be well-loved by his classmates. The only complaint from the teachers is that he is a bit absent minded. Since I teach music at the school, I often just take Benjamin home with me when I'm done instead of waiting for the end of the day. One time, I timed how long it took for him to get his shoes on after I asked him to get ready to go. After twelve minutes, I had to interrupt a dramatic play happening between his two shoes and his mittens so that we could go home. Benjamin can entertain himself for hours with just about any object and his imagination.
Benjamin is a hugger. He lives for hugs and gives them out generously. He is well-loved by teachers, friends and grocery store clerks alike. People often say, "Thank you! You just made my day!" and he lights up. I guess that is the upside of him being very unaware of personal space, it makes him less inhibited to show his affection. Of course, it also means that sometimes he is a little too up close and personal when he's talking to you.
Another specialty of four-year-old Benjamin is the question, "Right Mama?" He can tack on this question to the end of any sentence. Some days, I think every sentence ends with "right Mama?"
"My name's Benjamin, right Mama?" "And I'm a boy, right Mama?" "And Tobias is my brother, right mama?"
Sometimes my brain shuts off when too many "Right Mama?"s are asked I start automatically replying, "mmmhmm". This lands me in trouble when I snap back to reality and process everything I just agreed to for the last five minutes. The most memorable of these half-stupor conversations was in the van with Benjamin and Tobias driving to the rec center. Benjamin had asked several questions that were obvious like, "Our van is blue, right Mama?" "There's a fly in the van, right Mama?" "We don't like flies, right Mama?" That's about when I tuned out, which is too bad because things got interesting. "And flies can eat a whole car, right Mama?" "Mmmhmm." "They just take one bite at a time, right Mama?" "Mmmhmm." "They take one bite, right Mama?" "Mmmhmm." "And then another bite, right Mama?" "Yes, honey." "And then another bite, right Mama?" "What?" "And then gulp! The car is all gone! Right, Mama?" "Wait! No, no no no. Flies do not eat cars." I looked back to see Tobias with a very concerned face.
Marc has been working with Benjamin on trying to reduce the number of "Right Mama?"s he uses. When Marc is home, sometimes Benjamin gets into a "Right Dada?" conversation but not nearly as often. He said a very self-aware thing when Marc was talking to him about not saying it so much. Benjamin explained, "I think when I say 'Right Mama?' it means I need attention." Roger that little buddy. I'll try to be more attentive. You deserve it. You're cute and smart and creative and I love you. Happy Birthday Benjamin.
On his birthday, we made monster birthday cupcakes courtesy of a kit that Grandma sent.
He also opened many birthday presents from friends and family. He's a fun kid to give things to because he's so joyful in his reactions.
Grandma sent some party favors which included slinkys for everyone. It turns out that slinkys make for really fun pictures. Certainly the boys had a blast.
 |
| Anyone else think these guys look like they should be in Westside Story? Totally Jets. |
 |
| Watch out birthday boy! |
Later in the month, Benjamin had his birthday walk at his Montessori preschool. It's a very cute little ceremony where the child lays out a sunshine and the months of the year on the floor and then the child walks around the sun for each year of his life and the teacher reads something about the child about each year.
At the end, he gets to blow out a candle and serve a special snack to the class.
 |
| I love the facial expressions of the kids in the background. Blowing out that candle is dangerous and exciting or totally boring depending on who you look at. |
Benjamin is a hugger. He lives for hugs and gives them out generously. He is well-loved by teachers, friends and grocery store clerks alike. People often say, "Thank you! You just made my day!" and he lights up. I guess that is the upside of him being very unaware of personal space, it makes him less inhibited to show his affection. Of course, it also means that sometimes he is a little too up close and personal when he's talking to you.
Another specialty of four-year-old Benjamin is the question, "Right Mama?" He can tack on this question to the end of any sentence. Some days, I think every sentence ends with "right Mama?"
"My name's Benjamin, right Mama?" "And I'm a boy, right Mama?" "And Tobias is my brother, right mama?"
Sometimes my brain shuts off when too many "Right Mama?"s are asked I start automatically replying, "mmmhmm". This lands me in trouble when I snap back to reality and process everything I just agreed to for the last five minutes. The most memorable of these half-stupor conversations was in the van with Benjamin and Tobias driving to the rec center. Benjamin had asked several questions that were obvious like, "Our van is blue, right Mama?" "There's a fly in the van, right Mama?" "We don't like flies, right Mama?" That's about when I tuned out, which is too bad because things got interesting. "And flies can eat a whole car, right Mama?" "Mmmhmm." "They just take one bite at a time, right Mama?" "Mmmhmm." "They take one bite, right Mama?" "Mmmhmm." "And then another bite, right Mama?" "Yes, honey." "And then another bite, right Mama?" "What?" "And then gulp! The car is all gone! Right, Mama?" "Wait! No, no no no. Flies do not eat cars." I looked back to see Tobias with a very concerned face.
Marc has been working with Benjamin on trying to reduce the number of "Right Mama?"s he uses. When Marc is home, sometimes Benjamin gets into a "Right Dada?" conversation but not nearly as often. He said a very self-aware thing when Marc was talking to him about not saying it so much. Benjamin explained, "I think when I say 'Right Mama?' it means I need attention." Roger that little buddy. I'll try to be more attentive. You deserve it. You're cute and smart and creative and I love you. Happy Birthday Benjamin.
A Room of Their Own
I did something crazy. I let my 7-year-olds paint their room, or at least one wall of it. I thought if they could make the space truly their own then they might be more inclined to keep it clean. That part hasn't panned out just yet, but I think it actually turned out pretty cool. Of course, this means we can't move now. Ever. I'm thinking the mural does not have, um, resale appeal.
First, I had the boys do some concept art. They decided on a space theme. Elijah drew some aliens and Gabriel drew an adorable rocket.
I took these pictures and copied them as accurately as possible but at a much larger scale onto their wall. I was not smart during this process and did not take mid-project pictures but I'm sure you can imagine the hours and stress involved in painting a wall with an army of small children as helpers. Anyway, this is the finished project:
Pretty cool right? I am feeling like an awesome mom right now. The twins chose all of the colors used in painting. Gabriel is calling his rocket, "The Space Carrot". Edging that black in around all of those bright colors was tough going. The Earth and moon are my part of the project made out of corkboard that I spray painted. Now they have a place to hang up their artwork when the fridge is too full.
The boys loved doing this and now they want to paint their whole desk area with a jungle theme. While I'm down with that in theory, it might take me a few lightyears to recover from this experience before I'm willing to do any child-assisted painting again. For now, they can enjoy "spacing out" in their room and I can give myself a pat on the back every time I see our handiwork. It's out of this world.
First, I had the boys do some concept art. They decided on a space theme. Elijah drew some aliens and Gabriel drew an adorable rocket.
I took these pictures and copied them as accurately as possible but at a much larger scale onto their wall. I was not smart during this process and did not take mid-project pictures but I'm sure you can imagine the hours and stress involved in painting a wall with an army of small children as helpers. Anyway, this is the finished project:
The boys loved doing this and now they want to paint their whole desk area with a jungle theme. While I'm down with that in theory, it might take me a few lightyears to recover from this experience before I'm willing to do any child-assisted painting again. For now, they can enjoy "spacing out" in their room and I can give myself a pat on the back every time I see our handiwork. It's out of this world.
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