Togetherness

Bennett and Harrison were working together to spread blankets on the chair, creating a throne to sit upon.

Me: Harrison and Bennett, I am so proud of the way you are working together.

Bennett: Thanks!

Harrison: Yeah. Well, I mean, I have had some stress cause he is 4 and all.

Bedtime

Two four year olds in a double bed. Two six year olds on the floor. One room... One dad... These are the minutes of their night.

8:15pm - in bed.

8:30 pm - First Kaitlyn gets up: "I need to go potty." Chris follows her in... In a whisper: "Can I have some privacy?"

Back to bed.

8:40pm - Second Harrison & James get up: Harrison - "I need to check my chore chart." This is random and odd. My opinion is that he is showing off! :)

Back to bed...

8:55pm - Third they ALL get up: James - "Bennett is flashing his flashlight in my eyes." Harrison: "Bennett is shining the flashlight in my eyes, too." Kaitlyn - "Uncle Chris, Bennett is shining the flashlight in my eyes, too. Chris: "Bennett?" Bennett: "Sorry..." Flashlight confiscated.

Back to bed...

9:10pm - Fourth Bennett gets up: "Kaitlyn is touching me."

Off to Mom and Dad's bed. "Is there music in here?" Smooth Jazz it is...

9:15pm - Fifth Bennett gets up: "The tv is moving." (The screen saver had come on...)

Back in bed...

9:30pm - SLEEP WINS

10:30pm - Bennett placed back into original bed.

10:35pm - Mom gets home, blogs and happily goes to bed knowing that she didn't have to deal with any of this!!!!

Favorite moments

Our Yellowstone vacation was wonderful. The campfires, s'mores, driving and amazing sights are forever etched in our memories. I picked my two favorite memories to share.

Walk with Harrison - Harrison and I took a walk, just the two of us, down to the lake and around to the marina. Thoughts on tracks and scat were discussed and mosquitos were run from. But I can't think of anything better than taking a walk with my 6 year old and him wanting to hold my hand.

On the "beach" with Bennett - Bennett had a long day and didn't want to 'take another hike!' I had a 'yes' moment and told him "OK, let's stay behind." Harrison said I missed the "AMAZING Mustard Geyser", but instead I got a creek-side comedy 1/2 hour. Bennett and I went to the van and got the picnic blanket and the bag of Lucky Charms. We set up our mini-picnic right next to a wonderful stream and I enjoyed the immense imagination that only my 4 year old can have. Rocks turned into geyser-making machines and Lucky Charms turned into bear traps. If I could bottle his imagination and 'Charm' I would be in a millionaire in an instant.

Yellowstone is a magical place. And I am one lucky mom.

Word

In the car on the way back from the zoo Harrison saw a car having some trouble.

Harrison: Mom, that car just drive over... that car drived over... that curb... the car back there druved over the curb... he drived...

Me: We say drove when it is the past tense. The car drove over the curb.

Harrison: But we say passed, with an 'ed' when it's the past tense of pass.

Me: I know. There are different rules for different types of words.

Harrison: Yeah, like rhyming words sound a like but can be spelled completely different?! Like caught and thought! That is an 'a' and an 'o.' Totally different!

Me: Did you know that the past tense of catch is caught?

Harrison: WOW! (pause of awe and astonishment) Words are mind-blowing.

Amazing

Yesterday at lunch we were listening to a cd I had gotten from the library. A song by Bruno Mars called "Just the Way You Are" came on and Miles "Music Lover" Lorentzen started singing along. He then said that this was his favorite song. And it was his mommy's favorite song because "She loves it when my daddy and I sing it to her because she is amazing. She's SO amazing."

My heart is melting!!! Then Caden says "My mommy is amazing too! I love her!" Tears are coming to my eyes. These children are too cute! Miles responds with "I love my mommy" and continues singing along with Bruno Mars.

As I gaze at these wonderful children that I care for every day I look longingly at my own child. What precious words of love will he have? "MOM! I NEED more ketchup!"

Careful

Bennett: We have to be careful with Graysie. (Why you ask is he calling him Graysie. Good question.)

Caden: I know. Cause if you hit him in the face he will go 'Waaaaaaaaaaaa. Waaaaaaa.'

This informational tidbit brought to you by the smart boys.

Manipulation 6 year old style

So yesterday Harrison had a bit of a meltdown. There is a back story to why he melted down but it isn't important to the humorous part of the story.

Harrison had been yelling at me for awhile. In recent weeks we have taken on a new and fairly effective strategy of not listening or responding when Harrison is yelling at us. He knows this, but we remind him as we feel is necessary. When he started on this yelling crusade I politely reminded him that I was not ignoring him, I was just choosing not to listen until he started talking to be in a calm, normal voice. 20 minutes later...

I am sitting in the office and Harrison is yelling. I am not looking at him.

"Why aren't you listening to me? MOM!!! MOM!!! Why!!! Why aren't you listening to me?!?!

"I am going to remind you once more that I am not going to listen to you unless you are not yelling."

Harrison is suddenly silent. With great difficulty he says through a controlled sob: "I'm not yelling now."

As I turn to look at him I say: "O.K. Harrison what do you want to say?"

He gets about 4 inches from my face and yells: "BUT I'M YELLING NOW!!!!"

At this point I came very close to losing my cool. But not in a 'I'm going to rip your head off' kind of way. It is in a 'I don't know if I can keep from laughing in your face' kind of way. Who does this child think he is and where does he get this stuff!?!?!

Sharing

While kissing on Harrison this afternoon he started pulling away from me.

Me: Hey - don't pull away. I am the only girl that gets to kiss you!!

Harrison: No your not!

Me: What other girls have been kissing on you?!?!

Harrison: My grandmas. (shy smile)

I don't always share well...

Annie, Annie, mad at Mommy

This morning during reading time, Bennett selected "llama, llama, mad at mama" by Anna Dewdney. We have read other Llama, llama books, but never this one. Before we started I asked everyone if they had been mad at their mama's before.

Bennett: "No. (smiles and gives me a kiss!)

Miles: (sheepish smile) "Nooooooo!"

Caden: "Never!!!"

Annabelle: She gets the biggest smile she has had all morning and shakes her head vigorously up and down!!! I guess she's the only truth-teller I had today. :)

Random Days

Random days and random pictures.

Celebrating Dr. Suess's birthday and huddling around the kid computer.

What did you say? Maddie is not a horse? Oh, I didn't know...

"We're the three best friends that anyone could have!" (BTW... Miles is shouting FRIENDS!!!!)

Bennett and his babies. They don't look like willing participants in this photo op!

I'm surprised that we don't have cases of mono going on in my house cause there is a lot of kissing going on!!! :)

Caden and Bennett LOVE hidden picture puzzles. This was on a Friday afternoon when Miles had gone home early so I decided to try and take a nap on his bed. Within 10 minutes, Bennett and Caden decided that their quiet time was over and they would join me. Eventually there was not enough room for me!

Bennett often leads the reading after lunch. Sometimes I wonder if he has some sort of crazy memory because he can often repeat books word-for-word after we read them. He really pays attention!!! :)

I am doing everything I can to get Harrison to love reading as much as I do without making it seem like reading is a punishment so I was THRILLED when Bennett showed me the picture that he had just taken! He is a great reader, but he seems to think that he should only read at school! I checked out some Young Cam Jansen books at the library and that is what he is reading here. He likes the mystery of finding out what is going to happen next!