Benjamin: When I look at Jesus' picture I feel the Spirit and want to choose the right.
Me: Awe, that's sweet. Is that what one of your teachers told you?
B: No, it just happens to me. Does that happen to you too when you look at Jesus' picture?
Faith, my mom and I threw a baby shower for Charity and baby Nathaniel at our house. 2 weeks later I threw a shower for another friend too. In a month period of time we hosted 5 events at our house! It was a good way to keep it clean.
We had Katheryn with us and I braved my big Smith's shopping trip with 3 kids!
Movies never fail while I'm teaching.
Peter is testing his autonomy and preparing to be 2. If you ask him how old he is he says "2!" and he sure acts like it too. It's been an adventure for all of us, as the scratches all over Benjamin's face can attest!
Family Home Evening with Katheryn
Cello class. Look for the smallest little guy and that's Benjamin! He's on Allegro right now.
I saw advertisements for the circus and was tempted to go because I LOVE the circus. I put it off thinking the boys were too young to appreciate it, but all of a sudden Benjamin started begging to go to the circus. There was a story in Joy School about it, and he didn't even know it was in town. So we bought tickets and had a blast.
The evening soured a bit because Benjamin wanted one of the light up swords that were being sold up and down the aisles. We wouldn't give in ($20 each and we couldn't get Benjamin one and not Peter!). Benjamin was grumpy and distracted by it the whole 2nd half. His favorite parts were the acrobat dressed up as spiderman and the motorcycles - 3 in the enclosed ball whirling all around!
Some sweet older boys helped Benjamin ring the bell on the train outside the circus.
Grandma and Grandpa Bear stayed with us a few days. Then Sybrina stayed with us a couple of days, and Grandma and Bampa were also here! Unfortunately we got the flu and I had 2 family members die, so it was quite the month.
Playing at the park by our house. The weather has been so nice now!
Wearing Daddy's shoes.
Peter spends a ton of time on this reading chair. He prefers to look at books rather than have me read to him. He's very independent. There is usually a huge stack of books at the base of this chair because he throws them down when he's done.
Lincoln logs and legos are current favorites. Peter's job that he takes very seriously is to knock down.
Nana's funeral in Thousand Oaks, CA:
We visited Grandma's grave (at the same cemetery) for the first time since she died about 15 years ago. It was pretty emotional.
Grace and Ryan never got to meet Grandma, but Grace is named after her (Grace Evelyn). All the grandkids were there besides Benjamin and Peter, because they were still fighting the flu and whatever else they had.
We shop at Sprouts every week before Benjamin's cello lesson. He always curls up at the bottom of the cart and sometimes falls asleep.
This is when I realized Peter is ready for 2T clothes!
Sugar coma
Life can be really hard when you think you're 1 and you want to do everything your 4 year old brother does.
Grampy unexpectedly died (a week before Nana). It was so sad, and we were grateful it worked out to go to the funeral. Charity, Faith and I flew to Minnesota. Charity brought 2 week old Nathaniel, and I almost didn't go because I got the flu so suddenly a few hours before I was supposed to leave. I was so sick I couldn't even get out of bed to pack til a few minutes before we left for the airport. It probably made the top 10 miserable experiences of my life. Body aches in the middle seat of an airplane for hours with chills and a high fever isn't fun. I ended up getting my own hotel room and crashing there until the funeral. My temp got up to 104 and if we hadn't just paid 2 previous ER visits I would've probably gone in! I had a window of feeling good for the funeral and visiting with awesome cousins I haven't seen in years before it got bad again for the return flight and the next few days home. It's hard to be sick and have 2 needy kids you've been away from! I'll be glad if I never have to do that again. I was so glad Nathaniel didn't get sick!!
Lamoni didn't have a cakewalk at home either. He was watching Faith and Jason's kids, since Jason had just a new job. Lydia and Jared also had the flu.
