Ben's a first grader!

I can not believe he is already in 1st grade! We went last night to back to school night where he was able to meet his teacher, see his classroom, find his desk, and most importantly where his best bud T was going to sit. He came home very excited (and very nervous) about his big day.

For the life of me I couldn't figure out how to work with the sun this morning...so forgive all the weird shadows and faces. Amy, I needed you this morning!

His super cool blue skull backpack...with matching lunch box. Yes, he picked it out himself and we only had to go shopping 3 times to find the perfect one!

Ben rode his bike today. Doesn't he look so much bigger than last year on his first day of kindergarten? The three boys going to school together

Ben showing off his recent loss. I love this no front teeth smile of his!

Watching him go to his first day of school, lunch in backpack, helmet on, friends together....and not needed mom to walk him in. Have to admit kind of a sad moment...but so very proud of him!

New Experiences

It was a fairly full week last week. The kids got to go on a sleepover with Grandma and Grandpa to the cabin while Katie and I took the activity day girls boating on Utah Lake. Since the last time I was boating on Utah Lake somebody cut their leg and got a NASTY infection I was a little nervous. But nobody got hurt or seems to have brought back any harmful bacteria yet. You can check out the pictures if you have an invite to that blog.

Anyways, later I traded out the boat for the kids and we went to do some errands on the way back home. For the first time in their little lives I took the kids to a Mexican supermarket. (Well, actually second time for Andrew but he can't count yet). Even though it's really not ALL that different in appearance you would have thought the kids had entered a magical fairy tale land. I had started heading for the butcher at the rear of the store when I noticed that Ben and Kallie had disappeared. I wish I'd had a camera to capture what I saw when I turned around. Ben was intently and almost scientifically studying some fruit he had never seen (probably quince but I don't remember now), and Kallie was shuffling her feet, eyes skyward, jaw on the ground. That's because in a lot of latino markets the ceiling is almost entirely constructed out of pinatas. She thought she had died and gone to heaven, it had never even crossed her little mind that so many pinatas could exist all together somewhere. In order to get her to move anywhere else I had to promise her that on her next birthday (she is already planning) she could have one of those pinatas.

The rest of the store captured the kids attention just as well. We bought some meat for dinner and I let the kids gawk at the chilled chicken feet and shrimp and langostinos. Just as we began walking back to the front of the store the manager asked us if we wanted to a sample of carnitas. "What's that?" asked the kids. "It's pork, and it's super tender," I told them. They acted really excited to try them, which I think excited the manager who thought he might end up selling me a couple pounds of pork on top of everything. He gave us a big ol' chunk on a napkin to share. It was excellent! Andrew and I started gobbling it up. The other kids ate their pieces and then Kallie took the lead. "Ewww!" she said. Ben looked at her and then scrunched up his face (these kids are great actors), "it's gross!" he said. The manager looked dejected. I felt bad for the guy and thanked him profusely for the meat.

While driving home Kallie said something about the pork. "Wait, what?!" I exclaimed, "you liked it?!" "Well, yeah," she responded. "But I couldn't like it RIGHT THEN, it looked funny." I couldn't believe it. "Ben, did you like it?" I ventured. "Uh huh," he said. "It was really good, but it was gray and there was no 1-A sauce in that store, so I HAD to say it was gross." (He really does call it 1-A sauce that's not a typo). I couldn't believe it. Those kids.

Later while we were eating dinner Kallie asked me if she would like salad as she got older. "Sure," I said, "people's tastes tend to change a little as they get older." "Great!" she said, "When I'm eight I'm going to get my ears pierced, and get my own library card, and I'm going to try salad!" Awwww, the magic age of eight...

Dual Use Containers and Divorce

Welcome again to our semiregular window into childrearing in our home. The kids have been crazy, and so I will share with you the stories that have most stuck out in my mind. From oldest to youngest:

BEN
We were sitting in church one Sunday listening to a woman introduce herself and her family into the ward. To put it simply the woman is a sobber: the type who can't stand in front of a microphone talking about anything without crying. Well Ben was watching her up there talking about her marriage and sobbing like that and put two and two together. "Did she just get divorced?!" he asked, his tone and face completely conveying the message of "we don't want to listen to this for 20 minutes." All I could think to say was, "No, son, she just appears to be a VERY emotional person."

KALLIE
Poor Kallie. She planned her birthday. Then she replanned it. Later she revised those plans. When she had thought about it she scrapped them and started over. She did this for 8 months. How many of those plans were realized on her actual birthday? 0. It just wasn't her year. On the flip side, she's taken to calling herself gymnastics girl.... who is apparently slightly more coordinated than Kallie is normally... She also loves to apply her own makeup, and then apply a little more, and maybe, um, a little bit more...

ANDREW
Andrew is definitely going to fall upon an idea that will make us all rich someday. In the meantime he keeps experimenting, and has successfully repurposed yogurt cups. After finishing his yogurt this morning, he suddenly had an epiphany. He presented a cup to Katie definitely not filled with yogurt. "What is that?" his mommy dared to ask. "POTTY!" replied the jubilant boy. I don't know how he figured out that doing that would save 5 gallons of water a flush, but hey, he's a bright kid!

You have to break a couple eggs to get the sweet life

A couple of weeks ago we were relaxing at Papa and Grandma's house watching people compress their spines on WipeOut while Andrew played with his two little cousins. The kids were playing quietly (a bad sign) when they suddenly started laughing like a rodeo clown had arrived to entertain them. All of the adults stared each other down daring someone to play investigator. My brother in law broke first. What he found was priceless. The 3 kids had found a 5 dozen egg pile in the fridge and started smashing them on the floor. They had gotten through a dozen when Dan came around the corner and caught all three standing with a precious egg held above their head, ready to release the potential energy created. Unfortunately, this startled one of the kids who slipped, fell, and started crying before a picture could be taken. What a missed opportunity.

Tonight we were reading scriptures when Katie pulled a surprise quiz:
Katie: What was the Savior teaching the people, kids?
Ben: How an American can have the sweet life!

I'm still snorting. (He was wrong).

Ahhhhhhhhhhhh!

Andrew came up with a great idea to beat the heat yesterday. Upon discovering the blast of cold air exiting a floor vent, he stripped off his diaper and squatted over to hang the family gems in the breeze. "OOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHHHH MOM!" he exclaimed. The look on his face said the rest.

Ruining Lives and Talking Racism

It's been a while since I've put up a post. So to let you know that I am still alive, that I do occasionally come home from work, and that I do spend a few precious moments with my children here are a few stories from the past month.

KALLIE
One Saturday it was time to do chores and get some yard work done. Kallie had gotten up and dressed herself very stylishly and then decided it was time to watch cartoons. I decided otherwise.
Me: Kallie, your chore is to go weed the garden with Ben.
Kallie: What?! Daaaaaaaaad, I can't get these clothes dirty!
Me: Go change into work clothes, you need to get going.
Kallie: I don't know what to wear!
Me: Go ask Mom what clothes you can put on to get dirty.

She stomped up the stairs. A few minutes later I went up to find something else when I ran into Katie.
Katie: What did you do to ruin her life?
Me: What?
Katie: Kallie came up here and said, "Dad's ruining my life!"
Me: Oh, dear.

Kallie came down stairs about 10 minutes later in different clothes with tears in her eyes and flung herself on the couch. "Dad, you really hurt my feelings!" she said her voice choked with sobs.
Me: What? How?
Kallie: When you told me to change into work clothes that REALLY hurt my feelings!

Then she burst into tears. I simply went and solicited Katie to handle the situation. I figured that was the safest thing to do. Give the girl an academy award.

BEN
I watched more soccer this world cup than I had ever previously watched, and since Ben thinks he wants to be a soccer player he started paying attention. During the beginning of the Uruguay vs. Ghana match we had a conversation that went like this:
Ben: Dad, how many teams are on the field?
Me: Two.
Ben: But what about the Black guys?
Me: What Black guys? (Not wanting to believe what I think I just heard)
Ben: The BLACK guys.
Me: They're on a team just like the white guys. There are only two teams.
Ben: And then there's the Black guys!
Me: There are only TWO teams red and blue. The black guys are on one of those teams JUST LIKE the white guys. (At this point I'm wondering how many white supremacist friends my kid found in kindergarten last year. He certainly didn't pick up these attitudes from us!)
Ben: Sure but what are the Black guys doing on the field?
Me: (starting to get angry) Ben! The Black guys are allowed to play soccer just like everybody else, they are on the red team!
Ben: But what about THIS GUY (He gets up, goes to the TV and points to the REF. Who while not a black person is dressed completely in BLACK).

I'm not sure I ever stopped laughing long enough to tell him what was going on, but I did feel quite a bit of relief to know I hadn't seriously screwed up my child's view of the world yet.

Andrew continues to destroy anything worth over $50 and constantly steals my car and lab keys.