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.

Bebe comes to town

Bebe came for a short visit on his way back to California from visiting Mike and Brittany in Idaho. The kids were so excited to have him here! We took him over to BYU to walk around and go bowling one day. The kids found this cart and climbed right in and made themselves at home.

Then we made our way down to the bowling alley. We attempted M&M bowling. Andrew just ate the M&M's, Ben made it about halfway, and my diligent Kallie played all 10 rounds faithfully drawing her M&M. In the end Bebe took the game, with Christopher a close 2nd by two points!

Andrew was in charge of making sure the bowling balls actually came back thru the shoot. I was in charge of making sure he went home with all 10 fingers still attached.

The also had a little arcade the kids played on. Good thing they think the intro car race video is them actually racing.

Some action shots.

My signature picture

Whata girl!

This was taken right after Andrew ran down the lane in an attempt to get his ball back. Christopher had to run after him..trying not to slip..and telling Ben to stay back..with Ben yelling, "I'll help you Dad! I'll get him for ya!!!"

Gotta love self timer group shots!

Thanks Dad for coming to see us ! We love when you come and hate when you leave! Come back soon! Love ya!

Ben's shadow

Andrew loves Ben. He loves to follow him, copy him, wear his clothes, backpack...pretty much do anything Ben does. Chris has been working on the sprinklers and letting Ben turn them on and off. Since he now knows how to do that, I let him "water the grass" for me every now and then to get him outside. Andrew is his shadow and therefore also has taken a keen interest in the sprinklers. I love these shots I got of them the other day. What cute little boys I have!

Spring Sports

Since we (the kids and I) will be around for most of the summer, I decided to finally sign them up for spring sports. Ben is doing t-ball, and Kallie did soccer. They loved them....and now I'm kicking myself for all the years I've missed :) Cute pictures though huh?

I'm not really sure Kallie's heart is in soccer. Her favorite part was seeing her friends and trying to hold the coach's hand. Her least favorite part was running. The reason she went every week? The TREAT of course :) I have to admit, she was the cutest little soccer player out there to watch!

When mom's away....

interesting things happen at church. I have been battling a fun little head cold this week, and even though I am feeling a lot better, I decided it would be smart to stay home from church today. Christopher (the brave man that he is) decided to take all three kids to church. They are normally really good so I wasn't too worried about him. :) This morning, Chris forgot to take the beloved "bink" to church. Since he was there with the three kids he didn't think it wise to leave church to come home and get one. So, he decided Andrew really needed to get off the bink anyways, so why not start now! (I know, not the brightest...love you hun ;)

Apparently Andrew found his voice...during the last talk. Chris is pretty sure no one on their side of the chapel heard anything of the last talk. During prayer Chris thought it would be safe to close his eyes. When the prayer was over he didn't see Andrew on the bench, under the bench, down the aisle...and was really quite baffled as to where this little 2 year old could disappear to during a pretty short prayer. Luckily the girls in back of our bench spotted him....up on the stand, by the bishop, waving as if he had just won a gold medal. So proud of himself!

Lesson of this tale? You can't take your eyes off this kid for even one second (or one short prayer!)

Even a little can make a BIG difference

Many of you know my good friend and neighbor Julie.  Her brother Kerry was in a horrible ATV accident that has left him a paraplegic.  He is the father of 4, 2 of which are on missions.  If you want to help click on the button on the right to go to a blog that is hosting the online sale with all proceeds going to Kerry's family.  They are also holding a yard/bake sale on the 1st of May.  Go to Julie's blog for details on that.  Thanks for anything you can do :)