A funny thing Jacob said......

Last night for FHE we had a lesson on personal prayer. Since Jacob just turned 7 (and will be getting baptized in a year), I have been trying to get him into the habit of saying his personal prayers at night before bed. For our lesson last night I had printed off an activity that would help to encourage the kids to pray morning and night each day. The activity won't start until October 1st but we hung them up in their room for them to start on in a couple of days. Each time that they pray they get to color a portion of the picture on their chart. By the end of the month they will have it filled out for however many days/ times they remembered to pray.

This morning I was walking Jacob down to the bus and I asked him if he had remembered to pray. He said that he had and that he couldn't wait until tomorrow (October 1st) when he could start coloring parts of his picture chart. Then he said, "I started praying today so that I will already be addicted to doing it ."
When he said that I could hardly stop smiling, he is just so cute! I then took a moment to explain to him the difference between a habit and an addiction.
It's so funny the lessons we find ourselves teaching, isn't it? I was smiling the whole walk home.

Ross Lake Canoe Trip

Aaron took the priests from his quorum on their Scouting high adventure up to Ross Lake for a week long canoe trip. He left on Monday and came back on Saturday. While he was gone I spent my time canning peaches, making jam and cleaning out the basement, (which hadn't been done since we moved here almost a year ago) . When he came back that Saturday he was super tan, happy to be home, and raving about how beautiful this place was. We're thinking of going back up there next summer with just the two of us. He kept going on and on about how beautiful and peaceful it was. I can't wait after seeing the pictures, they were incredible.

Benjamin's 4th Birthday

Benjamin turned 4 on Tuesday, August 5th. Each year we let the kids pick what kind of birthday party they want to have and Ben wanted a Speed Racer Party. They haven't seen the movie (it's a little too mature for their age yet) but they have watched some old episodes of the speed racer cartoon and they loved it. All of the boys are really into cars, race cars and anything that is fast so it was fun for Jacob and Joseph too. I couldn't find a Speed Racer Pinata so I bought a hot wheels one and disassembled it, reconstructed it and painted it to look like the Mach 5 car from the show. I told Aaron (after spending probably 3 hours over the course of a couple days) that one way to feel like you've completely misused your time is to spend 3 hours on something that will intentionally be destroyed in about 3 minutes. Oh well, he loved it and the expression on his face when he saw it was payment enough.




We had a family party on his birthday with just us and Papa and Grandma and then on Saturday we had a little party where he invited some friends. The only time we could do it on Saturday though was in the evening because of soccer games in the morning and the ward picnic in the afternoon so we kind of made it a birthday party/ BBQ with the families of the friends. It was a lot of fun despite the fact that it decided to downpour that afternoon. It did stop long enough to do the pinata outside though and Benjamin had a good time with his friends.

Benjamin has grown up so much this year. He has so many unique personality traits that Aaron and I have come to love and adore. I apologize in advance for being so wordy but I don't ever want to forget these cute things that he does. Here are just a few of them.....

1) Benjamin is a very "serious" little boy and although he can be silly and fun loving he tends to be a very sober child with very serious moods and expressions. He doesn't liked to be toyed with and if he even senses a hint of sarcasm when you ask him a question (especially if it's an easy one), he will answer respectfully but in a slightly annoyed tone, with a simple "Yes." He will have no expression on his face almost as if he's irritated that his intelligence is being questioned with these ridiculous questions. It is so cute.

2) Benjamin has an adorable scratchy "little man" voice that will melt anyone's heart. The reason it's scratchy, you ask? Well, I can't be certain but it may have something to do with the fact that he growls with his throat when he gets mad or upset and when I try to imitate his growl it almost makes me go hoarse. This is another funny thing that he does that is both cute and very irritating. Instead of getting mad at his brothers in a normal way by saying ("knock it off", or "give it back to me") he will simply growl this deep growl that sounds like a race car revving it's engine.

3) Benjamin is a little snuggle bug and we love it! He is so perfectly plump and has the most squeezable body. He sleeps on the top bunk and every night when we tuck him in he will lean over the railing and give us the tightest squeeze around our neck and plant a 5 second mushy kiss right on our smiling lips.

4) We often will catch Benjamin singing primary songs on his own and role playing with his race cars when he thinks no one is paying attention. As soon as we comment on how cute he is or how nicely he is singing he gets this bashful little expression on his face and immediately stops because he is embarrassed. He also does this cute little head shake when he is embarrassed. Instead of answering with a "yes" or "no" he will just shake his little head back and forth without saying a word.

5) Benjamin is a tough little guy. What once looked like a chubby cherub-like little boy is now a solid little ball of muscle. I guess he has to be tough to be the youngest of 3 boys but I am not kidding when I say this kid is strong. He's like a little bull; short and stout. I'm sure it won't be long before he's taking down his big brothers in a wrestling match- seriously. He also has recently acquired the nickname of "Big Arm Ben" because he can throw a ball so far. During baseball season Aaron would often practice playing catch and hitting the ball off the tee with Jacob and Joseph. Benjamin soon wanted to be in on the action too (even though he was too young to play on a team). Aaron came inside one day and told me to come out and watch this boy throw. I am not kidding when I say that when he was playing catch with Aaron he consistently threw the ball 30 feet with perfect aim right into Aaron's glove, and that was when he was only 3 1/2. Crazy!

6) Another thing about Benjamin is that he is a very hearty eater. He eats more than his older brothers do at breakfast and lunch. Lately he has been saying he's still hungry after eating an entire PB sandwich. And I'm not talking about a sandwich on soft white bread. I only buy the multi-grain or 100% stone ground wheat bread that is super filling. The other day he downed 2 of those sandwiches for lunch. However he has absolutely no appetite for dinner. Every night no matter what I make he turns up his nose at what we're having and chooses to not eat his dinner knowing full well he won't get a bite or drink of anything until breakfast the next morning. Sometimes we will try to bribe him by saying he has to finish his dinner if he wants to have a dessert we're planning to have later but nothing works. He almost always forfeits whatever we're having for dessert (which is so unreal to me) and chooses to wait until breakfast.

7) One more cute thing about Benjamin that I find so humorous is how grown up he thinks he is. All of my boys have gone through phases as far as what their favorite TV shows are. Usually their first favorites are Blues Clues and Dora (2-3yrs old), then it was the , Wonder Pets and Little Einsteins (3-4 yrs), then it was Backyardagins and Curious George (4-5 yrs), now they're into Arthur and Cyberchase. Keep in mind however that my oldest is 6 almost 7. So what Jacob was watching when he was Ben's age was Wonder pets and Little Einsteins. But if you tried to put one of those shows on for him today he would be completely insulted and would refuse to watch it. Why you ask? Well, his response would be ......"because it's a baby show." So even though he just turned 4 he has the mind and maturity of a 6 year old (or so he thinks).


So my beautiful Ben is growing up and I am starting to get a little sad that he is leaving his baby years behind and entering the age of boyhood. He is such a sweet little boy and I am so lucky to be his Mommy!

Happy Birthday Ben.

A little behind.....but trying to catch up.

Okay, So I'm a little behind on my blogging but since I'm using this blog as a way to journal our family's history I can't leave out the important stuff no matter how busy I am. I found a great website that publishes your blog posts with the pictures. They put the posts into a sort of photo memory book. http://www.blurb.com/

I hope to have many volumes of "These Small Hours" (one for each year of our families life). I hope that the many hours put into these posts will one day result in warm and happy memories for me and my family. I imagine my grandchildren sitting on the couch looking at old memory books and reading about what their Dad did on his 5th birthday or first day of school.....all the things that would be lost with time unless preserved. I'm so grateful for modern technology and how it helps us to preserve the small hours and precious moments of our lives.

Posts soon to come....

Ben's Birthday
Camping Trips from this summer
Summertime Memories
Swingset
Jacob's Birthday

Girls Weekend!!!

I sent out an e-mail this morning to everyone in my address book...but for those of you who I don't have current e-mails for I'm posting the information here as well. Please pass this information on to everyone. If you are reading this blog and now live or ever did live in Port Orchard please consider yourself invited. (: I don't want to leave anyone out- it's going to be a blast!

Hello Ladies,

We are tentatively planning a Girls running/ scrap booking / general conference weekend in Leavenworth for the weekend of October 3-5th. We would leave on Friday afternoon and return Sunday evening. Leavenworth is having its Oktoberfest activities and they’ll be holding their annual half marathon and marathon on Saturday. Some of us are already signed up to participate in that but for those of you who aren’t you can just go shopping in Leavenworth while the rest of us are running. (:

This weekend will be full of great food (we’ll come up with food assignments when we have a list of whose coming), great conversation and as always a much needed break from the day-to-day. The cost will be $25 per person plus the cost of gas. We had one of these a few years ago and it was SO wonderful! I got to watch all 4 sessions of conference and enjoy some time away from the house and kids. This is also one of those opportunities for your husband to have some fun “Dad time” with the kids (and appreciate a little more what we go through every day). It will be good for him and your marriage, Trust me!!!

Please Reply with a “Yes” or a “Maybe” if you would like to come so that we can start making tentative lists.

Thanks,

Andria Laws

P.S. I am not in the Sinclair View ward anymore so if I am leaving out anyone who you think would like to come please forward to them. Those of you out-of-towners and out of staters are welcome to make the trek too. The house has room for 15 guests but can sleep more if someone wants to sleep in a sleeping bag on the floor. Whoever replies with a “Yes” first gets their name on the list. Don’t let it fill up without you!

Back to School

Pictures from this morning's big send- off
to ALL DAY First Grade!

First Grade

(Our first day of school tradition is to take your picture on this rock before catching the bus).
Here is his Kindergarten picture from last year, He looks so young and it's only been a year......

Kindergarten

Last year Joseph was crying when Jacob got on the bus for Kindergarten. This year was easier for him since he'll be starting Kindergarten on Monday.

My Big little boy. I'm going to miss him during the day....I think this may be harder on me than it will be on him. He doesn't get home until 4:20pm. It's going to be a long day!!! ):

Waiting for the bus....

It's here!.....

In Class.... I was a little annoyed last night at the open house when the teacher wanted the parents to bring the supplies with them to school when the kids arrived (instead of just having the kids bring their supplies on the first day). They added a bunch of stuff to the supply list that was not on the original school list so I ended up having to go shopping again last night after the open house and bring them in this morning to his class to drop off the extra things. I know I'm just whining but it's such a pain to have to pack up all the kids and hand carry them instead of just letting Jacob take it in this morning himself.


KINDERGARTEN FOR JOJO


Kindergarten started a week after regular school. Joseph is in Mrs. Warmedahl's class who is absolutely wonderful (Jacob had her last year). He has afternoon Kindergarten which works better for him because he is my little sleeper in the mornings and waking up early and getting off to school by 8am might make for some grumpy mornings.
Here is JoJo's Kindergarten picture taken on our famous rock.

Waiting for the bus to come.....




First time riding the bus.......



Joseph absolutely LOVES school. He gets so excited when I tell him it's time to go get dressed. He usually plays outside in the mornings with Ben and Lauren and then I'll call him in around 11:30 to eat lunch and change for school. He catches the bus at 12:30 and rides home with Jacob in the afternoon. Every day when he gets home he is just bubbling with details from his day. We are usually half way up the driveway (it's a long driveway) before he runs out of things to say. This is very new for me as Jacob was always (and still is) pretty non-specific when I ask him about his day. It has been so enjoyable to hear all the little things he shares about his adventures in Kindergarten.