Thanks, Ms. Jackie

Dear Ms. Jackie,

I loved being in your class this year. I loved dressing up in the fairy costumes. I loved it when my mom got to come to class with me. My favorite day was hibernation day. I loved going on the field trips. Thanks for helping me learn and taking care of me. I can't wait to be in the four-year-old class.

But mostly I can't wait for summer to be here. Please don't forget about us, summer.

Love,

Annie Rose

Prone to Wander

wan-der-lust \ n : strong longing for or impulse toward wandering

Our little Benaboo is a wanderer. He shuffles like a little old man all over our house and yard. We find him in such strange places. Daisy's kennel. Up the stairs to the fort. Playing in the toilet. Eating dirt in the garden. Turning on the outside faucet.
I'd go on, but I don't want you to think we are bad parents that can't keep track of our baby.

So if you should happen upon an adorable little one-year-old with blonde hair and dazzling dimples, please return him as quickly as possible. We really love that little tyke.

Book Worm

Cole likes to read. A lot. So when they announced at his school that one of his favorite authors, Brandon Mull, was signing books at a store near our house (tangent - there are no good bookstores near our house - we might be the only people in our city who read), he begged to go. So we went down and were one of the first in line to have him sign Cole's favorite Fablehaven book, Secrets of the Dragon Sanctuary.

I read the first four Fablehaven books to Cole and started the fifth one with him, but after one chapter, he decided to just read ahead a bit. That was less than two weeks ago. Last night, he finished it. It had 604 pages. I'm pretty sure I was in high school before I read a book that long - and I loved reading when I was a kid. Unfortunately for me, I'm still only on page 175 and Cole was so excited about the book that he has told me pretty much the entire storyline, even though I kept telling him to stop. He just couldn't help himself because it was so exciting.

The thing that really made me chuckle is that last night he finished the book and this morning I had him quickly do his kindergarten homework because we forgot last night. He read the following words for me:

Hop
Cap
Tip

He also got to name a few letters and tell me the sounds they make. He was so annoyed.

Next up: Harry Potter part 5. Luckily I've already finished that one so he can't ruin the ending for me.

We love you, Coley. Keep up the good reading.

Mother Dear

Sometimes kids promise themselves they will never be like their parents when they grow up. I don't remember ever feeling like that when I was a kid (except for maybe about that whole curfew issue we had). Now that I'm a mom, there is nothing I want more than to be like my own. My kids would be so lucky if I could only be that good.

There are lots of ways I want to be like her. One has really struck me lately. I never remember her acting like life was hard. She never seemed too busy. She never seemed too tired. She never seemed too stressed. Looking back and knowing what I know now that I'm a mom, I'm pretty sure she was faking it some of the time. She did a good job. I hope I can do the same for my kids so they don't grow up and think that mom was running around with her head cut off half the time.

I love you, Mom. Happy Mother's Day.

A few of his favorite things

Ben is not at all fond of toys. There are pretty much no toys that hold his interest for longer than a minute or two. But that doesn't mean he sits around doing nothing all day. He is one busy little guy, just ask the Relief Society sisters.

So what does he do?

Well.

He loves the toilet and leaves us treasures inside the bowl frequently. He also really likes to find the toilet brush and clean the toilet for us. They are sparkling these days.

He likes electric outlets and is always searching for things to try and plug into them. He figured out months ago how to pull the covers out, so they are all taped shut. Sometimes we have to actually plug stuff in though, which is a problem because he seems to always notice this and comes running to try and pull it out and plug his own thing in.

His favorite thing to try and plug in is the waffle iron. He drags it all over the house looking for an available plug for it. I figure that after almost ten years of marriage, it's okay if the waffle iron breaks and we have to spring for a new one.

Looking for the waffle iron.

Found it!

He loves to eat strange things - chalk is his favorite with crayons a close second. He also recently discovered dog food and the pea gravel on the path at the side of our house.

He loves any kind of machine and tries to figure them out. His favorite is the vacuum and he laughs so excitedly whenever I open the closet where it is stored. Unfortunately, we also keep our jackets in that closet so when I open it, sometimes it isn't to get out the vacuum and he is very disappointed. At my cousin's baby shower, one of my cousins was vacuuming up afterwards and Ben followed him all around the room.

He also really loves tools of any kind. Remember that TV show Home Improvement? He totally does a Tim Taylor growl when he plays with tools. I don't know where he learned that. Whenever Floyd or I are working on a project, he is right there grabbing the tools to take a turn. You can imagine how helpful this is.

Notice how safe all these favorites are? He keeps us on our toes. We wouldn't have it any other way. Except maybe at church.

Playing with Petunia

I tried not to blog about this. Because let's face it, some of the funny things kids do are mostly just funny to the mom and dad. But my little Anners is cracking me up these days. Also driving me crazy now and again with "loving" her little brother, but that's another story. Back to the funny part. She is way into pretend play. Last week, I went to pick Cole up from school wearing a fancy dress three times because the two of us were in the midst of playing princesses. She picks my clothes out for me almost every day and guess what? They are pink every.single.time. And not just a little pink. Pink with pink with more pink. I look really awesome these days.

We didn't spend much time watching the royal wedding, but she somehow picked right up on that theme and the two of us keep going to royal balls so we can find handsome princes to marry.

Well lucky Annie, she found one. His name is Bob. In his non-pretend-play life he goes by Floyd. For this little scenario, she goes by Shara. Bob and Shara got married tonight. "Bob" is not a very enthusiastic handsome prince, but Shara makes up for his lack of enthusiasm and imagination. They rode in the boat to their wedding, danced a wedding dance, and served extra yummy pretend cupcakes that also have cookies inside them to their wedding guests. It was exquisite!

But wait it gets better.

Because just before she went to bed, she informed us that for tomorrow night's party, "Shara" is going to have a baby and we get to have a baby shower.

Hope you enjoyed this little course in Freudian nightmares 101. Tomorrow we'll be discussing oral fixations and smoking.

Annie likes to make her dress blow up alá Marilyn Monroe

Goodbye April Showers

We have a new song at our house. We seem to be singing it everyday. It goes like this:

Rain, rain go away
Don't come back 'til October.

We are really excellent at rhyming around here.

Here's to dryer days ahead. I can't wait to see those May flowers. Please bless I never move to a rainy climate. And by rainy, I mean rains more than once a month. I like my desert life thankyouverymuch.