Where O'Where has my little one gone?

I first have to start with a bit of my Benjamin. He is my serious one of the bunch and sees things so clearly sometimes. We recently had a bit of excitement over at the neighbors and a fire engine, police car and ambulance arrived on the scene. Right after I asked B. about what he thought about what had happened and he replied, "well, they are unhealthy and had to go to the hospital. I've been learning about bodies at preschool and eating healthy food to be healthy." First I was impressed that he had made a connection. I then went on to talk about how their grandma was old and when we get older our bodies start to get tired. That was the end of that until dinner.
At dinner I asked B. to tell Daddy what excitement had happened that day. He looks at Matt and said that there were EMERGENCY VEHICLES at the neighbors house. (Here I was thinking that he would say that a police car, ambulance and fire truck. silly me.) He also went on to explain healthy habits to everyone and old bodies as only a 4 year old can.

For any of you who are familiar with the classic movie Better Off Dead imagine the little kid who follows the teenage boy saying " I want my two dollars!" Now just change the words to "I want breakfast!" You have B. every morning between 6:45 and 7 am. (This morning it was 3 am!) Finally one morning after just getting back in bed again after a very long night, B. comes in demanding breakfast. I tell him that I have a half hour before I have to get Sophie up and just get in bed and snuggle for a little bit.
Benjamin: "No, I'm hungry. I want breakfast."
Mom: "Well then go get it yourself. I'm going to lay her for a little bit."
B: "I want to eat breakfast with everyone."
Mom: " I am not going to wake everybody up right now, so just wait 15 minutes. PPPLEASE."
B: "I want breakfast"
Mom: "Well then just go get a handful of cereal till everybody gets up."
B: "OK"
Later at dinner I recount the conversation to Matt. I continue by saying that when I came out Benjamin had the whole bag next to him eating. Matt then asked Benjamin why he had the whole bag. Benjamin holds out his hand and states simply, "they are too small and I couldn't get enough!"

Enough of B. on to Carsten. Lately our nightly tuck ins have turned into "Where is Carsten?"

It's a good thing he has long limbs!

Timing is everything

I always look forward to General Conference for a multiple of reasons. I love being spritually fed and it is always a quiet family weekend with no other meetings that separate us for the day. It is this great calm. Until today. I have been soloing it while my sidekick has been off exploring Arches National park for work. A great thing for him. Home has been great and the kids have been really nice to me. I awoke this morning with great expectations for a wonderful conference session. The kids were excited to watch conference and have a special breakfast treat.

Mistake #1- I did not go with our usual Costco breakfast treat, opting instead to fix one after the first session. (we start at 8 am) The kids are way too hungry to make it that long and that is one of the things they look forward to is the muffins. They only get them twice a year.

Mistake #2- I did not double check that Conference would be shown on normal tv stations as it had in times past. It was not being broadcast so I tried to watch it on the internet. Kids are now really not paying attention. I am going crazy because it stops after every third word.

Mistake #3- I don't know if this one is really a mistake but we'll just keep with the format. For the afternoon I decide that we will go to the chapel and watch it there. The kids have been great and were excited to go. So armed with Conference packets and crayons we go. We lasted 15 minutes in the chapel before heading to the "mother's room". There were too few people and Carsten and Josette didn't have the first clue about using quiet whispers.

By this point I am rather frustrated because I have yet to catch a full talk. I did catch a bit of one from Elder ? He told of the story of his daughter going on a blind date and leaving with guy who was coming to get a sitter for his kids. It was all about how laughter changes everything. We need to laugh more, life is too short. At least that is what I got.

By the time we got home I was really at an end. What to do to entertain the kids for the rest of the day?

Mistake #4 - Let's all make bread together! Everybody agreed and we started. We'll make a double batch so that there is plenty for everybody to play with. 4 cups water, 2Tbs Yeast, 4 TBL sugar, 3 cups flour.....I need to get more flour from the garage. As I come back in the house two little boys come running downstairs covered in this dough, head to foot and I hear the mixer up on the table going crazy. The first thought that comes into mind was Elder ? hiding in the kitchen when the real date showed up because he was laughing so hard. What could I do then but laugh! I then sprinted upstairs to turn off the mixer. Everything was covered in this wet mixture. It took an hour to clean up but I was sure grateful for the timing of that talk and that I was able to catch that little bit. I think after the way the day had gone I would have had two boys in bed for a long time and I would have been in tears!

No bread was made but a mother's sanity was saved by the inspiration of an apostle of the Lord to talk about laughter. I'm going to download this one and listen to it at least once a week to remind me.

No pictures were taken to try and discourage this type of laughter in the future.

Roof and Boys

A picture would have explained everything except it would have only encouraged them. For awhile now the boys have been asking for a trampoline so that they could jump from the garage roof onto the tramp. We have not given in but I just don't know where this fasination with jumping from the roof comes from. I was cleaning the garage while the boys where running around playing outside. I suddenly hear some scratching noises coming from above me. Where are the boys? I run around the side of the house and spot Carsten balanced on the top of the fence about ready to get onto the roof. I start calmly but loudly informing him to get down. Then I notice Benjamin at the peak of the garage roof. I not so calmly tell him to get off the roof. He proceeds to run down and JUMP off the roof. Luckily it is only about 5 feet up but still he ran and jumped. He was trying to get his frisbee off the roof on the front side which is much higher. I hope I was able to scare them enough to deter them for at least another year but it begins and they are only 3 and 4 1/2! As people hear of this story I have learned of other little boys jumping into the snow banks from the upper roofs, repelling down the sides of houses and other such stories. I knew that it would happen at some point I just hoped it wouldn't happen so soon.