May 12, 2013

I am planning on posting the amazing birth story of Gage.
I am planning on posting pictures and stats of our newest little miracle.
But....I don't have an hour (or more) to upload the pictures, edit, then post what I want in order to "do them justice" and I don't have the time right now to post the amazing birth story of Gage and "do it justice" so here are some random things I don't want to forget that I can put down quickly.....

Coming home from Fredericksburg was great but not at all easy.  Ryan decided to come down with the "gunk" we have all had (sore throat, cough, fever, etc.) the day we came home.  Poor guy has been trying to help me out and I've been trying to help him out and we are both exhausted, sore, & irritable.  (By the way, we have had this "gunk" since April 2 when Ben first got sick.  I still have a sore throat and ear-ache, goop in my eyes every morning, etc.  Everyone has had a case of it.  Ryan's turn I guess??)  The children have been amazing to help out.  The girls have gone the extra mile in caring for their baby sister & helping out in the kitchen.  Benjamin has picked up the slack in other ways, Boden has been exceptionally happy to play with Natalie & to help out where he can.  They are all joyful most of the time and do what we ask without complaining.  They are also great at helping each other and finding things to do to keep themselves and their "Littles" occupied quietly.  Thankfully the weather has co-operated and they have also been able to be outside a lot!  The people from our church have been great to serve us also.  They have brought several meals and one lady even went to the grocery store for us!  Just my little list of things I am thankful for!

Anyway, continuing on....when we got home the kids were THRILLED to find their gardens thriving!  Sarah's dill is ready to pick, Maya is about to get a yellow squash, and Benjamin found quite a treasure in his!  He came in yesterday yelling, "I got dinner!"  Ryan and I both thought, "Oh no, what has he killed now?"  But it was just a GIANT zucchini he picked out of his garden!  He ate that (along with the rabbit legs he had killed and skinned the day before) for dinner.  I don't think he was impressed with the rabbit-- that's one way to get a kid to eat his veggies!

Boden's comments when two different friends commented on how pretty his new brother is:
"You sure have a pretty new brother."
"He's NOT pretty.  Boys are handsome."
"Oh you are right.  Boys ARE handsome."
"But Na-Na (Natalie) IS pretty."

And......
"You sure have a pretty new brother."
"But sometimes he scrunches up his eyes like this..." (Bo procedes to make a really scary face, scrunching up his eyebrows).
"Oh!  What do you think he is thinking when he does that?"
"Well Mama says (uh oh, what DOES Mama say??)  he's probaly thinking, 'what's all these hands on my head?' "
(laughter, sigh of relief from "Mama"  :) )

Sometimes hard times truly are the sweetest.

Yes, It's Another Benjamin Funny!

It's not just that Benjamin is the only funny kid in family.  I happen to think they are all quite the little comedians at times but Benjamin just SAYS stuff that is so different than "average silliness" that I can actually remember it later when I want to write it down!

"Hey Mom, you know that oil that goes between your ball and socket joint right here?"  Benjamin says while pointing to his hip.
"Well, I think mine is going dry because sometimes I can feel it cracking and popping."

Women?

A Benjamin funny:

Tonight after dinner we were playing a new game we received for a Christmas gift.  It is called, "I've Never...." (I am not sure at this point if I would recommend it or not).  Ryan drew a card that said, "I've never had a crush.  If this is true make a sad face.  If this is not true tell us the name of the person or make kissy noises for 10 seconds."  
Well, of course, all the kids were saying, "NOT TRUE!  NOT TRUE!"  and making the recommended kissy noises.  Then Ben blurts out, "I am SO glad I didn't get that question!  Heeeheeehee!"  We were all laughing hysterically by this point and that just put his dad and I into more fits of giggles.
"Why Benjamin?  What girl have YOU had a crush on?"
Heeeheeeeheeee!!
heeeheeeheeehee!!
"You mean girlS and WOMEN!" shouts Benjamin as he is rolling on the floor gasping for air. 

I still can't stop laughing.  He is so funny.
But, I think our prayers for him just took on a new direction.

So, what are YOU doing?

I am sitting in the office on the computer and both my boys are busy little beavers. Benjamin is going around the house collecting treasures to give to his cousins when we go visit them tomorrow (he even bought a candle for his Aunt Dandy from me for $1!) He is wrapping and taping and writing notes....too cute!
Boden is chewing on the M&M packages I bought for my brother. And the hand sanitizer. And the Altoid box. And the stapler....uh, maybe I better wrap this up!

Just asking...

Warning!!!
If you are a grandparent of one of my children, you may not want to read this!!!

We were in the kitchen this afternoon making a home-made pizza for lunch. I was telling the children this story of when Ryan and I were newly-weds living in an apartment-- I accidentally flopped a whole pizza upside down on the hot oven and had to cook my pizza at a neighbor's house because all our toppings were burning onto the oven at our apartment.

Benjamin: Were you a Mother then?
Me: Nope, just a Wife.
Benjamin: Were you a virgin?
Me:





No, Ben I wasn't a virgin. You aren't a virgin anymore after you become a wife.

Ben: Was it exciting to not be a virgin anymore?
Me: Yes Ben, it was exciting.
Ben: Like when I got my new pocket knife for my birthday?
Me: Yep, kinda like that.


Now, of course I feel like I have to justify this in some way only....I can't think of HOW he thought to ask a question like that!!! Could it be that we recently read the book of Luke (ok it was Christmas) and that Mary was a virgin... or more recently, read that Rebekah was a virgin when Abraham's servant went to choose her for Isaac? I have NO IDEA where he came up with that one but it makes me think maybe I should start editing our bible reading...only G-rated stuff around my little sponge-boy!

Our funny boy

Benjamin has had several funnies over the past few weeks. Here are a couple I can remember....

Last night I was cleaning his ears and I commented on how clean they were compared to usual. Usually they are filled with dirt and other "boy grime." He said, "Well I guess my garden I was growing is dead. And you killed it." ...Oh, gee....sorry!

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We have been talking about the treasures Jesus is storing up in heaven for the things we do here on earth and how when we get to heaven we will also get our rewards from Jesus. I guess Benjamin has really been thinking on that because the other day in the car he asked me some very insightful questions concerning our discussions.

Benjamin: "How old is Daddy?"
Me: "34"
Benjamin: "And I'm only 5. I wish I was a grown up man already."
Me: "Oh, I don't know, I really like little boys."
Benjamin: "Yeah, but Daddy will get his treasures a long time before me and if I was a grown up I could get them sooner. I'm only 5 so I have to wait longer for mine."
Me: "Yeah, but you get to build up more while you are waiting to go see Jesus."
Benjamin: "Yeah, but I still wish I was older so I could die sooner."

Of course my Mommy heart was saying, "UH....let's not rush it kiddoe!" But on the other hand, I am so pleased that he is looking forward to the day when he gets to meet Jesus face to face!

Benjamin the Pool Tool guy!

Benjamin has been a maniac around here with a tool box my sister gave him for his birthday and a tool belt my parents gave him for Christmas. He is always looking for a project. The other evening I was in the kitchen making dinner and he walked in with his tool belt on and his tool box in hand and asked if there was anything I needed "fixin". I suggested he make sure all the screws in my cabinet doors were nice and tight. He immediately got to work with his screwdriver tightening my screws-- or so I thought! The next thing I know the little guy had the whole door off the hinges and the hinges off the cabinet! Needless to say, he was quite pleased with himself!





He has also taken apart a birdhouse and several toys and has plans to build a bird trap with the pieces. Ryan says he was just like that as a kid-- always taking apart things (but he says he put them back together again!) The two of them worked on a project together right before Christmas-- an old TV of ours finally bit the dust so they decided to take it apart to see what was inside. It stayed in my living room floor for a week until Benjamin could finish taking off every single screw and undoing every wire. He cracks me up! He can't sit still to color a whole page but he will sit for hours screwing, unscrewing, hammering, whatever... on a project like that! I LOVE LITTLE BOYS! :)

Benjamin the Sage

We have the funniest five-year old on the planet! He is always talking my ear off about random things and I LOVE to listen to him-- The way he puts ideas together and comes up with such creative ways of fixing something or making something better, the way he offers such wisdom to his sisters or I, the way he can jump from making a rabbit trap to thoughts about his future wife-- this kid cracks me up continuously.
A few days ago, he brought up his future wife. I soon found out her most endearing quality in his eyes would be that she would laugh at the funny things he said. He told me, "and the best thing about her, she will laugh at my words." (Isn't that all why we married who we did, because at some point they laughed at the right time at something we said and it made us just know they were THE ONE for us? :)

Yesterday Benjamin was in the kitchen talking to me while I did the dishes. Our time together went something like this:

Benjamin plays with the toaster oven and takes the grill out and begins telling me how he could use that part of the toaster oven for his rabbit trap.

When he is done with that he comes over and starts rubbing my back and tells me what a good Mommy I am; "Mommy, you are the most special Mommy ever!" (melt my heart please!)

Then he goes through the knife drawer (this kid has a fascination with sharp objects) and starts explaining to me what he could cut with each knife-- a tree branch, a steak, make into a spear, etc. When he comes to the Whet Stone in the back he says, "what's this?" I explain to him it is a Whet Stone and that it is used to sharpen knives. So then he asks me, "So is that called Whetting the knives?" ......hmmmmmm........he had me on that one!

So then he moves on to his future wife. He wants her to look like me (melt, melt again) but be from the Philippines. He is fascinated with the Philippines since we pray for our pastor from S.A. who goes there several times a year to help out the missionaries there.

And from there we move on to the hog he wants to catch, the rabbit trap again, and finally he asks me if I think God will let him go into someone's heart with Him after he gets to heaven!

I love this kid!

Benjamin's pictures!

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Benjamin's birthday

Benjamin has had a birthday since I last wrote so I will try to do a few pics of him. He and his dad went hunting for his "man-outing" (they do man-outings instead of dates!) They didn't get anything but enjoyed it a lot anyway! It was rumored that Ryan took along a little knife and taught Benjamin a little whittling while they were in the blind-- my boy is in little boy heaven!!! I can not believe he is already 5!

A cool Benjamin story: the first of October he began asking God for a baby brother for his birthday! He was worried maybe God wouldn't answer so I assured him God hears his prayers and would answer them but sometimes He doesn't answer in the way or time we expect. "Oh, so you mean maybe God will give me three brothers instead of just one?" he asked!!!
We found out the end of October that I was pregnant but waited until my doctor appointment to tell him. My appointment was on his birthday so while he was opening his presents that evening, we got to tell him that God had answered his prayer and there was in fact a baby in my tummy! He was (and is) so excited! The girls started jumping up and down and Sarah even started crying. It was a precious moment.

They continually pray for their new little baby brother or sister and think and talk about it all the time. We have quite a wait as I am not due until July but we are looking forward to bonding with this new little blessing starting now!

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In other news, I don't know if I mentioned that Sarah and Maya are getting baptized this weekend. Their Daddy will be able to baptize them. What a precious time for our family!

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Since I haven't been so good about keeping up with this thing, I won't try to update you on all the details from my last post until now. This is the biggest news in our family right now! What incredible joy and blessing!

Who's Confused?

Did you know we have a frog living in our bathtub drain? When Benjamin was about 2 years old, Ryan started telling him the gurgle as the bath water drained out of the tub was an old frog that lived in the drain. Every time Benjamin took a bath he would press his little face to the drain as the water gurgled out of the tub and look for the frog. It was so cute! Well, today, 2 1/2 years and 2 houses later, as I was helping Benjamin get out of his bath, he insisted he had to look for the frog first before he could get out! He insists the frog is stuck down there and must be rescued! What is a mom to say? Ribbit!!!
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Green Eggs and Ham?

Benjamin loves to cook eggs! We have an "egg lady" here in our new town who provides us with fresh eggs every week. She generously allows the children to go out and gather their own eggs. Benjamin knows just which nest will usually have a green egg and she lets him buy his very own green egg for just 5 cents each time we get eggs! He promptly goes home, cooks, and eats his prize! This boy loves eggs! One day for lunch he had three eggs (after having a couple for breakfast) and I finally had to tell him-- no more eggs! Guess what one of his favorite books is?
Green Eggs and Ham of course!

Funny Boy II

I was hoping to write about another child before saying anything else about Benjamin but, he is at that perfect age where he just keeps the funny and original coming! Here are a couple of conversations I have had with him just today already:

"Mommy, when I die, do you think it would be okay to ask God if I could go with Jesus into someone's heart?"
"Well sure Ben, you could ask Him that."

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"Hey Little Boy, I sure do love you."
"Hey Little Mommy, I sure do love you too."

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We were looking at a picture in his scrapbook of he and his dad working in our yard in San Angelo. There was a pool in the background and a dog in the wheelbarrow with him.
He said, "I sure do miss that dog."
I said, "I sure do miss that pool."
Then he replied, while pointing to his dad who was sitting in the chair across the room from us, "But Mommy, he's right there!" (pool, Pool!)

Funny Boy

I have got to have the funniest son ever! This morning as the girls were starting on their journal writing, I thought I had gotten Benjamin all set up for the task of washing his face and brushing his teeth. I had squirted the toothpaste on the toothbrush with the appropriate amount of paste for his 4 year old mouth (when he does it, it looks like a giant toothpaste-eating monster has been in the bathroom), and gotten out a clean washrag, put water on it, and wrung it out (he seems to always miss this important last step!) "OK," I thought, "the girls are busy, Benjamin should be occupied for a full five minutes, I am going to go finish getting ready real quick." Well, no sooner had I step foot in my bedroom than I heard a loud pop and a very tiny scream. I ran into the bathroom and what should appear before my questioning eyes than Benjamin, up ON TOP of the sink with broken glass all around him. As soon as he saw me he began sobbing. When I was finally able to get out of him what happened, he stated very matter of factly that he was trying to "warm up his washrag." He had climbed on the cabinet to reach the heat of the light bulbs above the mirror and hit it too hard and it shattered! Guess Mommy forgot an important step-- use warmer water! I really wish I could have gotten a picture of him right before he broke out in a sob, on top of the cabinet, with glass all around him but...... I just didn't feel like asking him to stand still so I could run and get my camera would be sending him the right message!