It's all fun and games...

Until someone gets hurt.





They love to hug. Really tight. Then they end up accidentally rolling off the couch and bonking heads and running to me for a hug. So cute.

The Joe

My little brother Joe came recently from Texas for a visit.

The boys love his energy and his feats of strength. Mommy can't lift them that high in the air.

JB made barbecue, I made the famous family recipe of dump cake, and the boys made a whole lot of noise outside. Hopefully the neighbors didn't mind.

What we've been up to

I'm quite late posting pictures of some of our adventures. Last month we saw JB's little sister Sarah graduate from nursing school. We are very proud.

Max looks so tall in that picture. I'm holding him up with all my might. In the picture below, Benny made a fort --or was it a jail? -- with Uncle Joe (Sarah's husband). We were at the Pizza Factory to celebrate her achievement.

Last week we went to Braza Grill for some Brazilian food. Max loved the rice. Benny loved the rolls. JB and Mary loved the meat.

Reason number 121

Remember those lean, poor days of college when all you ate were baked potatoes because you got some amazing deal like 10 pounds for a dollar at the grocery store? Well I do.

During that time of my life I pulled together 40 dollars to buy a nice black skirt. Every girl needs a black skirt, right? This one was from the mall. I wore it once, and the next time I went to wear it it needed to be ironed.

I pulled out the old iron that had been in that apartment since probably the days my parents went to BYU, and plopped it down right in the middle of the skirt to start pressing. And it burned a hole right in the middle of my 40 dollar skirt. I cried.

I haven't really ironed much since. My favorite methods of de-wrinkling are the dryer and the shower. But last Sunday morning I decided to pull out the iron for time reasons. It's newer, it's nicer, but still I hesitated. JB explained how to change the settings, and away I went.

The dress was fine -- even better than I expected. Gladly I tackled the boys' Sunday pants and shirts, and then asked JB if he had anything he needed ironing. "No," he smiled, "They are done."

And that is reason number 121 why I love my husband. He irons his own clothes.

PS Another reason -- leftovers this morning. The man can COOK.

Ouch

Ever wonder how often you use your left ring finger? Well, so far typing this post I've used it 7 times. 8. It's used for the w, s, and x keys for example. I'm paying more attention to this now because I smushed that particular finger pretty badly yesterday.

How did I smush said finger? I was on a walk with Max and Ben (ouch there on the x key). Max on his bike, Benny in the wagon. We wandered over 2 streets to drop off a thank you card to good friends, then up that street to loop over and come back home.

We paused in front of a home in our neighborhood that has 3 darling children around my children's ages. Those children were peering outside their window, saw us, and came pouring out of the house.

Joy! Rapture! Fun times!

Next thing I know Max and Benny are playing with their friends' toys and vowing never to leave. Benny started to melt down (full-on, on the floor sobbing) when I tried to coax them away. This was almost dinner time after all. Noah spots Max's bike and wants to race. The garage door rolls up -- and Max and Benny spot a cool riding toy inside. I quickly went to roll down the garage door so as to avoid a tricky conversation about why we couldn't take the toy home with us, when, smush! My two finger tips got caught.

JB likes to tease me about my low pain threshold. It took all my powers and prayers to cooly and calmly lift the door again, free my fingers and make sure no one noticed. I didn't want them to worry or freak out. But it hurt!

The middle one is much better today. But I think my fingernails may turn some interesting colors soon.

Crochet class

Lookee the cute flowers I made for my cute sisters.

They sent me this picture from Missouri. Emily is on the left, Sarah on the right. BTW, I'm 10 years older than Emily, and she's 10 years older than Sarah. Such is the spread of my family.

To spread the love, I invited a couple women from my neighborhood to come over Saturday at 10 AM to learn how to crochet these flowers and other fun little things. Anyone else who wants to come, feel free. I would of course also direct you to my neighbor Muranda, who is insanely talented in the crochet area.

Silly

Benny lately has been obsessed with dressing up, or dressing down. So of course Max has to be his partner in crime.

His favorite outfit. Shorts, no shirt, knit hat, socks, and watershoes.

Their other favorite outfits -- camouflage pajamas from Aunt Sarah. They would wear them all day if we would let them. Sometimes we do.