Tag! You're it, Ben!

1. What is something mom always says to you? To do jobs.
2. What makes mom happy? Her kids helping her.
3. What makes mom sad? Calling her names.
4. How does your mom make you laugh? Tells me jokes.
5. What was your mom like as a child? Fun.
6. How old is your mom? I don't know, 19?
7. How tall is your mom? Very tall.
8. What is her favorite thing to do? Playing with her kids.
9. What does your mom do when you're not around? Boring stuff.
10. If your mom becomes famous, what will it be for? For being pretty.
11. What is your mom really good at? Doing things on the computer.
12. What is your mom not very good at? Getting up in the morning.
13. What does your mom do for her job? Go to school.
14. What is your mom's favorite food? Everything.
15. What makes you proud of your mom? When she does something good for me.
16. If your mom were a cartoon character, who would she be? Ben 10
17. What do you and your mom do together? Play.
18. How are you and your mom the same? Our mouths are the same.
19. How are you and your mom different? I'm not a girl.
20. How do you know your mom loves you? She tells me.
21. What does your mom like most about your dad? He goes to work and gives her money.
22. Where is your mom's favorite place to go? Fred Meyer.

Wow, that was fun. We are tagging Kinley Bradshaw and Daniel Gatlin.

Family sticker

Create your own family sticker graphic at pYzam.com

Speaking of frightening imaginations...

Ben drew a picture of me yesterday. It was one person with two heads, and arrows indicating that one head was mom and other was Kevin (not "dad":). And then next to that a picture of what could only be conjoined twins, joined at the head. One is round and the other pretty slim. (I'm sure I'm the round one) No captions on that, so I'm assuming that's another option for Kevin and me to be joined. Slightly disturbing... At least they all have smiles on their faces. :) What's that supposed to mean, anyway? Together forever? :)

Ben's Nightmare House

Ben sometimes has trouble falling asleep, and he comes out into the living room to tell us what he's thinking about. A couple nights ago he was doing this, and he came out and said he'd had a great idea that he has to do right away--draw a picture of a nightmare house.
Him: "it's gonna have bats and ... um ... what else is in a nightmare house? ... well, mommies, but not really because I say it wrong, but you know, those stripey things."
Me: "Mummies?"
Him: "Yes!"

He's really into drawing pictures and making books for everyone. He made Anne Marie a large fold-out picture of "Doctor Who People."

Summer has arrived, having lots of fun. I have decided to be more positive, I've been too grumpy these last couple of, let's see, hmm... years. Never too late to change. On a sadder note, our camera might be lost. Haven't seen it since 5th of July. How can you do a mormon blog post without random pictures of your kids from the camera? :) Wish us luck finding the darn thing. And everybody - enjoy the Summer!

Change your mind while you can!

Neal got in some trouble at his grandparent's new house recently. There had been painting going on previously and several huge empty paint buckets were sitting out on the back yard patio. One had fallen over and leaked a nice small puddle of paint underneath itself. Of course I was not aware of this, probably because I am not 3 years old. :) So on this day, the three of us - Ben, Neal and Anda - were outside, I was busy assembling a picnic table and the boys playing. Suddenly I see Neal stomping in a paint puddle right next to me! Shocked, I look up, and see these little white footsteps all over the patio AND the deck!!! And there is Ben, watching the whole thing from the deck. After all the cleanup I ask Ben if he had seen Neal doing this, to what he answers:
-I was going to tell Neal "good painting!" and then I heard you say "oh, no!" so I changed my mind and I said "Bad painting!"
Isn't it crazy how we have to keep changing our kids' minds for them? Anyway, I thought it was cute. :) And thankfully the deck was going to be painted or covered anyway, so I didn't have to spend my afternoon scrubbing boards.

Take your kid to work.

Yesterday Kevin had a "take your kid to work" day. The boys were very excited and had a great time eating lunch (and ice cream!) with daddy and learning about recycling. They even received gifts, including pencils made from recycled materials like denim and cardboard. Then they had fun sharpening them with daddy's electric pencil sharpener. And then they were ready to go with mommy and get a birthday cake for auntie AnneMarie.