Benjamin's faces

Whenever I get the camera out to take a picture, Benjamin wants his picture taken & then he immediately wants to see it on the camera screen.

 So here are some of his funny faces:

  Here's a picture with me:

So Emmalee wanted one with me also:  (I think he's trying to say "cheese")

She's such a cutie--even with those sick eyes!

Emmalee's Sick Eyes

Saturday night, Emmalee started getting goop in & around her eyes.  And since there were a couple of kids at the elementary school that had pink eye, we assumed that's what she had.

 So Sunday we started the eye drops for pink eye (we have some on hand since we live so far from Dr. & pharmacies--and our Dr. prescribed some for us).

 But after all the gunk & redness of the white of her eyes disappeared, the red "raccoon" eyes haven't disappeared.

 In fact, they have gotten worse.  I didn't take a picture today (Tuesday)--these pictures are from Sunday night.  But the redness goes from her eye brows to her cheeks below her nose.

( I told her to look sad in this picture)  So, I am going to call the doctor in the morning to see if I need to take her in.

Except for her eyes bugging her, she has been acting & playing like a well child.  And playing nicely with Benjamin at times, but then also teasing, hitting, wrestling & fighting with him too.  If she wasn't already in bed, I would take a picture of her.  Maybe I'll take one in the morning.

Emmalee's Valentine Treats

Emmalee didn't get to go to school (notice her eyes), but Daddy brought her Valentines home for her.

As she sorted through all of her goodies, she got really excited & said, "Look Brie--I got a Dip Stick!!!"  She l♥ves fun dips dip sticks.

More Valentine Preparations

Continuing from the last post....

 Brienna helped Emmalee get her Valentine cards done, while I hot glued the candy cane hearts.

 I bought these candy canes on clearance about 1 month ago (left over from Christmas).  They were Sponge Bob, Dora, Diego, and a couple of other characters on the wrappers.  But I decided this would make the perfect treat for the elementary-aged children, at a fraction of the price of Valentine candy.  (less than 2 cents per candy cane, so about 4 cents per candy heart)

 Then I rolled out the sugar cookies & the kids took over in cutting them out.

 You can see Emmalee's "sick" eyes.  (And she was really aware of not spreading germs--she had just washed with soap, cut a few out & then said she was done since her eyes were bugging her again.)

 Benjamin took his turn.

 He's asking if he could eat a little bit of the cookie dough.

 Sunday evening, we decorated the cookies (frosting & sprinkles) & divided them into 3 groups:  Emmalee's class, Callum's class (elementary parties) & Brienna wanted to take some to her class.  So I took Brienna's cookies to her at the end of science (about 1:15).  Then it was off to help at Callum's party.  Thankfully I have games that I put together/made when Ethan was in elementary school, so I don't have to re-make (or re-think) games for most parties.

 We played Cupid Bingo, pick the conversation hearts out of the bag of beans (blindfolded), & then worked on a word search while they ate their treats & opened their Valentines.

Benjamin had a blast at the party, too.

I hope you all had a great Valentine's Day!!

Saturday--part 1

Saturday was a very busy day for me.  I got up "early" (about 7:15) & showered.  After I ate breakfast & warmed up the van, I put some more air in the back tire of the van (it has a slow leak that needs fixed sometime soon).  Then I drove to Terreton (about 40 miles away) to the LDS stake center for the World Wide Training broadcast.  It was a follow-up from the 1st one in November & it was awesome!  Gave me more insight on the new church handbook & inspired me to act more on my "feelings" & promptings from the Holy Ghost.

I got home from the broadcast a little before noon, fed everyone lunch & mixed up the sugar cookie dough.  It has to chill in the fridge for a few hours.  Then I picked up my Bountiful Basket (it was a nice one with 2# strawberries, lemons, apples, bananas, oranges, cantaloupe, spinach, broccoli, leaf lettuce, red peppers, mushrooms, & carrots--and maybe some more that I can't remember?).

Then Rusty suggested we go to the land so the kids could sled.  It was a nice, sunny day--& the temperature was close to freezing!!!  (funny when 32 is warm!)

But I was so tired--Friday was our temple assignment day & I had a headache most of  Friday (even with medicine).  I know some of it was from lack of sleep.  But the kids wanted to go, so I helped them get their snow clothes on, and was getting ready to get mine on when Rusty said if I wanted to stay home & take a nap, he would take them out by himself.  Brienna was in Terreton for choir practice, so she wasn't here to help with the kids while they were sledding.  But, I decided to jump at the chance & stay home.  After I finished a load of laundry, I went in my room to lie down.  About 15 minutes later, Brienna came home & so I asked if she wanted to go sledding (because I could drive her out if she wanted to), but she said she didn't. So I laid down again, and this time I fell asleep.  And I got a nice 2 1/2 to 3 hour nap!

And this is what the kids did while I slept:

 I love Ben's face in this one!!

 Rusty said that Ben & Emmalee had a blast just sliding on their bottoms!

They stayed for over an hour, came home wet & tired out (& hungry), and littered the floor with their wet clothes.

After I got up from my nap, we made the sugar cookies.  that post will have to wait until tomorrow, though.

To Ski or Not to Ski...

We (Rusty, Zane & myself) decided to go cross-country skiing at our land (3 miles away) this morning  (Saturday).

The weather was sunny & in the high 20's.

then we got to the land.....and:

the wind was howling & the cold was just biting my cheeks!  We didn't even get our skis on before we decided to head back home.  And of course when we got back into town, there was just a breeze.  I am thankful for the trees to protect us from the winds!

Ben & Zeb's video

I think I got the video to work--try it again  (it is only about 3 seconds!!)
You can go down 2 posts, or click here

Benjamin--January 2011

Benjamin--ready for church.  What a handsome little boy!

He absolutely L♥VES nursery!!!

 Emmalee & Benjamin

 You know he is getting ready to jump!

 Brienna playing "Guess Who" (a game) with Benjamin.  He sat on her lap for over 20 minutes, finding the matching people.

 She was teaching him to find the person, and them put their picture down until he found all of them.

 He is quite smart, and very independent.  He didn't want help putting them down, even when he would accidentally knock others down.

He is starting to see a speech therapist.  At his 2 year doctor check-up, I was a little concerned about his expressive speech, so he was tested last month.  He scored above average in all areas (motor skills, developmental, receptive speech....) but 10 months behind in his expressive speech.  He has gradually stopped saying words he used to say months & almost a year ago.  So he goes in for a hearing test next week to be checked & to make sure there isn't built-up fluid.

We have a few "strategies" we are working on to encourage expressive speech, but we are mostly waiting for the hearing test & results. 

Ben & Zeb

Rusty had our dog, Zeb, in the house today.  Ben was having fun sitting on him & playing with him.

So I asked Brienna to take a picture of Ben sitting on Zeb. 

But my camera was on video, so we got this instead: 

(I know it's blurry, but it's funny!!)

Ben & Zeb wrestling.  Now if only I had video of Ben watching this & laughing over & over.