White Fun

Our latest snow fun photo (taken Monday):


It was Bentley and Viva out having fun. Jake wimped out after a short time.

Our latest bath fun photos (taken Tuesday):




We put Lincoln in the tub in his Bumbo seat. The seat with the baby in it floated, so I had to keep my foot on it. Lincoln was ambivalent (whimpers and smiles) about being in the tub until Viva poured water over his head. Then he wanted out, out, out.

The children hadn't taken a bath together in quite some time, so they had a great time and stayed in the tub for an hour and half. It was loud. It was wet. It was warm. It was white.

Balloon Photo Shoot

Last week Kara hosted a church event at our home. Part of the decorations included fourteen helium filled balloons. After the event we decided to use them in a photo shoot with the children. Jake was gone when we did the main shoot, so we only got a quick one of him when he came home.










After the photo shoot Bentley took possession of the bouquet. He took it apart and tied balloons to the chairs in the dining room, the bar stools, the fireplace doors, and great-grandma's walker. He had a grand time trying out different "knots".

Move Over Suduko!

We have a new favorite game flavor of the month - chess, which is considered by some to be the ultimate strategy game.

I read an article, a few weeks back, about a pilot program in Chicago elementary schools involving teaching chess to the k-2 graders. It teaches patience, critical thinking, and strategy. Luckily for me I had just purchased a "teach your child chess" set at the yearly toy store sale last month!

(That's another post, me and my love of the Over the Rainbow toy store... )

Bentley has "played" chess on the iPad before, and once or twice with Matt, but I figured we should go for a more studied approach in our effort to really understand the game.

I think it's going well! He asks to play every day, so far he's played with me, Matt, and Grandma. I heard him talking up Opa the other day, and I have no doubt he'll try and persaude Great-Grandma to play. I think she mentioned she doesn't play chess, but I'm sure Bentley will be happy to share the rules. :)

He's pretty good, and getting better with every game! I'm enjoying the "chess books" we're using - I'm learning a few things myself!

I try to ensure he wins some games, I think it's important to taste success when you're trying something new. However, it's a tricky balance - if he wins too much then I think he has doubts about MY intelligence!

I asked him, after a carefully orchestrated (by me!) double win on his part, who was better at chess - me or him. He happily crowed: "I am better"!! I love it. :) I did throw a small wrench in his mind when I said... "but who taught you?". "Don't you think I must know SOMETHING about the game?!"

He conceded that I might have SOME skill.

I'm pretty sure that in a month or two I'll have to watch my king's back even closer - he gets better with every game, and it's fun to watch!

Happy 4 months, Lincoln!

Today marks 4 months old for baby! At his Dr.'s appt last week he clocked in at almost 16 lbs, which is pretty impressize for a baby from our family... :) AND - he managed to do this despite very poor eating habits. Amazing.

Lincoln likes... people. All people including himself. He spent 10 minutes tonight smiling and talking to himself (over my shoulder) in the mirror. Funny kid!

Lincoln is... very grabby! He still has some wild arm flayling, but he can grab onto things and hold them tight. His brother gave him a sword to hold today, but as soon as he drooled on it Bentley wanted it back. And Lincoln wouldn't give it back. I was told to intervene, and after I extracted the sword from Lincoln's grasp his older brother gave him a lecture. I believe he was told he wasn't going to get to hold the sword again for a very very long time because he drooled on it. Oops!

Lincoln does not like... eating. Ah well. At least I've been down this road before!

Lincoln's newest trick is... sitting! He has figured out he has to use his hands, at his sides, to keep himself upright. He started perfecting this the day after his Dr.'s appt, when the Dr. informed him that sitting is skill neurologically unavailable to babies until about 6 months of age. Lincoln wanted to prove him wrong. :)

And that's the highlight reel on our favorite gorgeous huggalicious little guy! We're so happy to have him!

A few pictures, of course.

Ugly, Ugly Shirt

Kara and I recently took a trip downtown to JCPenney. We don't like going downtown. It means more driving and trying to find parking on the street or using a parking garage. It's not something we enjoy at all, so our trips downtown are few and far between. We were lured downtown when we received not one, not two, but four $10 off a $10 or more purchase coupons. Two were in Kara's name, two in mine and the dates overlapped, so it seemed like a good idea to head downtown and use our coupons.

We chose to go on Halloween day because Matt was home and he was spending the day with the children. He took the trio and we took the baby. After leaving home, we had to return twice for forgotten items we needed for our shopping trip. Eventually we did make it downtown and into Penney's. Then the hunt began to find items to use our coupons on.

Kara wanted to pick up a new sleeper for Lincoln, so we started in the baby department. We found baby gifts for cousin Ruth's baby while we were there. Then we moved over to the boys' department and started looking for long sleeved shirts. Kara found a few she really like, but could only find two of them in our boys' small size. Then I found a perfectly delightful dinosaur shirt that changed colors in the sun. How cool is that?

Kara said it was ugly. She wouldn't buy it. She didn’t want me to buy it either because then she'd have to look at it. I thought about what she said. Then I thought about how much the boys would love the shirt. I bought it.

When we got home we had three shirts for the two boys. I gave them the shirts Kara picked out, a green one with a tiger on it and brown one with a moose. They boys liked them. Then I pulled out the dinosaur shirt. "Who's that for?" they both asked. What could I say? I responded jokingly, "Viva!" They just laughed because that was an absurd answer.

Viva got really excited. She said she'd love the dinosaur shirt. Huh?! She doesn't care two figs for dinosaurs. What was she up to?! I recanted and told the boys it was their shirt, but they would have to share ownership. Not an ideal solution, but there was only one of these very cool, ugly dinosaur shirts.

The next morning when the trio got up, the three shirts were washed and ready to wear. Viva still claimed she wanted the shirt, so I gave her first wear of it. She matched it with her brown floral skirt.

Kara was, I think, pretty amazed with Viva's ensemble. It far exceeded what Kara dreaded when she first saw the shirt at JCPenney. I think it's a cute outfit. Very apropos for the sister of two dinosaur fans.

And Even More Snow!

Kara writing midweek:

That beautiful fluffy white stuff keeps coming down! I say if we're going to have cold weather and dark skies, being in Alaska in the winter, we might as well have lots of pretty snow too. And the weather is cooperating.

Jake thought it sounded like a great idea to take a little rest on the picnic table out on the deck. He & Bentley were working hard clearing snow out there (or rearranging it? the final look wasn't quite a clean shoveled look... !)

What a life!

Julia writing yesterday:

It keeps coming down. We had another 3 inches on Sunday for a total of 15" so far this month. The snow is 14" deep--deeper where the snowblower has added inches.

The boys were outside for hours working on a snow fort. Viva was out, too, but she didn't work on a fort and she came in early and played on the iPad. The cat snuck out twice. I told the kids to throw snowballs at him to chase him back inside. They gleefully complied.

Family Home Evening

We try to follow the advice of our church leaders and have weekly Family Home Evening. Given the young age of the children in our household we do not aspire to long lessons on complex gospel doctrine. We keep it simple. The children take turns picking a story to read from the Friend magazine. We then play a few games with them. We have a snack. Lately Kara has been trying to make Monday pizza night because that’s an easy meal to prepare (we buy take-and-bake pizzas from Papa Murphy’s) and it’s easy to clean up after, too.

Sometimes the children pick a game that all of them can play, but other nights each child wants a different game and since there are plenty of adults in the house we can do that, too.

Last Monday Bentley played chess with Matt.


Jake played Dinosaur Go Fish with Kara.


I played Lady Bug Dominos with Viva.


Lincoln watched.

As you can see from the photos, the twins were a little antsy. Some nights are like that.

Peanut Butter

Did you know that there is a peanut shortage? Not as many fields of peanuts were planted this past summer. Cotton prices were at a high, so some farmers planted cotton instead of peanuts. A drought this summer killed other peanut fields and then crop diseases took out a few more. The end result is that you will be paying more for peanut products this coming year.

Why am I blogging about peanut crops? It’s because peanut butter is important in our household. Jake asks for a PBJ at least five morning a week. If we’d let him, some days he’d eat one at every meal. When Kara and great-grandma started talking about the peanut shortage, I knew we had to act quickly.

I went out to Costco and purchased eight 48-oz jars of Skippy creamy peanut butter, which is my favorite. Then I went to Sam’s Club and purchased ten 40-oz jars of Jif creamy peanut butter which is what Kara buys for the children. They will eat either Skippy or Jif. We should be safe through the end of next summer when the peanut shortage should be over.

Or will it? The experts say that the peanut shortage has been coming on for a while now. Plantings have dropped 25% over the last 3 years—only 10% this past year. And the yields have not been strong lately. This shortage might go on and on and on. Should I purchased more?! Maybe we should try and wean Jake from peanut butter? I’m not giving up my peanut butter, but I don’t eat as much as Jake does.

Future Scientist?

One afternoon last week Viva borrowed a small magnifying glass from her opa (he purchased several for examining snowflakes this winter) and she used it to examine a new children's science book her mother had purchased. The book's title (and subject) was The Periodic Table. I really like the Periodic Table, but then I have a degree in chemical engineering, so you can see why I might like it. Why was Viva fascinated by it?

Why was Viva wearing two hats and sunglasses? Was she cold? Did she have a headache? Was it a fashion statement? Does a warm brain think better?

Just what goes on in that girl's head? She is such a mystery to me. I always thought little boys would be hard to relate to, but they are easy as pie to understand. Viva...she's a conundrum.

Beautiful Boys

I came across this photo recently. It was taken July 5th, but it was such a great photo of the boys, that I think it deserves a posting even if it is four months late and totally out of season.

Isn't it a great photo? The boys are in sync, focused on the basket. It's a beautiful day. A boy, a ball, a brother: Life really is good.

Great-Grandma's Hats

Great-grandma likes to crochet and knit. She makes afghans for all the grandchildren when they marry. Right now she is all caught up (i.e. has made afghans for all the married couples) and no one is currently engaged, so she has no afghan to work on. She decided to make a few hats from her scrap yarn.

The in-house great-grandchildren are taking full advantage of their onsite status. Great-grandma knits in the morning while she listens to talk radio. The children go down before breakfast and check out what she's doing. If she's close to finishing a hat, they wait it out and snag the hat for their very own.

This has been going on for a few weeks now, so the children have claimed two or three hats each. We've told them they cannot have any more. Great-grandma has other great-grandchildren that might like a hat of their own.

Bentley snagged the first couple of hats. They were both made from the same multi-colored yarn, so I tried to talk him into trading one out for something in a different color, but he was already quite attached to them and wouldn't budge.


Jake acquired a green hat that is too small for him and a pink and purple hat. Kara was concerned that the pink and purple hat would trouble his father, so we convinced Jake to turn them back in to great-grandma and ask her to make him an orange hat and a larger green hat. (She hasn't yet.)


Viva is the one that really scored because great-grandma likes to make pink and purple hats and so Viva grabbed those.



We gave Lincoln the green hat. He looks pretty good in it, but then he looks good in anything. He's a good looking baby!


After our three hat limit rule, great-grandma started making mittens. I don't know if the children asked for mittens or if she was tired of making hats, but now they have a new reason to visit her downstairs.


We should ask great-grandma to teach the grandchildren to knit!

More Snow

We had six inches of snow on Sunday and another 4 inches on Monday. The children were excited. They went outside to play Monday afternoon despite their colds. The boys stayed out for over an hour. They were busy with the shovels, but not working on clearing the driveway. They were shoveling a path on the lawn and making snow angels and playing. The important thing is that they were having fun and getting exercise that didn’t involve chasing each other around the house!



Viva was outside quite a while, but not as long as her brothers. I didn’t get her boots on properly because her leggings were wet when she came in. She was wearing Jake’s old boots because I hadn’t waterproofed her new ones yet. I did that Monday evening. Kara purchased Viva two new pairs of boots for winter, one black dress pair (to go with all her black and black trimmed winter Sunday dresses) and a pair for playing outside. She is such a cutie and way more fun to buy clothes for than the boys.

The Jumperoo Addict

Lincoln loves loves loves the jumperoo. In fact, he loves it so much he has no sense of moderation. Last week we discovered blisters on the sides of his littlle toes; caused by curling his feet sideways and then jumping like a crazy baby. Needless to say I had to change how the jumperoo is set up so there is now something soft and not hard under his feet!

He will happily jump for close to an hour sometimes. When you check on him he just keeps bouncing and bouncing away... sometimes we're not sure he knows HOW to stop - as evidenced by the grousing while jumping that occurs when he is ready to move on to a new activity - he knows he is done, but can't help but keep bouncing! Sometimes, though, he falls asleep in the middle of his exercise time. All this activity is tough tough work!

Sick, Sick...Sick?

The children have been sick for the past week. I'm not sure what virus has invaded the house, but it's different for each kid. Jake has problems with his intestinal tract. He's on a high-fiber diet. Bentley has a very nasty cough which disturbs those of us who have to listen to him hacking far more than it seems to disturb him. Viva doesn't usually get sick, but this go around she did. She has a very stuffed up nose and a mild cough. She's rather short tempered and beats on her brothers if they annoy her. (Although it was Jake who gave Viva a bloody nose last night, not the other way around.) Lincoln has a stuffed up nose, too, so he's not sleeping well at night.

You expect a few winter viruses, so we just deal with it with as much patience as we can scrounge up. Jake is pushing the limits this morning. “I can't make my bed. I can't get dressed.” He can, however, pound on the door, the wall, and his grandma.

Then Kara learned on Facebook that some of the families that we go to church with have young children who in the last seven days have come down with chicken pox. Last Sunday (after church), one of the boys in the twins' Primary class sprouted spots. Today another child who had contact with that family last Sunday acquired spots. After learning about these two boys Kara immediately googled chicken pox and read that the incubation period is seven to twenty-one days.

It's three weeks after your last contact with an infected person before you know for sure that you didn't get infected?! It's going to be a long November as we wait to see if the children get chicken pox. If not from the first exposure, then from subsequent ones when they go back to church and are exposed to the newest crop of children coming down with it. And, if chicken pox is in town, then ballet, gymnastics, Lego club, and play dates could also be sources of the virus.

The trio have been vaccinated against chicken pox, but the vaccine isn't 100% effective. If you've been vaccinated and still get chicken pox, it should be a milder case. The real concern is Lincoln. Chicken pox is harder on young infants and, of course, he's not had the vaccination.

Within hours of Kara reading about chicken pox she spotted some red spots on Lincoln's chest. I'm sure (I'm praying) that it's just paranoia on her part.

The Cleaning Fairy

The other day I was doing some bathroom cleaning, always exciting, and I walked away for a few minutes. When I came back I found:

My very own Tinkerbell the cleaing fairy. I'd left the Clorox wipes out, and Viva got busy.

I could get used to this, maybe I should walk away often after leaving the wipes out around the house - maybe she won't be able to resist them... ?

P.S. - for the record, the toilet was already cleaned by the time she got to it. So it's all good... !

The Good Life

This photo captured three of the boys' favorite activities. They like to hang with each other. They like to use the iPad. They like to be with the kitty. Jake is doing all three at once. Bentley is giving Jake advice and waiting for his turn to use the iPad. The cat...I have no idea what he's doing that close to Jake. Jake tends to be a little too...exuberant...with the cat. The cat usually keeps his distance from Jake.

Mommy's Clothes

Back when the quartet's mommy was born--28 years ago--ultrasounds were not very common, so most parents-to-be did not know what sex their child would be. And even if they knew (i.e. for some medical reason the mommy-to-be had an ultrasound), they usually kept it to themselves. Because of this, most baby gifts were gender neutral. Kara's uroma from Germany sent her two sleepers, one pink and one blue. I'm sure if I looked hard enough, I could find a photo of Jake and Viva in these sleepers. I don't have time for that. I need to get this written and posted!

Kara pulled the blue version of the sleeper out of storage last week and we put Lincoln in it. It's almost too small because he's still larger than the average baby his age. This is a mystery to his mother and me because the child is a lousy eater. How can you stay high on the growth charts when you don't eat much?! And a good portion of what he eats, he spits up. YUCK! In fact, within an hour of the photo shoot, Lincoln spit up all over mommy's sleeper and had to be put in a new one.

Before that happened, he did give us some mighty fine photos.



Isn't he the cutest ever little boy in mommy's clothes?! (I wonder if we have photos of mommy in that outfit? Do they look like siblings? Or twins? So many photos, so little time.)

Reading with Great-Grandma

The children love to have great-grandma read to them. Since she spends the first half of the day sitting in her chair at the dining room table, she's an easy target. Bentley likes to do his daily reading time (when he reads aloud to an adult) with great-grandma. Sometimes he drags his feet, just a little, when Kara or I tell him it's reading time, but if we ask great-grandma to do it with him, he races over.

Lincoln Likes Books!

Lincoln has once again proved he belongs in this family. He loves books already. His mom reads him four or five board books most mornings and he pays rapt attention. His big brother likes to read to him, too.

Here's a photo Kara took of him and her reading together--one of those self-portraits taken with a phone camera.

Jake's in Control (Or Not!)

Bentley sleeps on the top of the boys' bunk bed. The lower bunk is a double, so it's plenty big enough for two small boys. Sometimes Jake--feeling magnanimous--allows his older brother to share the bottom bunk for a while. He usually makes it clear that it's only for a short time, not the entire night.

Recently Bentley slept on the bottom bunk until 6:30AM at which time he decided to leave and come to grandma's bed. Jake was furious. I awoke to Jake screaming "No!" at the top of his lungs. I ran in to see what disaster had occurred. The previous night the cat had attacked Jake's feet and I had to bandage the scratch up. Not good at all. The cat was not the culprit tonight.

Jake was screaming because he didn't want Bentley to leave. Seriously? Jake not only wants to control when and if Bentley can sleep in the lower bed, he wants to control when and if Bentley can leave. Jake's not at his best when he's tired so, it was pretty ridiculous. I ended up with two boys in my bed.

Viva slept through the drama.

First Snow

We had our first official snow fall on Sunday. It wasn't a massive snow fall like what occurred on the East Coast, but it was enough to cover the ground and make the children excited. Opa went out and used our new John Deere riding mower with snow blower attachment (which I shall hereafter simply call the snow blower). The children were more than a little disappointed with Opa's dedication. They were quite willing to shovel all the snow themselves.

They stayed outside for more than an hour shoveling and playing and just enjoying the first snow of the season. When their father arrived home from helping with the tithing count, he was enthusiastically invited to join them. He did and they all had a snowball fight.

Smiley Dude

Grins and giggles are a favorite activity of the youngest member of our home. It doesn't take too much to get a smile out of him; he seems to find us all to be quite amusing!

No stranger fear either; he has smiles for most peope who stop and talk to him. Which makes them smile, which makes him smile again, which makes them start talking in funny voices... babies bring out the interesting in people!