Is This Age Appropriate?

The other night we were doing family scripture reading before bed. We are reading in the Book of Mormon and we've made it all the way to 2 Nephi chapter 9. I was reading a few verses and they were talking about physical and spiritual death. After about five verses, Logan says to the family, "Whoa, that's a lot of death!"

A minute or so later the reading turned to death and hell or, as an 11, 9, and 5 year-old would say, H - E - double hockey sticks. At this point Tom says, "Do you think this is age appropriate?" I'm not sure if he was serious or kidding or maybe a bit of both but Gary and I realized that the scripture study was going downhill fast as this point.

Another verse or so goes by when the word "naked" comes up. At this point Tom is asking if it is rated E for Everyone or A for Adult and we knew our reading had come to an end. At least they were listening to the words if not the meaning!

Celery & Chicken

I'm finally back to blogging after a way to long absence. I just couldn't resist posting two stories from Ethan and Dylan. It seems like the boys are always up to something or just plain saying some of the craziest things. Yesterday for dinner, Gary put some chicken drumsticks on the grill. Ethan was really enjoying his as evidenced by the BBQ all over his mouth, chin, cheeks, hands, and even nose. He turns to Gary and asks, "Dad, is this a chicken leg?" Gary told him yes and then Ethan asked his follow-up question. "Is it the front or the back leg?" Really? Guess it's time to show him some chickens. Maybe all the elk viewing has left him with the impression that all animals have four legs. And all this time we've been saying that Ethan is one of the smart ones.

At lunch today Dylan was trying to put more on his plate than he weighs. He had hot dogs with ketchup, cantaloupe, and celery sticks and ranch and started asking for some chips. We told him he needed to eat some of his lunch first so there would be room for chips. The plate was completely full. Gary and I obviously weren't paying attention because a few minutes later he had all his celery sticks balancing on each other in a celery stick tower and said, "I have some room right here. Now can I have some chips?" It's painful to be outsmarted by your three-year-old over and over.

Halloween Cupcakes

When I saw the recipe for these spiky monster cupcakes, I knew I had to make them. Logan's 3rd grade Halloween party needed treats so, two dozen cupcakes later, I had a blast. I am thinking I need to make another batch to give to neighbors. I hope the kids like them as much as I liked making them!

General Conference

We were sitting down for the first session of General Conference when Dylan, looking at the t.v. during the opening hymn says, "That man has a lot of arms." A lot of what? He was a bit concerned until Gary told him that there were two men sitting there, playing the hymn together. I just had to laugh. During that and the next session today, every time a hymn played, I smiled watching the organists play. The innocence of youth.

I especially loved the talk today by President Monson about an attitude of gratitude. How often are we depressed because we don't have such and such or we don't live somewhere or this or that or the other. We are so blessed to live in this time, even with the economic hardships that are happening right now. We live in a world filled with modern technology. We have comfortable homes and food to eat. We have loving families that just want our time. Like we also heard in conference, "You spell love t - i - m - e." We can be grateful that we have time to show those around us how much we do love them.

I am grateful I am in a place I can watch all the sessions of conference. I can listen to the messages, tape them on my DVR fore later, make a disk to share with branch members who had to work, and, most importantly, have my children see and hear the words of the prophet while their testimonies are developing and growing. I'm very grateful we are blessed with this opportunity every six months and I'm already looking forward to it in April!

A Sign from Above

Today was General Conference. We all sat down to watch the morning session together. The boys had their conference booklets and Gary and I settled in to watch and listen to the messages. The boys made it almost to the end before we released them to go outside and play. A huge improvement over years gone by. Maybe it was because this is the first time in recent memory that Gary was able to watch the Saturday afternoon session with us. It was great having him home.

During the break between sessions, we had lunch and started playing a fun domino type game called triominoes. After lunch and after Dylan was sleeping, we thought we'd play one more round before starting conference. I love having our DVR so we can watch and rewind and pause when the phone rings and start a few minutes late if we need to.

Well, we sat down to play and the thunder started to roll into the neighborhood. We continued playing and the hail began to fall. Another turn and the hail became bigger. Someone else played a piece and the thunder became louder. Next player and the lightening was no longer something that was hitting in the forest somewhere. It hit in our backyard. Gary saw it and is pretty sure it hit our laundry line. Wow was the thunder loud. Luckily it didn't hit one of the dozen trees or the house. The electronics are all fine. There was no fire. No tree toppled over onto our house. No worse for the wear.

I'm thinking it was a sign from above that it was time to put away the games and get to conference. Maybe next time we won't delay the start of the session to meet the recreational desires of our little family.

Dad, Can I Go to Sex Ed?

The other day Tom brought a permission slip home from school. He has reached the ripe old age of the school puberty talk and needed our signature to attend. For some reason, Tom always wants me to sign things like this while Dylan is crying, Logan is asking me to help him spell something and Ethan is reading me his after school book. I told him I would look at it right after dinner and make sure everything was taken care of for school the next day. Apparently, he didn't think I would get it done.

As he was getting things out of the fridge for dinner while Gary was stirring what ever we were having in the pot on the stove, Tom asked completely nonchalantly, "Dad, can I go to sex ed?"

There are times in life that you REALLY, REALLY wish you had a camera. This was one of them. Gary's face was priceless. A mix between shock, confusion, and a bit of, "If I ignore this, will it just go away?" mixed in for good measure. I reassured him that he did indeed hear Tom correctly.

Needless to say, we signed the paper.

Fast forward a couple of weeks and the big maturation discussion has arrived. Tom came home from school busting at the seams with all his new found information. Being a girl and never attending a boy class on the subject, I was a bit taken aback by the amount of information. Tom wanted to debrief. I wanted Gary to be there. We agreed that when Gary got home from work, the three of us would sit down and talk all about it.

Tom was very excited to show us all the fun things in his kit. Mostly facial cleanser and deodorant because boys break out and stink. This was one of the main topics I gathered. He also learned quite a bit about his anatomy. From growing taller and getting muscles to what may happen while he's sleeping (I think you know what I'm saying here), it was all covered.

I think I made it through most of the conversation without blushing and giggling like a little girl. I'm still wondering where my baby went. How can it be possible that he is learning about puberty when it seemed like yesterday we were worrying about teething and potty training.

Underwear and Toothbrushes

I'm not sure I will ever get Dylan potty trained. He is by far my most challenging. Yesterday he pooped in his underwear and then, ever so quietly, he went in the bathroom and took them off and put his shorts back on commando. Today we found the underwear, which apparently is more than a one-day process, wet on the sink next to his brother's toothbrush. He had scrubbed his underwear to get them clean. Where does he learn these things? He's never seen me scrubbing his underwear with toothbrushes. This morning, the boys were all sitting at the table ready for breakfast when I had to tell them that I threw all their toothbrushes away and they could pick a new one from the closet this morning. They asked why and I said something I never thought I would need to. "Because your brother was cleaning poop out of his underwear with them." Honestly, where do these ideas come from and can you buy pull-ups for kids going to college because I think Dylan may need it. Ugh.