I have to be honest with you Mom . . .

It's never good when a conversation with your child starts off this way, but this is how Ben and I started off last night at the dinner table.

"I have to be honest with you, Mom. I love Dad 70% and you 30%."

This coming from the little boy who WORSHIPS his father, who has worshipped his father since day 1.  Ben was born with Brad worship.  It came as no surprise to me. 

My reply, "I believe you're being honest with me Ben.  You've always been a Daddy's boy."

Now, here comes the crazy part.

Ben continued, "You know mom,  I know you had me and everything but Dad must have been the one that I first saw.  He must have been the one to hold me first and I bet as a baby he held me all the time."

I laughed and laughed.  I laughed so hard I almost cried.  Brad, hold a baby!  That's funny...really, really funny.    Not only did Brad NOT  hold babies, but he used to play this little hide and seek game with them.  He'd hide the baby in random places (like closets, cupboards and dresser drawers) throughout the house and let me find them by tracking their muted cries.   Now, to be fair to Brad, he held Jordan occasionally but I think that was because the first child was still a novelty to him.  By the time Ben came along the child/children were mine until they were one or two years old at which time Brad would start to lavish them with fatherly attention after they "became interesting".

After my fit of laughter, things calmed down a bit.  I didn't have the heart to shatter his illusion of being held by his father all the time as an infant, but I did tell him that it was me he first saw and me who first held him and I left it at that.

I left it at that because I think it's great that right now Ben loves Brad 70% and me 30%.  I know that at different times, that will change.  I know that one day when he's a teenager and full of testosterone, he may disagree with his father and he'll have faint memories of being put in a dark place by him and then...he'll remember me saving him and he'll realize that I'm still there waiting for him.  I'm there listening and at that time he will say to me "Mom, I love you 70% and Dad, 30%."  No need to get my feelings hurt and no need for me to love him any less.  I just love my Benny and his brutal honesty. 

Yes, I love my Benny even when he breaks rulers and personal whiteboards on consectutive days at school because he was testing their "bendiness" and gets sent to the principal's office for three lunch breaks.  I am expecting a lot of great years ahead :).

A while back (1 week before Christmas) our snow finally arrived.  It snowed 2 feet in 2 days.  We live in an area of windy roads and hills and with the snow came a big dent in our suburban.  It was put there by a tree.  A tree that we ran into on our way to a party.  A tree that Brad ran into...not me.  He will claim of course that his "Dukes of Hazzard" driving skills saved us from careening off a cliff. . . that's 2 for this year Mr. Petty!

Of course with snow comes snowball fights.  Yes those are actual snowballs in action being exchanged by father and son.  Note the fear and flinching on the part of an aging Brad.

And with snow and hills comes sledding . . . through the trees.

Jake had a few nasty run-ins with trees before we found the perfect sled for him that would deliver him safely to the bottom almost every time, smiling all the way down.

Even after tumbling head over heels,  

he'd always come up smiling:  

The boys get to going pretty fast (Kenzie's smarter than that)

Brad eventually had to institute a feet first and helmet rule for some of the less cautious riders. 

The best part of it all for me was that we got to sled out of our own backyard.  It's a good thing too because my children elect to wear blue jeans instead of the nice snow pants I bought for them.  Then they beg for hot chocolate after their clothing is so frozen stiff they can hardly walk.

Of course tradition dictates that we have our nativity play the night of Christmas Eve.  It went well for about 2 seconds...

but then my boys just couldn't sit still.

And though we made it through the whole scriptural account (barely), by the end we had a very unhappy Mary.

To end this post I want to share with you three things I learned this Christmas:

1.  No boy is ever too old for an RC car.  They will play with their younger brothers' cars if they don't get their own.  (Nice socks dad.)

2.  If an 8 year old specifically tells you, "The only thing I DON'T want for Christmas is legos.  I'm too old for that now."  Chances are, you can just ignore the statement and on Christmas day he'll be SOOO into the legos he didn't want that you won't hear a peep from him all day.

3.  If you have older boys (note the plural here) and they are getting matching jammies on Christmas Eve, make sure all the jammies have matching tops or you'll end up having a muscle contest all night long.

Oh, and Mom, next year make sure you make Jordan's top ten sizes too small.  I mean, look how big his muscles look in Jake's top here. He's been putting on a lot of Jake's shirts lately...hmmmm, I wonder why? :)

Sunday Reflections 12/9/2012

Little known fact for those non-Patrick Swayze lovers out there (or for those of you who have never seen the movie like me), Red Dawn was filmed (1984) in the mountains of New Mexico and Colorado.  And so, in the event of a Russian invasion Brad has set the children to work building a secret fort deep in the woods near our new home where we may seek shelter should we be driven into the cold by communist paratroopers. 

They're loving it.  It started out with one room and has turned into a four room fort large enough for even Brad and I to enter.  All of the children (Kenzie was MIA at a birthday party for these shots) have been working on it every spare minute they have.  They even have made a special club only for those who can keep it secret because similar forts in the neighborhood have been dismantled by the HOA nazis in the neighborhood.  Ours is SUPER SECRET.  Brad found the spot.  He is so good at finding secret places that one day even he may be unable to find it

Some other quick bullet points for now:

• Brad found his helmet along with $1000 worth of other motorcycle equipment in the gas dryer we have lugged around with us for four years that we were just about to take to the dump.  He says he was walking by the dryer one day when he felt influenced by the force to stop and contemplate the wherebouts of his new motorcycle helmet, bent over and opened the door to find his treasure.  Phew!
• We went house hunting on Friday and left disheartened to see what half a million dollars will buy in this area.  One might wonder if the first house we toured might have been built by some errant polygamist who continually built additions to the house over the last 62 years of its existance.  While it was fun to wander around the labrynth in an attempt to make some sense of what room went where, it came off a little lego-landish as if a seven year old had come up with the design.  Brad was thinking positive as we walked through the home visualizing the renovations he could do until we got to the master bedroom.  I stepped in briefly only to find myself dry heaving from the stench of cat urine.  Our realtor too, found herself unable to enter and actually had to exit the home to take a few hits from her inhaler.  It was for sale for $550k.
• Ben got in trouble on the bus the other day and his sister informed me of it.  I told him to go to his room to write an apology note to the bus driver.  His note: "Dear Mr. Harison, I am very sorry for what I did on the bus yesterday.  I will try not to do it ever again.  P.S. My sister told on me."  It was almost exactly what I would have liked him to say but his sister saw it before I did and apparently it must have been found wanting because I found it marked up and discarded and beside it a sample letter written by McKenzie for Ben to follow.  It read, "Dear Mr. Harrison, I am very sorry I was bad on the bus.  I was very rude to you and to the children asking me to stop.  I will try my best to never sing again.  I promise to be on my best behavior for the rest of the school year.  Sincerely, Benjamin Belt"  Then below she outlined the form for him to follow:  "1.Intro  2. Apology  3.  What you did wrong.  4.  "I will try to..."  5. "I promise..."  6.  Sincerely, Benjamin."  I love it when my kids do the parenting.
• Speaking of McKenzie she gave a talk in primary today and wrote it all by herself.  It was the first primary talk a child of mine has every written completely by themself and she did pretty good.  I was proud.
• I've never liked machine gun kisses.  I can't say the same for Brad.  He's machine gun kissing me right now and looking at me as if I'm crazy because I'm pushing him away.  I think he wants me to end this post but before I end...
• I'm giving my first Christmas party ever and would love some ideas for fun activities.  It's for adults only.  If you have any ideas, please feel free to comment.  Thanks! 

Sunday Reflections 11/25/2012

We've now been over 3 weeks in our new home and I am completely unpacked.  However, Brad is very upset because he can't find his $300 motorcycle helmet anywhere.  Not that he thinks it got left behind, he knows it is in one of his super secret/safe "hiding places". http://motobees.blogspot.com/2011/10/sunday-reflections-10302011.html The kind of hiding place that will only reveal itself late this next summer after he has already had to purchase a new helmet.

On Thanksgiving we decided to take advantage of one of the many outdoor activities our new home offers and went rock climbing as a family.

It was all fun and games at the local rock wall until Brad looked up from his ropes and asked the dreaded question, "Where is Jacob?"  We had been there all of 5 minutes when Jacob had disapeared from site, found the back way up to the top of the rock and was trouncing around by himself up on the ledge above us.  To Brad's question he leaned over the edge of the 40ft cliff and happily replied, "I'm wight here guys".   It took some strong convincing after rescuing Jake to prevent Brad from tying Jacob to a tree for the rest of the day.  As a compromise, me or a child were to hold his hand for the duration of our rock climbing adventure.

***Note firm grip on his arm.

As a whole it was a fun experience and our kids were excited to be able to go again the next day.  Riley and Ben seemed to take right to it.  Kenzie was anxious to climb but petrified once she looked down.  I had to climb to show her that I could overcome my own fear of heights and that seemed to encourage her.  Jordan was in mortal agony the whole time as he was unable to climb in his tennis shoes (because they didn't have a good grip) and the only rock climbing shoes available to him were my old ones which were several sizes too small. 

I woke up to a funny conversation yesterday morning between Jake and Ben. These days Jake is pretty stubborn and it is nearly impossible to convince him at any time that he is wrong once he has dug into a good argument. Don't know where he might get that from . . . Anyhow, the discussion went something like this:


Ben: Jacob you can't say that, it's the H-word! I'll tell Mommy and you will get in BIG TROUBLE!

Jacob: I DINUNT SAY HELL H-WORD! I SAID "HELL"!

Ben: You just said it again! You can't say the H-word, I'm going to tell Mom.

Jacob: I DINUNT SAY H-WORD! I AMN'T IN TROUBLE!!!

Ben: Where did you hear that word Jacob? You are not supposed to say that word.

My kids are soooo parental in my absence.

Jacob (screaming at this point): I DINUNT SAY H-WORD. I SAID HELL!!! I HEARD IT IN A SONG!!!

Jacob hears a song once and then will break out singing the tune word for word on a whim days or weeks later with no discernable trigger.

Ben at this point is having great difficulting explaining to Jacob what the H-word is without actually using the word Hell. Hell and the H-word, Clark Kent and Superman or describing what peanut butter tastes like without using the word peanut.

Ben: That IS the H-word!

Jacob: I ONLY SAID HELL, I DINUNT SAY H-WORD!!!

I could see Ben was actually at a loss for words himself (very uncommon) to explain the primary and secondary forms of this particular vulgarity to his little brother. A nobel gesture on Ben's part to do what he could to prevent his brother from suffering the standard punishment that accompanies potty language in our house. Well, under-age potty language/mouths at least. . . And so I took Jake aside to explain to him that Hell is the H-word and made sure he understood. This of course made it all the worse later in the evening when again the word Hell fell several more times from his little lips. Only this time the profanity was then followed with theats to his brothers and sister that "I will not love you anymore if you tell Mommy!!" Somehow this did not prove enough of a deterent for the other kids to keep his secret. Mom was IMMEDIATELY notifed and the little tattle tales were then content to sit back to enjoy the fruits of their labors.

I'm Still Unpacking

It's true.  This time though I'm not cleaning out cupboards with mouse poop or researching good ways to catch mice.  (Boy, I didn't realize how much I hated the mice and the DUST!)  I'm helping out at the dental practice.  As one of our friends told Brad, "Congratulations!  Now it's just sink or swim everyday."  So true and we have a LOT to learn and do still.

You've seen a version of the above picture before .  Me, senior year, with the haircut Brad affectionately calls, "The Michael J. Fox" haircut.  Brad teases me unceasingly about this haircut, day in and day out.  Actually, he really only teases me when he sees the pictures.  Then ensues an argument between he and I where I insist that the haircut, back in 1993 when I had it, was cool.  He says no.  I say yes.  We end on agreeing to disagree.

So, you all know we bought our own dental practice recently.  Well, on the wall are some pamphlets and one of the pamphlets caught my eye.

Just take a guess when this lovely pamphlet was printed...anyone, anyone?  Yes,  1993.  Okay, it was really 1992, but 1993 sounds so much better doesn't it?  So who was right about the coolness, hmmm?  You can't get any cooler than a model for an ADA pamphlet, can you?

Now that I've given you all a good laugh, I just want you to know we are all here, alive and swimming. Strangely enough, I miss my kids now that they are in school all day. I kind of got used to always having them around.

Family Politics

Brad and I are voting for Mitt Romney and have been intensely following this presidential election for the past 3 months.  Needless to say, as a result, our children are a little more emotionally involved in all of this than they should be.  This is well demonstrated in the conversation I overheard between Riley and Jake in the suburban this last Thursday while moving from our old home to our new home.  I had been listening to Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity the whole trip.

Jacob :  I'm not voting for Mitt Romney.  Of course, he may kill me and every other person for not voting for him except for the hulk.  He won't kill the hulk.  Nobody can kill the hulk. 

Note to reader:  We recently watched the Avengers as a family for the first time and Jake's mind has been focusing a lot on the hulk and killing bad guys.  I'm not quite sure how that relates to Mitt Romney killing him if he doesn't vote for him...maybe he knows that only bad guys vote for Obama  ;)

Riley (incredulous):  So, that means you're voting for OBAMA?

Jake:  (in a confident, happy voice) Yep!

Riley (with a tone that implies he thinks Jake is an idiot for not listening to Mom, Dad, Sean Hannity or Rush Limbaugh and wanting to vote for Obama):  Well, that doesn't matter because YOUR vote doesn't count anyway!

Moving

Yes, we are moving finally...this coming week.  I shouldn't even be writing this post because I should be packing, but I have to put my thoughts down before I forget them.  2nd to last move this time as we FINALLY, after 4 1/2 years of Brad being an associate dentist, are purchasing our own dental practice.  The papers are signed and we close on the deal next Friday.  I say 2nd to last move because we are renting until we know what we can afford with regards to a house.  What we can afford will probably not be very much, as the housing where we are moving is so, so EXPENSIVE.  Just to give you an idea we looked at a 4000 sq. ft. home on 2 acres, something that would probably sell here for $500-$600k and it is listed for $970,000.  The home we are renting (which is located on a street named "the tooth" in a different language) is 2600 sq. ft. on 1/3 of an acre and is listed for $530k.  So, housing is a little pricey and we have to get there and see what we can buy/fix-up for a reasonable price.

I have mixed feelings about leaving this house.  There are plenty of things I won't miss and some that I will miss terribly. 

What I won't miss:

1.  The mice.  From the beginning I've hated the mice (http://www.motobees.blogspot.com/2011/03/to-buy-cat-or-not-to-buy-catthat-is.html).  We've actually been mice free for a while but today we caught one.  I keep my mouse traps out here constantly just for that purpose.  Every morning I am usually the first one to rise and I, afraid of seeing a dead mouse caught in a trap, slowly (I think at times it may take me up to five minutes to gather my courage) peak around my kitchen entrance to see if either of the traps set there have mice caught.  I'm always so grateful when someone else enters before me to make sure the way is clear.  No, I will not miss the mice one bit.

This is the corner I look around to have a peak at that itty bitty mouse trap under my oven.  Luckily for you and me, when I took this picture there was no mouse to be found.

2.  The tile.  I  have mixed feelings here, but really the cleaning of over 3000 sq. ft of tile is labor intensive.  And somehow, because of the type of tile we have, it looks no better when we finish than when we started.  Besides, it makes my already loud and boisterous boys that much louder.   

3.  The mile long dirt road and the dirt driveway that brings in so much dirt and dust in the house and the cars.  I will have a car that actually looks clean again! 

Jordan will miss it though. Brad and I have been letting him practice his driving skills there for the past six months.  Can you see him at the wheel?  Look closely, he's there.

4.  My fear of seeing that bear that roams our ground at times.  I'm always glad when winter comes and I know the bear will be hibernating.

What I will miss:

1.  The fridge/freezer:  It is HUGE.  The refrigerator section is as big or bigger than most people's regular fridge/freezer combos as is the freezer section.  It is awesome!  It almost always looks neat because it has so much room.  I don't know that I can ever live without one now.  I guess I'll have to learn.

2.  The storage space.   Newer homes just don't have the storage space that older homes do.  There are nooks and crannies everywhere to store things in this home.  I have so much storage space I forget what I've stored.  I've been pleasantly suprised at some of the treasures I've rediscovered as I've started packing.

3.  The tire swing and motorcylce track.  It's too bad we can't take them with us.  Of course, I'm sure with the number of motorcycles we have the tire swings will follow us wherever we end up.  As for the motorcycles, well, although we won't have a track at our home, we're much closer to some great desert riding than we've ever been.

4.  The real fireplace.  Again, I have the same mixed feelings for the fireplace that I have for the tile.  Taking the ash out is a pain and gets me VERY DIRTY.  However, Brad is usually the one to do this dirty task so it doesn't bother me as much as the cleaning of the tile.  I will miss sitting by the fire at night enjoying it's warmth and glow and not having to worry about the cost of running it like I would with a gas fireplace.

5.  The Santa Fe trail.  It's where I run and bike.  It goes for miles both north and south.  It is only a 1/4 mile from my house and very convenient.

6.  The view outside my dining room window.  Every morning (spring, summer, winter or fall) I am struck by the beauty of this view.  It starts my day off right.  Can you tell we had our first snowfall yesterday?

Two other quick items worth mentioning:

1.  I've withdrawn all my kids from the online public school, which was great for our situation, and enrolled them back in the regular public schools.  I will have freedom again...I think.  Brad may need me for the office more than I anticipate

2.  Brad, in his down time from work, has really grown quite the beard.  This is his second.  The first he had to shave when he went to look at some practices in September.

We thought it was such a good look for him that we seriously considered switching careers again:

Lumberjack:

Model:

or, better yet, Model-Lumberjack.

I think it may have paid greater dividends than his current career of dentistry, don't you?  I mean really, look at this specimen of manhood.

As ruggedly handsome and irresistable as it is, with the move, the beard goes too. (Phew!)