Pre-teen Awesomeness

Apparently, our boys like to show off their new and improved, buff bodies to us, their ever present parental audience.  Gavin takes tae-kwon-do 3 nights a week, Bennett practices basketball incessantly.  Thus, the reason for the improved physiques.

Gavin takes off his shirt after dinner and announces, "Look at my two pack!"  Like we should be in awe.  In case we couldn't see it, he shows us, "See...this line here down the middle of my stomach, that delineates my two pack.  Pretty soon it will be a 4 pack.  Then a six pack.  Then an 8 pack.....(ad nausium)."

Not to be outdone, Bennett lifts up his shirt and says, "Look. I'm muscular and slim.  Except for like right now after we eat, then my stomach fills out a bit more" as he proceeds to impersonate a pregnant woman.

Just a few of the daily dinner time diddies we enjoy on a regular basis.

Hidden Beauty

 These pictures don't tell a story...they speak of so much more.  We were at one of our favorite hiking spots on a cold gray, day.  The peace of the place enveloped us.  This place is gorgeous in the fall with all the yellow leaves gracing the trees.  I wasn't excited about going this particular day.  But then I would have missed out on the hidden beauty found only on a cold, gray day.  These pictures spoke to me.  This is what they said:

Freedom

Friendship

Finding My Own Way

Introducing The iPed

Daddy was the genius behind this Lego creation.  Apparently he left it in Bennett's room and it became Bennett's by default.  Bennett does not yet have his own personal cell phone, nor does he need one.  He decided to remedy that and introduced the rest of the family to his new cell phone.  He carried it with him EVERYWHERE for a few days.  He even had to recharge it at night he told me.  He would change the two green buttons in the top right hand corner to two red buttons.  That was the sign that it was low on batteries.

Being that this is Bennett, he had us in stitches explaining all the apps that his phone came equipped with. Since it is a combination iPod, iPhone and iPad...it made perfect sense to Bennett to christen it the iPed.  My favorite app is the "Guilty/Life Coach App".  He informed us that this app tells you how much you've wasted every day, whether that is time, money or resources.  It's sole purpose is to make you feel guilty.  Thankfully, it also includes a "LifeCoach" app which tells you when you need to brush your teeth, put on deodorant, do your homework, and fix all the stuff that left you feeling guilty.

Another of my favorites is the "What Should I Wear Today" app.  I think that speaks for itself.  I can see how men would flock in droves to this handy tool.  And like father like son, it has over 4 ESPN apps all very important and useful information (he only came up with this idea because he saw 4 ESPN apps on his father's phone).  If Dad has it, it must be super important, right?

Hopefully his iPed will keep him happy and creative a few years longer because that's as close as he's getting to actually having his own iPhone unless they start handing them out for free and giving away free data plans.

It's the little things in life.

What I Learned Today

I love this precious girl!  I love seeing the world through her 7 year old eyes.  That's why everyday after school I have all the kids blog about what they learned that day.  It could be something academic, spiritual, an interesting fact or just about anything...as long as it's new.

This was Chloe's exact entry from two days ago:

 Hi! Do you want to know what I learned today?

  Okay, so if your mommy tells you to do something

 you should not storm off or else she might send

 you to your room and if you're too loud whining you

 might not hear her say when you can leave your room.

What practical wisdom she gleaned from her circumstances, I'm so proud of her.  I always tell her that we all mess up.  What matters is what we do after we mess up...do we learn from that mistake or do we feel sorry for ourselves.  If we choose the latter, we will most definitely find ourselves going through the exact same situation again.

Here are a few of her other posts that made me chuckle.  I think that maybe she has read one too many Junie B. Jones books.  Her writing style is very similar.

Hi.  Today on the morning announcements 

they said if you do not have snow boots/pants

you cannot play on the playground.  So I learned

even if you can't get what you want sometimes

you should still be happy.

Hi.  My reading group was today and when

the other girls just kept talking when it was  my

turn to read I just started to pout.  So then after 

that I decided that I should learn patience.

Did you know that being responsible is really

important?  Well it is and sometimes when you're

not listening and being responsible it could turn out

bad.  What if you were going to your horse lessons

and you are playing with your friend and you are late

to lessons?  How would that make you feel?