The Great Bald Spot of '08

The disaster all took place while we were downstairs, and we thought Ben was asleep. I'm sure that's the story that many a' parent out there can tell. This is what I came upstairs to find...
The self-inflicted HAIRCUT. I'm pretty sure it's some sort of rite of passage - for kids AND parents. And Ben FINALLY did it. Although, this picture does no justice to the fact that he literally cut down to the nubbins the front first couple inches of his hair.

On top of the hair, and the mess - he was also bottomless, (I'm talkin' not even decent enough to put underwear on,) and totally swelling with pride! There's no other way to describe it, but complete MERRIMENT - at 11:00 at night. I'm sure it doesn't have anything to do with the MILLION Hershey Kiss wrappers I found all over his room.
To my surprise, I laughed. Laughed and laughed. But all I could say was, "I'm glad he's not a girl."

Then he said, "I wanted to look like my Grandpa in the scooter." (He sometimes differentiates the grandpa's that way - "the one who is in the scooter", and "the one who walks." - sorry dad.) And I laughed some more.

Uncanny resemblance though, eh? Ha ha. Again, sorry dad. :)

So, here's how the haircut went:

A handful of hair. And yes, he spread it all over the house. In all fairness, it was a new experience for him - and for me. I've never actually cut his hair before. I cut Doug's but have never done the boys. I was always too nervous because of the fine hair. But now, who really cares what it looks like anyway? I've overcome and shall never fear again.
We tried a Mohawk. It was sweet, but since there's no hair in the front, that only made the hole look worse...
Ben thought so too. :) So back to the drawing board it was...

And it's hopeless, I know, (because I could only totally fix it if I shaved his whole head - and I'm just not too sure about that,) but this is how it turned out, (this was the best pic of his head):

So if you see him looking like he has some bird poo on his head, think again before you say anything - because now you'll know that it's just his incredibly white scalp shining brilliantly in the sunlight...

Jokester

So, Doug was trying to keep Ben awake in the car last night while I ran into the gas station. He decided to tell him some jokes. Doug told him some random version of "what's black, white and red all over?'' And Ben had some interesting thoughts on it.

"I didn't like that one dad, it made me feel GARBAGE-Y. Try another one."

He's such a little weirdo. I have no idea where he got that word and why he got the idea to use it as descriptive word - especially for a feeling. I'm also pretty sure it makes no sense at all, but I know how it is - I feel all trash-bag-y too sometimes...

ALSO -

One joke Ben told me the other day, (undoubtedly gleaned from PBS or something similar) was a pretty good one:
"Which side of a cat has the most hair?
- the OUT-side!!!"

And a joke we like, and have tried to teach Ben is:
"Why did the elephant wear a diaper to the party?
-Because he's a party pooper!"

The problem is that he can't quite remember it very well. Only the important part: POOP. And since he's obsessed with worms right now, (thank you rainy spring weather,) he made it a little more personal. Behold the following:

"Why did the worm go to the party?
-because he pooped on the floor and he's a party pooper."

What goes through that kid's head all day? Who knew I was raising a regular Will Farrell?

Cruisin' for a Bruisin'/ Update on Doug's ankle

Ouch! Believe it or not, he's been able to walk on this, and it's feeling better; he's not nearly as gimpy. You wouldn't guess by the looks of it though. And I know, I know, I was totally wrong. He's not that old - he's having a speedy recovery... He claims it could have happened to anyone... Really, I'm just teasing him - I know it could have happened to anyone. I just WISH it wasn't him. I want my "Helper-Husband" back; I'll just take a refund on the "Invalid Husband" model. It's much easier with him being ABLE to do stuff. Y'know?

Our visit with the Nebraska Worthington's

Sorry it's taken so long to get these up. Every time I go to post, I get distracted. So, here's a little recap of the time we spent with B and T and family - they were only here for about 3 days, but it was super fun-filled. We went to:

-The SPAM museum. Totally fun, quirky and interesting. If you came to visit us, you could go too!

-The Mall of America and Ikea

-The National Eagle Center in Wabasha, MN (where they filmed the movie Grumpy Old Men;) it's right on the river, and a very beautiful location.

-Nelson Cheese (for lunch) in Wisconsin, went over the Mississippi River - and saw billions of bikers in the town of Nelson, WI - I guess it was Flood Week. They were kinda obnoxious traffic-wise, but it was pretty cool to see so many bikes, (too bad I didn't get a pic).

-Lark Toys (an awesome little old toy factory/store) and rode on the famous, gorgeous, hand-carved carousel.

-We got to go out on a double date withOUT kids in tow! The older kids (Dawn and Clayton for those of you who know them) watched our little guys, and just went out to eat. Imagine that! It happens so rarely, it was a huge highlight for me.

The lady that took this said, "In Wisconsin they say CHEESE, but in Minnesota we say SPAM!" hence all of our mouths open wide. :)
Making SPAM
"Can we go home yet?" "Oh wait, nevermind, there are dinosaurs [made of Legos mind you,] here - I'm in HEAVEN!" Not a direct quote, but I'm sure it went something like that...
Eagle CenterMighty Mississippi This picture might fool you into thinking Spence was having fun on the carousel - that's because I took this pic before it started. In actuality, he was terrified.

Colin's Hitler-Stache! We couldn't resist having him do the salute. We were all laughing at him, and he didn't get it. Mean huh.? Oops.

Sorry I'm so excessive with my pictures. It was really just too hard to choose a couple of highlights. So this is a sampling from pretty much everything we did - only 50 pictures later!

Reality Bites

Those beautiful feet are that of my dear, 30-yr-old hubby. Notice that one of these things is not like the other. I know you're thinking, "His right foot's middle toe is way longer than the other one"? Looks probable, but nope. Check out those ankles dude. The poor guy sprained his ankle playing Ultimate Frisbee at Young Men's last night. It's been causing him a TON of pain, and he hobbles along everywhere he goes. He was so worried about working today, having to see his patients on his feet all day, and not being able to properly stand. He borrowed some crutches even. I'm not sure how his work day has been because of it. But it's actually improved a bit today - the swelling has gone down a little. He got an x-ray at the Sport's Medicine Department in the hospital, (funny, I think) and it's not a break for sure. They want him to do physical therapy too! They say it will help lower the risk of recurrence, which is good - but I'm kind of bummed too seeing as I'll have to kiss our money goodbye now. I feel bad because he's pretty miserable, but I can't help but think that this injury is partly due to the fact that he's kind of an old man these days... (ha ha) y'know playing with kids half his age and all. Maybe I'm wrong though - if he recovers fast, I'll have to eat my words. That will demonstrate to me the resilient youth of his cute body. So, we'll see. But now if you see my gimpy little Doug limping around - you'll know why. :)

Thanks...

To all my blogging friends: I really appreciate that I can count on you all to make me feel better about myself in a time of need. I know my last post sounded awfully dramatic without really giving any justification for my thoughts that people think my blog is lame. I've just heard or read of people saying stuff like, "I absolutely hate when people only take pictures of their kids looking at the camera smiling." Or "Ugh, when pictures have that ' flash-y' look, it is so ugly." or "If people have tons of text and no pictures, I don't even want to read the post." or "It's lame when people only put pictures of their kids on their blog." etc., etc., etc... I guess I just read too much! It just bugs me that people are judging me from the way I take pictures or whatever. It's kind of dorky I know. But hey, I'm getting over the self-consciousness I feel - thanks to my nice family and friends.

Just so you know, I PROMISE I don't think any of that stuff about any of you - I don't notice that stuff. I think everyone's blogs are awesome; I swear.

But really, my sister Jill and I were talking about this little funk I am in lately. And it hit me that I either have some sort of SAD (seasonal affective disorder,) or I'm just really homesick and missing my family right now. I think the whole SAD thing is because this has been such a hard and crappy winter, and it's finally April and you'd think it would start to be sunny and warm or something - so my expectations for Spring have been high. Yet, in April, we've had like, 3 warm, sun-shiny days thus far. I think that's been making me slightly depressed. And then the whole, missing-family-thing is kind of self-explanatory. I just miss 'em - what can I say?

But anyway, thanks again for the words of encouragement, kindness and commiseration. You guys are the best! And for those of you who refrained from commenting so you could avoid saying something like, "Yeah, you ARE retarded." I appreciate that too! :)

And PS - If my Freshman Year roommate Heather could hear you say that you think I have some writing talent, I'm sure she would laugh. I used to let her read some of my English papers for proofreading purposes, and she always made fun of me and laughed at the way I write. (Consequently, I think my instructor agreed with her because I only made a B+ in that class, no matter how hard I tried.) I think it's because I write the way I talk?... At least that's what I tell myself! :) ha ha.

Blog Bog

So, I know that I will be considered a minority in this sentiment - but I will express it anyway, (if anyone happens to share my feelings though, it would be nice if you commented with a little commiseration!) I feel like I somehow need to justify why I am a crappy and inconsistent blogger. So, here's my excuse: I abhor thinking of something to put on my blog every week, and then, if I don't post once a week or so because there's nothing to put on, I hate feeling bad that I've had nothing to blog about, and no new posts. I think my life is pretty uninteresting, and I'm neither witty, nor clever, and obviously not very creative when it comes to thinking of things to post. We honestly have not participated in anything note-worthy as of late, and I am truly starting to think that I haven't really thought anything note-worthy either. Sad. I'm just in a bog. I really only put tons of pics of the boys on the blog for my family, but I know everyone else must get bored with it. And heaven knows there are only so many funny Ben conversations that I can post - I'm definitely not at a loss there! :) And furthermore, since my kids are both in an awkward photo stage (meaning: I can't keep either of them still for half a second, no cute smiles or poses, and too many candid shots just bore me - see exhibits A &B below), I have no cute pictures either.

Exhibit A

Exhibit B

Honestly, I know this is completely ridiculous - but I feel uncomfortable with my lack of beautiful, skillfully-taken pictures and witty dialogue. I KNOW I don't have skillz guys, sorry. It's really a case of keeping up with the Joneses - and I guess I feel insecure that I know I can't keep up. I KNOW people are annoyed with my blog, because it sucks. It is totally inadequate. So what should I do? What kind of style of blogging do you like? Just pics, or pics and short captions, long, funny stories, etc.? Any feedback would be appreciated... Sorry about being encircled with negativity. I'm obviously having some sort of self-esteem issue in my life right now :). I know I just need to take a chill pill. With that said....

I just now remembered some things that I have been wanting to post though. Here are a few pics of our playgroup field trip to Great Harvest.

Our kiddos "kneading" their own dough.

HUGE, HOT oven. Sweet tie-dye shirt Mr. Baker Man.

Spence, the fifth wheel. It was a joy to chase him around that bakery! :)

I HEART this picture of Hailey! Ha ha.

Oh, and here is one of Ben's drawings the from the other day, when it was 30 degrees and snowing: Ben - "Mom, can we go to Arizona?"

Katie- "Maybe we can go again next year."

B- "No, I want to go now."

K- "Why right now?"

B- "I want to live there 'cause it's warm there."

True Dat - I'm cool with that. I'll make your dad aware of those plans.... (Thought I.) The drawing above, I am told, is Arizona - It's obviously an arial shot :). I wish I had photo shop so I could point to stuff with arrows - but alas, I am technologically challenged. Sigh. Anyway, the green blob is a "pom" tree, the blue is the pool, the black is a mountain, and water is running down to it, and the pink circle around it all is the world. That is just what I'm told. He's no Sam Scow, but it will do.

And just in case anyone is wondering, we're finally getting our Heat Wave. It was 74 here today. But terribly windy, and unenjoyable nontheless. Gotta love Roch weather.

Doug's Brother Bob's family is coming out to visit us tomorrow though, so I think I will have some pics after this weekend, (we've actually got some fun plans! Woo hoo!). Here's to a new and interesting blog post on Monday! And please forgive my ridculousness.

Easter - WAY late! Sorry!

I'm feeling pretty lame that I'm just now posting this stuff - it's actually kind of embarassing. But seriously, I think I'm behind because my mind is so used to Easter being in April. So, here's to my April Easter!... :) Pics from our ward Easter Egg hunt the Saturday before. Ben had a great time - but poor Spence...He was feeling sick, and on Doug's shoulder like this the whole time! :(
...mouth full of candy!

The Boys finding their baskets. (Don't judge me on the size of them. Hello, do you know the house I came from? This is showing a lot of restraint! :) And besides, they look fuller than they are and it's mostly cheap stuff anyway.)

It was such an ordeal to take any good pictures anyway - this is the best I could do. And I forgot to take pictures of them in their Sunday clothes. They looked adorable, but I just spaced it. Really, what is up with me lately?