Sunday, December 4, 2011

a profound sentiment

Today while we were praying for dinner, Ben stabbed Jeremy in the temple with his fork. After a brief, stern discussion we continued praying. When I had finished praying (Jeremy wasn't really in the right attitude), Jeremy asked Ben why he was in trouble. Ben said, "Cause I poked you with my fork." Jeremy tried to explain that he could have gone blind, hurt his brain, etc.
Ben said, "Well, I was trying to hit your forehead." I may have smirked at this moment causing Ben to laugh. Jeremy administered some discipline and the laughing stopped. Ben looked at his dad and said, "You're not my friend anymore."
We started eating and things calmed down... It's amazing how some noodles and chicken can make life so much better.
After dinner Ben told Jeremy: "Dad, You're not my friend anymore because after I stabbed your head you weren't nice to me. I still love you, but your not my friend."
I'm pretty impressed with his ability to reason this out. I laughed because it was Jeremy in trouble and not me, but I can respect his logic!

Wednesday, September 28, 2011

I do it!

So Hadley has turned two. She is big stuff now! I can't do ANYTHING for her without her throwing a fit because she wants to do it herself. I'm all for independence and I love when Ben puts his clothes on and wipes his own butt; however, Hadley hasn't mastered the coordination of dressing herself yet and it would take us until Christmas to get her shoes on.
For two days in a row, I've had to fight to get her shoes on at the end of the day which has led to us leaving the babysitters in tears. She won't let me help her with the right foot/left foot thing and she can't reach around her knees to get her foot all of the way in the shoe. Yesterday she was content with just velcroing ... not so much anymore.
This evening she decided she was going to change her clothes and put her jams on by herself. She took her shoes and socks off. This is a feat that Ben still struggles with (is that a boy/girl thing???). I helped her with her pants and shirt. Then she took of her diaper.
She sat down on the floor and said, "I put jams on." Sweet, but she doesn't have a diaper on. So, I suggested we remedy the situation. Her reply, "I put jams on first." Mind you, Hadley wears feety pajamas.
She had a hold of one leg and was getting her foot in, but some how got backwards and sent her foot toward the arm hole. The fact that she made any progress at all mad her ecstatic! She looked at me and said, "I do it, Mom!" This progress was enough for me to convince her that I could show her how to finish getting dressed and we did end up with pajamas and a diaper on (in the proper order)!

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

You're nuts!

My dad stopped over today. Ben wanted to show him the water (our creek that is running because it rained). This resulted in a race to the back yard. We have a ton of walnut trees in the back that dropped tons of walnuts last night. Dad started throwing them into the water. Ben and Hadley threw nuts for a while, giggling and squealing at the splashes.
Ben looked at Dad and said, "I'll be right back, Poppa." He ran around the side of our shed and we didn't hear from him for a while. I was telling my dad a story about Ben getting hit with a falling walnut a few weeks ago when a nut fell at his feet. We kept falling when another nut fell.
I turned around just in time to see a walnut come sailing across the top of the shed. After that, a barrage of walnuts flew towards us. Jeremy yelled, "Hey, what's that?" His question was met with a huge laugh and a few more walnuts! Not only does he have a good arm, but that little boy is sneaky!!!

Thursday, September 8, 2011

Bed time songs

I remember being a little girl and having my mom sing to me every night. We sang whatever songs she thought of - from Christmas Carols to show tunes. I've started the same thing with Hadley. She loves to snuggle down into my shoulder and drift off to sleep while I sing.
I started making up songs just so that we could keep singing. I sing her prayers to tunes of songs she likes. Every time I stop, she says "Do it again, Mom" in her little Hadley voice. It's the single most peaceful part of my day!
Tonight she started singing with me. I made up a "Jesus song" that we now sing. It's to the tune of "Good Night my Someone" from Music Man. (My originality is amazing! ;)) The words are
Thank you Jesus for today,
for time to play.
Thank you Lord for family.
Please give me good thoughts and good dreams.
I sang a line and then she'd repeat it. If you've ever heard her, she occasionally has a register that only dogs can hear. This is how she sang with me tonight - maybe that's how I sound to her!
It's in these moments that I realize how blessed I am to have my kids. They keep me grounded and in perspective. It's in these moments that I remember that I can only be effective as a parent if I'm rooted in Jesus and allowing him to guide me. I've learned to take the little things seriously because I don't want to miss this.

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Rainbows and Happiness

A few days ago on the way home from Walmart we saw a rainbow. It was so huge and beautiful. By the time we got home it was a double rainbow outside our door. Ben thought it was amazing.
Today we went to Walmart again (because it's what we do). On the way, Ben asked if we would see a rainbow. I told him probably not because it wasn't raining. He told me, "No, Mom. We have to go to Walmart, buy lots of stuff, and come home at bedtime to see a rainbow. That's what my Dad said."

A bonus conversation:
Me: I'm going to take a shower and then we are going to pick up before Daddy comes home."
Ben: And then we can be happy?
Me: What?
Ben: And then we can be happy?
Me: When Daddy comes home?
Ben: Yeah!
Seriously, he sounded like he wasn't allowed to be happy today!

Saturday, August 13, 2011

Stinky bugs

Somewhere in the last few months, I have developed a bug phobia. It could be the 3 or so inch long spider that I found stalking me in the basement a few weeks ago. I'm not sure where it came from, but it's here just the same.
As we were getting ready to tuck Ben in tonight, I reached to switch off the living room light and at just the last second looked up to see a rather large stink bug. I shrieked and Jer came to the rescue. Ben was supposed to be going potty on his way to bed, but, needless to say, he was distracted by my freaking out. Jeremy caught the stink bug with a toy cup and threw it in the potty. Ben looked at it with glee, especially after Jer told him to pee on the bug. Ben did with all the joy of a three year old boy peeing on a bug!
Just as he got done, he yelled to his dad, "Now it's a stink bug, Dad! It stinks like pee!"

Tuesday, August 9, 2011

The anatomy of cows

A few weeks ago, Ben spent some time with my sister Cara and her friend Andrew. At some point through the course of this time, Ben inquired about the udders under a toy cow. Andrew explained that they are where milk comes from.
Tonight we went on a walk/run down our road. As we passed the cows, Ben said, "Dad, I need you to let me go in that fence so I can squeeze the things under their bellies and get milk."
Jeremy said, "No, first of all they aren't our cows and second of all, they don't have those yet."
(The cows are young heifers who haven't had babies.)
As I am writing this blog, I asked Jeremy for clarification about what Ben said to ensure accuracy. He asked Ben what he wanted to do. Ben hopped off of his lap, found his farm animal puzzle and pointed to the udders and said, "These things, Dad. Can you see them? I need to do that some day."
Apparently, we have a farmer in the making!

Thursday, July 7, 2011

water, milk, and soil

The other day I made myself bran muffins. They are one of my favorite breakfasts, so I don't share them with my kids (not to mention, my kids don't need the bran, if you know what I mean!). I told Ben that when we went to the store we could get the stuff to make his own muffins.
At Walmart today he picked out Triple Berry Muffins. These are then pour the mix in the bowl and just add water. That's why I bought them.
He would not put them down. They never made it into the cart. He personally handed them to the cashier who had to hand them right back, and then he carried them in the car.
*On a side note, I told him we were going to stop for ice cream on the way home. He said, "I don't want ice cream. I want a muffin." That changed when we pulled in to the Dairy Queen and he decided he could have ice cream and then a muffin at home! Boy after my own heart!
As we were driving home he said: "Mom, this says we need to put in a cup of water and milk and soil."
Jeremy and I discussed whether he meant soil or oil. We aren't totally sure, but it was cute either way. Knowing that I bought those muffins just because it only needed water, I was worried he'd be disappointed. He wasn't though! He loved them so much! I can't wait to watch him eat them for breakfast tomorrow!

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

a "cheerful" giver

Tonight Ben's devotion was about giving. It asked questions like, "Do you give away toys that you don't play with or clothes you don't wear?" He doesn't really get the concept, but explained that when he grows out of clothes we give them to other people, mainly his friend Kai.
Ben said, "But, I need cool things. If we give all my clothes away, I won't have anything cool things to wear!"
Apparently, I'm raising a more materialistic child than I thought! Ooops!
We did explain that we don't give away his clothes until he has new clothes that fit him and we only give away the clothes that don't fit. However, he was slightly disgruntled! We'll put that on the list of things to work on this summer.

Thursday, June 16, 2011

Mr. Tom

Because it has been Bible School week, our kids have been REALLY cranky. Last night when we were headed back to church, Ben asked who his teacher was going to be. Jeremy told him Mr. Tom. Ben adores Mr. Tom and loves to go to Rainbow class with him. Ben started to cry and said that he didn't like Mr. Tom and didn't want to go to Rainbows.
Jeremy and I encouraged Ben and reminded him how much he loved Mr. Tom and all of the fun that he had. While we were sitting in the Cafe eating dinner, Mr. Tom came in and sat at the table next to us. Ben looked at him and said, "Mr. Tom, I said 'I don't like Mr. Tom,' but they [he pointed at my mom, Jer and I] said, 'Yes, I did like him.'" Then he turned around and kept eating his dinner. We are so grateful for a gracious Mr. Tom who loves our Ben!

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

The big question

So, Ben's devotion talked about how we are miracles. It showed a picture of a group of kids with a baby and talked about how God creates us in our Mommy's tummies. Not even thinking, I said, "Did you know you were in Mommy's tummy once?"
He kind of looked at me and said, "Did God have to break you to put me there?"
I said, "Nope, he just puts babies in Mommy's tummies."
That was really not a satisfactory answer for him though! He said, "But Hooooooow?"
So, I said, "Well, he just has a special way of putting babies there. Isn't that cool?"
I guess adding the word cool to the explanation makes it better because it worked. He smiled and said, "Yeah, it is!"
I'm really glad that the conversation ended there and he didn't add some thing like, "Well, how do they come out?"

Monday, June 13, 2011

Pastor Benjamin

This morning was the first day of Bible School (such a great day)! I was sitting in the foyer at church working on some name tags. Ben was in Jeremy's office (to my right and up some stairs) and my mom was in her office (to my left). The phone rang, which usually makes me panic because a call before VBS starts is usually someone cancelling.
I heard Ben talking and my mom talking. Somehow, he called one office from another. He talked to Mom for a minute. Judy, the treasurer, whose office is next to Jer's, told Ben he wasn't talking to anyone. Ben said, "Yeah, I'm talking to Grammy Pastor!"
Mom got him to hang up the phone. He ran down stairs to me and said, "Mom, I just talked to Grammy on the phone. I told her, 'This is Pastor Benjamin!'"

Sunday, June 12, 2011

Spiritual conversations

Since it has been so long since I've posted a blog, I decided to post two stories tonight. Hopefully now that summer is here I can be a little more faithful!

We are working with Ben on memorizing the 23 Psalm. He's good a memorizing songs and stories that we read a lot. After reading the book Faith Training (which I recommend for anyone with kids), I decided that he could start learning small passages. So far he "knows" the first two verses: The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside quiet waters.
We tried to practice tonight and he got out, "The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want" with a little help. Then he decided that he was going to say it to us so that we could repeat it. This is what we got:
God is my life.
God is everything.
Quiet waters.
He got two really important points... and part of the verse!

Our game at bed time right now is pretending that Ben and Jer are lions and I hide. It ends in Jeremy "attacking" me and Benjamin saving me. This usually results in Jeremy, or me, getting some sort of injury as Ben flails about.
Tonight, Ben got a little out of control and kicked Jeremy in the face. After Jeremy's recovery, he tried to talk to Ben about it, which was slightly unproductive. After prayers, Ben hugged him and said, "I love you, Dad. I'm sorry I kicked you in the face."
Jer: "It's okay, Ben. I forgive you."
Ben: "No, Dad, I forgive you. (hugging me) Mom, I forgive you, too. (arms extended) I forgive ALLLL the people."
We need to explain forgiveness soon!

Monday, March 28, 2011

Batting practice

Sorry I'm so irregular! I've been getting complaints! I'm trying to get back into the habit, but I'm overwhelmed with work and school! The kids are still keeping life interesting though.
Tonight, Jeremy and Ben played baseball for a long time. Ben stood at our sliding glass door with a red fat bat and Jeremy sat on the floor by the couch pitching ball after ball. Benjamin hit the ball so well, he bounced them off of the front door - that's about 25 feet. At one point, I was in the bathroom giving Hadley a bath. I heard a noise and looked up to see a baseball in the bathtub!

Ben wanted to pitch to Jeremy. I'm pretty sure on the first pitch, I heard a smack and Ben started sobbing. Jeremy hit right in the eye. It was one of those cry until you can't breath heaving sobs. I was putting Hadley's PJ's on and was getting up to check on him. He stopped mid sob and said, "That's okay, Jer. I'm fine." That was that. He came over to show me the mark and went back to playing!

Part of the time I tried to get some video. He hit the ball directly over my head so I screamed - probably a little girlishly! While we were getting ready for bed tonight, Ben prayed, "Thank you for me playing baseball." After prayer, he said, "Mom, I hit the ball at you and you said, (Insert high pitched making fun of me screaming voice) 'Don't hit me with the ball!'"

What a great night!

Sunday, March 6, 2011

Verse confusion

We do a devotion with Ben at night. Each one ends with a verse and short prayer. We try and get him to say one or both of them with us.
Today's verse was Exodus 20:12: "Honor your father and mother. Then you will live a long, full life in the land the Lord your God will give you."
Ben's version: "Honor your father and mother. Then you will live an awful life and the land the Lord your God gets you."

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

All star in the making

Today was a rough day with Ben. He's such a sweet heart 90 percent of the time... really even more than that. However, those times when he's not in a "sweet" mood are ROUGH.
The beginning of our time together, however, helped me get through the evening that we had. As soon as we got in the car to come home, he started excitedly, "Mom, when we get home, when you are done making dinner and you put it in the cooker, will you play baseball with me?"
I told him that I was making chicken tacos (which was really exciting to him) and that as soon as I cut up the chicken we would play.
As soon as we got home he RAN through the house looking for baseballs and baseball gloves. As soon as I could get away from the chicken, I was on my knees with a toddler baseball glove on my hand dodging baseballs being chucked at my face! Every ball I caught was met with a squeal and "Mom, good job!" If he didn't catch it, he'd say in his big man voice, "Moooom, you missed my glove!"
It was only about 5 minutes before I had to deal with the chicken and he ran off to protect his sister from something. But in those minutes, I saw a little boy turning into a boy - a ball player! He was so encouraging, but he also took the lead. He "instructed me" on how to throw and catch. He's my little leader, my all-star. He's his father's son, a future coach. He's my baby always!

Sunday, February 27, 2011

Benjamin and the Lions' Den

Tonight, Benjamin decided that he wanted us to read the story of Daniel and the Lions' Den. We read it and were talking about how Daniel got in trouble because he was obeying God. We've been working with him a lot on obeying Mommy and Daddy because God says we need to. I took this as a great opportunity to teach about the benefits of being obedient.
Ben sat and listened and then looked at me and said, "Does God come with his shoot-gun to shoot the lions and keep us safe?"
I said, "No, God made the lions so he can tell them what to do. He just told them not to eat Daniel."
Ben said, "Oh, Jer, do you have a shoot gun to shoot the lions and keep us safe?"

Apparently, he didn't pick up on my hints!

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

My leg... my leg...

Benjamin was supposed to be sleeping. He'd called for us a couple of times, but neither of us had gone in to talk with him. Usually, he'll call for me because I'm the first to go in. When I get there, he says, "I need my dad. Can you send him?"
Today I was letting him go. He yelled, "Mom, I need you. My leg hurts."
I responded, "I'll come check on you in a minute."
He yelled back, "Mom, if you don't come and check it, my leg's gonna bleed!"
So, here I am blogging about it. Now I'll go check!

Sunday, February 20, 2011

leaning tower of milk

Benjamin, in all of his efforts to be helpful, was putting a container of strawberries away in the fridge. Somehow, this resulted in a gallon of milk coming out of the fridge. He carried the milk to the living room and told us that he couldn't get it back in the fridge. Jeremy told him to put the strawberries under the milk, meaning the shelf under the milk. Ben went back to the fridge.
After a few grunts and groans, he came trudging back into the living room with the milk.
"Jer," he said, "if I put the milk on the strawberries, it makes a tower and falls down."

I laughed until I cried. I hope everyone else finds this as funny as I did!

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

holding a grudge

A few weeks ago Jeremy had some of the guys over to play poker. Ben always gets to play with the Jokers. At one point in the evening he was throwing the jokers back on to the poker table. Uncle Andrew folded those cards in half so that they would know which cards they were and they wouldn't get mixed in with the rest. As you can imagine, Benjamin was NOT happy and yelled at Uncle Andrew for breaking his cards.
For the rest of the weekend he would tell me about how he was mad at Uncle Andrew. A few days later (as we were getting ready for a funeral) Benjamin walked into the room and said, "I'm so mad at Uncle Andrew." Being that I am in a class about child discipline and communicating with your child, I decided to engage Ben in his feelings about his uncle.
"Why are you mad at Uncle Andrew?" I asked.
Ben's reply, "I'm really mad at him because he ripped my cards."
I knew that Andrew was home so I asked if he would like to call Uncle Andrew and discuss it. I really was interested in what he would tell his uncle. After a few minutes of telling Andrew how unhappy he was, he concluded the conversation with "I hate you, Uncle Andrew." That prompted my crisis mode and I quickly explained that we don't hate anyone - especially Uncle Andrew - and that was never an okay thing to say. We talked about it for a while longer and the issue settled. He hasn't talked about it since.
Tonight we read a devotion about how God heals our hurts - inside and out. I asked him if anything made him sad. He thought about it for a second and said, "I got really mad at Andrew when he tried to rip my cards."
Apparently, he hasn't given it up. And YES, Andrew, I have told him he needs to forgive you. I am NOT encouraging his anger!

Sunday, February 6, 2011

Hadley's developing personality

I know that I have talked before about Hadley picking on people. The older she gets the "worse" it gets. She likes to get a reaction and once she knows she's going to get one, she repeats whatever it is. She's also developing a great sense of comedic timing.
Today she woke up from her nap and Jeremy and I were sitting together watching TV. I carried her over and sat back down and she snuggled up in my lap. We talked a little bit and she realized Jer was there. She leaned in toward him, gave him a sweet smile, and smacked him right in the forehead. It was such a clean hit it sounded like she was clapping. Neither one of us knew what to do, but because we laughed she kept smacking.
After she brushed her teeth tonight, I told her to go tell Daddy she had pretty hair (I'd pulled her hair up in a pony). She walked over, smiled at him, and - you guessed it - smacked him in the forehead! This time she followed up with a big hug!

Thursday, February 3, 2011

Straying from the norm

I know that I usually use my blog to showcase the funny things that go on in the Burnett house. Truly, there are days when things happen that I really don't think anyone else would believe. I suppose that's true in any house.
Today, however, in light of recent events, I am simply overcome with gratefulness for my family.
When I was a kid my dad coached baseball. I spent a great deal of time in and out of the Badger High School Varsity Baseball dugout. I remember spending long hours playing baseball in my yard with my dad and some of the players when they'd come over. Thus, I was introduced to Cody Betts. Fast forward like a million years, and I'm following the progress to bring Cody home to spend his last days with his family. How crazy is that. My Facebook lights up every 5 minutes with posts of people updating his status or donating money or creating events.
I cannot begin to fathom the pain of this family. While I have faced a number of events throughout my life, I have never been through anything close to this. I am grateful that my children and husband are healthy. I am grateful that I am healthy. It truly gives me pause to reflect on the reasons why things happen to some and not others. Selfishly, I wish I had answers - for my own peace of mind. Things like this make me crave more time with my family, my children, and my husband. I want to build walls of protection around them to keep all of the bad out. I have to trust my life, the lives of my children, my husband, and my family to our Creator. I know that he has a plan, a purpose, and love. I don't have to understand, but I guess that can make faith difficult; because we don't understand.
As I ramble, I realize I'm only posing more questions and leaving less answers. With that, I'm done.

Tuesday, February 1, 2011

learning the rules early

A few weeks ago, Jeremy and I bought a new TV - our attempt to upgrade our technology. Jeremy gave Benjamin a somewhat stern lecture about the TV remote only belonging to Daddy. Benjamin has since taken this talk VERY seriously.
That day he brought me the remote and said, "Mom, this is Dad's remote. Only guys can touch it not girls."
Most days, I'm not even allowed to use it to turn up the television! If I move it, I get in trouble. If I ask for it I get a lecture, "No, Mom, that's Dad's. It goes here" and he puts it away!
So much for gender equality in this house!

Monday, January 31, 2011

You're my hero

I must start with a confession. This is an old story, but nothing stuck out in my mind as "blogable" today. Although, sometimes that's a good thing!

We were sitting at dinner one day and Jeremy did something great for Ben. Ben is into us keeping him safe. For those of you who followed early facebook statuses, we have an on going battle with squirrels and Ben has now decided that we need to keep him safe. So when Jeremy promises protection, Ben things it's wonderful.
On this day, Jeremy said, "I'm I a superhero?"
Ben's response: "Yeah, your just like Super Grover!"

Sunday, January 30, 2011

reigniting my blog with a "dinger" of a story

At the request of my sister, I have decided to become a faithful blogger once again. Although life is crazy, this is the easiest way for me to catalog the funny things that happen in our house. Most of these things you wouldn't believe unless you were here.
This story has a number of punch lines, so make sure you read to the end!

We were sitting at dinner having a grand time and eating tacos. Ben said, "I have to go pee." Jeremy replied, "Go ahead."
Exasperated, Ben climbed off of his chair and said, "Ugh, my dinger hates me."
Jeremy and I proceeded to laugh almost falling off of our chairs. Ben ran half way to the bathroom and turned around and asked Jeremy to come sit with him.
Jeremy answered, "I don't want the wrath of your dinger on me."
Ben's response: "Jer, I won't put my dinger on you."
While I continued to laugh uncontrollably, Ben looked at Jeremy and said, "Dad, Mom's a creepy lady."

Aaaaah! Life in the Burnett house!