Playing doctor

Our kids' latest favorite game to play is doctor. One of them is sick, and the other one repairs him with our play tools (do you see the wooden hammer in this shot?). They can play this game for an hour.

If your kid is talking too much...

I swear that Benji asked me to tape this paper over his mouth. He thought it would look neat (he had decorated the paper with markers). You know what, I was fine with it because I needed a break anyway!

Our poor deprived children

It's true. We have no T.V. Does this mean we are anti-media? No. In fact, we adults watch a very healthy amount of movies on our computer, but we do limit our children quite a bit. And it seems that Benji is starting to catch on.

A few days ago Benji told me that for his 3rd birthday Zac wanted a T.V. and that for his 5th birthday he wanted a T.V. too. Then yesterday he got to watch a T.V. program at a friend's house and on the way home he told me, "We need to buy a T.V. and set it up and watch it."

Our poor deprived children ... but we have no intention of stopping the deprivation anytime soon.

Have you canoed yet today?

The boys and I went to vote on the way to Bible study this morning. I tried to talk it up and explain how important it is to vote as an American. Once we pulled up to the parking lot, Benji wanted to know where the canoe was. He thought we were going BOATING. Voting isn't nearly as fun as boating - but they did have free candy so all was not lost.

No more training wheels

Where did my baby go?

Ditto

People always ask me how I'm doing, what's new in my life. This is a hard question for a SAHM (stay-at-home mom). I could say a million tiny things or nothing at all. I tend to opt for the second answer. But here is the answer. This is the answer I didn't write but it still expresses myself 100%. My friend Hannah sent this blog post, so I thank her for giving me the words that expresses the answer to that common question of "How are you doing?":

Domestic Monastary

Bible reader

I do read the Bible regularly - I really do. I find much encouragement, wisdom, and insight from its' pages. However, I also enjoy novels immensely.

This afternoon I picked up my current novel "The Septembers of Shiraz" by Dalia Sofer to take outside with me to read while the boys enjoyed playing in the warmth of a fall afternoon. Zac and Benji wanted to move to the backyard, so Zachary asked me to come to the backyard with my Bible.

Apparently, Zac thinks anytime I'm reading a book, it must be a Bible. I am sorry to burst his bubble that his mommy really isn't as holy as he thought I was!

(By the way, "The September of Shiraz" is a good read if anybody is looking for a book.)

Congratulations and Argh - all in 5 minutes

I was disciplining Benji in his room today while Zachary, completely on his own, went to the bathroom, took off his pants and his diaper, scooted the stool to the toilet to sit down without the potty seat (because he is a big boy now and he just can't stand that baby potty seat anymore) and proceeded to poop in the potty all by himself. Pretty impressive for someone who just turned two a few weeks ago! I quickly went to another room to do some *small* thing after offering him much praise. Well, in that *short* time he managed to get off the toilet, somehow smearing poop on the stool (but there was none on his foot so I really don't know how that happened) and putting the ENTIRE roll of new toilet paper into the toilet. And that's the 2nd time he did the whole toilet roll in the toilet trick - the first time was a few days ago. Congratulations and Argh - all in 5 minutes.

Big mistake

Benji intercepted the "One Step Ahead" kids' catalog in today's mail. Big mistake. He now is in full-swing coveting mode and has about 100 things he wants for Christmas. It's better to not even know that so many toys exist in this world. Oh well, I guess he's going to be one disappointed little boy on Christmas day.

The power of cheese

If you want to win the hearts of our sons, give them a piece of cheese and they will love you forever.

(Kristin is currently number one on their food list since she gave them cheese on Thursday.)