Ben/Benji/Benjamin

• Ben = What most of us call him.
• Benji = What HE insists we call him.
• Benjamin = What we call him when he's in for it.

On March 31st, Benjamin Richard Caron turned 4 years old. I can't believe how quickly time has flown since he was born. Life is so much more interesting...and much of the time, more entertaining with him in our family.

A few hours old

My little man dressed up for church.

Ben has always loved his daddy. He especially loves working outside with him.

Off to go fishing.

He loves his brothers and sister. He is always so happy when they come home from school.

He's turned into quite a crackup regarding his clothes...especially his shoe choices.

Apparently the right shoes are not too important to him.

Goggles and glasses are his new thing. For his birthday, Dadoo Richard found some cool Spy Goggles. He wears them all the time.

Benjamin is my little stinker man. I absolutely love his enthusiasm, however often it wears me out. His smile and dimples brighten me each time I see them. I'm so blessed to have him for a son.

I love you Ben!!!!

My Mother's Day

(I'm so behind on postings, so I figure better late than never.)

This Mother's Day was wonderful as usual. 

Taylor always lets me sleep in extra long while getting the kids together to make me a fantastic breakfast.  Then they excitedly come in to wake me up.

 

Hailey really got into doing things for me this year.  She spent HOURS in her room putting together this Mother's Day sign.  Each letter is cut out separately, each one has a different design, and then she pieced it all together.  I was absolutely amazed.

Next, she made this sign/card on the art easel to have everyone sign.

Taylor surprised me with some beautiful flowers.  Jordan made an especially sweet card in his computer class at school.

Hailey wrote this in her school class. 

In Primary, the kids got to write different things that they "know" about us.  I'm always entertained by these.  It makes me realize how little they know AND really how much they know about me.  When it comes to little things, like where and when I'm born, I realize it took me a long time to remember those things about my mom as well.  However, when it comes to the things my kids say I do during the day, and what I do for them, I realize how keen they are to this info. 

Uhhh, my favorite thing to do is to cook?  HAHAHAHA!!!!  Best joke I've heard all day!

My favorite line is that I cut myself and burn myself.  Ahhh, he knows me too well.

I am so grateful to be a mother to these four wonderful children.  What I especially love about Mother's Day is that I know that behind the day-to-day grind, the thoughts my children express to me are how they feel.

I know I need to work on being much, much, much, much more patient with each of them.  I thank my Heavenly Father each day for the blessings they each bring.  

Lied Museum (a.k.a. - The Petri Dish)

At the height of the Swine Flu panic, we decided to take all the kids to the Lied Discovery Children's Museum downtown. As with all hands-on museums, especially this being mainly for children, we all felt like we needed a shower when we left. However, we all had a ton of fun there. 

Ben & Rachel playing basketball in a square hoop.

My three beautiful boys.....ahem, I mean handsome.

(I just noticed the bottom of Noah's crutch is on his face.  Yuck!!!)

Way too cool for this stuff.

Hailey and Ashley changing the direction the water flows for the rubber ducky.

(Notice the crystal clear water they were playing with?  The girl who worked there said it's always clean in the morning, but ends up looking this way by the end of the day.)

You can make huge bubbles like this at the different stations.

Ben playing in the bubbles with Momoo Mike.

There was a demonstration of liquid nitrogen and how it affects different objects.  Benjamin was completely fascinated with this.

Showing off the hard marshmallows given out for samples.

(Taylor kept commenting on how gross this was with all the dirty hands grabbing marshmallows off the cookie sheet.  Funny how he ended up going back a few times.)

Hailey trying to pull her body weight up in the air.

This spinning wheel that demonstrates the centrifugal force could have entertained everyone for hours.

Jared, Nicole's husband, is always cracking us up.  Having three girls, they're no stranger to Hannah Montana.  Again, this being "swine flu season", he came up with a song to dedicate to our outing.

Happy Mother's Day

I've watched this video over and over, but it still seems to get me teary-eyed.  I just can't even imagine what the moms of these teens are feeling seeing them in this video talking about them.  These kind of moments, especially on Mother's Day, are those that wash away all memory of the bad days. 

 

Happy Mother's Day to my wonderful mother and mother in-law. You both have attributes that I admire and am always striving to perfect as a mother myself.  I love you both!

V.I.P.

I got this email the other day, and it's still cracking me up. I remember seeing this years ago, only with President Hinckley involved.  I just wanted to share this joke with my multitude of blog admirers.....

President Thomas Monson was returning to Salt Lake City after a speaking engagement and when his plane arrived there was a limousine there to transport him to his home.

As he prepared to get into the limo, he stopped and spoke to the driver.  “You know” he said, “I am getting pretty old and I have never driven a limousine. Would you mind if I drove it for a while?”

The driver said, “No problem. Have at it.”

President Monson gets into the driver's seat and they head off down the highway. A short distance away sat a rookie Highway Patrolman operating his first speed trap.

The long black limo went by him doing 70 mph in a 55 mph zone.

The trooper pulled out and easily caught the limo and he got out of his patrol car to begin the procedure. The young trooper walked up to the driver's door and when the glass was rolled down, he was surprised to see who was driving.  He immediately excused himself and went back to his car and called his supervisor.

He told the supervisor, “I know we are supposed to enforce the law. But I also know that important people are given certain courtesies. I need to know what I should do because I have stopped a very important person.”

The supervisor asked, “Is it the governor?”

The young trooper said, “No, he's more important than that.”

The supervisor said, “Oh, so it's the president.....

The young trooper said, “No, he's even more important than that.”

The supervisor finally asked, “Well then, who is it?”

The young trooper said, “I think it's Jesus, because he's got President Monson for a chauffeur!”

2 Words: Mor...On

Tuesday morning, I thought I'd be the dutiful little wifey and help my husband out with some yard work.  I'm not big on yard work, but I can handle a some trimming of the bushes....especially with our electric hedge trimmer.  I've always been pretty cautious with the trimmers.  Heaven only knows what damage you can do with those things.  

However, that morning I ended up gaining a little of my own knowledge when I grabbed the whirring blades instead of the handle.  My first thought was that I lost a fingertip or two.  After the initial shock subsided, I grabbed my hand and ran into the house yelling for Taylor.  Gratefully, he hadn't left for work yet so he was able to help me get this hamburger mess still called a finger steri-stripped back together.  I've am a self-proclaimed klutz, so I'm very familiar with what to do when you pop open some skin.  However, this was a little more than popping open some skin, so I wasn't quite sure what to do.  I went to ask a friend's husband who works for the fire department if I needed stitches, but I really ended up waiting too long for that.  I think I handled (no pun intended) the situation the best way I could.  I'm just SO grateful this is on my left hand, it only hit two fingers, and they are relatively still in one piece.

  

I think I'm done with the hedge trimmers for good.  I'll stick to the dishes.