Dish duty

Cole cleaned the entire kitchen tonight. It was the first time that he had to scrub every pan, dry them and put them away, load the dishwasher, wipe the counters, and even clean the sink out at the very end.

Let me tell you how thrilled he was to do it....

It's moments like these in parenting, where you have the remember that even though you can do it so much faster (and better, ahem..), and without the whining and fits that accompany this "teaching moment", that it'll all pay off in the end.

Am I right? Anyone?

Our Dayne lost her 2nd tooth in a week and a half! She lost the first while I was in CA at my cousin's wedding (absolutely wonderfully perfect trip, by the way). That made me a little sad-especially since losing your two front teeth change a child's appearance so much. And then tonight after dinner Geof put his finger in there to "inspect" and popped it out. Same way he did with the other one, apparently. Our little Dayners is no longer so little.

Junie got a hair cut-not her idea, but it was time. June looks so cute with short hair. Adorable. She was pretty devastated by it at first, because short hair does not equate to the princess look. I think she's coming around to the idea though, with all the compliments she's received.

And we went from winter to summer here-no Spring! No like.

Post edit: I wrote this post up a few nights ago but decided I needed it not only on the Bennett/Beecher family blog, but on our own, as well. Also added some pics of our cat Lizzie and the funny places she chooses to lounge. As well as some pics of June practicing her music class. Although we LOVE the program, any "homework" type activity is shunned by June.

Cole and Dayne take piano lessons from me and a friend of mine who either comes to our house every two weeks or sometimes we go there. It's just nice for the kids to "answer" to someone besides their mom. :) Cole wanted to play the harp at his teacher's house and was so focused on the song she taught him. He really is very gifted at so many things he tries. Lucky kid.

...And my little seeds are starting to grow in my garden. Yay!!

Disney

As an extension to their already spoiled Christmas 2012, we took the kids to Disneyland a few weeks ago. ;) We met Geof's family down there and loved every minute of it-except maybe my aching feet? (whine) We flew in a day early to the John Wayne airport and were greeted by a perfect sunshiny day (never too hot) and a feel in the air that I don't think can ever be replicated in VA. This isn't to say anything bad about VA. CA can't replicate our hot and humid summers which surprisingly we've grown to (kinda) love. There's definitely something romantic about a muggy, summer evening in the South. Back to our trip: we stayed our first night with the Dyckman's-our friends from Richmond whose time here was too short! They were very good to us; charming accommodations (their little home in the hills outside of LA was picture perfect), incredible food (Sarah and Corey both love cooking and have taken cooking classes together...aw!), and ever pleasing conversation. We miss you, Dyckman's!

The next 4 1/2 days were spent with Geof's sisters, Ellynn and Meagan and their families, and Geof's parents. Doing Disney with the Bennett's is something that takes getting used to but I would never do it any other way! We go hard 4 or 5 days (this time we didn't get the much needed one day off in the middle to go to the beach), pack lunches and snacks, eat one meal a day on the park, and run from ride to ride like a bunch of middle schoolers. It's fabulous. My kids were so sad to leave cousins. The travel time there and back is extremely exhausting, but the "sacrifice" (really? Is a trip to Disney a "sacrifice"?) is worth it. Geof's family is so good about all getting together regularly-no matter where you live.

Throw in a half day mission reunion with my beloved companion Hermana Katie Lark, and I'd say this trip was nothing less than ideal.

Until next time!

11 years

And I feel like we're just now starting to fall into REAL love. What, you ask?! Only he and I will ever know...

Kids say the darnedest things..

Some children are not meant to grow up fast..nor will anyone make them. You would think June, at 5 and a half, and in Kindergarten, would know that you don't really turn into a cat if you drink out of the cat bowl. She continued to ask us how she could become a cat yesterday, and that was the answer we gave her. She thought about this all evening as we were out running errands. At one point she even shouted hopefully, "that means I get to stay up! Phoebe and Lizzie always get to stay up with you and Daddy!"
When we arrived home, and the rest of us had forgotten the "cat talk", she ran into the laundry/mud room, knelt down, and sipped (like a cat) two slurps out of the bowl (yuck!) before Dayne yelled at her to "get outta there!" And she was quite upset that she didn't magically transform right the and there!
...and we want our children to grow up faster?! No way.

Worth listening to while you fold laundry

I've had the privilege of meeting this couple and I've been so impressed with them both. They recently wrote a book titled, "The God Who Weeps" and were interviewed on a podcast and gave some insight on why they wrote the book and of course, their personal experience with it. I can't wait to read it. Please take the time to listen to this podcast and if you like it, then here's a few others WELL WORTH the time you invest.

It has opened my mind and my heart to areas of Mormonism that I was struggling with and needed answers..and peace. HAPPY NEW YEAR!

VA Christmas

Geof. just informed me that I need to go take some pictures for him for work..so this'll be quick-not much narrative..., and most of these pics you might have already seen, anyway. Hopefully Le Anne will post her "Virginia Christmas Story" on here so you'll have a better idea of what we did. And "did" we did DO! There's always a handful of things to do while in Richmond and its surrounding areas.., but I'm coming to appreciate more and more the quiet (and not so quiet) time in our home.., reading books, doing puzzles (we decided to leave the card table out for a few months to do puzzles on while watching movies), enjoying meals together, etc. Le Anne and Ellery spoiled us rotten with not only gifts (can't wait to use the leaf blower!), but just their undivided attention. They're always so good at that. They're good listeners and make you feel special and important...even if you're not feeling too great about yourself. :) We dragged them all over and they were good sports about it.

 The kids loved the "tickle monster", Gma's goodies (and Pa's, of course!), movies, staying up late(r), trying on GOBS of new clothes (Yay!Thank you Meags and Hazel!), receiving gifts, buying gifts (Cole surprised Geof. and me with some things he picked out with Gma from Costco), going on walks in the rain, hearing stories of Pa and Dana's growing up years. Lucky kids. That's what Geof. said after we dropped them off at the airport. He was "so happy his kids could have this experience with their grandparents".  Thank you, Ellery and Le Anne for ALWAYS MAKING LIFE SPECIAL.

VA

Good gravy, I feel blessed this month. Busy, as usual, but happy to be where we are in life. I was going through a bit of a, "I'm done with Virginia/I wanna move back west" phase for a while there.., but lately Virginia has felt so good to me. Home. At least for now. The kids are happy in school and have good friends. I'm still trying to figure out how to be an at home mom whose kids are in school..the home school thoughts always plague me and who knows, I might home school one, two (or scary! THREE) kids next year. All depends. Trying to not rush into it, though. Take my time. Feel things out first. BREATHE.

Geof. is very happy, too. I think it's the first time since we've been married (almost 11 years) that he feels confident about what he's doing and of course, the fact that he can provide for his family. That's something men need to be secure in and I'm so glad he's there.

Cole is active as usual and just finished his tenth (possibly more?) season of soccer last week. A lot of his friends went on to play travel soccer last season, but he (and we) chose to keep him in rec soccer because the travel teams play ALL THE TIME and on Sundays. I admit, I've gotten quite competitive with Cole and wanted so badly for him to play on the travel team, but Geof. was solid and reminded me how silly it would be to devote our lives and possible testimonies to NOT recognizing Sunday as the Sabbath. He was very adament and it didn't take much for me to be on the same page with him. Thank you, Geof.

Dayne is doing well and school and is transforming from little girl to not-so-little, anymore. I never like this change-especially with Dayne who grows up faster than the other two (middle, forgotten child syndrome--or am I the one with the syndrome?). She wanted to do dance this fall but like soccer, has ended up wanting to quit. She really loves playing the piano and she and Cole have a teacher (a lady in the other ward) who comes every two weeks just so they have someone other than me to answer to. She's fun and easy-going and doesn't freak out when Dayne's wiggling all over the place, trying to play the pedals and not sitting up straight, or that Cole is rushing through each piece at 3x's the speed he's supposed to play just so he can be done sooner (he's actually VERY talented in piano). And she's super affordable which is just perfect. Dayne continues on with her arts and crafts and I'm hoping she'll continue with that..just maybe more concentrated and less rushed.

Junie. Kindergarten has been quite the adjustment. Her teacher says she's as happy as can be and sings NON-STOP (I told her to feel free to quiet her if/when it's disruptive. She assured me it's not..) but when it comes to academics, might not be "processing" the information that the teacher is teaching or asking her to answer. She said if it continues on this way, June will probably do Kindergarten again, but she's still too young to test and they'll watch her and see what happens in the Spring. This didn't surprise me or Geof., but we're hoping if she IS held back, that it doesn't affect (effect?) her socially or hurt her confidence. She's also very young (turned 5 in July) so it could just be an age thing. Geof. and I think it's a lack of interest. She does well in what she's interested in. I just don't think she's interested in reading/writing yet. With that being said, we still need to be better about working with her.

Amy and Lydia came out for Halloween and my kids were in HEAVEN! Lydia, come back and play..or stay? Amy spoils me rotten.

Need to take some pictures, apparently!