My babies

My babies aren't quite so little any longer. Would you believe this was 2.5 years ago?

Jacob is in scouts, and loving every minute. He got his bobcat recently and thinks tiger scouts is the coolest thing ever!!

Brandon is finding himself in the time while his brother is at school. Without an older brother, he's been able to play dolls with Megan, and watch the shows HE wants. (Which aren't Pokemon). He's growing up, and it's hard to believe he's nearly 5!

Megan is finally potty trained, and rather clingy. She loves girl stuff, pink, purses, and everything of the sort. Wow, don't know how she grew so girly.

Ben and I have new callings. He's in Webelos, and I'm the cub committee chair. (Which means I'm not as cool as the cub leaders, but I get to try to lead the leaders). Anyway, sorry for the lack of update!!

Adventures of the tooth fairy

Twice in one week, bet you're shocked!! Jacob lost his top front tooth last night. He was so excited, (and the other one is going to follow any minute now, it's VERY loose). I'll get a really good shot when I get home, this is the one daddy got so I had some proof they don't really fall out "at the same time" .....

Last night the tooth fairy had to show up .... my best friend randomly commented that she had a few Bakugan she found in her garage, and I jumped at the chance!!! We instituted a "the tooth goes in a bag so the tooth fairy can find it" rule, and this morning he found the bag with 3 shiny quarters, and one little Bakugan. (Daddy saved the cards and the other 2 for bribery/later teeth).

He ran into our room jumping up and down that the tooth fairy gave him a Bakugan! He gave two of his quarters to his brother (which he'd said he was going to do, which was why the tooth fairy was so nice), gave one quarter to his sister, and kept the Bakugan. (Boy, what a surprise).

A few minutes later I hear a gasp that could only be a child gagging or hyperventilating. I jump out of bed, RUN to the living room, and find him with his mouth wide open, "Mommy," he whispered, "look what it turns into!!!" (It's an exceptionally awesome one that has a snakelike neck).

sadly, I have the sneaking suspicion the tooth fairy will be visiting again tonight for the other top tooth. But nothing can be as cool as finding a new Bakugan toy under your pillow. .... I never considered using little toys until yesterday, it turns out the kids are more excited for those than money, who would have guessed?

Family pictures

we did family pictures this weekend, and it was SO fun. The kids are growing like little weeds, and cute as anything. (Not that I'm biased). Just wanted to share a couple of these shots I got with my phone, eventually I will post the real family pictures.

This is the kids afterwards, as all the children decided to stick their feet in the VERY cold stream.
and this was too cute not to share! My husband and my daughter. :-)

Brandon. Not Benjamin!!!

at the beginning of the new year, Brandon moved up to a new class in primary. While trying to get 65+ children in their correct classes, somehow the name was messed up, and the roll says "Benjamin Paulsen" was in the four year old class ...

Brandon is still in speech. He's come a long way, but for those that haven't met him before, he's still hard to understand. ... so for three weeks his class must have sounded something like this, (while taking roll) ..

Teacher: "Benjamin?" [no answer]

other class Mate: [pointing.]

Brandon: it's Brandon. Not Benjamin."

Teacher: [not having a clue] ... OK ... Benjamins here.

Brandon: [near tears] my name is Brandon James paulsen.

Teacher: OK Benjamin ....

It was near the end of the month when Brandon complained to us in tears, explaining the problem. We talked to the teacher and corrected the problem. Poor kid. After we explained the mixup, they understood his real name better, because they knew what they were listening to.

He's now called "Brandon" and primary class is much better for him.

he got his first book of Mormon today, and he jumped up and down. He was so excited to get his OWN scriptures with his name on them. The first thing he did was flip through the pages to find the picture of Christ. Because finding Jesus Christ was the most important thing in the scriptures. I couldn't argue with him. He's right.

Cute and fast.

The above picture is Jacob. Seriously ... it's the best I could get. otherwise his pictures look like this.
He's the yellow blur following the green and red blurs. ... on a side note, when my computer crashed in December it took the last YEARS worth of pictures! I'm still searching through files hoping desperately to find more. But at the moment, the last backup of my pictures was the previous December. So if anybody has ANY pictures of my children from the last 12 months ... I'd be most grateful.
I had a really rough day yesterday. So when I got home Ben sent me to my room, and I was brought breakfast in bed. (Albeit at 6 at night). It was awesome! Bacon eggs and muffins. Clearly if mommy gets to eat in bed, Megan should too! She brought in her dinner, climbed up by me, and proceeded to eat. The boys were eating in the Kitchen, but mom wasn't. So she wouldn't. It was a wonderful dinner, just the two of us.
Brandon got himself a haircut recently. It was so funny watching him be a "big boy" sitting in the chair while Jenn cut his hair. He was so proud, and Jacob insisted that only Jenn gets to do his hair from now on. No more daddy hair cuts.

Da little Drama Queen

Today I promised Megan some one on one time. While cuddling her, I promised she could go to the store with me today. Just me and her. Time got away from me and when ben got home from taking my nephews home at about 9:15, it was time for me to go. The kids were almost asleep, but Megan somehow still heard Ben telling me he was home and I could leave.

Suddenly she was up, grinning, looking for her boots. Even though it was well past bedtime, I decided to let her go. After all, I'd promised.

On the way to the store we chatted, and at the store she was laughing, happy and having a grand time. Until we hit the checkout. At the checkout she put her head on her hands and looked so tired. She gave them the look that clearly said, "poor me, my mom has me out so late and I'd much rather be in bed."

Of course, she got the sympathy she wanted. The second we walked out of the store, she was all smiles again. Bouncing with the beat of the Christmas music in the car, laughing, and in a very good mood.

Don't get me wrong, she was tired, but not nearly as tired as she appeared at the checkout. *sigh.*

my background

quite proud of this. :-) Worked hard on it. I just love these pics of my little one's. :-)