Happy birthday dear Harry...

My baby Benson turned three this week, and I can't believe how hard it has been for me. It just seems like when they turn three they are all grown up. From the moment he was born, I felt like I already knew my little baby, and since he is the youngest, it's hard for me to think of him as a little boy and not a baby. I guess the fact that he started preschool this week doesn't help. He loved his first day of school and while I was trying to make sure he was situated and fine in his class he told me, "You can go now, Mom." Oh. It broke my heart. I am so glad that he is confident enough to be away from me, but it was so grown up of him to be sitting there at his little table with a paper and crayons ready to get to work. Not only that, but as we were driving away Kimball said, "I hope that he will be okay." So then, of course I lost it. I couldn't hold back the tears anymore. I am so grateful that my boys love eachother and watch out for one another. I just wish they would stop growing up so fast. 

So, on to some fun things about Benson. He really loves his brothers and wants to be just like them. He wants to play what they play do what they are doing and say the things that they say. This spills over into the phases that he goes through. Ever since Halloween when Kimball and McKay wanted to be Harry Potter and Ron Weasley, Benson has decided that Harry Potter must be AWESOME. He INSISTS on carrying around a wand, wearing glasses and casting spells everywhere we go. (We did, however, have a short break from Harry over the holiday season when he decided he was the boy from the Polar Express. During that time he was always wearing a robe and carried a piece of paper as his "ticket"). For his birthday, my mom gave him a Harry Potter school robe and glasses. He's hardly taken them off. I barely convinced him that we should leave them home when he had to go to school. At bedtime he sets them on the shelf on his headboard so that he can put them on first thing. On his birthday he kept singing "Happy birthday dear Harry..." It is hilarious to hear him casting spells from the movie and talking to Hermionie and Ron as he runs through the house. His glasses and wand have become such a permanant accessory that I didn't even notice he had his wand with him when we walked into church last Sunday. I finally realized he had it when he started casting spells on the people behind us and they started giggling.

Here are the many faces of Harry Potter. Harry in his school robes and "real" glasses, Harry getting ready for bed with a pen for a wand, and Harry with the black electric tape scar...

and of course, Harry has to get clean too.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BENSON, WE LOVE YOU!

He hears us...

If you have ever wondered if your prayers are heard, if there is a God who cares for his children, you will have your faith strengthened by Bronson's story. I know my last post was about the Staker family. But, today, they posted this video of his story. I have to emphasize that he was announced DEAD ON ARRIVAL at the hospital. There have been so many harsh comments about Sara and the fact that she left her little boys in the bathtub. Before making any judgements, you should read her blog and feel her agony. EVERY parent makes mistakes. I make mistakes everyday. Whether they are big or small, it doesn't matter. What matters is that the Lord is forgiving and accepting of a contrite heart, and that it is through is tender mercies that this sweet baby walked out of the hospital and prayers over the whole world were answered favorably.

Let me share...

   What? I can't believe that I am such a bad blogger. I saw that my last post was January 14. Hmmm... the days went by a lot faster than I can even remember. Ok, let's be honest here. I actually can believe that I am a bad blogger because I never want to take the time to upload pictures onto our slow computer.
   I don't even really have a lot to blog about except that while I have struggled with "winter blues" (along with everyone else) I have been humbled in the last few days by the struggles of a family whom I have never met. Their sweet baby is struggling for his life at Primary Children's in Salt Lake and she and her husband continually ask for prayers in their behalf and draw on the Lord for the strength and comfort that they need to make it from one minute to the next. (You can read her story at stakerzxposed.blogspot.com, but be prepared to cry. Also, you may want to scroll down through all the most recent posts until you come to the first post of the story. The first post is about February 1st.)
  I just realize that the stress and frustration that I experience as a mother are nothing compared to what they could be. I am so thankful that I kissed and loved my boys goodnight and that they kissed and loved me back. Even though they are busy little boys, I am SO THANKFUL I am their mother. They are everything to me.
   Secondly, a friend posted this quote on facebook and I will spare you all the dialogue I have had with myself (yes, I am probably crazy) over this quote, and I will simply leave it for you to ponder.

"It was meant to be that life would be a challenge. To suffer some anxiety, some depression, some disappointment, even some failure is normal." -Elder Boyd K. Packer


P.S. I just found the source of the quote is from a manual put out by the church called, The Latter-day Saint Woman: Basic Manual for Women. It is in lesson 18 called, "Developing Self-Reliance"