Congratulations Jonathan!

Jonathan graduated from BYU with a Masters of Science in Psychology yesterday! We are so proud of him and all his hard work over the last 2 years. He finished his thesis (60+ pages!) and all his coursework and has also been a TA and taught a class at BYU this past semester. Way to go!

Jonathan spent most of his time in the Spencer W. Kimball Tower (aka "SWKT" or Kimball Tower)

Jonathan at his desk in the graduate lab.
The colors on the back of the Masters robe/hood looked really cool. Jonathan looked very smart and distinguished all dress up.

Next up: Jonathan will be teaching another class during Spring Term (which goes from this week until the middle of June). Then we will be in California for 2 weeks before packing up and moving our family to The University of West Georgia where Jonathan will start his doctoral program in Individual, Organizational and Community Transformation. It is typically a 5 year program, including an internship.

Congratulations again Jonathan! Your family is proud of you and all your hard work. And we'll continue to support you through your new adventures in education!

WWJD?

Jonathan: Benjamin, did you poop?

Benjamin: No.

Tabitha: Yes, he did.

Jonathan: Benjamin, what would Jesus want you to do right now?

Benjamin: Bowl.

Wrestling

Today while I was working in the kitchen I heard Benjamin and Daniel laughing and having a good time together so I turned around to see what was going on and this is what I found:

Daniel's Crawling

Daniel perfected his army crawl and now he is working on the traditional crawl (hands and knees). It won't be long before the baby gates go back up at our house.

Haircut x 3

All the men (little and big) in our family got haircuts this morning. Benjamin did so well today, haircuts are usually a disaster with him. I guess the Nintendo DS was a great distraction.

Daniel was obviously just a cute little charming boy. He was wiggly, but didn't fuss. He loved the clippers. Here are his after shots at home. I can't believe how blond his hair looks.

In case you forgot what Daniel looked like before (as if you couldn't scroll down through the other posts to see) this picture was taken last night:

Compassion, Part Two

As we discussed earlier this week, Jonathan and I are working on teaching Benjamin compassion for others. We've had several "conversations" with him about what we can do to help other people who are sad or hurt. Today I saw the fruits of our labors...

Benjamin and I were in the living room this afternoon when our upstairs neighbors came home and one of their little girls was crying. Benjamin of course looked at the door and said "uh oh." Here's how our conversation went:

Me: "Yes, Sarah (*name has been changed) must be sad about something. What is one thing that we could do to make her feel better?"

Benjamin: signs "kiss"

Me: "yes, we could give her a kiss. What else could we do?"

Benjamin: pats his own shoulder

Me: "you're right. And maybe a hug too?"

Benjamin: "yes"

Me: "Could we share toys with her?"

Benjamin: "yes... hmmmm.... no."


So, yay Benjamin is learning how to make others feel better. Maybe our next lesson will be on sharing.

Easter Weekend - Random Pictures At Home

Our Family Easter Basket

Benjamin decided everything in the basket was his

Daniel enjoying the plastic eggs

Benjamin and Daniel playing nicely together (for once)

The cornish game hens I made for dinner (I used this recipe and oh. my. goodness. it was delicious)

My brother Tyler, his wife Cassidee, and her brother Riley all came over for dinner and a Wii tournament. I jumped up from dinner to get this picture of all my hard work and Jonathan teased me about not getting pictures of FAMILY but of food. I told him I would take pictures of everyone later. Then I forgot to. :)

Easter Weekend- Egg Hunt #2

We joined our neighbors in giving all our kids a little Easter egg hunt together outside on Easter Day. Each family brought 6 plastic eggs per kid and then we let them all go out and find where they were hidden. Benjamin was more interested in playing on the slides and in the sand than looking for more eggs.

Easter Weekend- Coloring Eggs

Saturday evening we colored Easter eggs. I did quite a bit of the work, but Benjamin helped out too. Jonathan held Daniel and took pictures. I'm sure next year will be different because Benjamin will be older and ready to do more things on his own. He did love being able to put the eggs in the dye and seeing what colored they turned as we pulled them out.

We were a little boring and only did a single color on each egg. Neither one of us had any patience for holding an egg halfway in the dye for long (or short) periods of time. Benjamin didn't know any better and I still think the eggs turned out nice. I love the bright colors.

And of course Daniel was content to just sit around and watch everyone. He really feels like he's participating when he sits in the high chair and is in the middle of everything. (Remember his hair in the picture- it was cut this morning and I'll be posting new pictures of his hair now. It looks really different!)

Easter Weekend- Egg Hunt at Home

We had our Easter egg hunt right after church on Sunday (church starts at 8am and there was no way we were going to have an Easter egg hunt and be there on time). Benjamin loved finding the eggs in our living room. He did and said a couple funny things that we want to record so we won't forget. And hopefully you'll have a little chuckle too.

Benjamin found the first egg sitting on top of the piano keys on my keyboard. He put it in his basket with a little coaching from mom and dad. The second egg was right below the keyboard sitting in his Elmo chair Benjamin picks it up, takes one look at it and drop kicks it across the room. Jonathan and I were laughing pretty hard. It's pretty impressive that he can drop kick a tiny egg (I would have trouble doing that myself) but it's a little frustrating that he drop kicked an egg. Luckily, that was the only one he kicked. But don't think that means he didn't try to kick any other eggs.

While we were helping Benjamin find the eggs ("go look around the couch... try looking at the books..." etc) Benjamin was standing with his back toward to the windows in our living room when I asked him: "Do you think there are eggs by the windows?" He looked at me quite seriously and said, "Yes." and nodded his head. But he didn't turn around to look at the windows until I helped him do it.

Overall Benjamin enjoyed himself and we did too. He kept asking for more eggs to find even after he found them all. Then he spent time lining up all the eggs on the floor. Only six eggs got cracked- the one that was drop kicked, the one that fell off the top of the TV and the rest must have been cracked from Benjamin dropping them into his basket. Lots better than last year (click there for the video of Benjamin cracking pretty much every egg that was thrown into the basket).

Compassion

*warning- this post contains material that may make you think of me as less than a perfect parent. I am completely ok with this kind of judgement. However, if you want to continue thinking I can do no wrong, please stop reading here. If you want to hear what I have to say and add some advice/encouragement/judgement, please feel free to continue reading and post your thoughts in the comments :)*

**second warning- the pictures have nothing to do with the post topic, but I feel that my posts are boring without pictures so here's a couple to make it interesting, even if you don't read the post below. (see above warning)**

Yesterday in Sunday School (we are currently taking a Marriage and Family course) we talked about teaching our children how to show compassion for others. As we were talking about it in class it suddenly hit me that Benjamin is naturally compassionate and caring towards others (I briefly touched on it one time here) BUT we don't give him a good opportunity to exercise his compassion and help him cultivate his concern for others.

For example, when we play outside and another child is hurt or upset Benjamin runs to me and says, "uh oh" over and over and over again until I acknowledge that the child is crying. And I usually end up saying something like, "Yes, Benjamin. The boy is sad. But his mommy will take care of him so you just worry about yourself."

So Jonathan and I discussed how we can help Benjamin learn to show his compassion appropriately. I said a prayer last night asking Heavenly Father to show us the best way to do this and to give us the opportunities (and patience) to teach him.

Well, first thing this morning we had our chance. Daniel was upset when I went to put him down for his nap at 9am. Benjamin came into our bedroom saying "uh oh" a million times. Normally I would have told him to go play in the other room until I was done because it's rough enough having a crying child without a toddler saying "uh oh" a million times. (And I really am not overexaggerating when I say 1 million times... ok, maybe a little.)

Jonathan was still home and in the bedroom with us and he turned to Benjamin and said, "Yes, Daniel is sad right now and crying. Can you go give him a kiss to help make him feel better?" And Benjamin stopped saying "uh oh" and came over to where Daniel and I were sitting and gave Daniel a kiss and patted his back.

I smiled at Benjamin and told him that was very nice and I'm sure Daniel felt a little better already. Benjamin listened to me and leaned over and gave Daniel a second kiss and patted his back again. He really does have a heart of gold and I'm so glad for the opportunity to help him learn to show others the sympathy and empathy and concern and everything else he feels for them.

I'm just praying I do it right.

Yes, that is food on his face and a booger in his nose. Seriously, you must really think I'm a horrible parent now for letting him walk around looking like this. I'm sure that booger was in his nose all day because I don't have the urge to fight him in order to get it out. It waits until bath time or his daddy gets home.

GEORGIA On My Mind...

It's official. Jonathan was accepted to the University of West Georgia's PsyD program. We will be moving to Carrollton, GA at the end of July. Where is Carrollton? It's a really small town about an hour west of Atlanta- Check out pictures of the campus-

It's so green! And there are trees. Lots of Real Trees. (Utah doesn't have real trees).

We are really excited about the move. We will obviously miss our family and friends here in Utah. It is really nice to now have an idea about where we're going and what we'll be doing for the next 4 or 5 years (yes, the doctoral program is that long).

Way to go Jonathan! We are so proud of you and your hard work that made it possible for you to be accepted to a great school! Good Job and Congratualations!

Farm Country- Benjamin's First Pony Ride

Today the weather was beautiful (70!) so I decided to take Benjamin and Daniel to the Farm Country at Thanksgiving Point. We called my sister-in-law Theresa and asked if she wanted to meet us there with her 2 kids since they live close by. Benjamin got so excited when he saw his cousins and he couldn't wait for me to get him out of his car seat so he could run and jump and play on the sidewalk with them while I got Daniel out of the car.

Once inside there were lots of farm animals to see (goats, cows, horses, chickens, turkeys, bunnies, etc). Benjamin loved hearing the cow "moo." And he thought banging on the glass and seeing the baby chicks run and hide was hilarious. Don't worry, he only did it once before I stopped him and made sure he didn't do it again.

Daniel of course was happy to sit in the stroller and watch the animals and everyone else having a good time.
With our entrance fee we had the choice to either go on a wagon ride or pony ride. I asked Benjamin which one he wanted to do and he said the pony ride. I was a little surprised because he's cautious around new things, but went with it anyway. He did really well sitting on the pony before it started moving. While riding the pony he was fine as long as I stood beside him with my arm around him or at least holding his hand REALLY tight. As soon as I stepped away to take some video or a picture he would start whining and crying. But he did it and I'm so proud of him.

Once we got home and I asked Benjamin to tell Dad about the animals today the first thing Benjamin mentioned was the horse (well, by mentioning I mean making the animal sounds- so he neighed and mooed and clucked to "tell" Jonathan what he saw). He laughed and smiled and giggled when I showed him the video and pictures of him on the horse. I'm thinking we'll be able to go again and as long as one of his parents stand next to him on the horse while the other takes pictures, we'll be good!

Sunday Walk

We finally had a day with nice weather again so after the final session of Conference we set out for a walk. We decided to take the boys to the Provo Temple since we live practically down the street from it. We were surprised to realize that we've never taken Benjamin to the Provo Temple. We've visted Temple Square in Salt Lake City and he has been to the Bountiful Temple, but never the Temple that is within walking distance.

Benjamin obviously loved the water fountain. He kept signing "water" as we were walking toward it. He didn't want to stop playing in the water, but we didn't want to end up with a soaking wet child again so we left after just a few minutes.

Daniel was very patient and calm in the stroller the whole way there and back, especially with Benjamin driving a good part of the way. He seemed to enjoy the time outside. In fact, I think we all did.

There were lots of missionaries around the Temple... I glanced around for Drake (my cousin who is in the MTC right now) but I didn't see him... maybe next time!

Dear Winter...

Dear Winter,

You have confused my poor child. He was so excited about the spring weather we enjoyed a couple weeks ago. Then you took it away and now he expects it to be Christmas time again. Can you please allow Spring to come and stay so I don't have to watch Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer or Santa Claus is Coming to Town for the 16th time this week?

Thank you.

sorry...

Sorry to fill your google readers/bloglines/etc with new posts. I needed to catch up and it's a lot easier to do shorter posts than one huge long one. Please forgive me :)

Daniel's Latest....

Daniel is growing up so fast! He is such a happy little boy. I know I've said it before, but he really is so happy all the time. And it is so easy to get a good smiling picture of him because when you pull out the camera he is all grins and giggles. What a ham!

Daniel is still not sleeping through the night. He's not even close. The longest he usually goes is about 4 hours. And he still wants to sleep in our bed and not his own crib or pack n play. We started having him cry it out at night in his pack n play in our room hoping that he would learn to put himself to sleep. That latest about 2 days and then Benjamin, Daniel, and I all got sick. But as soon as we're all better we are going to work on that again.

Daniel is a pro at eating solid food now. He loves carrots and sweet potatoes. He can eat a whole thing of baby food in one sitting. Lately whenever he sees me eating something he will start making chewing motions with his own mouth. It's so funny.

Daniel is on the verge of crawling! He can get onto his hands and knees and starts rocking back and forth on his own. He has been moving around by himself for awhile now- first he rolled everywhere. Then he started moving in giant circles on his belly and now he pulls himself forward and pushes himself backwards in straight lines on his belly. This kid is so excited to be able to move around like his older brother. Heaven help me when I have two little boys who are mobile :)