Benjamin is clapping for himself because he worked very hard at getting out baseballs from Jackson's baseball bucket and throwing them onto the floor. We clapped for him and so he clapped for himself and had a great time.

Now he claps everytime he stands up all by himself and throws anything. Audrey was disgusted with this "show off" brother of hers and thought he should be more humble and not be praising himself so much. I told her that he is just clapping after doing the things that we clap for -- to copy us, not praise himself. She felt better. I'm not sure if what I said was true or not, however, because who knows the inner workings of a 12 month old.

A special day with my daughter

Audrey and I held hands and felt the delightful freedom -- no big kids or baby interrupting our conversations. This day was just our own!

We walked hand in hand down the street to the Ice House. Converted into a small theatre, it was hosting a play by the Pennsylvania Youth Theatre called, "Charlottes Web". The building was still genuine enough to realize that it did indeed once hold ice harvested from the spring it was situated against.

Snuggles, laughs, smiles, side glances...all were shared together as we watched the production.
Afterwards we played together at the park beside the Ice House and walked a bit on the trail.

Without her brothers and sister to help chase her around the playground, we ran out of fun in about an hour so we headed to our favorite toy store on Main Street.

A cute baby chipmunk calico critter joined us as we left -- something to add to her collection and remind her of a day which was long over due...a day just for us two!

There are no short cuts to good parenting

I needed to go to the grocery store to pick up some necessary staples. I brought Benjamin with and he was not in the mood. As he kept lunging for different things, I let him play with a candy bar. I figured I'd buy it and in a moment of weakness I'd eat it, or put it in my "prize stash" for the kids. Benjamin was so happy, I knew I couldn't take away that shiny metalic wrapper yet. So, I put him in the car seat and away we drove.

Very strange noises were coming from the back seat. Benjamin sounded so elated -- it was a euphoric sound I have NEVER heard before. I checked him in the rear view mirror. The noises continued so I checked him again. It was then I noticed that somehow the wrapper completely unwrapped and he was munching on the chocolate and caramel coated cookie goodness. My arm never snatched anything away so quickly before, and Benjamin never howled so loudly before.

Chloe was suprised when we entered the house: Benjamin's face was covered in chocolate and as Chloe stated, "He smells just like Hershey's Chocolate World."

Ah, well...he survived.

Niagre Falls in the Winter

We couldn't believe how powerful the water was, even in the winter. Chunks of ice whirled and crashed over eddys and swirled around rocks. It was breathtaking in the winter. I'm so glad we made the drive and braved the cold, icy wind to see the falls. My favorite part was how amazing the trees looked, covered in a frosty layer of ice. The terrain under our feet was a thick layer of ice and we tromped on top as if we had snowshoes on. It was soooo cold, we didn't stay long. However, it was well worth the drive.

Favorite Pictures from December

Right before we left for MN, we had a lovely and rare December snow accumilation, and a not so rare but important visit to Chik Fil A. We knew that it would be our last visit with the cow and his tender chicken until our return.

We had a great time with friends and family. It wasn't long enough and we never had any days off school in our own home so we have extended school break this week so that we can get ourselves organized and geared up for the long stint of homeschooling that all moms approach with dread....the stretch of Jan-Feb-March.

This week I'll do some painting, organizing, pitching old stuff, cleaning rooms, and figuring out the homeschool plan for the second half of the year. Go Goodmans, Go!

Mobile Babies

A first time mom reads all the baby handbooks, questions her friends, scans the internet parenting sites ALL to find out how soon her little bamboosa will start to crawl.

The picture of a cute scuttling infant merrily scooting around a room, content now to reach his toys on his own, or bring his smiling self over to his momma.......it just can't happen soon enough!

A fourth time mom knows better. She knows that a mobile baby means she must constantly scan the floor for chokables, pencils, wads of dog hair that her baby will get to and eat. She knows that she now must haul the baby on her hip, set him down in the center of the room and get the necessary work done in timed increments of about 7 seconds. She then will pause, stop the baby from pulling up to a standing position by his hands and newly cut teeth, and move him again to a safe area and get her second, third and fourth 7 second installments in.

So Baby Benjamin is now the mobile baby. His preference is the army crawl, but he also does this funny hopping thing where he starts on his hands and knees and then pushes by his arms, lifts both knees off the floor and gets a little forward hop. He is also pulling up on everything, letting go with one hand......screams with glee.....lets go with two hands and then topples to the ground.

Mobile babies are cute, but oh so much trouble!

my lovely friends and family

Yes, a new post will be coming so very soon.....
Really, it will.
Please come back tomorrow evening and find something delightful.