How to catch a thief!

Today's parenting lesson is -

'How to Catch a Thief: Grocery Store Edition'.
~ Brought to you by the Bennion children and their mother~

1) Keep your eyes and ears open at all times. Sights and sounds often provide valuable clues.
2) Do not, at any time, assume that silence is golden - especially at the grocery store.
3) Check all parts of the shopping cart, as well as your child's body, before paying.
4) Thank all of the grocery store staff for not sending you and your kids to jail.

Case Study:

Today after preschool we needed to go to the grocery store to do our weekly dairy/fruit/veggie run. As I picked up Will from preschool today the teacher mentioned that he is still having problems 'listening to direction'. I told her that we are really trying to work on that and as I was doing it Walker started taking all of the toys out of the cupboards. When I told him to stop, do you think he listened? Nope, just kept pulling them out. The teacher gave me a look that said 'My point exactly'.

So...I left preschool already thinking about what we need to do at home to help them both and we went to the store. I piled them into the fun car cart and headed for our race around the store. Several people in the store commented on how cute the boys are, wanted to know if they were twins, and smiled as we passed by. I was so delighted because I knew I was pressing my luck to take them to the store so close to lunch time. We checked off our lists and headed for the check-out. Now here is problem #1 with the cute car carts:

1) Grocery stores, like all stores, have mastered the art of check-out marketing. Candy screams to kids and adults as you stare at the veggies you've just purchased. My kids are not immune to this marketing. And in the car carts they are at the right height to grab at any of the candy in their view.

As I was loading our groceries on the conveyor belts I (using skill #1) heard a rustling from the cart. I peered in and found Walker nibbling on this bag:

(yes, after the damage Walker did we bought it. The boys very disappointed that they cannot have them)

I moved the cart away from the candy and started the payment process. I was ever so grateful that the boys did not try to get out of the cart (failure to use skill #2) when I was paying. Problem #2 with car carts is that in this particular store you cannot take the car carts outside. They get you a new car but it means pushing both carts, an maneuvering both kids to the entrance. Today the ever helpful bagger loaded everything into a new cart and followed us to the entrance. (I love courtesy!)

When I bent down to get the boys out of the car cart I was immediately presented with the source of the quiet. Each boy had, stuffed in his mouth, a Hershey's Milk Chocolate with Almond bar. They were gnawing through the paper trying to get to the chocolate as is evident here (guess which one is Walker's!)



As I grabbed the stolen goods out of their grubby hands I noticed something else - not only did they each have one bar but there were six, SIX others in the car with them. That means that little sticky-fingers Walker had grabbed EIGHT bars. The bagger started to laugh as I handed each one to him. I marched the boys over to pay for the two damaged bars. They knew they were in trouble but really could not understand why.

A fellow shopper, who had not witnessed the event, commented on how I have my hands full. I remarked 'Yes, and now they are thieves' - and the bagger started to laugh again. The shopper, a obviously jovial man, laughed as said 'Those are my kind of kids'. I responded that he could take them home with him them. This got Will as he started to cry and cried the entire way home thinking I was so made that I was going to get him a 'new family'.

I'm sorely tempted sometimes to get them a 'new family' . Then again, they do make cute thieves:

(if you look close you can see the chocolate residue - oh and the lack of remorse)

(he's just really grateful I haven't shipped him overseas to a new family)

My point exactly.

Face painting Bob Ross style...

For those of you unfamiliar with the awesomeness that is Bob Ross, you might want to go here to learn more about him. I (Shelly) have a t-shirt with him on it that I wear a lot around the house and the boys love it. They usually ask me questions about Bob Ross and sometimes even tell him hi. One night this week we showed them a video of Bob Ross online and they, Will in particular, were mesmerized.

So the other night I broke out our possibility box and decided we could do Bob Ross painting. Unfortunately I failed to take pictures of their artwork before putting them in an envelope to send to Pop (Eric's grandpa) who also is a Bob Ross fan. However, once Walker lost interest in painting (about five minutes into it) Will and I turned to each other as canvasses.

It started with me painting one fan on Will's face:

and then another:

and then a goatee:

He retaliated by painting my entire face.

(he told me I had to hold still and not smile)

A view of him as he's painting my face - so intense:

I'm going to ignore any possible symbolism from the red slash on my throat.
He loves me - right?

Voila! An artist is born!!

We did try to paint Walker's face - but he wasn't as fond of it. I got 1/2 way through a balloon and he was out of his chair. He came back for a minute and I was able to get a red 'T' (for trouble) in Scarlet Letter form. That was about it for him though!

Pearly whites!

(The event depicted in this blog originally occurred on Friday January 6th, 2008. All people in this blog are real.)

We are so fortunate to have a wonderful dental hygienist in our family! Our GreatAunt Patti made it so easy for the boys to have their teeth cleaned for the first time. She let them explore the office, the tools, and even the electrical equipment. In the end it made everyone more comfortable to have their very 1st dental check-up!

Goosey and Walker checking things out:

Will, the big brother, went first:

There is our friend Slurpee:

Check it out Will - it spins like a fan!

Nice and clean:

Walker's not too sure about this:

Getting his teeth flossed:

A drink from the special water hose:

Random pieces of information...

* Will has been sick (again) for the past couple of days. Poor guy. He does love the extra attention though.

* Walker is off the binky! My Dad started in on Friday when he just put him to bed without it - and succeeded! When he asks for it, which is relatively rare, I tell him that his binkies have moved on to a new baby who needs them. That usually works though one time Walker retorted with 'Mom. I need to lay in my crib. I'm a baby.' Yeah, he's smarter than me already.


* According to my iPod** the most frequently played song is (drum roll please): 'Eric Singing the Lullabies'. It has been played an amazing 5, 895 times. No I'm not grooving to the sounds of Eric singing Once There Was a Snowman - we play it when the boys go to bed sometimes. 5,895 times evidently. The closest ones to that are 'Grace Kelly' - Mika (34 plays), 'Sin Sin Sin' - Robbie Williams (32 plays), and 'Credits' - Dario Marianelli/Pride & prejudice Soundtrack (30 plays).


* We are potty training Walker right now and have managed (cross your fingers) NOT to flush any underbunders down the toilet.

* Two favorite words in our house right now are Will's 'eitherwise' and Walker's 'Timpanogos'.

* We decided to hold our annual Chinese New Year party again this year! If you are in the same general area that we are and would like to come - we'd love it. Just let me know. (February 16th @ 5:30pm)

* Will likes to furrow his brow and pretend to be mad. He's often asking 'Do you understand what I am saying Mom/Dad?'

* Walker is already a teenager. He blatantly refuses to do things, gives you an evil eye, and is often running into runs and slamming doors. Hum...

Speaking of potty training my sister-in-law Ali sent us this video link. It is hilarious! I've also included the second one where they discuss

Japanese Potty Training Video: At Home
(use of a minor swear word in the subtitles - probably not for readers!!)


Japanese Potty Training Video: In Public
(use of 's' swear word in the subtitles - for adult laughter purposes only!! Plus the squatty-potty would only confuse kids.)


**Happy thoughts and well-wishes are needed for my iPod which is a 1st generation that Eric got while working for Apple. It is slowly ending it's run. I need it last a few more months.**

Check us out!

Well our little gluten-free family made it's first foray into the GF online menu world.

Check us out!

And thanks to Liz and Melony at Kill.The.Gluten for letting us submit a recipe. I get so many ideas from their site - it helps make my GF life somewhat sane.

For those of you gluten-eaters - try this recipe only instead of making rolls buy Pillsbury Crescent rolls and put a little bit of the chicken mixture inside of it. Then bake according to the crescent roll directions - put a little dab of warm cream of chicken soup on top and presto!

Come-on baby light the fire!

Life's not always a beach. Especially at the beach.

We headed down to the beach on Saturday for a little family time. Will wanted to see the sunset at the beach so we were trying our best to get there post-nap-time. Walker, well we all know from previous experience that he just really wanted to get to the sand.

We packed our hot dogs, our regular and gluten-free buns, ketchup, mustard, charcoals, and a lighter. Since we had no newspaper Eric grabbed printer paper. That should have been a sign.

As we neared the beach we decided to get some firewood so that we could have flames and heat as well as a place to cook. I got out and grabbed it. I couldn't get it to scan the price tag and when I tried to pull on it, it was wet. That should have been a sign.

Still - we trekked onward to the beach. We made it just in time for the 'Rainbow sky' and got set up. The boys immediately jumped into the sand activities and Eric started in on the fire. And a story was born...

Here is Eric trying to start the fire. He started with a 'tee pee' set-up
but then switched after no success. Come on fire, come on fire...

For the first 30 minutes all we got was smoke. Lots of smoke.

We soon realized that our wood was damp (duh Shell) and
also that we were out of paper. We tried using a pull-up (fire resistant)
and then I tore up a tortilla chip bag. The boys had fun trying to find kindling but
with limited success. And still the wood would not burn.

I was starting to loose patience, but Eric, ever the boyscout, kept
going. We remembered that we had a cardboard box in the car
with stuff to take to the storage unit. Soon enough I was unpacking
the box and lugging it down the beach. We all had a blast
tearing the box up - and for a while it seemed as though the fired
would take.

But, even with Will's super helperness, it was kaput.

Eric and Will tried really hard - lots of blowing (Eric)
and throwing sand in (Will).

Walker and I tried to keep our distance.
You can see how damp the air was since it
looks like there are raindrops in the picture.

The fire never took off so after tearing apart
the entire box and two hours of Eric's work
we decided to call it quits. We had enough lit
charcoal to cook two hot dogs
for the boys - which was greatly appreciated.

Walker like the bun the most.

Will's bun was...well made from tapioca.
So he enjoyed mostly the hot dog.

So - life isn't a beach. OH who am I kidding! No fire, Eric's damaged lungs, not beach hot dogs for Eric & I and we still had a blast. We're lucky to be at a place to have these adventures and this time with each other.

We Will Rock You!

I know that Eric already posted this awesome, edited video of the boys and their band. Still - this version of them singing 'Bingo' was too priceless not to share!

...like a big pizza pie!

That's amore!

As most of you know this gluten-free (GF) journey has been a strenuous one for us. So when we discover a new product or a new food item that will make our life more flavorful it is magical. This week we had a moment like that when Eric and I were on a date on Friday.

We went to the Old Spaghetti Factory - a place that usually repels Celiacs like garlic to the vampires. So it shouldn't be a surprise (especially to those of you who have spent more than ten minutes with me) that I cried when I discovered in the upper-left corner a note saying that at the restaurant offers many 'Pastabilities' such as (are you ready) GLUTEN-FREE noodles for most of their entrees! Yep, I teared up. Right there at the table.

Yet as wonderful as that moment was it was nothing like the following.

Two weeks ago, exactly, Eric decided to make dinner with the boys. I had bought some GF pizza crust mix (Arrowhead Mills) several months ago but we haven't dared to make it. Partially because it takes a lot of time and partially because pizza is a sacred meal for Eric. He worked in a pizza joint for a while and ranks pizza as a top five food. There was a lot resting on this. Plus having a bad GF experience can be disheartening.

With that in mind Eric and super-helper Will set out to make a great GF pizza. And they more than succeeded. While the food was good, watching Will scarf down his pizza was almost more than Eric could handle. And watching Eric beam at having a new tradition with his boys was almost more than I could handle.

Unplugged - The Sequel

Ladies and Gentlemen we may have a musician on our hands. I submit to you in video form exhibit 1:



If you want to see the original Unplugged video please Click Here

Enjoy

New Year Fairy delivers!

We had no idea that the New Year's Fairy makes special deliveries! The boys were extra delighted to find our lovely postman at the door with a package. Grandma Steph obviously has good connections with all the creatures in fairy-tale land.

The added treat was watching the boys open up their new books.




A colorful favorite for Will called Planting a Rainbow and an apropos choice for Walker in Pancakes for Breakfast.

Thanks New Year's Fairy (wink, wink)!!

SeaWorld meets the Bennions

The family made a trip to SeaWorld in November it was the boys first time. They say a picture is worth a thousand words...Here's the Video:

(Note: this Video is approx 16 mins. So you my need to make a bowl of popcorn first.)