Adventures in Bennionland

We had a fantastic Easter celebration!

It started with the arrival of this:

Like all packages from the fairy godmothers (aka Steph, Ali & Victoria) it arrived with a knock at our door. The boys, like trained puppies, know exactly what a knock like that means! They ran to the door squealing and about pummeled the postman trying to get to the box. They did manage to say thanks. The package was chock full of goodies – but the hit was the bouncy balls. I failed to take a picture – but they have provided plenty of entertainment around here with both W&W and their friends.

Saturday was our major Easter celebration as we headed to “The White House” of Glendora. Otherwise known as Granny Goosey’s house. She’d arranged a wonderful event filled with Easter egg dyeing, an egg roll, a spring picnic, and of course a killer Easter egg hunt.

We were joined by our Hatch cousins (who are also our neighbors and the boys best buddies), our Walker cousins (who were here from Utah- woot – woot!), Patti and Doug, Papa and KK, and Neal and Meleah. It was wonderful fun!

What egg roll would be complete without a roll down the hill!

(notice that Meleah is carrying Will’s bag. He delegated his work out.)

An attempt at a family picture:

I thought I might make it through the day without crying.

But nope. All it took was pulling up the pictures from April 2004 and the flood gates opened.

Five years ago at this time I was pregnant. With my first child. In fact, April 16th 2004 was my due date. Will wouldn’t decide to come until ten days later – but we didn’t know that then.

Each day was spent with a sense of anticipation. Wonder. Nervousness. Fear. Excitement. Anxiousness. You name it. It was there.

I could never have known what motherhood would mean to me like I understand it now. As I’m sure in ten years I’ll know it even more.

And you all benefit from my sappiness – because I’m actually posting these pictures. These were taken in March of 2004 on a trip to CA. To the beach we frequent now. We were there on Sunday. I stood on the very rocks that I have for five years now. And so much has changed.

More to come on the first one who completely changed me. Life. Everything.

April 26th is his birthday. But this date, well it’s all mine. In celebration of all I hoped for – all I expected – and all I’ve been given.

If you’ve spoken to me in the last three months and asked about the boys, I’ve probably told you one or possibly both, of the following:

(A) The boys are in major periods of change. And it’s challenging.
(B) I LOVE these ages!

Walks has hit the “3″s with force. While this means he is prone to throw down a mean temper tantrum it also means he is just as likely to spend the entire day in a world of pure imagination. For example, he might crawl out of his bed one morning on all fours, mewing and growling. He’ll spend the rest of the day, on and off, being a lion cub. This does include plenty of lion kisses (yucky tongue licks up my face). His recent favorite has been to go the entire day dressed as a firefighter. Yesterday we couldn’t go into the library until he’d put his whole regalia on. And his poor firefighter’s hat…it’s been through several emergencies!

The other day I came out of my room where I had been folding laundry, and while walking down the hall realized I was stepping in something wet. When I followed the trail of wet and hose, it led me to Walker standing in his room, on his dresser with our outside hose – and yes, it was turned on. It’s these moments that challenge me as a parent: do I scream and shout, or celebrate the attempt at creativity? I celebrated – though he did spend some time helping me clean up and I did disconnect the hose from future use.

Will has also entered into a new stage of life. I’m not sure I can call this the “4″s because I’m not sure what that means. Rather he is turning PURE little boy. The child that would never be bothered to step on a spider, let alone hold a pill bug, is collecting bugs, sticks, rocks – you name it. The other day he walked up to me with six pill bugs crawling around on his hand. in San Diego a couple of weeks ago he tried to catch a lizard AND last week he tried to catch a grasshopper in our back yard.

This quest for little boyhood is also coming with some personality adjustments. He’s always been a verbal child but he’s more assertive and more independent – and quite frankly more bossy. At our Easter party on Saturday he demanded that Meleah (his Aunt) carry his bag for him while he collected the eggs. Then in mid-hunt he started overturning rocks and leaves to find bugs and other creatures. He was more thrilled with the found golf ball than any of the candy or money in the eggs.

Since you all aren’t here with us all the time, I thought I’d share a couple of quick (1-2 minute) movies that I’ve taken of the boys in the last couple of weeks.

Walker’s Imagination in Action:

Will’s Personality in Action: