dinner time

well, ben is on a business trip for the third week in a row and i just couldn't muster the energy to make my kids a well-balanced, nutritious meal for dinner tonight. i really can't muster enough energy to do, well... anything. this traveling stuff for work really bites. anyway, lest you think you are a terrible parent because you can't get your kids to eat enough veggies, rest assured... here's what we had for dinner tonight:

milk, ritz crackers and graham crackers.

all the nutrients you could ever want, right? after that we walked down to the chevron on the corner and bought:

oreos, keebler soft batch chocolate chip cookies and pringles.

this all after they had a delicious lunch of:

gogurt, granola bars and spree candies.

here's to a better tomorrow with more green stuff and less dairy, sugar and refined carbs!

just me and the kiddos...

from the mouth of joel

this morning i got back from a run and began to stretch. from over his bowl of cherrios, joel looks at me and says, "how was your run, mom?"

15 minutes later...

kadin spills his entire glass of milk all over himself and the floor. his bottom lip starts to quiver, signaling a good cry coming on. i start to reassure him, telling him it's okay, and joel says, "it's okay kadin, mommy will clean it up."

so sweet...

usually.

in a nutshell...

so here's a smorgasbord of tidbits from our lives for the last month...

ben had a business trip in washington at the end of march, so we decided to take advantage of cheap fares and tag along. joel, kadin and i came a few days early and stayed with kadi and joel and then we drove down to ben's parents house for the weekend when ben flew in. here's kadin, joel and carter having a "popcorn party," their favorite activity before bedtime.
grandma and grandpa shafer have lots of trains for the boys to play with and they always push them around on top of the coffee table. sadly, this has done a bit of a number to their nice, new coffee table, so grandpa mike made a new train track for the kids that goes right on top of the table... brilliant! happiness for grandma and grandpa and fun times for the boys!
brock and emily graced us with a visit earlier this month. man, we miss you guys... we're pulling for a job for brock in the bay area!

ben and i ran the salt lake city marathon last saturday. for all the gory details, click here. this was our first time back to utah since moving away in october. it was great to be back. morgan and nate blessed their precious, little guy, sayer, the day after the marathon, so we were lucky to be able to be there. thanks for putting us up morg and nate! it was a great week, filled with lots of fun times with family and friends and lots of yummy food. and yet again, i was a lousy picture taker... ben and i took a couple of pictures in the morning before our marathon and that was it. not a single picture of sayer's blessing, my family... nothing. nice huh? i really need to be better about that.

i'm so proud...

i know everyone thinks that their child is really smart, but my child is honestly a genius. no really. (don't worry people, i am joking... a little bit). this morning joel was begging me to help him put together this new fish puzzle i picked up for the boys last week. i had to get in the shower, so i told him to work on it by himself and that i would help him when i was done getting ready. i came out of my room and was shocked to find that joel was just finishing putting the 50-piece puzzle together all by his lonesome. i gushed at how proud i was of him and i don't think i've ever seen him smile so big. it was so cute.

and, of course, like most little boys, his favorite part of putting puzzles together or building a tower with blocks is messing it all up when he's done.