Dec 2nd - 8th

In Our Family This Week...
Ben wanted this week to focus on him and so I happily obliged! Ben really keeps our family close to the world of imagination! He is a very creative boy and I think that Nathan and the girls are SO LUCKY to have him as their big brother because he plays with them EVERY DAY! and not just any old "playing" is involved... but rather grand adventures or being super heroes or stealthy ninjas/assassins. They dress up and turn the entire house into their playground! He and Nathan are the best of friends and are never far from each others sides! He's very much into anything BATMAN - whether it's playing Batman on the PS3 or in "real life" with his Imaginext collection. He's a very tender hearted boy and wants everyone to always be happy. He can get obsessive about things but he's working on that and calling upon Heavenly Father to help him "let go" of things. While he's not the most dedicated student when it comes to schooling - he is very smart and catches onto things quite quickly! He absolutely loves being a "salesman" and making "deals" and writing up contracts for people to sign. He says he'd like to be a Lawyer when he grows up and I think that would suit him just fine! Here are some pictures of him with a few of his favorite things...

Also this week, it has been extremely cold!!  A friend posted the below photo to my facebook wall wishing me to stay warm with our freezing temps!

We also had our Ward Christmas Party on Saturday. It was a Breakfast and a neat program. Mom sang with the Choir and Seth helped out with a skit. It was -20 (with a wind chill of -43) but as I've found out it's "business as usual" here in North Dakota despite the cold weather and the gym was full of ward members!

It was also the Relief Society Christmas Party this week that mom was heavily involved with. Most of the sisters braved the cold and attended and it was a really nice evening!

And finally, it became official and we signed the new lease and gave them our deposit! We are all so very excited about being out there! However, we're not very enthused about having to move in winter :(

In Our Homeschool This Week...
* Lots of singing
* Enrichments
* Continued reading with the younger ones
* Art projects and coloring
* ACT prep for the 2 older boys
* August did a really neat experiment (demonstrated to the other kids) about how you CAN get water to below freezing temps without it turning to ice! It was pretty neat!

Kids Say...Nathan and the girls were hanging out around the table drinking some Crystal Light when mom overheard this conversation between them...

Nathan: What do you want to chat about?
Lexi: Let's talk about how elves make the toys.  So.. how do you think they do it?
Aubrie: They make a machine and then they crack it and out comes the toys!
Nathan: Noooo! They take a piece of wood and then it gets magic on it and then it becomes a toy!
Aubrie: ... and if you put stuffing into the machine, you get a stuffed animal!
Nathan: Let's ask mom...

Spiritually Speaking...
Ben had fallen asleep on the couch one afternoon and after about an hour, mom heard him awake with a start and just start wailing in pain (which is very uncommon for Ben.. he has a very high threshold for pain!). Mom ran out to him and it turned out he was having a really bad Charly Horse and couldn't break the cramp. He was just begging and pleading for mom to make the pain go away and then he stopped suddenly and looked at mom and said in an urgent voice "I know! We need to pray!" and so without another moments hesitation, the two of them bowed their heads and said a prayer that Ben would be ok and within about 15 seconds, the pain subsided and Ben was able to go back to his napping :)  I felt so grateful and humbled that prayer was Ben's first line of defense against the pain! I pray that will always be the case for him!