Ben's World

I almost feel like I should have titled this post "Pumpkin Ben's World," since the last two posts on here both started with the word pumpkin. You know, keep the streak alive. But, all good things must come to an end, I suppose.

School has started once again and this semester I've got three classes: Contract Theory, Econometric Methods, and Asset Pricing. I know what you're thinking: "What? Only three classes? What does he do all day?" Well, let's just say they're keeping me busy. Probably not quite as busy as last year, but pretty close. The good news is that so far I've only had one dream where the whole dream is just a piece of paper and I'm trying to solve the equation on it (I didn't solve it, by the way, so don't get any ideas about me waking up and writing down the answer!). On top of my coursework, I'm also working on a few research papers and I'm helping a professor develop a course on the financial crisis, which I'm really enjoying.

Actually, I should tell you a story about this professor who's teaching the financial crisis course. I'm pretty excited to be working with him because he's kind of a big wig in the academic world and he recently returned from a 8 month stint at the White House serving in the Obama administration. His name is Jeremy Stein. So, I had been talking to Jenn about meeting with Jeremy Stein, and that evening I came home from school and Henry comes up to me and says, "Dad! Did you talk to Jeremy Einstein?" Yeah, something like that, Henry.

So, that's the Ben update. As I'm writing this out, I'm realizing that there is absolutely nothing exciting in the post at all, which means that there must not be anything exciting in my life right now. You know what? That's okay. I'm loving my life. It's great. I'm learning a ton, and most of it I really enjoy learning. When I'm not in school, I'm with Jenn and the boys. Who could ask for more?

But, if you're still not satisfied, here are two things to think about: 1) If you could reform either the health care system or the education system in the U.S. right now, but not both, which would you choose? 2) The graph below shows that people increase their saving rate dramatically during recessions. This is counter-intuitive: When an individual's income levels falls (during a recession) they should decrease the percent of their income that they save, since they have to use more of their income to pay the bills. Why do we see saving rates increase during recessions? What prevents people from saving during expansions and then spending their reserve during recessions?

Feel free to answer either of these in the comments!

Joy School

Henry is now in his 5th week of Joy School. I just realized I never posted these pictures of his first day! Joy School is the preschool co-op we're doing with 4 other children in our area. The moms are the teachers, and we rotate houses every week. We started at our house, and I must say I enjoyed teaching much more than I ever expected to! The kids are so cute and so sweet. I also love the Joy School curriculum, which focuses on values and learning joy. The lessons are so creative and fun. It's amazing how much fun kids can have on a small budget. They get such a kick out of the smallest things! Mostly I think it's the parent involvement that makes them love it. When else do they get 3 straight hours of their mom's undivided attention? Henry has had absolutely no problem getting dropped off each day and has loved each Joy School house and each teacher. He confessed to me that having it at his own house was his very favorite though.

Look at this kid -- just the shining example of Joy. Actually, I think the whole arrangement has been really good for both of us. I think we drive each other crazy sometimes, and it's so good to have a little break a few times a week. It's been a positive experience all around!

Pumpkin Pancakes

For our Conference Day breakfast, we treated ourselves to pumpkin pancakes with "frosting syrup" drizzled on top, which was just cream cheese frosting with a bit of extra milk, heated up in the microwave. Yum, yum, yum! I just couldn't resist posting a picture of how cute the pancakes turned out (thanks to Amy for giving Ellis these pancake molds from Williams Sonoma). Did Ellis enjoy his first ever monkey pumpkin pancakes? Nope. They went straight from the high chair to the floor, just like every other food item that doesn't have the word "graham" in its name. Maybe next time . . .

Pumpkin Picking

Vote for Henry's Halloween Costume

As Henry gets older and more opinionated, I feel I am definitely losing any sense of power with him. I was thinking this might be the last year I get to choose his Halloween costume for him. Alas, we've been arguing over costume ideas for the last two weeks, and I'm starting to wonder iflast year was the last year I got to choose! We finally settled a bit tonight when I told him he could just write a letter to The Great Pumpkin telling him his favorite Halloween costume ideas. Then The Great Pumpkin would decide on the costume and leave it on our doorstep as a surprise! Yay! He went for the idea and puts a lot of faith in The Great Pumpkin. Here is the letter he dictated:

Dear Great Pumpkin,

These are the costumes I like best:

train

ladybug*

bumblebee*

Thomas (train)*

James (train)*

boxer*

delivery man

UPS man*

car*

Please send me one of those costumes for Halloween!

Love,

HENRY

P.S. I put stars by the ones I like the most! HCI

Wanna help The Great Pumpkin make his decision? Vote on our poll in the sidebar or leave comments here. Remember that we have to come up with a matching/coordinating costume for Ellis. Whether we make or buy it will depend on the costume choice. Thanks for your input!

Labor Day Weekend

Here's what I like:

Living an hour's drive from Yorktown, Maine. Lighthouses on craggy cliffs. Little islands that can only be reached by boat or zipline.

Taking pictures like this and wishing I had a real camera. Dreaming with friends about next year when we're going to spend Thanksgiving in the beachside resort pictured above.

Babies squealing in delight.

Boys and their unfailing ability to get dirty. No matter what.

Picnics on the beach, especially when the water is too cold to feel like you have to get in. Seeing the ocean just to see the ocean.

When other people walk Ellis around (thanks, Robbie!)

When other people play cars with Henry (thanks, Dave). Playing/singing with Amy.

Beastie (a.k.a. Jacob Priest). You'd like him too if you knew him.

Getting together with lifelong friends. These are some of our best ever high school friends, plus one new addition (Dave), who fits in perfectly. It's amazing how nothing in our friendship changes, even though so many other things have changed. We all live in different states now, living different lives. Some are well into successful careers, others are on their way. Some are trying to figure out their own family and marriage; others are professional counselors helping strangers with their families and marriages. Still, we can sit in the living room on a Saturday night, just like old times, just sitting, yet having the time of our lives. I love these people. I also love eating dinner in the North End. I also love that Jacob couldn't get off his phone to smile for the camera.

One Year for Ellis

Several times during my pregnancy with Ellis, I told people that I wished he could just come out of my belly and already be one year old. Okay, so maybe he could be a newborn for a week or two, and then magically transform into a one-year-old. I admit that I'm a wimp when it comes to parenting . . . I don't like doing the hard stuff! And with both of my boys, that first year was hard. Of course, the first year was also full of sweet and wonderful times (as you saw in The Ellis Show), and we have loved every ounce of our little Ellis, but I AM SO HAPPY that he has reached his year mark! My life is finally starting to feel "normal" again. Ellis is getting more independent, not to mention more adorable, happy, cuddly, and funny every day. This is one of my favorite stages in raising a little one (so far). I love to see his little personality developing as he is now trying to find a way to join our conversations and make his own little jokes. I love watching everything babies learn between 1 and 2 -- the way language develops as they discover ways to express what they see, feel, and want. I love watching little tiny under-20-pounders starting to walk (he is SO close) and gain a sense of acceptance with the rest of the world. I love kissing those soft, chubby, ticklish little cheeks. Happy Birthday Ellis!

The bathtub cake (because up until the day after his birthday, the bath was his favorite thing in the entire world. Now he has suddenly decided to hate it!). And "bath" was his first word that was actually attached to meaning. Bat, bat, bat, bat, bat!

We had friends over for a BBQ and birthday cake. We were so happy to have close friends in town, since we didn't have any family here for the big day :(

"I wish . . . I wish Mommy will let me rip her earrings out this time. Just this once!"

Going for the cake . . . a little tentatively

Taking his post-cake bath

the "afterbath" (I couldn't help it)

in his cute personalized hooded towel

Ellis got some pretty great presents (thanks, everybody!)

The Ellis Show

Here it is, the first ever official Ellis Show, in honor of our favorite 1-year-old! I've been meaning to post about Labor Day and Ellis' birthday, but I spent all my extra time working on this. Hope you like it!

As usual, it comes with a mostly-for-grandparents disclaimer. I won't be offended if you don't finish it. But it's so sweet if you have seven minutes on your hands. If you just want to watch for a couple of minutes, skip to the second or third song. Enjoy!

The Ellis Show (Year 1) from Ben and Jenn on Vimeo.

Thoreau

During my morning scripture study today, Henry came and sat across from me. He asked me to pass him the Book of Mormon so he could read it. He started turning pages and then asked, "Where's the Henry David Throw part?" A little confused, I asked him what he meant. He repeated, "Where's the part about Henry David Throw?"

Did I correct him and show him that Thoreau's words are found in the book Walden? Yes.

Do I regret that my son instinctively thought Henry David Thoreau was scriptural? Not at all.

And here is your Thoreau scripture of the day, very appropriate for September 1st, spoken to me over the phone by my dad last night:

Live in each season as it passes;

breathe the air,

drink the drink,

taste the fruit,

and resign yourself to the influences of each.

Love it!

Mid Seventies

It's a good week to live in Boston! This doesn't happen very often (at least not so far this year):

Tonight Partly Cloudy Lo 56 °F

Monday Sunny Hi 75 °F

Monday Night Mostly Clear Lo 51 °F

Tuesday Sunny Hi 73 °F

Tuesday Night Clear Lo 51 °F

Wednesday Sunny Hi 74 °F

Wednesday Night Mostly Clear Lo 56 °F

Thursday Sunny Hi 77 °F

Thursday Night Mostly Clear Lo 57 °F

Piano Bench

Check out our amateur re-upholstery work. We're pretty proud of it!

Before:

Covered with plastic so that icky yellow antique-smelling dust wouldn't get all over our house.

During:

This was after the hard parts were done. Ben was the man power behind this job. I was the brains, the craft, and the style. And Ben was some of the brains too (it was his idea to look on YouTube for how-to videos).

After:

It's hard to see the little polka-dots. It's a spill-resistant fabric!

Voila! The most comfortable (and beautiful) piano bench we've ever owned.

Ten of The Best

A few things that are too good to not recommend . . .

1. Best dinner recipe: This recipe for Gnocchi with Summer Vegetables from Martha Stewart's Everyday Food. I tried 10 new recipes over the past month, and this one is the winner! Uses fresh ingredients -- so healthy and delicious.

2. Best dessert for the moment: This recipe for Yummy Peach Dessert. We make it almost every year when peaches are in season, and it always hits the spot. Maybe I'm just in a peach mood this year, but fresh peaches (especially paired with a graham cracker crust and cream cheesy goodness) are SO good.

3. Best children's book at the moment: Did I Ever Tell You How Lucky You Are? by Dr. Seuss. I get such a kick out of reading this one aloud. And it has a great message, for any of you who are feeling down in the dumps. There is always somebody worse off than you! Read my full review here.

4. Best way to get 20 minutes of peace without someone asking me a million questions: The Wee Sing and Learn series of board books + CDs (we request them from our library). Henry is mesmerized by these just as much, if not more so than he is mesmerized by Diego DVDs. He will sit at the kitchen table by the CD player, following along with the songs in his board book. He sings along. He enthusiastically answers the quiz questions asked by the children on the CD. And he does it all by himself! Such a lifesaver for me, all without adding extra screen time to our day (Thanks, Mary & Jack).

5. Best audiobook: Angela's Ashes, read by the author, Frank McCourt. Ben and I listened to this book at the same time, and it has been one of the great highlights of our year. It is compelling, witty, and heartrending. And McCourt's Irish accent is phenomenal (which is why you MUST listen to this rather than read it).

6. Best new discovery: Probably you have already discovered it. But on the chance that you haven't, I thought it was worth mentioning that Pandora has changed our lives over the past 6 months. It is a website that creates free, online, custom radio stations for you. You just type in the name of a band or artist you like, and it creates a station for you based on similar artists. No more stupid radio stations! No more listening to music you don't like! If it gives you a song you don't like, you can tell it so and it will never play it again. You can mix up different artists. There are pretty much no commercials. Why did no one tell me about this sooner? (Thanks, Shug). Some stations for you to try: Oren Lavie/Sondre Lerche, Regina Spektor, Ben Kweller, Cute is What We Aim For/Copeland.

7. Best new CD: Regina Spektor's Far. It is beautiful, bold, and stirring. A tad bit more mainstream than her older albums, which I don't consider to be a bad thing in Spektor's case. It is also better than Begin to Hope by a couple of notches, in my opinion. Henry has picked up on it quickly, commenting often that "blue is the color of our planet from far, far away," and asking "Why is no one laughing at God?" If you trust Henry's taste (and you should), you will like this (Thanks, Brittany).

8. Best old (2006) CD: Cute is What We Aim For's The Same Old Blood Rush with a New Touch. I popped this CD in last week and was like, "Dang, this is good. Amazingly good." SO many awesome, edgy, upbeat songs on that album. They just keep shooting 'em out, one after the other. Mmmm hmmmm. Try it (Thanks, Brady & Tanner).

9. Best Miracle Worker: Tilex Mold & Mildew Cleaner. Maybe some of you don't live in Boston where humidity reigns. Maybe some of you have decent ventilation in your bathroom. Maybe some of you are better at cleaning your shower than me. If you are not any of those people and you have had yucky black mold accumulate along the corners of your shower or even on your bathroom ceiling or miscellaneous items in your sticky basement, then this product is for you (I should get paid for this). I have spent hours scrubbing at the caulking in my bathroom and haven't seen any difference in the mold. And then . . . I sprayed the Tilex on, waited five minutes, and it magically disappeared. I kid you not. Maybe you all knew about this a long time ago. Let's just say cleaning is not my forté. I'm working on it.

10. Best Popsicles: Popsicle brand Mighty Minis with "Slow-Melt" Technology. Okay, so I realize these might not be for everyone. I heard a rumor that some people have kids that eat a lot of food, and they eat it fast. My children, on the other hand, refuse almost every food and then still manage to spend at least 3 hours a day sitting at the table eating. Hence, the perfect combination: teeny tiny popsicles (2-3 bites' worth) that don't melt all over the place in the 15 minutes it takes my boys to eat them. Genius! And I like to think they are easing Ellis through his teething pain (my nurse recommended popsicles). Try them, unless your kids are the eating type (most kids could probably eat the whole box in one sitting. Not mine!).

Fast Train to MA, anyone?

Perhaps you could say that Henry is a bit jealous of the attention Ellis is getting recently. He manifests this jealously in many ways. One of my favorites is when he jumps in front of Ellis during walking practice and says, "I can walk too!" while knocking Ellis over. Such a sweet, nurturing big brother!

Case in point, as I'm making the previous post about Ellis, Henry - the Wingdings enthusiast of our family - insists that I post his latest creation from Microsoft Word here on the blog, for all [Grandma] to see! This is the train from Utah to Massachusetts. If any of you want to hop aboard, talk to Henry for details. Oh, and this is the abridged version.

jmmmmmmmmmmmm

mmmmmmmmmmmmmm

llllllllllllll

llllllllllllll

llllllllllllll

llmmmmmllmm

mmmmmmmmmkkkkk

kkkkkkkkkkkkkk

kkkkkkkkkkk

kkkkkkkkmkkkkk

kkkkkkkkkkkkkk

kkkkkkkkkkk

kkkkkkkkkkkkkk

kkkkkkkkkkkkkk

kkkkkkkkkkkkkk

kkkmkkkkkkk

kkkjjjjkkkkkkk

kkkkkkkkkkkkkk

kkkkkkkkkkkkjk

kkkkkkkkkkk

kkkkkkkkkkkkkk

kkkkkkkkkkkkkk

kkkkkkkkkjjkjj

kjkjkjkjkjkj

kkkkkkkkkk

He Moves!

At 11 months, Ellis is finally a crawler! Well, not officially a crawler. He's still doing some version of the army crawl, but the important thing is that HE MOVES! If you've talked to me recently, you know I've been super anxious for Ellis to start crawling because our kids just seem to be so much happier if they can move on their own. In that conversation, you probably warned me that I wouldn't actually like having a baby that crawls. Henry never crawled, so I definitely didn't know all the woes of crawlers. Apparently, there's a lot to learn . . . like how you have to get rid of things like night lights plugged close to the floor and put barricades in front of things like toilet plungers. And you have to keep your floor swept and mopped fairly often, unless you want to be mortified by the color of your baby's clothes by the end of the day. Well, I still think it's worth it!

If you want to see the crawler in action, here's a video clip. This is one of my favorites -- watch for what happens the very moment Ellis notices that the fridge is open. And for the Ellis fan club, keep watching the clip for his other recent tricks (including kiss-blowing and his first 5 "words").

Ellis' New Tricks from Ben and Jenn on Vimeo.

Babysitting Swap Article

I'm famous!!! I never knew how much I would like public attention until Rodrique Ngowi from the Associated Press contacted me in the process of writing this article about babysitting swaps. Now I know -- my name is all over the newspapers, and I'm feeling very important! I know the article showed up at least in the Deseret News and the Standard Examiner in Utah, and it's in the Boston Globe here. Unfortunately, we missed the photo-op because we were in Utah at the time, so are kids are not yet famous. :(

The article is about the babysitting swap we have been doing and loving for the past 6 months. I got the idea from Ben's sisters Katie and Kara, and I feel I owe them my life because it has been so nice! Our group has 5 families and a total of 8 kids. Every Saturday night, from 5:00 - 8:30, one lucky family gets to host and watch all the kids. The other 4 couples get to go on a date or do whatever they want. We love having 4 free nights of babysitting for the price of one. It's especially nice to just be able to count on it each week without having to plan anything. The kids also have a great time; we have been surprised at how easy it is to let the kids just run around, watch a movie, eat snacks, etc. Henry loves it and calls it a "Babysitting Party!" He is now good friends with all of the kids, and they are all comfortable with each other and play together well. It's a win-win situation all around.

August 13th

Happy International Left-handers Day! Don't forget to buy something special for that lefty in your life. And if you can't think of a lefty in your life, I can think of one who'd appreciate a gift! (Wink, wink)

To celebrate the day, here are some little-known facts about lefties, which may or may not be true:

-Most left-handers draw figures facing to the right.

-Left-handers adjust more readily to seeing underwater.

-4 of the 5 original designers of the Macintosh computer were left-handed

-1 in 4 Apollo astronauts were left-handed - 250% more than the normal level.

-They are "considerably more intellectually gifted", according to studies performed by Dr. Alan Searleman of the St. Lawrence University in New York.

-Left-handers were severely discriminated against during the 18th and 19th centuries and it was often "beaten out" of people (where's MY affirmative action???)

-2500 lefties a year die from using right-handed products

-About 66% of American presidents in the last 30 years were left-handed men.

-Left-handed people also tend to earn more money.
- You type the words desegregates, reverberated, watercress, aftereffects, and sweaterdresses exclusively with the left hand.

Enjoy your day, lefties of the world!

Mission Call

Jenn mentioned a couple of posts ago that my parents had their mission call but hadn't opened it yet because my dad was backpacking and my mom was in Virginia visiting a new granddaughter. Well, my dad finally made it to Virginia and they opened their call about an hour ago. The result? They're headed to ...

...Edinburgh, Scotland!!! They will serve as family history missionaries for 18 months, and leave November 23rd. Needless to say, we're all thrilled about the assignment (it's perfect for them!), and Jenn and I are secretly hopeful that their mission president will allow visitors. :) I'm sure there's an academic conference in the UK that I could present at, right?

If you see my parents, tell then congratulations!