Funny Habits

Celie has been developing these very distinct and compulsive habits lately. Although sometimes it makes me upset when she does them it does make me laugh and remember how funny this mortal life is. The first compulsive habit I noticed was the “crayon scraping”. Instead of coloring with them she hides in a corner or under a table and scrapes the tip of the crayon until all her fingernails are full of vibrant colors. She has taken this tendency even to another level. I have to constantly remind her in the car “no scraping the seat”. I know I am not the only one with crumbs in the car seat corners so don’t be so appalled at the thought! She knows very well that she shouldn’t be doing this. She even tells me after she has done it saying “Oh no, mamma, I scrape”. Yea, that makes everything better.

Another funny habit is that of the toilet paper routine! We have been potty training and she is doing well. At home she will go when she needs to most of the time. She can even go by herself as well as wiping, flushing, and washing hands. After I started to let her wipe by herself I noticed that she would, with out thinking, pull the toilet paper down a bit, tear it off, and throw it in the potty. Then, she would do it again, but this time use the toilet paper to wipe. I tried helping her to understand that the first piece was as good as the second, but she reacted terribly. It was like the disruption of her routine would simply destroy all comfort she had in life. I think she is getting better now.

My favorite one happens in her daily prayers. This is partly our fault by unknowingly teaching her, but I think she knows better yet does it anyway. She used to give prayers very normal, starting out with Heavenly Father, thank yous, bless this and that, and the name of Jesus Christ Amen. She started to skip saying Heavenly Father and go one with the rest. So as parents do, we told her to remember to say Dear Heavenly Father. Unfortunately we told her after she had finished her prayer. So now she begins her prayers: Jesus Christ, Amen, Heavenly Father and on with the rest. She says it so fast so we aren’t able to catch or correct her, she finds that funny. Just thought I would share some sweet things about our sweet Celie. She is a funny girl and I love her oh so much.

Nauvoo

We were lucky to have Marty’s sister and her family visit from Wisconsin this last weekend. We spent Saturday in Nauvoo. Aside from the tantrums Celie threw all day, we had a great time. It was so good to learn more about the history of the church as they settled and were driven out of Nauvoo. We went on horse wagon rides and tours of the marvelous rebuilt homes and learned about how they made things and supported each other. The temple is beautiful. It stands majestically at the top of the hill and reminds us all about the struggles the saints went through to build it the first time, years ago. People are friendly and giving and I was even able to see some people I knew from Utah. Marty tried a hand at the stick pull and Celie and I danced to the pioneer music. It was fun to be with baby Dallin and be with family at this wonderful historic site.

The pageant was incredible. I felt that the script was perfectly done. Completely informative of church beliefs, full of the spirit, and plenty of real stories to help us understand the saint’s struggles and joys. Even though we got home around 1:00 a.m., we appreciated the opportunity to be there. It was overwhelming to see that sacred place were our church leaders of old walked, talked and built up the Kingdom of Heaven.

Ohio

Marty, Celie and I went to Ohio to visit my Grandparents for the 4th of July weekend. We had a wonderful time. It was good for all of us to get to know each other better and I am so proud to have them as Grandparents. Celie was fairly obedient in their home, which I was thankful for. She did however spend most of her time telling Grandma Doe, as she called her, to come here and go there. Obsessively going over to pet the fake pigeon in their sun room and of course taking Grandma with her. They were patient with her and we all loved to see Celie love her Great Grandparents even as soon as we got there. Visits like these help me remember how important family relationships are. These relationships and our knowledge are the only things we can take with us after we die. I am so glad we had the chance to be fairly close to them so we can learn of their life and their joys. They do a beautiful job of putting new fabric on old furniture and wow are they good at it. Marty and my Grandpa were able to go golfing, which is one of their favorite things to do. We love them so much and are glad that Celie was able to meet them. Families are Forever!

Purse Theif

Marty and I were making our first trip to a Super Wal-mart a few weeks ago to have a look around. After we purchased a few things and were getting in the car I noticed two teenage boys suspiciously pushing at one another like there was something they wanted done, but neither one wanted to do it. They were two or three cars away from us standing next to a large, older car with all of the windows down. Marty was busy putting Celie in the car seat while I watched one of the boys finally reach in the car and pull out a black purse. I had thought that we made eye contact earlier (during their pushing) so I was astonished that they went through with it and then made eye contact again. I wanted to yell out "Did you just steal that purse right in front of me?", but I was too surprised at what just happened that I watched them walk away. To my greater surprise they walked straight over to an expensive, red sports car opened the door, put the purse in and went in the store to shop!! Like I said, they were young teenage boys. Not smart on their part.

It took me a while to convince Marty that I just witnessed theft in the parking lot, but he acted quickly and caught sight of the boys walking into the store. He quickly went to the service desk and told security what had happened. An undercover-looking guy came out to look at the two cars involved and called police, meanwhile the boys are still shopping. Marty went in with the security guy and pointed the boys out in the store and they even made eye contact a couple of times, I think they were starting to realize that we were on to them. They came out of the store shortly after and I watched them walk to the red car and pull out the purse like they were going to put it back, but as soon as it was in their hands and the car door was shut, the police showed up! They weren't very gentle either. They were hand cuffed and put into the police cars quickly. The Wal-mart security says that this has been happening a lot lately, so lesson learned: Roll up windows, lock doors, and just don't leave your purse on the front seat!!!! We felt proud of our little service to the community!

Scary Bags

Celie is so funny some times. Lately, when we are getting Celie dressed for the day near her closet, she will scoot far away from the closet and act like there is a monster hiding in there! It took me a while to get her to show me what was so alarming to her, because she couldn't describe it to me in words. She wouldn't get close enough to the scary object for me to know and she was so traumatized that she wouldn't answer me when I would point to things. Crazy! I thought maybe it would be some bugs hiding in there that she saw crawling around during the day (which would be something I would be afraid of). Finally I decided that it was the pile of bags in the corner of the closet. Bags! Not the metal parts or the mouth of the bags, but the bags as a whole. I hope she doesn't go to sleep scared every night. Also, in the morning when the lights are dim and she is eating her breakfast I will hear a gasp and perhaps a drop of the spoon in her cereal bowl. Of course I come running, only to see her staring wide eyed at my purse which is set on an end table by the door. She gets over the shock very quickly and gets back to life like nothing happened. Now, when she is caught by surprise from these monsters, she tells me: "Mom, I scared. Scary bags!"

Two Year Old Celie

Yes, Celie is two already. Time has flown by. Back in Texas her favorite things to do were play with Savanna, Jay, or other friends (and their toys), go to the park and swing, and dance class of course! She loved getting on her leotard for dance class. She would help everyone do what the teacher said (me) and it didn’t always turn out pleasant. Here in Peoria, Celie doesn’t have as many friends or places to go so she finds friendship in her library books, all 40 of them. New ones each week! She carries them all through the apartment. It is sweet to hear her read out loud. She loves to talk, a lot. I get told about every sound she hears, every sight she sees, and every tummy rumble she happens to feel; which is every few minutes. “I’m hungee mommy!”

Celie is one of the happiest kids I know. She handles “owies” very well and disappointments with fair understanding. She will be a helping hand with her baby brother that’s on his way. I know this because of the care and consideration she offers her baby Cella. Potty time is going well. She is staying dry most of the day. Today we were at the pool and she even held it until I ran her inside to go on the potty. Impressive! She can do anything she sets her mind to. I’ve even seen her clean up (correctly) all of her toys and messes in five minutes or less with out help. Of course, the reward was to watch 101 Dalmatians, the movie.

We are so proud of Celie and we feel so lucky to have her in our family. She keeps us laughing and corrects us when we fall short of our duties. Her prayers are sincere and sometimes very long. Blessing the bunnies, stickers, pool, doggie books, creams (ice cream), hopsicles (popsicles), movies, daddy wok (work), friends, bugs and the list goes on. We love her so much!

Trip to Chicago

On the weekend of our anniversary, May 29th, Marty, Celie and I went to visit JR, Shanna, and Karlie Benson in the Chicago area. This was the first time for both Marty and I to visit Chicago and actually remember it. We had so much fun. Mostly because we were with my brother and his family, of whom we don't see very often.

Our first train ride was a lot of fun and Celie seemed to enjoy the protection of her Daddy through the whole ride. We took a trolley everywhere to see the sites. We saw the main shopping strips, went up to one of the tallest buildings to look over all of Chicago, and saw the Bean of course! This thing is crazy. I don't know why they chose the bean shape, but they did. I think they redid the surface so the metal would be seamless. Amazing! I don't have a picture of what it looks like at a distance, but here are the Bensons in the midst of the reflection of Chicago. This next picture is from underneath the Bean! Pretty cool.

We also went to Navy Pier and saw the lake, a lot of boats and of course a great view of the tall buildings in Chicago. We had a great trip!

The rest of the story

Peoria! Yes, the biggest noise in Illinois (you'd have to have seen Calamity Jane to understand that joke). We packed up two cars full of what ever we thought we would need for the summer and left directly after Marty's last final. We did his incredibly stressfull thing because we wanted to make it to Ken's Law school graduation that weekend, and we did. It was good to visit Ken, Kristen, and sweet Ella in Indiana as well as Richard and Cleone. As Ken's family was moving back to Utah we were on our way to Illinois.

Now that we are here and Martys internship has started we feel settled and happy for all the time we have together. Marty loves his job so far and is learning a lot. I am finding my way around town, sun bathing at the pool, and getting a lot done on my scrapbooking (I'm starting to run out of supplies). Celie has had a bit of a harder time than the rest of us. She misses her friends and many activities she had in Texas, but she has found comfort in popcicles, wading in the pool, and library books!

We have already been to Chicago to visit JR, Shanna, and Karlie and to see the sites. We had so much fun with them. We also have been to a few BBQ's (or Grill-Out's as they say here) and I have even been to a baby shower. We are getting along just fine here in Peoria!