INK...

It's a controversial topic!  My parents don't have any tattoos and don't like them.  Beau's parents both had tattoos done by Mario Barth...If your not familiar here is a link to his http://mariobarthtattoo.com/portfolio.php.  He is uber famous and has tattooed tons of celebs such as Lenny Kravitz, Sylvester Stallone, Tommy Lee & Usher.

Beau and I both have gotten tattoos in the past and love them.  Beau got an armband when he turned 18 and was a senior in High School.  I got one when I was 20 (I think) of a heart and a yellow rose (symbol of friendship).  Beau got another one with a wooden cross and a setting sun with John 8:12 under it.  After I had Hunter I got one for the boys.  A star with their birthstone color inside.  I drew that one myself making it even more special.

A friend of ours good friend is a tattoo artist in Montana.  He's from SSC and was back in town to be with his Dad, who is sick. We decided to get new tattoos.  He is a great artist!  He showed me some of his work and his drawings and he is amazing!  And a SUPER nice guy!

I really wanted to add another star to my already existing tattoo for Blake.  I also made a new years resolution this year to RELAX.  I wanted to stop worrying about stuff and enjoy those around me.  I wanted to spend more time with family and friends and not focus on the "what if I don't get this done" or the "what if this happens".  I've been seeing a lot of quote tattoos on pinterest and really like them.  I decided on the quote, Walk By Faith.  This is going to remind me to stop worrying and have faith.  I will be reminded that I am not the one in control.  I need to do my best and have Faith the He will take care of me. 

Ever since Beau's Dad passed away he wanted to get something in remembrance of him.  He did some searching and really liked the Viking runes (which is the viking alphabet).  He has some viking heritage and thought it was neat.  So, he had Father tattooed on his arm.  Beau's tough and didn't seem to even flinch but did say it hurt :)  He loves it!  The bottom pic was taken right after it was done...

 We love them & Joel did a FANTASTIC JOB!  And we got to hang out with friends which made it even better!

Cole Reading!

Another one of my greatest joys as a parent is to watch them grown and develop.  I still can't believe Cole is 5 & in Kindergarten!  He will always be my baby!  The first time he came home and read me a book, I cried...Yep I'm a sap!  Here's a video of him reading one of his books last nigh!  SOOO proud!

   

Home Videos

One of my favorite part of having more than one child is the joy they bring to each other.  Here's a video of Cole acting goofy & Blake loving it!

Oh Cole.....

Cole looked at my side tonight & said "Mom, you have a nipple!" I look and say, "Cole that's not a nipple, that's a freckle!" I'm wondering how many people he's told he has nipples all over his face :)

Homemade Laundry Soap

I've been thinking about making homemade supplies for a long time.....And thanks to pinterest I finally did it!  I started out with homemade laundry soap.

It was easy & didn't take long at all...And most of all-it saves LOTS of money!  We go through at least 2 big bottles of laundry soap a week.  I do, on average (the days when I'm too exhausted to walk up and down the stairs and face the basement & the days that we have all run out of clothes & am considering telling the boys to just turn their underwear inside out) 3-4 FULL loads of laundry a day. That comes out to over 1000 loads of laundry a year!! 

I read a blog about a mom who also did the homemade laundry soap...It only takes a tablespoon per load.  She did 8 loads of laundry a week and it lasted 9 months! That means it will do 288 loads of laundry.  That means I will have to make it 5 times a year...or less if I double the batch size.  It costs me around $20 for all the ingredients. So...I will be saving at least $188 a year!!!  (Who says a early childhood teacher can't do math!)

Here's the deal.....  You need 5 ingredients:

* a 4lb 12 oz box of Borax
* a 4lb box of Arm & Hammer Baking Soda (I had to use a 2-2lb boxes)
* a 55ox box of Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda
*3 bars of soap....In the recipe I found it said Fels-naptha soap, but after doing some research, any type will work
* About 3.5 lb of Oxyclean

You grate the 3 bars of soap...I was lucky enough to have Iron Man help me out! (and it's a good fine motor skill for him too).

Then you put a clean trash bag in a big bucket and mix all ingredients.

Tada!!!  Your done.  Use a tablespoon...I think I used a little more than that.  And it makes a ton!  I just used containers around the house and it filled up these three!  Happy Washing!

Woo.....

Ever have one of those times in your life when you feel like your drowning?  There is sooo much to do and not enough time!  I know I'll get through it but right now its tough.  On top of the normal stuff (laundry, dishes, cooking, cleaning, baths, bedtimes) I've got about 8 million things to do!  And when I get stressed, I don't try harder to get everything done, I shut down.

Work is crazy right now.  I have a ton of evaluations to get done.  I hate that taking time away from the kiddos I usually see!  I love every one of them and want to be able to give them the best.  I have so much extra stuff to do that I feel like I'm not giving my all to my kids!  I work 3 days a week, but really am doing full time work.  I come home a lot and do paperwork at night.  Since the beginning of the year I have doubled my caseload & I know there are more kiddos to come.  I love my job, but wish I could have 5 days so that I'm not just running around like crazy, but have time to give my best to those kids!

We are becoming more involved in church and I LOVE it!  I am serving on a Lay Internship Committee.  I am so lucky to be part of it.  I also am going to direct or lead...or whatever you call it.... (Yeah my brain is fried) Vacation Bible School.  I love organizing and planning.  I love seeing the plan through and watch it all unfold.  It's very important to me and I want to do my very best!

I am working hard to keep friendships and relationships with family strong.  I want to spend lots of time with those I love.  Its these times that I'll remember forever!  We are hanging out and talking to our friends a lot more.  I am even hosting the first Mama's Night Out (or in) this February!  Send me a message if you want to come!!!! 

2 years ago through ESU we did this Strength Finder Activity.   It gave us our top 5 strengths.  I'll have to find the book and look it up.  But my top strength said Woo...Woo?  What does woo mean?  After reading about it, man it was right!

"Woo stands for winning others over.  You enjoy meeting new people and getting them to like you.  Strangers are rarely intimidating to you.  On the contrary, strangers can be energizing.  You are drawn to them, you want to learn their names,ask them questions, and find some area of common interest so that you can strike up a conversation and build rapport....not only are you rarely at a loss for words; you actually enjoy initiating with strangers......

Yep...That's me!  For sure!  Which is why I'm so busy....And it's ok.  I will get through all of it.  I will look back and I will be happy that I was able to be a part of it!  I learned through that book how to build on my strengths instead of focusing on my deficits!

I wish I could remember what other things I was....I'm thinking they were positivity. empathy...that or when I look at them, those are just the things I like :) Ha!  Wish I would have saved that info! 

Anyways...That's all for now.  I'm busy, I want to please everyone & wish there are more hours in the day.  Say a little prayer for me! :)

FUN WEEKEND!

What an amazing weekend the Bensen's had!  Wow!  Fun with friends and family.  If you remember, one of my New Years Resolutions is to stop being so uptight, have fun and spend time with those I love!  I did just that this weekend! 

My sister Kimm and I have been spending more time together, which I LOVE!  She moved to Wayne, so she's only 30 miles away!  YAAAY!  Kimm and her daughter Myles came up on Friday!  The kids don't get to play very often and LOVED it.  Thanks to Myles who wanted to play upstairs in the boys' room (which they normally don't like to do) because they played up there most of the morning today so I could get some cleaning done! 

My wonderful niece, Jinell, who is 16 came over after we got the kids to bed so we could have some adult time.  We went to the Green....Green Diamond that is.  If you don't know what it is, its a pretty well known bar in St. James, Nebraska.  I'm not sure how many people live in St. James but there can't be more than 5 houses.  It's the bar we go to every Easter on our 4-wheeler ride.  I was very sad when we went in and all the walls were painted!  Every year we would write Easter Ride 20(whatever) and all sign our names....Now its all painted over...BOOO!

We went to Lyle's in Newcastle too!  Man, I love Newcastle!  I know I grew up in Arlington, but feel so much more at home in Newcaslte, than I do in Arlington.  It reminds me of the Cheers song....."where everybody knows your name....and the people glad you came...."

We got to spend time with friends of ours, Corey and Latricia.  Latricia and Beau grew up together.  We've been able to spend more time with them and they are great.  They have 3 kids too and Tricia has been great about watching the boys when we don't have a sitter!  We got to have fun with them this weekend too!  I love time with my kids, but its important to have adult conversation!

Saturday we were pretty lazy.  We let the kids play, we watched the Hangover!  I loved having girls in my house!  I got to paint my nails with my sister & Myles even let me paint her toes!  Thanks so much for coming guys!

On Sunday we went to Church, which I LOVE!  I got to lector and Beau was communion assistant.  It's so nice to be part of a church.  We are excited for family game night coming up later this month.  They have a carnivore club for the guys....they go out and eat.  Then we are going to have a bowling night too!  This year I volunteered to be the Vacation Bible School Director and can't wait!  (I probably should be looking through that instead of typing this).

Then Sunday night we had Beau's brother Eldon and his fiance Katie, his other brother Aaron and his Mom out for dinner.  I made cornflake chicken which everyone seemed to like...then the boys, big and small had a nerf gun fight!  When the kiddos went to bed, we played UNO.  This was Aaron's first time playing cards with us!  He learned fast that anything goes!!!!

Hope everyone else had a great weekend!

Blake is 1!

My babies turning one is always a difficult day as a mother.  All these amazing memories flood back of that magical day.

Cole was even a little stinker in utero.  I think it was the hottest summer I had ever felt!  I was fat and miserable & HOT!  I would crank down the AC as it would go.  I would be sleeping in my underwear and Beau would have 5 blankets covering him.  I seriously considered leaving Beau when he decided it would be a great idea to make deer jerky in our oven at the end of June (it cooks for 6 hours)!!!  I ate way too many Twix and to say I was hard to get along with was an understatement.  I was induced and of course Cole thought that it wasn't a good enough day for him to enter the world, so I was sent home.  The next evening I was having horrific back pain and Beau would rub it for me until it got better.  After about an hour of this Beau said, Jen your back pain is no coming every 10 minutes.  Yep back labor.  It was not fun!  Cole decided to enter the world face up and sideways after 2 hours of pushing and an epidural that had come out in the process. He was born at 8:05 am.

When I was pregnant with Hunter it was harder to focus on the pregnancy.  I was busy chasing an 18 month old around.  I was a much happier person to be around.  After Cole I said that I would NEVER have a baby during the summer AGAIN!  So apparently, this time I thought it would be a good idea to go through an ENTIRE summer being pregnant.  Luckily that summer was not as warm and I managed.  If you remember me pregnant with Hunter, I was HUGE!  Huge can't even begin to describe it.  I remember we took a picture on our anniversary, June 25 of my belly.  I am wearing a pair of Beaus shorts and Beaus shirt that didn't even cover half of my belly.  I wasn't near as miserable, but Cole knew Mommy couldn't move as fast and if he hid under the table, Fat Mommy couldn't fit under there to get him.  5 days before Hunter was born a good friend of mine had her baby.  I went to my doctor and asked to be induced.  My exact words were "My friends baby was 9lb 4 oz and I don't want to have a baby that big!" I went in to realize I was already having contractions.  I was induced and labor and delivery was much easier and Hunter Lee was born at 6:14 pm.  The Dr. guessed his weight and 8lb 2oz.  He said he gives himself 2 lb leeway each way.  He almost missed that!  Hunter weighed in at 9lb 11 oz & 22 1/2 inches long!  And he had the biggest head ever!

Blake was quite a surprise and when I first found out I cried.  How scary.  I didn't know if I would be able to take care of and love 3 babies...and how I yearned for a girl!  This pregnancy was so much harder than the last two.  I was constantly sick.  I drove to Santee twice a week and it was miserable! If it was raining and I had to turn on the windshield wipers I would instantly be sick from the motion of them!  I wanted a girl but had a gut feeling it was a boy.  When the ultrasound tech told us a boy I thought I would be disappointed, but surprisingly, I wasn't at all.  Everything looked good and that's all that mattered.  I slept VERY little the last few months of my pregnancy.  I had AWFUL restless leg syndrome and I would often pace the floor until 2am crying because I was so tired!  I was ready for him to come!  Even though we know live an hour away from where I delivered Cole and Hunter, I decided to stick with the same doctor and hospital.  I was so scared I would go into labor during a snowstorm and not be able to get to the hospital.  I was also concerned that he was going to be a monster!  I was induced a week early.  When they checked me they thought he was face up like Cole.  I almost packed up my stuff and went home!  I couldn't do that again!  He did manage to turn.  Right before I started pushing his heart rate started decelerating.  I was told to lay on one side and then to the other.  I didn't truly understand the seriousness until it was over.  The actual delivery was easy, but the umbilical cord was wrapped around his neck and came out pretty bruised.  Blake was born at 6:09pm weighing in at 8lb 12 oz and 21 1/2 inches long!

What a year it's been.  Adjusting from 2 to 3 was challenging to say the least!  No more one on one.  We run a zone defense now.  But I wouldn't change it for the world!  I love my life and my healthy, happy boys!

Blake Rodney

Best Sound In The World

This video makes all the challengs of being a parent soo worth it!

  

Photographers FYI

AMAZING giveaway from Crave Photography!  Check out their blog!

www.cravemyphotography.com/blog/

CATCH UP!

Happy New Years!  Resolutions-drinks-family-fun!  The usual.  This year I have lots of resolutions!  Blog more often, loose weight (and lots of it), get out of debt, be more organized, etc...But my number 1....To stop being so uptight...not to worry about every little thing and have fun!  Spend more time with friends and family...because really, in the grand scheme of things, that's all that matters!  Had a great night last and am constantly reminded how TRUELY blessed I am to have such amazing people in my life!

I have been busy making slide shows :)


Click on the link below to see my 2011 Family Slide show including pics of the Bensen's 2011!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=64-35Fmso4Y&feature=g-upl&context=G2896788AUAAAAAAACAA


And click on this link to check out my Mama B's Photography business slideshow to see my favorite shots I have taken in the past year!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5PJeKO5MAjI&feature=g-upl&context=G2163d1dAUAAAAAAADAA


Will be posting more fun stuff later!  Have a great day!