Ben's 3653rd Day

I think Ben had a pretty great 10th birthday.  Ben thinks he had a pretty great 10th birthday too! 

*Photo taken from Pinterest, because I forgot to take a picture of the baked french toast casserole I made this morning!  Oops.

Panda Express catered in to Ben the school cafeteria for lunch!

A new archery set from all of us!

Ben's going to work on those pulling muscles!

He's wanted a Camelbak for a LONG time, thanks Nana and Papa!

Practice.

Got it!!

Flying kites with Papa.

Ten candles in his favorite...homemade pumpkin pie with homemade whipped cream!  Mmmmm.

 

Closing the night out with Ben's first time viewing of HP5!

Benny is Tenny

Every year I give a little bio of the kids on their birthdays, but I thought this year it would be fun to let the BOYS tell you a little bit about themselves!  The birthday interview was so fun, it might just become a tradition.  I am always jawin' off on this blog, it's time someone else had a little face time!  

Ben at ten is a wonderful young man, thoughtful, loving, generous of heart, intelligent, inventive and faithful.  And this is what he has to say about himself:

How old are you?  "Ten."
What makes you happy?  "My family, candy, running, playing soccer, climbing."
What are your favorite things to eat?  "Ramen, spaghetti."
What is your least favorite thing to eat?  Be honest.  "Spinach."
What are your favorite things to do?  "Run.  Climb.  Play soccer.  Read."
What is your favorite TV show?  "TV show?  I don't watch too many TV shows."
What are you really good at?   "Running, climbing. playing soccer.  And school."
What is your favorite movie?  "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire."
What is your favorite animal?  "Wolf."
What is your favorite color?  "Blue."
What is your favorite song?  "Ninety-nine bottles of Coke on the wall, because it annoys Zac."
Who are your best friends?  "Owen and Sebastien, and Micah."
What do you and Mom do together that you love?  "Run."
What do you and Dad do together that you love?  "Play soccer."
What is your favorite sport?  OK, sportS?  "Running AND soccer."
What is your favorite book?  "The Harry Potter series.  I can't pick just one.  Maybe number four." [Goblet of Fire]
Where is your favorite place to go?  "Washington, to visit my family!"
What makes you feel scared?  "The dark, the basement."
What do you want to be when you grow up?  "A runner, a soccer player and a vulcanologist."
What words would you use to describe yourself? "Fast, funny, reader, intelligent, brother, kind."

Notice a theme???  :)  That's my running, soccer playing, climbing, Harry Potter-loving boy!  Happy birthday Ben!  We sure think you are great and love you SO very much!

The Fast Kid's Mom

Today marked the beginning of the boys' Landsharks cross-country season at our elementary school.  All three boys are attending this fall, so it should be a lot of fun!  Unfortunately, it all almost ended in disaster for Luke.  In some things he needs preparation and forewarning, and I had completely forgotten that today was the first day of Landsharks when I sent him off to school, which is evidenced by the fact that he was sent to school in his Crocs, thus, no preparation or forewarning was given.  Fortunately, I realized the footwear error just before the school day ended, so I walked over to the school with his tennies in my hand, and I found my little peanut boy standing by the edge of the track/field area and melting into a puddle of tears, Ben was beside him, doing his best to help the coach help Luke. 

Luke wanted to go home.  He was tired.  So, as the kind mother I am, I made him run anyway.  But I didn't make him run alone, we did it together, even though I had already run over 16 miles today in preparation for my Ragnar next weekend; and then sweet Ben, having finished his warm-up laps, came to run with us too.  Luke loved Ben running with us and telling him my legs felt like jelly got him giggling, and in 10 minutes he was laughing and playing running games with the other Sand Sharks (the littlest kids in the program).

While I was standing on the outer edge of the stretching circle with Luke after our warm-up lap, a kid I don't know but was clearly not shy about talking to unfamiliar adults in the least walked up to me and we had this little conversation:

Kid: Are you the fastest kid that's here's mom?
Me: Um...which kid are you talking about?
Kid: The really fast one, the one who is faster than everyone.
Me: Well, this is one of my kids (pointing to Luke), and that's another (pointing over to Josh).
Kid: No...where is he?  That kid over there! (pointing to Ben who was running into the school to refill Luke's water bottle for him)
Me: Yep, that's my kid too.
Kid: Well, he's the fastest kid here.  He beats everybody.  But I'm gonna beat him someday.
Me:  You are, are you?  Well, go for it!

I loved this conversation because it means that Ben has become a benchmark!  I remember Ben's early days of running.  He had kids on the team he looked up to as "the fast kid" too, and he was also eager to be the one running alongside, or even passing them up.  And now he is that kid.  It's fun to see something like this come full circle.  It was a sweet moment for me!

It's Been Awhile, So...

Because it's been SO very long {yesterday} since my last post, I thought I'd fill you in on what the Chaos has been up to recently....

Adam decided to have a sweet tat of me put on his lower forearm.  Who wouldn't want that face staring out from your arm for the rest of your life?  He's looking for artists to do an entire sleeve that will include bloopers from our wedding day and action scenes of the birth of our five children.

Thanks to his brilliant efforts in creating a new financial system where the gold standard was replaced with origami animals, Benjamin Conlin replaced Benjamin Franklin on the 100 dollar bill.  Seeing as how we trade in origami animals these days anyway, it really didn't matter whose face appeared on the bill, and as an added bonus, the nick name for the $100 bill, "Benjamin," was saved.

His "building Lego stuff" hobby quickly progressed into a complete and comprehensive mastery of engineering, when Luke built himself a real-life, fully functioning Iron Man suit, complete with turbo boosters that allow him to fly and the JARVIS operating system.

Josh's adorableness was discovered at last, and his darling mug can now be seen on display at The Guggenheim for the low price of four origami pigs and one origami penguin, children under 3 are free, but please restrain them from touching the photo.  

With the kids back in school, I've been doing some emotional eating...a lot of emotional eating.

Sorry Mountain Ridge Middle School.  Zac will not be returning after Labor Day.  He received his letter by owl today!  We are so proud.  We have a wizard in the family!

And Tommy turned into a scary/cute alien.  No.  That's just scary.

 But really...we've just been having a lot of fun with Adam's new photo app.  :)

What The Nomination of the First Mormon Major Party Presidential Candidate Means to Me

Yesterday was another day in political history that I cannot allow to pass without recognition, especially because it is a day that holds extra meaning for me and those who share my faith, the members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  Mitt Romney, past governor of Massachusetts, was nominated by the Republican Party to run against the incumbent democrat, President Barack Obama, in the November 2012 Presidential Election.  And he is a Mormon.  No, my political leanings have not changed since 2008.  I will not likely vote for Romney in November, for I still politically identify myself along Moderate Democrat lines.  However, to be quite honest, I've felt pretty disenchanted with politics in general over the past four years and the seeming inability for any elected official of our national government to cooperate, compromise and work together to get things done, so I've kind of rolled my eyes and tried to ignore a lot of what is going on nationally, which is just sad and bad for so many reasons.  All that said, I am happy and proud that Mitt Romney was selected to make a run for the White House.

I feel a special pride in the people of my country today, for rising, as was done in the 2008 election, above prejudice and ignorance.  This time it was in choosing a person as a presidential candidate that, although he has stood out and been separated because of his religion, will be a good leader for the Republican party.  I think we live in a day when many people should recognize that, while a candidate's belief system will inform his or her position on many of his or her policies, that candidate will lead our country as a secular leader.  It sounds ridiculous today to say, "What if the Pope had stepped in to tell JFK how to govern?!"  But that is a very real fear that many people in the election of 1960 held.  Just so we are clear, it's just as ridiculous to wonder if LDS leadership will tell Mitt Romney how to lead.  Religious freedom is one of our country's founding principles, a founding principle the LDS Church is quite grateful for or it might not exist, and I am glad that people are able to take a chance on a leader who may not share their faith, but shares their values.  I feel like Romney's nomination proved that people can, and will, make that distinction.

There has been a lot of talk about Mormons with Romney in the running for President.  Some discussion and commentary has been honest and even-handed, but some has shocked me with how irreverent, disrespectful and hateful it has been.  I've asked myself a number of times how people can get away with some of the things they say.  If someone said something like the things I've heard or seen said about Mormons, but said them about Muslims or Jews instead, the general populace would be shocked by it, and the person who made the comment would be accused of religious intolerance or hateful prejudice, but for some reason it all seems OK if the joke or rudeness is about the Mormon faith.  I sometimes just want to say, "Come spend a day with me and my family, go to church with us or a church party, listen to what is said, these are good people, trying to live good lives, trying to serve others around them and bring a bit of light to the world.  Just see for yourself."  I wouldn't expect people to end the day believing as I do, but I think they would walk away knowing that Mormons are all just regular people who are trying to do their best to follow the road that we believe God wants us to walk.

While there are those that are inconsiderate and prejudiced about Mormonism and Mormons, I also think many people out there are trying to honestly understand and genuinely have sincere questions.  They are the people I love to talk to.  I always feel like in the end we come out with mutual respect and understanding.  And I think today showed that THOSE are the people who make up the majority, even though sometimes it feels like the haters are the ones running things.  Really, today's nomination proves that cool, thoughtful heads prevail in the end, it's just that the intolerant and misinformed are the ones talking the loudest. 

I think we can learn a lot from the outcome of this nomination.  People who believe differently can unite for a common goal when they set aside the minutia and look at the bigger picture.  There is a common ground, but the bits and pieces of what I believe (or, politically speaking, want) and what you believe (or want) have to be left behind.

It's a good day for Mitt Romney.  It's a good day for the Republican Party.  It's a good and historical day for Latter-day Saints.  But mostly, it's a good day for America.  Anything that allows us as a people to expand our openness to and acceptance of people who are different from us is good for us.  The world is full of different kinds of people, different appearances, different beliefs, different values, different histories.  And we have to make it all work somehow.  When we take steps to understand and accept our differences good things start to happen.  When we put aside pettiness and selfishness to reach a common goal, cooperation and compromise can occur.   No matter what the outcome in November is, no matter which candidate or party wins the election, hopefully the lesson of setting aside differences and finding a common ground will not be forgotten.  Our country and our leadership can only find strength when we can work together and compromise, giving a little here, getting a little there, which requires us to see the admirable qualities in our different political leanings.  That is where the real change begins, and then maybe, just maybe, something can actually get done in Washington.

COlympics

The Chaos had a little bit of Olympics fever this summer.  We LOVED the Olympic games!...  Should I admit it???  Yes.  No shame in it....  We even subscribed to an extra channel so we could get more soccer games.  Start to finish, the Conlins watched.  Zac's favorite was the soccer.  Ben, of course, loved the running events.  Especially those with Usain Bolt.  But he also liked the archery.  Josh and Luke both enjoyed watching gymnastics, but Josh was also partial to the swimming races, and Luke was equally mesmerized by the diving events.  Tommy caught Zac's excitement and as soon as soccer would pop up on the TV screen he'd shout, "Yay!  So-cher!  So-cher!" and make himself comfortable on the couch.  They ALL loved the trampoline routines.  As for Adam and I, our favorite was all of it.  We even watched speed-walking (weird), long-distance swimming (impressive), and heavy weight-lifting (scary).

With the joy of the Olympics stirring our hearts, we decided a Conlin Family Olympics was in order, beginning with an opening ceremony (complete with "country" flag and parade of "nations") and concluding with closing ceremonies (including Zac's rendition of the Olympic theme song on clarinet) held on two different Family Nights.  At the start, we all suggested two or three events and then we popped them into our busy schedule wherever we could, which means it took us 3 weeks to finish the 15 events in our COlympics.  It was fun to try everybody's ideas out!  Our events ranged from "Backyard Dash" to "Hopscotch" to "Seat War" to "Monkey Fist Throw."  There might have been a little "fixing" of outcomes, so the little guys could do some winning too.  We all had the best time and came out of every event night with smiles and laughter.  At our closing ceremony, everyone was rewarded with medals in the form of chocolate...better than gold, silver and bronze in our opinion!  We are already planning for our 2014 Winter Games. 

Our country flags: we had to think about what we wanted to put on them by making sure each part of our flag symbolized something about us.

Parade of Nations

The events!

Seat War

Trampoline Freestyle

Ninja Soccer

Trick Bar

Balance Beam

Nerf Rifles

 

Headstand

Hopscotch

Wheel Race

400m

200m

Soccer!

Backyard Dash

Monkey Fist Throw

Badminton

The final medal count

Complete!

Zac taught himself the Olympic theme song to play for our closing ceremony.

Gold, Silver and Bronze

Enjoying the spoils of the games!