Who, me? Make a mistake?!

After keeping all of his monkeys for nearly a month, Ben lost one on Friday.

GASP!

See, in Mrs. Wiebe's Kindergarten class, behavior is monkey-based; each day Ben starts with three monkeys and, if he keeps all three, he colors in a green day on his calendar. If one monkey is taken for some sort of naughtiness, he has a yellow day. Two, orange; three, red. After that...well, I shudder to think.

So, his yellow day, after a month of green, had us talking about a topic I know well: making mistakes.

He asked if I made mistakes and, since I couldn't describe 1994-2003 within the four-minute ride home, I went with: "Well Ben, I broke a frame at the store today."

Roman offered his: Letting Reno eat his pb&j for the millionth time (my paraphrasing, of course).

Even Anthony offered his mistake over the phone: deleting an important file from his computer.

Anyway, all this talk about mistakes - and the fact that I can't stop making dumb ones lately - makes me think I ought to get a jumpstart on my...

Potential New Year's Resolutions List, 2012

1. I shall check pockets before washing clothes. I thought washing a crayon was the worst. Turns out, washing and drying a box of crayons is the worst.
2. I shall limit kid snacking, else Ben will have permanent digestive problems from the box of fig bars he ate while I was in the shower.
3. Speaking of the shower, I shan't take such hot ones that the steam sets off the fire alarm. Not just the smoke detector, folks, but the full-on, fire-department-dispatched house alarm.
4. I shall properly dress children for cold weather school days. Fleece pull-overs on 30-degree days make me look like the kind of mom who'd wash crayons and let kids overdo it on the figs.
5. I shall mail birthday cards on time (sorry, Kari, and happy belated birthday!).
6. I shall better remember people's names. Because Frederic at work did not like being called Franklin all these months.
7. And, finally...FitnessQuest 2012 shall finally come to fruition, since it actually started as FitnessQuest 2000. 

Which reminds me...I'd better get out for a run before today's lunchtime brie en croute ("brie en CUTE," Roman called it) settles as a permanent part of my lower half.

But before I go (#8: I shall not procrastinate...), how about a quick picture of my little monkeys in front of our neighbor's festive tree (#9: My camera shall be set to the proper exposure):

Where Were Me and Ben?

We're mid-way through our week-long celebration of Roman's birthday (these kids aren't spoiled; we just like to elongate the cupcake-eating window), and I guess the boys are feeling as nostalgic as I am.

Okay, not really, but in response to Roman's question "Where were me and Ben?" (more on that later), Birthday Boy and I went looking through the old photo archives. Here are just a few quick favorites:

Ben and Roman meet on Roman's Day 1:

Roman flexing his baby muscles at two months:

Almost 1, enjoying the zoo:

Just turned 2:

And finally, last year, enjoying the zoo before his 3rd birthday:

Now, the "Where were me and Ben?" story that led us down memory lane...

Roman saw this picture, which is on our dresser:

It's me and Anthony a few months after we met in 2004. We were on the most incredibly relaxing, beautiful, DINK trip to Ixtapa, Mexico. We were tan, well-rested and willing to be photographed in our bathing suits. Ah, sweet nostalgia.

Upon seeing it, Roman asked, "Where were me and Ben?"

I said, "Oh, that was before we had you and Benny."

Obviously a tough concept to grasp, Roman followed with silence. Then: "Were we in the car?"