When Bill and I were engaged we were on our way from Oklahoma to Utah so I could meet his family.  There is a lot of nothing on the 12 hour drive so we started discussing baby names.  Bill said that if we ever had a boy he would be named William because that is a family name and then the middle name would be my father’s name.  It sounded good to me and we stuck with it. Well, Billy told me the other day that when he becomes a baby again (he hasn’t quite figured out that he won’t be a baby again) that he wants to be named Baden.  I said but you are Billy. That’s your name and that’s you.  You are named after daddy, both grandpas and all of your great-grandpas.  I thought maybe that would help him with his name.  It didn’t.  He has brought it up a couple of times. I asked him if you could have another name what would it be and he said Baden. I said well what would Baden’s name be and he said Billy.  This kind of reminds me of when I was his age and I wanted blue eyes like my mom.  She was afraid that I might try to color my eyes with a crayon.  I didn’t. I just colored the wall.  I can’t imagine Billy having any other name.  It suits him to a “T”.  I hope that I can help him understand how important his name is and that one day he will learn to love it.

Tornadoes constantly go through our house every day, but I have decided that maybe I should start calling Baden the Demolition Crew.  He  got into Bill’s wallet and snapped his BJ’s Warehouse card in half.  It was probably worn, but still it’s in two pieces now.  He loves the garbage can and it is usually on its side sometime during the week.  If he is done eating, especially if it’s something like cereal, he just pushes it off onto the floor.  I have wanted a bookshelf in our living room for a long time. I finally have one, but I spend most days putting the books back on the shelf.  He opens drawers and pulls things out and I will find shirts or possibly a lid to a pan in another part of the house.  The worst so far of his demolition has been my new glasses.  On Friday, I didn’t feel good and was having a major stomach issue.  Baden was asleep in our room from about 7:30 am or so.  Bill took Billy to school so I could sleep.  When I woke up, Baden was awake and he was holding my glasses.  He had bent the ear piece off.  The glasses had some spring in the ear piece, but I don’t think it was meant to be bent that way.  I was so upset.  I now have to go back and get them replaced.  For now, I am wearing my old glasses with the scratched up lenses.  I do wear my contact lenses, but I am lazy and if I don’t really have anywhere to go I usually stick to  my glasses.    So my little tornado has turned into the demolition crew.  If you need anything broken, taken apart, or knocked off onto the floor, just give Baden a call.

The other day I found it.  I had taken my glasses off to see something up close. I put my glasses on the back of the couch and, of course, they fell behind the couch.  As Bill pulled the couch away, there was the stash.  What do you usually think of when you think of the word stash? Candy, drugs maybe.  It was, are you sitting down, juice boxes and gingerbread wrappers.  I immediately knew Billy had been in the garage and in the cupboard.  There were two juice boxes and about six wrappers behind the couch. Obviously, I don’t look back there too often.  I buy a case of juice boxes for Billy’s snack at school. They are only for school. That is why they were behind the couch — hide the evidence.  The gingerbread men, well, I can thank Little Debbie.  Billy loves gingerbread men and Little Debbie makes them year round.  What a novel idea.  He can go through a box in a day or two if I don’t keep them under lock and key.  The juice boxes have been moved and the gingerbread men are in a new hiding place.  Billy is only five, but I sincerely hope that the only stash I ever find is juice boxes and gingerbread men.

I have started another blog — musings of a banana.  This blog is not about family.  It’s all about things that I think about and sometimes I may rant a little too.  So if you have time check out www.williewhiskers.com/janabanana   There are two posts there already and I hope to write something new every day well almost every day.  Enjoy.

Every Sunday I ask Billy what he learned in Primary.  He usually says “I don’t know” or “Jesus”.  I don’t get very much out of him.  Now he is a CTR 5.  So on Sunday I asked him what he learned and he said, “I learned about choosing the right.” Wow — this was something new.  So I asked him what does choose the right mean. He said it means pray, love and saying your sorry.  Another Wow.  This is the most he has ever said about a lesson in Primary.  I was quite impressed.  As most of you know, Billy loves Wii.  He desperately wanted to play it on Sunday. We said no.  He later told me that I needed to choose the right and tell him sorry when I told him he couldn’t play Wii.  So I said I’m sorry Billy, but you can’t play Wii.  He wasn’t too happy with this response.  I asked him if he was choosing the right by getting upset about not being able to play the Wii which he put his head down and said no.  He has tried to use the saying your sorry routine a few more times in different situations, but for the most part he understands what choosing the right means.  It has been a great learning/teaching moment.  I can’t wait to hear what he learns about next.

I never realized how much I depend on our computer until the hard drive went bad.  Right now, I am sitting on the floor typing on Billy’s computer that is equipped with games and a kids browser.  It has limited access for a good reason.  So for the last week I have been without my computer that I love.  I work on the computer transcribing calls for salespeople so even though I do not miss it and enjoy the break, I want TeleNotes back.  I haven’t been able to keep up with the blogs I read or really post on our blog. I started a new blog, but had to close it down until I can get it up and running on our williewhiskers account.  It’s a bummer.  Well, the FedEx guy showed up today with a ring of the doorbell and of course when I opened the door he was nowhere in sight, but he did leave something very important — our new hard drive!  I am so excited.  No pressure on Bill, of course. 🙂 I do have to say that I am so thankful for a husband that is a self proclaimed geek.  He is a whiz and he is basically all self taught. He figures something out and then knows how to fix it, etc…  Amazing.  So in the coming days I hope to have more blog entries for your enjoyment along with my new blog of musings and sometimes rants.  See you in the blogosphere.

Five years ago today, Billy was born at 7:58 am.  We are so happy he is part of our family.  He has the cutest smile and says the funniest things.  He can be a handful and is stubborn.  He loves Spider Man. He watches the Grinch Who Stole Christmas over and over.  His ability with electronics amazes me.  He is kind hearted and he loves his family.  We had a family party this year. Last year’s party was not so good, so this worked out best.  We went to McDonald’s for his birthday dinner (his choice) and then he opened his presents while Grandma Dunow and Bebe and Grandpa Barnes watched.  He got calls from Jessica, Uncle Bobby and Aunt Corinne and Tia Blanca and Uncle Jeff.  He loved that the phone was ringing for him.  He had a great day.

Jessica leaves today to go back to school. The semester starts on Monday.  We have really enjoyed having her around.  She is great company and the boys love her.  She is a great big sis.  Over the last few days we have been trying to do things that we won’t get to see or do unless we come back and visit.  On New Year’s Day, we went to the movies and saw Bedtime Stories.  We all enjoyed it.  Then we headed to downtown DC. While Bill took the boys to the Natural History Museum,  Jessica and I went to the Holocaust Museum. This is a museum that we have both been wanting to go to.  It is hard to describe the emotions that I felt.  I know that I learned more and all of the books that I have read on the subject became more vivid.  We found a name, Dynow, on a glass panel that was listed with towns or communities that were partially or completely lost due to the “final solution’.  I want to do more research on this.  The town was in Poland which is where I understand the Dunow side came from.  On Friday, we went to Baltimore and the National Aquarium.  It was fun to see Billy so excited about seeing the fish.  He is excited about fish because we told him that when we move to New Mexico he can get some fish.  He already has some names picked out.  We saw the dolphin show which is always fun.  Then we had dinner and headed home.  It was late, but Jessica and I found the time to watch Foul Play with Goldie Hawn and Chevy Chase.  It’s one of my favorite movies.  Over the last two weeks, we also went to see the lights at the Temple and we just had a good time being together watching movies and playing games.   It seems like she just got here.  We look forward to living closer so that we can see her more often then just once or twice a year.

Our Christmas was pretty low key this year. We had a good day. We always make sure that Billy comes into our room first before going downstairs that way Bill can get the camera ready for the first reaction. We all made it downstairs and Billy was so excited. He got a big Transformer – Optimus Prime. Baden didn’t know what to make of the tree now full of presents underneath, but his face lit up when he saw Elmo Live! He summed it all up in one word, WOW. We hung out in our pajamas all day and played with all of our new goodies that Santa brought. Only 363 days until next Christmas and I can’t wait!