Ben

I opened my backdoor to find….a cowboy lacrosse player?

Ben came home from soccer practice to find a lemonade stand in our driveway. He couldn’t wait to jump in and help.

Ben and I built a robot this morning!

It was definitely an ice cream night!

This cool dude is patiently waiting for me to get his morning reading done. (We tried this almost a year ago and then put it on hold due to lack of interest. Thankfully, this time around Ben is very interested and attentive.)

Morning playdate.

Good buddies playing tball together.

Ben found an ant and was very mad when he found out it couldn’t come inside to live in his room.

Haircuts for the boys today.

Typical Ben – even at 6 am.

These guys created their own version of a reality show. One of them would sing a made-up song and then the other would have these animals (judges) critique the song. It was hilarious!

A show Ben watches on PBS had a recipe for blueberry pancakes (Flying Flapjacks) that he really wanted to make. We bought all the ingredients and he made them for breakfast.

Ben’s tball team had team photos today. The weather didn’t look promising but it wasn’t raining when we left the house. The raindrops started hitting the windshield when we were halfway there. The kiddos got their individual photos taken before the downpour but the team photo was definitely taken in pouring rain.

Ben wanted to do an experiment. He picked out an experiment that created puffy paint.

Game night.

Some of my favorite people helped me celebrate my birthday today!

It’s break week and the kids have been left to their own devices quite a bit. Today Ben not only dressed himself (note the mismatched shoes, favorite Bee shirt, and gym shorts on a chilly day) but created a very complicated make-believe game involving his backpack, the scooter, and the dragon puppet on his hand.

Wade didn’t feel and went to bed early. Ben has been begging to play Mario so Alex agreed to step in and help. When I came upstairs, Alex was narrating with an Australian accent and everyone was having a great time. It was only after I had been there a while that I realized Alex was playing the single player on the screen, but had convinced Ben that he was the one playing. It was hilarious to watch and everyone had a great time.

Ben’s U6 soccer started today!

What a dichotomy. Ben is happily making his own lunch but refuses to give up his sippy cups.

The kids and I went out to dinner tonight. The pizza took a while but my bag of tricks came in handy. We played Uno, tic-tac-toe, and read a few books.

Ben created this scene and then begged for a picture. Of course, I was happy to oblige.

Tonight I realized exactly how good Ben is at this particular game, Galaga. That also tells me he must be playing it much more than I realize.

Ben learned to cut with a “real” knife today and was so proud and excited.

Ben was so excited that KitKat wanted to nap with him that he turned his pillow to be closer to him.

Ben and Kaitlyn are negotiating turns with Pepper’s new throw toy.

A little evening trampoline fun.

Just a morning pillow fort while the big kids get ready for school.

Honk Honk. Beep Beep.

Slowly waking up from his nap.