18 Nov

He’s 6 (Almost)!

Ben’s birthday isn’t till next week, but we’ll be traveling. We always celebrate here at home before we travel. In the end, Ben gets several birthdays and seems just fine with that. Today he celebrated his birthday at school and at home. He got birthday donuts and hot chocolate for breakfast. He got sushi in his lunchbox. Then there was the requested Chick-fil-A for dinner, cupcakes, and presents. He thought it was the best birthday ever. Ben is still my favorite person to watch open presents. I have yet to see him open a gift and not have an awesome response.

17 Nov

November 17, 2023

We celebrated Ben’s birthday today (we always celebrate before we travel for the holidays). He was so excited!

16 Nov

November 16, 2023

Ben was nice enough to help me return the laundry bags to everyone’s rooms before school this morning.

15 Nov

November 15, 2023

Ben loves word searches. Today he got one about Lacrosse and he couldn’t wait to finish it.

14 Nov

Dedication

I laid down on the couch to take a 15 minute nap today. I knew chances were slim that I would get the entire time uninterrupted, but I decided to try anyway. At one point, I heard someone making noises beside me, but I ignored them and the noises stopped. I woke up when my alarm went off and sat up. At that point, the basket of blankets across the room started to move and suddenly Ben jumped out and started talking to me. I have no idea how long he was in there but he sure surprised me. Talk about dedication to a surprise!

(I had him reenact where he was for a picture later. It was taken from my view on the couch.)

13 Nov

November 13, 2023

I bought Ben a new notepad with preschool lined pages. He spent all afternoon writing his ABCs in upper and lowercase. Then he wrote his numbers 1-100. He had a plan for all the things he wanted to write next, but decided he might use his iPad time first.

12 Nov

And He’s Out

When I came home from dropping Kaitlyn at a birthday party, I knew the house was a little quiet. I went to the laundry room and started sorting clothes. Then I got a text from Wade telling me to come see my boy. I found him curled up with Wade while Wade finished up watching a game.

11 Nov

November 11, 2023

A rare Saturday morning when all four watch cartoons (even for a moment).

09 Nov

November 9, 2023

Teague wanted to bake cookies and invited Ben to help.

08 Nov

New Interest

Ben found a motor set in the Lego bin and asked Wade about it. Wade showed him how the motors could be controlled from an app on a phone or iPad. Ben couldn’t wait to build a car for the motors and for his iPad time to roll around tomorrow so he could test it all out.

08 Nov

November 8, 2023

This year is going to be awesome! Ben can put on his own ski boots! Major accomplishments in this house this year!

07 Nov

5 Headed Monster

Ben refuses to let a box leave this house untouched. Today he created a five-headed monster and he couldn’t wait to show it off.

06 Nov

All Day Napper

KitKat spent the entire day inside and seemed to move from one napping spot to another.

06 Nov

November 6, 2023

Granny sent some of Wade’s old items and Ben decided to try them all a one time!

04 Nov

Soccer, Soccer, And A Volcano

Today’s agenda was rather light. Ben and his last soccer practice from 9-10. They played several mini games and then the kids got their snacks and medals!

We spent the rest of the day doing random things – chores, lunch, raking leaves, playing outside. Thankfully Wade happened to mention Kaitlyn’s soccer game or I would have completely forgotten to take her. We made it just in time and Kaitlyn played the best game of the season. She scored two games and hustled like I haven’t seen all season. It was so fun to watch! Even better was at the end of the game the team chose her to win the hustle ball!

Right before bed, Ben and Kaitlyn worked together to gather all the supplies to make their own volcanoes. Ben has a volcano and earthquake book from the library and we have been reading it the last few days. He got so excited when he found the page detailing how to make a volcano. The kids loved the reaction so much the first time that we repeated it over and over.

03 Nov

November 3, 2023

The mornings are quite cold so now Ben reads to me inside while we wait for the bus.

01 Nov

Learn To Ski

Our local ski hill opened up crazy early this year. They only have a tiny, tiny bunny slope but they are offering 3 weeks of lessons for kids under 9 who have never skied before. The weather was unusually warm this past weekend but they still had snow. I bundled Ben up in the ski gear I managed to find and get him into. We dropped Teague off at tutoring on our way to the snow hill. Ben loved his first lesson!

01 Nov

November 1, 2023

Ben has been begging to play Fortnite and tonight he finally got to try it. Alex was tolerant. Teague enjoyed watching (he is without electronics right now). Ben was in heaven!

31 Oct

October 31, 2023

Happy Halloween!
(Ben – an alien spaceship, Kaitlyn -spider, Alex – Waldo, Teague – soldier)

29 Oct

Accessories

Ben has a love of all thing accessories. He never leaves one behind.

28 Oct

Pumpking Carving!

Wade and I used to be able to track the pumpkin carving party years with how long we’d been married. Then we skipped a year when we first moved to MA and then COVID messed us up even more. Here we are at the 17th annual party and also the largest! We had over 50 people attend this year. We also had the best weather. The day hit a record of high 70s and was gorgeous blue skies all day. (Tomorrow is supposed to be 50s and raining all day.) My kids helped me clean and cook all day yesterday and most of the morning today.

We had school friends, neighbors, and church friends attend. We had groups of high schoolers, middle schoolers, and elementary school kids. We had parents take their kids to other places and then come back to hang out. It was a wonderful time and somehow I think I took the fewest pictures ever. We once again got a late start on carving and ended up with a group photo in almost darkness but we persevered and only one family left before we got to the picture.

27 Oct

October 27, 2023

Ben being Ben – mismatched pajamas, a cape made from a dishtowel, and a banana sticker on his forehead.

26 Oct

Book Parade

The little elementary school no longer celebrates Halloween in the schools. They instead have a day for a Book Character Parade and Fall Party. Ben didn’t have strong feelings about his costume (and his Halloween costume isn’t ready yet), so I picked the Chicken costume we have. I laugh every time Ben puts it on. For the parade, each child also brings the book that corresponds to their costume. Ben brought “Chicken Little.” I am a class mom for Ben’s class this year so I went early to help the kids get ready for the parade.

After the parade, we went back inside for the Fall party. We read a book about Spookely the Square Pumpkin, then there was a pumpkin craft, and a pumpkin game. The kids were a little crazy but it was a fun afternoon!

26 Oct

October 26, 2023

Ben had his book character parade today. He loves his chicken costume so we went with the book “Chicken Little.”

25 Oct

October 25, 2023

Ben has a sweet smile on his face, but look in the background. You will see Wade repairing the lamppost. Ben has run into it multiple times with the gokart and knocked the light off at least twice. The last time was the point of no return and Wade is now installing a new light.

24 Oct

October 24, 2023

I walked by Ben’s room to hear him attempting to read “Dog Man” – a book way beyond his current reading level. It was still adorable to listen to.

23 Oct

Pizzas For Everyone

Wade was going to be gone during dinner and I was feeling uninspired when it came to cooking. Alex suggested make-your-own-pizza and I thought that sounded perfect. One of our local grocery stores sells their own fresh pizza dough and I bought enough for all the kids to make their own pizza.

23 Oct

October 22, 2023

Sunday Lineup. Because it’s fall they wanted to pose on a hale bale.

21 Oct

October 21, 2023

Granny sent a Halloween box. Amazingly, all the kids were home to open it and call her to thank her.

20 Oct

October 20, 2023

These guys can’t wait for Friday nights and a new episode of Lego Masters.

19 Oct

Run!

One of our PTG’s biggest fundraiser’s is the FunRun. I spend a lot of time helping with the prep and then I spend all day there on the big day. Today was that day. I always bounced back and forth between the two schools but this year I had Ben and Kaitlyn running, one at each school. By the time we were done with the running, I was worn out. The other girls and I had a quick lunch tougher and then I headed home for a very short rest before my next activity of the day.

Then it was on to Teague’s cross country meet. Because it is the last one of the year, it was a little special. The coach had arranged to have the meet at Houlden Farms and it the most gorgeous scenery! The parents were allowed to walk the course and most of us took advantage so that we could see more of the property. Kaitlyn joined me and got to play with some friends. Wade showed up right before the start and there was ice cream afterwards.

17 Oct

Playground Fun

There is a playground at the soccer field where Kaitlyn has soccer practice, but we are always in a rush when soccer practice is finished (or it is dark). I have been promising her we will go back to play and today we did!

16 Oct

October 16, 2023

Ben brought home his normal worksheets, but on the back of one of those sheets, he had obviously done some extra work. Instead of just finding a sight word or finding the first sound in a word, Ben was working on rhyming sounds.

15 Oct

Scarecrow Contest

Ben learning to read has mostly been a joy, but it has created a few challenges. Most town events are advertised by signs on the Common. Because of the location of our house, we drive by the Common several times a day. Ben has spent the last week reading all the signs. He saw the sign for the Scarecrow Contest and has been asking to go all week. I was hesitant to promise anything due to our crazy schedule – Kaitlyn has a football game (so she and I won’t be available) and Wade has been gone a full week.

I forgot to warn Wade that Ben would ask to go. Ben evidently drew a design and then begged Wade to take him. Wade, being the creative guy that he is, helped make the design a reality. Wade, Teague, and Ben went up to the Common and created a scarecrow. “Poppy” the pop-tart was born!

14 Oct

Soccer Saturday

This is a very typical Saturday for the Burch household. I dropped Kaitlyn at cheer practice at 8 am. Then I went with Ben to soccer at 9 am. Because all Saturdays are rainy, Ben played in less than desirable weather but we did avoid a downpour.

Because I haven’t figured out how to be in two places at once, Wade picks Kaitlyn up from cheer at the same time that Ben’s soccer ends. Then we have a slight break till Kaitlyn’s soccer in the afternoon. Thankfully the weather improved and it was dry enough that I didn’t have to convince Kaitlyn to play in the rain.