Ben is 9!

It doesn't seem possible, but it's been 9 years since we welcomed this guy into the world. We thank God for him every single day!!  It's such a joy to celebrate him on his birthday.

 

 Casey got into the party this year as well.

It didn't take long for him to start ripping into the presents.

I had to get a picture of the personalized hat that Alex made for Ben.

Ben was thrilled with his new remote controlled helicopter.

The celebration continued at school - donuts to share with the class and a big cupcake for the big 9-year old!

After school, he wanted to have a street party and a sleepover with some of his buddies from school.  Naturally, a huge cookie cake would make it even more fun.

Singing happy birthday...

We were so fortunate to get a beautiful evening, when normally late May would be really humid and hot. It was also the rainiest month we've had in our 4 years here and thank goodness the rain held off until the following afternoon.  Everything turned out perfectly!

Photobombers!  

The street party moved to the backyard and five boys slept outside in tents.  I think they quieted down around 11pm and most woke up just after sunrise!

Ben got to open a few more gifts and have a nerf gun war with his buddies before everyone headed home.  We kept the celebration going all across Memorial Day weekend with all of the grandparents.  I think Ben had a wonderful birthday!

Photo Dump

I finally got a new phone and it's taken me weeks to share some pictures from it.  Here are some fun ones in no particular order...

Casey was hanging with Alex in the truck on a sleepy afternoon.

 

 She's no dummy...it didn't take her long to realize he wouldn't stop her from getting a little snack!

This was my favorite mother's day gift this year - a hand made coupon holder for things like emptying the dishwasher.  Alex even made a few extras at home!

My very favorite!  Thank goodness I was able to use it over and over and it doesn't expire.

Ben's class got to take their field trip to the museum of natural science in Sugarland, which was great because it was small enough that our school had the entire place reserved.

Ben and his sweet class

Love these sleepyheads and their parakeets!

We've started getting monarchs on our milkweed again and this friend wasn't quite ready to say goodbye.

Alex got his first horseback ride at a local restaurant.

This boy LOVED it!

One last potty humor picture...I was enjoying Alex's picture about summer and his plans, when I noticed some sound effects written at the bottom.  Boys!!

Alex's Field Trip

Alex has been looking forward to his field trip for weeks.  It got rescheduled because of rain and then he got sick the day before, so it seemed like he wasn't supposed to make this trip but it finally worked out.  I'm not sure he felt 100% that day but there was no way he was missing the trip to Dewberry Farm!

Since I was a chaperone, Alex got to pick his buddy for the day and he chose precious little Gillian.  They are so much alike it's scary!

These two couldn't wait to get on all the rides and climb everything possible.

They were thrilled about the big slide!  I got to do this one as well...pretty fun :)

The little cattle cars are always a good time.

These two killed me they way they talked, giggled...

...and held hands during the day!  I tell ya, they were the cutest little twosome.

The bee exhibit was pretty awesome and we even got to see the queen in the middle.  Dewberry Farm never disappoints!  Alex said it was the best day of school ever because "he didn't have to learn anything".  I'm so glad he got to go.

Love this picture of Ben on mustache day!

We finally have another reader in the house!  It's a magic moment when your son won't put his book down. Hopefully we're raising two kids that love to read.

Spring

 The absolute best thing about springtime in Texas is the wildflowers!  Nothing beats fields of bluebonnets and indian paintbrushes.

 

 

Next best thing, turning big boxes into front yard forts.

These boxes kept the kids entertained for an entire Friday afternoon and evening.  They even put a tarp over it during a rainy night but the wind ripped it up the next day.  There were tears when all the materials went into the recycling.

Easter Sunday was a beautiful morning at church together.

And Easter afternoon was a fun time to hunt eggs in the backyard!  Some of our friends couldn't make it but that just meant more candy for each kid :)

Inspecting his spoils...

...and the disgusting mix of candy he nibbled from for the rest of the afternoon.  Skittles with malted eggs?  I'll pass...

Alex has enjoyed this spring weather because we've explored lots of new playgrounds and parks while Ben is at tutoring.  He was particularly proud of this accomplishment.

Play Ball!

It's that time of year again!  We're making tracks back and forth to the baseball fields several times a week to cheer on our favorite Cardinal and Blue Jay this season.  It's been an absolutely gorgeous spring and such a nice time to be outside.

After really struggling through coach pitch last season, Ben has done SO much better this year!  In my favorite game ever, he was up to bat when the team was rallying to try and get their first win.  They were still down three runs and had two outs in the last inning.  Ben got a nice hit and an RBI, then got to score the winning run just a few pitches later.  It makes a mother's heart so happy to see her child get to celebrate a win like that with his team, knowing he helped make it happen!

 

 Getting on base has been such a great thing this year!

He still loves playing in the outfield (I think because he has a lot of time to plan what to do with the ball before it gets to him) but did pretty well with a turn at pitcher.  (And we're loving the mystery scoreboard behind him this year.  Is the score 8 or 9?  11 or 14?  It's a surprise!)

The 8-year old Blue Jays celebrating their first win!

 I need to get more pictures of Alex's games but I haven't been able to sit and enjoy them as much, either going to get Ben from his tutoring or dealing with team mom work.  This was a great, muddy win over the weekend.  Alex was sliding in the muck and just barely made it to first base on his feet.

Running in to home was the same story, but he ran hard and just managed to avoid getting tagged out!  The moms were cringing but the kids didn't complain once about the mess.

Pictures That Make Me Smile

The kids get spring pictures at school but I already knew I wasn't buying them because we got fall pictures and were about to get baseball pictures as well.  I forgot to tell the kids and didn't pay any attention to what they wore to school that day.  Alex's teacher let him call me because he was traumatized by his "terrible" t-shirt.  You never know what's going to bother boys!

Would you like to float a few pancakes in that lake of syrup?  No wonder I find syrup on my shopping list so often.

Alex got a free ball from school through a fundraiser and absolutely loved it, so he was pretty devastated when it got a hole in it.  He tried to fix it himself with every type of tape we had, then finally left me a desperate call for help...I just never know what I'll find in my kitchen :)