Ben's Fifth Birthday

Our precious baby is now five! What an amazing journey it has been so far. We are greatly blessed.

The celebration started with the arrival of Grandma Elaine and Grandpa Larry. That meant it was officially birthday weekend. Actually the celebration probably started earlier that day as it was zoo field trip day. So it might as well have been the true start to the fun filled weekend. Mom got to go to the zoo and join in the fun. The kids enjoyed seeing lots of animals, eating a picnic lunch and riding the train. After that Ben and Mom headed home to start preparations for the big weekend.

Saturday was Ben’s 'friend' party. Ben had planned a Jayhawk theme and was eager to share his love for Kansas with his friends. It was a great turnout at Soccer City and the kids had a great time. The coach was really good with them and led all sorts of games and drills with the kids for about an hour. After that we all ate pizza and cupcakes. Ben opened what seemed like a mountain of gifts and got lots of neat things. There was some variety, but the theme for the day was definitely cars. He got a couple of race tracks, several sets of cars, a Cars shirt and the list goes on and on. He was pleased as could be.

We enjoyed more Grandma and Grandpa time through Sunday afternoon and had a little down time before more family came over to celebrate. Ben was ready to go again and was quite the host at his party. We enjoyed Jayhawk cake and ice cream sundaes this time.

In the midst of all of the fun we discovered that Dad had a kidney stone. He was a trooper through all of the fun and was able to be involved in everything even though he was miserable.

Ben stretched his birthday all the way to Tuesday on his actual day. Mom and Dad were able to join him for lunch at school followed by more cupcakes. That night he had swim lessons and got a balloon for his big day. What fun! We finished the day with Grandma Lyn and Grandpa David for one final round of gifts at Subway.

What a crazy, but mostly fun few days! Happy Birthday, Benjamin Clay! We love you!

Random News

School: Ben loves kindergarten. When asked if there was anything he didn’t like, his answer was that they counted too much and it made his mouth hurt sometimes. An honest answer! They are taking in so much and learning more and more each day. His reading is coming along more quickly than we could imagine and he still loves math. He has come home singing all sorts of new songs about the month, season, letter sounds, etc. He is also making new friends, but is able to see most of his old friends on the playground still. What a great blessing this has been for us all!

E loves her class and has really taken to being with the older kids (she is in with some threes). She has started doing some of the extra activities like brother and thinks that is way cool. Her favorite is probably Tumblebus. She talks about the teacher each day and asks if she will get to see him. She practices all over the house. She also desperately wants to know her letters and will ask to be read 500 books in a row if you’ll let her. :) She seems to be very social and often “calls” her friends on the phone at home to discuss the day’s happenings. Eavesdropping on these conversations is great fun!

Weekends: Ben is quite our social planner these days. He is either invited to a party or has some event to go to each weekend it seems. We have enjoyed connecting with his friends and their families. We also got to participate in Race for the Cure this month. Both kids enjoy that event. Elizabeth was pleased to get a cup of water from a race volunteer and some necklaces that were being handed out. Ben also enjoys the freebies, but really just wants to run the race. He got to run some with Dad this year and has announced that our team will all be running next year. The weekends have had wonderful weather lately and we have enjoyed some much needed outside time with lots of walks, playground time and some backyard baseball.

Swimming: Ben is taking lessons during the school year. His teacher is just right for him and is very encouraging and sweet, but also gets him to do things he has never wanted to do before. He even jumped off the board at his first lesson! He is trying so hard and is really making progress. Yea!

Disney: The countdown continues. The kids tell just about everyone we see that we will be going and talk about what we will do when we are there all the time. E’s version: “We will ride a plane, a boat, a train and see Mickey and princesses!” Ben’s version: “Sister, we will go on a big plane. It will be your first time, but not mine. We will first go to the place that has Phineas and Ferb and Cars. We will not see princesses first. I will ride lots of rides and there may be some that you are too small for.” They are a riot! We are closing in on the two week countdown – in hindsight it may have been premature to start the countdown at 50 days. Lesson learned. :)