Ben is 6

I have no idea how it is already been 6 years that we have been blessed with Ben. How is it that time goes so fast. We had a super fun Lego party this year to celebrate his amazing 6 years. Ben invited lots of friends and it seemed like everyone had a blast.

Ben helped me decorate in primary lego colors.

The reverse of this sign held pin the "e" on Benjamin (using LEGO letters of course)

Ben and Andrew outside the front door

The cake that melted and slid everywhere

Before the party started Ben hid bags of LEGO's around the yard. As the kids gathered around we had them all "search" for the LEGO bags. Once they were found the kids then took part in a building contest. I was amazed at how quiet it became when everyone was building. Even the "little kid" table seemed to be quite quiet.

The sweet little ones. Are they cute or what? Jake has some pretty amazing friends as well.

After the building contest I tried to get a picture of every kid with their creation and Ben. I think that I got almost all of the big kids.

Andrew W

Alan

Kian

Hannah

Andrew G

Ian

Jacob F

Zachary

*not pictured are: Madison, Eli, and the little kids (Jacob N, Abby, Kayleigh, Aaron, Bryce and Noah) as well as the babies, Caleb (who slept the entire time) Annalyse and Elyse.

We also had a LEGO shaped pinata

The cake that was impossible to light because of the wind.

Opening gifts. He was so happy

So thankful for Ben and all of the sweet friends that he has. I am so thankful for all the kids he has in his life.

Baseball 2010

So, it has taken 3 LONG summers of Baseball but I think that Ben is finally into it. Every year he has said he wanted to play and then pretty much hated every second of the practices and games. This year started off OK, better than the past but He was completely into it by the end. I guess we be doing some sort of baseball next year as well!!

Receiving his reward from his coach

The team

Go Cardinals

Ben turns 6 (almost)

We decided to to Ben's party with my family a little early since Meg and CT were home and we were all getting together anyway. It was a perfect summer night and we all had a blast. I am so thankful that my boys have so much family around that love them so much. Ben was so overwhelmingly happy with his amazing lego gift from Mom and Dad.



The highlight of all birthday celebrations is the cake according to the boys! We were celebrating both Ben and CT's birthday's (Jake couldn't resist blowing out the candles with the boys however)

As per tradition Jake had to stick his nose in the cake!!

Ben is eagerly awaiting his piece of cake and I am pretty sure Uncle Todd was telling him a pretty cool story

J trying super hard to lick all that frosting off his nose.

Ben was eagerly awaiting some frosting on the nose. He was not going to say it outloud but his eyes were saying it all. Josh got him

Covered painted faces are the best!!! especially when they taste so good

I must say after looking at these pictures I realized again how much I love my brother-in-laws. They are both great men and I am so thankful that the boys have so many great male role models to plan their lives after. CT and Todd thanks so much for being amazing husbands to my sisters and perfect uncles to my boys. Josh and I can't wait until it is our turn to be aunts and uncles (hint, hint hint!!)

On Goal

Ben was able to participate in On Goal soccer again this year. On Goal is a great Christian organization that teaches kids some cool soccer stuff as well as a lot about Christ. They focus on Godly character both on the field and off. The coaches are from all over the world and are all great soccer players. For more information on On Goal click here

Ben's camp was from Tuesday - Saturday 9:00 am - 12:00 pm. Each day they started off playing soccer against their coaches before the large group assembly. During the assembly they would get excited for the day. Have some announcements. Practice their verses and probably lots of other stuff that I don't have any idea about.

Then they were off to practice their skill of the day. At some point during the day they broke into their small groups to have some Bible time. Here is Ben's group during Bible time the first day.
Jake and Caleb as alwasy tagged along and got to hang out on the fields. The boys were such troopers. I helped to organize the meals for the staff so I wanted to make sure everything was running smoothely around lunch time so we were at the field extra early most days.


Ben had lots of Fun with Autumn Simon at camp. She is a sweet girl and Ben seems to think she is awesome :)
Jake (as just about any 3 year old I know would be) was memorized by the giant hill. He spent a lot of time climbing up the hill and then back down again.
Sometimes he would wonder off with his girlfriends. I didn't think there was anything wrong with them wondering around but apparently Josh didn't think that was such a good idea.

At the very end of the day the kids would gather around for another assembly. The kids in Ben's group learned a verse from 1 John. Each day one or two kids tried to say the verse in front of the whole group. Ben said it in record time. He does an amazing job memorizing verses.


After verses were said a Total player from each team was announced. On Thursday night Ben had not yet been the Total player. He told me, "I have not been total player yet Mom but that's okay because I am still available on Friday and Saturday" Ben has that super happy crazy boy grin on his face. The smile that only comes out when he is super excited and proud of himself. I love it!!

Going through the Total player tunnel

Saturday of Camp is the Final day as well as the day that parents watched. They kids play in a world cup game (each team was a different country). They had a ton of fun and at this age were not all that much into the competition of the whole thing.

Ben being a goofball

Ben's team at the awards ceremony.

This week we were also able to host 2 of the coaches at the camp. I had a ton of fun having some girls around the house and hopefully we were able to keep them comfortable. They were such sweet girls and I have decided that I love people being able to stay at our house. I love hosting things and people. Must be one of my gifts. Anyway, they were both named Katie and the boys thought it was so fun to have them around!!