Sunday, August 31, 2008

Ben's first day of school

Ben is officially a kindergartner! On Wednesday August 27th Ben boarded the bus at 8:17am and headed to kindergarten. I walked home from the bus stop with Gabe and choked on some tears. He is only in kindergarten, but all of a sudden I see this road before us that doesn't look very long - for the rest of Ben's life in our home he will be in school and will be away from us for a majority of his time. I know that this time will go by very quickly.

When he got home we went over his day. He told me the all the rules that his teacher told them. He is very conscientious about wanting to abide by the rules and avoid getting in trouble. I thought it was very cute.

The only glitch was that I didn't know that they were supposed to have a snack and he told me that all the kids had a lunch box and a snack and all he had was milk. Of course I felt TERRIBLE!! We immediately headed to Target and got him a new lunch box and I let him pick out some snacks. The next day I sent him to school with three snacks and Ben informed me when he got home that he is only allowed to have one snack. I guess I overkilled the snack. I'll get it right one of these days. After Ben's first day of school I made chocolate cupcakes with Chocolate Buttercream frosting. (recipes from America's Test Kitchen - AWESOME!) Ben enjoys the frosting with a little bit of cupcake.

Gabe misses Ben terribly while he is gone. All morning long Gabe will ask me if we can go get Ben. Gabe misses his play buddy. Speaking of Gabe, he caught that yucky Hand, Foot, and Mouth disease (coxsackie virus). Fortunately it didn't go to his hands and feet. It stayed in his mouth and throat. Still not fun though. He pretty much ate only ice cream and drank milk for about 6 days. Every time I would try to give him some normal food he would say, "Wait a minute, wait a minute, I have owies." Kinda cute. He's doing much better, thank heavens. Now everyone at church is paranoid (I think he caught it in nursery) and the nursery toys have been sanitized. That is a good thing.

Mike is taking this week off and we are painting the interior of our house. He has already finished our room and will be moving to the main living areas next. It will look great when it is done. Of course, it won't be all work and no play - that would make Mike a dull boy. We plan on going to a park on Monday and then out to lunch and on Tuesday we are taking Ben out of school and going to the shore - Ocean City. Mike will probably take Ben fishing one day as well. I'll post pictures after I get them!

Love you all!



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Monday, August 18, 2008

Mike and Ben camping - Aug 8 - 9

Mike took Ben to his annual camping father/son camping trip in French Creek, PA. Ben cooked lots of marshmallows over the fire and graciously let Mike eat each one. Ben doesn't like to eat marshmallows, he just likes to roast them. He does, however, love chocolate cupcakes as seen down below. They had a great time!



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Disney Block Party - Aug 2nd

On Saturday, August 2nd we went to the Disney Block Party in Philadelphia. We rocked out to live music by various bands who perform on the Disney Channel. We also went to the various activity tents and did sports activities, Play-doh, and had a banging good time in the music tent.



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Boys rocking the drums


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Zoo

We have a memebership to the Philadelphia Zoo. About 2 weeks ago, on a nice day, I took the boys to the zoo. It's nice to have a membership because we stay for as long as the boys can handle - which is about 1 1/2 hours. Ben starts to complain that his legs hurt and he is tired of walking. That is my cue to leave. We still had a good time, though.


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Cute boys

I took some photos of the boys for Mike's birthday (which was July 27th). We made a frame and put the picture in it so Mike could take it to work. Ben and I also made a special birthday crown which Mike wore with pride. I made all of Mike's favorite foods and we pigged out all weekend.


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Wednesday, August 6, 2008

Ben is a little weird

My five year old is a strange alien to me sometimes. On Monday night we went to watch Gabe at his swimming lesson with Mike. Ben and I sat outside the pool and watched them through the glass window. It was a half an hour of mommy and Ben time. I certainly hope that Ben is going through a phase because I don't know what I will do if this continues.

Let me clarify for you. First of all he says such strange things - "Mom, what would happen if my brain fell out of my head and it exploded." My response is that of course he would die because we can't live without our brains. Then he says, "Mom, I am going to throw this at that picture and it will break and then the glass will turn into a cracker and then you will eat it and then go AAAck ooooo eeek waaak waaak (imaging strange chicken like noises) and then you will puke it up." In my adult brain I find this all weird, absurd, and yucky. So he pretends to break the glass, feeds me a cracker and I make all sorts of weird noises and facial expressions and then I pretend to puke up the cracker upon his order. He giggles and says I am funny. That makes it all worth it.

So, I have decided that for the time being, my son is a little alien like. I asked Mike if this behavior is normal and he said that his brother Scott told him that little boys go through weird phases like this.

Ben's other obssession is weapons. We don't have any toy guns (except squirt guns) in the house but he still makes them out of Lego's, blocks, whatever he can find. Then he proceeds to run around the house shooting things. We have numerous swords - light sabres and pirate swords. The strangest thing to see is how quickly Gabe is picking this up. He runs around the house with a sword grunting, "I a pirate!" Admittedly, it's a little cute.

Maybe they are aliens because I am a girl and I played with dolls, barbie dolls, and fisher price toys. I guess I have entered another world unfamiliar to my own. At least I have Mike to guide me and other mothers of boys who assuage my fears.

Departure Time

Here's Ben at the Walmart where the adventure began - with the purchase of some super duper fishing rods.


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Fishing Expedition

While my parents (Grandma and Grandpa Featherstone) were here in July Dad took Ben on a fishing expedition at a stocked lake near Pottstown.

Dad loves to chronicle these adventures. When I was about 5 or 6 Dad took a photo journal of my first fishing expedition. It didn't go as smooth as Ben's. I was terrified of the flopping fish once they were caught and lying on the ground and the photo shows me screaming in terror. I think my Dad thouroughly enjoys those photos.

So, in that tradition, here is Ben's fishing adventure. I should say that this is not his first time fishing, however. His first time was up in Winter Park with Grandma and Grandpa Fairchild. Ben does love fishing and he said that fishing with Grandpa Featherstone was - "AWESOME!!"

Arrival at the lake

At the lake Dad showed Ben what to do - how to cast and reel in the fish. Notice Ben's expert picture taking ability. Not bad for a five year old.



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Catching Fish

Ben is quite the little fisherman! He said his favorite part was playing with the minnows that they used as bait.



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Ben cooling off his drink

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Dinner Time

After fishing to their heart's delight, Grandpa and Ben went to dinner at the cafe at the lake. The chicken fingers were waaaay to hot so Grandpa held them up to the air conditioner to cool them off. Ben was tickled by that of course. Anything Grandpa does makes Ben giggle.



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Practicing in the backyard

After Ben and Dad went fishing they came home and Ben took Gabe outside to practice casting. Gabe loved it. He still talks about practicing fishing in the backyard.


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