The one where Ben turned 6

I was really good about posting when Shelby turned 2 in April and have not even posted anything about Ben turning SIX last month! Partly because I was planning his crazy Harry Potter party and it was the end of the school year and I haven't taken his 6 year pics yet (well, his 6 year pics not dressed as Harry Potter). ;)

We are so lucky to be Ben's parents! He is just one of those kids that EVERYONE likes. I don't know anyone who doesn't love him. It's kind of weird sometimes, though, because we're often told from people that they want to kidnap him or marry him or steal him or they want to adopt him. That's great and all but he's mine you can't have him! But we really are grateful he's such a fun kid that he has that kind of impression on people. I mean, when his principal tells you that if Ben ever comes up missing he's probably at his house, then you know you've got a good one.

He's in that phase of life where he's so independent and he's the oldest he carries a lot of guilt about what he does and mistakes he makes. He's VERY hard on himself when he does something wrong. I know he calls himself stupid out of need for attention, because he is very clearly not stupid.

He love Shelby more than anything. When we were decorating for his party at our church's Institute building Shelby was in the other room and I asked Ben where she was. He panicked for a second and ran to find her, then came back and said "I just could not live without my little sister!" So sweet!

Ben did GREAT in Kindergarten this year! Despite a mishap with a couple of other students and moving him to a new class with only 6 weeks left, he had a great year. He adjusted really well to his new class and teacher but still always gave his old teacher a hug when he left at the end of the day.

Ben's been reading since before he started Kindergarten. My sister asked me what reading level he was on and they didn't test him for that so we checked out a few chapter books from the library and he read about 30 pages of a 3rd grade level book in about 15 minutes while we were waiting at Discount Tire. So I'd say that's pretty good for a 1st grader! If anyone out there has recommendations for book on a 2-4 level Ben is on his way to reading a lot this summer. (Especially since he can get a free Rangers ticket through the library, great incentive for him!)

Now while everyone else is totally in love with Ben I will be honest that he saves all his crazy for me. It's better that way, I realize, but sometimes I want to strangle him. He talks back, he says NO way too much, he cries when I get mad at him because he feels stupid when he does something wrong, he thinks HE'S in charge a lot of times. So at home we struggle sometimes. Especially after school when he would be really tired. I was honestly dreading summer! That sounds horrible, right? So I found some ideas on Pinterest and started us a good summer schedule of things to do every day and we're 4 days in so far and he loves it. It's work for me because we're actually doing school related things. This week we're learning about big cats and doing sink or float experiments and practicing sentences with his 1st grade word list. And we have themes for the days of the week like Make Something Monday, Time to Read Tuesday, stuff like that. Ask me in July to see if we're still doing it!

Ben still loves all things Star Wars, Harry Potter and Texas Rangers. John won a Kindle Fire at a work retreat that Ben has games on and gets to play, like Oregon Trail, Tiny Village, PebbleGo and Angry Birds. But one of his favorite things to do on it is check the weather on the weather ap.

He still lets me pick out his clothes every day. The only thing he refuses to wear is tank tops.

He loves to draw and make books. He made a book about sharks a few weeks ago with a diagram of a shark with every fin correctly labeled. I asked him if he learned it at school and he said he learned it from PebbleGo. He's a lot like John where he remembers so much about so many things and can actually recall that information when he wants it. I can't remember anything!

He hasn't had his 6-year appointment yet but I do know he's 49-1/2" tall and weighs around 56 pounds.  That puts him around 97th for him, which is normal for him. He wasn't the tallest in his class (one girl was almost 5 feet and not held back!) and definitely not the shortest. He was probably the 4th tallest in his first class and 1st or 2nd tallest in his new class because most of the kids in that class were pretty small.

Girls at school LOVE Ben. Shocking, right? From day 1 of school kids teased him about having a girlfriend. We were at Levitt Pavilion yesterday for one of their kid concerts and he spotted a girl who went to his school, but wasn't 100% sure because she had on a hat so he wouldn't go talk to her. Then a few minutes later I look over and she'd come over to talk to him and was SO CUTE, blushing and talking to him.

I started this post over a week ago and never posted it! Ben definitely hasn't gotten the shaft because I've planned our summer schedule mostly around him so that's what's kept us so busy the past couple of weeks! It's definitely been an adjustment adding a 6-year-old into the daily schedule me and Shelby had down so well! But it's been fun.

So a few more things about Ben:

He LOVES his extended family. His grandma, cousins, aunts, uncles, no matter who they are he loves them immediately. He was really sad when his uncle Mitch died this year because he didn't know who Mitch was. He was my mom's sister's husband and had been very sick for a long time and had a hard time getting around so Ben never really got to see him. He was so sad at the funeral because he never got to know Mitch. He's got such a sensitive heart that way.

He has a very limited diet of things he'll actually eat. I always blame myself for this because I never gave him variety when he was a baby/toddler. So he sticks to his usual PBJ, chicken nuggets, corn, some fruit, chocolate milk, etc. We're trying to teach him to try new things but he HATES it!

He loves the Incredible Hulk.

And here are his answers to some interview questions I found on Pinterest:

1. What is your favorite color? green
2. What is your favorite toy? my Legos. Especially the ones I got for my birthday.
3. What is your favorite fruit? bananas
4. What is your favorite tv show? Phineas and Ferb
5. What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch? PBJ
6. What do you like to do with your family? go to Fuzzy's
7. What is your favorite game? R2D2 Trouble
8. What do you love to learn about? Texas
9. What is your favorite animal? Tyranosaurus Rex
10. What is your favorite song? You Don't Know You're Beautiful by One Direction
11. What is your favorite book? Lego Star Wars Save the Galaxy
12. Who is your best friend? my cousins
13. What is your favorite cereal? Frosted Flakes
14. What makes you sad? When Shelby hits me in the face
15. What makes you happy? When mommy tickles me
16. What is your favorite holiday? Christmas
17. What do you like to take to bed with you at night? Ralphie and my blanket
18. If you could meet someone famous who would it be? George Washington (without hesitation)
19. What do you want for dinner on your birthday? Rainforest Cafe
20. What do you want to be when you grow up? a race car driver

I will share pics from his birthday party extravaganza in another post, soon. But here's a couple of pics of him from his Harry Potter photo shoot we did! SO FUN!!

Read more...

Grateful Nov 8

Today I'm grateful for Harry Potter! I love these books. And today I found some prequel that JK wrote for charity in 2008. It's just a short story, but I thought it was really interesting. It was a bit haphazardly written but still kind of cool! So of course I had to include it for you all to read. (Don't worry it was a free download on Goodreads, I'm sure it's perfectly okay for me to post it here.)


The Harry Potter Prequel, by JK Rowling

The speeding motorcycle took the sharp corner so fast in the darkness that both policemen in the pursuing car shouted `whoa!' Sergeant Fisher slammed his large foot on the brake, thinking that the boy who was riding pillion was sure to be flung under his wheels; however, the motorbike made the turn without unseating either of its riders, and with a wink of its red tail light, vanished up the narrow side street.

`We've got `em now!" cried PC Anderson excitedly. `That's a dead end!"

Leaning hard on the steering wheel and crashing his gears, Fisher scraped half the paint off the flank of the car as he forced it up the alleyway in pursuit.

There in the headlights sat their quarry, stationary at last after a quarter of an hour's chase. The two riders were trapped between a towering brick wall and the police car, which was now crashing towards them like some growling, luminous-eyed predator.

There was so little space between the car doors and the walls of the alley that Fisher and Anderson had difficulty extricating themselves from the vehicle. It injured their dignity to have to inch, crab-like, towards the miscreants. Fisher dragged his generous belly along the wall, tearing buttons off his shirt as he went, and finally snapping off the wing mirror with his backside.

`Get off the bike!' he bellowed at the smirking youths, who sat basking in the flashing blue light as though enjoying it.

They did as they were told. Finally pulling free from the broken wind mirror, Fisher glared at them. They seemed to be in their late teens. The one who had been driving had long black hair; his insolent good looks reminded Fisher unpleasantly of his daughter's guitar-playing, layabout boyfriend. The second boy also had black hair, though his was short and stuck up in all directions; he wore glasses and a broad grin. Both were dressed in T-shirts emblazoned with a large golden bird; the emblem, no doubt, of some deafening, tuneless rock band.

`No helmets!' Fisher yelled, pointing from one uncovered head to the other. `Exceeding the speed limit by - by a considerable amount!' (In fact, the speed registered had been greater than Fisher was prepared to accept that any motorcycle could travel.) `Failing to stop for the police!'

`We'd have loved to stop for a chat,' said the boy in glasses, `only we were trying -'

`Don't get smart - you two are in a heap of trouble!' snarled Anderson. `Names!'

`Names?' repeated the long-haired driver. `Er - well, let's see. There's Wilberforce. Bathsheba. Elvendork.'

`And what's nice about that one is, you can use it for a boy or a girl,' said the boy in glasses.

`Oh, OUR names, did you mean?' asked the first, as Anderson spluttered with rage. `You should've said! This here is James Potter, and I'm Sirius Black!'

`Things'll be seriously black for you in a minute, you cheeky little -'

But neither James nor Sirius was paying attention. They were suddenly as alert as gundogs, staring past Fisher and Anderson, over the roof of the police car, at the dark mouth of the alley. Then, with identical fluid movements, they reached into their back pockets.

For the space of a heartbeat both policemen imagined guns gleaming at them, but a second later they saw that the motorcyclists had drawn nothing more than -

`Drumsticks?' jeered Anderson. `Right pair of jokers, aren't you? Right, we're arresting you on a charge of -'

But Anderson never got to name the charge. James and Sirius had shouted something incomprehensible, and the beams from the headlights had moved.

The policemen wheeled around, then staggered backwards. Three men were flying - actually FLYING - up the alley on broomsticks - and at the same moment, the police car was rearing up on its back wheels.

Fisher's knees bucked; he sat down hard; Anderson tripped over Fisher's legs and fell on top of him, as FLUMP - BANG - CRUNCH - they heard the men on brooms slam into the upended car and fall, apparently insensible, to the ground, while broken bits of broomstick clattered down around them.

The motorbike had roared into life again. His mouth hanging open, Fisher mustered the strength to look back at the two teenagers.

`Thanks very much!' called Sirius over the throb of the engine. `We owe you one!'

`Yeah, nice meeting you!' said James. `And don't forget: Elvendork! It's unisex!'

There was an earth-shattering crash, and Fisher and Anderson threw their arms around each other in fright; their car had just fallen back to the ground. Now it was the motorcycle's turn to rear. Before the policemen's disbelieving eyes, it took off into the air: James and Sirius zoomed away into the night sky, their tail light twinkling behind them like a vanishing ruby.

What did you think? Who do you think the guys in the alley were? Why were James and Sirius trying to go so fast on their bikes? So many questions!

Read more...