Benjamin is 6

Ben turned 6 on July 2, and this year, we had his birthday party on his actual birthday. It was a Wednesday, but since it is the summer, it worked out.

After much consideration, Ben chose to have a space party. Since we studied astronomy in school last year, it made things a little easier for me.

I am awful at cakes. This one met Ben’s expectations, and that is enough for me.

Astronaut Ben

Astronaut Charlotte

Astronaut Landon

Astronaut Rosemary

We hung planets all over the dining room and kitchen.

Me and my good friend, Melanie. They got there a little early and helped us finish getting ready.

Playing while guests arrive

We made rockets to launch outside out of construction paper.

Inside, we made some ice cream in bags and watched youtube videos about life in space while shaking the bags.

Singing happy birthday.

The kids.

Afterwards, Ben opened our gifts.

Yay, a green Chick Hicks!

The birthday boy and his daddy

For dinner, we went to Ben’s favorite, Steak ‘n Shake.

He’s 6! (See his flag and his mission patch? He’s dressed in all white to look like an astronaut)

Thumbs up for this birthday!

Agency D3: Westside VBS 2014

Towards the end of June, we had VBS at our church. Everyone was SO excited. We had to get up earlier that week than we got up all year! But it was a fun, exhausting, meaningful week as we learned about who Jesus is.

Ready for our first day! Crazy sock day, in case you couldn’t tell.

The second day was crazy hair day. I even sprayed mine. I had a meeting that night and the purple was still there.

Charlotte even had some pink hair going on.

Here the kids are during recreation one of the days.

Craft time.

My little spies.

Our awesome group of second graders.

On Friday night we headed back for the wrap up for the week.

Rosemary is up there on the right…hard to see her, since she’s a spy…but she’s there.

And there’s Charlotte. I didn’t realize she’d go up, but she did.

And Chris and Pastor John both got slimed.

The kids enjoyed Chick-fil-a sandwiches and meeting the cow.

Then we went out to the bounce houses. Charlotte loves her friend, Erica.

Facepainting

One day this summer, Rosemary wanted to get out her face paints and paint Charlotte and Ben’s faces. Then Charlotte painted Rosemary’s. Here are the results.

Condo Week & Dinosaur World

During our condo week with my parents we had a good mix of visit with friends, sightseeing, swimming, and just relaxing.

Our first night, we met up with the Pates, but I didn’t get any pictures! It was hilarious though. The kids always seem to pick right back up where they left off when it comes to playing, but this time, Charlotte and Jacob got in on the mix, too. Charlotte would not leave Jacob alone!

We also got to meet up with Janey. She came over with Camille for dinner one night and then I got to go see The Fault In Our Stars with her the next day.

I did get pics of Janey’s visit (just not of Janey…only of Camille).

Rosemary loves Camille.

We spent a lot of time in the pool.

The place we stayed has two slides that the kids really enjoyed.

One day, Jonathan and my dad took Ben to Bass Pro Shop. He still talks about that place.

One day after Jonathan had headed back to Gainesville, my parents took us to Dinosaur World in Plant City. It was a little bit of a drive, but boy, did the kids enjoy that place, especially Ben.

I limited the number of photos I posted from Dinosaur World. Ben had me take pictures of him with almost every dinosaur there.

He would carefully pose just like the dinosaur, mimicking the number of fingers that they had.

As part of their tickets, the kids got to do a fossil dig and keep three of the fossils they found.

They also got to pan for gemstones. I didn’t get any pics of that because that required a good amount of adult help. All three of us where each helping one of the kids.

They really loved Dinosaur World and I have to say I was impressed, too. My expectations were pretty low, but we had a lot of fun there and it was really beautiful.

Charlotte had a great time playing at the condo.

And they enjoyed time with Grandpa…watching cable…a luxury that we don’t have at home. :-)

Once again this year, we had a great time relaxing at the condo.