Halloween 2019

Halloween 2019 was a success!  Neighborhood celebrations, school parade, and church trunk or treat!  Good times!

Sully the ninja, Ellie Whittle, John Keithley, Aiden Stranges, Finleigh Whittle

Lucy dressed up with friends from school.  Prison Mike from The Office.

Ben the Rapper, Graham the Nerd, and Spiderman

Roy Gregg and Benny Boy

Ben turns 10!

Benny Boy is ten years old!  This kid brings us so much joy, laughter, frustration, worry, and happiness!  Hahaha!  Cannot and will not imagine our lives without this crazy kid.  

We celebrated Ben with a birthday party.  He invited some of his favorite buddies over for pizza, a movie and the candy bar game.  They watched Captain Marvel.  

This Halloween picture of Benny makes me giggle.  My tough rapper turned hobo halfway through the holiday festivities.  

Ten things I want to remember about ten year old Benny Boy:
1.  This kid is always moving.  Even when he's sitting and watching TV, he's always in motion.  At night, when we are watching a movie, he tries to keep himself awake by rolling around, jumping all over.  We can always catch him dancing or doing ninja moves.

2.  Benny is always making some kind of sound effect or singing a song under his breath.  This makes Graham go absolutely bonkers.  He's always asking him to be quiet and Ben tries for a minute and then forgets and starts making noises again.  Tapping a beat in the car, singing with a weird voice, etc.

3.  Benjamin loves to be tucked in at night.  He can't go to sleep until Dad or I have gone in and given him a hug and a kiss goodnight.

4.  Legos are his game and he will play for a long, long time by himself or with friends or brothers.

5.  He went through a strong Imagine Dragons phase and really loved making a playlist he can listen to while he walks Lois around the neighborhood for his chore.

6.  Ben sets his alarm for 6:30 on weekends so he can have time watching TV by himself.  On school days he sets it for 6:00 so he can get ready quick and have time to watch 2 episodes before leaving.

7.  For lunch, Ben eats turkey pepperoni or jerky, sliced green peppers, a granola bar and bag of chips almost every day.  He has loved green peppers for a really, really long time.

8.  He loves to play games, but has been known to cheat.  He gets suuuuper competitive and hates to lose.  More than a few card games have ended with Benny throwing cards across the room and stomping off angry.

9.  Benny is getting better and better at basketball and has really enjoyed playing the last few seasons.  We can't help but giggle when we see him run down the court doing a disguised ninja move or dance step.

10.  Ben is a talker.  Especially when you get him going on stories or wondering about something in the world.  I love spending time with him one on one.  He talks and talks and I get to hear what's on his mind.

BONUS:  Benjamin is sensitive, fierce, hilarious, emotional, strong-willed, musical, and wonderful.  We love our Benny so very much.

Sully turns 6!

Oh my goodness, this boy.  My baby boy turned six and I'm not sure how to deal with it!  So many things to love about this kid.  Here's how we celebrated his day:

I've been wanting him to get a haircut for weeks, but he kept saying, "I want to wait until I turn six!"  So we let it grow and grow and then went to the barbershop on his birthday for a cut.  

He loves having the little spikey part in front and using a little gel every day.  I didn't like that it instantly made him look older.  

We had some friends over for some play time and a movie.  They played a modified version of our one of our family traditions:  The Candy Bar game.  I was happy they finished the game with no tears or tantrums throughout.  They enjoyed their winnings while watching the new Aladdin movie.  

The Crew

John Keithley, Miles Bernhardt, Sully Wully, Townsend Moody, Teddy Baggett,  Dee Crooks

Sullivan always keeps us laughing.  I couldn't resist a picture when I saw him chillin' on the counter with some safety glasses that he'd been wearing a few days.  

I don't usually buy school pictures, but I sure wish I would have ordered his kinder pics.  This is Sullivan!  The morning of pictures, I walked Benny and Sully out to their carpool.  My friend, Ali Bernhardt, asked me if I remembered it was picture day.  I knew that I wasn't buying any, but thought he should have a nicer shirt for his yearbook pic.  I ran upstairs to get a collared polo shirt and when I got to him to change he said, "I know it's picture day!  I chose this one last night to wear.  I love it!"  How could I make him change it?  Hand me down Pokemon shirt, loooong hair and that big smile.  Only thing missing is his bigger toothy grin.  

Six things I want to remember about Sullivan at six years old:

1.  He is soooo very passionate about everything.  It doesn't matter if its what we are having for dinner or telling a story about what happened at school.  He's ALL IN.

2.  This lucky guy gets a book and three songs every night at bedtime.  Usually it's Dad that does it, but even if it's late, it's easier to do the routine than to fight him on it and cut something out.  Songs we usually sing:  Temple, Child of God, Itsy Bitsy Spider (while tickling his back), You are my Sunshine, Sunbeam....

3.  Sullivan loves to play with Legos and love, love, loves the guys.  I wish I could just buy him a 10-15 lego guys instead of the whole sets.  We spend a lot of time looking for "hair' or hands that have been lost.

4.  I love hearing him sing songs on the radio.  He loves the songs from  Austin and Aly and also Imagine Dragons.  I love the lyrics he makes up when he doesn't know how it goes.  Recent favorite is "Highway to Hell".

5.  Sully seems to leap/skip most everywhere he goes.  Even when he's mad or I ask him to do something he doesn't want to do, he usually leap/skips away in frustration or anger.  Makes me laugh to myself all the time.

6.  He LOOOOVES orange chicken.  Costco brand or Dad's homemade orange chicken.  Every evening, he asks what's for dinner and hopes that we're having it.


LOVE MY SWEET, STUBBORN, SASSY SULLIVAN!