Benny Boy

  He's growing too fast!  

We had a great time celebrating Benny for a few days.  We were getting a little "partied out", but we pulled through and hopefully he felt loved.  

On the 16th, we followed tradition and he woke up to a decorated living room.  That night we sang to him and enjoyed some cupcakes.  

Sully was thrilled.

Ben was looking forward to getting some Lego Mash-ups for his big day.  He was not disappointed.  

We took Benny and a handful of his friends to Funny Island in Catania for the afternoon.  I didn't get any pictures, but just imagine a McDonald's Playland and multiply it by five.  They had a great time!  We came home and had brownies and ice cream with the boys and our neighbors.  

I love this picture of the just barely five year old Benny Boy.  We spent an hour one morning playing Guess Who and this boy kept me laughing with his questions.  

This kid is such a funny little man.  He always has a lot to say and is always very anxious to get the words out.  He gets really frustrated when he can't be heard over his siblings and then when he has the floor, he can't remember.  

He's been enjoying preschool this year and seems a little bit nervous about starting kindergarten next year.  He asks a lot of questions about what it will be like and has asked a few times, "How many days until I start kindergarten?"

He looks up to his big brother, Graham, a lot and always wants to be doing what he's doing.  Graham, not so graciously, lets him tag along most of the time.  I love hearing them laugh from their bedroom after we've sent them to bed.  Graham usually reads him a couple books with funny voices or every once in a while he puts on a little puppet show for Ben from the top bunk.  Benny has the best laugh! We can hear it downstairs and it always makes Jason and I smile.  

Church is tough with Benny Boy.  Sacrament meeting is a wrestling match nearly every week.  Sometimes he's harder than Sullivan is.  I know it's because we have church at 1:30 and even though he hasn't been a napper in a very long time, he is always so tired that time of day.  So he goes from one thing to the next very quickly and impatiently.  I can't let him play with any of his "guys" because  his sound effects are way too loud.  Imagine a lot of swooshing and wooshing and not so quiet whispers.  

Benny still acts like a ninja on a regular basis.  He's always flipping and jumping from place to place with crazy arm movements.  And yet, he is still quite shy when he's talking to people he doesn't know very well.  

Some of his favorite things right now are Nilla Wafers, the Wii U, the bread at dinner, green peppers, and baby carrots.  Benny is a snacker and a foodie, like his mama and dad.  He'll eat as many peppers and baby carrots that he needs to so that he can have more Nilla Wafers or a "crunchy nola bar".  He loves taking baths with LOTS of toys and riding his bike up and down our street with his best buddy, Evan.  He does NOT like putting church clothes on.  He doesn't like jackets that don't zip all the way to the bottom and he doesn't like taco night because then there is no bread and "We're not eating ANYTHING that I like!"  

We love our Benny Boy!  I am so proud to be his mother and even though I get sad thinking about him growing too fast, I am excited to see what the future brings for him.