HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY!

We had a wonderful Fourth Of July!  We went to a church summer party in the early afternoon on Saturday. 

Then we came home and had a party at home.  We made some DELICIOUS butter pecan ice cream!  It was AMAZING!

Hanging out with Megan.  

Love his guy!

He's now the middle child...

Nate!  Our 5 year old middle child.  Love him!  He is so much fun and a lot of work too.  He is so full of life.

He LOVES LOVES LOVES Anna.  He was the first to see her roll and he can make her giggle.  He is also the one we have to keep an eye on.  He tried to pick her up because she was crying.

Fearless!  He loves to climb.  The higher the better.

Determined!  He will work at something until he can figure it out.  He has always loved puzzles and I think that climbing is a puzzle to him.

He was the first in his class willing to hold this big chicken.

Nate is an introvert.  He likes to sit in church with us on Sunday.  He has mostly had friends because of Ben.  So, when it came to his birthday he wanted two friends to come, his best friend from last year, Ashley and his new best friend Finley.  Ashley wasn't able to come and so he wanted Ben's best friend Luke to come.  Ben was trying to add friends to the list for Nate.  Very different boys.

We went to the theatre and watched Home.  The boys loved it.  When I asked if they liked it, they said, "No, we LOVED it!"

Nate has grown up so much this year.  He is reading and writing.  He loves school and is soaking up what he is taught.  He loves music.  He loves to dance to music in his head.  He is very physical and strong.  I love how our boys are so different and yet they are the best of friends.  

Ben is 6!

Since, I haven't blogged in forever, I thought the best way to start might be to catch up on the kids...So, our oldest Ben is wonderful!  He is outgoing, loves people, never met a stranger, loves going to school, is sensitive, doesn't want to be alone, and is just a lot of fun to be around.  

This was his first bowl of cereal that he poured all by himself.  He was so proud!  I was busy and couldn't pour the cereal and milk so he said he could.  I am so glad I let him.  Moments, where you realize that you need to let them grow up and be independent.

I wrote in the previous post about Ben's sweet desire and prayers for a younger sister.  I love how he loves on Anna.  I pray that he would be a leader for our children and set a great example for Nate and Anna.

Ben turned 6 in April.  To celebrate, he had a small party at home and then went camping.  The camping trip was with Ben's best friend, Luke, and Luke's Father.  They had such a great time that this is the only picture I have before they left.  They came home with lots of stories of fun adventures and stories told around the campfire.  

Ben is finishing up year 1 at St. Matthews.  He has come a long way this year in his reading and writing.  Mr. Sweeting was his teach up until May and Ben loved having him.  He was so very proud of moving up in his reading categories.  He is enjoying writing and illustrating "books" right now.  He has a great imagination.  His imagination is so good that it sometimes affects his sleep and he has bad dreams.  We have to be very careful with what Ben watches or he will wake us up in the middle of the night (By "we", I mean Allen.  I only can hear Anna apparently). 

Ben loves people and I am amazed by how many students he knows at school.  At the beginning of the year, he was voted for by his class to be on the school council.  He got to wear a badge and was very excited about it.  

He is tenderhearted.  We are at the great age where he understands a lot about Jesus and he is asking all sorts of great questions about God.  I love hearing him share what he learns at school, at church and then from home.  It is so fun to see him starting to put it all together.  I pray that he would always have a soft heart towards God and want to learn about him.

I could go on but I will stop for now.  On to Nate!