e*l*e*v*e*n

today is CELEBRATE BEN DAY!!

ben -

for the past eleven years you have been doing a fabulous job

of making us smile

you have endless energy

and have fun no matter what you are doing -

whether it is basketball

baseball

football

running

jumping on the trampoline

or

playing ripstick hockey ;)

you put everything you have into it

and i love that

it makes watching you SO much fun!

what i also love 

is that when you do actually stop moving

you've got the most sensitive, kind heart

you are respectful

you are polite

and

you still love hugs ;)

you are a great kid, ben

and

i hope that this year is your best yet!

i hope that it is filled with a TON of

basketball

mandarin orange chicken

lebron james

nba 2k14

seattle seahawks

leann chin

and

root beer

happy birthday, benny

enjoy my look back at the fun you've added to my last 11 years!!

i love you!

ring * ring

for ben's birthday

we decided to surprise him with a phone

stacey had to be out of town for work

so we found the perfect way to surprise him 

he was in my bed

and before i went to sleep i set the phone next to him

he woke up to the phone ringing

with stacey on the other end

at first he didn't realize that it was his phone -

he was a little confused

thought it was my old - broken - phone

and rolled back over to go back to sleep

BUT

i told him i thought he should answer

and when he did

he was pleasantly surprised ...

brace face - round 2

this is how drew started his morning ...

with braces less than 1 hour away he wanted to REALLY enjoy popcorn

one last time ...

he is officially his second

and hopefully last

round of braces 

what better way to celebrate than with ben & jerry's free cone day!!

zoom zoom

the time has come ...

with our cx-9 engine deciding to die on us

we have spent MANY hours

test driving cars and trying to decide what is the 'perfect fit'

we finally came to the conclusion that

although there are a few things we don't love about the 2014 model

the cx-9 has been a great car

SO ...

we spent our entire BEAUTIFUL saturday

buying a brand new 2014 cx-9

i'm not sure if i'm more excited to have 2 working cars

or

to just be done with the car shopping ;)

welcome to our crazy family, cx-9 ...

you will be well used ...

i promise

bengal tough memories

ben's basketball season is over

the party was last night

and he now has a few new goodies to add to his wall

he's sad to see the season end

but now he has these posters

AND

a book that i put together ...

i get the feeling ben likes it just a tad ...

only 6 months until next season ;)

april fools

from this

to this

ugh

all worth it

something as simple as this ...

makes all of the time and money

VERY well spent