The Celebration Continues!

I will say that Ben may be the most celebrated child of this year!! Thursday Marisa came out and spent some quality one on one time with Ben. She took him to enjoy a smoothie (one of his favorite treats) and surprised him with a new Thomas movie and train car. He was in heaven (until an hour later when he was pumped full of an armload of shots at his 4-yr checkup!)

Saturday we held a small party for Ben at the house. He requested a carnival theme (more so, I politely recommended that since I'm tired of trains and we had a popcorn machine collecting dust in the basement). My mom cooked the hotdogs (they exploded) and Seth's mom was in charge of games. The kids were so happy to play along and we finally celebrated our first birthday for Ben without tears!

Sunday the celebration continued as Uncle Jon and Aunt Cori took Ben to the Lego store for his long awaited trip to pick out a present. It is no surprise that he chose this (rather expensive) Lego Train and has been playing with it non-stop (and sleeping with the train engines). It never ceases to amaze me how many different trains this child can obsess over.

Afterwards Ben had a special afternoon with Nana before rejoining me at a feast that Uncle Jon & Aunt Cori hosted at Texas De Brazil to reunite the Phillips and Sweenys. While Ben didn't take full advantage of all they had to offer he did chow down on a few plates of rice!

Happy 4th Birthday Ben!

Time flies! Today Ben turns four. I had high hopes for a video, slideshow, early morning Facebook announcement, and alas time has gotten the best of me! It doesn't diminish what a wonderful day Ben had including being 'Toucan of the Day' at his preschool and a special storybook reading by Grandmom!

Even AJ & Thomas made an appearance for the presentation.

Despite Ben not being able to see any of the story he was thrilled and grinned ear to ear as he knew he had the best seat in the house ;-)

He received a very special train lamp for his room from Grandmom & PopPop that kept him occupied most of the afternoon (and most likely the rest of the night).

This is only the beginning of the celebrations... we will post more photos from the festivities later this weekend with special adventures planned with Marisa, Uncle Jon & Aunt Cori, and more!

Moral of the story... Ben is loved by many!!!

Summer Days

Over Labor day we were enjoying an evening outside when a surprise visitor arrived!

We treated the boys and later paid the price with a bath and extra long night of the boys unwinding ;-)

Football Season!

Today Ben joined Seth for his first real football game at UMD. Including tailgating, touring the campus, and watching from the stands. He had a wonderful time, despite MD not pulling off the W against WVU. Here they are getting ready to leave for the game...

Notice, Ben is only holding TWO tickets. AJ wasn't too happy when he heard he wasn't going to get to join them...

So, insteand he stayed back with me and Thomas and rooted for the Hokies who won their game against Arkansas State. Now THAT'S a winning smile!

Meet the Teacher - Preschool 2011

Yesterday the boys had their Meet the Teacher at St. David's! Ben will be in the morning program Monday, Wednesday, and Friday mornings with Ms. Connie & Ms. Sarah and AJ will be attending Wednesday mornings with Ms. Judy & Ms. Kathy.

We have been doubly blessed to find out that not only does Ms. Connie have first hand experience with Aspergers but yesterday Ben was also granted special education services through Child Find. I am so thankful to all of the friends and family that have supported us through this process.

Here is to a great future for our children!

Happy Friday!