I Bet You Forgot This Blog Existed

That (sort of) makes two of us! It's been a few years (oops!) since I posted on Ben's blog, but I vow here and now to (try my hardest) to be better about this. I don't even know if anyone reads this or even missed it for that matter. Do me a favor - if you read it, let me know. Leave a comment. Send me an e-mail. Give me a call. Whatever. Just let me know that you're out there! So here's where we are now... - Ben is 8 3/4 (he likes when I give him that 3/4 worth of credit). - He is in the third grade at MICDS. - School is over in about four weeks at which point he'll be in the fourth grade at MICDS (God willing!). - Ben broke his right elbow a month ago while on Spring Break in Florida. When we got home it was determined that he needed surgery to have two pins placed. He just got his cast off this morning after having it on for 3 1/2 weeks. He's been a real trooper throughout the whole thing. I told him this is the only break he gets. If it happens again (which it had better not), he owes me money. - We moved in early March to a new house which we both really seem to like so far. Anyone want to buy my old house?? Please?? - Ben's aunt (my sister-in-law) and cousin Zazie (my super adorable niece) just visited for a few days from Brooklyn, and she's super cute (I'm referring to his cousin, but his aunt is cute too). His cousin is 11 months old. She didn't exist last time I posted on here. She wasn't even a twinkle! She sort of looks like me (and my brother - her dad - and my mother - her grandmother). I could eat her face but will try to restrain myself. - Ben is currently obsessed with Xbox and Xbox Live where he talks to strangers and plays video games with them. All he wants me to do is ask him about those games. He gets mad at me when I don't ask the right questions. - At this point in time Ben has lost 8 teeth and has recently had 4 (!) cavities filled. He currently has no loose teeth. He kept telling people about his 4 cavities like it was something to be proud of. It's not. - Ben played on a basketball team with his friends the last several years. We're still not anticipating an athletic scholarship. - Ben was a psychopath last Halloween (he chose the costume - trust me, I vetoed even worse costumes). It was just an orange jumpsuit and a makeup 5 o'clock shadow plus he had a plastic ax, and I made his hair all crazy and gelled. He looked sort of like he was on a chain gang. I REALLY miss the days when I got to pick out his costumes. I'm not sure that there's much more to post right now. I'm sitting here listening to Ben yammer at his Xbox friends. I think he might already be a teenager. If that's the case, we're in for a very bumpy ride. Don't forget - get in touch with us!! Let me know if anyone actually reads this thing. And if you want our new address, let me know too.

Major Catch Up Time

Time for yet another major catch up of Ben's life & times!

Thanksgiving was fine. Very low key. Ben ate pumpkin bread for Thanksgiving dinner.

Winter Break was good. We spent three and a half weeks in Florida with my dad (aka Ga). It was unseasonably cold so that part wasn't so great, but it was still warmer than St. Louis and there were palm trees so who cares. Ben went to holiday camp down there at the same place where he went to camp last summer and had an absolute blast.

Heading back to school in January was good for everyone. The winter has been busy so far with basketball (Ben's on a team, and he LOVES it), indoor soccer (Ben's on a team and seems to enjoy it so far), a snow day, Lego Club, COCA class after school, Xtreme Ice Racing, strep throat (two days home sick from school then still contagious over the weekend equaled lots of Wii and Cartoon Network) and another visit from the Tooth Fairy when he lost tooth #2.

Last weekend we were in Chicago for the four day weekend that the school so graciously gifted us with. We had a really great time. Friday we drove up, stopping at Cracker Barrel for lunch along the way. Incidentally, Ben was fabulous in the car both directions. We checked into our hotel then headed to the Lego store at the Woodfield Mall where we dropped a small bundle on Legos. After that we went to Medieval Times for dinner (Ben ate his garlic bread and mine for dinner) and the absolutely incredible show. Ben was even knighted before the ceremony! The next day we spent a few hours at the Legoland Discovery Center then headed to visit our friends in Vernon Hills. The next day we hit the Shedd Aquarium where we communed with various sea creatures. After that we hit the Chicago Crate & Barrel outlet (where one of us really had fun). That night we had dinner with our friends in Northbrook. Monday we hit the Lego store again then headed to Naperville where we hit the Naperville Crate & Barrel Outlet and The Land of Nod Outlet (where one of us had even more fun than the day before).

So that's Ben's life right now in a nutshell. He's chugging along and enjoying life as much as a 5 1/2 year old can. Coming up - a three day weekend this weekend, more basketball and soccer games to play, birthday parties to attend and then Spring Break in Florida.

The Summer of 2009 in Pictures

Ben with his good friend Audrey (from MICDS) after we went to see Dora the Explorer Live:

Ben at Schnitzelbank Restaurant in Jasper, Indiana:Ben with Santa Claus at Holiday World:Ben doing pretty much the only thing he truly enjoyed while we were at Holiday World this year:Ben at The Muny:

Ben hanging out at Ga's pool in the Central West End (during his pre-swimming days):Ben at Camp Pegasus: Ben blowing out the candles on his cupcake at his spy training birthday party:The whole gang at Ben's spy training birthday party: Ben IS Spiderman:Ben on his actual 5th birthday:
Ben with a certificate from camp in Florida for making the Silliest Hat:Ben with Ga in Florida:Ben cruising on an 85 foot yacht in Miami:Ben on his way to pick strawberries until we realized that there were no strawberries to pick:SWIMMING! VICTORY!:Ben and Ga hanging out in the pool:Ben with Miss Missy - aka The Miracle Worker (his AMAZING swimming teacher and camp director in Florida):Ben on his first day of Senior Kindergarten at MICDS:Ben with his SK teacher Miss Neary:Ben at the entrance to Beasley (the Lower School at MICDS):Ben wearing his Rams jersey for Homecoming week:

Ben's Baaaaack!

Ben's back, and he's bigger and better than ever! After all, Ben is 5 years old now and in Senior Kindergarten (SK) at MICDS.

Here's a quick recap of the summer:

Ben spent a few mornings at Little Gym camp as well as a week at Stages Camp (acting camp) which culminated in a performance the last day which was totally adorable. The next week we went to Indiana to Holiday World for what was supposed to be a two day visit to the park. Very long story short, the trip was shortened to a single day at the park that ended quite a bit differently than last year. Let's just say that *I* was way more excited to be there than he was.

The next week Ben started four weeks at Camp Pegasus at MICDS. He had a great time there, but the real fun came when we headed to Florida for a few weeks. Ben went to camp there for three and a half weeks and absolutely LOVED it! He also...drumroll please...learned how to swim! And he LOVES to swim! Ben has turned into a total fish (he prefers that I call him a shark). I have a hard time getting him out of the water once he goes in which I totally love. He has done a complete 180 when it comes to the pool. After just 6 lessons with Miss Missy (aka The Miracle Worker), the kid was not only going underwater and swimming, he was voluntarily swimming between my legs underwater over and over and over again.

Somewhere in the middle of all of this Ben turned 5. He had a fabulous spy training birthday party with a ton of his friends as well as a small family birthday dinner. The actual night of his birthday we went to Dewey's for pizza, one of Ben's very favorite places. He got a lot of fabulous presents, but the most successful one seems to be his MP3 player. Next time you see Ben ask him to sing along to Pink's "Get the Party Started" or Soft Cell's "Tainted Love". He can also sing along with a ton of the other songs I loaded for him. As he puts it, he likes "rocky" music with a good beat.

The last two weeks we were in Florida, Ga arrived from Europe to be with us. We reluctantly headed back to St. Louis the Friday night before school started just in time for the Back to School party the next afternoon. Ben was so excited to see all of his friends again, and I was happy to see them too. That Monday there was a quick orientation at school then the real deal started on Wednesday. The first week of school was half days to get the littlest kids used to everything. By the time he started full days, it was time for me to head back to Florida again for my annual girls' only trip to my dad's house. We had a great 5 days together, and I already can't wait to go back again next year!

Now school is in full swing as is soccer. Ben's team is wearing red this year, and they've named themselves the Red Dragons. The kids are all so cute out there in their uniforms as they hustle after the ball. Some of them (unfortunately not Ben) have gotten much more into soccer this year so it's fun to watch the game. The only drawback is that we are playing until the middle of November which is pretty much forever and a day. We're on a pretty fun team though (meaning that the parents are fun to hang out with) so it makes it better. A few of Ben's favorite kids are on our team so that helps entice him to g0. Last weekend was his first game as well as Homecoming at the school so we had a fun Saturday at the Homecoming carnival then at soccer.

Ben's teachers in SK this year are Miss Neary and Miss Kristen. They are both incredibly sweet, and I think that Ben will really enjoy being in their class. He's not with a few of his closest buddies from class last year (they're in SKA, Ben's in SKB), but he seems to be making friends with some of the new boys as well as getting closer with a couple of the boys from his class last year. So far Ben isn't totally loving SK because it's not as much fun as last year. In other words, they don't get to play with the toys as much as they did in JK, and he's not too happy about that. Poor guy doesn't realize that SK is more like real school. They still seem to get plenty of fun time, but I guess it just isn't enough for my Ben.

Funny story: When I took Ben to school this morning he was showing me something in his classroom, and I saw that each of the kids had colored a picture of a trophy and had written on them what they were best at. Ben's trophy boasted that Ben was the best at skateboarding. Very interesting. I don't think Ben has ever actually seen skateboarding let alone actually touched a skateboard. Miss Neary said that Ben said he goes to skateparks all the time. I asked him who takes him, and he says his grandpa does. She also said that Ben said he'll teach her how to skateboard, and I said that maybe he can teach me, too.

Have I mentioned that Ben has quite an imagination?

WOW...A Post! A Post!

I know, I know...an actual post. A real shocker, isn't it? Life has been pretty busy these days (my usual excuse but not an excuse - an actual reason!). Here's a quick rundown to catch you all up...

Tomorrow is the last day of school. It's hard to believe that Junior Kindergarten is over, but it is - and I'm so sad! Ben is excited to move on to Senior Kindergarten (SK), and I'm excited for him but there's a small part of me that is a little sad that my baby is growing up so quickly. I just can't believe that his first year at MICDS is already over! Ben has had a great year in JK B with Mr. Wuertz and Mrs. Schneider. I am grateful for the experiences he has had and the friends that he has made. I'm also grateful for the friends that I've made at MICDS. I really like the parents and the teachers there and truly believe that MICDS was a great choice for Ben.

Spring activities at school have been a lot of fun. Ben took part in Reading, Writing and Running Day at MICDS which was super adorable (part field day type activities, part reading us the books that they've written) and Art Gallery Night (every child in the Lower School had a number of pieces of their artwork displayed in the cafeteria and hallways).

T-Ball is going just fine. We still have two more games. Ben seems to enjoy it, and the whole team seems to be getting more into it which makes it a lot more fun to watch. The games are only about 45 minutes long then there's a drink and a snack so how bad could it possibly be?

Ben also just finished the winter session at Little Gym in Creve Coeur. I've signed him up for a couple of mornings of camp and for the summer session. He enjoys going there, and frankly, he could use the outlet for his never ending energy!

This summer Ben will spend a couple of mornings at Little Gym Camp, a week of mornings at Stages Camp (acting camp since he enjoyed his COCA class so much this year at school) and four weeks of full days of camp at Camp Pegasus at MICDS. He and I will also be heading to Holiday World in Santa Claus, Indiana, for a few days in mid-June with our babysitter Amanda. When Pegasus is over we plan to head to Florida where Ben will attend another day camp down there and hopefully make some new Florida friends to play with whenever we head down to visit Ga.

Speaking of Ga (aka my dad Jack), he has been in town since the end of April and will be here until the middle of next week then he heads to Israel and Paris for a couple of months so Ben's hung out with him a little bit too.

In May we celebrated my birthday and Mother's Day and attended the South Broadway Reunion with Ga. Ben is always ready for a good time, especially if there's the chance of cake and/or snacks.

I promise *yet again* to try to be better about the updates (Lynne - this is for you!), but I apologize in advance if I'm not good enough at keeping the updates coming. If you ever want to know what's going on, feel free to drop me an e-mail or give me a call! We love hearing from friends and family!

What Ben's Been Up To

Wow...it's been a LONG time since I've updated Ben's blog! So sorry to those of you who actually check this. Life has been busy as usual. It's always something around here!

Since my last post, we've been to Michigan and to Florida. We've seen Playhouse Disney Live! at the St. Charles Family Arena. Ben also took part in his first play at school through an afterschool COCA class that he took. He's also had several playdates, attended a few birthday parties, spent Fridays swimming at school between January and March (and loved it!), had a dental appointment and has even had a couple of haircuts.

We had a great time in Michigan visiting our good friends Lisa, Jason and Brooke Ruttenberg. We hung out with them in Detroit and even took a drive up to Frankenmuth to see the world's largest Christmas store (Bronner's) and to partake in a famous chicken dinner at Zehnder's (Ben LOVED seeing the big Zehnder's chicken walking around). And yes, it snowed while we were there! After all, it *is* the tundra as far as we're concerned. We also got a chance to see our cousins the Wolfs and the Litvins which was really nice.

Pompano Beach, Florida, for Spring Break was very nice. It rained a few days and nights, but other than that, the weather was beautiful. (Grammy) Eleanor Rosenbaum and her grandson Jake came down the afternoon after we got there. Jake's parents and brother Sam joined us a few days later. My brother Andy even came down for a few days. We had a full house most of the time we were there. We even got to see our friends the Starkeys from Virginia a couple of times. They were down for their annual Spring Training trip. Ben also really enjoyed spending time with the cute 9 year old granddaughter of the next door neighbors who was down visiting with her family from far northern New York.

Ben had a lot of firsts on this trip - his first time fishing (he caught 5 puffer fish off the dock next door), his first time on a jet ski (he looked just like a Power Ranger in case anyone wondered), his first time in the Everglades and on an airboat, his first time seeing a live alligator in the Everglades, his first time holding a live alligator, his first time walking on the bottom of the Florida pool, his first time hanging out in the hot tub with the bubbles on full blast, his first time picking strawberries. I've put up a small album of photos on Facebook. Here's a link to it:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=85922&id=548701684&l=5bcceeb1c3

I've also posted a few photos here. If you want to see more pictures, just let me know. I have a ton!

With a puffer fish he caught:

Holding an alligator:On the airboat in the Everglades:Picking strawberries:Chilling out in the hot tub:

This morning it snowed here in St. Louis, but it's like it never even happened now. Passover starts this week, and we're going to seders the first two nights. Easter is next Sunday, and Ben is extremely excited about the Easter Bunny coming and leaving him candy and money (inside the plastic eggs). It's all about candy and money with this kid! He's also started T-ball, and the first game is this coming weekend. He's continuing with his Little Gym class, and he's got a couple of birthday parties coming up. Before we know it, school will be over, and the summer will begin. It's hard to believe how quickly time has flown by!

Catching Up

Ben and I spent two weeks in Florida over his winter break from MICDS. We had a great time in the sunshine doing pretty much nothing. Some highlights from while we were there: Ben's Uncle Andy and Aunt Melinda came to visit for a few days from New York, Santa visited with tons of presents, Chanukah candles were lit many nights, Ben assisted the magician in an awesome magic show, we had a Christmas night party, Ben played with his cousins Spencer and Carson from Michigan, Ben played with his friend Tucker from Pompano Beach, we hung out with some of Ga's friends, Ben played a lot of computer, Nintendo and Leapster games, Ben watched a lot of TV, Ben spent every single night in a room with Ga (except for one night with me), Ben went swimming at night in his clothes with Aunt Melinda (that was a big highlight for him), Ben went swimming during the day in his swimming suit, Ben saw Santa's tushie a LOT, Ben spent New Year's Eve frolicking on the beach and in and out of the ocean after dinner at a great Cuban restaurant, Ben had his first dinner at Benihana with his friend Tucker and his mom and grandmother. Basically, we had a great time, and I've got the pictures to prove it! If you're interested in seeing them, please e-mail me.

Since we got back to town Ben's been busy with school. He's taking a COCA class after school one day a week for 8 weeks, and he really seems to be enjoying it. He had a playdate with his best buddy Harrison, and right before we went to Florida he had a playdate with his other best buddy Bjorn. Today's a snow day (see the last post), and it's still coming down out there so who knows what tomorrow might bring!

Update! Update!

Here's what's been happening since my last post...

Ben and I spent five days in Florida with Ga for his annual Boat Parade party and had a nice time despite my being super sick as a dog the day of the party and missing the whole thing. Ben, on the other hand, partied like a rockstar and had a great time. That kid is just like his grandfather - he LOVES a good time! He also took such good care of me, bringing me food and drinks (that I couldn't even look at) throughout the party and coming in to open my shades a number of times so that I could see the boats go by. He was so sweet! We headed back to St. Louis on Monday night to a car caked in ice and frozen shut. We both climbed in through the front passenger side and headed home to turn up the heat and thaw ourselves out!

Here's Ben in the Atlanta airport on the way to Florida:


Wednesday I went to MICDS and had a Chanukah party with the entire Junior Kindergarten. It was so much fun! I read them a story then we had latkes that I'd made the night before (I fried 78 of those puppies, and luckily the kids seem to love them!) as a snack then we played dreidel with Herhey's Kisses for gelt. I also had little Chanukah gifts for each kid. They are the most well behaved, well mannered 4 and 5 year olds that I've ever seen. And talk about cute! Each one is honest to God cuter than the last! I just love all of them and am so glad that Ben is there.

Friday was the Beasley Holiday Program which was also super adorable. Each grade level sang a couple of holiday songs as well as singing some songs as an entire school. Afterwards there was a holiday party in the room complete with decorate-your-own chocolate cupcakes, juice and cute holiday picture frames to decorate. The kids had a blast, and everyone looked so adorable in their extra nice clothes! Ben shut the party down as usual.

This is the entire JK performing. JK Room A is in the front row (they're the toys), and JK Room B (Ben's class) is in the back row (they're the elves). Ben is in the back row on the far left in the striped sweater


Ben is eyeing the cupcake toppings and other goodies. It was like a sugar fest!


The kids all had their compliments about each other written down. Some of them were absolutely hysterical! Here are the good things Ben's classmates had to say about him.

Today Ben had a playdate with one of his best buddies Bjorn who is so adorable! The boys were incredibly excited to see each other which was so cute. At this age they still express it. I'm going to be sad when they start turning into surly tweens! Ben is obsessed with Bjorn and Harrison, his two best friends at MICDS. I hear about the two of them constantly! Ben will really miss them over winter break.

Speaking of winter break, Ben and I head to Florida on Monday for two weeks of what will hopefully be sunshine. Uncle Andy and Aunt Melinda will be down for a few days this week too, and we're expecting a visit from Santa, too. It'll be nice to get away from the cold and nasty weather that we keep having. I'm ready for a lot of doing nothing next to the pool!