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.

Quick Update

Here's Ben's life in a quick, neat little nutshell:

We had two snow days a week and a half ago (but you already know that if you've read the blog before now). During that time Ben worked on his cup stacking skills, his baking skills, his Nintendo DS Lite skills and his TV watching skills (he's REALLY good at the last two things in case anyone wondered). We were also in the midst of closing Arts of Asia and moving the office (and some of the leftovers) to my house. Now Ben and I share an office at home. The last couple of weekends have been busy with all of that. Next weekend we'll be in Michigan for a few days visiting friends and relatives. We're really looking forward to that. Hopefully it's not a HUGE mistake to visit the Frozen North in February. Keep your fingers crossed for us! Oh yeah, Ben has a double ear infection right now, too. Luckily the kid is a real trooper and hasn't complained at all.

Some sad news to report...Richard Rosenbaum, a very close family friend who was Ben's surrogate grandfather, passed away on Friday morning. He was a wonderful, kind, gentle man, and we will miss him very much. His wife Eleanor was my mom's best friend and is extremely close with the whole family (She's Grammy Eleanor to Ben. He was and always will be Papa Richard.). Richard was always so great with Ben (and all kids), and Ben really adored him.

"It Needs More Salt"

Today is a Snow Day - NO SCHOOL! When we got the automated call from school last night, Ben went NUTS! He did an intense happy dance on my bed. He couldn't wait to get outside today. There wasn't a ton of snow, but it's been lightly snowing for a lot of the day so we'll see. The "It Needs More Salt" comment comes from when he tasted the snow on his glove and then said that. It was so funny! After we came inside I got a cup stacking demonstration. Evidently that's what they've been doing in PE at MICDS. He's actually pretty good and taught me how to do it. Here are some pictures:

I pulled him around the driveway on the sled. He's modeling one of the hats that I knit in the first picture then he switched to his Spiderman hat:

Getting ready to attack me with a snowball:Catching snowflakes on his tongue:Stacking cups: