August Summer Break

I can't believe summer is over! We had a great last month of break and tried to cram in the fun before school started. We went to Lakeside and the kids had a great time riding the rides. Last year Benjy was sick when we went and didn't go on any rides, so it was kind of his first experience there. He was definitely was ready for it this time around.

Later that week, I got to sing with the Chorale at a Rockies game. Justin and the kids came to the game to clap for me and root for the home team.

The Chorale also performed at the Lakewood Heritage Center that weekend. It was a busy singing week!

The following week we got a babysitter for Emme and took the boys to Waterworld. They had been looking forward to it all summer and were so excited to finally go!

 Benjy ended up being more cautious about the rides than we hoped, and outright refused to go on the dinosaur ride. Even so, we all had a great time together.

Later that week, as I was getting the hair clippers out to give Eli a haircut, Benjy decided to give himself one. 

He had some super short bangs by the time I was done fixing the damage.

Benjy started taking violin lessons earlier this summer, and both he and Eli got to participate in an orchestra comprised of their violin teacher's students. They played at a small outdoor amphitheater next to the Broomfield library. Benjy was the smallest one there and was very cute. The kids all did a great job.

This is a link to the full concert that someone recorded.

Some random pictures from the month:

Eli tends to be very competitive, and we have had to work on sportsmanship with him...

 Benjy's portrait of me :)

 Benjy does this thing where he writes backward and mirror image. I don't know if that's a normal thing or not, but to me it seems pretty remarkable. He does this a lot and I wanted to remember it.

 Week 18 of pregnancy picture.

 A beautiful sunset captured by Justin.

 A package arrived for Justin one day, and Benjy wrote on it: "For Daddy. Mailman"

 Eli was very proud of this Angry Birds tower sculpture and wanted me to take a pic.

 Benjy's recycling monster craft.

 Eli and I finished the second Harry Potter book early in the month, but things were busy and we couldn't watch the movie right away (we watched the movies at night after the other two were asleep). He wrote me a reminder note so I wouldn't forget to watch it with him:

A Benjy Moment

Benjy did something that completely surprised me the other day. We went to McDonald's to meet Cyndi and Joey and let the kids play. I ordered the kids their food and we sat down in the play place and they ate. After we had been at the McDonald's for quite a while, Benjy came up to me and he was holding a drink cup with orange Hi-C in it. He had ordered apple juice with his kids meal, so I asked him where he had gotten the cup. He said that he asked someone for $2 to buy a drink and they had given him money to buy it. I was immediately skeptical of this story, and continued to ask him where he had gotten the cup, and whether he had found it on a table (which seemed the most likely scenario). He said that no, he had asked for a drink, and that a man had bought him one. I asked him who the man was, and he pointed to a man who was also sitting in the kids' area. 

Benjy was on the verge of tears from all the questioning, so I went over to the table where the man was sitting to see whether Benjy's story was true. The man was about my age and he was sitting at a table with what appeared to be his mother and a couple other adults. I asked him if Benjy had asked him for money, and the mother piped up and said that no, Benjy hadn't asked for money, he had come up to them at the cashier's counter and asked for a coke. They told him to ask the cashier for a cup, and she handed him a water cup. They told Benjy he couldn't get a coke with that, so the man then handed Benjy $2 and told him to ask if he could have a drink for that. I thanked the man for his kindness (despite my incredulity that he would just buy an unknown kid a drink and not ask where his mom was) and tried repeatedly to give him $2, but the man refused. 

After I got back to our table, Cyndi and I laughed until tears ran down our cheeks. I will definitely be addressing the many safety issues this incident raises, but since Benjy was so sensitive about it, I didn't want to come down too hard on him. I was pretty impressed with his initiative-- I want to encourage his go-getter spirit, and yet keep it within safe bounds. 

July

In keeping with my summer pattern here, I am going to post about the whole month of July! Boys finished swimming lessons, Eli went to violin camp, we finished the second Harry Potter book, kids finished their reading programs and got cool prizes, the Marables came to stay with us the weekend of the Fourth while Justin M. participated in the Cherry Creek Art Festival, friends from Topeka (the Christensens and the Budges) came to stay with us on different occasions, we grew some monster zucchini, 

Deedle deedle dumpling, my son... Benjy.

 A walk to Standley Lake

A violin recital

 Eli's cup tower

 Awesome Fobots exhibit at Cherry Creek Art Festival

The boys like to take slow-motion videos with the ipod. 

Emmie is as obsessed with "Frozen" as ever. She likes to sing "Let It Go" while doing her aerobics.