Just some sibling cuteness.

Happy Birthday Ben!

Big Ben turned 5 this week.  Our second son is such a delightful guy.  He generally has a very easy going attitude and brings an enjoyment of hard work and distinct sense of humor to the mix.  In his free playtime, you can usually find him outside digging a big hole, collecting “treasures” like rocks, sticks, snails and other critters, sweeping dirt to create “smoke” or trying to start a fire by some impossible form of spontaneous combustion (I have not showed him the magnifying glass method or he really will start a fire!)  Ben continues to have an affinity for building things out of yard treasures, blocks, legos, and anything else he can find.  He is doing great with homeschooling this year and is making good progress towards learning to read.  His favorite subject is math- we are using Right Start Math and he enjoys the visual and manipulative nature of this curriculum (and mommy loves teaching it too!)  At his 5 year check up, he weighed in at 42 lbs (74th percentile) and 44.5 inches (80th percentile).  He took the 5 year shots like such a brave little man I think I got more teary than he did. 

Since we have too many children to have big expensive parties for each one every year, we have decided to celebrate certain milestone birthdays extra big- at 5, 10 and 16.  When you turn 5, you can have your party at a special location of your choice.  Ben picked Bounce-U, or as the boys affectionately call it, “The Jump-Jump-Slide.”

Some favorite gift this year for Ben were: a cap gun with leather holster (picked by big brother Jake), a lego set, and a military action figure set (pictured above with the cake).

A Pereira Milestone

Jake fell off the tire swing at a playground on Saturday.  It wasn’t the scariest or most dramatic accident we have experienced with these boys, but this happened to be the first one to require x-rays and a cast!  I knew it would inevitably happen at some point.  Bringing him to the ED brought back awful memories for Jason taking Sam there when he has been so sick, so it really made us THANKFUL that this was not a scary or serious visit.

Jake was very brave and enjoyed recounting the many tv shows he watched during his lengthy wait at the ED.  Wonderful.

He is so proud of his cast and x-ray, which shows his fractured radius and ulna.  It will be a challenge for him to continue working on his handwriting for the next 4 weeks, and sadly he will miss half of the swim lessons we signed up for that start this week.  So sorry this happened to you buddy!  You have been a great sport about it so far.

Seattle trip!

The Pereiras are not big travelers, at least not at this stage of many small children, some of whom need naps and special foods to maintain optimum functioning.  In spite of our lack of travel enthusiasm, we decided it was time to make the big trip out to Seattle to visit my family, and especially the kids’ one living great grandmother, who is now 95 years old and in declining health.  We had not been as a whole family since 2007.

Here are the highlights:

Visit to the aquarium followed by lunch on the waterfront at Ivar’s and feeding the seagulls.

Birthday brunch for Ben at the Space Needle!  A very special and memorable outing!

2 sweet visits with my precious Grandma!  We love you so much!

The boys’ favorite part of the trip… going to the beach!  The water was really cold but that didn’t stop Jake and Ben from getting in.  We were so blessed to enjoy beautiful weather for the whole trip.

One of my favorite parts- having all of my family in the place where I grew up.  There is such a comforting familiarity about being in your childhood home and it was fun to share it with my kids.  My parents were so kind and generous to have us all in such a small space.  Hopefully we didn’t stress them out too much.  I miss many things about living in the northwest- it is always good to go back!