Ben's birthday!

The day after Valentine's Day is the most important holiday in February...the day my son was born 7 years ago! I can't believe he is 7 and in first grade, but time is passing quickly and I am doing my best to document it all in this blog (even if I am months behind)! So, the day was special, but we didn't get to fully celebrate on his birthday because there was a very big Cub Scout event where the Tiger Scouts earned their badge that they have been working towards all year!  Here is Ben receiving his badge!

The Tiger Scouts and their Dads...you will notice Ben is not wearing his hankerchief or his hat...yeah that happens a lot to us.

Then the awesome den leaders were honored.  I'm not bias or anything, but I think the Tiger Scouts happened to have the best den leaders :)

One of his best friends, Aiden, has a birthday on Valentine's Day, so the day before Ben's birthday.  We are very good friends with their family and the boys were delivered in the same hospital, so we always say the boys have been friends since the hospital nursery!  Anyway, to celebrate their birthdays, the pack leader had them come up and lead the whole group in singing Happy Birthday.  They got a big kick out of it!

After the awards were handed out, there was a special surprise...an animal guy that brought a lot of really cool exotic animals with him.  It was really neat and the kids all loved it!  And check out that little lady in pink getting as close as she can to that giant snake!

 

The next day was Ben's party.  He was very specific in what he wanted this year...an all boys party (except his sisters and cousin) playing Laser Tag.  It was a little difficult as it was the first party that we couldn't really invite whole families to.  You pretty much have to be at least 6 or 7 in order to play because you have to wear this big pack, which was actually pretty big on all the boys anyway!  But, he had a blast, so it was all worth it.  He also wanted a Star Wars cake, so this is what I came up with.  I was pretty proud of it!

Pictures of Laser Tag didn't really come out, but this gives you some sort of idea of what it was like.

Then it was cake time!

Make a wish buddy!

Then it was back home to open his presents, which included a lot of Legos, which thrilled Ben!

As I mentioned, it is so hard for me to believe that Ben is 7.  He has grown so much over the past year, yet he is still a little kid in a lot of ways.  He is complex and full of energy all the time, yet is quite the critical thinker and loves to be involved doing things, whether it is sports, cooking, playing with his sisters, or doing an arts and crafts project.  He is very into science experiments right now, building with his legos, playing games and being goofy with his friends.  I just went to his parent/teacher conference and he is one of the top readers in his class, reading at a 3rd/4th grade level according to test scores.  He is in the highest math group and highest spelling group.  He is writing full paragraphs at school, doing well on all his weekly tests, and doing great academically.  I can brag on him like that because he isn't perfect.  The flip side is that he gets bored in school and tends to misbehave.  He disrupts class sometimes and his teacher says he is trying to be funny...she classified him as a class clown.  I am really not sure how a class clown came from me - that is so not me!  But we are working on it with his teacher and he is doing better.  Overall, his behavior is improving and we are rewarding him for that.  He is a good kid.  He gets excited easily and likes to be goofy and get people to laugh.  His friends love that about him...it just makes school a bit challenging sometimes!

By the way, I took him to the doctor and he was right on track for where he has been...height in the 75th percentile and weight in the 80th percentile.  He will be bigger than me before too long!  Happy birthday Ben...we love you!