Benson's PRE preschool

So Benson started going to this cute little in-house preschool program that a friend of mine started.
She calls it a "play and learn group" but it's basically preschool. It's drop in and you pay whenever you want to come. So its just $15 dollars for 8-11 am. Benson loves it and I love having some time to get things done around the house.
It's been so great. His teacher tells me he's doing wonderfully. He listens and participates. He's really just getting so big.
Look at that little guy wearing his backpack. He loves being one of the big kids. He brings a snack each day and eats there. He is always happy to see him when I come to get him but he loves going too.
It's been so great for both of us. 

Mimi & Grandpa's Visit

Outside of the very busy birthday/baptism weekend we had with the grandparents, we were able to enjoy a whole week with Mimi and Grandpa.
We went out to dinner one night with everyone to Tanner's favorite spot- "Tokyo House" where we all enjoyed sushi and Chinese food. 

During the week while the kids were in school, Mimi and Grandpa helped Chris at our new "fixer upper" house. They made so much progress. In just a few days they had knocked out the screen in back porch, poured concrete and framed the addition and the roof. It was crazy. 

Seriously, I can't even begin to say what a huge help they were. 

During our free time, we just got to hang out, chat, work on puzzles together and enjoy having them close. We don't get to see them very often so we really love it when they visit. 

Here's the crew with the state fair puzzle they finally finished. It took about a week on and off. They were pretty proud of themselves. 

Grandpa had to leave earlier than Mimi. She got to stay for about an extra week.
She worked on her school work part of the time, but also helped me a tremendous amount.
It was so nice to have another adult around.
I had to speak in church today and it was so nice to have Deveney there to help with the kids. She left this afternoon but we enjoyed having her so much!

We cant wait to see them both on our cruise in October. It seems like forever away, I know it will be here before we know it. Until then- thanks for the visit Mimi and Grandpa! Can't wait to see you again!

Kid Dates with Aunt Laura

Aunt Laura was finally able to come home for a visit. We have missed her so much! She made it home in time for Bailey's baptism, both Tanner and Bailey's birthday and was able to hang out a while with us. We sure love having her around.
While she was here visiting, she took each of the nieces and nephews on a date. Sometimes she took more than one with her and combined the dates, but they all had so much fun. 

She took Tanner and Clark miniature golfing. They had a blast together. 

It's so weird to think that one day he will be taller than her. Tanner sure loves his Aunt Laura!

Another day after school, Aunt Laura took Max, Danny and Tucker to the trampoline park. They had so much fun together. Tucker slept so hard that night!

And then she took the two girls to get their nails done together.
Since both of these girls are super girly-girls they really enjoyed the pampering. 

We are so grateful for Aunt Laura and all her efforts to build relationships with her nieces and nephews! It's hard to have her across the world from us but when she is home we make the most of our time with her!

Tanner earns his "Bear" rank

Last night our sweet Tanner earned his "Bear" rank in cub scouts. With only 4 months left with the scouting program at church, we are doing our best to help him earn his arrow of light. That's his dream. But this is one step closer. We are so proud of this kid. He loves cub scouts and works so hard!

I love the pictures of him pinning the bear rank on my parent ribbon. 

Congrats sweet boy! We love you so much!

Tanner's Braces Come Off!

This sweet boy got his braces off today. Three days before his 10th birthday.
His teeth look so great! I really can't get over it. 

But before the after, let's just remember the before picture.

and here's the "after" shot. He looks so great!

Tanner is such a responsible kid. He diligently took cake of his teeth while wearing braces, including flossing in between his brackets. He did great and we are thrilled with the result.
He looks so handsome!
There's still a chance he may need braces again later, but for now- the braces are off and we could not be happier!

Happy Nerf-Day Tanner

It's been a very full weekend over here and its been such a blast. We started the weekend with Bailey's party, then her baptism yesterday and Tanner's birthday party today.  

It was just a family birthday party but it was so much fun.
The theme was Nerf and it was awesome. Tanner loved how it turned out. 

How fun is that balloon wall? I kind of loved it!

I also made my first successful striped cake. It was fun and challenging.

Tanner loved how it looked, even though he isn't a huge fan of cake he still thought it looked awesome. 

I added the little nerf darts on at the end too. Tanner loved that. 

Besides cake we also have "Sweet Shots" which were sherbet push pops and "Gun Powder" which were pixie sticks. 

And for the drinks we served "Battle Fuel" which was Gatorade. 

I love this cute boy.
We ate lunch first and then opened presents.

Tanner was so lucky to have both sets of grandparents at his party.
This was the main reason we moved his party up, so all the family could be there for it. 

After we ate, Tanner opened his presents. 

This led to him getting tons of nerf guns and this awesome vest.
So we suited up and went to battle. It was an epic NERF battle. 

Here was Tanner's team. I love that so many of the adults joined in. 

And the opposing team. It may seem a bit unevenly matched with so many adults on one team, but those kids held their own. 

Nanny was so funny to watch. All the adults were cracking us up. They all had so much fun. 

These cute girls decided they didn't want to play, but they wanted to cheer so they were the cheerleaders. It was pretty cute. 

After we battled it out with all the nerf darts and guns, we came in to cool off and eat cake.
While Tanner loved my striped cake, he had requested one of Aunt Sarah's famous sheet cakes.
She happily obliged and he was so thrilled. 

How is this sweet boy almost 10 years old? I really can't believe it. 

I had so much fun styling this party and Tanner loved it all so much. He kept giving me hugs and saying "thank you mom!"

Happy Birthday sweet Tanner boy! We love you so much!