Ben's Days

I'm lumping Ben's birthday and Father's Day together since they are pretty close to each other.  We had fun with Ben on his birthday by "surprising" him (as much as you can, when 4 kids are in on the surprise) with a squirt gun.  He'd missed the beginning of the squirt gun excitement because he was out of town, but he learned about it pretty quickly.  Jack took him on a long scavenger hunt that eventually led to the squirt gun, which was full of water and waiting in the back yard.  As soon as he found his new Super Soaker, the kids opened fire on him.  It was pretty great.

The most exciting thing about Father's Day was what Ben chose to have for dinner.  A crab.  He bought a crab big enough for everyone to share, but the kids were so grossed out by the whole thing that nobody ate any amount worth mentioning.  I had one leg.  Ben was able to enjoy the majority of the crab himself.  Maybe that was his plan all along?

Ben also received an good-natured but particularly messy breakfast (fail) by the kids (while I was gone to choir) and spent quite a while cleaning up the fallout.  He did appreciate the cards, notes, and Father's Day coupons, though.  I took the following pictures right before bedtime and they are a great illustration of one of Ben's best fathering qualities: he wrestles and tickles with the kids and they all love it (until someone gets hurt, as has been known to happen).  Once the younger kids went to bed, Ben spent some time with Cat helping her learn how to do family history research, which means we were simultaneously celebrating Forefather's Day.  (Ha!)

We are so thankful to have Ben at the head of our family.  He is good, honest, faith-filled, hard-working, smart, loving, helpful, funny, and so many other things.  He blesses our lives every single day.