Singing With My Boys

Tonight was the community Thanksgiving church service at our church.  Due to scheduling conflicts with the boys basketball practice, we have not been able to attend Choir practice yet this year, but our gospel choir was short on people so they asked me to come.  We practiced right before the service.  Since the boys were with me, they got handed music and decided to sing too. 
I don't remember hearing the song before, but it was an easy hymn.  As we were practicing, Ben opened to the door to the class room we were in, brought is little board book, and started "singing" with us.  It was cute.  When we were done he told us all "great job". 
When it was time for our choir to perform, John, Noah and I all went up front and started to sing.  I noticed that Randy was struggling with Ben who was putting up quite a fight.  Randy let him go and quick as a lick he was up front with that same little board book standing right in front of me between John and Noah.  What I could not believe was that on the chorus, I heard him trying to sing with us.  He was a couple beats behind, but not off key, but I don't think the audience minded much.  Most of them had big smiles on their faces watching him sing with us.  It was so cute.  How I wished we had a camera so we could have taped it.  
Singing with my older two boys is awesome, but singing with all three of my boys is priceless.  I am so thankful for all my boys.

Here is a picture of Ben doing his new "cheese" face.  For a mom that likes to take pictures it is great when your kids will finally stop and look at the camera and say cheese at least every once in a while.

Special Exposure Wednesday

Don't worry.  It is only ketchup.  This is what happens when your brother shares his chicken nuggets with a big brother size blob of ketchup.  Little brothers like to smear it on their forehead and then into their hair.

At least he had fun!

It has been a while.

I can't believe that it has been a whole month since I have posted.  About 6 weeks ago I blew out my knee playing volleyball for fun with a bunch of other Moms.  Three weeks ago I had surgery to repair my ACL and Meniscus. So I have been moving a little slow which has made it difficult to get the things I need done around the house and I did 2 craft fairs.  So.  That is why the long posting lapse.
For the most part the end of October and beginning of November have been pretty quiet.  John and Noah are both practicing for Small Fry basketball.  Ben is doing great at pre school, but was out all last week with a nasty virus similar to hand, foot and mouth. It cause fever, sores in his mouth, and a rash on his body, but nothing on his hands and feet. 

A couple weeks ago (while I was still on crutches) we attend the Husker Heroes event put on by the One Coalition.  It was a fun night at the Hawks Championship Center for special needs kids and their families to meet Husker players.  All three boys enjoy this event.  Ben just likes to run around on the indoor football field and play the games (but not wait in line), and the older boys like meeting the players.  A good time was had by all. 

I hate to admit that none of my halloween pictures turned out.  I had gotten a new lens filter, and turned the auto focus off on my camera, so they were all blurry.  However, I did get one of the new trick that Noah taught Ben. Nice.

Our Little Vampire

We have had a bit of an issue lately with Ben biting his brothers.  Quite a few times last weekend Ben would get very frustrated when his brothers would pick on him or tell him no, and the bite would happen.  It is pretty easy to see it coming.  First he gets mad, does a little growl, starts snapping his teeth and then goes in for the bite.  But boys can be pretty unobservant and not get out of the way. 
This new trend seemed to come out of no where, so I asked school if they have a biter, and they said no. Maybe he saw it on TV, or just tried it once and liked the result? We might not ever know.

Today Noah was playing on his Nintendo DS and would not share with Ben so Ben bit him in the side so hard he actually drew blood. Later when Noah was showing Dad his war wound I heard him ask, " Dad, how old does Ben have to be before I can slug him?" No Noah. No slugging your little brother. He really is more alike than different.
At least we know what not to dress him up as for Halloween this year.

Here are Ben's fact posters that were displayed along the walk route at the Step Up for Down Syndrome walk this year. 

10th Annual Captial City Step UP for Down Syndrome Walk

We enjoyed a beautiful day today at the Step Up for Down Syndrome Walk.   Ben's Brigade and the Elmwood Murdock School team raised over $2,200 for the DSAF of NE and had over 50 walkers. In total today there were 1275 walkers who raised almost $60,000.   The Elmwood Murdock School team won the Trophy for the biggest school team.  It feels so amazing to be supported by so many wonderful people. We can't even begin to tell everyone how much we appreciate their generous donations of time and money.   It really means the world to us!

Music Lover

Ben has a definite love of music.  However, thanks to his brothers, he now has a love for "popular" music.  Some of his favorites include Pink, The Black Eyed Peas, and J Lo.  When Ben falls asleep in the car, all we have to do is play one of his favorite songs and he is usually up and dancing within seconds.  Here is a video to demonstrate you might need to turn up your volume to hear the music:

This was shot today on the way home from a big day in Lincoln.