Ben and his two cousins

These 3 just crack me up - - - a lot of times they are like brothers and sister -- fighting and bickering - - but on those neat times where they are all Besties' - it's so fun to watch.  On Alex's actual birthday, we decided to go to a quick dinner at Chuy's.  We called Mark for an imprompu "join us in an hour with the kids" and we all ended up there.  The 3 of them were joking and teasing each other and laughing and making up songs; I was sad when we left because they were having so much fun and I was really enjoying watching them be best friends and cousins.  That was one of those moments I would have like to freeze in time . . . . .

Happy Birthday Alex!

Alex turned 7 last week!  We had a party at Peter Piper Pizza with his cousins, Zachary, Jacob and Taylor and lots of adults including Granny, Nana & Papa, Kate and Tamera.  Alex had a great time and loved all his gifts.  All his family and friends know him so well - - he got action figures, fun games and lots of masks to play dress up with!  Alex is doing so great - - he is talking up a storm with awesome vocabulary!  Alex is so fun - he loves to hang out and talk and read books, watch movies, jump on the trampoline - eat pizza, popcorn, chips, drink milk and gatorade.  Alex loves his family, his brother especially.  His favorite people, besides Ben, are Zachary and Bella.   We are so proud of Alex and we love him so much!  Happy Birthday Baby!!!

Alex has surgery!

Due to his sleep apnea - Alex got his tonsils and partial adnoids out a couple weeks ago.  Here he is at Phoenix Children's, waiting to go in to surgery - isn't he cute with is little scrubs on?  The surgery went well, but it was a long recovery.  Alex was in a lot of pain for over a week and I don't think he had more than a handfull of food for about 8 days!  Poor guy!!  After one week off from school and then one week of spring break, he was finally feeling his 'ol self and returned to school the following Monday.  Now we are just waiting to see if he sleeps better; so far haven't seen a lot of improvement, but I think we are still in a wait and see.  Hopefully we don't have any more surgeries for a while for our little guy!

Ben does eat red sauce!

Whenever I make spaghetti, Ben refuses to eat the sauce - he makes me put butter on the noodles instead.  BUT, whenever Dad makes the same thing, Ben eats the sauce - - ??  I think it's because Daddy doesn't make special meals for little boys- you eat what he makes, the way he makes it!  Well, this night I wasn't home for dinner and Bill made spaghetti  - - apparently Dad had to get a photo of Ben scarfing down the red sauce!  I guess Dad makes spaghetti dinner from now on!!!  Look, he even made brocolli to go with it!!

It takes a village...

It takes a village to raise a child...especially a child with special needs like Alex.  Thank goodness a few years ago we found an awesome caregiver!  Kate and Alex are two peas in a pod!  She is always bringing cool things for Alex to do - - and bonus, that she lets Ben join in too!  Here they are doing some type of science experiment with a balloon, baking soda and vineger....they look like they are having fun, eh?

Horseback Riding

We are part of the Special Blessings group at church.  We don't get a chance to do much with the group because of our schedule, but they sponsoring a horseback riding trip a few weekends ago.  Alex rode the horse twice around but then wanted to get down.  Here are the few pics that Bill took.