June 9 - 15

When Bennett woke up in the morning on Monday he felt a bit warm adn said his ear hurt.  He often complains about his ear so we didn't think too much of that.  We took his temperature and he was fine, so off to school he went.
When we picked him up he had a 101 fever, so that meant no school the next day.  When we got home he watched Monsters, Inc and didn't eat much in the way of dinner, even though I tried one of his favorite foods.

On Tuesday Bennett had to stay home from school, even though his fever was gone.  He started off the day with Daddy since I had a dentist appointment.  When I got home he played nicely in my craft room while I did some ironing and some cleaning.  (There's still a LOT more cleaning to do!)

After lunch it was nap time.  He did not want to take his nap.  After a few minutes he came out of his room saying, "I rested.  Now I'm all better."  He repeated this quite a few times before finally settling down and going to sleep. After nap we watched Peter Pan and then made a Father's Day card.

After dinner we walked to the post office to mail a birthday card to Aunt Rebecca.

On Wednesday Bennett had his last week of speech for the school year.  And surprisingly, even though it was Daddy's turn, Bennett didn't sleep late.

School pictures (taken in April) finally came in!  We liked both poses and couldn't decide which to get, so we just ordered both of them.

On Thursday Bennett got his report card.  Not a surprise, but he's doing great.  I had to sign it, and he couldn't understand why he couldn't write his name on it.  We also got his class picture (they hadn't come in the day before with the rest of the pictures.)  None of the class pictures turned out well- just another reason why this wasn't a good photographer.


On Friday  evening we had a Father's Day cookout at school.  It's a nice chance to socialize with the other parents, and definitely a different vibe from the past couple of years as enrollment increases.

We got home a bit late and then let Bennett play a little while longer, so it was pretty late when he finally went to bed.



Saturday was Bennett's last soccer class.  Being the last class the parents got to join the kids on the field, so Daddy went and played some soccer.  For now we're going to hold off on signing him up for any sports.  He just doesn't seem to be all that interested in participating.

After soccer we went strawberry picking.  It's still pretty early in the season so we'll see how much jam I make from these (I need to actually work on that) and then who knows, maybe we'll go again.  Bennett was much better this year about picking ripe berries, but he still needs to work a little harder to get the bright red ones.

After strawberry picking we went to visit Mimi and were surprised to run into Uncle Andrew and Aunt Gentry while we were there.  They had also brought their new dog along with them so we all sat outside for a while.

Next up was bike shopping.  Well, we tried.  Turns out they didn't have the one I'd seen online (even though they said it could be picked up in the store), but Bennett's behavior was also less than stellar so we ended up leaving.  I guess he may have just been tired, because he fell asleep in the car on the way home.

When he woke up I asked him if he wanted lunch and he told me that he couldn't have lunch after rest.  Luckily he agreed that it was ok to have a big snack, which shockingly consisted of foods very similar to what he would have had for lunch.

He also had fun playing in the basement with Daddy, checking out the vise on his new workbench.

We rounded out the day by trying bike shopping again at a different store, this time ordering it online before we left and arranging for in store pickup.


Sunday was Father's Day. 

As I mentioned earlier, Bennett and I made a card for Daddy and it included a quiz.  I asked Bennett a few questions and wrote down his answers.

My Daddy's name is Daddy Breecher.
His is 10 years old.
He has grey hair and blue eyes.
At his job, my Daddy does work.
Daddy's favorite food is hot dogs.
Daddy always tells me to cut this paper.
I love to play and make cards for Mummy with Daddy.


We headed off to Sturbridge.  The first 200 dads got a mug with a lid, much nicer than the mugs we've gotten from our DCVs.  It was also Music and Art Weekend so there were a few extra things to see and do, such as listening to some fife and drum music.

While in the tinshop Phil introduced us to another interpreter, Walter, and commented that we came every week.  "No really, they do.  They have nothing better to do."  I don't think Walter believed him because he then started asking if we had seen various things.  Phil then commented that Bennett really does know all about this place and he could tell Walter all about everything.

In the afternoon Victoria was cutting profiles.  Luckily we got there a few minutes early so that we could be first in line.  Bennett was extremely wiggly and I'm not sure how much longer he would have been willing to stick around if we would have had to wait.  In fact, he was so wiggly that Daddy ended up having to hold him.

After nap Bennett played in the pool for a while, Grandpa came over to get his Father's Day gift, and after dinner we went for a bike ride.  Bennett did pretty well, but he kept trying to pedal backwards which meant that he was braking.  We'll have to work on that a bit more.

Happy Father's Day

This week was pretty light on the photos until the weekend.  I kept thinking that I should pick my camera up but I just never got to it.

On Friday we went to a Father's Day cookout at Bennett's school.  It was an interesting dynamic of who talked to who, who left first, who stayed longest, etc.  Pretty much the infant families hung out together and left first.  Then the younger toddlers left, and then the older kids left.  We were there until the end (and pretty late!) just hanging out chatting and playing games/puzzles with one of the other families and with the teachers.  One of the teachers brought her teenage daughter who Bennett absolutely adores!  This was great for us because Emily got to try to corrall him to eat and then help him with the potty.  Good thing she was willing to help out!

The cookout is potluck with the school providing the burgers/hot dogs but then each family signing up to bring a side or a dessert.  Last year I baked these  cupcakes.  Apparently in the days leading up to the cookout various people were asking the director if I would be making them again.  Luckily she realized that they were a TON of work and that I likely wouldn't be making them again.  Instead I made cupcakes in ice cream cones.  I thought that they would be cute, but they didn't quite live up to last year.

Bennett helped make them the night before, and Friday morning he woke up asking to eat a cupcake.  We told him that they were for the party.  All day long he kept asking.  When we arrived at school that evening we had to put the cupcakes in the director's office so that Bennett (and the other kids) wouldn't eat them first.  He still tried running in there to get one though.

It was cute watching the kids eat them.  Many of them tried to lick them like an ice cream cone.  I guess it makes sense though since kids often only eat the frosting from a cupcake anyway.



A dad helping G eat her cone.  And then playfully shoving it in her face.  :)



I have no idea what this really is, but Bennett thought it was sunglasses.  Reminds me of Geordi LaForge from Star Trek: The Next Generation.



At least he was safe and put a helmet on, but now he just needs to look where he's going.

 On Saturday we went to Day out with Thomas at Edaville.  Last year we didn't go on many rides but this year we had a bit more time.  Bennett wasn't so sure about the carousel at first, but once it got going he loved it.  Of course it doesn't hurt that he likes horsies.

This video isn't sideways like the thumbnail would have you believe.

As we were walking past the hill with the gazebo Bennett surprised us by rememberding that it was where Sit Topham Hatt was when we visited 9 months ago.  Who knew it made such an impression!

I like his hands on the side holding on.  :)

As we came out of the gift shop we saw Sir Topham Hatt so we got into the line for a photo.  We weren't sure how he was going to do, but he did great.  Much better than last year where he ran away from Sir. Topham.



Maybe it's jus tme, but I think this Sir Topham Hatt looks a little creepier than the one last fall.




After taking the photo we got in line for food.  It was so slow!  Rather than make Bennett wait I stayed in line while he and Chris went on a couple of rides.  They rode the airplane and also went in a rocket.  Bennett couldn't figure out the control lever to raise the plane up, so he stayed down low.  Much easier to take photos though.  :)

After lunch we checked out a train engine that the kids could climb into and went on more rides.

The girl in the plane with Bennett must have younger siblings because she did really well with Bennett adn tolerated him wiggling the flying lever  back and forth.  And then after the ride she even undid his seat belt for him.

Soon it was time for us to go on our train ride.  The ride was fairly uneventful.  Last fall the coach had been empty except for us, but this time it was full.  After the ride we quickly got in the line for photos with Thomas.

Then we went on a couple more rides before heading home.  Bennett got a VERY late nap in the car and when we got home Daddy mowed lawn while Bennett played outside and helped water garden.  He also discovered that jumping in puddles is fun.

On Sunday we had a fairly un-exciting Father's Day.  We had a bunch of errands to run.  First stop was Brandeis for a little while.  Bennett decided that "Daddy make mess" so he grabbed a broom and did some sweeping.  What's funny though is that the shop was probably the cleanest that Bennett has ever seen it.  He also took some scraps of wood and threw them away.  When those were all gone he requested "Daddy cut wood".

We then had a couple more stops, another extremely short car nap and got home shortly before dinner.


We need to teach a corn eating method.  Lots of corn left on the cob when he was "all done".



After dinner we went for a walk.  I think the horrid nap was catching up to him because he was not in the mood to walk and kept asking to be picked up.  It was like pulling teeth to get him to walk.  If only Fiona had been there to take his hand and pull him along.