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Friday, May 11, 2012

Photo Catch Up

We've been keeping busy lately.....doing lots of fun stuff.  Here is an assortment of photos from some of our adventures.
Ben's team won the company softball tourney!  He was the coach for his department.
Ben had some really good hits - including 3 homeruns.
Loving her giraffe pillow....she likes to hug his neck
Her 1st hair style
We went to cousin Britton's 1st birthday party
She had a pool party in her beautiful, new pool
Aunt Erin and Britton
Tyler and cousin Bennett
Aunt Lucinda and Baby Preston.....you'd never know she just had a baby last month!
Bailey Beth liked being in the float
Johnsons - brothers, sisters, and all the cousins
 Bennett spent the night with us last Saturday.  It was both Tyler and Bennett's 1st sleep over.
Brianna and Brock came over on Sunday afternoon and we kept all 5 kids for a couple hours
My place setting at the Mother's Day Tea at Tyler's preschool....it was very nice!
He was so excited for me to see the party "that he did for me", though he did give Mrs. Rose a tiny bit of credit ;-).  Bailey is in the stroller behind Tyler.
Tyler and his sweet friend Olivia

Tyler Benjamin is 4!

4 years ago on April 24th at 10:56 am, our precious 9 pound baby boy was born!  What a journey we have had from that moment forward.  I'm so grateful that the Lord blessed us with such a special child in Tyler.  He is a delightful person and constantly amazes us with his intelligence.  I know, I know.....every mother thinks their child is the best at everything, but Tyler truly has a gifted memory and is certainly advanced cognitively.  The things that he can connect and figure out are just amazing.  Even his preschool teacher has made comments about how smart he is......so I can't be sugar coating it too much ;-).

He has a sweet heart too.  He generally gets along well with his peers and tries to be everyone's friend.  It makes me happy to know he is not a trouble maker.  He can be super protective of his little sister against other kids......now if only he would try harder to protect her from himself ;-).  He is a cuddle bug and will often hold my hand while we watch something on tv.  He gives great, big, bear hugs and always tells us he loves us.  He shows concern for people and even animals that he perceives as in danger.  He always cares.

Tyler prays daily and talks about God and Jesus often.  He aims to please God and enjoys learning his weekly Bible verses.  It is the sweetest thing to hear your child pray!  He still loves to read, and has memorized countless books.  This comes in handy too because he can "read" several books to Bailey Beth now.  Tyler LOVES to blow and pop bubbles.  It's so cute and funny to watch him go crazy trying to pop every last bubble before it hits the floor.  He is still into basketball and is pretty good in our opinion.  He has also gotten into soccer, dinosaurs, and orca whales.

Tyler is a good boy, but he can have a melt down as well as the next kid.  He has a temper!  He is very protective of his "stuff" which results in poor sharing and he is extremely mentally competitive with himself.  He doesn't like to fail at anything and can have difficulty in situations where he's not guaranteed to be the winner or the best.  After playing a few board games with Dada's family.....I have to say he inherited that honestly ;-).  He is definitely intrinsically motivated to do well and always try his best and that is absolutely a good thing. 

Of course, we think he is beautiful in every way and I could go on and on about how special Tyler is and all his accomplishments, but I think 4 paragraphs for 4 years is perfect.  Here are some photos of the birthday boy for your enjoyment.
 I think it's pretty obvious he was thrilled to get an orca whale!!  Thanks Aunt Sue!
super cool dino from Gee-Gee and Pop
and the Raptor from Aubie
a book from Bailey Beth
fun baseball toy from Nana and Papa