Happy Birthday Ben!

Happy Birthday Ben!!

We had pancakes, bacon and eggs for breakfast. Opened a few gifts. Christian's soccer game at 11:00. Came home, and then went to Ben's cousin's wedding reception in Harper (with a pit stop at a Barn Sale along the way...literally only bought food for everyone!). 

We celebrated with family the night after, at Mom and Dad's house...since our house is a bit under construction.  (Both upstairs bathrooms are being completely redone and we are awaiting carpet installation...which has kept our bed in the middle of the basement living room..all in which is not ideal for company!)

He requested beef and chicken enchiladas (mom made the chicken ones) with fresh homemade salsa. 

And cherry cheesecake and/or lemon bars for dessert :)

Happy Birthday Ben....we all love you very much!

He's 30!

Ben turned 30 this year!

He's such a grown up now.

The boys and I surprised him at work in the morning of his birthday with a couple balloons and chocolate chip cookies. Christian had said he was going to sing "Happy Birthday" to him when we got in, but said, "I hope I don't get to nervous." He said the 'happy birthday' part....and then turned to me and said, "I did get to nervous. I just can't do it." Poor buddy..can't blame you.

For his 30th...he got THREE parties.

The first party was with my family. They came over for a Mexican meal and cherry cheesecake (Ben's choice). We ate, played outside, and opened presents. It was a good night.

Next, we celebrated with our friends. 

We went out to eat and then came back to our house for dessert...Tollhouse Pie.

I'm grateful for these friends...2 of the 4 couples are moving away in just a few months, so its even more special to get these times together in!

And the last party, was with Ben's family. His Grandpa Hershberger wasn't feeling well, so he couldn't make it..and Sam has just recently moved to CO. We had lasagna and peach cobbler for dessert. Grandpa H. played with the boys for awhile after supper...they were sure playing hard and having fun!

Oh how I am thankful for Ben, and his 30 years of life!

I can't imagine our lives without him...and all he does for our family.

Love you Ben!! 

Ben's Summer "Jobs"

While getting paid to do a summer job would be nice...

it was equally nice to have Ben at home to finish some bigger projects.

1. The Bathroom

(this may get a few separate posts of its own to remind us how it got to this point)

From the partial bathroom that it started as...it was gutted with the rest of the basement last year. This past spring he started doing the walls...and took all of June to complete the rest.

I'm a big fan...its so handy to have a functioning and clean/new bathroom downstairs!

2. The New Paint Job

Oh, and my I am ever so happy for this to be finished. The outside of our house has always been one of the biggest things I wanted changed. He power washed and caulked every single piece of siding underneath and all over the windows....lots of caulking (I think he said around 17 tubes). Then painted it with the paint sprayer. The garage doors are either yet to be painted or replaced...we'll see.

3. The Closets

The closets in the basement were left unfinished last summer. A "collection" has started to accumulate in various areas that need a home...but no place to be organized. The solution is underway. He finished the closets...now I "just" need to organize!

4. The Raised Beds

He did this at the beginning of the summer. Built raised beds out of scrap wood boxes from a local shop. Then he covered them with thicker plywood and put in irrigation tubing. It ended up that we didn't need the irrigation but for just a couple weeks! I have enjoyed this way of gardening much more than on the ground...of course there is always things to be tweaked, but that's part of the fun of figuring it out. All of our plants got very LARGE this year...the zucchini and tomato plants looked like they were on steroids! We had filled in the raised beds with dirt Dad dropped off from the shop...I guess it was good stuff!

These are the ones I deemed as bigger projects...he has been a handy husband/daddy to have around on a daily basis. I'm glad he has a job he gets paid to do during the school year...but I am grateful for all he's accomplished here too!

Boys {a favorite}

Birthday Boy...#27

Ben turns 27 on Oct 1. 

We celebrated with the family that could be here a little early on Sept 24. 

It ended up being a really nice day, so we ate our bbq chicken sandwiches outside.

The birthday boy pretending to blow out his candle!

An impressive sized tower built by Sam, Maddox, Diana, and Christian!

Grandma H. and Christian watching Ben open his presents.

Happy Birthday Ben. 

I love you.

I would say, I'll have a post of the pictures that he will take at the Chiefs/Vikings game..the birthday present I gave him...but he's not really into the whole idea of taking pictures as much as me :)

Meet Mr Hershberger

Mr Hershberger is my favorite teacher.

He's been teaching for two weeks now.

We went to see his classroom today.

I'm quite proud of him.

I hope all 17 of your students appreciate you as much as we do Mr Hershberger.

Have a GREAT first year of teaching, Ben.

Fun with Daddy

Christian is a fan of his daddy.

He builds towers with him...

 He helps with projects...

(He has especially discovered a new love with these projects...the TAPE MEASURE!)

And he plays with him outside... 

(Mom and Dad's dog...not ours, just to clarify)

I love watching them play together..

Christian loves his daddy :)

The Graduate

Ben completed his bachelor's degree at Wichita State University last weekend...he has gone from paying money to go to school, to getting paid to teach in school! I'm quite proud of him :) It seemed like this day was so far off, and now here it is!! Congratulations Ben, I love you.

 He has been offered a long term sub position through the end of the year at the school that he was student teaching at. He decided to decline this just because he wants to take advantage of trying out the different schools closer to home...and hopefully get a full time position in the fall. If nothing else, there are already daily openings for a substitute in the Wichita schools.

Our families came over after graduation for a supper/party!

Just for Daddy!

what a GREAT DADDY you are...

I love watching you be the Daddy you are. Christian has a wonderful role model.