Our 7 year olds!

Caleb and Bennet turned 7 last week. . .WOW!  They are really growing and it is fun to watch the world through their eyes.  Caleb loves the social aspects of school, but is not so fond of handwriting and seat work.  He is such a good reader, but would rather be read to--not yet wanting to pick up books on his own to read.  Although I find it interesting how much he will read aloud on signs, tv shows, packages of toys, t-shirts, etc.   The world is expanding for him!  He is a very emotioned filled boy and loves with great passion and feels the depths of frustration strongly too:)   He has shown steps toward maturing in this area for which we are thankful. 

Bennet is tender hearted and enjoys being with people.  He has a little more apprehension in new social situations and likes to take in a little more before joining in activities.  He has quite a bit of patience for handwriting and is doing quite well at it.  His reading is coming along nicely and he willingly will read to me whenever I ask him to. 

They both LOVE to learn new things and have lots of interesting facts to share mostly about science things or even artists they are learning about.  They love math and quizzing each other on math facts.  Sometimes they even ask me to write out math problems for them.  They seem to have math minds as they get the patterns to multiplication and division. 

As we were driving to school the other day, Bennet announced that he had a dream to be a good speller.  I think he will have to work at that since neither his mom nor dad are very good in that department!  Caleb on the other hand wants to follow in his dad's footsteps and be a teacher or a principal--he certainly possesses some strong leadership qualities!  It will be interesting to see where God leads them as they grow.

I think we have started a tradition for breakfast in bed on your birthday. . .Caleb kept saying, "oh how nice of you, that was really nice, I knew you wouldn't forget"  Dan joined in although barely awake from his late night board meeting the night before!  This was 7 am--the kids all ready to go:)

Caleb and Bennet both got to open 3 presents the morning of their birthday, a school morning.  Here Caleb is ready to tear into the packages. 

Bennet--look at that smile over presents!  They sure don't hold back excitement when it comes to gifts. 

Here they are with their complete presents the next evening and wearing their new Chapel Hill sweatshirts from G and G V.P.  Bennet in grey, Caleb in Blue.

The boys' with their birthday cake--it looks like they are 77, but they each needed a candle to blow out.  I have made 2 cakes for them in the past, but I told them I would be able to do a better job if I just made one for them.  This cake was quite a bit of work and I don't know if I would recommend attempting it,  but it was fun and got my creative juices going for a little while.  Kylie and the boys love to help with little things on it! 

Here is a side view--Caleb wanted Luigi and Bennet wanted Mario--which tomorrow is super hero day at school and they want to be them for that day too. . .

More presents. . .yikes!  They should be set for quite a while!

We invited all the boys out of their class plus a couple others to go ice skating and then back to our house for cake and ice cream.  Again, I don't think I would recommend ice skating with 11 first graders some of which have never skated. . .not to mention tying all their ice skates!  Micah-the boys cousin- was a good sport and a great helper with the kids when skating, came to the party too.  It was fun for Dan and I to get to know the boys out of their class a little and learn what parents faces belong with what child!  We were pretty tired when they all went home, but the boys had a wonderful birthday.