Ben is seven

Benny has informed his classmates shyly that he does not want to be called "Benny-boy." I have experimented calling him Ben more often, but Benny just sticks.  Of course he's BENJAMIN!! when in trouble.

Which isn't tooooo often.....

Back to his birthday! He turned 7 earlier this week. A tall skinny energetic 7 who loves Legos and Pokemon.

We went to Wingers, where we gave him his present during dinner.

For our celebration Sunday dinner with the family the next day, I stayed up late attempting my first Pokemon-themed cake. It's a buttercream transfer method, where you pipe backwards onto a drawing on parchment paper, freeze it, then flip it onto the cake and say a prayer while peeling the parchment paper off.

Nice, right?

Benny is very cute with baby James. He is very competitive with Max. He is fair-minded with Andrew (meaning checking to make sure they get the same treatment). He is focused and task oriented. Jr Jazz has started again, and scrappy Benny-ball-game gets right in there. But besides sports, he really wishes I would allow him to play games more often on my phone.

He is growing up, but also tries to stay little, asking us to cut his pancakes and tie his shoes for him despite all our efforts at getting him some independence on these fronts.

He must always have a kiss goodnight and kisses goodbye on his cheek -- preferably more if he can rush back for more.