Our little guy has a big day today! Benjamin is moving up to a new room at daycare, into the Preschool room. Today is his first day of no longer being a "multi-ager." He has been in the multiage room since October of 2007, so this has been a long time coming. The process for moving the kids up to new rooms goes by birthdate, so because new older kids kept coming into daycare, Benjamin wasn't able to move up until now. But the good thing about waiting is that he is able to move up with a bunch of his best buddies, so he won't be the only new kid. He can't seem to make up his mind on whether or not he is excited. On one hand, he thinks that because he's a preschooler now, he can suddenly do things he wasn't allowed to do before he became a "big boy." Yesterday he tried to get me to lift the ban on watching Spongebob Squarepants, so I had to explain that he's going to have to wait a bit longer for that to happen. This morning he woke up and told us that he didn't want to go to preschool because he didn't want his friends to look different. Apparently he has it in his head that they've all aged about 3 years since last week!

To honor this big step, Mike and I wanted to do something special for him. We took him to Target last night and let him pick out a new preschool backpack that he can use to bring his books for naptime and his show-and-tell toys everyday. It was a hard decision, but he went with the Batman backpack, a fine choice.

I spent this weekend in the Chicagoland area, which was fun. Mom, Dad and I drove down on Friday and we stayed with my Uncle Terry and Aunt Clarice in their beautiful home. It was a treat for me to spend some time in the areas where I grew up, which have changed unbelievably since I lived there 13 years ago. Mom and I went to Kelly's bridal shower and Dad visited my Aunt Cookie (Marianne) whose cancer has sadly returned. It was a successful trip and we all had a very nice time. We were back in Rochester Sunday evening to enjoy Mike's cooking with our tagalongs, cousins Jeanne, Jordie and Joe who are in town from Hawaii. They're staying with Mom and Dad for a few days to get a taste of Minnesota.

Mike and Benjamin spent the weekend doing guy-stuff like having a bonfire, visiting the farmer's market, having brunch with runners and watching movies. Although the weather took a turn for the worse (high temps in the low 50's), I think they enjoyed their weekend.