After his robot-themed birthday party last year, Benjamin immediately claimed that his next party was going to be Star Wars-themed. He stuck with that and so this weekend we threw him a Star Wars Sixth Birthday Party at our home. Benjamin and seven of his friends played musical chairs, battled during some kind of galactic pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey game and swung with all their might at the shining piñata.


I had so much fun gathering ideas for party favors and goodie bags. I also made an egg-free cake for Benjamin.


There were many lightsaber duels with the homemade lightsabers that I threw together with materials from the Dollar Store. I think it was a great party and all of the kids seemed to have fun.


On Monday we continued celebrating Benjamin's birthday with his traditional breakfast in bed. We've been doing this since he was three years old and has become a highlight for him.


Tonight we have some special visitors coming to Rochester to watch Benjamin race with the SIX year olds at the All Comers Track Meet. He is very excited!

We had a pretty low-key weekend, which included celebrating Father's Day with Mike. We had lunch and then spent some time lounging on a blanket at a park while Benjamin ran around the playground equipment.


We have some important events coming up in the next week. Benjamin will be celebrating his 6th birthday with his friends at a Star Wars themed party on Sunday and will officially be a year older the following day. Lucy will hit 9 months old on July 1st and hopefully by then will no longer be plagued by the horrible teething pain and constant runny nose she's been experiencing lately.

All winter we look forward to Tuesday nights at the Soldiers Field track for the Rochester Track Club's All Comers Track Meets. Benjamin has been running in these races since he was TWO years old! This year we fit in only two races before thunderstorms rolled in, but he proudly placed second in each race.

THEN (July 2007):

NOW (June 2011):

We now officially have a First Grader at our house. Benjamin's school held a special graduation ceremony for all Kindergarten through Six Grade students last week, which they call a "Ribbon Ceremony." Each child moves ahead into their new grade by crossing a bridge and receiving a special medal or bead tied onto ribbons. The children received one ribbon for every year that they have attended the school. Therefore, Benjamin had two ribbons. Each grade sat in chairs from their classroom and as they "graduated" to the next grade, they moved over to sit in chairs from their new classroom. It was very touching. Benjamin was so proud of himself. After the ceremony he showed both sets of Grandparents around both his new classroom and his old classroom. It was a very special day.

Our Godson, John, turned three May 31st. The family celebrated this milestone with him at a party a couple of weekends ago.  Time moves far too quickly and so much life has happened since this little guy's birth that it seems both impossible and also very real that he could be so old already.  He was completely enamored by his birthday cake that he showed it to every single person that walked through the door.
Lucy enjoyed some time with her Godparents.
And Albert shared more of his heart melting smiles!