Matt's 11th and Ben's 8th

Matt wanted a Minecraft cake and Dad delivered.  I bake/Lucas decorates, play to your strengths, right???  There was water, beach, and a few other terrains.  Matt was so happy.  I'm sure his simple expectations help.

 I love Matthew so much.  In most ways he is an easy child to raise.  Except that once or twice a year when we find out he was supposed to be doing something majorly important at school for the last several months that we never heard about.  Then we whip him into gear and we are back to easy peasy.  The only thing I really worry about with my handsome boy is that he learn to work hard for his education which will hopefully lead to him working hard in his career.  Problem is we don't always get to choose what work we are doing (i.e., around the house or high school/college jobs), so I want him to realize the value of hard work in and of itself, even if it is not working hard on a dream (he's great and working hard at stuff he loves, but what he loves is kinda limited right now).

1.  Matthew is so kind and caring with Daphne.
2.  He still creates worlds of imagination and absurd role play games his brothers' love.
3.  Even his big sister wants to be a part of his imaginary world and begs him to play piano duets with her.
4.  His cub scout/scout leaders always have nice things to say about him.  He is lots of people's favorite just because he kind of has more of an adult perspective in some ways (unfortunately that doesn't stop him from daydreaming or becoming fixated on video game info and desperately wanting to share it with anyone in hearing distance).
5.  He is always trying to make choices that make our lives as parent easier.  I don't want him to feel any kind of burden and point that out, but his awareness of people and their feelings is astounding.
6.  He has been a good pet owner after getting his birthday present, a kitten at last!, a month before his birthday.  Litter boxes are pretty nasty to him and the occasional accident really grosses him out, but he does not complain (out loud).
7.  He is gentle.
8.  He has become quite the baker this year.  His favorites are snickerdoodles, chocolate chip cookies and brownies.  He at one point had the dream of being a baker when he grows up.
9.  He is a meat eater.  He can eat a couple pork chops or chicken breasts in one sitting.  I can't say the same for vegetables.
10.  He takes his responsibility of being in charge on occasion very seriously, getting his brother's home from school safely, babysitting for short amounts of time.
11.  He has the best sense of humor.  It comes out with the occasional comment and even more so in clever mini comic books he writes.  He has a whole series he is doing about an indestructible flower.  You have to read it to undestand.

Bonus:  His creativity with Ben's birthday present has blown my mind.  He creates little characters and game story lines for them to go through, like a rain drop fighting flames in order to make it up to the sky and rain down into Lake Love.  He has also created a toothbrush character and various food characters...just all these amazing ideas that you don't where they came from.  LOVE!

 Sleepover in front of Christmas tree.  Shawn's head is at the bottom of pic.  We finally let Lily do a sleepover at our neighbor's house, and this is what the boys choose to do that night without her.

 As BEN turned 8 this year, we let him have a party.  He is not in love with school, or so he claims, so he only wanted to invite over 3 boys he knows form church, Luke, McCoy and Nephi.  He wanted a MineCraft party with some video gaming, some actual games, cookie decorating (man he had some specific easy to fulfill but quirky requests), and he loved that those 3 boys sweetly came over and had fun with him and he quite loved his birthday weekend.  He really steps up and takes it seriously when he gets to be the center of attention.

 BEN IS:

1. The most affectionate little mama's boy.
2.  Painfully shy but willing to be adventurous with the proper bribery.
3.  For being painfully shy, he gets a kick out of making silly comments.  His favorite one this past year was to tell anyone, even strangers about my love of chocolate and to keep their chocolate away from me.  Yes, Ben, I know I have a problem, but it isn't THAT bad.
4.  He does not love smiling right now, so the picture below is golden and only because he really loves me and was willing to do just one for me.
5.  He is learning to think his dad is cool.  Had a weird complex that his dad was scary for awhile just because his dad is often more serious that his mom.
6.  He loves to tuck in his little brother and sister some nights, book reading, prayers and all.
7.  He is the number 1 reminder to remember to say our prayers and meal times.
8.  He just glows when he is in charge of family home evening or anything of the like.  His goofball personality suddenly gets very serious.

 We are trying to make sure Ben is prepared for the BIG STEP of baptism in April.  Being a class clown type, we want to make sure he really knows what it means to make those promises with God and the commitment he is taking on.  Again, I get impressed because he knows the answers when we ask questions and isn't shy to ask for us to explain when he doesn't.  I love him and can't believe I will soon have 3 children who have taken that wonderful, life-changing step.  Time sure does fly.

 And lastly, on a silly note, Ben thought Matt's cake was pretty cool and asked for a Minecraft Lego cake.  The artist just was not inspired as he had been and for some reason I was in a January fog and so, honestly, the cake ended up a disaster in every way.  I think I eventually pulled off my worst cake ever.  It wasn't even decorated except with an XBOX controller.  Oh, it was sad, sad but Ben is just too awesome to even care..  Like an elephant, he never forgets, so maybe some day he will complain about it to me, but as of that day, he didn't complain and just gobbled it up and was excited for presents.

I LOVE MY BOYS.  I LOVE WATCHING THEM GROW.  I AM SO THANKFUL GOD SENT THEM TO US!!!