Benjamin is Nine!!

 Benjamin turned nine on Saturday.  However, a few weeks before we had a stomach flu.  Here is Hannah recovering.  It's the rare event to catch Hannah completely unaware of her surroundings.  You're welcome.

 Our local newspaper has a weekly feature called The Athlete's Profile.  All of the local teams submit their players' names to the paper and the paper draws a name each week and profiles the athlete.  Ben, as a member of the sledge hockey team, had his name drawn the week before his birthday.  How serendipitous.  Here is the head shot that I sent the paper.  Hannah saw it and said, "Good, his Miraculous Medal is showing."  In the background is our two-doors-away-neighbour's pool.  On sweltering summer days, the kids grip the bars of the fence and stare longingly.  I'd like to see them from the other side of the fence.

 Just a photo of Jacob partially captured in a shaft of light.  He recently won the out-of-school spelling bee.  The funniest part was when he was given the word poignant.  I could see by his body language that he was stumped.  He asked the definition.  This didn't help.  He looked around confused and the moderator asked the gathered teachers if there was another pronunciation.  One teacher replied, "PoiGnant" - without a silent g.  Jacob lit up and said, "Oh, poiGnant!  P-O-I-G-N-A-N-T.  PoiGnant."  Oh my.

 Dear Ben, where have nine years gone?  Ben's birth is one of my favourite memories. This is probably because he was the first of my singletons and the weather was an unusually warm spring day.  Plus, he was eminently reasonable about his birth time - 6:31 pm - and gave us just enough time to snuggle and settle in for a normal bedtime.  His behaviour at birth set the pattern for his easy-going and sensible nature.   He is very much the peacemaker among his siblings.  We call him The Bridge because of his ability to reconcile his brothers with one another.

 He is very much like Dave and meticulous about his personal belongings.  Thus, I knew that when we gave him toy soldiers for his last birthday, the set would still be intact come this birthday.  My parents added to his arsenal and he was absolutely delighted to open a package of WWII German, Japanese, British, Canadian and American soldiers.

 Hannah took the time to set up the growing armies on the coffee table.  There is something beautiful about such order.  Very much like little Ben.