Update

I'm sure many of you are dying with suspense to know if Brennan won his work contest. YES, he did!!!! That means we get to go on a trip on the company - woo hoo! Thank you so much company, what a great contest. Brennan is so happy, he worked really hard and knows he was really blessed. My mom kept asking if we knew if he'd won yet and mentioned that she was praying for him. Those poor other guys didn't stand a chance with my Mom's prayers in the mix. We love Brennan!

I'm finally feeling a little better and am so grateful to feel like myself again, even my very flawed self! With each of my pregnancies along with the excitement, anticipation and joy comes a little mourning period for the current baby. Maybe this is universal, maybe I'm just really strange I don't know, but I have a bit of sadness and tenderness for my little Ben right now knowing his days of being my baby are numbered. I remember feeling the same way about Anna, Abby and Nate when I was expecting their younger sibling. Fortunately I strongly believe that giving them a sibling is pretty great compensation for being dethroned as the baby of the family. My siblings are among my greatest blessings which makes me happy for my kids to have another. For now, I'll enjoy every minute of baby Ben and when new baby comes we'll all make room and be thrilled to welcome him or her.

I have mentioned many times how sweet and helpful Anna is, but there is another role she has in our family which she takes very seriously - a big, gigantic, merciless tease. She thrives on hiding in closets and jumping out and scaring her little scaredy-pants siblings to near death. Every time she hears a scream she is overcome with satisfaction and pride. There are many other ways she loves to tease and torment her siblings. We are cracking down on her for these offences, even though I know it's part of the childishness that I love to see in her as she gets so old. She never intends to be cruel, but if you've heard my kids scream you'll understand why we are attempting to put a stop to this. She also has great sway over the kids because of all of them she is by far the best saver. She still has Halloween candy and is constantly using that to gain little advantages. For example if Nate will go and sit on the heater in his room and let her have the family room one she'll give him 2 pieces of candy. Oh dear. We love Anna.

Abigail will turn 8 years old on Friday. Today is her big VIP day at school where we bring in a poster all about her and a treat for each of classmates. She is SO EXCITED. I took her the store where she painstakingly picked the treat and the poster color. I'm supposed to share a funny story about her and I told her several which she carefully weighed and then selected the one she felt was best. I took her shopping to buy some new clothes with her birthday money from Grandpa John and Grandma Jamie and she new exactly what she wanted and exactly what she didn't want. When we got home Anna was so excited and immediately asked if she could borrow some of her brand new clothes. In typical generous Abby fashion she quickly and enthusiastically agreed. We love Abigail.

Brennan bought this little remote control helicopter that he has had to replace like 3 times because they keep breaking. Anyway, it's Nate's favorite thing in the entire world and he's earned Brennan's complete trust in his ability to play with it without ruining it. He is always on hand when any of the other kids use it and competently directs them to pull back or push up on the controls to save the helicopter from another disaster. He has honestly spent hours and hours with this toy. Oh, and today he informed me that he and Rex have a crush on my brother's future wife, Melissa. We love Nate.

Benjamin went with Brennan and the kids to a basketball game the other night and when they came home he immediately noticed the fire in the fireplace. One of his favorite things is to watch Brennan start a fire (we actually have to do more than turn on a switch). So when he noticed the fire and realized I had been the only one home he looked at me with surprise and said, "Mom, your build a fire all by yoursewf?" I think I went up like 10 notches in his book. Every time one of his siblings asks to play with a friend, Benny immediately asks, "Mom, can I play wif Abey?" Abe is his cousin that he loves. I usually say something like, "Maybe later, we'll have to see." but he usually remembers to follow up later saying, "So can I go to Abey's?" We love Benjamin.