Benson and Daddy decided to go buy some firecrackers to celebrate Benson's first 4th of July. Benson was sitting in his swing when Dad decided to light a few Black cats off as a test run. Will they scare the 6 month old? The video below shows Benson's reaction:

PS: The baloons at the end of the video are for Bitsy since she loved the scroll so much last time.



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Benson is working on pulling himself up to standing position, and lately it seems like that's the only thing he wants to do. Last Friday just before we left for the family reunion, he pulled himself up on the coffee table. Mark saw him and said, "Look!" and I turned around in time to see him stand up and then fall down in a split second and bump his head. He and Daddy have been practicing ever since.

Benson gets really tired after he's been up for about 5 seconds, and starts doing kind of a nervous laugh, but he won't let go unless he knows we're behind him and going to catch him. Earlier today he was holding himself up on the coffee table, and he saw Mark behind him, so he spun around really quick and fell into Mark's arms.

He's also tried to pull himself on just about everything, from his toys to my leg to the satellite receiver. It's really fun watching him play because he is learning to manipulate things to do what he wants. Today he turned one of his toys over on its side so that he could push himself up from it. I can't believe how quickly he is learning.



(Side note- Apparently sticking out his tongue helps him concentrate. He does it a lot but seems to do it the most when he's working on something. Maybe it's from watching all those old Jordan games the other day.)

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We went up to the Silver Bell Ranch last weekend for the Bell Family Reunion. We had a really good time seeing everybody- all of the cousins were there besides Brooke (who's in the Army) and Jacob (who's on a mission). It was so fun to see all of my cousins' kids and how much everybody had changed. Benson had a good time, although he did get a little overwhelmed a few times by all of the commotion. He also got a little sunburned (what kind of Mommy forgets to put sunscreen on her 6 month old!?!?), and his nose is peeling a tiny bit now. I feel so bad about it, but I don't think it even bothers him.



Mark and Bitsy took all of the kids on "Hermit Runs" in the mule, and they had so much fun. There is an old shack up on the side of the mountain, and they would drive them up there, have the kids get out and knock on the door, and then scramble back to the car and speed off because the hermit was coming to get them. It was really funny. Benson also got to ride on the mule (named Midnight Muleador by Sydney, Jack, and Katie) but he was a too small for the wild Hermit Runs and tearing through Bush Alley. Hopefully next time we go up, Benson will be able to hang out with Daddy and Jack at Fortastic.





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Today Mark went to the store to pick up some things and left Benson and me home. Benson missed his Daddy, so he sat by the door and waited until Mark got back. They're such good friends.



When he saw that I was taking pictures of them, he starting sticking out his tongue at me.



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Benson is mastering the art of sitting up. Over the past few days, he's progressed from propping himself up on his elbow and steadying himself with his hands like this...



to being able to sit up on his own like this.



Normally, babies sit up before they crawl, but not my little rugrat. He's toppled over and bumped his head a couple of times so far, so Daddy has given him the nickname of "Kerplunk."In this picture he's watching Daddy play Guitar Hero.



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Mark and Benson have discovered a new game. From the look on Benson's face, I think he likes it.







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