Tis the season...

...to play outside! Benjamin loves being outside. Loves it. It's been super nice because Patrick is building a new deck and Benjamin will stay outside and "help" him as long as we let him. I'm not much fun in the sun right now, but I do my best to get my boy outside! Here are some pictures of our fun in the sun....

A grumpy looking Benjamin...although, he wasn't grumpy at all. Maybe he was annoyed that I was taking his picture while he was playing with his animals. Like the "table and chair" he created out of deck wood!? :)

Mud bowl. He liked making the mud, but wasn't too sure about getting any on him at first.
Buuuuuut then he came around.
And I had to make sure he didn't eat it. I mean, in his defense, it does kind of look like brownie batter.

Playing with chalk. This is a nice place to play because it's mostly shaded and we can also watch cars drive by. Benjamin loves "writing" and coloring with the chalk. However, he loves even more telling me what to draw so he can look at it :)

Looking to see if he squished the caterpillar with his foot. He did not. But he did squish it later with a brick.

Taking it all in. Doesn't he look so big here?!? Is my child 8 already?! I think not!

Dazed.

Excited to tell me about the caterpillar.
Just walking and talking...
And a non-outdoor picture. Benjamin was "helping" me sort coupons. He made himself a little table with his {expired} coupons while I sat at my desk sorting the ones we would be using this week :)

He loves helping {for now} and I try to let him do as much as I can. I never want him to feel like he's in my way or a bother to me. But there are times when he really is just too much in the way, so I have to create a job for him or find a new game to keep him occupied. Today when I was putting away groceries and trying to get lunch ready he just needed to be right where I was. So I gave him a little bowl of water so he could give his {very small, plastic} animals a bath. This kept him busy until I was done and he didn't have to leave my side. He was just stationary while I was able to move! Success!

Hopefully he'll keep his helper attitude when Beta comes along! If not, we'll figure something out. Until then, I'll enjoy it - even if it means that I'm much more distracted and things take a little longer!