“Beat Ben! Beat Ben!”

When my family (the Robarts) is sitting around after dinner, the question sometimes comes up, “What do we want to do?” One of the favorite answers: “Beat Ben!” I don’t really know where that came from (I suspect Debi, lol). We also have suggestions for Mutilate Miriam, Demolish Debi, Rough Up Ruth.  (Yeah, we’re nice people.) But the all-time favorite is Beat Ben.

Last month, we pulled off a Double Surprise Party.  We surprised both Debi (for her birthday) and Ben (for his graduation). Debi helped plan Ben’s party, and Ben helped plan Debi’s party.  They didn’t know the party was being thrown for them, too.

One of the games we came up with to honor Ben, was, of course, Beat Ben.  I hadn’t made a pinata since I was a kid.  My kids hadn’t had any experience with pinatas.  We had so much fun making this one!  I was so glad to have Miriam’s help.  The kids kept asking what they could to to help.  I was cautious about letting them do the messy part.  I wasn’t even sure I was doing it right myself at first.  Then I came up with their assignment: tearing newspaper strips.  They tore and tore and tore!  lol

Here is Ben with his buddy (holding a graduation cap):

Jared and Esther got the first swings, then Ben knocked himself around, then Debi took him down.

Let’s take another look at that:

I hope Ben felt the love. 

We also played a game of “Debi Says” that Teresa made.  Unfortunately, I didn’t get any pics of that.

Good times, good times.

And the winner is…

Debi is smart.

            

Debi’s anwers were right- but not necessarily for the right reasons.  Esther said the first picture might be a snack before dinner.  And she did think it was M for mat.

    

Sariah and Mom both agreed with me.  I thought they were having dessert.

Tom thought the snack/dessert picture should come second.  Dad cooks dinner, then sits and has fruit with family, then they eat dinner, then cleanup. 

Jared thought the picture should go between eating dinner and cleaning up.  So, he must have thought that it was dessert, too.  But don’t waste time clearing the table before bringing dessert out!

I have no idea what the teacher’s answers are.  We’ve gotten both packets back by now, each with a star on the front. 

Jessica, you have a teachers manual.  Any insight?  Did Esther even get it right?

                 

Family + Pizza: Part Two

This week, we had the 2nd Annual combined Esther & Debi Hawaiian Pizza Birthday Dinner.  + pulled pork sandwiches (Debi really wanted those, so she brought them, too.)

To add to the fun, the girls requested that everyone dress Fancy Nancy style.  And if you don’t know who that is, I am so sorry for you.  Adorable stories.  Scrumptious illustrations.  Really.

Nancy would say that wearing posh accessories really does make dinner taste better.  Would you agree?

 

Two in One Day

The morning started very well.

It’s my little sister, Debi’s, birthday.   I made a banner.  See, celebratory banners are kind of a tradition around here.  We almost always hold my family’s “birthday dinners” at my house and I like to print up a sign and display it.  Sometimes, the banner is left up for weeks, and is still up when the next occassion comes around.  Instead of taking down the old one & replacing with a new, we’d just alter the first.  Like, it might have said “Happy Birthday, Miriam”, then Andrew’s birthday rolls around a couple weeks later and so we cross off Miriam and write “Andrew”.  One time, a banner lasted months.  It had celebrated at least 5 separate occassions, and not just birthdays either.  I think we had to cross everything out and sharpie “Happy Father’s Day” in whatever space was left.

Anyway, here is Debi’s:

 

We’d planned to go to the last Family Film movie of the summer.  This one was to be about a little mouse with big ears.  Cute.  Plus, anything free gets extra fun points.  The six of us got seated just in time, and as the movie started, I was texting Miriam to let her know where we were sitting (she took the wrong exit and was running just a little late).  I got a text back from Miriam that she’d smashed her hand & needed help.  I whispered something quickly to my Tom and in a rush left the theater.  My sister was to be found in 24 Hour Fitness’s NRgize Cafe, hand under a bag of ice, dripping blood onto a towel.  It ends up, she’d smashed her finger in her car door.  Don’t do that!  It looked bad.  The 24 Hour Fitness people had been  nice, bringing the towel & ice, and some bandages.

I ended up taking her home to wait until her doctor appt, where she got x-rayed and a tetnus shot.  Her finger is looking a little better. 

And I made  a banner for her, too: