Benjamin Turns 4!

I can't believe it. Our big boy Benjamin turned 4 years old today. It's been an exciting and amazing journey as a parent watching him grow, develop, learn and become the fun lil man that he is.

And it's also been a busy and exhausting past couple of days. We had a "BLUE Monster Truck Party" up at our lil clubhouse on Saturday. We had six families (including our own) as well as Ms. Katie and my helper all come. It was a lil crazy with 11 kids there ranging in ages 4 months to 6 years but lots of fun. I had a great time preparing for the party. The kids goodie bags included a monster truck as well as candy bars with wrappers that I designed to look like his Monster Truck invites, personalized Virginia license plate magnets and the lil girls all got bracelets with their names on them. I had a lot of fun preparing the goodie bags ahead of time.

During the party we did a craft of decorating monster trucks which I cut out of foam "paper" then we played pin the license plate on a monster truck and Bozo Buckets (thank you Keegan for the game!). We had sandwiches which I ordered from Wegman's (grocery store), I made a fruit platter and I slaved over the cake which ended up looking like a kid decorated (oh well, it tasted good).

Benjamin had a blast and I think most of the kids did too. I had lots of help from everyone there and it all went as well as one can imagine with 11 kids in one place for two hours! Loud and chaotic but fun!

Today we continued the celebration on his actual birthday by opening more presents which he had received in the mail as well as some from Don, Samuel and I. Daddy-O also called three days in a row to join in on the festivities. (Phone calls three days in a row from Daddy-O just doesn't happen on a routine basis so we've been a lil spoiled there). I know as tough as it is for us to celebrate these milestones with out Daddy-O here, it has to be tougher on Daddy-O to be missing out on all the celebrations. But hopefully some of the photos I'm sharing will help Daddy-O feel a part of our whirlwind of activities this weekend. I know Benjamin enjoyed telling Daddy-O all about the excitement around here.

Tonight we went out to eat at Red Robin (a great, family friendly hamburger place). Ms. Katie joined us and we had a great time. Samuel brought a present for Benjamin along and it was a Thomas the Train car he had been really wanting. So, he was thrilled and surprised ("Samuel! This is just what I wanted!") and very entertained with his new train car throughout the meal. Then several of the wait staff came to the table to sing and bring him a sundae. He was a bit shy and hid behind me through most of their song but then peeked out and gave a big smile.

Overall, a great weekend filled with lots of joy for one special boy. And I was paid the ultimate compliment by my four year old... "Mommy, you're my best Mommy." It makes my heart melt and makes it all worth it.

(CLICK ON SMALL IMAGES TO MAKE THEM BIGGER).