Today is Benjamin Joel's fourth birthday. Man, it seems like time just flew by. His was the hardest birth, yet he was my easiest baby. Right now he's my hardest child to manage so I'm hoping he'll be my easiest teenager??? Eh, we'll see.
We decided to invite some of his friends over for a party yesterday. He wanted a Curious George party again (last year's family party was of the same theme) so I attempted to decorate accordingly. Since we have no party store in the area and neither Wal-Mart nor ShopKo have C.G., I decided to make my own. I cut out a yellow hat for the invites, stamped monkeys on napkins and treat bags, and Rob drew a picture of Curious George and a birthday cake. I tried cutting the plates in the shape of the yellow hat, but it ended up looking pretty bad. I was going to cut his cake in that shape as well, but after seeing the plates, Ben wouldn't let me try. Thankfully, we still had the plastic piece from last year's cake. (Pics are on Facebook.)
Only one of the five invite-ees were able to come, but having two siblings kind of gives you a good base for a party anyway. Well. Miss Anna, who was going to be allowed to skip her nap, was extremely cranky from staying up late the night before, so we put her down. That gave us our two boys and the one guest. When he arrived, his two older siblings (age 5 and 7) were with him, so we asked them to stay as well. Instant party! I had made up five treat bags so it was perfect. We played a few games, read a Curious George book, ate cake and monkey shakes, played more games, opened presents, and then the kids played with the presents. Ben received an alien crane game from his friends, a Curious George movie from my parents, and Legos from us. He had a great time.
Today, he opened his present from Rob's parents. They had bought him a Leapster and he was VERY excited. Matthew already has one and Ben knew how to play it a little. He also received a Wall-E game to go with it and Matthew gave him his old Clifford game. Ben's currently engrossed with the Leapster. We took him out for lunch at the Chinese buffet, the kids' favorite place to go.
The only dark side to the day is the fact that he had to leave the three-year-old class. He loves his teacher very much. She sent him a birthday post card this week and he nearly cried when he realized he wouldn't be in her class anymore. She loves him as well and I think it was a little hard for her to see him go. Thankfully, he had a great time in his new class and is in junior church with Matthew, so that helped.
In two weeks, Miss Anna will turn two. We're not having much of a party for her, but we'll do a little cake after church that night and invite her favorite sitters. And then I get a break until July!!
3 comments:
Aww - Happy Birthday Ben :-) I remember having him in the nursery when he was Aidan's age! He couldn't even walk yet. That really doesn't seem that long ago!
Happy Birthay Ben!!! Wow. Time flies! It's too bad we couldn't have been up there, but John really needed to make progress on his dissertation. We're hoping this will be all over in a year.
Happy birthday to Ben! I, too, have found that my "easy" labors produce "difficult" children, and vice versa, ha!! If that holds true, Lucan should be my easiest child to raise by far!
Post a Comment