My precious boy

And that's what he is now....a boy...no longer a baby, no longer a toddler. It seems just yesterday that I came home from work so sick, convinced it was the stress of a new job. I had no idea I had been recruited for a new role, motherhood. And now 4 years later Ben is still surprising us with his joy and delight. He has enriched my life in ways I could never put into words.

Okay, enough of the mushy stuff....

Everytime we asked Ben what he wanted for his birthday his response was "a party and chocolate cake". We have no idea where he got the notion for a party, but he talked about it for 2 weeks leading up to his birthday. So on Saturday we pulled out the mixer and whipped up a yummy chocolate cake. We decorated it with bugs, since he loves to help me hunt bugs in the yard to take pictures of. Ben decorated the cake all by himself.


Then on Sunday we headed down to Grandma & Grandpa's house for a party. We enjoyed hot dogs, hamburgers, potato salad, baked beans, and chips. Alex learned real quick that grandparents spoil you, so he chose grandpa's lap to sit in and stole everything off of his plate.


After we finished eating Grandpa and Tim took Ben for a ride while Grandma, Uncle Bill, and myself decorated the kitchen up proper for a party.


Alex took advantage of Ben's absence to play with the coveted green car Ben would not share earlier in the day.


I love the look on Ben's face when he walked in to see the festive transformation.


He opened gifts first, receiving a Speed Racer DVD from Uncle Bill...which ironically he is terrified of and won't watch even though he's been singing the theme song for months now.


He also received a replacement dump truck for the one he got for Christmas but has loved to pieces...literally...and this super cool John Deere tractor and trailor from Grandma & Grandpa.


After gifts it was time to eat cake!


Alex, being the smart baby he is, went right back to Grandpa's lap to share his ice cream.


Afterwards Ben and Alex got to splash around in the big tub (what Ben calls the hot tub).


(you'll have to excuse the graininess of some of these shots, the batteries died on my flash)

I spent some time walking around the farm taking advantage of new scenery with my macro lens. I will share those shots later after I finish editing. Overall it was a very nice and relaxed day, hopefully just what Ben wanted. Happy birthday my precious boy!