Birthday Weekend

Benjamin has had a wonderful couple of days. He started out Friday night with a sleepover with Tara and Sophie and a movie in his room. On Saturday morning, Sophie asked right away to give him the presents she got him. Adam and I were going to wait until Sunday for his actual birthday to give him ours, but Sophie just couldn't wait. She gave him a toy truck, some sponge dinosaurs, chapstick, a Transformers coloring book, and stickers. She thought a lot in the store about what things he would like the most, and he really loved everything. I really enjoy watching them give gifts to one another. 

Ben's first party was late that morning with his friends. He had 5 kiddos from his preschool, and then 6 other friends - including him and Sophie and some siblings who tagged along, we had 17 kids here... with parents... it was a full house! It went well though, the kids all had fun, and Ben was thrilled. I made a little craft area in the playroom where I cut out a bunch of train engines from foam sheets, and the kids could decorate them with foam stickers and markers. We also had Ben's train sets out for the kids to use - and of course all the rest of the toys in the playroom. He got lots of great gifts and we did cake last.

     

After the first party emptied out, we had a little break to pick up, grab a quick lunch, and let the kiddos have a short rest before the family party started. We had Great Grammy, Cathy, Grammy, Tara, Brianna, Nana, Kim, Jack, Meredith, Jessica, Attila, Rigel, and Grandpa Ben. Again, Ben was spoiled with gifts and had fun visiting with everyone. He really enjoyed being the center of attention for the day and having so many other kids around to play with.

   

After the crowd left, we settled down with a new movie Ben had gotten and ate dinner. The kids were ready for bed early after the busy day, so we let them have another movie sleepover in Ben's room and they were asleep shortly after we tucked them in. 

This morning, Ben's actual birthday, we gave Ben the gifts from Adam and me... a dolphin pillow pet he's been asking for, and another big piece for his Geotrax set. He played with Geotrax for the rest of the morning while we got ready for the day. Then we took the kids out to lunch, and stopped at Toys R Us on the way. Ben had gotten $9 in birthday cards (plus a check - but those go directly into his college account), so he picked a couple of new track pieces for his Geotrax. Sophie also had a gift card that she had been holding onto for awhile, and we thought it would be nice for her to get a little something new, since Ben had a ton of new toys to play with. After the shopping, we ate lunch and then headed home to spend the rest of the day playing with all the new goodies.

   

It was a very successful birthday weekend. Ben loved spending time with all the people he cares about and he is very grateful for all of the new things he got. He is such a good kid - I'm so glad he had a nice couple of days all about him.