Ben's Celebration

We celebrated Ben's 3rd birthday all weekend, starting on his actual birthday - Saturday - opening gifts from mom & dad.

Ben is at a stage in life where he is very easy to buy for. He loves trains, trucks, tools, firefighters, and sports! One of his favorite TV shows is "Fireman Sam" (an older, 15-minute animated show - kind of like Bob the Builder - on PBS Sprout), so a firefighter dress-up costume was a no-brainer! Each of Ben's big sisters found an opportunity to help out the birthday boy.





Ben is also a big fan of trains and especially Thomas (as I am finding out is the case with many little boys in this age group.) Ben also loves helmets and is getting quite proficient at pedaling his tricycle - so a Thomas bike with matching helmet made Ben a very happy 3-year-old. Truth be told, I was happy for an excuse to get him his own helmet because he is often seen by our neighbors sporting his sister's much-too-big-for-him, purple and pink bike helmet.

Ben also opened a special package that arrived in the mail from Grandma Judy & Granddaddy Ken - a train t-shirt - fitting right in with the train theme we had going on!


The birthday celebration ended on Sunday with a Thomas the Train cake and presents from Mammy & Poppy. Our friends the Gallaghers came to celebrate with us along with Uncle Mike & Aunt Karla and cousin Ryan. Sadly, I slacked off a bit in the photo-taking department and did not get pictures with Mammy & Poppy, Brad & I, Kim & Jeff, or Mike & Karla! Bummer!

Mammy and Poppy gave Ben some spring outfits and fun toys! His favorites were the wooden fire engine, little wooden alphabet train set, and a construction magnet book. Feeding Ben's sports love, The Gallagher's gave him a cool light-up football and a plastic baseball and bat. Uncle Mike & Aunt Karla were hoping to match the excitement of last year's lawn mower gift with a very real-looking toy deer and bear. Considering Ben's recent story about shooting a bear, this would be a logical gift. However, it appears that Ben is much better at fending off live bear than the plastic variety. He was terrified of his new bear and deer. Sorry Mike & Karla - he will get over it! :)

And finally - the cake! It was quite a process to create this cake! I found an inspiration cake online then altered it to meet Ben's request of a "Thomas" train. I worked several hours on Saturday evening and Sunday morning & finally finished the cake about 15 minutes before everyone came over on Sunday evening - just in time for a few pictures & then we took a knife to my creation. I can't even tell you how much frosting I ended up using - but it was A LOT! By the time I was done, it all seemed kind of crazy, but Ben loved his cake, so I guess it was worth it.





Here is Ben with all the kids who came to his "party" - Ryan, Lacey, Madi, Allison, Meredith, & Katie. I can't believe he's 3! Neither can he. Ben is already lying about his age. When you ask him how old he is, he claims to be 2, and gets rather angry when you remind him that he is 3. It's time to face the truth, Mr. Ben, like it or not, you ARE a year older!