My Ben

My Benny Boy turned 4 on February 23rd. He has been so curious about birthdays and is frequently asking when everyone's birthday is and how old they are. It has mixed him up a bit. I think because I have told him that I am 29, and his birthday is on the 23rd, he doesn't know how to answer when people ask his age. Lately, if someone asks him, "Ben, how old are you?" He will usually respond, "I'm 23rd". 

My "23rd" boy is pretty awesome. He is a great helper when it comes to taking care of his sisters (especially his baby sister). He adores them and becomes very protective of them if he feels that I am not taking care of them properly. I could tell you a million things about Benjamin, but what I love so much about him right now at this age is that he still loves to be held and cuddled. The only thing he asks for at night is for me to tuck him in. Each night I kiss him and hug him and tell him he is a good boy. As long as all of those things are done, he will go to sleep without any complaint. He is a good boy and we sure love him.

I am a bit retarded when it comes to taking pictures. I miss my personal photographers in Utah that followed me at every major event and documented my life. We didn't take very good photos on Benjamin's big day, but here are a few we did take.

 Rather than have a big party for Ben, we decided to make the day all about spending quality time with him. He tends to get into trouble when people come over and we didn't want to be scolding him and getting upset with him on his birthday, so we let him take his buddy Lucas to a jump house. After the jump house, we went to Portillo's for hot dogs and picked up one of their famous chocolate cakes. 

We saved the presents for after naps. This was the first year we ever purchased anything for Ben. We figured that he was too young in years passed to even realize he was getting any presents and he would have been as happy with a box as he would have been with any other toy. He got SPOILED. I went all out on the gifts and so did relatives. I even bought him a bike and when I revealed the bike, all he saw was the little stuffed animal I had attached to the bike. Lesson learned - I'll stick to the boxes for future birthdays.

Just a few fun facts about Ben at age 4:

1. His favorite color is Green. He says it is 'his' color.

2. His favorite foods are apples and vegetables. Seriously. I could put a plate of chicken nuggets in front of him with a plate of vegetables and he will eat ALL the vegetables first. And he eats about 4 apples a day.

3. Benjamin's favorite activity is to take a bath. He is a nut. If I let him, that kid would spend all day in the tub. He loves to take his toys in the bath and splash around.

His second favorite activity is to play the monster game. It's this crazy game where we run around roaring at each other like crazy idiots.... btw, did you know there is a monster in our sink? Just ask Lydia. She won't go in the kitchen by herself anymore.

4. Ben's favorite day of the week is Saturday because that is the day dad is home taking care of the kids and mom is out running errands. As a result, the kids and dad watch movies almost all day. Being with dad and watching movies - life doesn't get any better for my Ben.

What a sweet boy. We love our Benjamin!