Happy Birthday Ben!

Wow...I can't believe our little guy is already 3 years old! Where has the time gone? But what a blessing that we could celebrate his birthday wholeheartedly this year because the actual day of his birth was anything other than something to celebrate at the time. On his first birthday (when Ben was about 8 1/2 months old corrected age) I wanted to completely forget the day since he wasn't old enough to eat cake or clap or enjoy a party, so I booked our tickets to fly to Singapore over his birthday and it was like the day never existed since we lost it in transit. On his second birthday, I was pregnant and having a baby in the hospital was still so fresh in my mind so we had a small get-together but I still couldn't totally enjoy the day. This year, however, there was nothing to keep me from enjoying my special little boy and rejoicing in the miracle (and terror) of his birth. Every mother loves her child and thinks he or she is the most amazing creature in the world, but I secretly know that my little Ben is extra special because of all the challenges he faced from the moment he was born and how he turned out to be such a sweet, happy, creative, and loving little guy.

We managed to stretch his birthday celebration over 3 days to make it count this year! Ben and I made cupcakes to take to his school, but he lost interest and washed dishes instead. This is one domestic little boy....he loves to sweep, mop, and clean. He will have a lucky wife someday!

Before he went to school on Thursday, we made a quick stop at the dentist for a checkup and Ben was so good that he got a full cleaning! The dentist scraped the plaque, polished his teeth, and flossed while Ben watched a movie and was curious about everything but totally unbothered by the whole process.

Then on to school to share cupcakes with all his little friends. As you may have noticed, he is the only blonde kid in his class :)

The kids sang happy birthday in English and Mandarin. I missed most of the English song but here's the rest...

Mmm....cupcakes....

Ben's classmates are so cute and well-behaved. Every kid asked for seconds.

That afternoon Ben tried out our new sprinkler, which is strictly for entertainment purposes since our yard can be hand-watered in a few minutes.

Both boys loved it and were naked most of the afternoon playing in the wading pool or just with the hose.

On his actual birthday (Friday), Ben woke up and opened a few presents. He got some books from Grandma and Grandpa and swings for the porch from Grammy and Grumpy, and after all that excitement he didn't ask to open the presents from us so I just put them back in the closet for a rainy day.

Ben loved the musical card from Grandma and Grandpa.

What do you do when the birthday boy asks for a breakfast of cupcakes? Give the kid some cupcakes!

I was going to take him out for lunch and to his favorite playground, but instead Ben just wanted to ride the bus. He was so excited!

We got hot dogs and french fries at Carl's Jr. and caught a double-decker bus home. Now this was one happy boy.

And finally...the big party on Saturday. We had Ben's friends and their parents and some of our friends over for hamburgers and hot dogs, but I'm not sure which of our kids had more fun! Alex LOVED getting attention from so many new faces.

He also talked to his girlfriend Cameron who didn't seem to share his excitement.

Ben and the older kids painted outside and blew bubbles while the 5 crawling babies explored the house. It was quite a houseful!

Ben got into his artwork and had to make several trips to the bathroom to clean up. Thank goodness for washable paints!
Unfortunately I got no pictures of his cake or group shots, but our good friends the Dulaneys took some great pictures so I'll share them whenever we get a look at them. It was an ice cream cake and we didn't have a lot of time to organize before it started melting so we just blew out the candles and started dishing it out.

And in other news this week, Alex has cut his top two teeth and is finally happy again! He's crawling and pulling up everywhere and finding all kinds of new, interesting things at home.

This morning he took quite a knock on the head when he fell on the printer...poor little guy has a big goose egg over his left eye. And look at the remains of that breakfast - it was watermelon, papaya, and a banana pancake before those hungry little hands got a hold of it!

Silly boys playing together. They are so much fun!