Ben is 7!!

Where has the time gone?  I keep thinking my baby is five years old, so how can he be seven already??  He's finishing first grade, growing out of all his clothes, and finally losing teeth as well.  I guess no matter what I do Ben is going to keep growing up.

At the dentist's recommendation, we worked on Ben's loose tooth in front and Daddy pulled it out.

 

This boy was proud of his new gap!  His little teeth are so small that the permanent teeth are coming in behind the baby teeth and we had to make room.  Nothing seems to be easy for Ben but he took it like a champ.

His note:  Toothfairy, May I please keep my tooth?  + money. (that was an emergency afterthought)  Love, Ben.  Lucky for him, she read the note and he got two dollars and his tooth.

 

On the big day, Ben got McDonald's for lunch, donuts to hand out to his class, and gifts after school.  Here Grumpy is helping him get his new remote controlled Jeep in working order.

 

Then we headed out to the main event - the big birthday bash at Pump It Up.  Ben chose a glow party and it turned out to be a lot of fun. The kids all got big glow necklaces as part of the package and I had a huge box of 100 small glowsticks to add to the fun.

 

It was tons of fun for the kids, but terrible for pictures.  I caught Ben in the flash once when he ran past.

The lights were lots of fun and all the kids had a great time running, jumping, dancing, and bouncing together.  We had kids from the neighborhood, school, and t-ball.

This is what we saw most of the evening - a bunch of glowsticks running around.

 

After all the playing, it was time to refuel.

Ben got the seat of honor.

Cake time!  Ben wanted a rainbow Star Wars cookie cake, so they put light sabers in the icing.

Look at those long pretzel legs!  I think he grew an inch just during dinner.

Oh, I love this boy.  He kept chugging his gatorade the entire time everyone sang happy birthday to him.

 Hanging with some buddies...Sammy, Cooper, Bently, Ben, Kailan, Kai, and Alex.

 

 Everyone got Star Wars treat bags to take home with Yoda and Storm Trooper cookies.

 

I also made a couple dozen chocolate Darth Vaders to round out the goodies.  Ben thought they were awesome.

 

The day after the big celebration, we were back at the dentist and she pulled out the next tooth.  This one still had pretty deep roots and Ben was a tough guy again and did great through the whole process.  It helps that he sees a lovely dentist who took lots of time to make sure he was comfortable, and a nice snow cone afterward didn't hurt one bit.

Ben is such an amazing little guy.  He is always his own person and not too concerned with what anyone else thinks.  He's obsessed with Minecraft, loves his bird Blue with all his heart, and still teaches in his closet classroom most nights before bed.  Darth Vader is fascinating to him and he can't get enough of the Star Wars movies.  "Luke, I am your father" was a jaw-dropping revelation to him!  Luckily, he got the entire set of DVDs for his birthday.  He's discovered the potty humor genre and loves to gross me out any chance he gets.  So I guess that makes him a pretty average 7-year old boy!  We thank God daily for this precious boy that made us parents and keeps us smiling and laughing every day.  Happy birthday, Ben.