More birthday celebrations

It seem that there is always somewhere to go, something to prepare, cook, clean up after, or get ready for, but we are very thankful to have the means to do all that we can, and have so many wonderful experiences and make so many wonderful memories with our children. Ben recently celebrated his 6th birthday! His "real" birthday fell on a Thursday so we had a small celebration with a birthday dinner.

His request for dinner was BBQ chicken legs(chicken on the bone as he calls it), baked potatoes, and artichokes. At first he has requested brussels sprouts, but when his brother said, "Oh yuck", he quickly changed his mind, probably to appease him. And what a nice evening it was to be with family and celebrate his birthday by telling him stories of his birth. Ben was ready to get out of mama's belly and into the world. Cynthia, a very close friend, was there to help me through the birth. She had prepared some aromatherapy washcloths to help ease my anguish, but once they were warmed in the crockpot, I said, "I think I am ready". Cynthia's response, "Oh not yet we didn't get to use the soothing cloths". Ben was a VERY easy baby and I called him my Gentle Ben. He is still pretty sensitive and loves to be my cuddle bug....who just likes to dress up like Prince Caspain. He had to show off his new knight hat along with the full ensemble.
Benjamin also wanted to celebrate with a few school buddies and our friends from Talkeetna who came up for the weekend to visit, but we decided that our driveway was probably to challenging for most folks so we booked some space at our local gym, the Alaska Club. The kids were able to enjoy a dip in the pool, some rock climbing, and a big screen TV, oh wait the TV was for daddy to watch the football game, the kids were more interested in watching cartoons in the kids area! It was all great fun!

Tina brought Ben a awesome dragon and Zoe a sweet fairy made from polymer clay and she also brought the supplies so that we could make our own creations, which is just what we did! Ben made nice boat with a flag, Zoe had some help from Tina, but was able to create her own fairy, Rich made a taco, Jake made a hot dog, and I made a rose with a loop for stringing it to make a necklace. It was great to create something from clay that is so easy for the kids to use. I can see us doing this for Christmas gifts!

Of course it wouldn't have been a "celebration" for Ben without game playing. He LOVES to play board and card games and the new Narnia Monolopy was the perfect gift for him, well until we let the Hum's play.....there was some great excitement at the table and a lot of "discussion", but also loads of fun. It could have only been better if the Holt's and Shidner's would have been able to join us too! Happy 6th birthday Benjamin!