Benjamin's 3rd Birthday!

Saturday, August 25th, 2012

Benjamin turned 3 years old!

Benji talked about his "Dump Truck and Backhoe" party for months. He was so excited for all of his friends to come over and play.

It had been a rough two weeks, we didn't have a car, which made the party planning a little difficult. Matthew and I also found ourselves a batch of poisen ivy which was not fun (and got infected :-(

On the day of the party, Benji woke up and was so happy to see balloons, cups, plates and "party stuff" It was a great day, the weather was perfect. PaPa went and picked up a load of sand and dumped it in the backyard to set up a "digging" construction zone for Benji's new Tonka trucks. It was a major hit, Benji did not leave the dirt pile for the entire party, beads of sweat were dripping down his face, and several times I went outside to check on him and he was the only boy in the dirt pile. It made me smile.  Our plan was to keep the dirt pile for several days since he enjoyed it so much, however the next morning we realized that Cheeto the Cat had found the dirt pile and "enjoyed" it himself. So, bye-bye dirt pile. Benji apparently looked out the window and saw thar it was gone, came in to the house and said in a broken voice, "myyyy dirrrt piiile isss gonnne"

We also made a slip and slide/ water balloon that Benji played with until it got dark, well after the party was done. We took painters tarp and duct taped it together,and filled it with water. He bounced, slid, slipped and flipped on it.

He had a great birthday, one of the best days of his 3 years I think. He is already talking about his "bike party" for next year.

Swimming Lessons

The three boys started swim lessons this June. Benji was 2 1/2, Gabriel was almost 1 1/2, and Matty was 8 months. Benji did not like laying on his back, he was not a fan of his ears going under. By the end of the lessons, he was swimming around with his "noodle", opening his eyes under water, letting go of the edge and kicking back up to it, swimming between me and Edmund. And then afterwards we would go into the locker room Benji would sing really loud in the shower :-) Gabriel was not happy at first, but is now a little fish. Matty learned how to kick, he didn't like being taken away from me, but the last day he had a life jacket and floated on his back the whole time, almost falling asleep.

I love this face "don't make me do it mommy!"

A Beach Day

We go to the beach a lot- morning, afternoon, night. wind or waves. Matty has enjoyed the beach since his first trip at 2 weeks. He is still really enjoying eating sand...sometimes he just leans forward and sticks his face into the sand....

Benji is a digger. He hides "treasures" and digs for them. He could do it for hours.  He loves his shovel and "raker"