ONE!

Wow!  It’s hard to believe that just a little over a year ago we met this sweet boy for the first time.  A lot has happened in Benjamin’s first year and he has brought us so much joy.  I know that I am going to forget so much of what life is like with these little ones so I am going to take a minute to write down a few things about Benjamin at ONE!

He started out as a brunette, but is now sporting a head full of blonde hair with curls at the neck!  His looks favor his big brother, Elliott, a lot.

He is definitely the baby of the family, getting LOTS of attention from everyone.  He gets countless kisses from his brothers every day and loves to cuddle with us, too.  He is a silly character who often tries to get the attention of someone else by roaring at them or saying “Hi!”.  He is a great mimicker; often times repeating an action after seeing it just once.  These days he is walking fast…almost running…to catch up with his brothers and do the things that they are doing.  He has quite a long attention span and will sit and play with one thing for a long time.  He has bright eyes and an infectious toothy grin that will brighten even your grayest of days.  We are a house full of boys and Benjamin fits right in! He loves to roll around on the floor and “wrestle” with his brothers.  And, he loves to play outside, especially on any of the riding toys that we have.

Some of Benjamin’s favorite things are his pacifier and blankie, Elliott, any toy with a button to push, scrambled eggs, bananas, milk, meats, macaroni and cheese, and yogurt.  He will not eat peaches or raspberries!  He is not a big  fan of baths, riding in the car, or the church nursery!  His unwillingness to cooperate and attend nursery has left David and I with no other choice but to take turns each week sitting out of the service with him.  We are hoping that this phase will be over soon, but others tell us it could go on for years!

We started out Benjamin’s birthday by singing “Happy Birthday” to him first thing in the morning.  He loved it!

Then, I took the boys to have donuts.  Of course, the big boys were most excited about this!

We got done with breakfast in time to have a few minutes to play on the church playground before dropping Elliot off at Art Camp.  These boys sure do love each other!

At lunch the big boys couldn’t wait any longer to give Benjamin his present.  Of course, they all wanted a turn to play with it!

Later that evening we had a small family get together.  I made him a rainbow cake that I had been wanting to try out and it was a big hit with everyone.  Surprisingly, Benjamin barely touched it!

The very tall “1” rainbow cake!

I’ve had this cake on my pinterest board for a long time and thought that Benjamin’s birthday would be the perfect time to whip one up.  Everyone could not believe that I made this. It wasn’t hard at all…just three boxes of cake mix, some food coloring, a few cans of icing, and a few hours to bake it.

A few pics of the birthday boy before his celebration.

After cake, Benjamin was beat and ready for bed.  Even though we had guests I gave into a very strong impulse to rock my baby to sleep.  I never do this anymore, and it was such a sweet time…a memory that will last a life time I’m sure.  While I rocked him I could not help but shed a few tears for how quickly these little years go by.  They sure are hard, but I know that they are fleeting and that they will be missed greatly.