Happy 6th Birthday Ben!

Ben turned six...last Wednesday.  It's already been a week.  The day, March 7th, was a Wednesday and so was the day he was born.  What a strange thing to think back on.  I'll never forget leaving the house at 6:30 a.m. to head to the induction in a light snow shower and I was really sad to say goodbye to Allan for some reason.  I had NO IDEA what I was embarking on.  And here we are.  He's a happy and functional Kindergartner.  He didn't get much of a celebration this year.  Justin was gone for work and I just couldn't do much.  I bought a cake at a grocery store and he opened presents which I didn't even wrap.  Justin's mom did.  I did manage to find a happy birthday banner from last year (lego themed) and I hung it outside his room with some balloons so he would see it right away in the morning.  His teacher gives the kids a nice gift bag of the little trinkets they all love and he got a football puzzle eraser, a pen, a car and a little figurine thing with sticky hands and feet that you can fling around and it sticks in funny positions.  They encourage non-food celebrations (buzzkill but its the new normal) and he chose extra computer time. He seemed satisfied with the day. This is the first year since he was a newborn that we haven't been skiing in Montana on or around his birthday and it feels weird.

Here is the cake I chose.  Of course, those plastic balloons caused a fight.  Three kids, two bunches of balloons and a mini meltdown from a two year old.  Fortunately, they were almost instantly forgotten about.

Ben got some good presents including several lego sets, a soccer ball, a book, a trivia flashcard game and a quilt made by my grandma.  He was so excited to start building his legos that he never even ate any cake.

Here is his new quilt.

Allan got into it soon after.  

And now...a flashback because it's fun. 

 And one extra of the awesome Allan cake I made a few days after his 1st birthday.  I'm still very proud of it!  He didn't eat either of his cakes.  He didn't much care for food and still doesn't care about cake that much.

And finally...not his original birthday but his going home day on that beautiful 70 degree March 10th.  This year was completely different and we would never have been outside dressed like this if he was born this year.