Ben's 5th Birthday!!!!

I think Ben had a great 5th Birthday! We all had a lot of fun. He wanted to have a fireman birthday, but he has had a fireman birthday for the past TWO years! So I tried to convince him to do something else. Then he couldn't make up his mind because he liked all the ideas. So we ended up giving him everything (it is his birthday after all)! He had a costume party with Halloween games, a Dinosaur Train birthday cake and time tunnel (those of you who have ever watched his favorite cartoon (Dinosaur Train knows exactly what the time tunnel is!), and a big fire engine to play in. Whew! What a party!

First I wanted to include a picture of the lunch we had on his birthday, Jack-o-lantern quesadillas!

Tatiana got creative again and made Ben a birthday banner out of craft pipe cleaners (or chenille wire for those of you who know it by that name.)

Check out this AMAZING CAKE!!!! It is a Dinosaur Train traveling through a graveyard and pumpkin patch! How CREATIVE!!!!

And these are my AMAZING friends! Angie (the corn) made the cake and her roommate, Trish (the salt) helped her. I love these gals! By the way, Angie is a chef, can you tell!?! I couldn't even dream of making something this cool! She is the same friend who made Andrew's birthday cake for me, so I asked her to help with Ben's too and she was happy to. THANK YOU both!!!!!!

Playing in the fire engine I made out of a big box I got from the furniture store. They loved it! It lasted a couple weeks, but now it is gone. Oh well, it was a blast while it lasted!

Jack-o-lantern bean bag toss I made out of another box. The pictures with Ben are blurry, so you get one of his friends in action here.

A "catch the ghost" game that the kids all had a blast with. Each child held on to a string and one child (Ben in this picture) tried to catch a ghost with the funnel before they were all pulled out of the middle. It produced a lot of giggles.

Nick and his friend, Jake, were very nice and pulled slowly when it was a younger child's turn, this time Ben caught them both! Gotcha!

We also had a treasure hunt. Tatiana put this game together. She made clues that sent the children around the house finding pieces of the skeleton, then they would bring them back and piece by piece the skeleton got put together. Her is Ben posing like the skeleton. Cute!

Time to make a wish! It was hard to eat such a masterpiece, but it did taste as good as it looked!

And finally, PRESENTS!!!!! Ben was richly blessed. He had a blast!

More presents!

And some crafts while we wait for parents to arrive.

Ben in front of the "Time Tunnel". It turned out really cool! I had woven glow sticks through the top of it so it glowed inside. I would lead the kids around the couches and through the time tunnel. Then when they were all out on the other side I would say, "Now it is TIME for games!" or "Now it is TIME for cake!"... you get the idea.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BEN! WE LOVE YOU SO MUCH!!!

I simply cannot believe my baby is already 5 years old!!! Where did the time go???