Happy 5th Bennett!

Our Bennett Boy turned five today! Wow, where has the time gone? My little snuggle monkey is a big boy now. I'm just glad he still likes to snuggle with me. Sometimes he'll come in and say, "Mom, can we snuggle?" Oh, all right. Twist my arm. :)

We had a pirate themed birthday party for him yesterday. Sadie made an invitation and put, "Please wear a pirate costume." The kids delivered the invites while I was at a UDSF meeting Thursday. I read one when I came home and worried that it might cause a little stress on the parents if they didn't happen to have pirate attire in their homes. But all the kiddos showed up decked out like the cutest little bunch of pirates you've ever seen.  (A couple of their parents hit the Halloween clearance racks at Wal-mart.  At least they've got next year's costume figured out...)

We started them out with a game of "Walk the Plank."  They had to get all the way across the plank without falling into the water.  They had to be careful the sharks didn't get them!

Jeremy was awesome!  With a few ideas from the internet and no planning whatsoever, he took control of all the little matey's.  He grabbed the hose and made it into a big "ship."  Then he gave them commands, like "Portside!" or "Starboard!" They would then run to the either side of the ship as fast as they could without falling into the sea.   They loved it!

 

One of the commands was, "SCRUB THE DECK!"  They all would drop to their knees and start scrubbing.

It was so funny.  He was seriously making it all up as he went.  I was so busy last week that I didn't get around to planning this.  Jeremy has a great ability to entertain kids when the need arises.  What a cute dad. :)

They had to swim through the "ocean" (the park behind our house) to find the ticking croc (a timer hidden in a bush.)  Then they swam over to the Island (the hill.)

Another Island had a volcano on it!

Back on the mainland, the birthday Pirate got to open some presents.

"A Zhu Zhu Pet!"

"Another Zhu Zhu Pet!"

"No way!  Another one!!"

"I can't believe it!  That makes FIVE!"

"Now I have a collection."

(No, that's not a hairy chest. The scarf/dreadlocks were supposed to be on his head.)

Time to blow out the candles on the pirate hat cake.

Sunday morning, Bennett woke up before I did and went out in the living room.  Big brother Max reminded him that he has to stay in bed if he wants breakfast in bed.  So he crawled back in.  When I walked by his room a few minutes later, I peeked in to see if he was asleep.  His little eyes were squinted shut to make it look like he was.  I walked into the kitchen to get something started and found that Max had already made him an egg sandwhich.  How cute is that?  Not wanting to get the house smelling all good on Fast Sunday, I whipped up a smoothie and poured him a bowl of Rice Crispies, put it all on the "You are Special" plate and took it in, singing Happy Birthday.  Sadie even got out of bed early for the event.  It's so funny how much kids love traditions.

Max couldn't wait ANY LONGER for Bennett to open his big present from Mom and Dad.  He didn't want to wait for dad to get home from his church meetings in 45 minutes.  He begged and begged until I finally gave in.  Bennett would have waited, no problem.

A DRAGON CASTLE!  Bennett has lots of Imaginext dragon toys, but has never had the main castle. 

Now the collection is complete!

Oh, we love Bennett.  He reminds us how to appreciate all the little details of every-day life.  He makes our hearts melt with his sweet smile.  I am so grateful to have him as my son.