8 Years of Ben

My oldest child and only son, Benjamin, was born eight years ago, yesterday.

I remember walking the halls with him at the hospital the following night and wondering when I was ever going to get to sleep! It's been that way ever since :) Ben is our boy who never sleeps--at least not until late at night. He has so many ideas and lots of energy to make them happen.

Ben has had lots of hobbies/obsessions over the years. Remember when Ben wanted to cut the grass every day with his toy mower? Or when he memorized Horton Hears a Who? (Ben even wanted to name Alaina Horton before she was born!) Remember all the pirate songs (and piles of "treasure")? And, of course, we all know how much he loves Star Wars.

Anyway, we were looking at some pictures and thought about making some enlargements to display for his birthday . . . but since there were so many great ones we ended up printing a collage!



This year we celebrated Ben's birthday with his favorite things: Star Wars and Lego.

Ben had a Star Wars marathon over the weekend--his plan was to watch all six movies, starting with Episode I, but then Janae surprised him with her gift: Ben's very own copy of The Clone Wars (which comes in between #2 and 3, for those who might not be as familiar with Star Wars as I now am!). So he watched that, too.



Some might think that might be too much Star Wars (i.e., Alaina) or too much TV (i.e., me), but Ben LOVED it.



Sunday morning our birthday boy woke up to a new Lego set, which he and Jason built before church.



Ben also squeezed in time to help me break up some Skor bars for a recipe I was making :)



After church we had Grandma and Grandpa and Auntie Tina's family over for snacks,



presents,



and, of course, cake.



As Ben was going to bed he said, "I had a good birthday!"

What more could I ask for?

I'm so glad I've got my Ben :)