Happy Birthday, Ben!

A new racecar! Watch out!

The masterpiece... still in one piece!

Make a wish...

... to dig around in yummy frosting...

...and feed yourself with a backhoe!

Motorcycles!

And what do you know? More diggers!

We celebrated Ben's 3rd birthday yesterday! He had been looking forward to his birthday for a very long time. It was a great one! He started his day with double decker birthday toast, complete with candles and the Happy Birthday song, to get warmed up for his party. He was thrilled to see his bedroom door decorated and streamers in the kitchen. We had family over for lunch, cake, ice cream, and opening presents. In the evening, just the four of us went out for dinner, where Ben enjoyed ice cream for the second time in one day.

For months (literally), Ben had said he wanted a digger cake. Well, he could hardly keep his hands off his cake! It was super fun to make, knowing how thrilled he would be with it. After blowing out the candles, we couldn't help but let him plow the diggers through the cake just a bit. He then proceeded to use the diggers to help him eat his slice of cake and ice cream. At bedtime, I asked him what his favorite thing was about his birthday. He reported it was the diggers. Success!

The softy side of me felt a bit emotional that Ben has turned three. We all say it, but I can't believe how fast time flies. There were moments from Ben's birthday, just like there are everyday, that I wish I could bottle up and hold on to forever. Part of me wishes he'd stop growing and changing so fast, yet the other part beams with pride and loves how each and every moment leads to something new and different. We are so proud of our little, now big, boy!