Ben Turns Seven!

We celebrated Ben's birthday this week. He turned seven on the 16th.  Here is a look at how we spent the day. 

I always decorate on their birthday eve after they go to bed.  The get so excited about waking up on their birthday morning and being surprised.

I also decorate their bedroom door.  This year Ben chose Flash as his birthday theme.

Ben sleeping on his birthday eve

Here he is on his birthday morning running into the kitchen.  

He got busy right away opening his presents.

That excitement is over a giant Hershey bar that Cruz bought him.

We hid this present and he had to go find it.  That put a little extra fun into the morning.

a pair of Heelys

a morning picture before breakfast

 birthday pictures over the years.

birthday breakfast pancakes

blowing out his candles

a family picture

birthday family photos over the years

They did some school work that morning and then we headed into Guatemala City for lunch.  Ben chose to eat at the safari themed Pizza Grizzly in the Peri Roosevelt mall.  It is a really cool place.

birthday lunch

 The waiters singing Happy Birthday to him.

Next we visited Sky Zone.  They have begged to go there ever since we returned from Stateside early last year.  We finally made it happen for his birthday.  They had a blast!  There was an "all you can jump" special that day.  We stayed for four hours!  They still were not ready to leave but we had to try to beat the traffic getting back home.

 

 

They spent a lot of their time in this one area doing flips over and over again.

 

You can tell by their faces just how much fun they were having.

They loved trying to run up this wall.  Ben never reached the top but Cruz did several times.   

 

Cruz's favorite thing of all was this obstacle course.  He did it numerous times.  Ben was not quite tall enough although the worker did finally let him try it once right before we left.  One of their favorite shows to watch when we were last in the States was Ninja Warrior.  This made them think of that show.

We returned home just in time for supper.  We had hot dogs, popcorn, and jello jigglers.

And then we had cake.  He LOVED how it turned out.

Making his wish.  

Blowing out his candle.  

(Notice that beautiful sunset sky in the corner of the picture)

After all that jumping they were both ready for bed soon afterwards.  It had been a great day!  

I love my boy's birthdays!  They are two of my favorite days of the year.  I spend a lot of time planning and trying to make the days extra special for them.  Getting to celebrate them brings me much joy. 

the day we welcomed little Ben into the world

April 16, 2012

a look back at his birth video

We cannot imagine life without him.  We are so honored that he calls us mom and dad.  We look forward to watching him continue to grow and wait with anticipation to see the plans that God has for his life.