Benjamin's First

Benjamin is already one year old! Where did the last year go?

He requested that we keep his first birthday pretty low key, and we were happy to oblige.

My parents came down again, which allowed Dan and I to run the See Spot Run 5k that morning (with Dan jockeying the winning dog!). It was early enough that we didn't want to stress everyone out trying to get down there in time, so we went without the kids, but I'm regretting that now since Benjamin's first word has turned out to be DOG!

The rest of the day was just a lot of hanging out until we could get to the two other things we know Ben loves: pizza and cake. Nana and Papa took Ben and Anda shopping, out for ice cream, and to McDonalds, and I know he liked at least two of those things, too.

I'm not sure how thrilled he was about the presents later, but he persevered.

And then it was cake time.

I tried to get some one-year-old pictures of him, but they didn't turn out, so I cheated and took some again a few days later.

He's getting so big already. Happy birthday, Benjabenj! 

Anda's Sixth Birthday

For Anda's Sixth birthday, she wanted to go camping and go to Amazement Square, so we spent a long weekend in Virginia to do both. A good time was had by all.

We started the day with her traditional birthday pancakes with sprinkles (blue this time).

Then we did Amazement Square on the actual birthday. Nana and I took the girls while the boys stayed home with a napping Benjamin. I love Amazement Square, but it's pretty dark, so the pictures never do it justice, but we had fun. 

When we got home, we ate pizza from Anda's favorite upscale pizzeria (Little Caesar's), opened presents, and ate her fish bowl birthday cake.

 

Ben particularly enjoyed the cake. 

The next day, we headed up to my parents' cabin for Part II of the birthday celebrations. A picnic, s'mores, and camping! 

The girls were really excited to sleep in the new tent, but by 9:00, Lilah was just excited to sleep anywhere, so Dan, Anda, and Papa were the only ones who ended up camping. The rest of us roughed it in the comfy cabin. 

Dan says Anda fell asleep immediately when they got back to the tent, but she told me she saw stars and had a great time, so I think it was a success. 

Then to top it all off, she finally got the lizard she has been begging for for months when we got home. She named him Graspy.

Happy birthday, Anda chicken! You are growing up so fast.