Benny want a cracker?

I couldn't wait here is Benjamins costume. He is a parrot and boy does he love crackers. I made the costume out of a sweatshirt and felt.

Cutting hairs

Ben really needed a hair cut so I finally got sick of waiting for help and tried to do it all alone. This is what happened:

I got this brilliant idea of sitting him in his highchair and putting one of my sweaters on him, and tying the arms down so he can't get out to deflect the cutting. He looks very thrilled to be restrained!
So I went about cutting his hairs and all of a sudden he jerked and I caught my middle knuckle. Now I wasn't using hair cutting scissors, I was using paper scissors and very dull ones too. I thought just pinched it, but the more I used it, the more it hurt. This is the end product.So then I tried to cut the back of his head, but he wasn't cooperating so I sat on the couch and sat him in between my legs and tied the sweater around my waist. This didn't work either since he wanted to keep head butting me. So I put him to bed for his nap and later I used my moms clippers to get the back while she held him. It was a huge ordeal and here is the end product. I think he looks like he belongs in the army now!

This one shows his teeth: 4 on top, 3 on bottom

Blowing kisses to mommy

oranges are my favorite color

mmmmm...there seems to be a resemblance. Maybe its the orange?

Fall Creek Road

There is this road in Branson that has taken a year to construct through a mountain, so Saturday was the opening day. They had a party for it's grand opening. Ben and I went with my mom and Daniel just happened to show up representing his work. We had so much fun!It was freezing cold though. We rode the "ducks" up and down the new road. We had free Cold stone Creamery ice cream. We watched a free concert put on by "Rock U Mentally". At the end of the concert they had the kids draw on the road with sidewalk chalk. Then the mayor cut the ribbon with an old fashioned car by driving through it. It was really fun and Ben had a blast!

Grandpa Guenin on the ducks

Grandma Guenin


Rock U Mentally


dancing with daddy


ChalkRecycle Bin

Cutting of the ribbon

Facial hair or no facial hair? That is the question.

His first experience with Nutella (a chocolate spread from Europe)

Benjamin's Birthday Party

Sign in table

Food table


owl cake made by Aliona


poor owl, yummy cake

Ben LOVED the cake

aftermath

He needed a bath

Present time

All the gifts he received

Wow! We had a blast. So many family and friends came to celebrate with us. We had such a great time! All of our guests showed up at the same time (almost) and we all visited and ate good food. The cake was AMAZING. My sister-in-law made an owl and it was adorable. It is the cutest thing I have ever seen and I didn't want to cut into it. It tasted really good too. Ben had such a great time walking around the house with everyone talking and then when it was cake time he really loved the cupcake. We got it on video and I will post it later. He received so many wonderful gifts. Thank you to everyone who came and brought gifts. Ben loves them all! The only thing I did not get photos so were the kids running around playing with the games I made for the,. They LOVED the bean bag toss and after presents the big boys took it outside and played with it. I will take a photo and post it next week. well I hope you all enjoy the photos.

Build-A-Bear

A while ago Daniel and I were walking around the Branson Landing and decided to go into Build-A-Bear. Neither of us had been in there before and we wanted to see what it was all about. It is the most magical place ever! I fell in love with it. We decided to bring Ben back for his birthday and get him something for his birthday. Saturday we did this. OK so you start out by looking at all their stuffed animals (Not just bears). They are all with out the stuffing inside, just the hallow animal. Then you can choose a cool button that talks for inside the bear, we didn't like any of the ones they had, and then you stand in line for the fluffer machine. Someone who works there helps us fluff the animal. OK so we chose an owl for Ben, because his party theme is owls and we like that animal. So we picked out the hollow owl and went to the stuffing machine. Ben stepped on this peddle that pushed the fluff into the owl. Then you choose a heart to put into it. There were many options, but we gave the choice to Ben. He chose the one that you push and it makes a heart beat in it. Very cool. Then she put this tag inside so that if it is ever lost they can mail it back to us, also very cool! Then you take the animal over to this little bath tub and give it an air bath and brush away all the extra fluff. Then if you want to you can pick out an outfit and accessories. We chose army fatigues. Then you go to a computer and pick out a name and enter all this information in and they print you a birth certificate. I said the first name I saw and Ben said yes so we named him clover, because of his green outfit. It was super cool and Ben can't do anything with out his owl now. Oh and the owls head can turn all the way around, because owls heads really do that. Yesterday we took him to church, but I dressed him appropriately for church in one of Ben's ties. so cute! We have decided to continue this tradition every birthday!