4 and Up!

So, it's not every day your youngest child officially exits the acceptable realm within they could be considered a toddler.
Um...I am not actually sure if the age of three qualifies to anyone else as an acceptable age to still be considered a toddler, but it's what I'm going with...
So, anyway, as I was saying...It's not every day that I find myself with children all over the age of four. I don't know why this felt like such a milestone to me. Maybe because the child turning four is the same child that went through a crazy growth spurt recently, leaving him tall and lanky and much less baby-faced. And it has been weird for me. (But for the record, his big boy face is just as darling as his baby face.)
Mr. Ben sure is growing up!!! And I love him all the more for it. We had a great time celebrating his birthday! Let's delve in...because, quite honestly, it's about time. It has taken me over two months to get this post in and I am really pretty ashamed of that fact.

Here we have the birthday boy himself.
See what I mean?
Tall. Lanky. Big boy face.

Aaaand...silly face.

Aaaaand...crazy face.
(He is so cute, I want to stop blogging and run downstairs, interrupt his rest time movie and squeeze and kiss his face. Even though when I kissed him before I came up here he said, "Move. I can't see the movie.")

Okay, so, we did most of our celebrating on the day before his actual birthday, which fell on a Sunday. We had a little party with friends planned so we let the siblings give their gifts that day as well. James presents him with a present.

Ooh, a Captain America action figure!

In awe.

He watches Bethany enter the room, knowing she has a present for him.

He took a minute to figure out why her arms were empty...she was wearing his present on her back! A new backpack for his upcoming journey to preschool!

And there was more inside...

Books!!!

Including, but not limited to, a Tangled book. Remember, at this point in time he was quite obsessed with this movie.

The party wasn't until a bit later, so they spent some time getting our two Captain America action figures (I keep trying very hard to not say doll...but one of these is actually plush so it seems that would make more sense? I don't know...)

Ben played and played with his new toys.

As did James.
Oh yes, he got this too. A Wolverine mask!
James had a hard time letting Ben have a turn with his new present.

...Someone else may have too...
haha, I kid. But of course, Daddy had to at least try it on.
We think Wolverine is pretty cool.

Then, with a Captain America hat adorning his head, and his new Toy Story (of course) backpack on, he showed me how ready he was to start preschool.
See, Mom? This is how I would get ready to go?

See how handsome I look?

See how smart and capable I look?
(See how cluttered your playroom floor looks?)

We did some reading of his new books! I look really into it. I was.

For the party portion of our day, we had decided to keep things pretty simple and really fun for the kiddos. We simply had a couple families with kids our kids enjoy playing with come meet us at Chik-Fil-a and play up a storm.
And I hardly got any pictures of it all.
Can you believe it? What is happening to me?
But anyway...
first, we conquered the slide.
James...

Bethany...

and Ben.

Bethany thought this cute little area was pretty and wanted her picture taken.
I thought she was pretty and wanted to take her picture.

More of the slide.

More of the cute area...but this time with the birthday boy!!!

Ben did a lot of playing, but made very frequent visits to our table area to ask when his friends were coming and when he was going to get to open presents.

But, like I said, he also played.
And was apparently terrified while doing so.

Friends did come...here are Rockwell and Tyler, some of our favorite friends.
They are in our ward, plus Bethany and Rockwell shared a kindergarten class last year, and James and Tyler share a kindergarten class this year. We get to see them a lot and we like it that way.

Aunt Monica arrived with her shirt...I mean, a cake. Sorry, the shirt was the first thing I noticed about this picture. Haha, Monica, where did you get that??? I love it.
So, anyway, yes, Monica and Austin just happened to be in town for a couple weeks right around his birthday and lucky us, she was willing to make a cake for Benny Boy! It was his first from her since her school schedule usually steals her during his birthday time. Not this year! Yay!

And it was just what he wanted. The red ninja turtle. Love it.

Once again, she did an amazing job! Such talent. :)
You can't tell from this angle, but the ninja turtle face is actually a round cake on top of the rectangle cake. It looked pretty cool.

We decided to open presents before digging in.
The present in the bottom left of the picture is from Ali's kids...more of our favorite friends! I love when our kids give each other gifts because they almost always draw pictures for each other and they are always precious. I may need to label a little shoe box "picture from the Lunt kids" and save it to look at when my kids are all grown.

Ben's friend, Rockwell, was helpful in assisting with the explanation of all of Ben's presents.
What was funny was that Rockwell came over a couple months after he helped Ben open this game Ben had gotten from Grandma Teri and he asked to play that very game. Haha, kid doesn't forget! And, sure enough, he and Ben spent time playing it and had tons of fun.

More presents to open! In this picture you can get a glimpse of more of those who came...Ali and Staten behind Grandma Teri in the background, Livia, Teagan, and Maylee. Then, closest to the camera are Rockwell and Tyler.

After present time, it was cake time!
Everyone spent more time admiring the cake.

Then, for even more fun, they ate it.

Maylee and Bethany eating birthday cake.

I bet I could do entire post just of pictures of Maylee and Bethany eating birthday cake together. Haha, I bet we have at least one picture from every year since they've been born.
...Glad there's not pictures of all the times Ali and I have eaten cake together...that would get a little excessive. (But not as much as the brownies...haha our weakness)
But seriously, cute girls.

Baby Staten enjoys himself some dessert.

This picture gives us a glimpse of the only others that were there that I had not yet captured...little Bronco (next to his siblings, Rockwell and Tyler), and their mom, "Sister Allen." Also known as my good friend, Malinda. But she had Ben in nursery and sunbeams so she is mostly dubbed Sister Allen.

Ben sure loved all the fun.
Thumbs up!

Managed to get a shot of all the Lunts.
Hi guys! What a cute little family!

I like this picture because James' face looks stuffed with cake.

The party was fun! It was nice and easy and the kids had a blast! Ben is one who appreciates fun and simple and his fourth bday was just that.

Of course, we spent some time that weekend playing with the new presents.
Here is that game in action...everyone had fun learning how to play.

In addition to the girls eating bday cake, I could also find handfuls of pictures of James sitting on the table like this. It's his go-to perch when he is doing anything at the table. I am not sure I should indulge him much longer since siting on the kitchen table is probably mostly frowned upon...but so far, I don't care. Haha
Sorry to any and all who have ever found James sitting on their kitchen table and had to wonder if he was being raised in a barn.

I love that they are getting old enough to learn new games and play them as a family. It's not without plenty of drama and frustration some of the time, but I am enjoying the entry into this phase of life where leap frog and ring around the rosy are not the only games in our grasp.

But, back to Ben...it is absolutely nuts to me that he is four. I am truly loving it. I cherish experiencing my kids at every phase of their progression. I wish that, when they were babies, I would have known how fast it would go so I could have cherished that more! But, I did enjoy them then and I definitely enjoy them now! I am learning to not look back, trying to keep them babies and to not look into the future too much...but to really treasure where we are, individually and as a family, right now.
Right now, what I enjoy about Ben is his growing independence. It is neat for me to see it happening slowly but surely. It is also nice that he is still pretty attached to his Mama. He and I spend a lot of time together these days, with the other two in school full day. It has been really cool to have our relationship grown and develop and to be able to talk with him about everyday life and laugh together at everyday things. Some really profound things come out of his mouth...along with some pretty funny things. He is a very cool little man.


We are sure glad to have had you for four years, Mr. Ben!






Can't wait to see what the next four bring!