The Great Easter-Birthday Smash.

We got up very early Easter morning cause we had double the fun day planned!  First, as always, presents!!

At some point, the gift-opening got so exciting we had to stand up!

We ripped through those babies in short order, and then it was off for the Easter baskets!

We had one big gift.  Joe's boss at work had given us their trampoline and so we decided to surprise the kids with it Easter morning....the assembly was a little more than we had bargained for after-dark the night before...so instead we played a little word puzzle...

They were stumped.  Seriously.

Sara finally got it!

And a little side note.  Trampolines are the best thing ever and obviously invented by mothers.  Outside, enclosed exercise???  Genius.

OH MY!!  Such a handsome lot.

We headed to early church and then out to Grandma and Grandpa's for Easter Brunch, egg hunts, and birthday presents!!

The food!!  So much good food!!!

Ben joined in with the singing.  He's a joiner!

Beautiful day!!

Then, for a little birthday fun, we set off for the mini-golf course.  Which was absolutely the perfect way to spend this birthday boy's afternoon.

There was a little time for a break...pretty sure Joe and I even snuck in a nap...and then out to mom's for more great food, eggs, and cousins!!

Waiting patiently for the go-ahead....

 

More cake!  (The key here, is cupcakes....we just buy a lot and spread 'em around as we travel through town!)

We shared the celebrating with our twin-cousin...born 6 days ahead!

I'm pretty sure this would qualify as 'the best birthday ever', for this kid....but isn't every day better than the one before!  Glass.half.full.  Well, overflowing actually.

Ben's Big Birthday Eve!

Ben's birthday landed on Easter this year!  He was super-psyched about that...what could be better than partying all day with family?!  The downside was he had some idea about birthday food, etc, that we simply couldn't fit in if we didn't kick it off a bit early.  So that's what we did!

Ben wanted a "course dinner" like Kayte's, but nothin fancy, mind you.  There will be pizza!

We got some mini-Murph make-your-owns to kick it up a notch.

Ben is a serious party host.  There were individual menus and game pieces for a party game for later.

Oh my.  This kid.

After dinner, we gathered our party pieces and assembled a robot together.  Heehee.

Ta-DA!

And then my little baby, born on the Final Four day, snuggled up with his pops and his cousin for a little basketball.

Ben is our little delight.  I don't think God, in the history of time, has ever created a boy so pumped to the top with joy.  He overflows with Happy all of the time.  He just completed our family with a great big exclamation point.  I'm so thankful for him.  And cannot imagine our days without him.