A Very Merry Unbirthday

Ben turned seventeen this weekend.

He's now at that age where he's too old (says he) for birthday parties. He did not want a cake, he did not want a party, and he absolutely did not want anyone to sing to him. He finally agreed to have a few friends over for an ice cream cake (no candles) but told them not to bring presents and he insisted on opening his presents from us before anyone got here.

Just for the record, I still want everyone to throw me a party on my birthday and I want presents and lots of them.

Katie drew a book for him which is about a girl with a magic flute which magically makes a birthday cake for him. He promptly tossed it aside in a big brotherly fashion. I thought it was adorable and I'm saving it for later. He'll appreciate it more when he's forty or so. I'll give it back to him then.

Emily crocheted a birthday cake. That girl is all kinds of talented. I can't even crochet a string.

Ben has a really quirky sense of humor so we always try to get him a few oddball things. He's a pickle fiend (all my kids are) so we found him some pickle flavored mints and pickle flavored dental floss. I know you all are going to run right out and try to find some for yourselves. It's available on Amazon.com.

You're welcome.

Because he is a bacon fiend, we also found him a wallet which looks like it is made of raw bacon. We gave him bacon scented soap last year but he said it just made him sticky.

I asked the girls to wrap Ben's gifts. They thought it would be amusing to wrap one of them in ten layers of colored duct tape.

He had to unwrap each layer a little at a time.

He unwound and unwrapped. Unwound and unwrapped.

And while the girls were greatly amused, I could tell by the expression on his face that their joy was completely wasted on him.

His new tee-shirt pretty much summed up his feelings about the entire event.

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Ben's Feet

Ben went camping with his youth group this weekend. He said it was the best weekend he's had since we've been in Hawaii, and possibly in his entire life. The one negative part was that he stepped on some coral out in the water and cut his feet up pretty good. He swears it was all dead coral - you shouldn't touch live coral, much less walk on it because it damages the coral. No one ever mentions that it also damages your feet. They just tell you not to damage the coral. Also, coral is a living organism . If you step on live coral and a tiny piece breaks off in the cut, it will continue to grow. Did you see the movie Alien ? If some creature incubates in Ben's feet, then breaks out and eats us all one night, I'm going to be quite miffed. (Make sure you read the inscription on his tee shirt in this picture. It's quite appropriate.)

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A Week After Surgery

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Mama On The Move

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