Ben's 4th

1 The eggs incubating - this is day 12. The big one in front is from our sweet hen, HollyRamona, who seems to have suddenly decided to lay!	2 Ben helps turn the eggs three times a day.	3 Neighbors and friends over for Ben's party. I really enjoyed seeing Tami and Tijen again.	4 This is "scratch" - the leftover cake crumbles from cutting Ben's cake into a cube, plus some gummi worms. I had the zany idea to eat it like chickens. And so we did - using beaks to get the worms. Some of our "roosters" tried to give the worms to their hens, but the hens were not so interested. Tijen and I might possibly have tried to eat from the same plate with our beaks, too. The men thankfully missed most of this silliness.
5 Peeps, too! There were a dozen...	6 And cutting his cube cake.	7 Tami was so sweet to take a bunch of pictures for us.	8
9 You can see why the men missed out on seeing us eat the "scratch" - they were watching from afar, like we're animals at a zoo :)	10 Also champagne visible...having the party French style, which drinks for parents, truffle brie, fig crackers, fig spread, grapes, baguettes that I made...So much fun.	11 Now we're eating the scratch!	12 A little bit might have gotten on some of the faces. But I had wipes ready on the table :)
13	14 What is that on your face?	15 The pulley system in use, hauling children up the tree.	16 Off to buy a cap gun with money from his Great Grandma!
17	18 These were a huge hit!	19 Thank goodness for my friend Tami who started taking pictures for mom to enjoy! Tami caught some really good ones with just her cell phone camera! She is amazing. And she's a professional photographer, too. www.tamimeader.com Imagine what she could do for Merlin's next photo shoot!	20 The jeering eye! How does he see past that thing!?
21 You are interrupting again, Mister!	22 Ben wanted a blue cube cake with a big 4 on top. So that is what Mommy did! I was doing cube roots last night trying to get the size just right because I had to stack and mortar three cakes again. Dave says I was overthinking things.	23 Aww, little buddy is turning four!	24 Peeps for the big day in case his real peeps didn't pip out yet. (We started hearing them on his party day, and today on his actual bday they are wriggling!) And worms, of course. Chickens love worms!
25 Singing Happy Birthday to him :) Loved the little hands while waiting. Sweet boy.	26 The big "roosters" came over for this part :) See the daddies in the background?	27 Tricky to cut. Especially when you're making cubes again - now why was I cutting so small?	28 Ah ha! Mommy and boy together. That knife is a bit overkill for a cake I think :)
29 Dave says "stop gesturing with that knife, ok?"	30 Sam enjoying some cake :)	31 And there's Tijen on the left who braved a visit with Merlin! She wanted to give HollyRamona a hug and just marched right in there, champagne in hand. The menfolk were like "uh - you know there's a rooster in there, right?" Sure enough, Merlin marched over and gave Tijen a good talking to, and a few flaps at the legs which dealt a good blow. I think he got her boot in return. When I got back with a champagne refill for someone else I noticed Tijen in the run with birds and her champagne stashed safely on the coop door! Her eyes were wide, but she DID get that HollyRamona hug and kiss after all. Such a brave lady - and totally nuts :)	32 Love the peering eye over the towering cake!
33 Good job, Tami, capturing the manifesto! :)	34 Thinking about a second piece, perhaps?	35 This is the scratch...cake crumbles. The kids loved this next game. The grownups were happy to miss it - until they noticed their kids had blue hair, lips, nose, cheeks and wondered what they'd been up to. This was not authorized by Dave.	36 So you eat like a chicken and try to use your beak only, capturing worms from your plate.
37 Yup, that's right!	38 Who else wants some?	39 Ben just grabbed worm after worm after worm :)	40 Now the roosters are supposed to give the worms to their hens. These roosters didn't do that.
41 More? Yes!	42 Ok Tijen - our turn!	43 Eeeewww!	44 Sour!
45 Ahhhck!	46 What a good friend playing along! You are SO much fun!	47 Good job, rooster!	48
49 Now time for more crazy games! The kids made up some funny relays next, which I played with them, of course, because they were so good to play my games :)	50 And a plane from Matt and Melodie! Our friends are so sweet to come celebrate, even though most of our parties seem to be outside and very active!	51 Singing Happy Birthday to Ben :)