Party on, dudes!

Connor seemed to like his brownie! He LOVES to play with trains like Ben!

Dillon liked his brownie too!

His favorite thing at our house is not a toy - it's the ceiling fan!!

Easy to please, gotta love that!

We have the best play group on Monday mornings - the moms and kids are so nice and we're lucky to have a fun Monday activity!! This past Monday we celebrated Ben's birthday with brownies - I think all of the kids enjoyed them since we normally only eat Cheerios! It's fun to see Ben as the "big boy" since he's usually the youngest. Also, it's interesting to see how Ben acts when other kids are in HIS house playing with HIS toys... we're still learning about sharing, showing off and (sometimes) hitting, sorry guys! I think he does much better the weeks we're not at our house, but it's such a good lesson for him to share his toys! The kids still play mostly on their own, but you can tell - especially last week - that they've got their eyes on one another.

Gifts Galore!!

Ben got a lot of great presents for his birthday!! He got a lot of books with Elmo and Thomas that he is really enjoying. He also got a new Curious George book all the way from Arlo in Minnesota - it's a HUGE hit, he loves George and shows me every yellow hat in the book. His favorite play toy for the moment (from Aunt Holly and gang) is his toy microwave, play food and pots/pans. He is LOVING making "dinner" with his new gear and is border-line obsessed with the microwave. He also got cute PJs from Bubba & Grampy that will be great for spring. Uncle Tim and Aunt Amanda went with summer gifts (that I appreciate a lot because he will feel like he has new toys come spring) - a neat sand/water outdoor toy - they also got him new threads - classic Tim and Amanda t-shirts "Lock up your daughters" and "I still live with my parents" - so funny!! 

BUT his neatest gift - far too nice for the bathroom - is the stool that Grandad (my dad) made for Ben. He climbs right up and washes his hands and brushes his teeth now. He loves the sink and loves to brush his teeth! 

Thanks everyone!

Ben's 2nd Birthday Party

Cool Cuts for Kids

We went to Cool Cuts for Kids to get Ben a haircut before his birthday party. This was the first time he sat in the taxi - usually he will only sit on our lap squirming and screaming. He was a little nervous and didn't LOVE it, but held my hand with a single-tear rolling down his cheek. He watched Blues Clues on the DVD player, so that helped. The stylist was nice to take this polaroid when he was done - I think he looks very proud of himself.

Happy #2

It's Ben's second birthday today - so hard to believe!! It stinks because he's a little under-the-weather - I think his ears are acting up (again). Tomorrow we head to the pediatrician to check everything out. Joe took the day off tomorrow and so we should all have fun together. His (Elmo) birthday party is this weekend. . . hopefully he'll be feeling good by Saturday!

Puppy! Puppy! Puppy!

Ben has a new buddy he can't live without - his puppy. Ben got puppy for Christmas and hasn't put him down since. He likes to eat with puppy, take him in the car, shopping, etc. In the mornings we hear him talking to puppy - since "puppy" is usually the first word out of his mouth. I'm thinking we might need to find a spare puppy just in case. . .

Snow Day!

St. Louis was hit with snow yesterday. . . since Ben doesn't really have any winter gear - boots, gloves, etc. I decided to bring the snow inside so we could play for a while. I guess I was also a bit lazy thinking it would take me longer to bundle us both up than the time we would actually play outside. We had fun, but next year we'll let him experience the full fun of playing in the snow outside.