Silly Faces!

My Buddies

Silly is the name of their game!

Then and Now

June 2009 Anna-Kate reminded her daddy

"You're number 1!" as he started his job at UNC.

Yesterday when Will came home from his last day at UNC, 

we all reminded him  

You are always number one in our world!

Monday Will will start a new job at INC Research.  I am so proud of the hard-working, number one and only man in my life!  

the Cake

When it was time to plan Benjamin's birthday celebration, I knew that it was just going to be a family thing, but I also knew that I wanted to make him a cake.  I wanted a cake that he could eat and that would make him smile.  

Aha!

Mickey Mouse!  

Benjamin loves "hotdog!"  We sing the hotdog song around here quite often.  The cake would be chocolate.  My go-to recipe is dairy free, so perfect.  The face can be ganache with peanut butter cream.  The ears could be iced with Benjamin's dairy-free icing.  

I dream it up.  Will does any of the true artist work.  Here, Will did the outline of the face.  I did the peanut butter buttercream for his face.

Will then drew the face with some decorator icing.

Then it is back to me to put the finishing touches on the sides.  

Benjamin caught his first look before we could put his ears on.  Benjamin knew it was Mickey Mouse; I'll call that a successful cake then!

Make Benjamin smile, check!

Then it was to slide the ears in place.  I iced the ears making sure to finish the portion right next to the rest of the cake last.  

When it was time to serve, we first removed his ears, leaving the portion touching the rest of the cake.

Our two-layer chocolate cake, cute, yummy, and safe for Benjamin!

Celebrating 2

 Our attempt at a birthday picture with the birthday boy!

Benjamin's birthday started with a "short trip" to the mechanic, a short trip that unexpectedly became almost 2 hours.  That turned into a walk down the road to Wendy's for a birthday lunch for Benjamin and his favorite girls.

He looks like such a big boy with this lunch!

For supper that night, Oma and Opa, the Browns, and the neighborhood girl that loves to play at our house came over for supper and cake.  What a great looking kid table!  If only the birthday boy would look at the camera....

Benjamin shares his birthday with his Opa.  I love these two grinning birthday boys!

The birthday boys are enjoying their song before

blowing out the candles on their Mickey Mouse cake!

Opening his presents

We were so excited to reveal his present from us!  You know it is going to be good when the 5 year old cousin is excited!

That's mine!

Get me out so I can get to it!

Feeling so big, so proud of himself, 

and ready for his inaugural ride!

The weekend following Benjamin's birthday my parents got to come to town so we had supper with the whole family, ending with a dessert in honor of my mom's birthday that is about 3 weeks after Benjamin's.  

with one lego train,

a rousing game of monster bowling,

and a Big Wheel,

Buddy, your birthday is over.  You were quite spoiled!

Looking forward to what this next year brings!  Love you our little man!

Benjamin is 2!

Say Cheese!

Buddy, you're 2!

You are our cuddling, easy-to-grin, mischievous, do-it-myself, joke-playing, home-loving,

wonderful little man!

Height:  33.75 in, 24 %ile

Weight:  27 lbs,  52 %ile

At 2, Benjamin's language has taken off!  He has tons of words.  He is putting 2 words together, and quickly starting to put even 3 and 4 words together.  

He has become a toddler when it comes to eating!  He is not all that picky about what he eats, just when he eats.  He loves fruit snacks, "boo yacks!"  He loves eggs, chips, berries, the cream of the Oreo, potatoes, chicken, hotdogs, salsa, ...  He eats most things.  He will always eat a hotdog, always.  And, he loves juice!  He is not impressed with chocolate.  He will not drink any of his "milks" (almond, rice, coconut).  Even with chocolate added (trying to be like big sis), he doesn't like it.  A great eater, when he wants to eat.

Benjamin has turned into a book lover!  He will sit down and read occasionally on his own, and he absolutely loves when you read to him!  He still loves Llama, Llama.  He loves his "dirt" book that he got for his birthday right now, as well as a pop up book about animals.  

And, as you can see from this picture, he has awesome bed head!  A true, little boy hair cut is coming soon!

Benjamin is a real, "I'll do it," kind of personality.  He figured out on his own how to put on his mittens and his socks.  One of his favorite jokes is to put both socks on the same foot, then look at you, point at his foot, and then laugh!  He has almost mastered going down stairs standing up.  He loves playing in ways that allow him to take things apart, twist and pull, push or break.

After he has mastered something, he looks at you and says, "I did it!"

He loves to be outside!  Loves it.  He is in his happy place helping Will outside. 

He has a fascination with dirt.  He looks for "big dirt" while we are driving.  He is a big fan of construction sites around town.  Sticks deserve maximum amounts of observation.  Hearing an airplane is enough reason to pause. 

He went to his cousin's basketball game 2 weeks ago, and has talked about it ever since.  Every ball reminds him of the "bask-et ball 'ame!" 

Benjamin sat transfixed like this for the first 5 minutes we were there!

Benjamin, you are 2 and you are loved little man!

You make us smile with your little jokes!  You make us take deep breaths with your quickly growing stubbornness.  You make us wonder what you are going to do one day with your figure-it-out brain.  You melt your mom's heart with that big grin, especially when it is paired with your "sweet hugs." 

We love you Benjamin!!