Yup, it’s true. Benjamin is officially a two year old!!

We celebrated by heading to the playground earlier in the day, since the weather was so nice.

After getting some energy out at the park Ben enjoyed some yummy pizza! He is getting  pretty darn good at holding that pie!

Apparently I was taking too many pictures while he ate, though…

And THEN, after dinner, Ben had the best treat he could imagine! Cupcake with ice cream, cherries, and candles to blow out! He was, I think, a bit in awe!

I should have been taking video, because he REALLY liked it when we sang “Happy Birthday” to him. He was a dancing fool!

Don’t worry, he only singed his nose once.

Time to eat!

But of course, Ben is NEVER too busy to say “CHEESE!!!”

Ben’s FAVORITE new past time is jumping off the couch! He and daddy are working on some crazy stunts….

Don’t mind the wee wee. We are on a diaper strike these days!

Ben likes spicy foods.

A LOT!

As usual, we headed up to the land to get ourselves a nice Charlie Brown Christmas tree. Benjamin supervised while Daddy checked out a possibility.

We can not go to the land and NOT go sledding, so here we go!

Wow, face first Ben?!

And he’s off!

Yup, for real. A mom and Ben pic. Someone who shall go unnamed taught Ben how to eat snow… we really need to start working on the colors so we can teach him the yellow snow rule… .

On the way home it was Ben’s duty to hold the tree down! He took his job very seriously and did not let go of that rope once!

Styling, as usual, in his candy cane pants, helping Daddy with some Christmas beads.

Ben put the ornaments on very very high…

Yes, I know it is January. Bear with me. I’ve been busy.

Ben got a special Thanksgiving package from Grandma Margaret and Poppy! As he had yet to experience Christmas as a toddler, he needed some help getting the package open.   Don’t worry… he has had much more practice since then.

This turkey was actually a big hit…who does not like being chased around the living room by a turkey?

The turkey got forgotten, however, when the pumpkin bread was unwrapped! There is little Ben likes more than bread, especially when Daddy lets him eat directly off the loaf! His diet the next day was made up of about 80% pumpkin bread,  and I had to pretend that the piece I was giving him was ‘the whole loaf’ to steer away from a sure temper tantrum…

Only on a holiday would Ben get bread straight off the loaf and a whole chocolate turkey for himself. Lucky kid!

Ben is REALLY starting to love daddy’s weekly  shaving ritual! I probably would not be so exciting if it happened every day…. but I highly doubt that will ever happen.

Ben carefully dabs on a bit of shaving cream…

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Ben’s application skills are not confined to shaving cream, however. Lately he has been helping me cook! The other day he was stirring the brownie batter, when I saw him dip a finger into the batter. I gave him ‘the look,’ because he knows not to eat what he is stirring, so what does he do ?  Raises that finger to his face and gently applies…

Granted, the ‘applications’ kept getting closer and closer to his mouth until the inevitable happened…

Every night after dinner, Ben needs to get out a bit of energy.

Oops! He saw the camera. That interrupts anything. But… don’t worry. Just a minute later he continued!

Yes. This happens every night.

We had a little get together to celebrate’s Nana’s big 4-0!

Ben thought Daddy’s helium voice was hilarious!

He very much enjoyed the taco dip!

And, of course, he enjoyed some cake while wearing his cool new pirate hat.

No night is complete without modeling his new underwear!!

Hey, room and board ain’t free!

Ben was the cutest little Guitar you have ever seen this Halloween! He wore this costume for a LONG time and I swear I took 100 pictures…. this one was a tough one to capture!

So, instead of one or two really good shots, here are 12 or 13 pretty good ones…

This guitar needed to be played! Make sure you click on it to enlarge!

A rare Ben and Mama shot!