This kid will climb on anything...

Seriously!

Must love dogs!

Ben loved all the big dogs at the dog show this past weekend including the big boy in the pic below. He has a little dog at home, Sophie Lou, but for some reason was all about the "big dawg," as Ben called them.

Ben & Nick

This weekend, Ben spent a lot of time with Gommie and Papa because Mom and Dad were super busy packing up the house getting ready for our move on July 25. So... Ben got to go to the dog show and had a great time. His most favorite dog was Nick, the sheep dog pictured below. Ben got to walk Nick around the ring and they both had so much fun!

With our move a week away, we'll be holding off on the blog this week other than a few more pics of Ben at the dog show. Have a great week everyone!

Bed Jumping

While Grandma & Grandpa were in town, Ben learned the time tested and kid loved activity of bed jumping. Grandpa caught this picture mid-jump and as you can see, Ben really gets air!

Score!

Ben got a basketball hoop for his birthday from Elida and he looooves it! While Grandma and Grandpa Bolger were in town, they taught him how to shoot and score! Grandpa made some pretty sweet shots and Ben definitely got that gene from Grandpa, as proven in the picture below!

Jake TIme = Fun Time!

After Ben's party on Saturday, his good pal Jake Goines came over for play time and to continue the party's festivities. Come 2:00pm, neither boy had taken a nap and were both beyond exhausted so one minute, they would be laughing and running, then next minute they'd be arguing and not wanting to share the same toy.

Jake always teaches Ben something new and this trip, Jake taught Ben how to break dance. Seriously, Jake has moves. It is pretty incredible. Ben watched in awe and has since tried to mimic his pal's dancing abilities but hasn't had much success yet.

Here, Jake has just busted his move and Ben is very impressed. It is also pretty obvious in the 2nd picture how exhausted these boys are, just look at their faces...

Park Time

Grandma and Grandpa came from Southern California to help Ben ring in his new year. After the celebrations on Friday and Saturday were over, we all went to the park to blow off a little steam. Grandpa had never been to Dennis the Mennace park and Ben loved showing Grandpa & Grandma his most favorite park.

Party Fun & Friends

Ben adored having all his besties  in town to celebrate at his party!

Our good college friends, Mike & Jenn Riese and their awesome kids, Sophie & Christian. 

The Goines family made a grand appearance and Ben, of course, looooved his play time with Jakey! I think he also has a little crush on Jenny... he does love blondes and got very chummy with her when she was teaching him all about cameras. Watch out Josh!

The one and only Koontzes!

Jenn Viane Riese teaching Khloe to stand and walk...

Benny and one of his BFFs, Bella, eyeing the cake. They stood there for a good 10 minutes trying to figure out how to get that cake even though the party had just started and no one had even had lunch.

Kristina, Jen's middle school friend, and her son, Gian Carlo.

Genevieve and Catherine Cardinale came ready to play and celebrate!

Thank you to everyone who helped us celebrate our little man. Still in shock that we have a two-year old, we are eternally greatful to our family and friends for being so supportive and loving to the both of us and our awesome little dude!

Birthday Par-tay!

Ben's party was at My Museum in Monterey on Saturday. There was a  great turn out of all his loved ones and little buddies. He loved the jungle animal theme since he is all about animals right now!

 It was his birthday so it was OK if he took a sneak taste of the cake!

 Blowing out his candles...

 Playing at the mini golf and golf cart area...

 And loving the slide and boat time with Daddy.

More pictures to come tomorrow, stay tuned!

Ben's 2nd Birthday!

It was Ben's 2nd birthday this past weekend and Ben had the best weekend EVER! Everyone he loved helped him celebrate from Friday morning thru Sunday night. He celebrated so much that he slept a good majority of Monday!

His actual birthday was on Friday and he started the day with his favorite breakfast of pancakes and blueberries. He then got to open birthday gifts... great way to start the day!

Lunch was celebrated at Ben's favorite pizzeria, Angelina's. Both sets of grandparents, Mom, Dad & Elida were there to sing to him and join him at the arcade. Ben insisted on going to the park next to Angelina's after lunch and had tons of fun with bubbles and climbing on the jungle gym.

Dinner showcased all of his favorite foods - turkey burger sliders, corn on the cob and sweet potato french fries... followed by lemon cupcakes with chocolate frosting.

 Corn on the cob is Ben's #1 fav food and he really goes to town chowing down on his corn.

Lucky guy, his grandparents all helped him celebrate his big 2nd birthday!

 Cupcake sugar high?? Oh yeah!

Happy Birthday, Baby Ben!

 Our little man turns 2 today. How the time has gone so quickly, we have no clue. All we know is how lucky we are to have such a wonderful little guy in our lives.

Flash back in pictures of Ben's first day & week in July 2009...

First time I saw Ben.

 Ben's first nap in the hospital.

 First time Jeff held Ben.

 My 2 men napping in the hospital on the day before we went home.

 First day at home napping in his swing, which turned out to be his most favorite nap spot.

 First pic with Ben's eyes open when they were still blue.

 Ok, so now that I am a little weepy over our big boy, time to go celebrate!

Baby Beach & Luau

One of the best secrets we learned about Maui while visiting the Bussi fam last year was... Baby Beach. It is the most lovely little beach that is very shallow and very gentle water so little kids are happy and safe.

 I learned a big difference between boys and girls at the beach on our trip to Baby Beach. Girls don't really like to get sandy and dirty and would rather frolic in the water.

 Boys, on the other hand, don't care at all about being dirty and sandy and want to dig as far south as possible. Ben and Jeff found this hole and started digging. Of course, I go to get the sand toys and try to make it pretty by flattening out the edges of the hole and making it more like a castle than a ditch.

 That didn't go over so well with Ben who blasted thru my castle and continued digging the hole deeper and deeper...

 But, he was in pure little boy heaven!

 That night we went to a luau and Ben had a wonderful time watching the dancers and listening to the music... much more than we thought he would. He was literally captivated anytime the dancers were on stage... now we know how to get him to sit still!

The real reason for our trip...

The real reason for our trip to Maui was to celebrate Papa's 70th birthday. We started the day going to an incredible breakfast in Lahaina at Longhi's then spent the day by the pool. What Papa didn't know was that his real birthday gift was a wedding vow renewal with Gommie at a lovely beach in Kapalua!