Ben meets Santa and his Reindeer

Ben finally met Santa and his Reindeer - real, live reindeer. He has been obsessed with Santa this winter.

Santa and his friends were set up at a shopping center directly across from a Sprinkles. He enjoyed meeting the reindeer, but kept asking me for chocolate birthday cake and was trying to run to Sprinkles.

After a short stay in line...we were first (yeah!) Ben finally saw Santa! He was yelling "hi Santa" with the biggest smile....until we got closer. Then it looked like this:

Luckily the pictures were free (with a North Texas Food Bank Donation) and the photographer was great - John Hudson Photography. He tried very hard to get a good shot.

To make things better, we finally got that Sprinkles cupcake.

And had a picnic of CF at Caruth Park. I think the May family would have enjoyed this outing!

Hopefully next year it won't be so traumatic. I am actually ok with the screaming pictures - I am pretty sure is a rite of passage in childhood.

Don't worry, Hanukkah pictures to come soon when we charge the camera battery.

The last few weeks

Ben has been very busy the last few weeks...going to museums, baking cookies, painting, celebrating birthdays, planting flowers and more!

Thanksgiving 2010

Ben and Ava

Ben and Ava had another date recently. They had so much fun together. Thanks Ava for lending Ben your Little Mermaid doll. She has had many baths, meals and sleeps in his bed most nights.

Halloween and more

Ben had a great halloween spending time with friends and family. It was a busy weekend filled with lots of parties and candy! Enjoy!

State Fair, Arboretum and More!

Ben went to the state fair and pigged out on fried snickers, fried frito pie, 2 corny dogs, dippin' dots, fried ice cream....or maybe that was his parents. He also had fun with Ava at the arboretum and got his first female kiss....from someone other than his mommy. He also made P'cot, peacot or pecott depending upon your nationality (this was what he kept calling the pumpkin he decorated with mr. "monster" potato head parts).

Ben doing P90 with daddy

Kissing dinosaurs.

Shabbat

Ben's 2nd Birthday Party

Ben enjoyed his Thomas/ Toy Story 2nd birthday party at the park! Luckily the rain stopped right in time! Here are all the pics...

Airplane museum

Ben inside the beverage cart at the "airplane museum".

Ben's 4th of July

Ben celebrates his freedom and the 4th by destroying a watermelon

LOTS of pictures!

Here are Ben pics from the last month - lots of videos and great pics...including new undies, a grandma visit, a farm and ranch day...and MUCH more. Enjoy! The videos in the last album are worth watching.

sommelier

i guess ben is not going to be a famous sommelier...he really is afraid of corks.

Buddies

These two little boys are adorable together! Gabe and Ben have become fast friends and love hanging out (and sharing snacks). Gabe recently told Ben that he was moving to Austin :-( but hopefully they'll still get mix it up.

An evening at the Goldman's house

Have you eveer wondered what we do all evening? Probably not...but here is a taste of tonight...



Started out with Ben wearing mom's glasses...leading into a few hundred bed dives, one too many face plants into Caramel's bed (SICK) and finally a much much needed bath. Only one injury luckily - Ben landed on mommy's face during a dive.

Passover and Easter

Ben had a blast last week celebrating passover and easter. He had a big passover celebration at school and got MANY days off the spend with mommy. On Saturday, we went to my grandma's house for her huge easter party. He got to color easter eggs (with natural dyes including beet juice and spices - which looked beautiful) and learned how to hunt eggs. I think he was more interested in playing ball and wearing his new elmo hat - thanks grandma. He also got to eat M&Ms for the first time - needless to say, he loved them. Ben had so much fun hanging out with everyone...especially his cousins Madeline and Meredith.

Here are some pics:

Already on the big boy swing.

Where is my baby?

BFFs in Houston

We had a lovely trip to Houston last weekend. I flew alone with Ben on Thursday and Mark met us out there on Friday night. The kids got to go to the Houston Rodeo on Friday...It was so much fun! and SO SO tiring for the moms. I think we were exhausted after the first hour. The petting zoo was so cool and Ben loved to chase the animals and try to put hay on their backs...not sure why. The Houston Rodeo was much more than I expected and we can't wait to go back next year - there was even an animal birthing center - which we really really wanted to see but the kids were fading. Isaiah and Ben said their favorite part of the weekend was group bath time and are so happy that their parents took lots of neked pictures! We loved seeing everyone in Houston, especially the Sowards/Opots and Annie and Megan (who Ben has a cruch on now). We are excited to go back for Iasiah's first birthday soon!

Here are the pics:


...and here are some old pics from a month ago:

Park City

Well, we finally did it (over a month ago)...we left Ben with my mom and went on a vacation alone. Park City was wonderful. We spent three days on the slopes and aside from some sore shins, we had an excellent time. We started the trip with refresher ski lessons and someone (me :-) got bumped up to the more advanced class...and I finally comfortably went on a blue. (done bragging)

By the third day Mark's feet were so sore and we noticed how comfy the snowboarding shoes looked...so we decided to ditch the ski boots and learn to snowboard...I have new respect for snowboarders. Snowbaording is MUCH harder that I thought, but fun. I think we will do it again.

We also spent some much needed time at the base of the mountain enjoying live music, beer and way way too much food. We ate at three wonderful restaurants...Zoom, Whaso and Easy Street. I HIGHLY recommend all of them, especially Zoom. Maybe one day we will come back there for Sundance...yeah right.

We CANNOT wait to bring Ben here to ski. We asked a few instructors and they all said we should wait until he is at least 3.5 years old...so so excited to see him zooming down the mountain with all the other little ones. They were very good.

Here are a few pics.

Crackers and colors

Really, does life get any better? After nap enjoying some colors and
crackers.

Ben's new bff

We tried to make him love cookie monster instead, but Elmo won. Here
he is watching old school sesame street with his best buds. Luckily he
likes the old school episodes more than the new stuff.

Ben in 70's clothes.

Here is Ben in his uncle chris' clothes. Why did he wear satin shirts
with blue velvet short overalls?

Bucca

Early Sunday morning...Ben feels "Bucca." This is one of his new favorite "words." Makesure to turn up your volume.
***THE VIDEO STARTS OFF BLACK*** Ben likes to turn off the lights with the remote.

Animal lover part 2

Animal lover

Ben and Jette

Ben's first school pic

 
This is Ben's first glamour shot! Look out ladies....or dudes?

Hot!

Ben knows a few words......keys, cheese, dada, aquarium (yes, it's true) and HOT, HOT, HOT!