Ben and I visited Curt's work today to check out all the crazy Halloween decorations. Curt was a part of a "Vegas" group. He was "Pit boss Pete." I'm not sure a pit boss would wear a glittery hat (notice below), but maybe Curt needed some sparkle today :). The three of us in "Vegas." Our cute little turtle.

We didn't get Ben a costume this year because we weren't going to be home (traveling to MI tonight), but someone from Curt's work let us borrow this turtle costume. We tried it on him last night. He did a pretty good job with it, expect the head piece. I don't think that will stay on him very long. I'm bringing Ben to Curt's work for a little bit this afternoon, so we'll see how long the turtle costume lasts :).

This morning we let Ben open up one of his presents. It was a Little People farm with a tractor. After dinner he opened the rest of his presents. He got a couple more books. He loves to sit on our laps and read books. We also got him some dvds... Praise Baby, Veggie Tales, and a Baby Einstein. Then, he opened his big present...a basketball hoop! He can't walk yet, so he needs a little help with his jump shot. It's time for birthday cake. He was a little braver with this cake (he didn't really want to eat the one from his party with Curt's family). Yummy frosting!

We were surprised on Monday by a package in the mail. It was a birthday present for Ben from the Bairds (our friends in MI). They sent Ben a new outfit (modeled below), a book, and a little puppy dog. Thank you so much...he loves them!

Earlier today as I was loading the dishwasher, Ben was trying to climb into it. Since the dishwasher is not a good place for little boys, I distracted him with a spoon from the drawer. He got very excited and has not let it out of his sight for the past hour. Tasting the spoon. Ben talking (babbling) and waving the spoon around. You can't see this in the picture, but he is kicking his feet and waving his hands. That is his "excited" dance. He decided to see if this spoon would be useful in opening the gate...it was not. :)

Curt took this picture last night of Ben and I playing peek-a-boo. It's not my best look :), but Ben thought it was pretty funny.

This picture of Ben makes me laugh. He looks like he just wants to be free! Too bad for him (but good for us) that he's too short to reach the door handle. :)

Back in August, we had some family pictures taken when we were in Cadillac, MI. We finally got to see the finished product a few weeks ago. Here are a few samples. The whole Walker family Curt's parents with the grandkids. I don't think Ben was really excited to have his picture taken...at least he's not crying...works for me :). The Walker grandkids...I'm not sure what Ben is looking at, but it is definitely not the camera.

Ben playing with his bike in the living room this afternoon. His bike makes a lot of sounds and plays songs. Usually Ben likes to keep moving the green shifter up and down over and over again...until the sounds make mommy crazy! :) Showing off his fancy standing skills. Looking at one of his books. He really likes to look at the ones with different things to feel on the pages.

Ben seemed like he needed to get out the house this afternoon, so I decided to take him for a walk to the neighborhood playground. He decided to climb on my lap after he saw that I got out the camera. I was tying to get a picture of him standing by the furniture. He figured out the camera wasn't that interesting after all, so he went back over to the chair to stand again. He has been pulling himself up to a standing position on things all over the house. He is getting pretty good at it...maybe walking is coming soon. Ready for our walk. Ben and mommy on the swing. Playing with the leaves. We don't really get many in our yard, so he hasn't seen that many of them. He was fascinated with them. I had to let him hold one the whole way home (or listen to crying...I chose no crying :) ).

Ben wanted to sit in our green basket while he watched Baby Noah . He sat in there the whole time, playing with his Little People. I'm not sure what is fun about sitting in a basket. Maybe I'm missing out...where's my basket? :)

Ben playing with one of his dinosaurs this afternoon. He likes to look at them after his nap and decided this one needed to come downstairs with us.

Ben was so cute playing with his Little People by the couch this afternoon I had to get a few pictures. He was babbling to them while he sat by the couch. "This one smells good." :) " Hi, Mr. Giraffe."

Ben loves to pretend to have a cough. He will do his fake cough and then wait for Curt or I to say, "Oh, do you have a cough?" and then he will smile about it. If anyone else coughs, he has to do his fake cough too. This morning I got a couple pictures of him doing some fake coughs. He is pretty funny. :)

Ben took out some books to look at in his room this morning. Looking through Noah's Ark. Which one should I read? Maybe dumping out toys is more fun than reading books! :)