Tonight, we took Ben trick-or-treating to a few of our neighbors' houses. It was a little chilly out, so we didn't stay out there too long. Ben had fun going through his stash...his favorite thing was a new pencil. Now he is enjoying watching out the window for kids coming up our driveway. He loves his lion costume so much...I think we will have to pry it off of him before bed! Looking through all of the candy in his pumpkin. That is one cute lion! Ben liked watching for kids to come to our door.

Ben and I stopped by Curt's work this afternoon. He brought his little pumpkin and went trick-or-treating around the office. He came home with WAY too much candy! Ben was really excited to wear his lion costume today, so hopefully he will want to wear it once more tomorrow. He took a little ride on this bear that was near someone's desk. Ben really liked seeing all of the decorations around the office. They had some photographers available to take pictures of the kids. I snapped a quick one of Ben while we were waiting for our turn.

It is hard to believe that Ben is two years old today. Everyone always says that kids grow up so fast, and it is certainly true. It doesn't feel that long ago that I was snuggling with him for the first time in the hospital. I'm so proud to be Ben's mom. He is such a sweet, caring, and energetic boy. I look forward to spending many more birthdays together! We love you Ben! Mommy and Ben rocking in the hospital the day after he was born. Last year, he had a Curious George 1st birthday party when we celebrated with my family. This morning we let Ben open up one of his presents. It was Rocket from Little Einsteins. He was very excited! Later, after Curt comes home from work we will continue the birthday celebration with cupcakes and more presents.

Saturday, we stopped by my Grandpa and Grandma Bierema's house for a quick visit. My grandpa, my grandma, my cousin's daughter Izabella, Curt, and Ben Ben saw my Uncle Tom driving this tractor and really wanted to go outside to see it. He looks so little sitting on that big seat! My dad took Ben for a little ride. Ben had such a fun time on the tractor!

This weekend we celebrated Ben's birthday with my family. The theme was Handy Manny . Ben was very excited to see Manny and the tools all over the decorations! We had several cakes to choose from. My mom made the round cake and I brought an edible Handy Manny topper to put on it. My sister made the three tools...Turner, Pat, and Dusty. They were all delicious! A close up of one of the cakes. Handy Manny plates and napkins. I got a quick picture of Ben with his cakes before we ate them. He had so much fun opening his presents. Here he opened some Handy Manny pajamas from my brother Joe. He got a Handy Manny ball from my brother Matt. All of his presents had something to do with Handy Manny . He was very excited to play with all of his new tools and other toys after he opened them all up. Blowing out his candles. Ben made quite the mess with the blue frosting on his cake!

I decided to get Ben's two year pictures done today before we ran into the Christmas card/holiday photo crowd that we did at his one year pictures. Despite what the picture below might show, this little guy did not want to smile today. They had to bring in two other workers to try to get him to smile. After the whole ordeal was over, I at least had a few shots with smiles to choose from. I'm glad that's over with! :)

Some days it is hard to get that smile going. Today is one of those days. I found out this morning that my grandpa (my mom's dad) passed away. We knew he had terminal cancer, so the news was not shocking. I guess I just wasn't prepared for it. I was all ready to walk out the door to take Ben to the park when the phone call came. I decided to stick with my plans and Ben enjoyed playing outside on this beautiful morning. I was glad for the sunshine, which allowed me to hide my tears behind my sunglasses. I am thankful for the endless energy/excitement of an (almost) 2 year old. He can make me smile in the midst of all this serious stuff. Psalm 46:1 God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble . I'm so thankful that I can lean on God and He gives me all the strength I need for each day...especially the tough ones. Here are a few pictures of Ben having fun at the park this morning. Ben playing a little song. Spinning the gears around. We practiced counting ...

This morning, I helped Ben build a couple roads out of his blocks for his cars to ride on. Some vehicles taking a ride on our very short road...I only had so many blocks of the same height to work with. :) Ben had to make all the cars crash and fall off the road. "CHEESE!" I'm not sure if there is a normal smile in Ben's immediate future...this seems to be the only one I get lately. :)

Tonight was Ben's dedication day at church. We were glad to finally have a date that worked out to do that. The baby dedication day (or meeting we needed to attend) always seemed to fall on a weekend that we were going to be out of town. We didn't have any family there to take a picture, so we took a quick picture (with Curt holding the camera) before church. Ben is such a blessing in our lives and it was wonderful to publicly dedicate him to the Lord. I pray that God will give me the wisdom to be the best mother that I can be for Ben and lead him on a path towards Jesus. The family photo Ben opened up a present from his grandma and papa (Walker) after we got home from church. They gave it to us last week when we were up in Cadillac, for us to open on Ben's dedication day. It was a Bible for toddlers. Ben loved it and we had to read several stories in it before he went to bed!

Ben helped me out today by shaking the sprinkles on the sugar cookies. I must say that more sprinkles made it on the counter or floor, but that's what you get when you have a toddler help you in the kitchen. :) Every good helper deserves a treat when the job is done. Yummy! Ben's "CHEESE" smile. It looks especially nice with the green frosting teeth! :)

We traveled up to the freezing north this weekend. As I packed our winter coats, I didn't imagine actually needing to use them. It was so cold on Saturday...it started to rain and then turned into snow. I am not a snow person and I wasn't excited to see snow in October already. Brrrrr!!!! We were up in Cadillac celebrating three birthdays with Curt's family. The birthday boys included Ben, my brother-in-law Mark, and my nephew Jacob. On Saturday afternoon, we made plans to visit Geer's farm that has a pumpkin patch. The wind had really picked up by the time we left the house and it was so COLD while we were there. We didn't last too long. Everyone was freezing. We spent the rest of the day in the warm house. :) We had a great time visiting with everyone! It's fun to see Ben interact more and more with his cousins each time that we get together. I can't believe he is almost two...time certainly does fly by. Ben liked looking at some of the animals at the far...