Ben's 1 Year pictures

These are a little delayed. I didn't want the family to see before they got them as gifts for Christmas!! Here are some of my favorites.

Ben's first sled!

Santa also brought Ben his first sled (as well as snow pants and boots)! I wasn't sure he would like it since he doesn't like to be all bundled up. Once we got outside he LOVED it! He was smiling and looking all around. We put him up on a snow bank so he could move around if he wanted to but he just sat there...probably too hard to move in the snow suit!

Christmas 2009

Christmas with Ben this year was definitely more fun than last year. He got into the unwrapping a little, liked the toys, and loved the boxes! We spent some time in Mankato and then back up to Victoria to celebrate again with the Staloch side. Ben was spoiled by everyone and his toys are now taking over the living room (no hiding them anymore). We better get started on the basement playroom project!!








Trains, planes, and automobiles!


Look what Santa left!


Grandpa and Grandma had a train Ben LOVED to watch!


Grandpa LaMar brought Ben a rocking horse!


Present from Uncle Nic...good thing he was there to assemble it!

Present under the tree

Check this out....

Not sure why he even went under it to begin with.....just looked fun under there?! I was able to grab the camera quick enough to catch him coming out :)

Ben meets Santa

We took Ben to meet Santa last week. He wasn't real happy to sit on Santa's lap so we took a picture with all of us....although he still didn't look happy (but at least he wasn't crying). Maybe it was all the white hair he found a little scary...

Ben didn't find this guys beard scary :)

Uncle Nic and Amy babysat this weekend and they watched the Vikes game together

1st Haircut

Ben got his first haircut over the weekend. He was getting curly hockey hair in the back so it was time for it to come off! He wasn't sure what to think at first, then the crying started, Nuk was needed, then things were okay again :)

Not sure what's going on here...

Mom and Dad what are you doing to me?!

This is when the crying started...

Watching Elmo with his Nuk, everything okay again...

Funny boy

One of his favorite things to do is empty his drawer in the kitchen (it's filled with his spoons, bottles, bibs, etc.). He usually puts every spoon in his mouth as he takes them out one by one....or sometimes takes the whole tray of spoons and dumps them on the floor then picks them up to taste them all. This day he found a Walgreens medicine syringe (clean and empty of course) ....and the funniest part is he puts these things in his mouth and then crawls around with it in his mouth like a pacifier or something. Funny boy!

Mountain Climber

We put the Christmas decorations up this weekend and to keep Ben out of trouble we setup a barricade which he proceeded to climb out of!!

Birthday Cake - take 2

Take 2 went a little better, we got a few cute pictures...but I concluded he really just didn't know what to do with the cake. I would break apart smaller pieces and he ate them all up...but he didn't want to touch the whole cake. I tried to smash it so it broke into smaller pieces for him and he did pick up one big piece and eat it. Chris said I must have taught him to have good table manners....if only it was that easy :)


Can you tell he doesn't like the hat?

Singing Happy Birthday to Ben...don't worry he can't reach the candle

This is the one big bite he actually took...

and him stuffing it in his mouth :)

Ben's 1st Birthday Party

Ben's 1st Birthday Party was on Saturday the 21st. We had the Grandma's and Grandpa's over as well as the uncles and Amy. We played Ben trivia and guess how many cheerios are in the jar(thanks Laurie for the idea).

I did most of the unwrapping, he pulled at the paper a little each time, he was more interested in playing with what was inside... Although it took all the Grandparents to get the toys out of all the packaging! The new toys entertained him all day Sunday so mom and dad could rest and relax after the big party!

He wasn't very excited about his cake. I think his tummy was already pretty full from dinner. We are going to try again tomorrow for his real birthday. I'll take some more photos and post them soon!

Ben checking out his b-day balloons..

Ben's blue number 1 birthday cake

Opening his first present... and a singing card!

Mom did most of the unwrapping...

but Ben wanted to check out everything that was in the presents!

Wrapping paper is almost as fun as the toys

Sitting on his new John Deer ATV from Grandpa Staloch and holding more new toys..

Riding the truck mom and dad bought

Cleaning up after Ben

Here is what I do several times each day.....pick up after Ben takes everything out of the drawers! He does know how to put them back in but that's just not as much fun!

Walking with help

Our little man finally decided walking behind his walker might be fun. He goes from one end of the room to the other (or until he runs into furniture), then we turn him around again, and again, and again! He still prefers to crawl...much faster!

He can walk and sing at the same time!

At grandma and grandpa's showing off his new skills!

My little pumpkin was a skeleton!

Ben's first Halloween we stayed at home and handed out candy to all the neighborhood kids. Ben liked to check out everyone that came to the door. The kids thought he was pretty cute too! Uncle Nic came to visit for awhile...I was surprised his costume didn't scare Ben :)

He even glows in the dark!

Ben liked Uncle Nic's gold glasses

Helping dad pass out treats

Watching the kids leave...

Waiting for more trick-or treaters!