Happy Birthday Ben!!!

Today was Ben's 2nd birthday party, and it was a BLAST. I love the photo above, with Ben looking so serious with those somber little lips. He's such a happy-go-lucky little boy, that the expression in this photo just cracks me up! Ben's mom is my best friend Sue, who I've talked about before in this post. We've been BFFs for over 20 years now, crazy! And even crazier, we have 2 year olds running around and keeping us on our toes!

Anyway, the party was so much fun, and Sylvie was just so excited to go celebrate Ben's big day. She totally gets the whole birthday = party = cake concept, so she was GUNG-HO from the second she opened her eyes. We practiced singing the Happy Birthday song all morning, just to make sure that she would actually sing "Happy Birthday to BEN" and not her usual "to Sylvie". Though I think when it actually came time for the cake she was so captivated by the allure of burning candles and chocolatey goodness that she totally forgot to sing at all.

So the party got off to a roaring start with some jumping in the big bouncy toy:

Sue decided that the kids weren't having quite enough fun and needed her help. And as it turns out, she was right, she had them doing songs and dances and routines in there, while the kids breathlessly screamed "more, more!!" and "again!!" over and over. Here they are playing Ring Around the Rosy, which I think was Sylvie's favorite.

Here's an action shot right after the "we all fall DOWN!" part of the song:

Later on in the afternoon Sue's niece Meghan gave the kids a quick little nature lesson when she showed them a real live caterpillar up close and personal:

There were bike rides...

...and batting practices...

...and even some extreme badminton. Yes, this is Ben's father Alex playing badminton on the roof of the shed.

Later on Ben opened his gifts:


And then while waiting for the cake, he and Syl snuck in a few smooches:


There were trucks piled high with brownies:

And then finally, CAKE!!

Sylvie goes in for a second piece:

Happy Birthday Bennie!! We love you so much!!