Little Cowboy

Here are some pictures of Benjamin's newest toy-a beautiful rocking horse from Grandma Linda and Dave. Dave made it himself and we love it! Benjamin especially loves playing with the felt ears and putting the hair in his mouth.

Merry Christmas!

Ok so I know we're a little late posting these pictures...better late than never though, right? We had a great Christmas as well. Santa brought Benjamin many, many things and he is having a great time playing with all of his new toys. In the picture above, you'll see that Benjamin was quite spoiled by grandma and grandpa. My favorite gift from them was a pair of pajamas that say, "What Santa Doesn't Bring Me For Christmas Grandma Will". Definitely the case!!!
Benjamin with his new light up grill, which is part of his kitchen. Pretty much the only way I could convince Eric (I mean Santa) that Benjamin should get a kitchen for Christmas. He loves it!

Reading one of his new books after opening it. He is such a reader!

Sweeping with his new broom. He loves to clean!

Full shot of his new kitchen!

Christmas Eve

Of course Benjamin had to get in an empty box and play with the wrapping paper. Classic 1-year-old, right? We had Eric's family over for Christmas Eve, including Grandpa Larry, Aunt Natalie, and Uncle Paul. We had a great night and Benjamin put on quite a show as always :)

Benjamin with daddy and Grandpa Larry on his new excavator truck. He loves it! Thank you Grandpa!

Yummy wrapping paper!

All dressed up for church on Christmas Eve.

Grandpa wrapped Benjamin's present in Elmo wrapping paper, and as you can see, Benjamin noticed and was very excited to see Elmo!

Benjamin at church on Christmas Eve. He didn't do so well-we lasted about 3o minutes through mass because we had to get there 30 minutes early to get a seat. He had a great time running through the halls of the church though :)

Daddy and Benjamin before church!

Rock A Bye Baby

Look who's hanging out in Benjamin's rocking chair with him :) These two had so much fun together, I literally couldn't get Benjamin to get out of the chair he was having so much fun. I also love this picture because you can see all his teeth-he has a mouth full! 12 teeth-including his 4 molars.

We FINALLY have SNOW!

We woke up this morning and were so excited-we FINALLY have snow in Detroit! Of course we bundled Benjamin up in his new jacket and snow gear (thank you grandma and grandpa!) and headed outside. I had no doubt that he would absolutely love the snow, and my predictions were correct. He had a big smile on his face the whole time he was outside (well, except when he would fall flat on his back and couldn't get up. Reminded me so much of A Christmas Story!) Here's hoping we get a bit more before Christmas, and a TON more once we're back in school so that I can have SNOW DAYS! :)

Christmas Pictures-FAIL!

For those of you wondering why you haven't received a Christmas card from the Ozog's yet, these pictures might help explain :) Last weekend, we got Benjamin all cleaned up, put him in his Christmas sweater, and attempted to take pictures of Benjamin in front of our Christmas tree. As you can see, Benjamin had other plans. He did NOT want to sit still, kept getting up, and refused to look at the camera. He eventually ended up on the kitchen floor (see top photo) very upset...so we just decided to call it a day. When you get our card, you'll see that we had to use pictures from this fall-still cute, but not what I had in mind!

Santa Claus is Coming To Town!

Benjamin met Santa Claus when we went to get our Christmas tree. He wasn't scared at all-he just kept staring at Santa the whole time and then looking at his mom and dad very confused. He was all smiles, although of course he wouldn't look at the camera!

Babies, Babies, Babies!

We have so many new babies in our life in the last month! Our dear friends Mike and Molly welcomed their daughter, Grace Hamilton, on November 10th. We were able to meet my cousin Matt and Erin's new baby, Charlie, at Thanksgiving. Our friends Matt and Jess also welcomed TWIN baby girls on December 4th, Ava and Natalie. Benjamin isn't so sure what to think of all of these babies, although he definitely does not appreciate his mom holding them! :)

Oh Christmas Tree

It was such a beautiful day the Saturday after Thanksgiving, so we decided that we HAD to go get our Christmas tree before it turned freezing cold! We went to Oxford to get our tree and Benjamin loved being outside. He was a little bit confused at first, but eventually he was running around like crazy. The cutest thing was when Benjamin wanted to "help" carry the tree after we cut it down. He insisted on daddy holding him while he carried the tree in a cart to the car.

Benjamin is doing pretty well with the tree, although he does enjoy taking ornaments off of it and occasionally taking a run through the living room while holding onto the ribbon on our tree.

Thanksgiving 2009

Well I realize that almost a month has gone by since Thanksgiving-but we've just been THAT busy around here. We went to my Aunt Mary Beth and Uncle Mark's like we do every year and had a wonderful time. Benjamin was able to play with Jack, who is my cousin Tim and Moe's son, and he loved following him around and playing with him. The next day, Uncle Paul, Aunt Natalie, and Grandpa Larry came over to our house for another Thanksgiving dinner. Benjamin enjoyed their company and as always, put on quite a show.

Me and My Pets

Wrestling with his best friend Chloe!
Spinning Spaz around in the chair-can you tell she's having fun?

Throwing goldfish at Chloe-one of Benjamin's favorite things to do! :)

Priceless expression on his face

Adorable!

My friend Kristie from work took this picture and sent it to me yesterday. This is her daughter Olivia, who is 20 months old, and Benjamin enjoying being outside. Kristie helped me out SO much and watched Benjamin 2 days a week for the last few months. It has been such an incredible November! We are loving spending time outside-hope this great weather continues and winter never decides to come :)

Benjamin's First Haircut

I can't believe it! Benjamin got his first haircut today-it was a bit overdue. He started to have wings on the side and wisps in the front. Benjamin took a trip to a downtown Royal Oak hair salon-what a big boy! The girl who cuts my hair, Kristyn, cut his hair and it looks ADORABLE! He did really good for the most part, of course he got a bit antsy at the end but overall he did really well. He really looks grown up tonight! When we got home I just realized more and more that he is a little boy and not a baby anymore!
Love this face. By the way, if you recognize this jacket, it was not originally mine! It turned up in our house right after Benjamin's birthday party and I never heard back from its' original owner. I do love it though, so hope no one claims it!

Happy to be free after his haircut!

Close up of the front!

Happy November

I love Benjamin's face in this picture! He is feeling the same way we are about less time to spend outside and it getting dark at 5:30 every night!
Ohhhh this dog never seems to surprise me. Stealing Benjamin's little chair that he loves so much.

Training him at a young age to be a power shopper!