Happy 2nd Birthday, Ben!

Hot diggeety dog!

That was the theme of Ben's 2nd birthday party.  There was a time in my son's life when his favorite thing in the world was dogs.  Dogs have now been eclipsed by trains, but when I was planning the party the canines were still number one.  So we had a dog party instead of a train one. 

Which is kind of a shame because some variation of Choo Choo Two! would have made a cute theme.

But for my little buddy's party we had:

Puppy dog cupcakes.
 Note: if you make these do not put the ears on the night before.  When you cover them up the ears will break off and you'll have half-eared dogs.

My birthday cake. 
Or a variation of it.  The original cake, which I ate while Travis napped with a newborn Ben, was Barefoot Contessa's Plum Tatin.  I didn't have time to make that, so I made a plum upside down cake out of a yellow cake mix.  It wasn't as good as the tatin, but it got the job done.

So I forgot to take the picture when the bowls were full, but we also had puppy chow, corn dog bites, MnM's, chips, and variations of home made salsa. 

It was a gorgeous day so we had the windows open.
Ben is signing "more" because he likes us singing to him. 

He was really excited to blow out his candles.

Ben's cupcake with an MnM 2 on it.

So excited for his presents.

Look how cute this kid is!

Caught with her mouth full.

Playing with his toys.

Rubbing noses with his new Thomas bed.

The party was a lot of fun.  We are really blessed with a great family and a really great little boy.  Ben is one of the cutest boys in the world!

What a blessing!