Easter party

For Easter this year we decided to throw a little Easter egg party for your friends.  You were really missing having playmates since we hadn't seen many people over the winter while I was pregnant and so sick.  The friends that attended were Lydia, Alden, and Jaxon.

First we watched the Easter egg episode of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse that you had recently been obsessed with.

Then - the hunt!  Our yard worked great for a toddler hunt!

Somehow you gathered up over half of the Reese's Peanut Butter Cup eggs.  Those are your daddy's favorite too so maybe you just knew what to go for!

Then all you kiddos came inside to crack into your loot.  The eggs were stuffed with stickers, little gel bunnies, erasers, stamps, and little candies.

You were so exhausted once the party was over!

June pictures

You were obsessed with vacuuming for a while.  I won't fight that!  Aunt Rachel gave you this little vacuum to be easier to handle. 

This is our birthday lunch for Grammy.  I brought us Iceberg but you mostly just ate strawberries and lemonade.

A nap in our bed.

We had the house painted, and as part of the prep work I had to go around and take off all the outlet covers.  Imagine my surprise when I walked in the living room to find you trying to put them all back on!

The scarier part was that you were even putting the screws back in!

Nap with the pups.

This is the same little pool we bought your first summer.  Still does the job!

Watching Frozen for the first time while Kav and I painted the nursery for the new baby.

Just like with your room reno, you wanted to help with the nursery too.  So I let you paint the closet with a little paintbrush.

Love my boys!  This is from Father's Day.

One of the things we got Daddy for Father's Day was a Spiderman Lego car.  You were very interested in "helping" to put it together.

You never know what adventures await you when you turn the corner. . .

What a silly boy you are.

I introduced this setup and you are infatuated with it!  You'll slide over and over until you get too cold.

 This summer we finally whipped out the Batman backpack Kav and Joey gave you a couple years ago.  It's still pretty big but you put your trains or cars in it and carry it everywhere.  It's been a great substitute now that we don't carry a diaper bag anymore, and it's even better that you'll carry it yourself!

I just had to take this picture of my little stud on our way to church.  You are so cute.

I introduced you to the concept of licking the beaters after making cookies.  You were so excited and cried when I tried to take one for myself.

Bennett's prayer for Aria

"Heavenly Father, thank you for we see baby Aria, thank you for the doctors helping Aria, thank you for we go to sleep, bless baby Aria for getting better, Amen."

So sweet.

May pictures

When you play with Playdough you use cookie cutters just like most kids do, but you do it a little different.  You take a cookie cutter and push pieces of playdough into it until it's full, then pull the cookie cutter away.  Daddy showed you how to do it this way because you were getting too frustrated that you couldn't roll the playdough out and cut it that way.

What a big boy you are becoming!  Look at those long limbs!

Your first pony ride.

You usually are immune to the cold, but when you are cold you really revel in it.  On this morning I had to tuck you and your sippy all into the couch under 2 big blankets because you insisted you were freezing.

Haha. . .how does this even happen??  You must have been really sleepy!  You had started out sleeping on the couch, then woke up a bit but fell asleep again on your way down from the couch.

Lately we've noticed that you often watch tv out of this one eye. . .we can't quite figure out if you just see better out of your right eye, or if it's just a mannerisms thing.

You are building some pretty impressive tracks these days!

Aunt Amanda and Uncle Joe came for a visit.  You loved playing with them.  Amanda introduced you to Lincoln Logs.

We went to the Thanksgiving Point gardens and you slept through the whole thing!  Which is just as well, because we ended up renting a golf cart to drive around and you would have been begging to drive it if you were awake.

Concentrating hard on your artwork at the Leonardo Museum.

This picture is impressive for 2 reasons: 1 - You took this picture with my phone, 2 - Lydia intentionally posed for you.

Daddy took you on the train ride at the mall.  You were so excited!

April pictures

The game of the month - hiding in blankets and saying "come find me!"

Superman from head to toe!

Somehow you found your way into our bed for a few Saturday mornings in a row.

Reading a book to Grandpa

You wanted so desperately to help with your room renovation at the new house.  I let you take the spackle into your closet and "paint" the walls.  When it dried I didn't sand it down, I just painted over it.  So there are some nice little Bennett designs in your closet :)

Ah, the life of having a little boy.  Few things make me giggle more than coming into the kitchen to see a nakie bum in daddy's shoes casually getting himself a snack.

You were already starting to resist naps before we moved, but even more so once we moved and you didn't have blackout curtains in your new window.  So most naps take place on the couch after you fall asleep watching a movie or something.

You are obsessed with the hose spigot at the new house.  I can pretty reliably count on coming down the deck stairs to see you playing with it.

I don't mind these naps where you fall asleep on me!  Although I don't have much lap these days thanks to baby.

Helping some more with your room renovation.  You do a decent job of filling in the paint cracks!

We had Ellie over to our house.  At naptime you both swore you would sleep if I let you both sleep in my bed, but of course you didn't.

This is a little Indian outfit my cousin Jeevan gave you soon after you were born.  It finally fits!

Hunting for Easter eggs at Kav's house.

Look at that booty!

Opening your Easter card from Nana and Papa.  You loved it and gave the chickie a big hug.

Helping me work the garden beds.

Very proud of the cupcakes you helped me fill.  Later, you were equally excited to eat them.

Grandma Beverly and Pop-pop sent you this bunny for Easter.  Here you are feeding him the "carrots" (orange Reese's Pieces) that came with him.  You named him Bunny Bunny Pete, our guess is you got the name from a Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Easter episode.

3 year update

Dear Bennett,

What a big boy you are becoming!  Let me tell you some things about you at 3 years old:

• You have such good manners! Strangers who overhear you in public are constantly commenting on your manners and how well you talk in general.  More than just "please" and "thank you," it's very common to hear you say something like "excuse me please, but can I play with this?"
• You play very well on your own with your toys and make your toys have conversations with each other.  It's so cute!  You would much rather have a playmate though if you had a choice.
• You still looooooove trains.  For most of this last year your Matchbox cars have been your favorite thing, but within the last couple months you have gone nuts over trains, especially Thomas & Friends brand ones and those cartoons.
• You tell tales, suddenly.  You will tell me that Daddy said it was okay for you to do something when I know very well that he did not.  And vice versa.  We always remind you that we don't say things that aren't true, but aren't too worried about it since we know it's just a normal part of being a toddler.
• You don't like us to wander too far.  You still follow me around the house when I go downstairs or outside.  I'm fine with that since you don't insist on being in my arms constantly or anything, you just want me within eyesight.
• You have a funny goodbye routine with the pups.  You give them a hug, a kiss, and a tickle - tickling under their chin and saying "tickle tickle tickle!"
• You will NEVER turn down an opportunity to play in water, no matter the weather outside.  I just love this new house because if I ever want to wear you out in the afternoons, all I have to do is put a few inches of water in your little pool and put your slide in it and you'll play for a good hour before you get too cold.  You slide over and over and do tricks and constantly yell "watch this mom!"
• Speaking of which - you insist on calling me "mom" instead of "mama" now.  I was devastated.  For a while I would correct you and make you call me mama instead, but we've moved past that.
• Favorite foods:  hot dogs, cheesy eggs, juice, Gogurt, mac&cheese.  
• Favorite movie:  just depends on the week.  You love Monsters University, Toy Story, Curious George, and Thomas the Train pretty reliably.
• You are a whiz at anything electronic and always have been.  You can work our phones and ipad with ease, picking up tricks in games that we hadn't discovered yet.
• You get excited about making new friends and it only takes you a couple minutes to start playing with them.
• You are starting to be particular about what clothes you want to wear when I get you dressed.