Benton at 18 months

Benton is 18 months old... we love our little Benton Boo, or Bents as Jacks likes to call him. He is such a sweet, happy, funny little guy and we love having him as a part of our family. At eighteen months he has a lot to say... he talks constantly. Some of the words that he says the best are ball, dadda, mamma, cartoon (yes, he asks for a cartoon and milk every morning when he wakes up), bird, dog, woof, and santa. Benton loves to play with toys and he loves to read books. He is really funny about books though- he wants to just sit next to me, and he wants to turn all of the pages. After we are done, he likes to take the book and keep looking at it himself. He is a very independent little guy. He actually thinks that he is just as old and capable as Jackson. He loves to climb on everything and he loves to play chase... he has actually gotten to be pretty fast. He also likes teasing his brother- I really think that he just likes to hear Jackson scream (we are definitely working on that...the teasing and screaming). He had his first dentist visit last night and he was such a good little boy. I think that it helped that Jackson went first and so of course if it was something that Jackson did, Benton also needed a turn. He climbed right up into the chair so brave and opened his mouth wide so they could brush and count his teeth- it was really so cute. Benton loves music and he is a great little dancer. He does circle after circle until he is so dizzy that he can't even stand up anymore. I am not sure why he thinks that to dance you need to go in a circle but it is so funny. Benton hates to get his pants on- he would probaly be the happiest kid ever if he could just be in only his diaper all day. He also doesn't like having someone brush his teeth. He loves to brush his own teeth and he does it about 10 times a day but for some reason (besides in the dental office) he doesn't coooperate very well. Benton is my little alarm clock- I know by his cry that it is 7 O'clock and he really doesn't ever miss a day of waking up right on time. Benton loves to play with kids and he gets so excited when we have friends over. He also really loves babies, which is good, seeing as how we are going to have another baby in this family the first of August. He loves hugs and kisses and he will give them any time I want- he always pats me on the back when we are hugging and it is one of my favorite things. I love playing with Benton because he is so much fun and he gives the best little smiles and giggles. I am so thankful everyday that we have such a healthy and happy little boy. Life couldn't be better.

Supplies :)

"Hey mom." "What Jackson honey?" "Are we going to get shot in this town?" "Why do you think that we are going to get shot Jacks?" "Well mom, these houses all have a lot of supplies."
This was a conversation Jackson and I had as we were driving through a little bit ghetto area of clearfield. The supplies that he was talking about were all of the junky cars and other junk outside of this run down neighborhood. Supplies...a much nicer way to look at junk I suppose.

October 25- November 8 Catching Up

Today is a perfect day for catching up on my blog... since Mo helped me to get all of my Monday chores done yesterday because someone was coming to see our house. Which,we have had no luck in selling- and having a house for sale that lots of people want to look at but no one wants to buy is really frustrating! Hopefully this will be the last house that we will be selling for awhile :). So, October was so crazy busy and so much fun! Jackson and Benton absolutely love Halloween. Starting with October 25... we went to a really fun Halloween party at my aunt Kristies where everyone(except Mo who hates dressing up)went in costume. My favorite was Brads costume(as Jackson said,"I think he is a muffin maker or something). We ate dinner and played games...my aunt Kristie since as long as I can remember has always been the one to plan and get everyone involved in games. For this party she had a donut eating contest, sucking m&m's with a straw, and a game where you had to pick up a bag with your teeth. It was all so much fun. October 26 was my dads birthday- because it was on a Monday we didn't do any special activity like we normally do (although my dad did go on a hike by himself) we just went to eat and had cake and ice cream after. I can't believe my dad is only 1 year away from 60. Time passes too quickly- It would be nice if it could just pause every once in awhile to give us a chance to enjoy the moment a little longer. I am happy to see my dad so concerned about being healthy at this stage in his life because I need him to be around for me and my boys for many more birthdays. He does so much for us and I am so thankful for the father and grandfather that he is. October 27th-Jackson had his first friend birthday party at Chuck e cheese pizza. He had it with one of his very best little buddies Cade whose birthday is exactly one week before his and they had a great time. Jackson loved everything...the games, the presents, and his Indiana Jones cake. October 29th Jackson had his first school Halloween party and a costume parade. Jackson was a cute little batman. On October 30th we had our ward trunk or treat. It was Bentons first trick or treating experience and he had so much fun carrying around his bucket to get candy. He still always wants to carry his bucket around the house and to have me put things in it for him. Jackson alreay knew that he really liked trunk or treating- in fact last halloween he didn't want to go to houses anymore he wanted to go back to the church parking lot with all the cars. October 31- Halloween- we got the boys all dressed up and headed to Peterson to visit Grandma and Grandpa Palmer and to Mountain Green to visit Grandma and Grandpa Vogt. My boys are lucky to have grandparents that love them so much. We were going to take Jackson trick or treating around Trappers Point but all he wanted to do was to pass out candy. He loved passing out candy and Benton loved helping. Everytime they heard the door they would both go running. Jackson was so funny... he took his job very seriously and he made really good conversation with the kids. I was happy about the homeade donuts from one of my parents neighbors...they were fabulous. November 1st- we had Jacksons family birthday party at our house. Gary, Kathy, and Steffan came... and all of my family. It was the first time that I made a homeade cake and it turned out pretty good if I do say so myself (thanks to Nikki for the recipe). Jackson got a lot of really fun presents and he loved to have everyone sing to him. November 2nd- Jacksons official birthday. He was actually confused a little bit about his birthday since he had already had had 2 parties but he definitely didn't complain about more celebrating and more presents. We took him out to eat breakfast- which he loves- and then we took him to Toys R Us to shop around and pick out some more birthday stuff. We need to remember that choosing is hard when you are only 4. We also went to the park for a picnic lunch and out to eat at Red Lobster for dinner. You wouldn't think that a 4 year old little boys favorite food would be seafood but ours is- he loves shrimp and crab and lobster. It was a totally packed totally fun day. I am still a little shocked that Jackson is already 4- it seems like just yesterday that he was my little baby and now he is my little boy(big boy if you ask him). At 4 he is such a good little kid- he is so funny and makes us laugh everyday with the things that he says- he also is really thoughtful and he takes such good care of his mommy and his little brother. His favorite things right now are transformers and lego's. He loves going to school and he loves drawing and making crafts. He also likes Indiana Jones (which he has never seen :)). He is also starting to be pretty responsible. He is able to shower and get dressed himself (including socks, shoes, and buttons) and he also does a really good job at brushing his teeth. He does a really good job of picking up after himself and he is a really good little helper- especially with dinner, he loves to help me cook. He still loves his blanky and he still loves stories. He is a really happy confident little boy and I am so thankful everyday that I get to be his mommy. I hope he had a happy birthday! Benton doesn't have his binky anymore- we couldn't find it one night and we just put him to bed without it and he went right to sleep. So, we figured it was a good time to get rid of it. Since not having his binky he actually has a lot to say. We are not sure what he is saying but it seems pretty interesting :). He is saying more and more words that we do understand though. Ball, bowl (as in the halloween candy bowl), up, dadda, and he said pumpkin the other night.

Happy Birthday Grandpa

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What a sweet boy I have...

Jackson was so sweet today. When I got home from work he said,"Mommy you look tired and like you have had a hard day... you should take a little rest." "I have an idea for you, you can borrow my blanky- it is really soft." So as I layed down Jackson brought me his blanky and placed it right by my face- then he handed me his transformers (the ones he has been holding all week- even as he sleeps) and said that if I hold these that they will help me to have good happy transformer dreams. I am so thankful for a son that wants to take such good care of his mommy :).

Off to Mountain Green

Well- after our whole married life of wanting to and trying to we are finally going to be able to move up to Mountain Green. We will be starting construction ASAP on a home that we have already picked out, and it should be done by the end of March or first of April. We took Jackson and Benton to see it last night and Jackson was already making plans for his new bedroom which he and Benton will share. He said that he would sleep on the top bunk and that Benton would sleep on the bottom bunk and that if Benton gets scared in the night or something that he would just sleep in Bentons bed next to him. It was really so cute. He also said that he wants to paint it red. Red? Who knows why? I hope that as Benton gets older that they always still love and take care of each other as much as they do now. As for building our home... we have the home picked out now which lot?