Getting ready for the baby to come!

I've bought the diapers and coming home from the hospital outfit, I've

washed and hung all the baby clothes (and massively reorganized my entire upstairs in the process---nesting is an interesting but lovely instinct!) We him a new carseat and found the perfect sit and stand stroller so I can still strap Ben down when needed. I was completely ready...all except one thing....dun dun dun duuuuuuuuuunnn the dreaded moving Ben out of the crib into the freedom of a "big boy bed!"

I was SO nervous about how Ben would do with the move! From the day he was born it's taken him a long time to fall asleep, about a half hour every time. It's been fine because he's always been very independent about putting himself to sleep, he'd just play in the cr

ib for a half hour or so and then dose off. He's been the BEST sleeper a

mom could ask for! I was terrified that during that half hour it takes for him to fall asleep he just wouldn't be able to resist getting out of the bed and running around. Thankfully, he has Zack!!!

Zack was SOOOOOOOO excited for Ben to move into his room! We started out by letting Ben know the most important rule...STAY IN YOUR BED! I told Ben he had 3 chances, if he got out more than that he'd have to sleep in the crib, I'm not sure he even understood what I meant, but Zack sure did, and he REALLY, wanted Ben to sleep in his room. So every time Ben would get start to get out of bed Zack would say "No Ben! Stay in bed or mom won't let you sleep in here!" When Ben would stay in bed Zack would cheer him on and say "Good job Ben, good job!" over and over again. He is seriously the sweetest b

rother ever!!

We also have a video baby monitor, so for 3 nights I sat outside his room and everytime he'd start to get out of bed I'd open the door and say "uh, uh, uh Ben, get back in bed!"

He's look so surprised to be caught so quickly but would quickly climb back in bed. I think between knowing he'd be caught instantly if he tried to sneak out plus having Zack's encouragement he was bound to do well! After 3 nights he had the routine down and hasn't tried to sneak out of bed since! I'm SO happy to have this taken care of, it was my last big thing I wanted to have accomplished before the baby comes!

As you can see the boys have been doing some preparations of their own! When the box of baby diapers arrived from my trusty amazon mom subscription the boys begged to be able to play with them! They each got a diaper and spent the next hour practicing putting them on their bears!

Just for kicks, I thought I'd add these pics of the boys playing together during my massive reorganization phase when I had tons of boxes out for them to play with!

These boys play together so well, and come up with the most creative things to do. I sure love them!

Bestest Buddies!

I love these boys, in the past few months they have become the best of friends!

From the minute they wake up in the morning they are quickly off into fantasy land. They do everything together! Zack creates, Ben follows, and they are both very happy with the arrangement!

Whether it's shooting the bad guys, playing with cars, reading stories, building towers, they are doing it together...

All too often I hear that scary sound every mother dreads....silence! I go

looking for them wondering if they are being naughty to find them quietly playing fun game together like hiding in the closet putting their bears down for naps or building a garage for their cars. It's normal for a 4 year old to enter fantasy land so intently for so long but I'm always amazed at how long Ben will stay completely focused and happy when he'd playing with his big brother!

Ben LOVES to wrestle and the second Zack is anywhere near the ground it starts a 20 minute wrestling match! The best part...they hardly ever hurt each other! They are both very careful boys and know how to be rough without hurting each other or the stuff around them (I LOVE that part about it!:)

Is it always a fairy tale land where they play happily all day long? Of course not! But truly do love and appreciate each other, and as young as they are, that always amazes me!

I LOVE these boys! I love that they are learning to be best buddies at such a young age, and I can't WAIT for their new little brother to enter the family! I was totally hoping for a girl but these last few months watch Ben and Zack together makes me SO excited for this little guy to join our family. Boys are so awesome and I'm SO blessed to have a house full of them to raise! :)

Big Boy Ben turned 2!

So I have been HORRIBLE at keeping our blog updated. I'm hoping to someday catch upbecause I like to print it as a family journal but in the mean time I wanted to make sure I didn'twant to miss Ben's Birthday since it's a rather special day and he's rather important to me andthis family! :)

The festivities for Ben's bday started a week early because it Grandpa B. was going to be out oftown. My favorite part of it was when we brought the cake out.

We hadn't really reviewed the whole "blowing out the candles concept" and when he gave it a trythe fire going away and smoke that came up TERRIFIED him! His automatic response when he'sfeeling any emotion to the extreme (happy, sad, mad, scared, etc.) is to hide his face.

So naturally that's what he did, he's such a cutie!

The first time I asked Ben what he wanted for his Birthday he looked at me with a blank stare.He had no idea what I meant, so I started giving him ideas, "Do you want presents? Toys?Stuffed animals? Candy?" He continued to stare blankly at me until I mentioned candy, then hiseyes lit up and he got all excited and kept saying "CANDY, CANDY, CANDY!" So it became arunning joke that all he wanted for his B-day was candy. His aunt Trisha got him his 2 favoritethings, a stuffed animal, and CANDY! :)

From the day Ben was born he's been a texture kid. He LOVES anything soft and fuzzy,therefore suffed animals are his top fav. toy to play with. He's carrying one (lots of different onesbut ALWAYS a very furry and fuzzy one) around 90% of the day.

The trial run party the week before his actual Birthday turned out to be a great thing becausewhen his real birthday rolled around he was super excited, he'd spent the entire week walkingaround singing "Happy Birthday" to himself!

Zack was equally excited for Ben's birthday to come

and had bought, with his OWN money, a toy gun for Ben which turned out to be one of Ben'sfavorite presents.

Along with his stuffed puppy of course!

He was ecstatic about every present he got though, he had lots of "ooooo's and ahhh's even with the cloths he got!

After opening presents we went to our parent's ward Christmas parties. The kid's got to see both sets of grandparents PLUS see santa! The ladder actually wasn't the
ir favorite though, I think Ben would agree with Zack the Santa was "kinda a lot scary." :)

It is tradition in our house the the kids have to give me so cute pics on their Birthday to document how big they've grown in the last year. Ben was a sport and was patient with me just long enough to get some cute pics of him!

After that he took his nap and we braved the massive chaos of Chuckecheese. It was crazy busy, super crowded and noisy, but the kids loved it so it was worth the chaos! :) No pics for you though, I was a dork and deleted the pics from my card before downloaded them, big lame OOPS!

Anyway, now that I've given you a lame documentary of the events of the day I just have to add that I absolutely ADORE this little guy! He has always been a naturally happy boy. He is nothing but smiles until you get him fired up and then he'll let show a burst of his passion and be right back to his easy going self moments later. He LOVES his older brother and while they fight regularly they are also each other's best buddies. Now that Ben is better able to communicate and enter an imaginary world with Zack they'll spend several hours each day playing together and LOVING IT! Ben LOVES music and while you can't always understand the words he's saying you can always figure out the song he's singing because he get's the tones exactly right (a talent definitely inherited from Trent, NOT me!) He loves to color, be outside, and go to his grandparent's houses! He's a total momma's boy which I of course love! I adore this little boy of mine and can't imagine life without him!

Happy Birthday!

2 Years ago today we welcomed this handsome little man into our family!

He brings so much fun and happiness into our lives, I can't imagine life without him!

Family Pictures!!

One would think since I have the gear and am taking family pictures for other people ALL THE TIME I'd have an updated picture of my own family right!? Well, it's much harder than you think to take a picture with yourself in it! :)

It has proven even more difficult to find the time to work on my OWN pictures lately! So for now...you get 3 pictures. We took lots more and there are lots of cute ones and hopefully in the near future I'll get them all edited!

Every kid goes through the no phase....

But Ben has taken his to a whole new level, instead of "no" it's "no way?" Always coming out more as a question than a declaration. I love this kid, he sure makes me laugh!

Fun in the snow...

Last week we were able to escape boring ol' regular life and head up to a cabin with some of our awesomest friends! The best part...RELAXING! It was snowy and cold up in the mountains but absolutely gorgeous!! The munchkins LOVED getting a chance to play in the snow!

I loved staying up late watching funny movies and being able to have interesting conversation with ADULTS all day long!

Ben scared the bjeebers out of us when he managed to open the cabinet drawers in the bathroom, CLIMB up them, and get the bottle of children's Ibprofen at the BACK of the adult size counter all while I was not watching him! Not only did he manage to do all that on his own but he also got past the "childproof" lid and took a big old swig. Luckily 90% of it ended up on the floor and all over his shirt but during the moments on the phone with poison control my heart was probably beating a million times per minute! FYI, he would have had to drink an ENTIRE 4 oz. bottle for them to consider him "poisoned" and recommend we rush him to the nearest ER. Instead we were able to stay a the cabin and just watch him closely...especially since his balance was quite a bit compromised!

In the spirit of Halloween we decided to do make some oreo spiders, the kids had fun making them, and even more fun eating them!

Zack said his favorite was part was being able to play with friends RIGHT when he woke up in the morning without even having to change his clothes! :)

The biggest hit of the trip in my opinion...ICE CYCLES! ALL the kids were obsessed! :)