Benny - 27 months

I don't want to forget this kid at this moment in his life.

He is so much personality. So much determination. So much joy. 

He is a huge fan of the park and my first kid to willingly head down the slide.

He's president, vice president and CEO of the Ethan Packer fan club. 

Loves to chat it up with his cousins, be it over facetime or in real life.

He is s scooting maniac. I used to walk along side him on our scoots around the neighborhood. Then I started scooting along side him on the kids' scooter. Now, if I want to keep up with him, I just ride my bike. 

Not a fan of jackets. He has a pullover that I convinced him was "just a shirt" which he repeats over and over while wearing said jacket. 

Eats a minimum of 5 fruit/veggie pouches a day (he calls them applesauce).

Also loves yogurt with granola.

If I ask him to do something for me, he says, "sure!"

If he wants to do something, he begins his request with "should we?" (i.e. Should we go to the park? Should we have a treat?)

He is pretty good about going to bed, as long as you do it just right. Brush teeth, kiss/ hug/ say good night to each member of the family, gather 2-3 cars, read two books, lights off, sing a few songs. 

Really likes using the loo. Correction, likes the candy he gets for using the loo.

Loves to have his hair done. And loves even more messing it up after it's done.

Attends nursery with delight and excitement. 

Picks up words to songs easily, even songs that the kids make up. I made up a little song to teach him how to spell his name. B-E-N, that spells Ben. He's not a hen, he's my friend. He loves it and sings it with joy. The funny thing is, he has no idea who "Ben" is. He's Benny.

One of his favorite things to play with is the buckle on his booster. He likes to buckle it up and then asks me to "buckle down."

His go-to thing to play on his own is cars. They have personalities and stories (and sometimes they get in trouble and have to say sorry to each other),  he lines them up.

He loves colors and loves pointing out the colors of things.

His favorite place in the whole world is the trampoline park and we try to go a couple times a month.
He has a special relationship with Alexa and has her singing to him on the regular. His top picks these days are Believer (by Imagine Dragons) and Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star. Similar genre.
He, and this is important, must get up and dance when there is music doing on.
He has a favorite shirt. His Mickey shirt. He wears it twice between each wash and immediately following laundry day. I don't even think he knows much about Mickey, but he sure loves that shirt.
There is a train track right by our house and it's basically a dream come true. When we hear it, he asks, "hear it, mom? A train!"

Christmas

 As I've gotten older and softer (in more ways than one), I've stopped forcing my babies onto the man in the red suit. So this year, the whole family got in on the photo. 

The ward Christmas party was a smashing success, thanks in part to a beautiful angel and strapping young shepherd.

And a perfectly delightful young reindeer.

Benny and I were sure to join for the kids' class parties and you better believe Benny snuck his fair share of candy from the tables. 

We had a whole week off before Christmas and we filled our time wisely.

Then, it was off to Minnesota.

Watch out, Julia Childs. 

Back in Texas, we visited some ice sculptures that were pretty cool (haha get it? get it?)

Disney Cruise

There aren't words to describe a Disney cruise. They're just the best. The. best. 

Every crew member, destination, excursion, meal, activity is so amazing. I believe in fairy dust, because it is sprinkled in abundance on these cruises and everything is just magical.

The above picture documents so many important moments for our family. It was the first, and only, time my artistic creation was better than Greg's. It was our first meeting with "Mitchy-moo-moo," our favorite cast member, who taught us to "live your life." We also had a new family member for 30 seconds. We never knew her name, or even met her. But her wanting so badly to be in our family photo taught us that she's a gem and we wish we knew her better. 

The character breakfast was pretty awesome sauce. 

Oh, the nightly shows. Why doesn't real life include nightly performances? 

It POURED rain the day we went to Stingray City, in Grand Cayman. It's too bad, because the catamaran ride would have been so dreamy. But swimming with all the stingrays was still quite amazing. 

Jamaica is my spirit animal. It's so gorgeous. And FUN! Those people know how to party. 

Have a little mountain? Let's throw up a ski lift and send people on a roller coaster!

As we were flying down the mountain, I tried to get a selfie of me and Drew, so I was shouting, "Smile!" Drew didn't hear me, but the random worker did and he jumped in! Have I mentioned 12 million times already that I love Jamaicans?!?!

Dunn's River Falls was in there, too, but it's hard to get the pictures. Maybe someday I'll get them off the DVD and put them in there. Suffice it to say, it was TERRIFYING, bringing the littles up the falls. But it was also incredible and and a lot of fun. I will say the same about our tour van driver. It was pouring, like crazy rain I've never experienced, and he was driving like he was in the Indy 500. But tour guide Momma Lisa just kept talking like it was no big deal.

Pirate Night 

I won't deny that I allow the servers to cut Ethan's steak every night. 

Ethan and Greg got onto one of the shows. They were TERRIBLE. The hilarious host kept asking, "is that really your dad?"

In his defense, Ethan was making up answers on the spot.

I love that we were able to cruise with Jimmy's family this year. I can never get enough cousin/aunt/uncle/niece/nephew time.