6 yr old Benny Boy

Benny turned 6 this month. I can hardly believe it. He is the baby that marks our move to Illinois. He came house hunting with us when he was just 4 months old and moved when he was 6 months. 

He has turned into such a funny kid. He is constantly surprising us with his older kid lingo. Some of his favorite phrases lately are "Oh biscuits," "You've got to be kidding me," and "oh fine." He often sounds like a teenager.

He is still working on saying his "R's" correctly but has recently noticed it and started correcting himself. He then accentuates the R in his own correction and it's really cute.

He has loved Kindergarten, despite only having a half-day for the first half of the year. We worked really hard together reading and he is getting really good! We are in lesson 70 of 100 of our reading book. He loves books and is really proud when he can read some of the words.

He is a great friend at school. I recently got a postcard from his teacher thanking him for being such a great friend to the new kid in class. He also loves playing with his siblings and making up games.

I'm convinced that he will be an excellent beatboxer when he grows up. He makes noises with his mouth that I can't even figure out how to do.

He still loves being tucked in every night and cuddling. His favorite song right now is either "I am a child of God" or "Nephi's courage." 

He is quite a tease to his little brothers. If one of them is screaming it is usually because Benny took something away from them. Sometimes it is because he's worried they have something they shouldn't. He tries to keep them out of trouble.

He is very compassionate and gets worried about others. His prayers are very sincere and always include many mentions of Jesus. Ex: "help us to have a good day with Jesus, " and "Help us to be more like Jesus." 

When I was putting him to bed last night he was worried about Jack whose blood sugars had been high. We talked about what diabetes is and what happens if Jack doesn't get insulin. He was very concerned and said he didn't want anyone in our family to die..."except Haken." Haken and I both had a good laugh about that. I think deep down he actually loves Haken.

He is an excellent artist and loves drawing animals. He got a sketch pad for Christmas and numbered every page. He has already filled it up halfway with drawings.

When he grows up he wants to be a zookeeper because he loves animals. He loves anything that is on a screen, but he especially likes watching wild Kratts and playing the wild Kratts game online.

On his birthday date, we were asking him questions on the drive to the restaurant. He said "we have too many kids in our family. We should only have 3 ("free") kids." After asking him which ones he would want to keep he said "Gracie and Ruby." Then we pointed out that he would be the only boy and he said "ok then, get rid of Ruby and keep Jack." Apparently, he is ok with everyone but the twins and Haken. We had a good laugh about that.

This boy is constantly surprising us. He is whitty, smart, and determined. But he is also humble, forgiving and sweet. We often joke that he is the forgotten middle child but we really couldn't live without our Benny Boy!

We celebrated by opening presents and eating cupcakes (which Jack made all by himself and then Benny said "I don't like cupcakes." He got a new wiggle car and the "butt books" he likes from mom and dad. From Grandma he got snow boots (used a week before), a remote control car, and a 6 yr old joke book. He said it was "the best day of his life" so I guess that's a win!

Benny is 4!

Benny turned 4 this month and got his dream of having a "Cheetat" cake. "Cheetat's" are his favorite. I am not really a cake maker. It always takes me way too long and I usually give up towards the end. I asked my friend Sarah who is a fantastic baker if she could make me one and she did an amazing job. It looked so real and Benny was thrilled. It was also really tasty too, so that was win. 

We love this sweet boy so much! He has been such a blessing to our family. Some things I want to remember about Benny at this age:

- He's obsessed with animals. His favorites are cheetah's, tigers, sharks, wolves, red pandas and monkeys. He is always sleeping with a stuffed animal.
- He loves to read books, especially books about animals and his favorite show is Wild Kratts.
- In the last year he has become so much more independent. He was finally potty trained in the fall and can now do it all himself. He shares a room in the basement with Jack and gets up and dressed on his own for school every morning.
- He loves to patronize his sisters, especially Ruby. He loves the screams that he gets and then acts all innocent when we ask what he did.
- We are still working with him on speaking. He can't say his R's, Th, among a few other sounds. However, he is much easier to understand now and even strangers understand now.
- He loves school and rides the bus every day back and forth. It picks him up at 7:15 am every morning. He can now step up onto the bus without too much effort. He loves his teachers Miss Emily and Mrs. Claus.
- He still takes naps every day. (Hooray!) which he really needs after getting up so early for school.
- He's a little stinker some days, but gets away with a lot when he flashes his cute little smile at us.
- He is such a good brother to his little brothers and is going to be a great example to them one day.

Haken turns 9!

Haken turned 9 on June 13th and we pretty much celebrated all week. On the day before his birthday (Sunday) we had angel food cake with whipped cream and strawberries (his favorite). 

Then, on his birthday we went to a splash pad in Urbana with some friends. 

The kids had a blast there.

The kids were obsessed with bringing the Benny buckets of water and watching them tip them over or splash them out. They called him "King Benny." He thought it was pretty cool too. 

Gracie loved filling up the bucket and dumping it on baby Olivia. I'm glad Olivia didn't mind it either. 

That night was Monday night, which has become our "softball FHE night." All of daddy's softball team games are on Monday nights this summer. The team is comprised of a whole bunch of guys from our ward, so naturally all of the wives and kids show up making it a fun big event. We brought cupcakes to share with everyone to celebrate Haken's birthday that day. Too bad they lost.

Thank night he opened up his last birthday present from Grandma, mommy, and daddy. He was pretty excited to use them the next day at his golf lesson. Earlier in the week he also got golf shoes and new running shoes so he could run a 5k with me on the 4th of July. 

A week later we took Haken out on his birthday date. He chose Red Lobster because he really loves seafood and wanted to try lobster for the first time. I think he really liked it. It's a good thing too, because his plate cost more than mine. Shad made sure to remind him that he was one lucky kid since he didn't try lobster until he was in his 20's!

Shad also very much enjoyed his crab legs. My chicken was pretty good I guess. Seafood just isn't my thing.

Jack is 2!

This little boy turned two on December 13th!

Two years seems like such a short time to me. When my brothers went on their missions two years just seemed to fly by! Although our two years with Jack have flown by I feel like he has always been a part of our family.  We had a pretty low key day for his birthday. He wasn't feel well and had a cold (again). He had a terrible cold over Thanksgiving and I am wondering if maybe this was just an extension of that cold. He took it in stride though and still managed to enjoy his birthday even though he felt yucky. We waited until after dinner and then Jack opened up his present from us.

He wasn't really sure about his present at first. I think he didn't really realize that it was for him. We got him a semi truck and I have to say that it was the most stupidly packaged toy in the world. It took Shad about an hour to get that dumb thing out. He even had to borrow a special screwdriver from our neighbors because he didn't have one that would fit just right. Try and get a two year old to wait that long! Once we got it out he just laid on the floor and played with it like this. You could tell that he didn't feel well.

  

I think we nailed it on the head with this gift though. Just look at his little face admiring all of the details.

After presents he took a bath and that made him feel much better.

Today Grandma and grandpa came and celebrated Jack's birthday with us after church. Grandma made this super cute snowman cake. The frosting set up a bit too much and turned into a hard shell but it still tasted yummy. Ignore the hole in his side, I was trying to see how hard it really was, apparently not as hard as I thought. :(

Jack's favorite gift was a little ambulance from aunt Jenni. It made LOTS of noise and it didn't leave his side for at least two straight days. Thanks aunt Jenni! He also got a much needed new car seat from Grandma and Grandpa.

Loving grandma's cake

Gracie liked the plate more than the cake

Happy birthday to my sweet Jack! You bring so much light into our home and I couldn't imagine our house without your funny, adorable personality. You bring happiness to everyone you meet and everyone loves you from the instant they meet you. So excited to see you grow up to a funny little boy!

5 years! Where did the time go?

On June 13th Haken turned 5 years old! I can't believe that it has been 5 years since I held that first precious baby in my arms. I still remember the nurses commenting on his little dimpled chin and thinking about how cone-headed and alien he looked. It was one of the best moments of my life. He has been such a perfect little kid and I am so looking forward to seeing him grow up. He amazes me everyday with his knowledge and curiosity for everything around him. 

This is actually the 3rd time that we celebrated his birthday in the last month. He was a pretty lucky boy to have presents all throughout the month. I decided we would hit the Brigham pool with our friends for his actual birthday, mainly just for something to do. It was our first time this summer and he could go down the big slide all by himself this year. He went down it all day long which is probably why I didn't get any pictures of him. Jack LOVED the water too. Last year he wasn't much of a fan at 6 months, but this year I had to keep him from getting out too far. 

After the pool we had his favorite meal: Hawaiian Haystacks

Then he got his presents from mom and dad: A few books, new pajamas, and a lego table made just for him. He was super excited about the lego table, which I was glad about. He plays with legos everyday and has become quite the little architect. Hopefully this will keep his legos contained a bit better.

After a tired Jack went to bed we had some birthday cake with Haken. I kind of threw it together last minute after being at the pool all day. I don't think he was too disappointed because it tasted yummy.

I had to light the candles twice because he blew them out as we were singing "Happy Birthday." I guess I should have told him that you wait until after we are done singing to blow them out...

He was one happy, but tired kid on his birthday. I can't believe he is already 5 and will be going to kindergarten! I love spending my days with him and listening to his philosophy on everything. I'm so glad that he came into our family. Love you Haken Bacon!

The Birthday Train

For Haken's 3rd birthday we rode the Front Runner train down to Salt Lake from Ogden and spent the day there. Haken liked it so much that we decided to do it again this year for his 5th birthday. This time it was also fun because Jack was with us (although he was last time, just in the womb instead). We went on the 1st of June, not Haken's real birthday of the 13th, but close enough. With all the preparations for the baby coming I decided it was better for us to go earlier in the month. I don't think he minded celebrating early. 

We boarded the train at 9:15 AM. I think we only had a few minutes to spare when we got to the train station in Ogden. It was important that we got on that train because the next one didn't leave for another hour. 

I thought that maybe riding the train would not only be a fun activity, but also save on gas, after calculating fuel costs I found that it actually ends up being $2 more for us to ride the train down for the day. Although the kids are so much happier not be strapped into a car seat and Shad and I can sit and relax instead of being annoyed with every driver on the way down.

Here are a few pictures from our ride....don't mind Haken who thinks he needs to make a funny face or pose in every single picture lately...

The goofball himself

Jack loving the train. The first 5 minutes he wasn't sure,
but he warmed up quick.

Riding with Daddy

Both wanting a window seat to themselves

When we got to Salt Lake we rode the TRAX line down to the Gateway mall and met our family there.   Grandma & Grandpa Evans, Jenni, Cam, Lisa, Taylor, Riley, and Grandma & Grandpa G.G. ate lunch with us at Rumbi Grill and then we went to a 3D IMAX movie at the planetarium about animals in the arctic. Haken was fascinated with the whole thing. It was his first time at a 3D movie as well as mine. It was pretty cool, especially on an IMAX screen. Jack didn't want to wear the glasses, but sat relatively well for it being his first movie and during his naptime.

Sporting the 3D glasses with Grandma, Taylor, and Jenni

After the movie the boys changed into their swimming suits and we went and met cousins Grady and Amelia at the fountains. It was a perfect day to get wet and the boys loved it. Jack especially loved to stick his face right up to the hole and let it squirt him. Daddy also got pretty wet running around with Jack

Getting splashed in the face

Showing me how wet he is

Pure bliss

Cousin Taylor 

Getting warm with grandma

All worn out and ready to go

We were glad that grandma brought her car so that we could hitch a ride back to her house for dinner. Cousins Grady and Amelia came to dinner with us. I don't think I saw Haken for more than 5 minutes the whole time we were there because he was having a blast in the basement with Grady. The necklaces they are wearing are portable swords that they made. They can be straightened out to use at a moment's notice. We should really get together with them more. Haken had so much fun.

Sitting at the big boy table (this lasted about 2 minutes for Jack)

Waiting for his presents

Showing me how old he will be

Present from Grady and Amelia

 We were glad that Grandma and Grandpa brought up his birthday present (his new bike) early so that we could board the train a little easier on the way home.

At 8:00 grandma drove us down to the station by her house so that we could board the train back to Ogden. Once again we barely made it there in time so we didn't have to wait another hour, although we did have enough time to snap a picture at the station before we got on.

We made it to Ogden by 8:45 and got home around 9:30. It was a pretty exhausting, but fun day together as a family. This may become a tradition and we could head down for every birthday. Maybe next time I will make daddy take a few pictures so that I can be in a few...

Haken thinks that the best part is that he still has one more day to celebrate before his birthday is officially over. We sure do love him! I'm glad we can make him feel special all month because he really deserves it!