Twenty-Two Months!

Hello! Oh man, this month flew by and I'm WAY late on my monthly post! So, what's been going on the past month? A whole lot of fun, that's what! :)

Benjamin turned 22 months old. Seriously, the kid just needs to turn 2 already. I've been thinking he's two years old forever now, but we've still got a couple months to go. He just acts like such a big boy! He walks around the place, jumping up and down, leaping off of heights, talking my ear off, recognizing all his letters, numbers and shapes (did I mention we can add diamond, rectangle, oval, pentagon, and octagon to the list? He's amazing.) He's been doing some silly things this month. He knows that my name is Lindsay and daddy's name is Joel. And he LOVES to call us by our names. Throughout the day, I will routinely hear "Mommy! Mommy! Mommy!........ Lindsay! Lindsay!" And then I have to remind him that he is supposed to call me Mommy, thank you very much. He's also started singing a lot more this month! He loves to put his open mouth to my open mouth and sing a pitch, which I will match. He thinks that's hilarious. Then he changes the pitch and I change with him. There's also some sliding that happens, too. So cute. I've also realized that Benjamin knows every last word to one of the lullabies I sing to him every night, Golden Slumbers. So he sings along in his funny little voice and I try hard not to giggle with delight as we make our way through the song. He also loves and sings all of Twinkle Twinkle, ABCs, Itsy Bitsy Spider, and The Wise Man and the Foolish Man.

Benjamin's really been perfecting his jumping this past month. He's gotten pretty good and can land on his feet pretty well most of the time. He especially loves to get up on something high and leap off into my arms (scary!!!) Sometimes he doesn't wait until I'm ready........ He's also gotten really good at saying his prayers. I usually always let him pray at meal times. He's got most of it down, and it's not unusual for him to walk around the house anytime of the day saying, "name of Jesus Christ, Amen." He still has a love for anything trucks, cars, trains, and planes. The boy is a boy. Our apartment complex also just opened one of two playgrounds, so we walk over there everyday with trucks in hand to dig in the sand and climb on the equipment. Benjamin also enjoys watching a little tv every morning with a big cup of chocolate milk. Mickey Mouse is still the option of choice, but he also loves Word World, Super Why, and Sid the Science Kid on PBS. I took him to the doctor this month to check on a plugged tear duct (which is getting opened at the end of this month), and we found out he weighs a whopping 21 pounds! Woot! He's just barely on the scale with that number, so we're pretty proud now! :) Ha.

We had a really fun month! Some special visitors came to spend some good quality South Dakota time! Joel's Aunt Bev brought her daughter-in-law Amy and granddaughter Daphne for their first trip to the midwest! We stayed in Mitchell for a week with them and had the most South Dakota-ey time of our lives! We spent Joel's birthday (he turned 27 on the 6th!) in Sioux Falls having fun at the Pavilion and eating a delish dinner at Buffalo Wild Wings. (Joel also learned he's getting a new iPhone 5 from his parents for his bday!!! He's so pumped, to say the least!) We introduced Amy to Culver's frozen custard, which I hope was as life changing for her as she made it out to be. The next day we hung around Mitchell and let the kids play at the amusement park in the Tjarks' basement. They could've jumped in the bounce house all day! We also took everyone to see the World's Only Corn Palace!!! I have exactly one lousy picture from that entire week, and it's the one you see below: both kids enjoying corn suckers. Let it be known that after they finished eating these suckers, Daphne was still nice and clean and Benjamin....he was a sticky, yellow, dirty mess from head to toe. WHY!?

The third day we spent the morning at the farm in Ethan, where Brian had all these great stations set up for Amy and me. We strapped on our gear and shot semi-automatic rifles, shot clay pigeons with shot guns, and very expertly nailed the targets with our bow and arrows, Katniss-style. Amy really excelled with the semi-automatic. Basically she should look into a career as a sniper. I, however, rocked the shot gun. I didn't miss a single clay pigeon, with the exception of the very first one. (Doesn't count.) Basically you'll be seeing me in Rio during the 2016 Olympics. :) We had a BLAST. The kids sat on the tractor, ran through the garden, and drove the 4-wheeler. But best of all... Bev wore crisp white pants (to the farm) and didn't get a single speck of dirt on them. How?????????? That afternoon we drove to Huron to go shopping. Needless to say, that was not the highlight of my day.

The next day was FARM DAY! After little Daphne woke up in the night screaming bloody murder, (she had a nightmare about a fly), we packed up the kids and drove to a family farm where there are lots and lots of flies!!! While our little city girl experienced her worst nightmare come true, our Benjamin boy had the time of his life! He loved the goats, ducks, pigs, cows, sheep, chickens, dogs, kittens, and most importantly, driving the BIG tractor! He is such a farmer at heart. Later on that day we also went to a family friend's farm to help feed the baby cows. Benjamin loved it so much he stuck his whole hand in one baby's mouth to feel it suck. Daphne turned her nose and gagged. :) And the last moments of the day were spent on Glen's Tractor, which is still a topic of conversation at our house.

The last day we drove our city slickers to the airport and watched them fly home, hoping their South Dakota expectations were met. I know mine were! I've never felt like such a South Dakota country girl in my life! Benjamin LOVED Daphne so much. He pretty much made out with her as we said our goodbyes in the airport. (Speaking of kissing, Benjamin gives the most amazing, sweet kisses in the world these days. No more open-mouth kisses, (sadly!) He gives us these great MUAH kisses all over our faces. They melt my heart and soul.

Anyway, the rest of the month as been pretty low key. Some traveling to and from Mitchell... meeting some new friends... churching it up... running errands. Also, Joel got into a car accident, but that just recently happened so technically that's something I'll have to write about NEXT month after the situation is resolved. AND... we may or may not have news about Benjamin starting school next month! They have a great Early Head Start program here. We just applied today and our chances of getting in sounded promising... I'll write about it next month. Don't judge me for considering sending my 1-year old to school. :)

Until next month... Sayonara, friends.
P.S. Sorry I don't have any great photos of this awesome month. I'll try to round them up from other people and update at a later time.

love this one.... twinners.