They Are Three

Earlier this week my sweet Ben and Emmy turned three. I can't believe the time has gone by so fast! It seems like just the other day they were infants and now they are preschoolers.
Emily has quite the spunky personality and is always on the go. She loves to read books and do puzzles. She loves going to the little playschool that I do with some friends in the ward. She knows a couple of her letters and can count to 10 correctly (for awhile now) and is working on counting to 20. She knows her colors (has for awhile).Her favorite color is pink!She also is in heaven anytime I put make-up on her; particularly lip stick or paint her toes. Emmy loves lotion too. Emmy loves to walk around in my shoes or her high heel shoes. I think she is just discovering the possibilities with dress-ups after exploring her Halloween costume for this year.If her hair is a little crazy, she tells me that it is a mess. She likes to have me do her hair and put a bow in it. Most of the time she sits pretty still, unless there are things on the bathroom counter that she thinks she needs to use. She has always been really good about keeping bows in her hair.She loves helping me pick her clothes and shoes out for the next day as well as a bow and a bracelet to match her outfit. A pair of shoes she is particularly fond of are red sparkly Sunday shoes that have a little heel (think Dorothy). She also loves her flip flops. She is a big Dora fan although I am not sure how that really happened since we don't have cable for her to watch the show.
Emmy loves babies and is quite the helper with them. She loves to hold the babies(with my help) and give them kisses. She adores her friend Lexi and always gives her a big hug when she sees her.Emmy loves her extended family. She has her Papa Van wrapped around her little finger. I think Emmy and her Aunt Millie are kindred spirits in someways. One of them being they both enjoy a good pair of shoes.

Emmy loves to sing. She loves when we sing together before bed. Her favorite song is Wheels on the Bus.

Anytime it is prayer time she raises her little arm up to request to be the person to give the prayer. She loves to pray!

Emmy loves her boys and most of the time wants to do whatever they are doing. Like any sister, she knows exactly what buttons to push to stir the bubbles and bug them. However, she does love them very much.

When you first meet her she is shy and it takes her a little while to warm up. She knows how to play hard to get and coy even though she is only three!

Brandon and I love our sweet Emmy so much and are so pleased to have her in our little family.

Mr. Ben is such a character and has a wonderful zest for life. He definetly has no fear and tries his hardest to do everything his brother does. This includes jumping from our high counter in the kitchen to the floor pretending they were swimming. Oh, how he loves his brother and tries to be exactly like him (even repeating Hyrum's words like a little parrot).Ben loves sports! He has been amazing this soccer season and has been in heaven any time he plays. Ben and Hyrum love to practice kicking any kind of ball in the house and outside. Ben also enjoys tossing a football around with Hyrum, Brandon, Papa or anyone who cares to play. Ben received a basketball and hoops (the ones you put on the wall) from a friend for his birthday and has been itching for Brandon to set it up so he and Hyrum can play.Ben is so funny. He loves to be silly, play jokes and has quite the sense of humor. A game that he and I play right now is that I pretend to eat him and he just thinks it is so silly.
Ben loves cars and trains. He enjoys watching the movie CARS and pretending that he is Chick Hicks or McQueen and race. When it is time for bed, he loves it when I do the cars song which is when we pretend we are driving cars and are racing.Ben hates to have his clothes changed and always has. However, if he is changing into a shirt with a car, train, Spiderman the changing of clothes goes a lot smoother.He loves Spiderman for whatever reason. He hasn't seen a movie with Spiderman in it. We don't really have any Spiderman toys. Probably because Hyrum thinks Spiderman is cool.Ben is so smart and is a great problem solver. He loves to play with toys and games that are a little mind stretching for someone his age. He knows half of his abc's. Can count to 10 correctly(for awhile now) and is trying his hardest to get counting to 20 down. He knows his colors (for awhile now). His favorite color is probably yellow. Ben also loves doing puzzles and reading books.I heard a woman here in Memphis refer to kisses as sugar. I ask Ben all the time if I can have some sugar and he comes running with his cute lips puckered to give me a kiss. He loves to give hugs and kisses to his family.

He loves his extended family to;espescially his Papa Van, his namesake.

He also loves to pray and is sad if it isn't his turn to pray.

Brandon and I love our Ben Boo Van and are so pleased to have him in our family. Our family wouldn't be complete without him.

In the pictures below Emmy wanted so badly to put her arm around Ben for the pictures, but he wanted nothing to do with it. She got quite upset with the fact that he didn't want the loves she was willing to give, but you can see he quickly warmed up.
I love these two! I am so happy that they came together. They have such a unique relationship. They were so happy that it was their birthday. They are my sweethearts!