Tree Farm Field Trip

We went to the tree farm for Easton's preschool field trip again this year. It was a lot warmer this year so it was actually more enjoyable than last year. They learned how a pine tree grows, took a ride on a "sleigh", planted their own pine tree, played on the haystack slides, rode on the wooden reindeer, ate snacks by the fire, and then afterwards checked out some Christmas lights.



Easton with his friend Lukess



Blair all ready for the sleigh ride.



Easton planting a pine tree.




Blair on the slide.



Easton on the slide.




Blair with Ms. Valerie



Video of kids on "sleigh ride":

Dyer at six months!

At Dyer's six month appointment he was almost 17 lbs and 27 in long. His head is still 18 in so it hasn't gotten any larger since his last appointment. We finally got a Dr. Appointment for his head all set up. It won't be until Jan. 9 so we will have more news on that then.





Dyer is now rolling from his back to his tummy! He started doing this last week and has gotten pretty good at it. He can move around in circles while on his tummy and he is also moving around a lot on his back by arching his back and digging his feet into the floor. I'm guessing it won't be long before he is army crawling. He loves grabbing and reaching for things.





He still doesn't really like tummy time so it is funny to me that he keeps rolling from his back to his tummy. I guess it is just a new thing for him that he needs to try over and over again. He used to roll from his tummy to his back but for some reason he hardly does it anymore so he gets really frustrated that he is on his tummy and can't get back on his back. As soon as I help him get back on his back he goes right back to his tummy. Its a vicious cycle...




Dyer is also sitting up really well by himself. He is really enjoying that he can sit up and watch everyone around him a lot better. He will sit for a good 10-15 minutes and entertain himself.




He still prefers to be held over anything else. Dyer has started to hold his little arms up whenever someone comes near him for them to pick him up. It's pretty cute!




Dyer is spitting up less and less now. Thank goodness! He still does it a couple times a day but most of time it is just a little bit of spit up.






We still haven't found any food that he loves just yet. He will tolerate most of the food we give him but he just doesn't seem to care much for them. He just prefers his milk!

Temple Lights, Fire, and other things

Every year the youth in our ward go to the Oakland Temple to see the Christmas lights. Last year I chickened out because I didn't want to drive and I had the kids with me. This year Nathan was supposed to go with us but unfortunately he had to work late. I had Molly lined up to watch the kids until Nathan got off work to pick them up but Valerie convinced me to bring the kids along. I'm glad I did because I told Molly that Nathan would probably pick the kids up around 6:30-7 but he actually didn't get off work until 8. Plus I think the kids enjoyed seeing the lights and getting lots of attention from all the youth. Valerie was a lot of help with the kids and she even took pictures of me with the kids. I'm usually the one taking all the pictures so I'm generally not in very many.

On top of the terrace

By the water fountain.

Nativity with temple in background.

Close up of Nativity.

We had some excitement on Thursday evening. While I was making a pumpkin cheesecake grease from the pan (and probably the crust) kept dripping. Once I pulled the cheesecake out I left the oven on to burn some of the grease away. The oven started smoking a lot so I turned off the oven, opened the sliding glass door and left the kitchen to turn on some vents to air out the house. When I came back to the kitchen I realized the oven had caught on fire! I may or may not have said a bad word! Don't judge me! I then ran and got the fire extinguisher to put out the fire (Man those things are a mess to clean up!). I called Nathan to see when he was coming home as I got the kids out the door. Nathan said he would be home soon and I told Easton to take Blair with him up to Valerie's so they wouldn't have to wait outside in the cold. The fire alarms went off as we were walking out the door. Nathan pulled up as Easton was about half way up the street to Valerie's. A few minutes later I see Valerie and her son, Will, running down the street asking if everything is okay. Valerie then told me what happened:

They hear the door bell ring and Will looks out the peep hole to see who is there but he doesn't see anyone because Easton's too short! He still decides to open the door thinking maybe the UPS guy left something at their door. Easton walks inside and sees that the TV is on and is fixated on it. Valerie keeps looking at the door waiting for me to come but I never do. Eventually she gets Easton's attention and asks where I am and if everything is okay at home. Easton says all calmly, "There's a fire..." and then walks over to the couch and sits down in front of the TV! That's when Valerie grabs Easton and tells Will to come down with her. HAHA! Apparently we can't trust Easton in an emergency because there might be a chance that a TV is on and we would never get help!

We are still waiting on Dyer's head... We got a referral to take him to another hospital since there isn't anyone at Travis that can handle this but when Nathan tried to call and set up an appointment we realized they had Dyer covered on the wrong insurance so now we are in the process of getting a new referral with the correct insurance. Hopefully Nathan can set up an appointment today if not then we will have to wait about 10 days for them to get a hold of us.

Blair helping me make persimmon cookies.

One of Blair's newest things, when she doesn't get her own way, is to say, "I'm Blair Bear!" (usually with attitude). It's as if she is saying, "Excuse me but do you know who you are saying no to? You do not say no to Blair Bear!" She apparently thinks that she is the most important person in the world and no one should tell her no. It makes me laugh anytime she says it to Easton.

It's Christmas Time!

Wow! It's already December and I haven't blogged yet! I hate it when I get behind because then I have so much to blog about and I feel like everything is rushed just to get it all down. But it is what it is...

We had a nice Thanksgiving dinner with Valerie and her son, William. I just love Valerie. She is basically my kids' adoptive grandma! Easton goes to her place for preschool three times a week and recently she has let Blair stay about twice a month which Blair just LOVES! Every time we get home Easton and Blair generally jump out of the car and run up to Valerie's. Most of the time she is kind enough to let them stay for a few minutes and sometimes up to an hour. Blair loves her "Balerie!"

We got a new Christmas tree this year. We put up our old Christmas tree the day after Thanksgiving but the top lights on the tree wouldn't light up. Well, I take that back...Most of the time they wouldn't light up. Every once in a while they would flicker on for a few seconds and then go off. We figured it was time to get a bigger tree so the kids get the older one up in their playroom. Dexter loves our Christmas tree especially climbing as high as he possibly can (which is almost to the very top!) and all the ball ornaments. There has to be at least 20 ornaments off the tree and the second I put them back on and leave the room they are already back off. It is so annoying. If you notice in the first picture there is a spray bottle sitting nicely next to the couch. It gets used quite a bit while we are home and can catch Dexter in the act! I heard Citronella oil is supposed to keep cats away but Dexter doesn't seem to mind it one bit. I've just come to terms that our cat is one in a million! He does a lot of things I think is not normal for cats. Besides his obsession with water he seems to love vegetables. Give him the choice between chicken and a vegetable he would probably go for the veggie! So far I have found he likes peas, asparagus, and tomato soup/ tomato sauce. He also loves strangers. He will cuddle with any new person that comes into our house. Anyways, enough about our strange cat...

Nathan went out for Black Friday and got us a new computer. It's a love/hate relationship for me. I love how fast it is and how nice it is but at the same time I hate new things because it takes me forever to figure out how to use them! I swear once I finally figure things out then it's time to get a new one and the whole process starts over again.

This handsome dude left us for almost a week because he had to go to Chicago for a radiology convention. Lets just say that I survived! Actually it wasn't that bad. Besides being told multiple times by Easton that he hated me and that he didn't want me to be his mom anymore (its just a phase....), Blair flushing a toy car down the toilet, and hitting her head on the toilet bowl, we had a pretty good week.

Blair had her first Dentist Appointment. She actually did better than I thought she would but really all they did was count her teeth. I think it helped that we took her to where our neighbor, Molly, works. Molly cleaned Easton's teeth and checked out Blair's teeth.

Valerie and Ian went with us to the Festival of Trees. We went on the last day which is kids day. They have a bunch of crafts for the kids to do.

Blair gluing Jelly Belly's onto her Christmas tree. I'm pretty sure she ate more Jelly Belly's than she put on her tree but then she even started to eat the ones off her tree!

Easton's Jelly Belly Christmas tree.

After checking out all the Christmas trees we sat down and listened to a jazz band play Christmas music. Dyer had a great time with Valerie!

Before we left Easton wanted to see Santa! We got a picture with all three kids (I'll have to see if I can get that picture on here later) and none of them cried! I really wish that I would have bought two pictures now because there was a really cute picture of Dyer with a huge smile on his face but I didn't end up buying it because Blair for some reason looked stoned in the picture. I should have just bought it anyways...

Afterwards we went out to eat at Outback. Surprisingly the kids were actually pretty well behaved. That is probably because they listen really well to Valerie.

I'll post more hopefully later today or tomorrow but for now I've got to get ready so I can take Easton to preschool...