Kelsey Family

2012-02-14T19:11:00.000-08:00

You are my sunshine, my only sunshine
You make me happy when skies are gray
You'll never know dear, how much I love you
Please don't take my sunshine away...
(The rest of the song is kind of a downer. Just focus on the chorus!)

To My Valentine-
Happy seventh and a half anniversary!
The best decision I have made was to ask you to marry me, and I am lucky that you said yes.

You are one strong, smart and sexy momma.

I am always amazed by how you keep our little team together and moving in the right direction. I love how you find humor even in the challenging moments with our munchkins. I am surprised weekly by some new crafty talent or skill you have taught yourself. On top of all this, you don't realize what a hottie you are.

And thank you for my three little valentines! They puked on me all week and I still think they are cute.

I love you Brown Eyes!

-Nathan

Baby Shower gift

2012-02-04T11:24:00.000-08:00

I bought some patterns on line about a month ago and since one of my friends is having a baby girl at the end of this month (her shower is this Thursday)I decided to try my hand at making a few things for her baby. I'm hoping she doesn't look at my blog but if she does well then I guess she won't be very surprised at her shower.

I already have the material to make Blair a dress and hair bow for this spring/summer. I can't wait!

I also published another post earlier today so check it out!

Fun Things

2012-02-02T13:42:00.000-08:00

Yesterday Easton's friend, Ian, came over and while I was eating lunch he came up to talk to me.

Ian: "I'm going to spy on Blair!"
Me: "Okay..."
Ian: "I'm going to pretend that Blair's my girlfriend and I'm going to spy on her!"

Haha! I couldn't help but laugh. Good thing I like Ian and that he is just 4 because it definitely would have been a bit creepy if he and Blair were teenagers. I kept imagining Ian climbing the tree outside Blair's window to spy on her.

I don't generally let my kids slide down the stairs but for some reason this particular day they got away with it and boy did they have fun! I remember doing this same thing as a kid at my friends house with sleeping bags. I almost brought them out to show them how it is truly done but my mom instincts kicked in and I decided it would be best not to...at least for now. Man, it would have been fun! Good thing they did it when they did because the gate is now up at the bottom of the stairs so there will be no sliding for a while.

Sliding down the stairs with pillows

Good thing they put padding at the bottom!

Also yesterday Easton was climbing on Dyer's changing table and I told him to get down because it wasn't safe.

Me: "You're not very light anymore. You're going to tip the table over."

Easton looks a little confused but gets off.

About 20 seconds later he says, "Mommy, am I dark inside?"

Me:"No, why would you think that?"

Easton: "Cause you said I wasn't light anymore."

While the kids were sliding down the stairs Dyer was hanging out in his walker. Poor Dyer! Everything he does these days involves him doing it backwards. He "crawls/scoots" backwards and he "walks" backwards (in his walker). He can't seem to go where he wants to. Anytime he tries, he gets further and further away and he gets so frustrated.

The other day I put Dyer on the living room rug sitting up and left the room for a few minutes. He started getting upset so I went and checked on him. He was about two feet from where I put him stuck against the laundry basket but still sitting up. I'm not sure if he scooted the whole way on his butt or if he got there on his tummy and then sat up but either way it was something new for him. He hasn't done it since so I'm still not sure exactly how he got there.

Notice anything different about Blair in these pictures? Yep, that's right she is wearing big girl underwear and we are potty training. I don't know if it is because she is a little older then the last time we tried or maybe she is just finally ready but it has been SO MUCH EASIER this time! Hallelujah! Her stubbornness was definitely there for the first week, which didn't make it easy (I did say easier earlier not easy) but she has finally stopped fighting me and will go use the potty when I ask her to now. She has gone a couple times by herself but we are still working on that. We are still working on the dreadful #2 as well. Still no successes there. Anyone out there have any good advise on what worked for their kids?

Here's her potty chart from the last 1 1/2 weeks. I'm one happy mommy right now!

Every time Blair goes potty she gets to pick a treat/prize from her treat bowl. Almost every time she will look in the bowl, put her pointer finger to her lip and say ummmmmmmmmmmmmmm until she finds what she wants and pulls it out. It's pretty cute and makes me smile/chuckle every time.

Lots of random things....

2012-01-30T11:34:00.000-08:00

Dyer doing tummy time. He still isn't moving forward yet but is moving like crazy backwards. I keep finding him stuck with something between his legs (i.e leg of the couch)and him crying because he can't move anymore. He has moved from one side of the arm chair to the other side by keeping his right side of his body touching the chair the whole time. He probably would have made it all the way around if he didn't turn around and then get his feet stuck under the chair.

The kids just chilling out together. I realized I need to take more everyday random pictures of the kids then always just posing them for pictures. Hopefully I will do better at this.

But I did make them move closer together for this one.

Blair's hair. It was supposed to be a heart but I should have made it so that the top part of the heart was connected. I did a twisted heart a few days later and it looked better but I forgot to take a picture.

Off and on this month at preschool they have been learning about different jobs that people have. Last week they were supposed to dress up as someone they wanted to be when they grow up. Apparently Easton wants to be a police officer. It was a little difficult trying to find something police related since we have nothing like that at home, but luckily I found some cheap police stuff at the dollar store. Easton was a little annoyed that he didn't have a gun but I guess the baton made up for it. We added some homemade things like a badge and name tag and we were good to go. His teachers really liked his costume, probably because he was one of the few that actually dressed up like someone in the "real world". There were a bunch of princesses and superheroes. I think that was expected though.

We went for a family walk/hike on Saturday. We also played a little Frisbee golf too.

Dyer. This little guy is working on his second tooth! I just noticed it yesterday (1/29) at dinner.

Nathan helping Easton with his frisbee.

Nate throwing his frisbee.

Blair decided to run with her frisbee and put it in the "hole" instead of throwing the frisbee. That's my kind of girl!

Easton and Blair. Easton kept giving me funny faces anytime I took his picture. Oh, well.

Easton with his hiking stick. We went up a steep hill and as soon as Easton made it to the top he said, "Good thing I have this stick to help me get up this hill!"

Dad, Blair, and Dyer

Easton saw this Heron and wanted to take a picture of it. It's a little blurry because it's a little difficult to hold the camera still when a little boy is pushing the button down as hard as he can!

We also saw three deer on the trail.

Beehive cupcakes. I made these for a friend as a thank you since she came and helped out with a mutual activity. It was a thank you from the beehives.

Easton

2012-01-21T11:10:00.001-08:00

I just love my little Easton to pieces. He is so funny and bright. He will seriously talk your ear off about made up stories he comes up with. They generally have to do with good guys and bad guys and the good guys beating up the bad guys.

He also comes up with knock, knock jokes but unfortunately he tells jokes just as good as his Auntie Jacqui does. Either they don't make any sense or he botches them but without fail he thinks it's the funniest joke in the whole world. And you know what? I think it's pretty funny too! Mainly because I can't help but laugh at him laughing at himself. It's cute!

Easton also likes to play guessing games. He will give us clues and we have to guess what he is thinking.

Easton got to be the first one to go flying with Dad! I guess he liked it at first and wouldn't stop talking in the headphones. Eventually he took his head phones off (probably because they aren't the most comfortable things in the world). Towards the end of the flight Nathan's instructor,Hal, had Nathan close his eyes while Hal positioned the plane in a weird position and then had Nathan open his eyes and fix the position of the plane. I guess Easton wasn't feeling so good after that part of the flight.

Easton inside the plane ready for take off. Isn't he so handsome? This was back in early Nov. (I think) but Nathan just sent me these pictures off his phone this last week.

I would say for the most part Easton and Blair are pretty good buds. In fact it isn't uncommon for them to gang up on me! Haha! I think it is rather cute when the two of them stick up for each other. It makes me happy that they seem as though they will always have each other's back. They do fight with each other but it generally doesn't take very long for them to make up and go on as if nothing happened.

This seems to be the case with Easton hating me. One minute it's, "I hate you! I'll never be your best Easton/ I'll never give you the best hugs/etc." Then the next minute he is saying he is sorry and giving me a hug. Is it normal for a 4 year old to say they hate their mom? He only says it when he isn't getting his own way. I think he is hoping that I will give in and let him do what he wants. I'm sure most kids go through this stage but I didn't think it would happen until he was a teenager. Maybe if I'm lucky he is getting it all out of his system now and he will be an easy teen. I can always hope right?

We took the kids to the park a couple times to play baseball. I must say I'm pretty impressed with Easton hitting the ball. Nathan pitched to Easton and he hit it several times. The last time we went we brought the pitching machine Nathan's Dad and Sue gave to Easton for his birthday a couple years ago. Blair basically hogged it but the few times Easton got to use it he did alright. He throws the ball pretty well too but we definitely need to work on catching the ball. Maybe we will sign Easton up for t-ball sometime this coming year.

I thought it was funny a couple weeks ago I made an apple pie and Easton decided he didn't like it because it wasn't a raspberry pie like the picture on the crust box showed. Anyways, Nathan decided to take it off his plate and eat it for him. The only problem was part of the apple filling was still on his plate and this did not make him happy. He could not eat his ice cream because it was too close to the apple filling. FYI: I'm told he gets this from his Dad but I was pretty picky too so unfortunately he gets it from both sides! Back to the story...Nathan tried scraping the filling off his plate but this was not good enough for Easton because he could still see traces of it. Nathan then said, "What do you want me to do, lick it off?" Easton was all over that idea so Nathan did just that he licked his plate clean and gave it back to a smiley, very happy, little boy! And Easton ate his ice cream in peace!

Dyer at seven months!

2012-01-19T14:34:00.000-08:00

Wow! Seven months already! I don't like that my baby is getting older! It's just not fair!

Well, we took Dyer to the specialist earlier this month for his head and thankfully nothing is wrong. He just has a huge head! Which we all already knew that. Random ranting but why is it that everyone feels it is their duty to remind me that my son has a huge head? Thank you random strangers for stating the obvious! They do comment first on how cute he is which is definitely a smart thing on their part. I don't think I'm sensitive about his head size but it just gets a little annoying to hear it so often. Which is a little ironic since I never get annoyed with people telling me how cute my son is. I guess it just seems like people state it in such a negative way that it gets under my skin. But to set the record straight I'm not the one to blame for his big head. While we were at the specialist the doctor took mine and Nathan's head measurements and blamed it all on Nathan. I'm sure our kids will all be smart so I'll blame that on Nathan as well!

Dyer is getting his first tooth (bottom right-first noticed 1/12/12)! I'm not very excited about this...Look closely in the above picture and you can see it coming through!

Dyer is eating really well these days! He loves his food. In fact I can't spoon it in his mouth fast enough and he gets a little frustrated that it doesn't come faster. Also, I swear he could eat forever. I have to be the one to stop him because I'm pretty sure his tummy isn't big enough to hold the amount he wants to put into it.

Dyer hates being put down and left alone. He will cry and scream until someone comes and picks him up and then he is the happiest little baby ever!

When we got back from vacation Dyer was having a really hard time sleeping through the night but after only 2 nights of having him cry himself to sleep (10 min most) he has been sleeping through the night again (with the exception of last night when he got up 4 or 5 times. It was crazy. I'm hoping it was because he is teething but who knows).

Dyer is sitting up like a champ. He isn't army crawling yet like I was expecting but it is probably because he's spoiled and I hold him probably more than I should. I know he needs tummy time more and I am doing a little better at making him do it. He is definitely moving backwards and in circles but isn't moving forward yet. If he is delayed I am definitely the one to blame...

Dyer is getting more and more interested in standing up. The last few days he has been arching his back while sitting in my lap and throwing a little fit until I hold him up in the standing position. I guess this really means that I need him to do more tummy time so that he will crawl before he starts cruising.

Dyer loves paper. If I need him to entertain himself for a little while I'll just grab some newspaper or an old magazine and just let him go to town shredding it to pieces.

Yesterday at music makers I gave him a shaker and he knew exactly what to do with it. He shook his hand back and forth the whole time for marching. He was pretty upset when it was time to put it away and I took it from him.

I published a post about Blair earlier today...Check it out!

Blair Bear

2012-01-15T21:42:00.000-08:00

Here's a little about Blair these days...

She is 100% convinced that her real name is Blair Bear. We have tried to tell her that she is Blair Marie but she will not have it. "No, I'm Bair Bear!"

Apparently others cannot love her if she loves them.

Blair: "I wouve you, Mommy!"
Me: "Oh, I love you too, Blair Bear!"
Blair: "No, I wouve you!"
Me: "Thanks Blair Bear! I love you too!"
Blair: "NO, I WOUVE YOU!"

Her hair is getting longer so I am having fun coming up with different hair styles:

Auntie Jana will probably be proud of this one!

She is still really bossy and a big trouble maker! Her newest thing she likes to do at night while she is supposed to be in bed asleep is to open up all her dresser drawers and use them as stairs so she can sit on top of her dresser! Scary! I'm not sure which one is going to happen first. Her breaking the dresser or the dresser falling on top of her and breaking her.

A couple weeks ago during Sacrament Meeting Blair told Nathan off! She left to go sit with Ms. Valerie and then decided she wanted to come back and eat some fishy crackers. While she was gone there was a half eaten granola bar on the bench so I picked it up and put it in one of the bags of fishy crackers. She apparently didn't like that and for some reason thought Nathan had done it.

Blair really loud (mind you this is during church): "Daddy, why'd you put that in here?"
Me (whispering): "Blair, shhh! Calm down!"
Blair (still yelling): "Daddy, don't you do that!" I don't wike it!"
Nathan and I are both trying to get her to calm down!
Blair (still yelling): "Don't do that! It's digusting!"

We were both a little embarrassed but at the same time we couldn't help but laugh. What 2 year old says disgusting?

Blair is obsessed with candy. She asks for it everyday and every time I tell her no she has a melt down. Luckily for me her melt down is just her pouting usually on the couch or on her bed. Because she is so obsessed with candy I might be making a trip to the store to buy some in hopes that it will help with potty training. Yes, I am going to start round number...(not even sure what number this is) but I'm determined this time to out last her stubbornness. Why have I been cursed with stubborn children? I'm hoping this trait will come in handy for them when they get older but for me right now it can be difficult!

One of my favorite things Blair says these days is "poot nacks" for "fruit snacks". It makes me giggle every time.

Remember when Blair was a baby and I would say she definitely is not a lady. Well, recently it has happened again. Anytime she passes gas I say, "What do you say Blair?" Hoping she will say excuse me because that is what she has been taught. But nope! She will say, "I tooted!" I then say, "How about you say, excuse me." To which she says with a big grin, "No, I tooted!"

I love the fact that anytime she puts a dress on she spins around in circles with a huge grin on her face and says proudly, "I'm a princess!"

I sure love my little Blair Bear! Even though she can be difficult at times she is my happy, smiley little girl and I love that sweet smile of hers!

Singing with Grandpa

2012-01-15T20:55:00.000-08:00

These are the last of the pictures from our vacation. We spent most of our time with Grandpa and Grandma Stockton. I didn't take many pictures but I did manage to take a couple of Grandpa singing to the kids. They all loved having Grandpa sing to them. He even took out his guitar one day and sang to them.

Grandpa Singing to the kids

The first couple nights were spent trying to get the kids to go to bed at a decent hour and for them to stay in their beds. Blair managed to find a sharpie the first night and draw on her face. Luckily it was just on her face, pjs, and blanket and not all over Grandpa and Grandma's walls.

Blair the troublemaker

The other nights we were able to try out our new game that Grandpa and Grandma gave us. We were also able to hang out with cousins several times, go to a temple session, go on a double date (out to eat and the movies) with Nathan's grandparents, ring in the new year and celebrate Grandpa's birthday before we had to head home. It was great spending time with family. Thanks for everything! We sure miss you guys already.

Hanging out with cousins!

2012-01-13T11:33:00.000-08:00

After getting family pictures we all went out to eat! The kids got their own table but actually Nathan eventually went over and sat with him.

Easton and Braeden too busy playing to look at the camera.

Ella and Blair

Dyer

Once we got back to Gretchen's house Nathan took the kids sledding at the park just down the street from Grandma Gretch's house. It was getting dark so they didn't get to sled for too long.

Nathan had to get in on the action too!

Ella

Braeden

Easton. Yes, he is wearing his sister's gloves. Blair's wearing Easton's old coat. I guess this is what happens when you move to somewhere that doesn't get snow. I really didn't want to go out and buy new things for them to wear maybe once. I'm glad I didn't because this was the only time they went sledding and as you can see there wasn't much snow.

Blair.

All aboard!

Train ride

Braeden, Ella, and Easton

This didn't end very well! Easton fell off and landed head first in the snow/grass. He kept spitting grass out of his mouth.

Braeden, Nathan, and Blair

Christmas continued

2012-01-12T16:31:00.000-08:00

We had Christmas dinner at Grandpa and Grandma Stockton's. I had Nathan take some pictures. Besides the first picture this post should actually be titled "Easton with...." Easton's cute so I don't mind but I just thought it was funny that he was in every picture.

Dyer with cousins Jarom and Kaiden.

Easton with Aunt Kaity.

Easton with cousins Torie and Bekah.

Easton with Uncle Blake.

The kids got to open some gifts while there. Easton got some cars from Grandpa and Grandma but I'm thinking that he left most of them at their house because I have only seen one or two since we got home. Blair got a baby doll that comes with a toilet. Maybe this will help her with potty training. Someday we will have this little girl potty trained...someday! Dyer got a rubber ducky which he is currently chewing on as I write this. He loves sucking on that thing. Nate and I got a game which we played several times while we were there. We will have to have some friends come over so we can play it again.

Aunt Bethanie got all the kids slippers which they LOVE! Easton wears his slippers every night while he sleeps. Blair is beginning to follow his example. She wore hers to bed last night too!

Thank you!

It was great to see everyone and to spend the holidays with family. I wish we lived closer so we could make more family dinners/gatherings.

The kids miss all of you and keep asking when we can go back. I don't blame them since they pretty much get everything the want when they are around family.

Christmas with family

2012-01-09T12:31:00.000-08:00

Dyer with Grandma Gretch Christmas morning!

All the cousins anxiously waiting to open their gifts!

Easton opening his gift from Grandma Gretch and Grandpa Jerry. He got a huge tonka playset! I forgot to take a picture of it once we got it put together. Easton plays with it all the time!

Blair opening her gift. Uncle Andy in the background.

Blair LOVED her baby doll! Once she started opening her gift and realized what it was she was SO excited! "A baby! It's my baby!" It was one of the cutest things ever!

Aunt Kaity helping Dyer open his gift.

Dyer got a play mat which definitely came in handy while we were on vacation. Dyer loved looking in the mirror at his own reflection. That and he loved sucking on it!

Cute baby Dyer

Braeden and Ella got Easton and Blair a sled and got Dyer a puppy stuffed animal which Blair kept stealing!

All the adults decided that instead of buying gifts for each other that we would all pitch in and buy family pictures. I can't wait to see them because the photographer was awesome! Even though we we decided not to get each other gifts I still got a gift! Well, it was actually a late birthday gift! I got chief statues and other things to decorate my kitchen. I finally got around to putting them up and they look great! Hopefully I'll remember to take a picture. Thanks Gretch! I finally have some decor in my kitchen!

Thank you for all the gifts and for letting us stay with you! We had a great time.

Aunt Bethanie with Dyer at Nathan's Aunt Stacy and Uncle Lance's house. We went there later Christmas day to spend Christmas with them and Grandpa Layne. This was the only picture I took there. I can't believe this was the only picture I took.

Easton ended up getting a watch and an electric drum set from Grandpa Layne. Blair got an electric piano and plastic silverware. Dyer got a bowling set, a glow worm, and a baby toy where you can connect the pieces together (have no idea what they are called). Nathan got an aircraft headset which he is really excited to use hopefully this coming weekend! I got a bunch of baking pans/kitchen things and cookbooks.

Thank you Grandpa Layne! We love all the gifts! I especially love the headphones that came with the electric piano that can also be used with the drum set!

Early Christmas

2012-01-07T15:46:00.000-08:00

We celebrated Christmas early (the Wednesday before) since we were leaving to go spend the holidays with Nathan's family.

Easton got a leapter explorer with some games to go along with it.

Blair got a play purse, a kids piano, dress up clothes, and a baseball glove. I didn't get many pictures of Blair and the ones I did weren't very good.

Dyer got this farm house but of course Blair had to open his gift for him and then both Easton and Blair took it over so he couldn't play with it. I guess it's okay though because he had more fun with the wrapping paper anyways!

My sister, Kim, made all the kids hats! Even though I don't have a picture of Blair wearing hers she absolutely loves it. She wore it for almost 2 days straight and kept saying, "That's MY hat!"

Grandpa Whiting and Grandma Sharon got all the kids saving bonds and Nate and I got a movie gift card.

Dyer got a blue teddy bear from Gma Whiting. Blair not only opened it once but twice before we had Christmas. It was kind of funny that she opened the same gift twice!

Blair got a really cute dress-up dress from Gma Whiting. I need to get a picture of Blair wearing it!

Easton got a marble set from Gma Whiting.

Thank you for all the gifts! The kids loved them all!

Tree Farm Field Trip

2011-12-22T09:03:00.000-08:00

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!

2011-12-13T12:02:00.001-08:00

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

2011-12-10T13:35:00.000-08:00

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!

2011-12-09T07:24:00.000-08:00

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...

Dyer at 5 months

2011-11-23T10:58:00.000-08:00

I'm 10 days late for this post but better late than never...

We brought Dyer back to the doctor again this month for his head but not because of his circumference but because of his head being flat in the back. I guess when we went to Nathan's co-workers Halloween party one of the pediatricians there was concerned about his head and brought it up to Ella (Nathan's co-worker) and gave Ella her contact information to pass on to us. I knew his head was flat (flatter than Easton and Blair's) but I guess I didn't realize that it was possibly that bad until Ella brought it up to Nathan. We met with our family doctor but he wasn't sure what to think so he referred us to a specialist. We are still waiting for them to call us to set up an appointment so as of right now we don't know anything. Based on the paper our doctor had to compare Dyer's head to his head doesn't seem to fit in with what would be considered serious (i.e. things not being symmetrical-his head is pretty much symmetrical-just flat) so they might say everything is fine and just make sure he gets more tummy time, sit up time (in other words less time lying on his back. This shouldn't be too hard since he is starting to sit up better everyday. But there is also a chance that he might be put in a helmet to help reshape his head. If this is the case then he'll probably be in a helmet for 4-6 months wearing it 23 hours a day. Can we say stinky? Especially since he still spits up all the time. I can only imagine how gross that would be. I'm hoping he doesn't need a helmet because he will forever be known as "helmet head" I'm sure.

I tried to take pictures of his head so others could see how flat it is and these were the best I could get. It was harder than you would think to get the right angle.

Dyer was 16 lbs and 25 in long and his head was 18 in (96%). They only gave me estimates so it could be more or less.

Just this last Sunday Dyer has finally started to get the hang of solids. I started him on them a few days after he turned 4 months but he just didn't seem to care much for them. I would put a bite in his mouth and he would just sit there with his mouth open and look at me like, "What am I supposed to do now?" He wouldn't really swallow it but he wouldn't push it out with his tongue either. It would just sit in his mouth until enough drool collected and would spill out of his mouth.

It seemed as though he might be allergic to rice cereal because he would break out with a little rash on his tummy. I stopped the rice and switched to oatmeal. When I started him on peas I gave him some rice cereal with them and sure enough he got another rash. So rice cereal is out for now. When I gave him green beans with oatmeal he seemed to break out with a rash so I was concerned he might be allergic to oatmeal as well but I tried oatmeal with carrots and there have been no signs. Could he be allergic to green beans? I've never had to deal with food allergies with the other kids so this is all new to me.

Dyer won't take a bottle so things can get a bit tricky. I have to plan things out just right if I need to be away from him and then I have to make sure I get home in time for his next feeding.

Just the last two weeks Dyer has been waking up really early to eat but the two nights (Sunday and Monday) that he finally ate his carrots and oatmeal he has slept all through the night. It was great. Last night he didn't eat very well because he was so tired. He got up a little after 5 and then puked all over my sheets so once I got him back to sleep I went down stairs and slept on the couch.

Dyer is such a happy little guy and is often caught just smiling away at who ever he can see even if they aren't looking and smiling at him.

He is talking and laughing more and more each day. He especially loves his siblings. Almost anything they do he finds funny. They can just walk past him or just look at him and he will generally start laughing. I just love baby laughs and smiles. They are the best!

Dyer loves to stick everything in his mouth especially those little toes of his.

Halloween Fun!

2011-11-09T21:26:00.000-08:00

The kids got to do a lot of Halloween stuff. Trick or treating and parties!

Preschool Party and Trick or Treating:

Blair got to tag along and go to preschool with Easton that day. She was in heaven!

Blair (bee) and Easton (wolverine).

About two weeks before Halloween we were at the hospital and some elderly lady asked the kids what they were going to be for Halloween. Easton told her he was going to be Wolverine. She seemed weirded out. She asked Easton if he knew what that was and he told her no (He's never seen X-men movies-Easton tells everyone he is a superhero). Anyways, the lady told Easton that it looks kind of like a wolf. Easton then seemed weirded out because he had seen his costume and it didn't look much like a wolf.

Easton's preschool class

Action shot! Easton always has to be first! Running to get in front of everyone.

Blair Bear all by herself.

Easton showing me everything he got from preschool!

When the kids got back from preschool I kept smelling a fishy smell. Eventually I realized the smell was coming from Blair and what seemed like her costume. She had worn her costume to a different party the weekend before so I thought it was weird that it was all the sudden smelling. I asked both Easton and Blair what they ate at preschool and if Blair spilled anything on her. They said they didn't eat anything and that they only had water. WEIRD! I took her costume off and hand washed it in hopes that the smell would come out...It didn't! Later that day after Blair got up from her nap she smelled even worse of fish. It wasn't until a little later that I finally figured it out. Blair had gotten into Nathan's fish oil pills the day before. She must have eaten some and was sweating it out! It was disgusting! I've washed her costume about 5 times and it still smells of dead fish!

Ward Halloween Party:

I wasn't able to get many pictures because I was in charge of a room (activity) so I didn't really get to go around with the kids that night. I probably will try to get out of doing a room next year if I'm still in Young Womens because none of us really got to enjoy ourselves. I thought I needed more apples for bobbing for apples so I sent Nathan out to buy some more. He took Blair and Easton and Dyer were stuck with me until Nathan got back. It turned out that I didn't even need any of the apples I made Nathan get.

Easton mini golfing.

I didn't have time to give Blair a bath after she woke up from her nap so she really stunk at the party. I could always tell when she walked into my room because of her stench.

Wolverine

Miss Stinky Pants!

This was actually the only picture I took of Dyer in his costume for all the festivities. I ended up taking more of him after Halloween because I was so sad that this was the only picture.

I get the bad mom award!

Dyer was a frog!

We also went to a Halloween party at one of Nathan's co-workers house.

Teddys Party/Hospital Trick or Treating:

Teddy's kids

Dyer before trick or treating.

Easton showing me all his candy/goodies!

Blair with her new stuffed kitty cat.

After trick or treating at the hospital we went downtown to trick or treat for a while.

Trick or Treating around the neighborhood:

Easton and Blair got so much candy that I told them I would only take them trick or treating on our street. They still came home with a lot of candy.

Dad and Dyer stayed home to pass out candy!

Here are some more pictures of my cute little frog!

Dyer is starting to sit up a little by himself! He can sit up for about 5-10 sec before he tumbles over. It won't be long before he is doing this all the time.

I put him against the wall for some extra support.

Happy Late Halloween!!!

I updated another post earlier today

I LOVE to see the Temple

2011-11-09T17:03:00.000-08:00

Nathan and I finally made it back to the temple (end of October) since having Dyer join our family. Not only is it hard to leave your baby but when we go to the temple it easily can take 5 hours! That is a long time when you have a nursing baby. We were going to get a babysitter but since Dyer is having a hard time taking a bottle we thought it would be best to just take the kids with us and Nathan and I take turns. It was nice to bring the kids to the Oakland temple since they haven't been there before.

Easton just woke up from a nap so he wasn't cooperating.

The kids are looking somewhat in the right direction.

This last weekend our Stake had Stake Temple Day so we were able to bring the kids to the Sacramento Temple(forgot to bring the camera and take pictures). Stake Temple Day is always nice because they provide free babysitting at the stake center right next door.

Blair's new favorite song is "I love to see the temple!" She really only knows the first four lines but she is slowly learning it. Here's a video of her singing it right after she got up in the morning:

Halloween Dinner

2011-11-04T21:50:00.000-07:00

We actually had our Halloween dinner a few nights before Halloween.

And Dyer wasn't on the menu! He is just cute all decked out in his Halloween outfit!

It was supposed to be pizza mummies (it looked like mummies before I baked them-should have taken a before picture) but once I baked them all the cheese melted together so we ended up calling it ghost pizza!

Monster teeth!

Like I said, "Monster teeth!" : )

Drink: witches brew.

It was supposed to be red kool-aid but we messed up.

Video of witches brew:

And for dessert: Worms in dirt

Dyer Laughing

2011-10-28T16:08:00.000-07:00

Blair got into the jumper and was jumping away. Dyer thought it was the funniest thing ever. She got him laughing pretty good but unfortunately I didn't have my camera on hand with the really good laughs. I grabbed my camera after a while and this was the best I could get...Still cute though.

Dyer Laughing:

Polly Movie

2011-10-25T10:27:00.000-07:00

I'm thinking of buying this movie...It's kind of more than I want to pay but I loved this movie as a child. The black version of Pollyanna. It's 1,000 times better than the white version.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=04eBAiJHS0g

http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=sEcfNuC3Z1I

Nate flying Solo!!!

2011-10-22T19:10:00.000-07:00

Today was the scary/exciting day where Nathan was able to fly solo! We basically knew it was going to be today (it all depended on if Nathan was landing well) and I was nervous all morning. Nathan texted me saying that he flew solo and that he landed safely. Thank goodness! I don't doubt that Nathan flies well but it is still a little nerv wracking.

I guess it is tradition that when you finally fly solo you cut the back of the shirt you're wearing (like a flag) and decorate it. Nathan's is cut but he still needs to decorate it.

His next flight he will have to fly to a different airport. It's weird because he drives about 45 minutes to fly when we have an airport here in Vacaville but the Travis Aero Club is in Rio Vista so that is where he drives to. Luckily he will be flying into nut tree (Vacaville) so I think I'll take the kids there to watch Nathan land and take off. I think it will be fun since none of us have seen Nathan fly yet.

I'm not sure I posted earlier (maybe I did) but Nathan took and passed his written pilots license test about a month ago. He is definitely well on his way of getting his private pilots license. Maybe one of these days I will be daring enough to go flying with him.

Nathan's flight instructor was nice enough to take these pictures of Nathan (I think landing but he might be taking off?). In any case they are pictures of Nathan flying!

Good Job Handsome!!!

What the???

2011-10-21T23:33:00.000-07:00

You got to love kids/pets and the silly/weird things they do. Let's start with Easton:

Easton's personal prayer before bedtime generally has me cracking up (inside of course). One of my favorite things he usually says is, "Thank you that daddy, and mommy, and me, and Blair could go and pick up grandma from the airport. She's cool!" Recently he's been using cool and awesome to describe things he's thankful for. Last night he was listing a bunch of things like, "thank you for dinosaurs, and trains, and cars, etc." And then he says, "They're super awesome!" I may or may not have giggled out loud a little. I mean who says that?

Easton's newest thing when he is upset with you is to say, "I'm never going to play with you again if you don't let me _________ " (fill in the blank with something he wants to do). That or he will say, "If you don't let me ______________ then I won't be your best bud anymore." I'm assuming these must be sayings he has learned from other classmates. Kids can be so mean and hurtful to each other. I know I would have been sad if one of my friends (at this age) would have said something like that to me.

Yesterday I was cleaning out Dyer's closet (boxing up the outgrown clothes and unpacking the next size clothes) when I see Easton running past Dyer's bedroom door naked.

Me: "Easton why are you naked?"

Easton: "Because I had to go potty."

Me: "Okay but why are you naked? Go put your clothes back on."

Easton walks away but then 5 minutes later I hear crashing sounds coming from the bathroom. I walk down the hall towards the bathroom and try to open the door but it's locked.

Me: "Easton open the door!"

Easton opens the door and is still naked with a baseball bat in his hand. Which he was swinging around and knocking things over.

Me: "What are you doing!?! Why are you still naked?"

Easton: "Because I'm having a naked party!"

WHAT!!!!!!! Where the heck did he get this from?

Me: "Get your clothes on!"

Easton: "I can't."

Me: "And why is that?"

Easton: "Because I... kind of...accidentally...peed on my shirt."

Really!?! I don't even want to know.... I don't even bother asking him anymore questions and instead just go to his room and get all new clothes for him.

Blair:

I walk into the kitchen the other day and find Blair's singing, "shake my booty!" as she is well...shaking her booty! It was a proud moment for me!

As some of you know we have been potty training Blair. Some days are good. Others are...well lets be honest...horrible. It really just depends on Blair's mood for that day. Well, on Sunday at church Blair was doing rather well. She went pee three times but then I saw her walking in the hall with her teacher. Anyone familiar with this scene knows this can only mean one thing....Blair is poopy! Dang it!!! It's always gross to change poop but it is especially gross when the kid is wearing underwear! I get the diaper bag from Nathan and take Blair in the bathroom to clean her up. I get her soiled underwear off and while I am wiping her she looks right at her poopy underwear and says no joke, "Hi poop! I'm Bair Bear!"

Dyer:

I swear Dyer is the only normal one...Okay it may or not may not be because he is only 4 months and can't really do or say anything.

Moving on...

Dexter:

I thought cats (not including tigers) don't like water? Dexter is a strange cat I've decided. He is obsessed with anything water related. You lift up the toilet seat to go the bathroom and Dexter comes running. I don't know how many times he has scared me because one minute I think I'm alone and the next I feel a furry thing on my back/butt. He apparently likes to sit on the toilet seat with you. Of course I don't allow this so the next best thing for him is to wait next to the toilet until you're done and then jump up to watch the toilet flush. He tends to stick his head in and try to bat at the water as it is flushing. When someone turns on the faucet to wash their hands or brush their teeth he comes running as well. Again he bats at the water and will even drink from the downward stream of water. When the shower is on he will sit outside the glass door/window and try to find a way in.

Video of Dexter playing in water:

The other day I got up early and found a nice surprise (poop) on the downstairs bathroom floor. At first I thought it was Blair but upon closer observation I realized it was Dexter. Nathan was nice enough to clean it up and told me Dexter wasn't allowed in the bathroom anymore. Apparently Nathan thought that because Dexter watches us go potty in the bathroom that he wanted to give it a try. I informed Nathan that his litter box door was jammed and he couldn't get in to do his deed. I'm convinced though that I could have him toilet trained before Blair if I gave it a try.

Dyer at 4 months!

2011-10-19T21:40:00.000-07:00

First off Dyer had a dr. appointment and he was 14 lbs 7 oz and 25 in. We went to a different doctor for this appointment since we couldn't get in with our normal doctor. This doctor was a little concerned about Dyer's head size. The tech measured him to be in the 98% but then the doctor remeasured and measured him to be in the 95%. I guess they have to be worried if a baby is above 97%. I tried telling him that all my kids have big heads and that it is a Kelsey trait but the doctor told me to keep an eye out to make sure that Dyer is reaching all his milestones on time. I wonder if they are concerned because I'm pretty sure that he came out with an average sized head (thank goodness since I had to do it all natural!!!) and now he is in the 90 something percentile. I'm guessing they aren't overly concerned since they don't want to see him until he is 6 months old.

Dyer is now sleeping in his own room. I don't know why but for some reason I was kind of having a hard time moving him to his own room. I know he was probably ready about a month ago but I just kept putting it off. I guess I didn't want to admit to myself that my baby is getting older. Dyer is doing just fine in his crib. He puts himself to sleep and only wakes up once (if that) and I just put his pacifier in and he goes right back to sleep. He will usually wake up between 6-6:30 to eat but then will go back to sleep for another 1-1 1/2 hours.

Dyer has found his feet/toes but for some reason he will only play with them if they are uncovered. It is almost like they don't exist if they are covered and he can't see them.

(I had to get a picture of Dyer in this cute hat because I'm a little worried that it won't be fitting him much longer-when he will actually need it).

Dyer will grab onto anything that you put in front of him and suck on it. He loves his hand, burp cloths, blankets, and the stuffed animal mini blankets. Recently he will grab onto Blair's hair when she comes to talk/play/give loves to Dyer and she will tell him off. I try to tell her that he doesn't understand what he is doing but she doesn't get it. The last two days he has gotten a nice hold on the cat's fur too! The cat doesn't seem to like it much either. Maybe this will keep the cat at a distance now.

Dyer seems as though he wants to get up and start moving. He doesn't seem to like to stay in one place for very long. If he is on his back he will dig his heels into the ground and push up while arching his back which will either move him back and/or around in a slow circle. If he is on his tummy he will dig his toes into the ground and lift his butt up into the air. He is also rolling over from his tummy to his back.

Dyer is a lot more vocal now and is getting pretty loud. Every once in a while he will still do his cute, soft little cooing sounds but often these days he is just really loud. It is still cute don't get me wrong but I just love his soft serious conversations he has. He is also squealing which is probably why it is getting so loud!

Video of Dyer talking:

Dyer likes to smile that is until the camera comes out and then it is almost impossible to get a smile out of him. Dyer seems to really love his brother. Almost every time he sees Easton he gets a huge smile on his face. Dyer is laughing/giggling more these days but I'm still waiting for that belly laugh. I can't wait!

Dyer loves to be around people. He can't stand being alone and gets upset if he can't see anyone. As long as he can see someone he is generally fine.

Feeding Dyer has become more of a challenge now that he gets easily distracted (mainly from Blair and Easton). It definitely takes a lot longer now. We just started feeding him rice cereal a couple days ago. He seems to tolerate it for the first little bit but then after that not so much.

First time eating rice cereal!

Video of Dyer eating rice cereal for the first time:

Video of Dyer eating the last few bites of his cereal:

Pumpkin Patch

2011-10-19T04:11:00.000-07:00

Easton's preschool class went on their annual field trip to the pumpkin patch. I was hoping to get more pictures of Easton this year but unfortunately that didn't happen. It's a little difficult to get pictures of Easton when he just runs off with his friends (which I am totally okay with) and I feel like I need to keep a constant eye on Blair. So Blair definitely has the most pictures.

Going through the corn maze.

Ms. Laurie and Blair

My beautiful little girl.

Blair kept saying, "Ta da!" while putting her arms up in the air.

Going through the hay maze.

Oh, look there's Easton!

Petting the animals.

I didn't get many pictures of the kids petting the bigger animals because I was asked to move my car so the buses could pass through the parking lot easier.

Blair and Easton checking out the baby chicks.

Dyer was there too!

Holding the baby animals.

I think this is my favorite picture.

I was looking around trying to find Easton when Ms. Valerie tells me to take a picture of Blair. I turn around and she is holding this poor baby goat. As soon as I snap this picture one of the owners yells at Blair to put the goat down and refers to the sign that asks that no one pick up the goats...oops! I think it is funny that no one saw the sign and yet you can clearly see it in the background of this picture.

Leave it to Blair to break the rules!

Easton holding a baby duck.

Blair holding her baby duck.

Getting ready to ride on the tractor.

Easton with his friend James.

On the tractor.

Blair and Easton

As soon as the tractor stopped Easton was off to find his pumpkin. He was so fast that I didn't get a chance to take his picture.

Blair with her pumpkin.

Playing on the hay fort.

All the kids were jumping through the holes and unfortunately Blair decided to join in and hurt herself. I think the jump scared her more than it hurt her but she was pretty upset about it for quite a while.

My cute boys!

I envisioned a picture of all three of my kids sitting nicely together on the hay and smiling for the camera. I'm not sure what I was thinking that that would actually happen. Only in a perfect world. With kids this young you basically take what you can get.

Halloween Outfit

2011-10-17T22:59:00.000-07:00

Since all my kids pretty much almost share the same birthday (their birthdays are within 3 weeks of each other) it is easy to compare them in the same unisex outfits. I did this same thing back when Blair was four months comparing her and Easton. Now we can compare all three of them. Everyone tries to figure out who Dyer looks more like. Now you can see for yourself. See if you can tell who is who (no cheating!). And then who does Dyer look more like?

Dyer and Dexter

2011-10-16T20:46:00.000-07:00

It almost seems that where ever Dyer is Dexter is too! Dexter just won't leave poor Dyer alone. I'm not sure if Dexter likes Dyer's company or if Dexter just likes to pick on Dyer because currently he's the only kid in the house that can't pick on Dexter. Either way Dexter is either laying next to him or on top of him and most likely biting him. I don't mind him next to Dyer but I really can't stand it when Dexter is sitting on Dyer and biting him. Poor Dyer is generally so patient with him. I usually don't notice when I'm making dinner until I turn around and Dexter is gnawing on Dyer's fingers or toes because Dyer hardly makes a peep. It is usually this time of day that Dexter gets sent to his room. I'm sure Dexter won't be so close to Dyer in a few months once Dyer become mobile and has more control with his hands. I'm guessing Dyer will be bugging Dexter and Dexter will be hiding out in his room instead of being sent there. Only time will tell but until then here are a couple pictures of the best buds...

Easton and Blair

2011-09-27T12:53:00.000-07:00

The other night when we were watching BYU play (Yeah they won!!!) Easton brought out a pillow and his blanket and laid between Nathan and I. Blair seemed a little sad that she didn't have a place to sit.

Easton: "I can share with Blair!"

Blair sits down and says, "Thank you Easton!" And they both giggle together.

Easton: "You're welcome! You're my best bud!"

This is coming from the same boy who just a couple days earlier basically disowned his sister.

Easton: "Blair's not part of my family anymore. "

Me: "Blair's always going to be part of your family."

Easton: "No, Blair's not my sister anymore."

Blair tends to bring food out of the kitchen even though she knows she is not supposed to. Today she grabbed a chicken nugget and was heading for the stairs. I told her that she needed to go back to the kitchen and eat it before she left. She of course ignored me and started heading up the stairs. I told her that she needed to listen or else she was going to get a time out. She stopped, looked right at me, and then shoved the whole chicken nugget in her mouth. Then she continued up the stairs. I guess in her mind she didn't have food in her hands anymore so she was good to go!

Dexter

2011-09-26T14:38:00.000-07:00

On the 17th we adopted a 9 week old kitten from the animal shelter. We named him Dexter. The kids seem to really like Dexter (Blair loves Dexter) but I can't say Dexter loves them back.

Blair is definitely Elmira from Looney Toons. She never seems to leave the poor kitty alone. Along with not leaving the kitty alone Blair seems to like to play with everything Dexter. She plays in his food by putting it in his water. She plays in his litter box (yes I know it is disgusting). We have a kid gate up but unfortunately she just climbs over it when she wants in his room. The first time she played in the litter box she came upstairs with poop on her hands. The second time she was playing in it like a sandbox. We try telling her that it is disgusting but either she doesn't care or she doesn't understand. I'm basically convinced she doesn't care.

Easton plays better with Dexter but he can be too rough with him. Easton seems to like to play lion with him. He'll get on all fours and roar right in Dexter's face which scares Dexter. Also Easton will chase after Dexter which Dexter isn't a fan of.

Video of the kids playing with Dexter:

Dexter basically has two favorite spots: the computer room which the kids can't get into (that's a no brainier why that would be) and the living room window sill. The kids haven't figured out that hiding spot yet and I'm not about to tell them either.

We got Dexter on a Saturday but then we had to bring him back a couple days later (Tuesday) so he could, as Easton tells everyone, "get fixed so he can't be a daddy cat." The kids were sad that Dexter had to leave but were very excited to pick him up last Friday.

Dexter absolutely hates the vacuum as I found out today. He hisses at it when it turns on and even when I walked past the vacuum with him (it was turned off) he started hissing at it.

Dexter loves the fish tank though. He spends part of his day everyday trying to get those fish.

Video of Dexter in front of the fish tank:

Dyer at 3 months!

2011-09-23T08:22:00.000-07:00

Dyer turned 3 months on the 13th of this month. It is crazy how fast they grow.

Dyer loves to suck on his fist. I almost think he loves his fist more than his pacifier which of course has its positives and negatives. I really hope that he doesn't become a thumb sucker because I'm convinced that habit is extremely hard to break.

Dyer is sleeping through the night now (well he did get up at 3:30 this morning but besides that he has been sleeping through the night since we got back from vacation). He generally goes to bed between 8-9 and then gets up right around 6:30. Last night he was asleep right before 7 so that probably explains why he got up earlier than usual.

Dyer is starting to grab for things. He likes to look at his hands and he just recently found his feet. He hasn't gotten them yet but is definitely trying.

I've put Dyer in his bumbo chair a couple times. He seems to like to sit up more than laying on the floor but he can only handle it for small periods of time because he gets tired.

Dyer loves to give smiles. He has giggled a few times but we haven't gotten a full blown laugh out of him yet. He must be a pretty serious person. That or we just aren't funny people. I can tell that he is a little ticklish but even tickling him won't get much out of him.

Dyer does better than the other two with tummy time but he still doesn't like it much. He can handle it for about 10-15 min before he gets really upset. I have found that if I give him his pacifier to calm him down it almost instantly puts him to sleep.

Video of Dyer with tummy time:

Easton's First Day of 2nd Year Preschool

2011-09-21T21:07:00.000-07:00

Easton has started preschool again! He seems to be enjoying it but it is probably because he is back with his friends. Ms. Valerie and Ms. Laurie seem really impressed with Easton. They keep telling me how smart he is and that he is really the only one in his class that can "read". Easton is starting to read some words and for other words he doesn't know right away he knows to sound them out. We've been practicing this summer but he would hardly ever do it for me (remember my son's stubborn) so I was a little shocked when his teachers told me that he was reading for them. I finally got him to read some to me this afternoon.

Swimming Lessons

2011-09-20T08:21:00.000-07:00

A few days after we got back from vacation Easton and Blair started swim lessons. BTW the kids did great on the trip home. I drove back by myself and only Dyer had a hard time with the last 30 min of the trip. It took us a little over 11 hours to get home (10 of which were driving) so I think Dyer did really well for such a long trip.

The kids had swim lessons for 7 days (it was supposed to be 8 but the scheduling people messed up) for 30 min. Overall I would say the kids really enjoyed it. I was a little worried that Blair wouldn't get in after the ocean incident but after just a few minutes she decided to get in. Easton passed and can move on to the next level. I was going to sign him up again but the last day of swim lessons he got out about half way through because he was so cold. The weather is just going to get cooler so I guess we will just wait until next spring/summer when the weather is warmer. Blair didn't pass because she wouldn't put her face under water (I don't exactly blame since the last time her head was under water she probably thought she was going to die). Also they said that she couldn't front float with assistance. Again it probably has something to do with her face being too close to the water. It's okay that she didn't pass because there aren't any other classes that she can advance to until she is 3.

Video of Easton jumping in:

I just missed Blair jumping in

Got a picture this time

Video of the kids swimming:

Hanging out with Grandpa and Grandma

2011-09-19T21:47:00.000-07:00

Grandpa aka fish papa was there too but I only got pictures of the kids with Grandma Sharon before my camera died. Jacqui's kids call my dad fish papa because he has a fish pond in his backyard. After this trip Easton now calls my dad fish papa. Apparently Easton didn't like it when fish papa tried to get him and me wet with the sprinkler when we were walking through the grass. Easton still brings this up. haha!

Video of Blair dancing:

I don't get why all my video's are so dark. Does anyone know if there is a way to fix that?

Oregon Zoo

2011-09-19T12:30:00.000-07:00

I'm glad that we went to the zoo because I've been missing a big zoo (DC Zoo). We have the Sacramento Zoo but it is really small and I haven't been brave enough to drive to the San Francisco Zoo or Oakland Zoo.

The kids roaring

Apparently Gma wanted in on the action too!

This was about the time that Dyer started sucking on his fingers.

Looking at the bears.

Eagles nest

Bears again

Picture with Gma. Blair wasn't really cooperating.

At the zoo they had a dinosaur exhibit. I'm glad that we decided to go through it because Easton loves dinosaurs a lot! Blair unfortunately was pretty scared of the dinosaurs and I think she thought they were going to get her.

Easton with some random kid. I wanted a picture of just Easton but the kid just wasn't getting off.

Video of the first dinosaur we saw:

Picture of Blair scared.

Video of Blair scared:

Aaron and Easton

Video of T-Rex:

Digging for some fossils

Lion ride

Playing on the drums

Sexy Gma!

Cute little Dyer

Park and River

2011-09-18T21:20:00.000-07:00

We spent the morning/afternoon with my mom, sister, and nephews. We had a picnic at the park and then afterwards we went to the Columbia River to swim.

We had hornets attacking our food while we were eating so it made it a little difficult to eat without worrying about them attacking us.

Dyer looks awake here but for a while these two were just snoozing away.

This picture reminds me of a couple days ago (nothing to do with our vacation). Easton wanted some pickles with his lunch but I was feeding Dyer so I told him he had to wait. He didn't listen of course and went to the fridge to help himself. I told him that the jar was heavy. Easton says, "It's okay, I've got muscles." A soon as he puts the jar on the table he shows me his muscles and then says, "These muscles!"

I don't think Jana was impressed with Easton's muscles and had to show hers off.

Of course blackberries were involved because we can't ever make a trip to Washington in August without picking blackberries (actually I didn't pick any this year but Nathan took Blair and Aiden with him).

Jana made some blackberry jam and let us take some home with us!

Easton with Auntie Jana.

Nathan and me before we decided it was too hot and needed to get our swimsuits on to cool off.

After the river we went to my dad's to have dinner.

Visiting the Whitings

2011-09-17T22:43:00.000-07:00

We briefly visited my brother and his family on our way up to see my parents in Washington. We hung out with Auntie Mykle and cousins Kannon and Emery until Uncle Wade could meet up with us for lunch.

Emery and Dyer. Emery is about 3 months older than Dyer.

Easton with his Burger King crown.

Giving hugs goodbye.

It was good to see you guys and to finally meet Emery. Too bad it was so short.

Last pics and videos from Jacs

2011-09-15T08:59:00.000-07:00

Video of Dyer smiling:

Jacqui actually got Dyer to giggle twice (Aug. 24th) and I was hoping to get it on video but he would only smile.

Ashlyn giving loves.

Blair was a nightmare to get to sleep so Nathan laid down with her for a nap.

Dyer napping.

Videos of the kids dancing:

Thanks for letting us come and stay with you. We all had a great time

Feeding the fish and ducks

2011-09-15T07:54:00.000-07:00

Jacqui took us to the dam so we could feed the fish and ducks.

Visiting Child Family

2011-09-14T19:53:00.000-07:00

We went and stayed a few days at my sister's house.

Ashlyn driving Blair around.

Easton and Blair were a little scary driving the car and jeep around so they were mainly passengers. Easton crashed into the wall of the garage and one of the planter boxes.

Playing in the dirt was a huge hit. The kids also played in the pool but they were in their birthday suits so i didn't take any pictures of that.

Easton and Blair drove the four wheeler better (doesn't go very fast).

Dyer with Auntie Jacqui

Blair and Ashlyn dancing.

I forgot to tell this story on the first day of our trip. We had just left our house and was on the freeway when a car started to come over into our lane. Nathan swerved so that we wouldn't get hit. Easton yells from the backseat, "Geez Dad, who taught you how to drive?"

2011-09-13T07:31:00.000-07:00

After we saw the sea lions we ate lunch and then headed to the beach. It was overcast most of the time but at least it wasn't sprinkling/raining like it was earlier in the morning.

Florence Beach

Easton was so excited that he jumped into the water before we were able to roll up his pants. I was actually surprised that Easton went in and stayed in for as long as he did because the water was freezing!

Video of the fam (minus Dyer and me) playing in the water:

Yes, Dyer was there too!

Video of Blair:

Video of Easton:

A nice lady walked by and gave Blair a sand dollar!

The kids were having a great time until they went out too far (we kept telling them to come back/not go out too far) and a wave knocked both of them down into the water. Blair was the first to go under and Nathan ran out to rescue her. She was basically rolling in the waves. Once Nathan got her then Easton got knocked down and Nathan had to grab him. I don't think they liked the salty water. Blair kept spitting when she got to the blanket. They were both cold but we forgot our towels (probably because we didn't think that we would actually need them). Blair seemed the most miserable so I striped her down and gave her my sweatshirt. Easton was pretty much done after that. He just laid on the blanket all curled up and eventually asked if we could go.

All three kids. One freezing, one warming up, and the other pretty much content.

Sea Lion Caves

2011-09-12T14:11:00.000-07:00

Nathan made most of the meals and washed the dishes while we were camping. I would have to say that I loved this about camping. The kids were actually pretty well behaved. We really only had a problem with mainly Blair and kind of Easton on the second night when we were trying to get them to go to bed. I was expecting this the whole time we were camping so I was pleasantly surprised. Dyer would get up once during the night to eat but then he would instantly go back to sleep when I put him down.

Nathan making breakfast.

Easton playing in the sand.

I think he was trying to be a dinosaur...

After we ate breakfast and got ready for the day we headed to the Sea Lion Caves.

It's hard to see but Easton is using his hands as binoculars. An elderly couple drove up as both Easton and Blair were using their hands as binoculars and the couple just watched them for a few minutes before they got out of their car. When they got out the man was laughing and said, "That is the cutest thing ever! We have been on vacation for a couple days now and I think that is the highlight of our trip so far!" I agree that it was pretty cute and funny to see both of them doing it together at the same time (especially when Blair was squatting and doing it) but to be honest the couple most have had a really boring trip before this.

We kept seeing what looked like seaweed or debris but when we got closer we realized it was a bunch of sea lions.

Easton thought these were penguins.

Inside the cave. We took an elevator down to see the sea lions.

Florence Beach

2011-09-11T08:11:00.000-07:00

On our way to Florence Beach we randomly came across Paul Bunyan and his ox Babe. We decided to stop and take some pictures. We also went into the gift shop and got some fudge and animal shaped rocks for the kids. Right before we left on vacation Easton started a "rock collection". His collection consisted of many rocks from our backyard that he wanted to keep in his room. I agreed to let him have his collection but it had to stay outside. He started piling rocks just outside our back door on the deck. His collection became a lot bigger than I imagined. Anyways, I could be wrong but I swear my family stopped at this same place when I was a kid.

It only took us about 6 hours to get to Florence, OR. Our campsite was just off the ocean and they had a nice lookout view. We actually didn't make it to the beach this day but the kids had fun playing on the swings (Blair) and playing in the sand (Easton).

I know camping can get dirty. I expected this and for the most part I was okay with this but for some reason I swear this girl was never clean. We would clean her up and just moments later she was covered in dirt all over again.

Dyer all ready for bed.

Camping in the Redwoods

2011-09-10T10:26:00.000-07:00

We took off Saturday morning for our family vacation. Nathan wanted to go camping in the woods and I wanted to go to the beach so we compromised. We drove along the coast which made most of us sick at one time or another with all the windy roads but the view was wonderful. Blair actually threw up right before we actually got on the coastal highway so we knew we had to get nausea medicine the first chance we got. The first night we camped in the Redwoods. Before we got to our camping site though we took a little detour so we could drive though a tree.

Driving through the tree

Blair happy to be stopping to get a little break.

Easton wanted in on the picture.

Nathan, Blair and Easton walking through the tree and then stopping to get a picture.

It took a lot longer to get to our campsite then we thought it would (we thought it would be about 8 hours of driving but it turned into almost 10) so we had to quickly put up our tent and make dinner before it got dark. We basically ate dinner in the dark, cleaned up, and went to bed so I really didn't take any pictures.

Blair, Easton and Dyer all ready for bed.

In the morning we got up, ate, took down camp and headed out to our next campsite (at the beach!)

Kids eating breakfast (well apparently Blair's eating crackers).

A's Game AKA The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

2011-09-09T07:27:00.000-07:00

The Good: We got free tickets to go see the Oakland A's baseball team play!

The Bad: It ended up costing us almost $300!

The Ugly: Someone smashed in our car window. They took our wireless headphones for the DVD player, our jumper cables, and our car manuals(?). The car manuals were in a nice binder so I guess they thought something valuable was in there? They tried to take our DVD player but couldn't pry it out and somehow they didn't find our GPS.

They smashed in the window that Dyer sits next to so he had glass all over in his car seat. I think that upset me the most that someone would smash a window where a baby sits. I'm sure they weren't thinking or maybe didn't realize it at the time but it still ticked me off. We moved Dyer next to Easton in the backseat so that he wasn't next to the broken window. Our car ride home was on the cooler side. I gave Easton Dyer's blanket since he was getting most of the wind in his face and I didn't want him to be freezing the whole time, but by the time we got home Dyer felt pretty cold. Thank goodness they didn't take our DVD player because that kept Easton and Blair distracted enough to not complain that is was too cold and noisy.

This all happened on a Thursday night and we were leaving Saturday morning for our family vacation so Friday was a little crazy. The shop actually stayed open after hours to fix our window so we could leave on time which was nice but it of course cost us extra money to do this.

Okay on to the pictures:

You can probably see why we got free tickets! There was hardly anyone in the stands.

Random Things

2011-09-08T13:46:00.000-07:00

I've been a slacker with this blog recently but part of this is because we were on vacation for 2 weeks and it can get kind of crazy packing/unpacking for a trip. Plus I've been organizing closets (packing up clothes that don't fit, making piles of things to donate, throwing away junk), Easton started preschool, and Easton and Blair started swim lessons. It's been a little crazy around here. Not to worry though because I will eventually blog about everything. My goal is to do at least one post everyday until I catch up.

Anyways, here's some random pictures...

First off here's some things that have grown in our garden.

This was our first carrot(s) that we pulled from the garden. It is hard to tell but these were more red than orange. These were planted right next to our radishes so we are guessing that is why they are reddish-orange and also why they look so funky. All our other carrots have looked normal (just on the small side).

Our first pumpkin. It came really early so we decided to make pumpkin chocolate chip cookies along with pumpkin butter. Easton was a little upset that we didn't turn it into a jack-o-lantern. We have another pumpkin but it's smaller and it too is already turning orange.

Does every kid go through this stage if their mom breast feeds?

I have a picture of Easton doing this same exact thing only he did it around 2 1/2 but that was probably because we didn't have any dolls until Blair got one for Christmas that year.

I randomly found this picture on our other camera. This was back in July when Gpa Layne came into town for Dyer's baby blessing.

Why we should listen to mommy...

2011-08-16T10:11:00.000-07:00

Yesterday as I was reading a library book I hear Easton in a panic calling my name. I rush out my bedroom towards the playroom where he had been watching a movie. I meet him in the hallway where he was now crying and obviously scared. At first I thought the movie sacred him because he tends to get really involved with the movies he watches, but at the same time I found it odd since he has seen How to Train your Dragon several times and knows exactly what's going to happen. I finally got him to calm down enough for him to tell me what was wrong.

Easton: "You know that white little ball thing?"

Me: "the marble?"

Easton: "Ya, it went down my throat. It's stuck right here" As he is pointing to the bottom part of his neck.

After telling me this and me reassuring him he'll be fine, he walks back to the playroom and sits down to watch his movie. I knew he was breathing fine since he was talking to me but I was still a little concerned about it being stuck in his throat so I called Nathan to see what I should do. He told me to have Easton drink something to get it to go down.

As I'm bringing Easton down to the kitchen he starts sobbing. I put him on the counter and ask him what's the matter. He then asks all worried, "I'm I going to choke to death?"

I'm always telling the kids not to put things in their mouths because they might choke to death. Apparently Easton remembered this and was really worried that he was going to die because he swallowed the marble. Poor guy.

Later that night when Nathan got home he asked Easton about the marble. Easton told him, "It's okay. The marble will go in my tummy and then I'll poop it out!"

Hopefully Easton finally understands now why I'm always telling him and Blair (mostly Blair) not to put things in their mouth (that don't belong in there) and why he can't leave coins/marbles/balls (hungry hippos game) around because I don't want Blair putting them in her mouth. Apparently I should have been a little more concerned about him. Oops!

Dyer

2011-08-11T13:31:00.000-07:00

Dyer will be 2 months old on Saturday! Can you believe it? Why do they have to grow up so fast? He is such a good little baby. My favorite thing is that he likes to snuggle. I just wish that I could snuggle with him all day. He lays his sweet little (big if you ask my sister) head on my chest and is so content. In the mornings if I want a little extra sleep I will pick him up and lay him on me, pat his back, and he will fall right back asleep. It's wonderful!

Talking about sleep... Dyer finally slept through the night last night! I went to bed at the same time last night 9:30 and we didn't get up until a little after 5:30. 8 hours of uninterrupted sleep is wonderful! I honestly can't remember the last time that happened since I was always waking up when I was pregnant. Let's just hope this wasn't a fluke. Even if it was he has been sleeping pretty good this last week (about 5-6 hours his first chunk and then 2-3 hours the second chunk.

Another first for Dyer this week was on Monday he laughed in his sleep. It was really cute and gave me a nice chuckle but I'm sure it will be a while before he gives someone a real laugh.

Dyer is smiling a lot more now and seems to like it when someone joins him on the floor and talks to him. Just the last couple of days he has started to "talk" back. He'll coo just a little bit every once in a while but I almost think it kind of scares him when the noises come from him.

Dyer had his 2 month Dr. Appointment on Monday. He was 11 lbs 5 oz and 23.5 in. He's above average but he must have a long torso and short legs because he is already growing out of his 0-3/3 month clothes. Easton and Blair were able to wear these clothes until they were about 4 months old. Dyer's church shirts seem like they are getting small/short but his pants still seem pretty long.

At his Dr. Appointment we found out that his right leg wasn't clicking anymore so we won't have to get an ultrasound. As much as it would have been fun to see Daddy at work I'm glad that it was able to heal itself and we don't have to worry about that anymore.

Dyer still spits up but it seems like it is getting a little better.

Dyer's opening his hands a lot more now. When you hold him he tends to open and close his hands so its almost like he is scratching/massaging you.

Nathan and I still can't agree on Dyer's eye color. Nathan says they are brown. I agree with him that I think they will turn brown eventually since they are a lot darker than Easton and Blair's eyes were but I don't think they are brown yet. I say they are dark grey. I even asked my doctor what color he thought (I didn't tell him what either Nathan or I thought) and he said, "dark grey but I bet they will turn brown." And yes I am only posting that because my doctor agreed with me.

I finally pumped so that Nathan will have milk for Dyer at church when I'm teaching. I decided to do a test run and see if Dyer would even take a bottle since Blair refused. Easton was able to be the first one to feed him. I think he was pretty excited!

Note: There are three other posts that I updated early today. Check them out!

Oh Blair!

2011-08-11T11:09:00.001-07:00

Yes, she is cute and yes she is funny but she is also trouble! She is becoming more and more of a challenge. I guess that comes with being two and not being the baby anymore.

Nothing is safe with Blair. You know the saying, "If there is a will there is a way"? Yeah, that basically sums Blair up these days.

-She has figured out how to open doors so there are child knobs on a lot of doors in our house now! I'm sure it won't take long for her to figure those out too!

- She has figured out all the child gate locks so now we have other child locks on the gate locks. It looks and seems a little silly. On her room gate she figured out the first lock we stuck on there so we had to put another one on. She also figured out the second one but we figured out that if we put it on the other way then she can't quite reach it to unlock it. Give it time though.

-Blair now knows how to open the refrigerator. After a couple of days of her helping herself to whatever she could find and open herself (lots of messes) I finally bought more child locks to put on the fridge.

-After cleaning up a lake of water on the kitchen floor I'm doing a lot better at remembering to lock the water on the fridge. Apparently she likes to fill up cups of water and dump them out on my kitchen floor.

- Treats have to be put up high and out of sight because if it is on the counter and she wants it she will get it.

-She now likes to wash herself up so she will get up in the sink and wash herself but in the process make a mess with the water.

-She likes soap (especially the kind that you have to pump). I can't tell you how much soap/shampoo/conditioner she wastes because when she gets her hands on it she apparently thinks it has to go on every inch of her body. And we aren't talking a thin layer either. She slathers it on. Yesterday after she got out of the shower with me I told her to grab a diaper while I got dressed. She never came back. I started calling for her and eventually found her in the down stairs shower going to town with the conditioner.

-Speaking of showers/baths...I had to give Blair a bath today after Easton told me she had poop in her hands. I ran up the stairs as she was trying to get rid of the evidence. She conveniently told me that poop goes in the toilet as she was dropping it in. It wasn't until I put her in the bathtub that I realized there was pee in the tub. I guess it is time for me to potty train full force now! She obviously doesn't like to be wet now as she will either say she's stinky so we will change her or she will take her diaper off after she has gone (not a good thing when she poops!) Also she obviously knows that poop goes in the toilet and that she should go pee in the bathroom (I just wish that she would have done all this on the actual toilet). Wish me luck because she is definitely stubborn when it comes to sitting on the potty. Any pointers would be helpful.

-Like I said Blair tells us she is stinky when she wants us to change her so the other day Nathan was changing his clothes. Blair walks in our room and asks, "You stinky Daddy, you stinky?"

On Saturday I was at a bridal shower and I get a text from Nathan that says, "Buy some nail polish remover on your way home." Yep, Blair got into my nail polish. Not only did she manage to paint her toe nails but she also painted her legs, the carpet and wall in the computer room. Nathan got most of it off her body but the wall now has orange spots where the nail polish used to be and the carpet is a lot better but still noticeable. As I was exercising in the playroom the other night I noticed two spot of nail polish on the carpet up there and my kitchen sink somehow has nail polish on it too!?!

-After Easton told Blair to get back in the kitchen with her food (see last post) and before her poop incident I found her in my bed with a chocolate granola bar. I'm currently washing my white sheets in hopes that several chocolate stains will come out. She is such a sneaky little girl.

Easton

2011-08-11T08:31:00.000-07:00

Easton loves peanut butter sandwiches. If he had it his way he would eat these all day everyday. Whenever I ask Easton what he wants to eat this is exactly what he will say, "peanut butter sandwich with no jelly!" I really don't know why I ask him anymore because I already know the answer. I'm not sure when the no jelly started but the last couple times that I put jelly on his sandwich (which was a couple weeks ago) he had a huge melt down because he didn't want jelly. I guess that is why he is very specific these days with the no jelly part.

For the last month or so Easton has started to say "me" instead of "I" for everything. "Me hungry", "Me want a peanut butter sandwich with no jelly", "Me thirsty", etc. It drives me absolutely nuts! In fact he knows that it drives me crazy and that is probably why he does it.

Easton is very competitive and has to be first for everything. This has become a love/hate relationship for me. I love it in that it is easy to get him to do something if I make it a competition but if he doesn't win then it is the end of the world. At church on Sunday I was setting up my classroom to teach the third hour and down the hall I hear Easton crying and screaming. I go down the hall to find out what is going on and it turns out that he was really upset (seriously almost hyperventilating) because a girl in his class beat him at opening their classroom door. Really!?! We try really hard to teach him that he doesn't need/won't win every time. He has done better in that he doesn't stay upset as long as he used to but he still gets pretty upset.

Easton has definitely inherited another trait from Nathan and that is telling me how to parent. Apparently Nathan did this as a child too! Blair slammed the door the other day and as I was walking past Easton to go get Blair Easton says, "Mom, Blair really needs to be put in a time out for slamming the door." Thanks for the parenting tip dude!

Easton also must think that he is Blair's dad because he is now constantly telling her what to do and what consequence she will get if she doesn't listen. Today for instance Blair left the kitchen with some food in her hand. Easton says, "Blair you better get back in the kitchen with your food or else I'm going to take it from you and you're going to get a time out!"

Easton is also becoming more and more of a tattle tell. It's nice in that if he is around Blair and she is doing something she shouldn't be doing then I hear about it and can stop her. On the other hand though who really wants a tattle tell...poor Blair!

Easton generally helps me set the table every night for dinner. I don't know how long he will be willing so I'll take it as long as I can. Blair has also taken an interest in setting the table so some nights we have fights because they both want to help.

Easton's also a gentleman in training. The other day I opened a door and he got mad at me. He said, "Mommy, I wanted to open the door because I'm a gentleman."

Nathan told me the other day that Easton was upset about something and he kept saying, "This is passing me off!" Apparently we need to watch our language a little better around here.

The other day when we were driving someone cut in front of me and I said, "What a jerk!" Easton of course was asking about what I said and was repeating it so I told him it wasn't a nice thing to say. He then started basically lecturing me, "Yeah...Heavenly Father and Jesus...they don't like it when you say mean words like that." Thank you Easton for setting me straight and making me feel horrible about myself!

In primary the kids are learning the hymn "Praise to the Man" so for FHE I decided to teach about Joseph Smith and the first vision. Easton didn't know the song was about Joseph Smith and he didn't recognize the picture that I used but he did surprise me that he knew some things about the first vision. He knew the angel's name was Moroni and he also knew that the golden plates are The Book of Mormon.

This kind of makes me think about our family scripture study. We have been reading The Book of Mormon (the full Book of Mormon not the shortened kids version) because they want all the primary kids to read The Book of Mormon this year. For quite a while now I've been thinking what's the point of reading when my kids don't listen and won't hold still? I mean Easton just turned four. Maybe he is just too young for all this. The other day however Easton randomly started talking about a scripture story that we had just read about. I wish I remembered which one-maybe Nathan can help me out but I do know it wasn't one of the common stories. Nathan and I looked at each other dumbfounded. It was really neat to see that even though it appears your kids aren't listening (and maybe most of the time they aren't listening) there are still times when they really are listening.

Movies and Garden

2011-08-11T07:55:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we took the kids to the drive in theater up in Sacramento. It was a late night (didn't get to bed until about 2am) but we all enjoyed the double feature (smurfs and zookeeper). The best part was we all got in for less than $14. I wish it was closer because I'm sure we would do it more often.

This was after the first movie. The kids look a little tired but they actually stayed up for the whole first movie and started dozing in and out the last 20 minutes of the last movie. I was actually surprised they stayed up that long. The second we put them in their car seats to come home they were out! Dyer got up once to eat but quickly fell back asleep!

Update on garden:

First pumpkin! We have two more just starting to grow.

Peppers! There are about four peppers on this plant and one on another. Hopefully our third pepper plant will start growing some.

Lemon tree. Finally after a year we are starting to get some lemons. While Nathan's family was in town for Dyer's blessing we decided to open a lemon up to make sure it was in fact a lemon. I wasn't totally convinced it was a lemon because the biggest lemon has been growing for almost a year and it is still pretty green in color. I thought it had to be a lime tree.

Tomato plant.

Pomegranate tree. It doesn't look like we will be getting as many pomegranates as last year but I'm excited to get more jam!

Air Show

2011-08-04T18:17:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we went to the air show on base. It was open to the public so it was really crowded. Luckily we are military so we were able to go through the main gate and skip all the traffic getting on base. When we were waiting in line to go on one of the air crafts the guys in front of us said it took two hours waiting in line to just get on base. We got there late since Nathan was flying earlier in the morning but we had to wait in line about an hour just to get on the air craft. I think if we go next year we will skip the air crafts because it took too much time. We really only got to see the thunder birds but I'm guessing that was probably the best part of the air show. The kids seemed to like it at first but eventually it got too loud for them and Easton wanted to go. It probably didn't help that at one point one of the jets basically snuck up on us and scared Easton really bad. I forgot my camera so these are all taken with Nathan's phone.

Blair posing with one of the robots. Blair liked the robot until it started to chase her. It freaked her out a little and she started to run away.

Blair and I

Blair and Daddy

Easton and I

Someone kindly asked if we wanted a family picture. Unfortunately Dyer was stuck in his carseat and wasn't in the picture but I actually remembered to take a picture of him this time.

If you notice Dyer isn't wearing any clothes and it wasn't because he was hot. I went to feed him and when I picked him up I realized he was wet. At first I thought he was just sweating but it turned out that he had a blowout! I had to call Nathan to come back so he could help me because it was that bad. I didn't have a change of clothes so he was stuck in only a diaper. I don't think he cared though.

Just a few pictures of the Thunder birds.

What a night!

2011-08-04T07:06:00.000-07:00

I get up to feed Dyer around 1am. He eats on one side and then falls asleep. I decide to change his diaper so that hopefully he will wake up and eat on the other side. I bring him out into the hall to change him so that Nathan doesn't get woken up. I realized that I forgot to grab wipes and a burp cloth (Dyer tends to spit up a lot!). I grabbed the wipes but forgot the burp cloth so I return to grab one. Just as I'm approaching Dyer he spits up everywhere. Seriously it was like a volcanic eruptions. Milk oozing out the mouth and nose which caused choking which then resulted in milk spitting out his poor nose and mouth. He soaked his pjs and the carpet. Great... I clean up the mess and go to Dyer's room to grab some new pjs. As I'm getting up he pukes again. Luckily the burp cloth was under his head this time. The burp cloth is now pretty much soaked. Seriously Dyer you still had more milk in you!?! I get him out of his pjs and put him in my lap to clean him up. I figure I'm safe since he up-chucked everything I feed him and then some. Nope! Wrong again. Puke all over the right side of my shorts and the carpet. Awesome... Again I clean up the mess and put him in his nice clean pjs. Seriously not more than a second after I finished zipping up his pjs he pukes again. The positive: Dyer's pjs were pretty much dry (just a little bit of spit up) so I didn't feel the need to change him again. Plus he was more than ready to eat on the other side! The negative: He got the carpet pretty good so I had to clean that up.

Fast forward almost 5 hours and I hear Blair crying. I try to ignore her in hopes that she will fall back asleep. No such luck. I decide to get up and just peek in to see if she really does in fact need me. As I glance in her room I realize she's not wearing her diaper. Really!?! I walk in her room and almost instantly she stands up on her bed and I can tell her pjs and sheets are soaking wet. Of course she wants to be held but let's be honest, that's just not going to happen right now. I get her pjs off, strip her sheets and notice that she also managed to get her comforter wet as well. I collect everything and bring it downstairs to the laundry room to get washed. Come back up stairs give Blair a quick wet wipe bath, get a diaper on, put new sheets on and put her back to sleep. The positive: Blair's diaper was definitely dry so I got to reuse that! The negative: Well, we already know that one! Oh, and as I was walking back to my room, Dyer was up and ready for round 2!

Bowling and other random things

2011-07-28T10:41:00.000-07:00

Almost every Wednesday afternoon in the summer the library has someone come in and perform for the kids. A couple weeks ago someone came and sang funny songs with the kids. For a few of his songs he played the spoons while he sang. Last week Easton took out some spoons and decided to give it a try. Blair soon joined in and well spoons might not be her thing...

Video of kids playing spoons:

Easton and Dyer in matching outfits

Blair wanted her picture taken with her brothers too!

For FHE we decided to go bowling. The kids seemed to have fun for the first half of the game but then decided the coin op car game was a little more fun. Nathan ended up winning! I was glad that I at least broke 100! I ended with 109 (I think...It might have been 106).

Blair bowling

Video of Blair bowling:

Easton bowling

Video of Easton bowling:

He started doing this about half way through the game.

Nate bowling

Me bowling

Dyer just slept the whole time but I can't believe that I didn't get at least one picture of him. I'm lame.

One last picture of Blair with her ball. She wanted to bowl the whole time and didn't like that she had to wait her turn.

Blair's top sayings these days:

No, I do it! (This has gotten really old fast!)

I did it! (This one cracks me up because often times she wants to do things her self (Ms. Independent!) but sometimes she just can't do it (i.e. put her seat belt on) so when Nathan and I do it for her she will still say, "I did it!" )

I win! (Again this one cracks me up because she can be the last one up the stairs and yet she will exclaim, "I win!" Or when we go and pick Easton up from preschool she will start running towards Ms. Valerie's house and half way there she will turn back to me and say, "I win!" - Okay Blair #1 I didn't know we were racing and #2 you haven't made it to Ms. Valerie's house yet, silly girl!)

Why? (The good old whys...I hate them! Enough said!)

Dang it! (I probably should encourage this saying but I honestly can't help but laugh every time she says it. It really is pretty cute when it comes from her mouth).

I had it first! (Only it comes out, "I had it Burst!" ) All her words that start with f come out with the b sound (i.e fish is bish, Father is Bader. One of my favorite words she mispronounces is airplane (woo-pane)

Blair is all about accessorizing these days. The past week she has had to have some type of bracelet on.

One of Blair's newest things is to hit or kick someone as she is saying sorry. I guess saying sorry as you do it makes it okay?

Yesterday we had a spider in the bathtub so I asked Easton to kill it for me (I hate spiders). He looks at it and then says, "No, have daddy kill it."
Me: "Daddy's at work so you have to kill it."
Easton walks out of the bathroom but obviously was thinking of a solution because a while later he runs up to me with a hammer and says excitedly, "I'll smash it with a hammer!"

Easton's been learning I love to see the Temple in primary this month. He had it down within the second week of learning it but for some reason he sings the last part wrong. Instead of "this is my sacred duty." He says, "this is my secret duty." It sounds like he's a special agent on a secret mission.

All of our kids have their own song (primary song) that we sing to them every night before bed. We were trying to figure out what Dyer's song should be and even though we have one now for him Easton still insists that his song is "Hey Mr. DJ" by Madonna. While Jana was here she played that song many times for the kids telling them that it was Dyer's song.

Christine Larsen Photography

2011-07-22T09:56:00.000-07:00

My friend Christine came over not once but twice to take some newborn pictures of Dyer for her photography business (Christine Larsen Photography). She needed some more newborn photos for her gallery. She also took a few pictures of Dyer with Easton and Blair. The first 4 were taken when Dyer was 3 days old. The rest of them were taken when he was 9 days old. Let me know which ones you like best.

Didn't she do a wonderful job? Thanks Christine!

Dyer's Baby Blessing

2011-07-19T16:17:00.001-07:00

We blessed Dyer in Sacrament meeting this last Sunday. I had a really hard time hearing his blessing since Easton and Blair both kept calling my name and trying to get my attention. Luckily family was in town and they helped out with them but unfortunately they probably didn't hear much of it either. I guess that is what you get when you have older young kids. If there is ever a next time I'll probably see if I can have friends watch the kids so that I can actually hear the blessing. I don't know if this is allowed and maybe I shouldn't admit it but I've always brought a tape recorder with me to record the blessings so that I can type it up and put it in the kids' baby book. I brought the recorder with me but for some reason I only got maybe 2 seconds of the blessing. I'm really bummed out that I won't have Dyer's whole blessing like I do for Easton and Blair. I told Nathan that he needs to write down what he remembers so that I have some of the things that Dyer was blessed with written down. Hopefully Nathan will do that sooner rather than later so that he doesn't forget anything. I know Dyer was blessed with being a peacemaker and having a strong testimony to share with others. I know Nathan said something about Dyer's name sake but I'm not really sure what exactly he said about that. It was great to have family in town and really neat to have Grandpa Dyer there to stand in the circle for Dyer's blessing. Dyer was definitely very handsome in his cute blessing outfit. Here's a few pictures for those who couldn't make it.

Family

2011-07-19T15:11:00.000-07:00

We had some family come into town this last weekend for Dyer's baby blessing. It was a short visit (just the weekend) but we definitely had fun. Thank you guys for coming out and celebrating this special occasion with us.

Dyer getting some loves from Aunt Jessica.

Grandma and Grandpa Stockton

Grandma Stockton working on Dyer's baby quilt.

I guess Dyer can be our Deer since Blair's our Bear and Easton's our Elk (Easton's initials).

Grandpa Layne with Blair (I forgot the flash...oops)

Our two Dyer's!

(This is who Dyer's named after).

On Saturday Nathan took his Grandpa and Dad with him flying. They all seemed like they had a good time and they all had nice things about Nathan flying.

Nathan with his flight instructor.

View from plane.

Later in the day we took a trip to Napa to see wine country. We saw the famous castle (Castello di Amorosa). We only saw the outside and didn't actually go on the tour. Nathan said that he might be interested in going back to take the tour some other day without the kids. After seeing some pictures of the inside online I'm kind of bummed that we didn't go inside. It's too bad though that we can't get in for the children's price since we definitely won't be doing any taste testing. I thought it was funny that the children's tickets are for those 5-20. It makes sense since you can't drink unless your 21 but it's funny to call a 20 year old a child.

Outside of the castle.

View of the winery.

We also saw Old Faithful in Calistoga. I forgot my camera in the car but I had Nathan take a picture on his phone. I'll have to get that picture from him later since he isn't home right now.

Kid pics

2011-07-15T17:24:00.000-07:00

The other day when Easton and Blair came home from preschool (Ms. Valerie let Blair stay twice this week!) they both were fighting over holding Dyer. Since Blair asked first I let her hold him but Easton wasn't very happy about it so when I took the camera out to take a picture of the three of them he refused to smile or even look at me.

Then it came time for Easton to hold Dyer and well... the tables turned. As you can see from the picture Blair definitely wasn't happy that her baby was taken from her.

So we tried compromising and letting both of them hold Dyer. I think Dyer is a little afraid but I probably would be too if it seemed as though my sister was about to snap my neck. Okay so Blair was just trying to help hold his head.

I finally got around to picking the kids pictures up from JCPenney today. When I got them they asked if I would sign a wavier so they could display or advertise using our pictures. So there's a chance one or all my kids might be famous. I had to take pictures of the pictures so they are kind of blurry but you get the idea.

8x10

wallets

8x10

wallets

8x10 and wallets

5x7 and wallets

Projects

2011-07-13T13:58:00.000-07:00

Here's two more projects I've done for Blair's room.

Project #1 spray paint dresser:

Before:
I forgot to take a picture of the dresser before I primed it but here are the drawers before I primed them.

The new handles are a little smaller than what was on them before so I had to fill in the outer holes with wood filler before I painted them.

During:

All primed and ready to be painted.

Painting complete!
Just waiting to fully dry so Nathan can drill some new outside holes.

After:

Probably should have taken a picture without the flash on since it is a little hard to tell that it's supposed to be black.

This picture shows it better. Side note: I really need to get some pictures in those frames...oops!

Project #2: Book holder

I'm actually in the process of making one for Easton's room. I have the material cut out I just need to find the time to sew it together.