Christmas 2007

This year we Spent Christmas in Naples with Cameron's family. Santa came for a visit during dinner on Christmas Eve and give the kids candy canes, Katelyn couldn't believe her eyes. She squealed with joy and was just giddy as she bound over to Santa and sat on his lap. Dallin on the other hand, hide under the table until Cameron escorted him to sit on Santa's lap. Grant was pretty indifferent about the whole thing. It was great watching the different reactions of the kids with Santa.

Katelyn was all about opening every one's gifts. As she opened all of hers she would look at it put it on the couch and looked for another gift with her name on it. When she couldn't find any more she "helped" Dallin, Grant, Grandma and Mommy with ours. it was only after all the gifts were opened that she took time to actually look at her presents and play. So far her favorite has been the Polly Pockets. She got three different packages, one being a Snow White Princess with lots of beautiful dresses.

although Dallin didn't open a single gift on his own, he was just about the happiest guy on the planet, the first thing he opened was his Elmo potty package, and that was good enough for him. It came with movies, underpants and a cute little seat to put over the potty, perfect for little potty training bums. (don't get any wrong ideas, although I don't find joy in changing the diapers of two children, we are no way ready to potty train Dallin, we are still working on Katelyn for heaven sakes and we started training her in June a year and a half ago... we are obviously doing something terribly wrong)

Grant was content to fall asleep on Grandma's lap for his first Christmas, and he stayed there until we insisted that grandma open some of her own gifts. He has become such a happy boy. He loved playing with Cameron once he woke up. Bill and Louise spending time with Dallin and Grant on Christmas morning.

I love watching Grant sleep, he looks so cute with a Binky in his mouth. See the hole in Cameron's head where he had the cancer removed... believe me it looks much better then it did 4 weeks ago when I couldn't help but stair at it while we were trying to have a conversation... much better.

Abe and Julie gave us an Aquadoodle, one of the greatest inventions ever, there is a mat that will turn blue when water is put on it, so you simply put water in their little aquadoodle pen or on their stamp pad and they can doodle away. if by chance they doodle their way over to the carpet or wall, no problem, its just water after all and not very much at that.... simply amazing.

Dallin's favorite gift was some Elmo Underpants. he insisted on wearing them then and there over his P.J.s so he could see them of course. it was very cute!


Cameron's brother Jordan made out like a banshee this year... it's amazing the gifts you get when you're still single and not having to divide the gifts between a wife and three kids. Here we are playing one of the games he got. Where you find out who in your group knows the most about being a redneck, sadly Bill and I were the most knowledgeable in redneck ethics...it helps that I lived in a trailer park for 8 years and Bill lived in the ghettos of Ogden. The others didn't really stand a chance against us... although Cameron did end up winning... he's pretty much amazing at everything, even if he hasn't lived in a trailer park.

A princess in distress

Yesterday I smiled as I watched Katelyn and Dallin playing together. Katelyn was running into her bedroom with one high heeled pink princess shoe her hand across her forehead and in a breathy voice saying, "I must go... oh, I must go" Dallin was of course following in a pair of blue princess shoes, with a puzzled look on his face trying to figure out this game Katelyn was playing. Katelyn turned to him and said, "you can't come prince, you have to stay here" and then with as much drama as a three year old can muster she said, "Oh, I must go" as she ran off. Dallin, still not quite catching on that he is suppose to be the handsome prince waiting anxiously at the castle for his beautiful princess to return, scamper off after his sister, loving this game of princess in distress.

Night in Bethleham

Our Stake does this amazing thing called Night in Bethlehem, where they turn the lot next to the stake center into the streets of Bethlehem, they have roman solders there to help with parking the car, they have tax collectors who has everyone has to sign the census and pay taxes (canned goods) as they come in and then you enter an open court yard with loads of booths where you can play Jewish games, eat food, listen to music, play with toys in the toy shop and all sorts of things. they they sound a trumpet and everyone gathers to listen to the story of our Savior's birth, they put on an amazing production with singing acting and music. then everyone gathersinside for hot cocoa and cookies. it's fantastic!

Kateyn and Dallin playing on the rocking horses at the "Toy shop"

The first night we went it pour on us and we stayed inside the stake center waiting for it to lighten up enough for us to venture outside, it never did, eventurally Cameron ran out to get the car in the pouring rain. he was soaked from head to toe.

the second time we went it was suprizingly cold, so we dressed the kids in their warmest clothes, which they still froze in. thankfully Cameron thought to bring a huge blanket for us to sit on and watch the performance it worked well as a family cuddle blanket.

Kateyn and Dallin wanted to be held the whole time because it was so cold.

at 8 weeks old, Grant has started smiling! I love this stage when the babies have decided that this life isn't so bad and although they still love to be held they don't need to be bundled bounced and swayed to be content. It's great!

Dallin loves playing with the babies in the house whether it's Baby Grant or one of the dolls, he shows great love and care. Generally when it's baby Grant he shows too much love and care as he tried to cuddle/smoother him or shove an upside down Binky in Grant's incorporating mouth, but he really is trying to be loving.






Katelyn's new favorite thing to do is pretending to be Mary, the mother of Jesus. she walks around the house with a blanket over her head saying, "I id Mary." then she sings some "Mary" sounding song in her high falseto, finds Dallin, drapes him in a blanket and tells him "you id Joseph and I id Mary, O-Tay Dal-lin?" and then she and Dallin Dance as Katelyn continues singing her "Mary" song. At this point Dallin usually starting hugging Katelyn until they both fall on the floor laughing.

Dallin and Katelyn Play really well together. They will both be good parents when they grow up.

reaping the benfits of potty training.

Dallin loves that Katelyn is potty training, he perks up every time she dashes off to use the facilities not because he is so thrilled that his older sister is perfecting a skill she will use for the rest of her life, or because he is even remotely interested in using the potty himself, but because each time she uses the potty and gets a treat, he also gets a treat. Just try to give someone a treat in front of a one year old... it's not something most people are able to do.
after telling them that their faces were covered in chocolate they wanted to check it out for themselves

a Sunday morning

Cameron was on call this Sunday, which doesn't mean he gets to sit around at home waiting to be called into the hospital, oh no he gets to sit around at the hospital waiting to be of service somewhere... he usually gets lots of studying done. anyways he left at 6am so I was on my own getting everyone to Church on time. so I quickly got the children bathed and ready... well two of them at least, and popped in a movie while I got myself and Grant ready, this of course includes feeding him, changing diaper and packing the diaper bag full of snacks and something interesting for the kids to do so I can have a chance at listening. I could tell Dallin was up to something because I was able to completely put on my makeup and do my hair without him coming into the bathroom and insisting that he be a part of it... so when I went to go check on him this is how I found him...
Completely asleep. wouldn't it be great if we could look that comfortable in that position?
after I took a few pictures, he climbed up the rest of the way while sleeping, he slept there for a while and then climbed down, picked up a few toys and then slept on the floor, then climbed back onto the couch and stayed there until I picked him up and carried him out to the car.
needless to say, he didn't take his usual sacrament meeting nap.

Away in a Manger

Our ward has a Christmas tradition of having the nursery children act out the nativity while the a narrative is being read and the primary children are singing. it's so cute to see the small children standing around a manger wondering what to do, seeing their parents in the audience, waving, running out to them and then running back to check out that manger. Katelyn was chosen to be Mary while Dallin was on the verge of being a sheep, he was not at all happy being a sheep (I can't blame the kid, it was in the high 70's and the sheep was not recently shorn) He thought it would be most fun to run around clad in nothing more then a diaper... which I sure would have come off before long. somehow we convinced him to be a cow... you know.. the Cattle are lowing... he was a darling cow, unfortunately we didn't get a great cow picture, just a suspicious cow picture, we will take what we can get.

Waiting patiently for the program to begin... Dallin deciding he was not meant to be a sheep... no way am I actually going to be zipped up in this thing... it even had a cute bell... oh well, maybe when we move to someplace a bit chillier.
Katelyn did a fantastic job as Mary, she took very good care of baby Jesus
Katelyn showing us how small Jesus is... I think she is exaggerating a little
The little manger... Dallin was not thrilled that I wanted him to stop running so we could take a picture.

our suspicious look cow.... so cute!

We love Dallin, he has such a fun personality. he is always ready with a cheeiser smile and an excited "Dlet's gdo" as he does this excited hoping skiping ganter towards the door, excited to go and do anything we may suggest.
he repeats everything we say. He uses this cute robot like voice when he askes for things like chicken nuggets, he generally says thank you when he hands you something.
he greets us with a huge hug, a real squeeze around the neck type hug, and if you are Katelyn size it gnerally results in both of them falling on the floor and starting a wrestling match, well as close to wrestling as you can get with a princess...

checking on Grant

Katelyn and Dallin love to run back into my room to "check" on Grant. They are so excited to see if he is waking up. checking isn't generally a quiet processafter they check up on him, what do you know, he's wide awake... who would have guessed?

my sad story

so here is my sad story, I like scrapbooking/blogging / most anything that involves telling my story and pictures. the sad part about this is I am the one who takes all the pictures. it seems the only time Cameron spontaneously takes a picture, is first thing in the morning or right before bed which doesn't make for flattering photos. most other times I have to shove a camera into Cameron's hands and beg for him to take a picture of me with the kids, obviously I do this a lot, which would account for these shots. thankfully he is willing to comply... most of the time.

Thanksgiving Happenings

A time for reflection and gratitude Thanksgiving has always been a fantastic time to notice all the wonderful things surrounding me.

we came to Naples for Thanksgiving this year. Cameron's brother Abe came over from Miami with his family and we all had a great time together.

Katelyn spent some quality time rolling in the foliage and consequently spent quantity time with Grandpa removing the "hitch hikers"

Katelyn had a blast playing with her cousins especially Lauren who is exactly a month older then she is. they ran around inside and outside and had a great time convincing their parents and grandparents that they needed to give time ice cream, cookies, cake and anything else they could get their hands on.
Katelyn Dallin and Lauren playing in the baby water play thing. they loved it. next year they may decide that it really is for babies but for now they are having the time of their lives.

Katelyn showing off her starfish hat. cute huh?

chocolate cream pie

Dallin has always been willing to try new things, unlike Katelyn who won't even touch anything that's not cake, chicken nuggets or some kind of fresh fruit or vegetable. so when we made Louise's amazing chocolate cream pie for dessert one night, Katelyn didn't want anything to do with it and Dallin was all over it... or maybe I should say it was all over him. watching him eat it reminded me of when Cameron was in a pie eating contest one year, he explained that the trick to winning a pie eating contest is to get so much on your face that you don't actually have to eat much. this seems to be Dallin's strategy as well.

He is even using a fork... very impressive!Dallin's not too thrilled that Daddy has decided to share.
Grant will have to wait until next year to be in on the pie eating action.

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