Portraits of Dani

Waterslide

Grandma sent the kids this fun waterslide. So grandma, these pictures are for you.

I actually did Dani's hair

I have always struggled with Dani's hair and the fact that it is torture to her when I do it doesn't encourage me to try very hard. It discourages me even more when I actually do it and ten minutes later she has pulled everything out and it looks worse than before I started. So I'm posting these pictures to show that once in while I attempt to do it. This happens to be about once a year when it's time for pictures. Here are some pictures I took, but as soon as we get the professional pictures I'll be posting those. To get her hair like this I first have to get it wet, blow dry it, then curl it and although it does sound like a long process she has such little hair that it doesn't take that long, but the complaining gets to me fast. Usually after doing her hair I won't give her a bath so that it can look nice for at least two days, but of course right after pictures she went swimming. At least we'll have the memories with the pictures. I hope that she will be able to keep her hair nice when she's old enough to do it herself.

Sam's Prayer

Sam is beginning to catch on to things. When he hears the word prayer, he will immediately fold his arms and start mumbling a prayer. It's amazing what children pick up on without you even having to teach them. We have only had him fold his arms a few times while we've prayed because to him it was always torture, but then one day I caught him doing this and I was so excited that I clapped and praised him for it. So now he thinks he needs to clap after every prayer. Oh well, it's a big accomplishment.

Father and Sons Campout

Daddy went on the Father and Sons campout out and party pooper mom wouldn't let him take the girls along. To take the girls' mind off of daddy being gone we set up the tent in our living room and had our own campout. Complete with Smores by a fake campfire. The girls had fun and were disappointed when we took it down the next day.

Dani's Birthday

Happy Birthday Dani! Dani celebrated the morning with her friends as they gathered for cake, presents, and a parade. Her friends brought their decorated bikes and rode down the street where parents and neighbors watched on. They all loved it. Dani wanted a firefighter cake, but somehow with her persuasion, Taylor talked her into Minnie Mouse. Just don't look too close at the cake, I don't profess to be a professional and I was limited in time.

5 fun facts about Dani:

1. Dani has a stuffed Turtle named Franklin whom she takes real good care of and takes with her most places.
2. Dani adores her big sister Taylor and insists on doing every thing she does.
3. Dani loves her little brother Sam and takes care of him like a mother.
4. Dani loves to dance and twirl around the room to Barbie music.
5. Dani loves to swing and asks every day "What's on the schedule?"

I've finally been tagged

There are a lot of different "tags" out there, but I've managed to avoid them all until now - thank you Valerie. I don't think you'll learn anything great about me through this.

A- Attached or Single: Attached - happily
B- Best friend: My Husband
C- Cake or Pie: Chocolate pie or Cream cheese pie - nothing with fruit
D- Day of choice: Sunday - it's the only day Mark isn't swamped with homework (even if he does have a million other things to do).
E- Essential item: Baby wipes
F- Favorite Color: Yellow
G- Gummy bears or worms: Not a huge gummy fan, but I suppose I prefer the worms.
H- Hometown: Salem, Oregon
I- Indulgence: Popcorn - especially when my dad makes it.
J- January or July: July, I'd rather be hot, than cold.
K- Kids: Taylor - 5, Dani - 4 (tomorrow), Sam 1, 1 on the way
L- Life is incomplete without: Home, family & faith in God
M- Marriage Date: May 19
N- Number of siblings: 2
O- Oranges or Apples: Apples
P- Phobias or fears: Mark dying or becoming incapcitated
Q- Quotes: "You get what you get and you don't throw a fit"
R- Reason to smile: family
S- Season of choice: Spring
T- Tag 3 times: Patty, Debbie, Jen N. (I'm trying to think of who I know that actually checks my website.
U- Unknown fact about me: The chore I like the least is cleaning the shower.
V- Very favorite store: DI?
W- Worst habit: Leaving stuff around the house
X- X-ray or Ultrasound: Ultrasound - they had to come up with something for X I guess
Y- Your favorite food: Besides popcorn, I do love Tacos.
Z- Zodiac Sign: Pisces

Child #4

What you're probably not seeing in this image is the fetus of the baby growing inside Stacey's tummy, but believe me, it's in there. We're excited and hope you will be too. The baby is due to come on December tenth and there is a count down already placed on the right and it seems so far away. The doctor will not let this one come late due to little Sam coming out at a whopping 101bs 1 oz. We don't need to go through that again. If the baby comes on December 4 he/she can share a birthday with their daddy and great grandpa, but for their sakes let's hope they get to have their "own" birthday. This will definitely be a busy holiday season (especially with Mark in finals at that time - and then graduation!!!) Guess you can't always plan things just right. Nausea is the new norm, but what can you do, but get up and keep going. It's there whether I'm up and moving or laying down miserable, so I prefer the former where at least my mind can be taken off it a little. The kids are excited and hoping for a girl. We wouldn't mind having another boy to be playmates with Sam, but a girl would be wonderful too. We'll post a poll for you to choose which you think it will be.

Smoke Detector

This is what happens when you have a high ceiling and no ladder. The smoke detector chirped at us all night and day until we could make it to the store to buy a new battery and when daddy could manage to squirm his way up to the detector. This is one of those times when it would be nice to have a ladder - maybe Christmas?

Preschool Graduation

Both of the girls had their preschool graduation yesterday. Dani's little preschool coop learned their letters, numbers 1-10, and went on field trips. Taylor's preschool was much more advanced where they were well prepared for kindergarten. Taylor was very saddened to leave preschool behind, but Dani looks forward to attending the same preschool come fall

Parade of America

I was able to take the kids to the parade in Nampa this past weekend. We found a nice shady spot that kept us cool for the first little while. The kids enjoyed the candy. Poor Mark was stuck at home building a fence in the 90 degree weather.

Canyon County Historical Museum

Dani's preschool went on a field trip to the local museum and they got to go inside the caboose and climb up to the top. Most of the museum was about trains. They made it feel like they were going on a real trip by handing out train tickets and punching them as they climbed aboard. Dani talked about it for awhile.

Learning to Balance

I wouldn't say that Sam is walking yet, but he is attempting more and more and is still learning to balance. He can actually go quite long distances as you can see from the video, but he usually loses his balance fairly quickly. We're almost there!

Disney World

Overall it was a good vacation. We took a lot of pictures and here is a sample. We're glad to be back home.

Animal Kingdom

Instead of going through another day like that at the Magic Kingdom, we decided to try out the Animal Kingdom for day 2. It was much slower paced and enjoyable and the park closed early making a shorter day, which was nice. We enjoyed a nice safari and the best part was that we happened to be in the right place at the right time where they handed each of us a dream fast pass (which means that there is minimal to no wait time on all the rides in the park). That was real nice because we could fit more in. The rides were a lot more exciting here too, although not as many and not a lot for the little kids. Our favorite part of the day was seeing Finding Nemo the musical. I just wish we would have had time to see the Lion King as well. Because it's not as busy here the kids had the chance to see a lot of characters as well. This is where they got all of their autographs.

Magic Kingdom

Unfortunately, although we still had fun, the magic kingdom was probably our least favorite part of the trip and yet the most anticipated. There was just way too much to try and fit in and we were rushing all over the place trying to do what all 12 of us in the party wanted and it made for a long day. The children didn't like all the big people rides and especially all the waiting on the ones they wouldn't go on. The parades were good (although we couldn't see real well). The rain that poured in the later evening made the night miserable for awhile. We were most anxious to visit the princesses, but after waiting in line for 45 minutes and not even getting half way through the line the girls decided it was not worth the effort. Poor things. The look on Taylor's face at the Swiss family Robinson tree house was pretty much the look on her face all day. I recommend taking a couple days here and not trying to fit everything into one day.

Daytona Beach & Canoeing

Since we were so close to the beach and I wanted to say I had been to the Atlantic Ocean we went on a day trip to Daytona Beach. It was fun for the kids and the walk on the beach was real refreshing. Unfortunately there had been a lot of reports on rescues from the rip tides there. The day we went supposedly there were 100 rescues and 1 person still missing. Scary. The canoeing was from our resort out on the lake.

Chip and Dale Campfire sing-a-long

The girls really enjoyed cooking smores, singing, and of course seeing Chip and Dale at the campfire program. Dani was a little too timid to hug Dale, but it was fun to see their first characters. Sam just enjoyed eating the rocks. They showed a Disney movie after, but it was already late, so we skipped out on that.