Thanksgiving 2009

On Thanksgiving Day we went to Danny's brother Jeff's house and celebrated with his family. Both Danny's brothers', his sister and his mom were there. My mom and my Brother Micheal were there as well. It was a good Thanksgiving day!
Mine and Danny's Thanksgiving plates L.O.L. Later I did try a few more items, but it's mainly just turkey, rolls and gravy for me, but it's still yummy!
The kid table at pie time. Cindy's mom (Grandma Lou) made each of the kids their very own pie, which they loved of course!
The babies found themselves a spot with the "big kids" and really enjoyed some pie!
Skye and Daisy. It was nice having Skye here, she's at the baby loving age and was a big help!

On Friday my Brother Kurt, his daughter Skye, my Sister Rebecca, her son Baxter, my Brother Micheal all came over for the weekend and my mom had "her" Thanksgiving. I'm so bummed that I didn't take hardly any pictures while they were here. We ate and played games and relaxed a little. We had a wonderful Thanksgiving with lots of family!

Preschool Thanksgiving Party

We had both my classes meet together for a little Thanksgiving party. We had the "Pilgrims" (my Pre-K girl class) and the "Indians" (my Preschool boy class). Sadly a lot of my "Indians" couldn't come, some were out of town and some were sick (including Van), but we had a fun class!

HAPPY 3rd BIRTHDAY VAN

We celebrated 3 times last week for Van's 3rd Birthday.
Last Sunday we went to Las Vegas and celebrated Van's, Dee Dee and Aunt Cindy's birthdays. We had dinner with the family and ate cake and ice cream.
On Van's official birthday which was Tuesday, November 10th, he was song to all day long. Which he loved when his Aunt's, Uncle's, Grandma's and Grandpa sang, he would sing right along with them. We also sang to him at preschool two times and he brought cookies to share. Van was all done potty training on the day he turned 3, (now that's a celebration!)
On Friday we went to the park and had a party. We played games with the parachute, which the kids loved, we ate lunch, had cupcakes and opened presents.
I type all this with no birthday pictures! Not because I didn't take any, no, somehow only his birthday pictures have gotten erased off my camera. Is this possible? Really, if the kids did get a hold of my camera and erased some pictures it would have been by mistake they wouldn't know how to keep deleting one after another, right?
HAPPY 3rd BIRTHDAY VAN! We did celebrate all week long. You are not a forgotten child like Uncle Jeff likes to say. We love you and are so thankful for the joy you bring to our family!

1st Haircuts

Daisy and Walt got their 1st haircut last week!

Before their haircut
Walt getting all his baby fuzz and curls shaved off. I was afraid that if we shaved off his curls that he wouldn't have them any more. I was happy to see he still has some curl.
We didn't get a picture of trimming Daisy's hair because I was holding her.
They both did a great job. And their hair turned out just fine, for free that is.
Walt is officially walking! He started walking just after he turned 14 months.

Halloween 2009

Every year we go to my sister-in-laws Pumpkin Carving contest/Halloween party and we dress up as a family theme. Well, this year she had it a little early which worked out that my sister and Baxter could be there, yea! But Danny had to work (which was actually his birthday, by the way; Happy Birthday Danny, I love you)!
Anyway, so if Danny couldn't do it with us I didn't want to do it. The kids just dressed up; Max as army guy, Hanna as a "scary" witch (with black hair and all; I think I succeeded this year), Van as a sailor, and Walt as a Caterpillar and Daisy the butterfly. The kids always love being with their cousins and what a treat to have Baxter there too!
Last night we went to our Ward "Trunk-or-Treat" which I always love "trunk or treating" because it's quick, easy, safe, and fun seeing everyone you know and the kids are just excited to get those treats! Hanna decided to be a fairy princess for Halloween and Van Iron Man. Sadly this is the best picture I could get of all of the kids in there costumes, it was almost impossible.
Walt would not keep the hood of his Caterpillar costume on for nothing. As you can tell I wasn't too in the mood to get everyone all the way ready on Halloween, it really is a lot of work, good thing they didn't care either, all they were thinking of was CANDY!
Me with my preschool class. Do you see me? I'm the ghost in the back, ha!

Walt

I had to take Walt to the hospital (in Vegas) last Monday. We noticed he had a sore on his knee when it was already scabbed over and didn't think much of it; than, ouch (at the time I didn't know you can still treat a scabbed sore). Anyway, a few days after we did notice it, we realize it was infected and of course it was late Saturday night and so we decided to wait until Monday. I brought him into the doctors on Monday and my doctor is also a Quick Care doc., so she did everything right there for him in her office. She gave him a shoot in his knee, cut his knee open, drained his knee, gave him a tetanus, and a shoot of antibiotic in his bum. While me and a nurse had to hold him down, poor baby! Then my doc. said she couldn't drain it all the way and is afraid it's in the bone and ordered me to go straight to Sunrise Hospital in Vegas. (We do have a hospital, but a small one that really wouldn't have been able to do a bone test). So I went to Vegas and met Danny on his way home (from Vegas) on the road to give our little Walt a blessing. After hours of waiting (thankfully in our own room, besides the $) the Resident came in and looked, but told me they only will do an MRI on babies not an X-Ray to see if it's in the bone, but went to talk it over with her "team". The Doctor came in and without even looking at his knee said, nope it's not in the bone he just needs some antibiotics and you can go home. Of course I was very grateful all was well I was still like what? The Doc. said, "he is moving his leg and wanting to walk on it and doesn't look sick at all. If it was in the bone his leg would be stiff and he would be very sick." We arrived home at 11:30 pm with a nice hospital bill. Walt's been on his antibiotics since T and his knee looks great, just a little pink is all.

Max as Toy Soldier

Max was a toy soldier in the community play last week Pinocchio. I’m so glad he ended up wanting to be in it. I loved being a little part in the community plays when I was young. Here they just practice everyday for a week and then have 2 shows on Saturday, so it’s real fast and fun. He had a good time doing it with his friends. Max just hates having to wear face paint.

Keeping Me Busy

Daisy and Walt bring us so much joy, but they sure do keep me very busy!

I've never felt the need for child safety locks until now! One getting into the kitchen cupboards while cooking I could handle but two, makes me crazy!
Innocent Walt, got into the office closet.
Not so innocent Daisy, toilet papered my bathroom, and had a ball as you can see!

Daisy is officially walking and it's so cute because she is so little and her arms move up and down as she walks. She's already trying to run!

Walt is starting to stand on his own.

There is so Much to Talk About

Feeding the ducks on Daisy and Walt's birthday.
Max, Hanna and Van love climbing the trees.
Daisy and Walts first milkshake. Happy Birthday!
The kids had a great time at the Pahrump carnival.


Van
Hanna
Hanna's new haircut. It looks so cute on her and I can actually do her hair now! Hanna is such a wonderful big sister. I love that she loves Daisy and Walt so much, it sometimes makes me crazy because of how much she wants to "love" on them, but really she is so great with them. One morning Daisy was awake early and Hanna was up too so I asked Hanna if she could take her in the front room and play with her and I fell back to sleep. Well, about an hour later (oops) I woke up and jumped out of bed, ran to the front room and I see that Hanna had put Daisy in her highchair and had given her Cheerios. Daisy was as happy as could be and Hanna had the big sister role all taken care of. (That was about 5 months ago.) You would never guess how much help a 4 year old could be until you really need those extra little hands. Thank you Hanna for being such a wonderful helper to me and such a wonderful big sister! I love you.
We went to UT last weekend for my mission reunion and got to go to Temple Square during Sat. morning conference. We walked around temple square and watched part of conference in the old tabernacle. It was a wonderful opportunity to bring the kids there.
Hanna, Uncle Kurt and Van walking on Temple Square. We had a great time visiting with Kurt.

Pahrump Fall Festival Parade

My preschool was in the parade last Saturday! Thankfully a family from my school took over and did our float for us, they did an excellent job! There were 13 of us that rode on the float, the inside of the "bus" even had benches attached for us to sit on. The "bus" was donated to our school. The kids did a really good job during the parade, some got a little tired and grumpy during parts, but all in all they waved and cheered for "Pahrump Valley Preschool!"

All About Van

Van is officially weaned from his 24/7 pacifier! How did I do it? Well, the babies have been biting into his pacifier anytime they found one and I was determined not to buy anymore. But then he would like ones he hadn't liked before because they were better than the ones with holes. So we were down to 1 pacifier and we lost it last Sat. well, that night he did fine, Sun. night in the middle of the night he came in crying for a few minutes while I held him and then fell asleep. I was expecting Monday that he'd be over it. I got him dressed and a few minutes after he had his pacifier! He said, "I find it momma I find it!" I took it right away, he had found it in his shorts pocket, but now I had no excuse, he did find it, but there was no way I was going to start the whole thing over again! So I told him that we're not having it anymore, you're a big boy now. The saddest thing was he kept saying, "I find it momma, I find it." That was by hard the hardest day. It hasn't been all that easy, every time he's tired he cries for it, but I kept telling him Saturday we will go on a date together and he could get a toy and a treat, which would sometimes help. We went to Walmart yesterday and he got himself a toy gun. That night he still asked for his pacifier. Van carried his pacifiers around in handfuls, which means if he lost "one" he lost them all!
This is a very scary spider (a scorpion spider, which luckily can't bite) Van killed with his pacifier a few months ago. I guess it was good for something.
This is a dime Van swallowed when we went beach camping, which happily came out the very next day.
Here is a cute picture of Van that I just love and have never posted.
Van has also been my only child (thus far) to write on the walls, floor, furniture, table... it must be the new house's fault. Good thing for the magic eraser. No picture because I really don't want any encouragement of that sort what so ever!
We love you Van!

Daisy and Walt's 1st Birthday Party

We celebrated Daisy and Walt's birthday yesterday at my friend Shelly's house, we had a swim party and BBQ, which was so nice! All of Danny's siblings and their families were there (which I'm bummed I didn't get my camera out soon enough to get them all, it was his sister's birthday so she left early). Danny's mom Dee, his Aunt Laura, my dad and Debi, and a few friends and their families. It was great having everyone there to celebrate with us! This was of course the biggest 1st birthday party I've had for any of my kids, but there's TWO so it had to be big, right?!
Grandpa Ernie, Walt, Dee Dee, Uncle Jeff, Auntie Laura
Grandpa Ernie with Walt
Grandma Debi with Walt
Allison with baby Whitney (Autumn's baby), Dee Dee, Uncle Tom, Daisy, and Danny
Walt needed a little help from daddy to get started, but after tasting it he didn't mind getting a little dirty!
Daisy new just what to do. As you can see her hand is covered in Walt's frosting she kept stealing bites from his cake and anyone else that came too close!
Daisy and Walt digging in! YUMMY! I actually didn't let them dig in for very long just long enough for some pictures and video. They were still recovering from their colds.
A big thanks to my niece Taylor for making Daisy and Walt's own cakes!


Here is a video of Daisy and Walt eating their very own personal cake.

Labor Day

Danny, I and the 3 "big" kids went to Red Rock last Monday for Labor Day. My mom stayed home with the "little ones" and we enjoyed climbing and hiking together.


We drove through a small town called Blue Diamond on our way home and saw 4 donkeys just hanging around. One even came right up to our car window; neat!