I don't know if it's because he's a boy, he's the second child, or because I've forgotten what Megan was like 2 years ago, but I feel like Dane is CRAZY and way busier than Megan was at his age. Maybe it's a combination of all three, or the fact that I am rapidly approaching the big 3-0, but that little guy wears me out by the end of the day. (It also probably doesn't help that he has an older sister that teaches him some of this crazy behavior.) Between the hours of 5PM and 7PM are the longest and it's then that I am most grateful that he goes to bed at 7PM. Seriously, this kid is into everything. His favorite place right now is the pantry. If the door isn't closed all the way, you can bet he's in there getting into something "fun".

He is also very fond of stealing my water jug and running/spilling it all over the house. I can't take a drink of it without him whining and grunting for it too.

{Notice the smirk behind the straw?!}

Good thing he's so cute. It's his saving grace most days. I've even started him on the "naughty stair" already. It's times when he looks like this though...

when I kind of forget all the trouble he gets into during the waking hours of the day, and all I want to do is kiss on his chubby little cheeks and rock him in my arms.

Ummm... How has it been over 4 months since I've had a new post?! This Summer just flew by and now the Fall is almost over as well. I had intentions of trying to do a "catch-up" post with lots of pictures with everything that we've been up to, but even the thought of that overwhelmed me and kept me procrastinating even more. So, here I am, the 17th of November, finally trying to get back into the swing of blogging. Here's the "short" version of what we've been up!

We spent July unpacking and moving back into our old house as well as two family reunions. Since we decided to stay and not move, we decided to tackle some home-improvement projects, including some redecorating and painting the whole interior of the house (kitchen cabinets, all the wood railings, and mantle). I am still working on the redecorating, with the help of the fabulous Caitlin Creer, and am really pleased with how it's all turning out, even if it's taking a little longer than I had first anticipated. Dane also started to really walk in July and has been into everything ever since.

We fell in love with the Murray pool in August and I met up with some of my sisters-in-law once a week with the kids there. Both kids were in heaven and we can't wait for next Summer to spend even more time there. The painters finished up in August too and we decided to drive, for the first time with kids, to Southern California. The kids did an awesome job and I figured out that if I take Dramamine, I can read in the car. I ALWAYS get car-sick when I try to read in the car, but was able to this trip and became quickly consumed by The Hunger Games trilogy. Of course the weather was not quite as warm as we had hoped for (the temperatures are always under 80 degrees whenever we go), but we still had a fun time at Grandma and Papa's and seeing my sister, Auntie Jill. Megan also started preschool in August on Tuesday and Thursday mornings and LOVES it. She is one of 4 girls in a class of 12 and has already attached herself to a pair of twin boys that she talks about non-stop. She told me while driving home last week that, "Owen said he would marry me". And so it begins...

It was still pretty warm here in September, so we spent lots of time at the park and outside. I was anxious for some cooler weather, but knew all too well that snow would be here soon enough and to just enjoy the sun while we had it. Eric and I also had our first yard sale in September. It was an interesting experience. We were glad that we did it, but not feeling the need to do another for a while.

We tried to do lots of fun Halloween things in October. There are lots to choose from in Utah and really lucked out that we still had warm weather since most were outside. We went to the Barnyard Boo at Thanksgiving Point where the kids enjoyed pony rides, cookie decorating, face painting, and games. We also made it up to This is the Place Heritage Park for their kid-friendly Halloween weekend. There was trick-or-treating, witches stories, train rides, and fun games. Megan had been talking about being Princess Aurora for months, so I thought it would be cute for Dane to be a dragon. I wasn't sure how he'd handle the costume with the hood on it, but he did great with it and it didn't really seem to bother him at all. He would even run around making funny dragon sounds. We spent Halloween at my sister-in-law, Angela's house. We went there last year and decided to make it a tradition. Megan loves being with her cousins and the kids always have such a great time together. The highlight of the night was Dane eating three hot dogs for dinner that night. That has to be some sort of a record for 16 month olds. Dane also LOVES suckers and had more than his fair share in October. I am still trying to hide all the candy so that he doesn't freak out in desperation for it when he sees them. Eric was a good sport and dressed up as Prince Phillip (his second year in a row as a prince). Megan will frequently refer to him as "Prince Phillip", even at Costco. I was able to rent a Maleficent costume for the night and that was really fun. It even had her big staff with a raven on it.

The kids keep me busy, especially Dane. He really loves to throw things into the toilet, and the bathroom doors don't quite manage to stay closed all the time. Just this week I've found a binky in the toilet (which went straight into the garbage) and the remote to our ceiling fan. He doesn't say a lot of words, mostly just "Mama" and "Dadda", but tries to say dog, cat, go, and of course, candy. He is quite expressive with his jibber-jabber though and I can usually decipher what he needs. He's gone from a cute chubby baby to a handsome little toddler in these last few months and I keep joking to Eric that it's time to replace him as the baby with a real baby. (And no, I'm not pregnant.) Megan loves her school and is getting pretty good at writing her name. She loves to color and draw and we are starting to go through a lot of paper. She gave up naps a couple months ago, but I still insist that she goes to her room for about an hour for "quiet time". Sometimes it's not so quiet, but I still get a little break in the afternoons. The kids play really well with each other and it's fun to see them interact more and more as they get older. Hopefully this wasn't too long and boring, but at least you know that we are indeed alive and doing well!

Sleeping Beauty

The Dragon

June 29, 2010

Happy birthday to my baby boy!

I know everyone says this, but I really can't believe he's already 1. My mind kept wandering back to that day - Megan and I took a walk in the morning, we waited all afternoon for the "go-ahead" to head down to the hospital to be induced by my doctor and finally got there around 3, the epidural not working all the way, finally being able to hold my chunky baby boy at 9:47 PM, and then the anxiety of him having to be in the special care nursery for 7 days after that. Our little Dane had a bit of a rough start, but you'd never tell from how big and healthy is now. He has been a harder baby than Megan was, but his smile just melts my heart. He's turning into a little character with a devious little laugh and crazy dinosaur noises. Even though he crawled late, he's standing all by himself and talking three to four steps at a time. He's certainly trying to keep up with his big sister! Dane is a good eater and will eat almost anything. He is starting to want to eat everything himself and not wanting to be fed anymore. I can't really blame him since he already has over 10 teeth. Even though he is a bit of a whiner, we sure do love our "Bubba" and love to kiss on his chunky cheeks!

{On another note, we didn't end of moving due to some complications with the new house at the last minute. Even though I did have the WHOLE house packed and ready to go, we are happy to be staying in our current house and are looking forward to some home improvement projects.}

June 16, 2010

This is what has been consuming our lives lately:

We are moving! We have been looking for a bigger house (one that we can stay at forever and grow old in) for about a year and a half and finally found it. It's taken lots of patience, prayers, and persistence, but I think it's paid off. It's all happened rather quickly - less than 1 month. We decided to rent our current house and are hoping that being a landlord won't be too awful.

It's a crazy process, this moving business, even though it is only about 10 minutes away from where we live right now. We starting packing about a week ago and decided it was better on my sanity to park my car in the driveway so we can keep all the boxes in the garage and not all over the house. Thanks to the help of some fabulous sisters-in-law, babysitters, and friends, I am almost finished. We close today and are moving this weekend. My stepmom is coming on Sunday from California to help us unpack. I don't know how I could have done all this without so much help. I feel very blessed to have such wonderful people in my life. I will tremendously miss our neighborhood and ward, but am excited for our new adventure! Pic's of the new house to come soon!

{And to complicate things a little more, I am still having a big family party for Dane's first birthday in two weeks at the new house. What's life without a little (or a LOT) of chaos?!}

May 1, 2010

Don't you just want to nibble on that chunky arm?!

Dane is a little bit of a late bloomer.

He's still not quite crawling and just barely starting to pull himself up to stand.

I'm thinking it's because it's just too hard to move all that weight around!

April 30, 2010

How many of you have a fabulous babysitter?

This is mine:

Megan adores her and we were FINALLY able to make it to one of her clogging performances.

I am sad we didn't make it more of them. She is very talented and Megan loved it.

I can't even begin to describe how grateful I am to this sweet girl.

She loves my kids like they were her own siblings and I've never felt anxious about leaving them with her.

Sadly, this awesome young women is graduating high school in a few weeks, and has recently started a "real" job, forcing me to use other sitters.

(I think I've found a good replacement!)

She is going to BYU in the Fall, so she'll still be close.

Megan (and I) will miss seeing her cute smiling face every Sunday though...

April 29, 2010

Someone has learned a new trick at our house,

so we had to lower the crib.

I know I'm a bit partial because I'm his mom,

but this kids is seriously cute!

He's 10 months old already?!

April 27, 2010

Ice makes EVERYTHING feel better...

Even tummy-aches

April 21, 2010

Megan has been taking swim lessons for the last several weeks. Since this is our last full week of lessons and the focus of the lessons is teaching survival skills in the water, Megan did her lesson fully clothed on Wednesday. She knows to float on her back to breath and knows how to do that from about every situation she could be in when she's in the water. She loves jumping from the diving board and has LOVED swimming lessons. I can already tell she's going to be heart-broken when they end.

April 16, 2010

My sister-in-law, Jen, had her third girl last Friday. They names her Ana Christine. Eric and I went to the hospital for date night and of course I had to bring my camera. On the drive there, I mentioned to Eric that I am extremely glad that I am not pregnant, nursing, or have a newborn at my house right now, but there's just something about seeing and holding a new baby that tugs at my heart...

April 14, 2010

You know it's starting to warm up when you feel compelled to buy the BIG bottle of bubbles!

April 13, 2010

He's not quite crawling, but is slowing getting there.

He doesn't quite know what to do while on his tummy as evident with his facial expressions.

April 7, 2010

At least once a day, Megan tells me this, "Mom, I am very sad. I need to call Daddy."

And so she does...

April 4, 2010

For Easter, we some of Eric's brothers and their families over for dinner and an Easter egg hunt. I was a little bummed when we woke up to snow that morning, but it melted enough that we were still able to let the kids loose outside. It was madness, but lots of fun!

April 2, 2010

There are so many things that I love about this picture:

Frosting on Emily's face and her squinty-eye smile

Megan's crazy half-smile and NOT looking at the camera

Meg's arm around Emily

Both girls wearing their Winter coats at an Easter egg hunt in April

But, mostly I love that they are friends. I am so grateful for the good friends I have in my life and that Megan has some too! In fact, as we were driving to this Easter egg hunt, I told Megan that we were going to see her friends, David and Emily there.

She then responded, "And Lindy? (their mom) I love Lindy. She is my girlfriend!"

I guess she is grateful for good friends too!

April 1, 2010

Megan came downstairs today with this:

Not something terribly out of the ordinary for her to want, except for the fact that I knew that I had put that on top of my tall dresser in my bedroom after finding it earlier in the day after cleaning out some drawers in my room. I thought maybe I put in on the lower dresser afterall... That was until I went upstairs and saw this:

All the pillows from my bed piled up high by the dresser so she could reach and get the sucker.

This girl is too smart for her own good. I just had to laugh and grab my camera!

March 30, 2010

New Life:

My daffodils are blooming, just in time for Easter!

March 29, 2010

9 Months Old!

Every month on the 29th I take Dane's picture in the rocking chair next to the same bear so we can see how much bigger he's getting each month. We did this with Megan and it was fun to see the growth and progression month by month.

March 28, 2010

While thumbing through The Friend after dinner tonight, she decided to lead us in a song.

(Notice how she is pointing out the words for Eric and I follow along, even though she can't read and we aren't even singing that song?)

March 27, 2010

The kids took a bath together for the first time today.

They both LOVED it!

March 26, 2010

This is what happens when we have to wait over 45 minutes at the doctor's office:

Megan raids the sticker basket

And I am totally ok with that.

March 25, 2010

One of my favorite children's books is The Little Mouse, the Red Ripe Strawberry, and the Big Hungry Bear. The poor little mouse in the book is trying to hide his strawberry from the bear because he is certain that the bear can smell is big, delicious, strawberry. I grew up in Orange County until I was 10 and there are strawberry stands on every corner when they are in season. The strawberries are so fresh, ripe, fragrant, and delicious. Most of the time, you are eating the berries that were picked that day. Flashbacks of my childhood and my mom reading this book to me always happen when I smell strawberries. This happened today as I was washing and cutting strawberries this afternoon for a little snack for me and the kids. Costco finally has the 4 lb. clam shell of strawberries and we have no problem eating the whole thing well before they go bad in our house.

March 24, 2010

He's getting close...

I was so anxious for Megan to start crawling. I guess that's how it is with your first, eagerly anticipating the next big milestone. Megan started to crawl around 8 months old. Dane is almost 9 months old and just barely starting to pull his legs under his body and that is ok with me. I am not quite ready to baby-proof the house again, worry about stairs, and have to deal with a mobile baby at church. I hope we still have a few weeks before the crawling begins.

March 15, 2010

I took some 1 year-old birthday pictures of my friend's little girl on Monday.

She is using this one for her party invitation:

This was one of my favorites! Look at those beautiful, big eyes! We joke that Dane is her boyfriend. He'd be a lucky boy if that were true...

March 13, 2010

The Birthday Girl!

We celebrated by going to Disney on Ice, watching Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs,

cake and ice cream, and presents!

Here's an update on our Miss Megan:

She LOVES anything princess and has an eagle eye for them at any store

She was FINALLY potty-trained about 2 weeks ago and we've been accident free over a week!

She loves to sing, especially to The Black Eyed Peas

She's very into coloring

She loves babies, especially her brother. She sometimes tries to pick them up even though she knows she's not suppose to (Sorry Joslyn - We are working on this)

She's a stubborn little girl, as was I, so I guess the apple doesn't fall far from the tree.

She's turning into a phone junkie. She's always asking to call her dad while he's at work and will beg to talk to whoever I am on the phone with. She even called her babysitter 4 times and left 4 messages since the babysitter was in school and couldn't answer.

She loves church and even bore her testimony last week.

She's our sweetheart girl and we love her so much!

March 12, 2010

Today was party day! Megan's birthday is tomorrow, but we had her party today. It was CRAZY fun (lots of emphasis on the crazy)! We had a princess and knight party. The girls made crowns and the boys made shields. We played a couple games that most of the kids didn't really get, but that's ok. Everyone enjoyed the cake and ice cream and for me, that's the best part!

March 10, 2010

She's really into drawing lately.

They were drawing robots together.

March 9, 2010

It's hard to stay mad at this little girl, even when she's in the tub because she wet the bed when she should have been taking a nap,

but played in her room for over an hour instead.

Yes, it was one of THOSE days...

March 7, 2010

I had to wake up Dane from his nap to go to a family dinner today.

This is what I saw when I went in.

I thought his little feet poking out were just too precious, so I grabbed my camera.

March 6, 2010

She finally did it!

She filled up her potty chart and earned her fancy princess doll from Disneyland that has Belle on one side and Cinderella on the other.

I tried to get a decent picture of her with both the chart and doll and this was the best I could get from my wiggly and non-cooperative child.

Eric gave Dane a "biter biscuit" for the first time. It seemed appropriate since he's had 5 teeth come in within the last 3 weeks. He was a happy and messy boy!