Naughty...Naughty...Naughty!

This week was probably one of the hardest weeks with Dallin & Brooke that I can remember. Usually it is a day or two, but this was a week! They have always been really good friends...best friends! They would play so well together and take care of each other. This week that ended. For some reason they decided that they no longer like each other. In fact, by the look of things, they can't stand each other. They have been fighting all week...screaming matches, biting, pinching, hitting, and now kicking! What am I to do??

I told Dallin that I was done being the Mom and after looking around for a minute he said, "Well, I think you have to be because you are the only one here with long hair."

When the fighting hit a new limit I exclaimed, "Dallin, If you don't stop I'm going to ring your little neck!" He looked at me and said, "But Mom, my neck doesn't have a bell!?!"

Thankfully the week is over and I'm just praying that next week is back to normal. Doug has one more week of finals and then Christmas Break!!

Thanksgiving

With a few days notice, we flew to Utah to see the family for Thanksgiving. It was great to see everyone and it helped our family get more in the holiday spirit. We can't wait for Christmas!!

Doug's team for the Turkey Bowl!

Happy Halloween!

We had a lot of fun this October. The kids were entertained all month with pumpkin patches, Halloween parties, and trick or treating. Dallin was cracking up at every door we stopped at while trick or treating. He was really getting a kick out of the fact that all he had to do was say "Trick or Treat" or "Happy Halloween" and people would give him candy. What a great concept! Brooke refused to dress up for most of the activities, but we managed to get her to put on a bear noise to go trick or treating. Dallin was a Soldier for Trunk or Treat, but on Halloween he switched at the last minute into a Doctor costume. He loves to dress up and has a great imagination. Brooke on the other hand, prefers to be Brooke.

Lots of Diapers

Last week I started noticing unfolded clean diapers all over our house. I discovered that Brooke had taken every animal in her room and put a diaper on them. Within minutes she would start the process all over...changing them over and over again. There must have been 30 diapers on the floor. This task kept her busy for hours!

Birthday Boy!

Dallin was so excited to turn 3! When I asked him yesterday what he wanted for his birthday he said, "A football cake with candles." I love how easy Dallin is to please! He had a great time with his friends and his cake!

Little Fish

The only thing Dallin wanted for his birthday was a football cake and flippers for the pool. Brooke enjoyed the flippers quite a bit as well!

Great friends!

A couple of weeks ago I decided that Doug needed a break. He was just finishing mid-terms and I could tell that he was going crazy and just needed to get out of Florida. It is amazing how great it can feel to leave everything behind and take a quick trip North. So, with a days notice, we headed up to Philladelphia to see our good friends Zack and Danica. They were in the middle of moving, so not exactly the best time to show up on their porch. But as always, they were so nice and they let us stay with them and they took time away from their move to take us around town. We wished that we could have helped them more with their move, because they helped us by taking all of our stress away and made our trip a great vacation! We had lots of time to just relax and Doug was able to revert back to being his pre-dental, no care in the world self! Horray!!

A New Man

I have been dreading potty training for several months now. Dallin has been ready, but I have really been dragging my feet. I finally cleared an entire week and began the process. I really lucked out!! It has been a week, and we haven't had an accident in several days. Dallin is a big boy now and is very proud of himself. My only problem now is Brooke. She refuses to wear a diaper or underwear. She wants to be just like her brother and always has to use the bathroom at the same time he does. I don't know quite what to do with her!

Snail Bait

I love sitting on the front porch. The kids and I spend quite a bit of time there, so we planted some flowers a few weeks ago to make the place feel a bit more like home. Within days I noticed that our plants were starting to wilt. I kept watching them, but the problem kept getting worse. One night we got home late and noticed tons of snails all over the porch and sidewalk. The kids thought it was great! I was happy to finally figure out what was killing our flowers, but a little bugged that I would have to replant. I took the kids to the store the next day and we bought some snail bait. The next day we had dead snails everywhere! Dallin and Brooke had a great time picking up all the shells and making snail soup. Unfortunately, some of the shells mysteriously made it into the house!! I don't know that our house will ever smell the same.

Fun with Friends

Dallin and Brooke

Primary Songs

There is nothing that I love more than hearing Dallin sing his favorite primary songs. The two I hear the most are "I Hope They Call Me on a Mission" and "I Am A Child of God". He sings, "I hope they call me on a mission, when I have grown a foot or two. I hope by then I will be ready, to reach and reach and reach like the missionaries do." My all time favoirte is "I am a child of God, and He has sent me here. Has given me an Earthly home, with parents kind of here. I love listening to him sing and I love that Brooke tries to hum along!

Bee Stings

Dallin had a really rough day while we were in Utah visiting my family. In the morning he fell off the swingset, then we had lunch at the park and he was stung by a bee, and then he was stung agian by another bee when we got back to my parents. Poor Dallin!

Hiccups and more fun with the kids

I had the hiccups the entire day yesterday and now Dallin is pretending to have them today. He told me not to worry though because the hiccups can't get out. "They don't have arms so they can't crawl up my throat...right mom?" My response was silence...what do you say to that?

Dallin loves nursery and loves his teachers. Sister Christiansen is "my teacher", Sister Hart is "Sister Red Heart" , and my favorite is Sister Bridges as "Sister Fringes"

Dallin needed a band aid on his toe last week. I started to put it on his big toe and he said, "Not my thumb toe mom, it's my finger toe that hurts!"

Brooke cracks me up. She isn't talking much yet....nothing beyond mom, Yaye (for daddy), bye, and an occasional hi. Somehow she learned to moo like a cow this week and has been walking around with the biggest lips ever. She moos everywhere she goes and thinks she is the best thing around.

Brooke has also discovered sunglasses. She thinks she is hot stuff and we all agree! Her personality changes completely when she puts her shades on.

I told Dallin and Brooke that I would take them swimming today and Dallin seemed a little concerned. He said, "Mom, you can't just drop me off to swim because I am little, not big like you and Daddy...and nobody gave me a button." I explained that I would not just drop him off and asked what button he was talking about. He then said, "You and Daddy were little and then you pushed the button and it made you into big, but I don't have a button so I am small." I would love to know the source of his information!

Sundays...not a day of rest.

Sunday used to be the most relaxing day of the week. Sleep in a little, read scriptures and other good books, eat a nice breakfast, go to church, rest and relax some more and head to bed early for the new week. I can't remember the last Sunday I had that was like that...or even remotely relaxing! This was our Sunday last week...and unfortunately this is more common than I would like.

2am: Brooke wakes up for some strange reason and won't go back to sleep until 4:30am
6am: Dallin wakes up and begs to watch a show...I agree, hoping to get a little more sleep.
6:10: Dallin comes in and need a pillow and blanket
6:20: Dallin needs a glass of milk
6:30: Dallin needs a snack.."Not breakfast, just a snack"
7am: Brooke is up again and super grouchy
**Doug gets up with Brooke and lets me sleep for an hour and a half
8:30: Doug is going crazy and hops back in bed, he sleeps for the next hour and a half while I try to entertain the kids.
10:00 Shower, gets the kids in the tub, and attempt to get ready
10:15 Naked kids running all through the house!
10:20 Brooke slips of course and the fun is over...Should have listened to mom and dad!
11:00 Now we frantically try to get ready for church because if we don't leave by 11:45 we will be late. This includes doing Brooke's hair...and then redoing her hair about 8 times before church. Dallin insisting on wearing his tie that broke the week before and I forgot to buy him new pants and now he looks like a total nerd.
Noon: We made it to church. I was called to be the Primary secretary today, but realized that no one in the presidency showed up and I was now in charge of conducting and doing sharing time for both Jr. and Sr. primary on my first day. It was wild!! But on the upside...Brooke is in nursery now and she loves it!!
4:00 Home from church. We make pancakes because we are way to tired for anything else.
***5pm: Doug falls asleep on the couch and by the time I come downstiars, Brooke has taken the syrup off the table and squeezed the entire bottle onto Doug's shirt, the couch, pillows, and floor! (I would have pictures, but Doug wasn't completely dressed). Our couch still smells like syrup and even though it ruined Doug's day I must admit that it was one of the best things I had seen in a long time.
We finished the evening with a walk and visit to see some friends and were thankful to see the clock strike 8pm!! I have never been so excited for a new week.

The move

The kids are enjoying the new house and love to explore all the new closets and bathrooms. Dallin asks me everytime I tell him we are on our way home if we are going to our old house or new house. It has been a bit confusing for them, but I think they're starting to get it.

Both Dallin and Brooke have been more of a handful during the past few weeks. I know that most of it is because of the lack of one-on-one time while I was packing our stuff, moving it, and now unpacking it. Dallin started getting into trouble and stuggling to obey while I was packing and I had to give him hot sauce one evening for being sassy. I gave him some milk a few minutes later and headed back to keep packing. When I came back in the kitchen Dallin had the bottle of hot sauce and was emptying the entire bottle into Brooke's mouth...telling her that she needed to obey him! I was horrified and gave him a second douse of hot sauce without even thinking. Both kids were crying for the next hour and it was the low of our packing days.

The actual move went a lot better than we thought. Doug knew that he had about 4 guys coming to help, but when we arrived with the truck there were 12 guys waiting and we were able to pack and unpack in about 2 hours. It was great and I can't thank those guys enough for all of their help! Especially concidering that I had been fighting a tooth ache for about 2 weeks and finally couldn't take it anymore. I ended up getting a root canal at 1pm the day of our move. What timing!! Doug's Mom was my angel this week. She flew out the day we moved and stayed for the extended 4th of July weekend to help watch the kids. It was the biggest blessing to have her help and support. We miss having her in the house and the kids talk about her everyday.

The unpacking is going really well. We are just about done, but the kids are still going crazy with so much less attention from us while we pull the place together. I hope by next week we can be back to our normal schedule.

Waste Management Bill

I've never been even remotely excited about getting bills in the mail. However, we just received our first piece of mail at our new address from waste management and I was thrilled. We have a garbage can!! Our new address doesn't end in an apartments number, I can pull into a garage (well, I hope I will when we finish unpacking), I have a neighborhood, I have a backyard (tiny-but we have grass), and when the kids are driving me nuts I can send them upstairs! Don't get me wrong, we still live in a condo, but it feels so great to not have anyone living above or below us.

Doug has also finished the worst 2 years of dental school and he feels like a new person now that most of the book work is over. He has really enjoyed his patients and is making great progress on his clinical work. I am so proud of him...he has really accomplished a lot since we have been down here. We both feel a huge relief that he is now in the clinic...Doug feels so much relief that he broke down and bought a TV to celebrate! There is nothing Doug loves more than a good couch and TV and now he has one. Our TV broke about a year ago and he has been going crazy ever since. He defiantly deserves it, but I know I will be in trouble in a couple of months when football season starts!

We need more arms!

This was the dialog I had with Dallin while we were getting out of the car today...

Mom: "Dallin can you please bring in your cup and that bag?"
Dallin: "Okay, but please don't say to me to get more stuff mom...I only have two arms"
Mom: "Thanks Dallin"
Dallin: "Mom, maybe when I get bigger I can grow more arms...maybe out of my neck."
Mom: "Yikes...I hope not"
Dallin: "But mom, we all need more arms...and Brooke needs bigger arms"

"Braska"

There is nothing more relaxing than Wahoo, Nebraska. Everything seems to move a little slower and everything seems to be a little quieter. We had so much fun with "drandma and drandpa" and Dallin is already wanting to go back. He talked to Grandma this morning and when she told him that she missed him, he said, "I miss you too...I'll be over in just a minute...okay?" We all had a great time and can't wait to get back to what Dallin calls, "Braska."

Lincoln Children's Museum

The 2 Biggest Husker Fans I know!!


"Feeding Frenzy" at the Omaha Zoo
Ice Cream with Great Grandma and Grandpa Duey

Dallin had his first trip to the dentist. He was really excited to see where Grandma Maggie worked, and he was such a good patient. Grandma helped him clean out the sugar bugs and she even gave him a new tooth brush! Dallin loves his dental hygienist!!



Dallin's first experience with indoor smores!

Lots of long fun days!