Parkin' It

One good thing about blogging is that it helps me gauge how many fun things I'm doing with the kids. Lately, we've been more about the backyard & parks than anything big & exciting. Which is fun too, especially with gorgeous weather to enjoy them. Of course, what's not better with gorgeous weather? Don't let the pic below gross you out too much. They are leaves. This is what happens when your butt-scooter heads outside to play in just a diaper. Kind of a dead bouquet for mom. I'm counting it as being given flowers ;)
I love that he's loving his teddy. So sweet when they have a lovie!
Remember how a year ago I got new sheets? One year & they have shredded! Now I'm on the hunt to find a new duvet cover & sheets in a plain light blue/aqua & can't find them anywhere. Suggestions are welcome for where to look because I have been to at least 10 stores & several websites. Do I need a regular comforter? Does no one sell duvet covers? Am I just not used to shopping for this stuff & have no clue where to look? I hope it's the latter & you guys can help me out!
Also, I'm realizing I never posted pics of the boys finished room. Mainly because I had plans to make a roman shade & never got around to it. Maybe one of these days...
Yes, one of the bins is missing & I just barely found it when I cleaned out the toy closet last week. We are not super organized.
Do you like the collages?
They're mostly just a bunch of random pics...but they make me so happy to look at. Random pics with great memories are more fun than professional pics with memories of "Smile or you're grounded!" "Stop picking your nose!" "If you smile you'll get a candy...", etc. Of course...I still love professional pics & wouldn't hang any of these over my fireplace.

More Holiday Haps

Gotta love stealing other people's creative ideas (thanks pinterest). For the record, my boys must have my sick sense of humor because they had a blast doing this & Kaleb even wanted to sleep with the tape on his mouth. I said no, of course.
We enjoyed Sea World one last time before our passes expired. I highly recommend Sea World during Christmas-time. Sorry I didn't blog this before it was over so you could go!
They have cute decorations, snow & blasting Christmas music anywhere automatically makes me happy.
The best part of the holiday season is seeing family you don't get to see often enough, don't you think? It was so great seeing all the Dunkleys in one big, noisy group. I haven't mentioned on here that Lori (Dave's wife) has stage 4 cancer of the small intestine. It's just so hard to write bad news on a blog. In all honesty, she is one of the most amazing women I had ever met. The most righteous, loving, strong woman. We are all so grateful that we could have her here for Christmas. Jim made T shirts that say "Team Lori" & we all snuck out of the room & walked back in wearing them. I can't put into words how amazing it was to see her face & feel the love everyone has for her. We are still praying for a miracle.
On to Christmas day. Kevin had the kids until noon :( The first thing we did for Christmas was put Kole down for a three hour nap which meant Kaleb (and I) had to be patient eyeing a mound of presents for way too long. Things were better when we got to tear into the goodies.
Family came over & we got to talk to Elder Chris. Doesn't he look like a pilot/alien with those headphones on?
Grandma got the grandkids these cute stuffed animal beanies. A guaranteed hit.
The kitchen renovation is pretty much done. Check it out. Oh yah. I spent the next morning making 3 kinds of cookies. A nice side effect is that no one wants it to get dirty so everyone's improved at cleaning up after themselves. Doesn't looking at the picture make your mouth water? Or is that just me?
And finally...the grand finale: Kole is taking steps. Like 10 to 20 at a time. I put the call in to the physical therapist & he got the message! Appointment cancelled. Yay Koley!!! (Ignore the outfits. We had a late night at Disney the night before & this was our morning-after attire).

November

I can't believe how horrible I've been at blogging. I know we've been busy, but it's the kind of busy where you feel like you accomplished nothing. You know the drill: the house is still messy and the kids are eating microwaved food but you have clean clothes & the kids get plenty of snuggles. Guess laundry is my chore of choice because that's the one that usually gets done :)
We did manage to sneak away for an SC game. I felt pretty brave taking both boys to sit in the student section. Too bad Kaleb complained about the noise the whole time. How do I loosen this kid up?!?
Kole has started having playdates. So cute! We shoot for once a week & hopefully he'll learn not to hit or throw things, because that's mostly what he does. Sigh. I know...who could smack that sweet, adorable little girl?!?!
I love playdates for mommy-time. Chatting & gorging ourselves is kind of my fav!
A girl's gotta run off all those delicious simple carbs, right? The Turkey Trot 10k is kind of a tradition & I was so excited that I averaged an 8:30 mile. Great for me. So what if Melinda was almost a whole minute per mile faster & didn't train. Whatever. We all rock.
On to the turkey! I ate with Kevin's family first, but lost my camera with the pics. :( I must mention the green beans (with bacon). I am seriously craving these green beans, which sounds crazy if you haven't tried them. I usually think of green beans as wasted space on my plate. And the sweet potatoes, I would eat these over pumpkin pie any day!
I was in a major tryptophan coma the rest of the day. Seriously not functional...but sometimes that's nice.
Cute cousins.

Scary Santa!

I know I sound heartless, but I finally got the classic pic of my kid crying with Santa. It seems like a staple in every mother's photo album & I was begining to think I'd miss out. Don't you just want to wipe away his tiny tears, snuggle him....and put him back for more pictures? :)
I lost my old camera (the one I hated so much), so Santa made an early appearance, because I feel like a bad mom if I don't document every daily activity. It's a sickness, what can I say?
This little mister is STILL not walking. What is the deal? He is almost 18 months & should be able to run faster than me. The Dr agrees that he's just stubborn & scared, but he's on his way to physical therapy to help him along. I'm thinking it may be emotional therapy he needs to overcome his fear, but we'll go with the Dr's recommendation. Either way, he better walk soon (yes, I know it's crazy for a mother to wish extra work on herself, but it is time).
Kaleb & I went ice skating. Can you tell he loved it? He actually did....just not the part where I fell on top of him. Ouch!
This is my attempt at being artsy to document the stomach flu. Tis the season, right?
Look at what a trooper he is. It was actually a really nice day staying in jammies & snuggling. I can't remember the last time we did that & the 6 loads of laundry were totally worth it.
This little mister knows how to party. And I don't know how to take pics with my new camera. Still fun.
Something else fun: A new kitchen. It's in progress right now so we're getting creative with the microwave & crock pot, but I am so so so excited! As excited as a girl who lives to cook/bake & has been stuck in a kitchen from 1968. Yes, even the appliances. I can not wait to play in this pretty place. Feel free to invite yourself over for dinner because I'm already planning meals. Heaven!

Trick or Treat

Barb let us tag along with her Halloween plans & we had so much fun! I made her dress up so I wouldn't be the only adult making a fool of myself. I think I still was, because her costume is so pretty she doesn't look silly at all :)
The trick or treaters. If you zoom in you can see the joy on Koley's face. Or terror...maybe I'll get a classic Santa picture with this face this year. You know I'll post it if I do! It's a good Halloween when your son is complaining that his arm is going to fall off by the end of the night.

It's my birthday! I was super spoiled all day & all weekend. Family, friends & food..what else can a girl ask for? Oh yah, shoes & clothes. Check and check. :)

Usually my birthday is like New Years is to most people. I assess where I am in life & what I need to change to get where I should be. I can honestly say I never thought at 32 I'd be single & living with my parents. The thing is...I'm ok with it. I know I'm where I should be for now & I'm doing the right things at this point in my life. I think I'm changing my approach to gauge if I feel I'm acting in accordance with the spirit & learning the lessons I should be for where I'm at, rather than looking at my physical situation.

Here's a fun future blackmail photo. I think when he finally has an event with a slideshow of pics I'll have all blackmail photos! I'm so mean :)

Six?!?

Six years ago this little guy came into the world. He was such a little snuggler. Isn't it fun to compare baby pics to older pics?

My sweet Kaleb turned six this week! Some fun facts about Kaleb:

-He no longer needs to sleep with Horsie. He prefers to sleep with either Horsie or Shamou, but it's not a big deal if he doesn't have either of them. This really breaks my heart a little. He really is getting so big!

-He hates soccer & isn't really sporty (even though he says he's a fast runner). Poor kid got it from me. I'm still hoping he'll grow out of this

-Not only does he hate sports, but he's in the chess club. Don't worry...I'll make him quit before jr. high.

-He loves to eat corn dogs. He wants them for breakfast, lunch & dinner. Gag.

-He's very shy when he meets new people & sometimes even around people he knows, but when he's comfortable around friends & family he's roudy with the rest of us.

-He is the most obedient kid I could imagine. At the park last month the group of kids he was playing with climbed onto a hill that's off limits. As the other mothers ran to get their kids Kaleb walked up telling me that he told them not to climb that hill. The funny part is that no one ever told them not to climb it. How did he even know it was off limits? This kid...

-He has a problem with whining. I think this is a side effect of him being so conscientious. He puts forth so much effort that it's really hard not to be acknowledged or to do something wrong.

We like to celebrate the whole birthday week. We started out by played hookey & going to Dland. This is the first year we didn't go on his actualy birthday. We were lucky enough to meet up with friends.
What Mom doesn't like meeting up with friends?!? We had some party prep to do. The robot party merged with Halloween paper products & decor from the dollar store & became a robot/Halloween party. Someday Kaleb will catch on & think it's not cool to always have a Halloween theme. Hopefully it's not next year, because I have alot of leftover paper products to bag up! We decorated boxes & did a robot dance. The rest ofthe 20 kids not pictured were looking at me like an idiot for trying to dance like a robot. Yup, the 6 year olds are already too cool for me. After so much party prep I would expect a great party, but the birthday boy had different feelings.

Very different feelings.

Look at his sad little face even as we sing to him. He did enjoy about half of his party, but was upset that things weren't going exactly as he had imagined. I refused to boss around his party guests (who were playing very nicely) and he freaked out. And I took pictures of him. Mom of the year, right here.

After such a traumatic birthday party, thank goodness the actual birthday went well. No amazing preparation, no expectations. Just a regular day at school. I snuck a new (super cool) blanket on his bed during the night & it was fun to wake up with it.

Honestly, his birthday was really kind of lame, but he was in a good mood anyways. I actually napped on the couch while he played (woo hoo!). He was supposed to have a Daddy night, which fell through due to car trouble & suddenly it was after dinner & I hadn't made any food. As we headed out the door who should arrive, but Val & the cousins. Perfect timing. We partied with breadsticks & stayed up too late.

This is the first year I haven't really enjoyed Kaleb's birthday being so close to Halloween. Maybe because his party was the same week as the church party & I was supposed to help with that one. Whatever it was, we couldn't miss out on anything (except housework and home-cooked meals) so we carved pumpkins with friends,

and went to the pumpkin patch.

Is he really this cute or am I biased as his mother? Sigh.

We went to the church party. Yes, we are the dorky family of bees. Kaleb wanted to be Bumblebee & I really can't resist themed costumes, even if it meant going to a singles dance that night dressed as a bee.

Tonight we did spooky dinner no 1. We'll another one tomorrow on the actual holiday, plus it's not a real spooky dinner without dry ice.