Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Dexter's Graduation

I can hardly believe that Dexter graduated.  He is the youngest of Alex's brothers and I feel old.  His brothers have grown up so fast and now Dexter will be off to school and out of the house this fall.  Crazy how fast time flies.  Here are some pictures from his graduation weekend.  Congratulations Dexter!



All the brothers: Dean, Alex, Dexter, Damon and Dallon.
Scot and Dex.
The boys went out shooting and Delson wanted to go with them, so Dexter got him a rubber-band gun and some ear protection and he went out to "shoot" with them.  Delson is ALL boy.  Gotta love him!

Memorial Day Weekend

Sorry this post is so late.  I have really been procrastinating the blogging thing, but it is time.

For Memorial Day weekend, we drove out to Mattawa to visit Alex's cousin Sharee who was in town for a few days.  It was so GREAT to see her and her 2 kiddos.  Case is about 5 months older than Delson and they played great together.  It was fun to see them push each other around and take care of themselves just fine.  We haven't seen each other in so long, Sharee hadn't even met Kambria and I hadn't met her newest addition, Miles, either....so it was really fun to get together after such a long time.  We played quite a bit at Alex's Uncle Neil and Aunt Becky's house and then we even kind of had a mini family reunion.  A whole bunch of family and kids came and we had a yummy BBQ and the kids LOVED playing in the awesome pool Neil and Becky set up.  It was a TON of fun and we really miss Sharee, Case and Miles already.  We hope that Bryce can come with them to visit next time because we really miss him too.

Case and Delson riding the motorcycle together.
Falling off the motorcycle together.

Kambria smiling for the camera.
The amazing pool!
The boys were having a ton of fun in the pool before it even had water in it.  They are silly.
The whole gang: Braden and Darcy are on the left, Case, Delson and Kambria are in the pool.
Kambria, Case and Darcy having fun!
Delson loved climbing the wall.

Braden wasn't a huge fan of the pool.  He and Kambria prefered to drive around in this cute 4-wheeler for the kids.

Lindsey, me and Sharee.
Grandpa Bob, Grandma Jo and Dexter. 
Uncle Neil, Aunt Becky, Grandma Daneen holding Gemma and Grandpa Del.

A Few New Things

After buying a house, having children and finishing our backyard over the last 3 years, we finally had a chance this year to add some new decor to our house.  With our tax return this year, we decided to spend our money on a new Plasma TV.  Because Alex mounted it to the wall, the kids can no longer touch it and it is the best thing ever.  No more constantly yelling at them not to touch it and no more cleaning their finger prints off of it.  Also, because it is plasma, it is 3D ready and the TV came with 2 pairs of 3D glasses and we are thoroughly enjoying it.  We also bought a new entertainment center that better hides the cords from the kids and I purchased a hutch to replace the buffet we had in the kitchen.  I needed a place to display some of my nice dishes as well as make more room in the kitchen for other things.  The entertainment center and hutch are from IKEA.  Gotta LOVE that place!!!  Also, Alex and I have planted roses in our front yard and dahlias and gladiolas in our back yard.  The roses have been blooming beautifully and the dahlias and gladiolas are just starting to pop up and I am SUPER excited about my flower garden.  

New curtains above the couch to bring some more color into the room.
The new hutch.
The TV and entertainment center.





My beautiful roses and new patio set.

Monday, June 20, 2011

Cuddling

This is how Delson likes to watch Little Einsteins....with Mickey in one arm and Minnie in the other. What a little love bug!

Wednesday, June 8, 2011

Grandma Is Visiting

There is nothing like having grandma visit. Delson is loving it! There will be more pictures to come (especially now that I have an iPhone...YEAH!!!)

Sunday, May 8, 2011

Update on the Kiddos

The kids are growing and changing so much.  Kambria had her 15 month check up last week.  She weighed 22lbs 13 oz (50%-ile) and measured 31.5" (80%-ile).  She is right on track developmentally.  She LOVES to jibber jabber all the time.  She talks on and on in her own language like we understand even though we don't and I love it.  It is pretty funny.  Delson did not speak his own language like Kambria is doing and it is fun to see how different they are in that way.  Kambria is all about walking now and she is even trying to run in order to keep up with Delson.  She has started to point at things and she understands a lot more than I give her credit for.  She definitely associates Dadda with Alex and Momma with me and it is wonderful!  I have even heard her try to copy me yelling Delson's name.  She is a sweet little girl and I am enjoying seeing her little personality come out more and more everyday.

Delson is doing extremely well with his language development.  He is getting really good at using verbs now.  He tells us about ten times everyday, "I don't like Grandpa's four-wheeler."  Grandpa took him for a ride a couple of weeks ago and he didn't like it.  Hopefully he will get over that soon, but he likes to remind us frequently.  He has a book with all different types of vehicles in it and his memory is amazing because he knows the names of so many of the pictures including "dune buggy," "station wagon," "bullet train," "combine," "double decker bus," etc.  For a while he would always call the "combine" a "pine cone."  It was like a dyslexic thing, but now he knows what it is.  He is just learning word after word everyday and retaining so much information.  It makes it so nice for us to communicate with him.  He knows all of his colors and he is really good with his shapes too.  Mickey Mouse Clubhouse seems to be doing a better job of teaching these things to him that I can do.  Thank goodness for the Disney Channel.

Some days Delson is such a sweet little angel, and other days he wakes up as though he is possessed by an evil demon.  It is crazy to me how naughty he can get sometimes.  For instance, yesterday Alex was watching the kids while I attended a workshop for the organ for a couple of hours.  When I came home, the vacuum was running and I didn't see the kids anywhere and I found Alex in the office cleaning up a HUGE mess.  Apparently Alex left Delson watching Mickey Mouse for 3 minutes while he went to the bathroom and he cut his bathroom visit short when he heard Delson giggling and he knew it was an evil giggle.  He came out of the bathroom and found that Delson had climbed over the gate and into the office and was throwing kitty litter EVERYWHERE.  Kambria was sitting on the floor with a clump of cat pee in each hand.  He immediately put the kids in the bath and then put them in their rooms so he could finish cleaning up.  The litter and cat feces was ALL OVER EVERYTHING.  We had to completely take apart my desk and vacuum everything and wipe it all down with Clorox wipes to disinfect it.  It took 3 minutes for Delson to cause utter destruction and it took Alex and I an hour and a half to clean it all up.  Seriously?!  What would possess a child to do such a thing the minute an adult steps out of the room?  The kitty box?  REALLY?  Gross!  It was disgusting and hopefully he will NEVER do that again.  I hope he can put his creative ideas into more constructive things in the future.

Here are some pictures of the kids playing outside in the backyard:
How cute is that outfit?  And how cute is that girl?!

Being silly.
This is how Delson plays in the dirt.
Enjoying a popsicle in the afternoon sun.
Popsicle face.


Happy girl!

1st Trip to Disneyland

Grandpa Del and Grandma Daneen so generously decided to take our family as well as Dean and Sarah's family to Disneyland for a few days.  We flew down on Wednesday and spent Thursday and Friday at Disneyland and then spent some time with family and friends on Saturday before flying home on Sunday.    Delson and Kambria are still a bit young to really understand Disneyland and thoroughly enjoy it all, but I think Delson still had a pretty good time.  Neither Delson nor Kambria were big fans of any rides that went into the dark, so we tried to keep them on the outside rides.  Maybe next time they will understand enough not to get scared on the dark rides.  We had a good time, but 2 days at Disneyland was plenty for kids of these ages.  I think it will be much more fun in a few years from now.  Thank you Grandma and Grandpa for a great trip!  We look forward to the next one.
Delson meeting Mickey Mouse!  He had been waiting for this moment the whole trip and he loved it!

Riding the Toon Town Roller Coaster.  Mommy and Delson are in the front car and Grandma is in the 2nd car.
Delson was scared while riding the roller coaster, but after it was over, he wanted to go again!   He was such a big boy....he actually ended up riding the Matterhorn with Mommy and Daddy the very next day and he did great!
On the Finding Nemo submarine.

Showing off his new Mickey Mouse ears.
Mommies and daughters. Kambria was angry about being held.
Grandma and Gemma.
Sarah & Gemma.
Kambria was happy to be down and running around on her own.
Daddies and sons waiting in line to ride Dumbo.
Getting ready to fly!
Dean & Braden.
Flying!

The whole crew sitting in a flying elephant.  Don't you love the matching outfits?
Our family in front of It's a Small World.  We rode that one 2 times.
Grandpa and Delson on the carousel. 
Group pictures in front of the castle.


Dinner out with the family.  Auntie Darcy and Delson.

Amy, Kambria, and Delson all smiling for the camera (why does Alex always have to ruin it?)
Aunt Pam, Amy, Delson, Mommy, Kambria & Aunt Darcy.

Great-Grandma with the family.
Playing at Bella Terra.
Kambria & Griffey running away together.


Kali, Delson and Griffey playing together.
Best friends: Alex/Delson, Tanya/Griffey, Aaron/Kali, Kristen/Kambria.