Happy Birthday Baby K!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BABY KATELYN!!! Can you believe this cutie is the Birthday Girl! Holy moly that year went by fast!

We are loving all of the cute little changes that have been happening lately...she has learned how to crawl (finally!), can pull up on to things (she started doing this before she started crawling! ha ha ha!), and can walk holding our fingers or pushing things. Good thing she is mobile, because she loves to be wherever we are...even in the bathroom! She loves to interact her sisters and plays hide and seek. She LOVES to read! She pulls out all of the books from our shelves, opens them, points at things, and says "that". She watches her sisters and learns things so quickly. She imitates a lot of things and has just started saying more than "dad", "mom" and sounds. She waves and says "Uhht" for "What?", "I" for hi and bye, she says "ah duh" when I say all done after her meals, she tries to say "peek a boo" and it sounds something like "pee uh buh" while she slaps both her hands on her face, and she also claps and says "A" for yeah!  She likes to sing along with music in her own little way and dances to it too! She likes to play in the water, cuddle, and well, she is basically the best 3rd baby a mom could wish for!

She is a DOLL! The girls LOVE to dress her...the tie dye and floofy skirt is their favorite outfit for her, so the minute it is washed, it is on her! LOVE the hat (she doesn't!)! Her hair is a little scrazy right now...not long enough for too much, but I swear it has been growing like weeds lately. She always seems to get food in her hair at lunch and it turns into a ridiculous "bed head" state!

She has tried all kinds of different food and is quite fond of grapes, spaghetti, puffies, anything with rice or pasta, yogurt (in all forms), ice cream, chocolate...well, basically everything that we put in front of her she will eat! This is her eating her first chocolate chip M&M cookie!

As for her sisters...well, no wonder Katelyn is absolutely cute...it is in her genes! The picture of Brooke was taken a few seconds ago while I was typing! She is so funny! She wanted to sit on my lap, but that never works out! The picture of Tori in the bathtub is from this morning...she has a bubble beard. Well...we are going to Olive Garden to celebrate...and the girls and I will make Katelyn some cupcakes too...it should be a fun day!

A Visit to the Land Bountiful

We ventured to the Land of Bountiful, Utah to visit Auntie Lora, Uncle Jake, Oscar, Livy, Grandma Frann, and Debra! (We also got to see the Dingers and Auntie Joy! Love that everyone is in one place!) We loaded the car and we were off! I sat in the backseat with little miss Brooke so that I could control the back seat. To our chagrin (miracle number one that it was only about 15 minutes to the Olesen house), Brooke decided to demonstrate her car sickness! No more back seat driving for her! Oh, by the way, she didn't pee in the seat at all! Kudos...although we had to stop a lot more frequently and she refused to pee on the side of the road!

The new Olesen abode is as amazing as the pictures that we viewed before they even set foot in the doors and fell in love! It is so them! Although I didn't get too many pictures of the actual house, you will just have to wait and I will try and remember to get some the next time we visit! I am so glad that they moved closer, because a 5 hour drive is nothing! We spent a fun filled weekend hanging out at the local eateries (we had Cafe Rio, Nielson's Frozen Custard and Chik-Fil-A). We also were blessed with some of Jake's amazing cooking...we had barbeque from some kind of weird egg contraption (Dennis and Gwen came over and we "celebrated" my birthday again)...we also used up most of the produce that the Dingers brought fresh from their garden and had homemade roasted vegetable sauce, roasted beet cakes, and zucchini fritata! Yummy! He even made us biscuits, pancakes, eggs and bacon for a breakfast! We all had fun exploring their new house and hanging out. Livy and Tori were inseparable...not too many fights this time (except over a said play cheerleader dress...let's just not talk about that!) and Brooke joined in the fun if she came downstairs from the magical play room that took up most of her visit! Baby K roamed around with Oscar as a shadow. He LOVES baby Katelyn and was always trying to play with her and keep her happy.

Baby K with Auntie and Uncle...yes...this trip I got a picture of everyone...well, except Debra...be prepared...Debra, you will be accosted!

Some of these pictures were taken by Oscar...he really wanted to take my camera and photograph everything...he got shots of Uncle Jason cleaning the dishes...and about a million of the trees that surround their house. Don't you love the karate pictures of Jason and Oscar?! Jason pretended to be his sensei all weekend long. It got him to do a lot of things! I LOVE that picture of Tori and my mom! So cute! It was fun to see Grandma Frann because it had been almost a year since we last saw her (way too long!!)! The girls crafted with her and got to know Grandma Frann a little better while we visited.

Do you see the Baby K love in this house? Oscar LOVES her! We ate all kinds of yummy goodness...Katelyn loved the watermelon that Auntie Lora was feeding her and she even picked up a Dinger fresh squash and ate that too! Ha ha (SICK)! Alas...all marvelous weekends do end and we had to say goodbye! But it wasn't sad because we will be there again in just a few short days!

On our way home we stopped by the Dinger Ranch and filled up on some more fresh produce! We enjoyed a fresh from the vine cantaloupe...Baby K and I practically ate the whole thing! Auntie Joy also taught her how to whistle (or at least form her mouth like she was whistling...it is fun to watch her imitate things that we do!) Are you jealous that we brought home this marvelous load of veggies! YUMMY!

The girls helped Grandma frost the brownies that they had waiting for us fresh from the oven. The girls even got an injection of chocolate for good measure! Tori took the cute picture of Grandma and Auntie Joy!

With tummies full of brownie and a sugar high...we set off back home with a bit of depression in our hearts! We hope that one blessed day we will end up back in good ol' Utah with our beloved ones...if that is where we belong. On the way back home my backseat companion was this cutie! She is getting so big and will be one in just a few short days! Oh how time flies!

34!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME! Well...another year is gone! Crazy! Last year at this time I was about to explode with baby #4 and now I cannot believe that she is old enough to try and steal my birthday cupcakes! My birthday was pretty laid back. We had some delicious Dina's Crazy Lady Cupcakes and I was lucky to even get one at how much my girls LOVE these things! Throughout the whole day I was greeted on facebook with at least 50 birthday wishes in 3 different languages! Thanks friends!!! I got 4 months of Weight Watchers from Jason and his family (Thanks...I have already lost 3 pounds!) and books from my side of the family! Who could have asked for more! Then to round off my birthday I got to visit Lora and my mom at my sister's new house! Hurray! It was great to spend time with my family...although I could have done with a Dad hug, I guess I will just have to wait until November!

Potty Time!

I will admit...I did NOT want to potty train Brooke! She is very headstrong (to put it lightly and nicely), but let's face it, diapers are extremely expensive! Day #1: (or should I say just a few hours...not even close to a day) Brooke was a royal mess...and I just about gave up hope! She had 6 accidents and I was so frustrated! I had to wash a load of clothes just so she would have more training pants! Day #2: A successful day of potty training...4 successes and one where she even asked to go to the bathroom (that gets 2 M&Ms!) So...5 M&Ms and 5 stickers later...she has earned a little princess purse. (mind you one time we were in the bathroom on the toilet reading a Nutcracker pop up book for 45 minutes while I scrubbed the tub...but hey...she is got it done. NO peeing on the floor! (Although she did pee on her chair at lunch.) Day #3: It clicked! She even had a dry diaper waking up! It is a miracle and I am so glad we did it!  Now days after...she has only soiled one pull up (she has trouble with #2) and even did fabulous on a car trip! She was a piece of cake to train (better than Tori who I trained to early and had accidents for a long time and just recently stopped wearing a pull-up to bed!) AMEN! Hurray for saved money!

Summer...H2O, Bathing Cuties, Up Doos, Friends & More Craziness

What is summer without a little H2O? We have been using our little $19 pool summer...well worth the bucks! Baby K even got in on the action a few times. Baby K LOVED that the water was warm. Tori and Brooke got a kick out of pushing her around in the water.

Baby K...I couldn't stop taking pictures of her!

On the sidelines...we watched her sisters play in the pool while we enjoyed the shade and the grass. Brooke...check out that smile!

I have this documented. Tori asked me to put her hair all up! This is what I did! Do you see her posing like she is a professional? My favorite..."Mom, can you take a picture of me on Chocolate Chip Brownie (the horse)? Princesses ride horses." Still growing out Brooke's bangs and trying to get her to look at the camera.

This one will fall under the category of silliness. Tori...loves to draw. These are a few of her latest masterpieces. The red one is of Rapunzel on her tower. You can read the other one...TENDER! Brooke...loves to dress up and is constantly in costume. Baby K is now standing up with support and recently tried steamed broccoli...she didn't think it was too bad either!

Can we have a blog from our summer without the Blues making an appearance?! I think NOT! One beautiful day we decided to have a pool party...and we did just that! Aren't they a cute bunch of kids?! Taylor tried to teach Tori how to swim and was the queen of the grass and bug sieve. Nattie led the kids in a rousing game of ring around the rosie complete with major splashing!

I love myself a little Blue time! Natalie and Taylor help me out so much that it is actually much easier to have 7 kids! I know...you think I am kidding, but I am not...even a bit. I have asked all summer to adopt them, but to no avail...go figure, their parents want them too (maybe because they are such a delight!)!

Train, Automobiles, Zoo, and Swimming Pool FUN!

 The summer is escaping me little by little! I need to blog about 300 pictures...but I haven't gotten to it yet. So here is my go at some of the pictures dumped from camera number 1 (I am writing this as Tori brushed my hair and puts hair pretties in my black tresses.) To the pictures! These are photographs from the first Sunday of Grandma and Grandpa Dinger's visit (they came to take care of the munchkins while I went to Girls Camp for 2 1/2 days...I will write about this grand time later). Grandpa, Daddy, Tori and Brooke took the 3 digit degree weather by the horns and visited the Union Pacific Streamliner at the Boise Train Depot (otherwise known as The Tower to Tori and Brooke). The Union Pacific is 150 years old this year! If you can, make these pictures bigger, Tori is pulling the funniest faces! Hilarious!

MAIN STREET CRUISE...our city hosts a street cruise (aka a car parade) each year featuring old cars. Well, we decided to take a look this year. We placed chairs and a blanket early in the afternoon and got a good spot. Check out all of these fabulous cars that we saw! Do you spot Mater?

The girls had a blast watching the cars and having snacks. They insisted on wearing their pink ballerina outfits. Here is Tori's spread!

Why does every picture of Brooke have her grinning with orange fingers and an orange mouth? I think she LOVES cheetos! She waved at every car that went by and the people in the cars thought that they were so stinking cute...we even got a few to honk their horns!

Well...we went with Grandma, Grandpa, Auntie Marie (who we forgot to take a picture of!) and even though we checked the weather right before we left (there was a 50% chance of rain at 8 PM) we decided to still take our chances! Well, right at 8:03PM there was a DOWNPOUR...I mean HUGE drops of rain that decided to water our parched little city. We parked about 3 blocks away and had to run to the car. We only had one umbrella and we got drenched. But, there was a rainbow, so it was all worth it, right?!

OLE! Auntie Marie bought this dress for Tori when she was little, but it never fit her or Brooke at the right time, so it was only fitting that the brownest one of the group should sport the little Mexican dress! Do you see her little faces? Katelyn is so hilarious!

Zoo Boise...We took a little jaunt over to the zoo with everyone in tow. We had a picnic lunch and monkeyed around! Do you see how that monkey is sleeping?

We rode the carousel...it made me a bit sick. The girls LOVED it!

We visited all the animals (the Penguin and Indian Sun Bear are pictured). They just redid the Sun Bear exhibit...it is very fun and colorful. Do you see him basking in the sun? Tori and her posing...gotta love it!

BUTTERFLIES!! We love the butterfly exhibit. One landed on everyone of us. Katelyn tried to eat them. One even escaped on the pant leg of Gwen. The girls did a jig while I was changing Katelyn's diaper. Silly little girls.

On Auntie Marie's last day the Blues came over and hung out. Pool Party! It is such a joy to have the Blues over and with Auntie Marie it was an extra treat! Dance party in the pool? Why, yes! The kids all danced with Auntie Marie in the pool while I ate bon bons in the shade with baby Katelyn! ;) Well, we had a fabulous time with Auntie Marie...Could you just move here already?!