Where did October Go...The Catch Up Blog

Because this is a catch up blog I am just going to narrate the pictures! We had a lot of fun in October and before the Halloween Blog comes out I need to publish these photos.

It was one of those days...I needed to get out of the house (I had been in the house all week because of Brooke's nasty stomach flu) and so I took the kids and two loaves of bread to the duck pond! We went later in the afternoon and Jason met us there after work. Brooke never wants to get out of the car when we first get there, so I got a picture of her staring out the window, but she was all for the ducks once Daddy got there! Tori was practicing her modeling skills getting ready for her photo ops the next day when we took our family photos! I cannot wait for you all to see those!

Her is her royal cuteness. The little green outfit is from Auntie Lora! LOVE it! (If you have seen DragonTales, please reread that with a Weezy accent!)
These are the only pictures that I have taken of babes in the bathtub...she is sooo CUTE!
The cat loves to sneak in her bassinet to sleep with the baby... it freaks me out, so it doesn't last very long.
Tori also likes to share her toys with babes... hence the cabbage patch in the swing. Katelyn really liked the weight of the doll and took a nap with her. (That is one of my cabbage patch kids from when I was a kid.)

We took Katelyn to the doctors and she is 10 1/2 pounds (50%) and 22 1/2 inches (60%). This was the outfit she went in, because it was freezing that morning (literally)!

Tori is such a silly little girl. She likes to model and these pictures of her in the grey are of her as a monkey, a princess and a giraffe.
Gotta love Brookie Elf! That morning she was dancing and put on the elf hat and it was too cute to pass up!
Now that I am really outnumbered getting the kids in the car, Brookie likes to run off to what Tori calls Brookie's Garden. It is our front flower bed. I caught her in the act on the way home from the duck pond.

In the afternoon when Brooke is down there is usually a bit of time when the baby is asleep and I get to spend time with Tori alone. We decided to make some Halloween cookies last Monday for FHE. She stirred, she rolled, she cut and she baked. It is so fun to bake with Tori! Have I mentioned that she is getting so big? I LOVE the pictures with her and her pumpkin.

After dinner we frosted the cookies for FHE. Please note that I have one child with only and shirt and one child with only pants...together they make a great pair! Tori frosted her cookie with a glob of frosting and about 8 million sprinkles. Brooke liked frosting herself more than her cookie, but all of us Dingers LOVE sugar cookies! Yummy! I also had to get a few pictures with Brooke and the pumpkin.
Well, that is all for now... stay tuned for the Halloween post, coming to you soon.

Linder Farms

On Saturday morning we took an early trek out to Linder Farms. If it wasn't for a small little detour (the fact that we totally went the opposite direction and were lost for about an hour!) we would have had a little bit longer time at the farm.

As you enter the farm there is a little hay maze for the little munchkins. Tori and Brooke ventured inside with a little convincing from me.They got cornered a bunch, but they finally made it out!

Next we visited the petting zoo. This was no ordinary petting zoo! There was a camel, a llama and a wallaby. There was also the usual stuff like pigs, goats and sheep. The girls thought that the animals were pretty awesome, but they weren't so keen on feeding them!

On we went to the pumpkin patch. We strolled little Katelyn out while Tori and Brooke roamed the fields trying to find the perfect pumpkin and I must admit that they did find a pretty perfect one. It was 5 pounds (my rule is they have to be able to carry out their pumpkin) and they decided to share it.

We played around for a little bit and enjoyed being outside and being together as a family. It was a beautiful autumn day... great weather for long sleeves and hoodies! We also watched the pumpkin launch...I don't know why it is so cool to see pumpkins explode, but it is!

At the end of our adventure we let the girls jump into a big box of corn kernels. Brooke was a little skeptical at first, but after a minute she dived in and they both had shoes full of corn when we were finished. (We should have followed the other smart parents who took off their kids' shoes!) Oh, did you notice that Tori's hair is up?! I think this is the first time she has worn her hair up in public since she was 2!
We knew it was time to leave when Katelyn made herself heard from inside the stroller. We will definitely be making Linder Farms a new family tradition!

My Silly Little Girls!

I can see my girls growing before my eyes and I don't know if I like it so much! It just seems that everyday they learn something new or look just a little bit older or do something that is reserved just for a big girl. Time is flying to fast! Tori and Brooke are becoming more comical each and every day! It is so fun to play with them. I think that Brooke is going to be a class clown. Mind you, Tori is really funny too, but not as "showboat"-y as Brooke is. Brooke likes to be the center of attention...and feeds off of Tori's giggles (and our too!). She will do something funny and say, "Tori, Tori, nook, nook!" (nook=look). Then Tori will giggle at whatever Brooke is doing. She is quite hilarious!
Tori's quote of the week needs a little bit of some background information. I LOVE watching Biggest Loser 1. because it motivates me to be better (although most of the time I am sitting watching, and eating some kind of treat) 2. it reminds me that one day when I actually have time to work out like they do I will be the weight that I want to be...until then I will settle for working towards the goal of just getting better between pregnancies (which I am already back to my pre prego weight...not that that was all that big of a feat...I only gained 17 pounds!). Anyway...back to Tori's quote. Sometimes the girls are up while I watch this show because I am usually without Jason during this time because of Elder's Quorum visits...anyway, Tori asked what I was watching and then started playing while I did the dinner dishes. After a few minutes of playing she comes running to me and says, "Mom, you're the biggest loser." Of course I laughed out loud, but thought...should I take offense to that? Ha ha ha! I am still giggling inside!

The girls LOVE to horse around with Jason. I totally remember doing the leg hold with my dad! Brooke and Tori like to steal my glasses...and I caught Brooke in the act! The pictures of Tori in the striped shirt are Jason's attempt to get Tori to smile at the camera to make her a slideshow... there were about 15 pictures and these made the cut.
Brooke has been sick all week with some kind of bug that attacks the bowels (if you know what I mean)...luckily it has only attacked her, but we haven't really left the house since Saturday! I was a little overwhelmed on Monday because she was still vomitous and runny below... and right after Jason left (while I was feeding babes, mind you) she vomits all over the couch! YIKES! I hate vomit! So as the baby screams at the top of her lungs I clean up Brooke who then vomits again (all over her clean clothes) with more violence and volume...luckily that was the last sign of vomit! But I have survived my worst nightmare as a mother of 3 and I guess I can now conquer all!

Ok...that picture of Tori cracks me up! She is barely touching the baby and it looks like she is constipated! But Tori and Katelyn...priceless. The picture of me and Katelyn was taken by Tori. I tried to edit it to make it lighter, but it was too blurry, but I loved it because Katelyn is looking at me and smiling! LOVE it! And then there is the one of Tori holding Katelyn's hand. TENDER. Tori loves to hold her little hand and play with her hair.

Yesterday babes took a nap like this with her face smashed against the couch and her feet up on the Boppy. Too cute. I had to take a picture of her little tootsies! I took the picture of her little hand because she always seems to have her little thumb tucked behind her fingers...my brother, Seth, used to sleep like that too when he was little. The other pictures are for all you Aunties...I bought this super cute shirt and pant set at Costco for $7! It says, "My Auntie loves me". TENDER...and oh so true!

These pictures of Katelyn were taken at my friend's baby shower. BEAUTIFUL! As you can tell by the quality they were neither taken by me or with my camera. We are going to be in trouble when our girls start to date! Watch out boys! We are defenders of virtue here!

Smile!

Need I say more!?

Ahhhh....October

I LOVE October! I LOVE fall! It is the end of all of the super hot weather and the beginning of holiday seasons...I don't know...there is just something about October.
(Please note that in some of the pictures Tori looks a little strange... she had a sty in her eye for three days last week... it has since disappeared, just in case you were wondering.)

When I took these pictures, Monday, it was a balmy 83* outside... the sun was shining and the girls went to play outside...

...with their laundry baskets (or should I say in their laundry baskets?!) Silly little girls.

The weather then took a turn...we went from air conditioning to heater in 24 hours! I had to take out all of our cold weather clothes and clean them all up so that the girls wouldn't freeze to death! We made cookies, played games, danced, sang and finally (I was desperate) and let them play in a diaper box.

Ahhh...look at them in their footie pajamas! Aren't they so cute?! Tori wanted to sleep with Katelyn...that lasted all of 5 minutes and she was done with that! ("Mom, baby Katelyn cries too much!")

and Miss Katelyn keeps on growing! I took a few pictures on white background so that you could see her ridiculously cute hair! she now likes to be in the bouncy chair, smiles all the time and giggled for the first time while my friend Alli was playing with her at church! It was A.D.O.R.A.B.L.E.! Don't you just love that night cap she has on?! My friend Julie gave this little outfit to me and I LOVED the night cap! It reminds me of Ebeneezer Scrooge (don't ask me why)!

Sorry these are a little pixelated but these are a scan of these two photos taken by my dear friend Ursula. We are preparing for Young Women in Excellence with a pioneer theme and the two girls loved the bonnet that Ursula had. Ursula is like their adopted Grandmother Auntie. I was told not to use the "G" word! The girls LOVE her and Tori likes to sit with her during Sacrament meeting!
This is a little bit of journaling, so if you want to tune out just go to the end...and please leave a comment...I get bored here and my only outlet is to check my mail and blog to see who loves me! and the past couple of months...only 5 comments! Seriously!
"Guess What?!..."
A few weeks ago we were coming back from church and Tori said, "Guess What?!...Jesus and President Monson are coming to our house tomorrow. We giggled and said..."Well, we better get home and clean up before they get here!"
Then we explained to her that the next Sunday she would get to see President Monson on the television and that she would hear Jesus through his prophets. She got really excited and for the rest of the week her guess whats were about General Conference.
General Conference was a little bit here and a little bit there with 3 kids, but I love to feel the spirit of conference and hear 8 hours of pure revelation! My friend Jessica's father in law gave one of my favorite talks. I cannot wait to get the November Ensign!
I'll Take a Root Canal With That Crown!
I went to the Dentist last Tuesday to fix a crown and ended up getting a root canal too! What?! The whole procedure didn't hurt one bit, but dang...my jaw still hurts and tomorrow I am so lucky I get to go back and get the rest of the root canal finished! Who wants to spend $800 on a root canal and $1200 on a crown! I really want new clothes and a shower in my master bedroom to work more than I want to spend money on my dang teeth!
The Best of EFY
I went to the Best of EFY with our youth this last Saturday. It was amazing! I love to feel the spirit of the youth and hear talks by EFY speakers...there is just a special spirit there with the youth. I was really impressed by both of the speakers. The first speaker, Scott Anderson, talked about following the path and listening to the trail leaders as you go. That when we are on the path and have a trail leader they will not only get us to the end of the trail safely even through the hard times, but they will also show us the amazing things to behold along the way. He compared it to going through the rapids in the Grand Canyon with his friend who was a guide and you have some serious rapids to go through that will pummel you without a trained experienced guide. But the guide can keep you safe through the rapids and show you the secret beauties along the trail. He compared the guide to a prophets. It was amazing! Then he also talked about the story of the tree of life and the different ways Lehi, Nephi and others got to the tree. Lehi was lead to the tree by an angel; Nephi, Sariah and Sam were lead to the tree by Lehi (their prophet) calling them (this was all before the rod of iron and path are mentioned); and Laman and Lemuel were called but they didn't listen, so they were also shown the rod of iron and the path. Isn't that so amazing!? We are given so many tools to get back to our Father!
The second speaker, Curtis Jacobs, talked on chastity! Whoever selects that topic has to have a special spirit about them...and he was also amazing! He just laid it all out and told the youth what the boundaries are...favorite quote "Only dogs attract raw meat!" Ha ha ha! My favorite part was that he made sure that the youth knew that if they had crossed the line along the way, that if they truly repented they could be virtuous again. The spirit was amazing and I wish I could just have a copy of both of their talks to share with you...but I just wanted to remember these things.

The Many Faces of Katelyn & The Dancing Duo

I have been trying to catch little miss Katelyn's smile! She has been smiling at us since day one and I have decided that she is just the smartest baby and that it is not just gas! I know that the picture of her smile is blurry and such, but it is hard to focus a camera away from my eyes while trying to make someone smile...so this is what you get! She is a doll! Oh...and Lora, pick out a few...I think that she looks like you!

Katelyn: 4 weeks! ADORABLE! I love the one of her waving too! (Most of the pictures are in sequence.) I cannot believe that she is already 5 weeks old!!!

And as for the dancing duo... Tori is now willing to not only share dancing skirts, but her outfits and crown too! Gotta love dancing time in the morning! (Check out those BLUE eyes!)

Flying Solo

I cannot believe that time is flying so fast! Yesterday was my first day flying solo (no help with 3 kids)...I must admit that I was a bit freaked out...especially since I have to spend a lot of time on the couch nursing Little Miss Katelyn (who is 4WEEKS OLD!!! What?! How did that happen?!). Well, it all went well except for a brief 15 minutes when PBS went down and Sesame Street was cut off while I was preparing a crock pot dinner and Katelyn was really tired and screaming and Brooke decided to join in the crying fest too! Yesterday went great and we even stayed on our usual schedule (except I didn't get to shower and get out of my PJs until 6:15 PM!). I think I will be able to handle this mom of 3 thing!

So I took these pictures yesterday! Isn't Katelyn a doll?! she has so much hair that she can wear her bows without the headband! This adorable one was made by Tiffany Jones. She has some really cute stuff and I was spoiled with some really cute headbands and bows! This little yo yo matched my favorite dress and so we had a photo shoot! I caught her smile a little late, but that is a little what her smile looks like in the middle picture. Jason is a pro at getting her to smile and giggle. It is really cute!

As most of you know we moved our guest room into our den and made the guest room into the nursery. Jason and I painted the room "a hint of mint" and it looks fabulous. Katelyn models the crib as she takes her first nap in her crib. For some reason with this pregnancy I was into monkeys so she has a few monkey things that will be her own. I am still in love with our Noah's Ark theme and I am glad that we went neutral from the beginning and chose high quality stuff! Up in the right hand corner is a picture of our carrier cover made by Tiffany Dunn... it is absolutely beautiful! I LOVE it! (And just so you know Tiff, everyone comments on it too!)

This is the finished product of the girls' room. My mom brought these vinyl letters and decals made with her Cricket and we went to town one afternoon. It made the room! The girls love it too! And my painting look fabulous, I might add, on the wall! :) The rug was my inspiration. Oh and I have had this fuchsia lava lamp for a long time from my Sterling Capital days and the girls love it!

Sunday pictures! I love taking pictures of the girls in their Sunday dresses! The pictures of Jason and I were taken by our budding photographer, Tori (hence the reason why they are not focused or centered).

So I love this dress and these shoes. I bought these when I found out I was having a girl for the first time (little miss Tori bug). These are the only shoes that fit Katelyn because she has such skinny ankles. I don't even bother with socks anymore because nothing stays on! Her head is still a little small for the little matching headband, but she looked like a doll!

Here are some good pictures of her bouffant after her bath! This is usually what she looks like during the day, all snuggled up in her cocoon and resting on the Boppy!

Last but not least...here are some silly pictures of our Tori bug and Brooke-a-lito. That is Tori's new tub trick and it freaks me out because I think that she is going to drown! Check out Brooke's farmer's tan! And I am still in love with our tax return investment! Love that swing set!

Watching my babies grow...

I cannot believe how much having a baby makes me realize how much my other little babies are growing up! Tori was playing with Brooke and grabbed her around the shoulder and said, "You are my best friend!" Ahhhh! I will not explain what broke loose after that, (kicking and screaming, pulling hair), but it was a tender moment! Yesterday morning Tori was talking to Brooke in bed before their alarm went off and they were just blabbering to themselves, making conversation, mostly about how much Tori missed Auntie Lora and that Livy (their cousin) was going to visit them.
Tori constantly wants to hold Katelyn. It is pretty cute! We finally mastered a way that she can hold Katelyn all by herself.

We wrap the bobby around her and then drop the baby right onto her lap. Katelyn and Tori will sit like that on the couch together for about a half an hour. Tori loves to play this little piggy with Katelyn's "cute little toes". She also loves to hold her hands and play with her hair.

Princess Victoria and baby Katelyn.

Who can resist snuggling with Katelyn?! After she eats she stays awake for a while to explore the world around her. She is usually snatched up into someones loving arms and it is usually Grandma Frann! Katelyn smiles a ton and she has revealed to us that she has two dimples on her cute little cheeks! (I haven't caught these on film of course, but they could melt your heart!). Her hair is still as crazy as ever and I will have to remember to take a picture of her bouffant after she takes a bath! Her hair is a bit curly and wavy! I think that her eyes are going to be dark blue like her Auntie Marie. She looks an awful lot like her Auntie Lora... sometimes it is a bit uncanny.
Katelyn slept a whole 4 hours in a row last night! Hurray for sleep!!!! She is getting bigger and bigger...Last time we checked she was 7 pounds 6 ounces. I cannot believe that she is already 3 weeks old!

Brooke...well, she likes to give Katelyn kisses and give her "the rock". Brooke is still improving her clown act daily and is quite the one ring circus! In this picture her hair is plastered with a large amount of spaghetti goo!

We went out yesterday morning and took the girls to the duck pond. Brooke was a little skeptical at first and stayed in the car. She didn't like the hissing geese so much. Tori helped Grandma and Grandpa spread the bread love and by the end we coaxed Brookie out of the car! We are having a lot of fun with Grandma and Grandpa and I wish they could stay here forever! I now know why there are some cultures where all of their extended family lives under the same roof! My parents are amazing helps here and I can't believe that next week I will be flying solo!