Our Birthday Girl

Our Birthday Girl!

Well, we have a one year old! I cannot believe it! Her first year went by so fast it is crazy! This was Tori's one year dress...it is a one year shirt for Brookie. She is going to pass up on Tori's height soon I am sure unless Tori has a sudden growth spurt. Brooke is only 3 inches shorter than Tori!
We decided to celebrate Brooke's birthday at Red Robin. Brooke ate her first Toasted Cheese Sandwich and LOVED it. I haven't really met a real food that Brooke doesn't like. She has also learned how to give 5s! It is so fun...she just giggles. Tori is practicing her "CHEESE" in these pictures...if she would just look at the camera!
(Yes, that is a wrap around my thumb. I got my thumb shut in a van door! At least it isn't broken, for that I am truly grateful. It was ridiculous taking care of the girls with out a thumb, but I did get out of a lot of chores...especially DISHES! Who knew thumbs were so important?! I can now say that I am grateful for opposable thumbs!)
I LOVE the picture of Brooke looking at the singers at the restaurant...what are you crazies doing? She loved the whip cream, but was not too sure about the cold ice-cream. But tori didn't have a problem with finishing it off for her! Ha ha ha. (yes, that is a most ridiculous picture of my thumb!)
We came back home and celebrated with a festive cake. Tori loved singing the "Birthday Song" and even got a chance to blow out the candle. The cake looks super cute, but next time I will buy vanilla or cream cheese frosting and make it pink...the strawberry flavor was NASTY! Brooke didn't really care...as you can see...

Not much cake made it in to her mouth. She is not a fan of frosting, so she just basically mushed the cake all around her highchair and in between her fingers. She was also so tired. We kept her up until 7:45! Hopefully I will remember with the next kid to start the cake earlier...maybe afternoonish. I made the same mistake with Tori's one year celebration. Anyway, we had fun with Birthday Celebration #2. The next (and last) Birthday Celebration will be in a few weeks at Grandma Frann's house. Yipee!

Introducing Brookie In Pigtails

Here are some random pictures for you to enjoy. They are small, but oh so cute!Happy Birthday Grandpa Lee!

This is Tori making Grandpa Lee's birthday present. She hopes you love it...we will call you soon to sing you the birthday song. She has practiced all week! Love you Dad!

Halloween in Utah

...after we spent time with friends on Saturday (10/30) we went back up to Hooper for Halloween celebrations.

Halloween Dinger Style

(Thanks Auntie Joy for catching this picture...she was great at getting the girls to smile!) We dressed up in our costumes and then took the kids trick or treating. Tori was a ballerina (costume inherited from Livy who got it for a dance recital), Brooke was a lady bug (this one was purchased for Livy's first Halloween, but it was too big for her, then it was too big for Tori's first Halloween, and finally it fit Brookie perfectly!), Marie was a cowgirl, Gwen was Dorothy, Dennis was Spock, Jason was Captain Kirk, and I was a cat.

We only went to a few houses, but Tori got a haul (at Pam's Volk's house, a little girl gave Tori half of her candy...it was so cute!). We even got homemade donuts! YUM! Of course, Tori shared her candy with her parents (well, she didn't really know that we were taking it) and Brooke was allowed only a pre-sucked sucker! I love that Dennis always looks surprised in the pictures.I love that picture of Brooke and I! And the one of Tori waiting at the door. She gave Auntie Joy a great big kiss for the great big Kit Kat she got! (And that is the sucker that Brooke was allowed to have! Ha ha ha... Brooke didn't care that it was recycled!)

Our Cute Little Bug

Click on this and make it bigger. This was Brookie's first sucker. She LOVED it! After every lick she said "Mmmmm!" It was hilarious. She only got a few licks and then it was confiscated. I did want her to go to sleep!

Our Ballerina!

As seen here, she is playing with her new friend, Loco. He is a stick pony made by Grandma. Tori loves Loco and, in fact, is playing with him right now. We love Loco, but he is frequently used as a weapon and has been put in time out for a few extended periods of time. (We need to cut the broom stick!)

Our Little Walker

Brookie took her first steps with a fabulous audience. Auntie Marie even caught it in picture form! We are so excited. She doesn't just get up and walk, but she can do it now!

These are pictures from Sunday, Halloween actually. Tori loves to play the organ. The girls sure look cute in their Halloween striped shirts! (I love the one of them both playing the organ and Brooke is on her tip toes.)

We got a chance to visit the next door neighbors' horse. Tori got a kick out of feeding him carrots and apples. Brooke even pet him!

Then for a birthday celebration. I cannot believe that Brooke is one! Isn't that nuts?! Well, we were a week early on take 1 of Brooke's birthday (she will be having 3 parties!). She of course loved the wrapping paper more than the presents. She got a little shopping cart to push around that plays music. She also got two Wiggle CDs for dancing (she loves to dance!) and some cute clothes. She munched a little on the brownie too, but was more interested in playing in it than eating it! Shortly after brownies we were on the road again. It was a short trip, but it was fabulous to see everyone. We miss you all! And to end...

Our One Year Old!

Party in Utah: Meeting Baby Ryah!

Last weekend we made a fast trip to Utah. It was fabulous to see family and friends. We arrived close to 11:30 PM on Friday night and set up camp in Hooper. Then the next morning we were off to Spanish Fork to see all of our best friends! Yippee!!!!
I think that my new favorite is a little girl named Ryah Tate Dunn (the happy parents are in the upper left corner). She met us at the door in this cute little pink hoodie and leopard legging outfit! Oh my goodness I just wanted to pinch her, except there was too little of her to pinch, but don't you worry your little head Ryah, I will be back to pinch you soon! Adam and Tiffany were such cute parents! Hurray! I didn't really get to snuggle her all that much and she probably just wanted to sleep when I snuck these pictures, but it is all about memories here! I think that she is a good mix of Adam and Tiffany...and I am glad to be the new adopted Auntie! Tori and Brooke really didn't care all that much about Ryah this time. I think Tori just wanted to play with Adam and Tiffany...oh and Max. Sorry Ryah, you were trumped by your doggy brother this time, but I am sure that Tori and Brooke will be your besties one day!
After a little bit, we were joined by the gang: Debra, Rachie, Michelle and Cristian (Michelle's little boy) for lunch. We just hung out with everyone and had some good conversation. I miss my good friends and it is hard to stay in touch with them like I want to. Thank heavens for Facebook and Skype!
This was the first time that I met little Cristian, he was a doll (he looks so much like a Grindstaff it is uncanny!) and he took a liking to me (which of course I ate up!). He loved my lap and I loved his cute little personality!
Brooke had a good time too! Brooke loved everyone and everyone loved her right back! There was snuggling with Auntie Marie and playing with Debra, Rachie and Tiffany. My girls LOVE attention!
Tori was all over Adam and Tiffany. She loves them so much just like we do! I think we are training her well! Tori dressed up in her little BYU cheerleader outfit for early Halloween festivities and she also ate a whole piece of Jack-o-Lantern pizza from Papa Murphy's!
Oh, and don't forget the ravishing picture of my husband in Brooke's Halloween bow, with a mouth full of pizza and sauce on his cheek! I LOVE THAT MAN!Meet Tori's best friend Max.
On the way down to Spanish Fork I told Tori that we were going to see Adam, Tiffany and Ryah. She said "Yeah, and MAX!" She loves her furry friend! She was very excited to see Max (I think the feelings were mutual). She chased him around (and vice-versa) and even shared her blanket with him! That is love! She played in the backyard with him too. It was fun to watch her explore her new surroundings and throw sticks to Max. She tromped through trees and bushes, hid in the tree house and played in the mud! She is going to love having a dog one day...I don't think that we will have one quite as big as Max, but a Beagle would be nice!
Oh and that picture of Tori down in the lower right corner kills me! I love to see her laugh that big...and Max is one of the few beings that can make her giggle like that!All good things must come to an end....after a short 6 hours we had to leave. SIGH! This is the main reason that I miss Utah. I miss my friends and being close enough to hang out, have lunch and have adult conversation! I MISS MY GIRLS! I miss the Dunns and how, if we could, we would spend every waking hour together....Anyway, I am not going to have a pity party. It was so much fun visiting with you ladies (Don't you think that I hang out with the prettiest ladies in Utah?! I DO!) and I can't wait until the next time. LOVE YOU!

October Occurences

A lot has happened in the past couple of weeks. For starters, I began potty training Tori! It has gone well, all except for the number 2 thing, naps and night time...I need advice from mothers out there who have done this before. We use pull-ups for naps and night time, but the number 2 thing is really gross! I have thrown away quite a few pairs of underwear! But she is doing GREAT otherwise...I thought I was going to have to do the whole every 30 minute thing with her, but she immediately said "Mommy, peepee" every time she had to go! So that was fabulous! My favorite thing is the little saying that she does at the end of going to the bathroom. I think that I must have said it once and now she says it every time: "Tap, tap, tap. Good. And now you put it in." That is the trip the toilet paper takes. Sometimes she get stylish and adds "1-2-3 go! and then you put it in...bye bye toilet paper!" HILARIOUS!
This is Princess Potty Panties! This beautiful tiara is one of the prizes from her stash that we got from Goodwill. We also had prizes that Lora sent (little toys that Livy grew out of and Tori inherited) and of course M&Ms from Grandma Frann! Please note the water marks on her shirt...she is a good girl and washes her hands, and then she wipes them on her shirt! HA!
This one is for Oscar! He sent his special friend Nemo to Brooke a few weeks ago. Read about Nemo's voyage here.
Dear Oscar,
Thanks so much for sending me your special friend Nemo. I really love his orange fins and I hope you don't mind that I like to suck on them. Sometimes I let Tori play with him too, but I am really glad that you sent him especially to me. It makes me feel so special and I know that you must love me so much. I will take good care of him and I will give him lots of love!
I love you!
Love,
Brookie

I was crafty! I made these lovely temple wall hangings for each of the ladies that I visit teach (there are 5!) and one for me and one for my companion. The message this month was about temples from the Temples Ensign. All of the ladies I visit teach, my companion and I had a lunch together and enjoyed an afternoon of bliss (2 hours without children) together. I sure do love these ladies! I told Jason that he is lucky that we are on the poorer side and that he should never let me into a craft store when we do have $! I am craft crazy! But I did get some good ideas for Christmas presents!
We made cookies! Tori was still in the accident phase of the potty training, so that is why she is not wearing any pants! :) While Brooke was taking a nap, Tori and I made sugar cookies that we could frost during Family Home evening a week ago. It was her first time, and she loved it! Please note that as she cut the dough her cute little paw prints could be seen in the dough...she couldn't quite grasp that you just push down the cookie cutter. She loved rolling out the dough and playing in the flour. She also liked to put the cookies on the pan. We had quite a few deranged looking bats and kittens. She decided on which cookie cutter to use, so we ended up with 12 pumpkins! She liked them the best.
We frosted cookies! That night equipped with her own plastic IKEA knife she frosted her first cookie. Most of the frosting went in her mouth! She LOVED the sprinkles too! My favorite picture is of the one of all of the cookies all finished and you can just see Tori's hands on the edge of the table...she was waiting to do some quality control. Surprisingly enough, Brooke hated the frosting but gobbled up little pieces of the cookie! (Sorry, no pictures of Brookie...she was quite sick!)
Brooke and Tori got some random sickness. They both got their flu shots on the previous Saturday. Monday Brooke woke up with a fever of 102.7* and she was so tired and lethargic. She wasn't showing signs of anything else, but she just slept all day long. We went to the doctor and nothing was wrong, just a high fever. Well, the next day the fever was lowering and by that night, she was her same ol' self. I figured that it was just her body trying to fight off the flu shot, then Tori got the strange sickness. Tori sick means a lot of whining and cuddling. So to appease the pain, we made a fort where she could watch her shows and play. I am really glad that this sickness only lasted a few days and that we didn't get it, because otherwise we would not have been able to visit Utah. We know that this was a blessing for sure! I promise that the next blog will be filled with Halloween and a visit with our bestest friends!

October Happenings

Well, I am catching up!
We haven't been up to too much lately. Just hanging out at home, working and playing. What I have been up to: believe it or not (it may not show in the pictures) but I have been getting up at 6:15 AM every morning (Monday-Saturday) to work out on our elliptical machine for 30 minutes religiously for a whole month!!! I haven't lost much weight...due to the fact that I gained a few pounds in California hogging down some amazing food, or maybe it is because I haven't really cut down on the yummy food intake, or maybe I am gaining so much muscle and muscle weighs more than fat (I am going to go with this one!)! Anyway, I am proud of myself! I love working out and cannot wait to see the results, even if they are SLOW!
On another note, I came home from a Young Women activity and Jason was bragging about the pictures that he took of the girls that night. He said they were so CUTE! I didn't remember to look at them that night, but I saw the camera on the counter the next morning and this is what I saw:
Jason's silly shenanigans! There was not one picture of the children, just 3 silly pictures of Jason sporting Tori's "birthday" hat. My husband is so strange!We found this amazing moth sitting in our backyard a couple of weeks ago. Tori thought is was great! Jason caught it and set it on one our fence posts so that it would be safe.
I have been trying new hairstyles on Tori. Here is a twin french braid! She looks like such a big girl lately!
We are trying to broaden Tori's movie horizons! She is really into Elmo, Dora, the Wiggles and the Wonder Pets. We are trying to convince her that feature films are great. So every Sunday we watch a different Disney movie. So far she has liked Lady and the Tramp, Beauty and the Beast (this one is her favorite I think...we also think that Tori has the same color of eyes as Belle...they are not brown, but not quite green...), Snow White, Toy Story 1 & 2 and Finding Nemo. We bought the new Blue Ray/DVD of Beauty and the Beast with a $10 off coupon at Walmart (It is also one of my favorite Disney movies). It turned out to be only $15! We also scored at DI last weekend and bought a whole bunch of Disney VHS tapes for $2. Tori was so excited! I love that she still likes to watch movies with her hands behind her head on the LuvSac. Classic picture with her daddy...oh and there is even one of me!
Brooke is so fun. She is such an easy going baby. Yesterday at church a half a dozen people commented on the blueness of Brooke's eyes. She really does have the most beautiful blue eyes I have ever seen. She is really into trying new foods and loves to eat little nibbles of my food at dinner, especially if she gets to bite my fork. Did you know that there is a new sweet called a Brookie. It is a cross between a chocolate chip cookie and a brownie. I thought that was appropriate (you know...me being the Brownie and Jason being the Chocolate Chip Cookie making the Brookie...do you get it?!). Tori loves to play with Daddy. Jason plays this throwing game with her. I don't know exactly how he throws her 24 pound little body so high, but he does. As you can tell by the smile she LOVES this game. Do you love Brookie's tights on Tori's head? I think that she should start a new fashion. I also think that they kind of look like bunny ears. Silly little Tori!Oh how I love my Young Women!!! I have been slaving (along with the rest of the Young Women presidency and board) for about a month to get Young Women in Excellence finished. I hand made beautiful invitations, programs and bookmarks for each girl and Young Women leader. Our theme: Steadfast in Christ. Our sub theme: warriors in the war against evil. Our inspiration was a picture by Judy Cooley called "Shield of Faith".The girls made shields, helmets and spears. Each girls and leader had to complete a 10 hour project (I organized all of the recipes I have collected out of magazines into 3 fabulous recipe binders: Sweets, Meals and Extras. I really love them! I will take pictures of them sometime) and the girls are just so amazing. The cooky one in the left corner is Ursula Tingey... she is the YW president. I adore her. She truly is extraordinary. I love being her secretary, aka "Brain", it is a challenging calling...and I love being challenged! Do you love our attempt at getting a cute photo of me and the girls?!
Tori is really into dancing lately. I tried to upload a video of the girls dancing, but it was a no go. She is dancing in her BYU cheer-leading outfit. She gets it on and says "Go Cougars!" It is quite adorable. This may be her Halloween costume (minus the ballerina footy pajamas).
Brooke = Beautiful! Brooke just keeps getting bigger and bigger. She is going to be 1 soon! I cannot believe how time flies....
which brings me to the point that we didn't have a picture of our sweet Brookie in our house until just a few days ago when I made this out of a regular black frame with a white mat (matte?). Tori's was a ready-made matte that I put into a black frame, so I copied the idea and made it my own. I also spiced up Spencer's too. I think they turned out fabulous and they look great on our mantle! As I was doing this project I also realized that I had 3 kids in 3 years! Boy was I nuts! :) Here's to a pregnancy free 2010!

Grandma and Grandpa Dinger Visit (Sep. 28th- 30th)

I know...I just cannot seem to catch up! But here are some pictures from G&G Dinger coming to visit at the end of September. They called up that Monday to tell us that they were going to Ohio and wanted to stop by on their way...ummm....Ohio is the other way (East, that is!). But they needed to get their fill of some little munchkins and so they came to play Tuesday afternoon. Boy was Tori excited! She ran out to the car to meet them. She usually takes a while to warm up, but apparently that went out the window with this visit. She climbed right up on Grandma's lap while she was still in the car!
We had a lazy ol' time together. Brooke cozied up with Grandma and she read them both some books. They love a good story and Grandma Gwen is so cozy!On Wednesday we had a full day of excitement that started with using Grandma Gwen's spray gel so that you could really see Brookie's curls! She has a curly top. I guess that a little spray gel goes a long way...she was a little crunchy!Then off to the park we went. Brookie loves a good swing! Do you see her dimple! LOVE it!Watch out world! I caught Tori smiling! That's right...I caught her in the act of playing peek-a-boo with Grandpa...which means a grin!Brookie tried out the big girl slide (Tori is still frightened). It was a little shaky, but she smiled big, so maybe she liked it! She is trying to clap now a days and I caught her in the act!Lo and behold is that a HUGE grin?! I believe it is! Once again playing peek-a-boo. I need to remember this trick!Later on that afternoon we went to go see the "ANINALS"! She was really excited to watch the fish and then see all of the stuffed wildlife. I love the picture of Brooke looking up at the ceiling. There was a big vulture at the top of the ceiling there and apparently she thought it was really cool. Tori was not in a smiling mood when we took the last picture with her and Grandpa...she just found out that we had to leave the animals and there was a HUGE tantrum on the way home. She cried, "Aninals...aninals...(sniff, sniff)". It was so sad.The next day Tori got an idea...if I steal Grandma's shoes and socks then she can't leave! It was hilarious to watch her walk around in Grandma's shoes and socks! She thought she was pretty "punny" as she says. "I so punny!" Good things always have to come to an end, but it wasn't too bad, because we will see them Halloween! Just a few extras. That night the girls were being extra silly in bed and these are the results! So fun! Check out Tori's hair style! I have been trying to branch out! She has had many a new style lately: french braids, fish tails, and connected pony tails to name a few.
HATS...they are still all the rage. This one used to be navy blue, but got sun bleached. Playing peek-a-boo again! Gotta love it! Gotta love these girls!

Happy Birthday Little Sister!

Oh my goodness, making this video took a lot of work, but it is worth it! I hope you love it Lora! I tried to put it to music (I even bought the "Sisters" song online for a whopping $.69) but there was something wrong with publishing the video with the music, so, sorry, it's not put to music. I included some of the lyrics on the slides. Well...and it turns out that the video won't even upload, so instead you get this slide show!
Do you not love all of these old school pictures? I copied them on my parents scanner a long time ago, cut them and then individually scanned them on my computer. Plus I had to get some of the pictures out of scrapbooks and such. It was fun, but I had to ignore my children for 3 mornings while Tori watched Sesame Street and Brookie napped (well, Brookie was napping, so I guess I wasn't really ignoring her!). I am ignoring them right now though to post this! I really hope the video downloads faster! :) So much for that video...you will have to come and watch it at my house some time!
Amazing things about Lora:
-She is so artistic & creative. I really wish that I had some pictures of her art...she is talented. I don't know how many hobbies that I picked up trying to copy Lora's amazing abilities.
-Although she doesn't think so she is very patient, loving and long suffering. She is an amazing mom and I want to be like her when I grow up.
-She makes the best chocolate chip cookies in the universe and makes a magnificent chocolate bundt.
-Lora is amazingly supportive and listens to my woes. I love the way she got me through some tough times growing up and her advice is worth at least 8 million dollars!
-Lora is a peacemaker. I know that there was a fair share of crying, scratching and yelling when we were younger, but it never lasted more than 30 seconds without an "I'm sorry". We can't stay mad at each other. I was the little beast (usually the author of the mayhem), but Lora taught me that it isn't worth staying mad, because it is more fun to be happy and to laugh it off.
-Lora is basically the only one that can make me laugh so hard that I cannot control my bodily functions and get so read in the face because I can't breath that I am afraid that I might faint. She is hilarious.
-She is so fun to be with. I love that we can hang out for hours, talk on the phone practically everyday and not get too tired of each other!
I want to be just like her when I grow up! I know that that is what the younger sister is supposed to say, but I have looked up to her even before she grew taller than me!
I am sure I could go on and on, but this post has taken me two hours (I had to make the slide show and then the stupid computer froze...really!?) and Brooke is now awake! So I must go!
Anyway, Happy 31st Birthday little sister! I really cannot remember my life without you.
I remember the nights snuggled in our trundle bed and we would dream about going to college together, meeting and marrying twins, and living next door to each other. Well, at least we roomed together at BYU! As for the others, I am glad that we married Jake and Jason instead (at least they like each other and can get along!) and I am sure that one day we will live next to each other!
You are my best friend and I am really glad that we were both born into the Birch clan. I miss you and I hope you have a fabulous birthday. Love from you sister!

What's up?

That is one of Tori's new phrases. She is catching on to this talking thing with vengeance. It is quite fun to hear all of her new words and what is going on in her little head. These pictures are a little old. They are from about 3 weeks ago. I know. I need to catch up, but I have been working on a little surprise for my sister's birthday and so I have been a little busy, but not to worry. I promise to catch up soon. These pictures were taken when both little munchkins had a cold. Don't look too closely or you might see buggers wiped across face, on clothes, and perhaps on me! I cannot wait until all of my kids know how to blow their own noses! At least they let me blow their noses without too much fuss (thank heavens for tissues with lotion...I recommend these to all parents!).
Tori and Brooke got a package from Grandma Frann. She sent them stickers to go on the window for Halloween, owls (notice that Tori is showing the owls her stickers), and stuff to make Halloween cookies. (I wish I knew where I hid the sprinkles that she sent...it is in one of those good for nothing spots that you think that you will remember where you hid them for safe keeping and yet you cannot find them anywhere in the house!) Thanks Grandma Frann!
Tori is also loving the Leogs that she inherited from Oscar. She can now build some massive towers where she needs to stand on the table to finish.

Ode to the sombrero. Here are some fun pictures of Brookie. She is in the middle of her cold in these photos and she looks all clouded over, but they still are so cute!
Playing outside. what would playing out in the yard be without the quick hug from a tree?! Tori loves to play outside and has been enjoying the warm weather. (Although it has become Fall here in the last couple of days...rain, leaves turning colors, long sleeve shirts... I LOVE FALL!). Her new found passion is digging. We really need to put sand in her sand box (also inherited from the Olesens), but I just don't think the sand will last all winter and I think I will hold off on that until the Spring. Until then she digs in this rocky area by our dog run. Isn't she adorable?! She was told the other day that she looks like the Olsen twins (Mary Kate & Ashley) when they were younger...we've gotten that a few times. At least they were cute when they were younger...I hope she doesn't look like them in the future...they turned out weird!
This was an especially sick day for Brooke, but I wanted to take her out to get some fresh air. So she explored the grass, went down the slide, and was extremely smiley in the swing. I need to take a lesson from her when I am sick. She was never the least bit grumpy!
Do you see how BEAUTIFUL Brooke is? Do you see her curlies! I think that she may have inherited some curly hair! And look at those shockingly blue eyes and blaring white skin...I am glad she looks like Jason, because otherwise I don't know who she belongs to! Her two upper teeth are coming in too! The Park! We found a new park. It is Storey Park. I love it because in the heat of the day all of the trees in the park shade the Big Toy and all of the swings! Tori isn't getting much braver with the Big Toy yet. I think that she may be a little scared of height or something (at least outside anyway...she doesn't seem at all afraid when she is climbing couches or tables!). But that is all there is to this entry...I cannot believe I have had this much Magic Time (the time when both girls are down for a nap at the same time)...oh wait...I hear little voices. Time is up! I am outta here!