It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

Thanks to my mom and dad I have a rich life full of many traditions. One of those traditions is to decorate for Christmas. I love it! I *HEART* the Christmas season. I start listening to Christmas music in October and I love it when the California weather starts to get cold.

Our temp. reader said it was in the 40's tonight! Buuuurrrrrr, that's cold for us So. Cal. people. I remember "helping" my mom each year put out the Christmas decorations. It would take us a whole day and I just loved the house when it was done. There are things that I know are going to be up each year when I go back home for Christmas. The nativity set we got to help paint or the sucker tree that was so popular in the 80's. There are so many. I've started to make our home a Christmas Wonderland too. I am loving getting to put garland on the miles of railing I have.

I now for the first time have a mantle to hang stockings on, wahoo!

I'm not sure what we are going to do for a tree this year. The girls may undress it daily, but we will figure out something. With our tall two story living room we could get a really tall tree this year. Too bad they charge by the foot though. A really tall one would cost me about 200$

Womb mates

In the womb, and even now, they were and are intertwined. It's funny to me that they still gravitate to each other when they are near. This happens almost every time they are drinking bottles. It's almost like a security blanket for them.

Picasso

Audrey, Audrey, Audrey. She wants to feed herself. It's a battle we fight quite often. She wants to put the food in her mouth by herself and suck it down, but she often just pulls the bag from me and squeezes and this is what happens. She covered her whole face with food while we were at the mall a few weeks ago. I thought it was really funny, she was just stunned. She still wouldn't let me help her, by the way. She is as stubborn as I am. I thought she looked like a crazy colorful Picasso painting.

Shop monkeys

Last week Bjorn had to change the oil in the cars. Myles ever wanting to "help"got his little Fred Flintstone car out and did just as daddy did. It was one of the most precious things I have seen him do. I loved it! He's growing in so many ways and when he does things like this I know it's going by too fast. His speach is still a little rough sometimes, but this is what he told me. "I need my witch(wrench) just like daddy's." Then he would make all these grunting noises just like he was working really hard to get off the bolts to the oil filter and such. Cute little guy!

Housework?!

I think this picture says a thousand words. You might ask how long it's been since I dusted last. Well, hmmmm...if you can't remember what does that say? Okay, okay, I'm trying harder.

Hector the collector

Who couldn't love a face like that! It's the little things in life that makes Myles so happy. For example driving bumper cars at California Adventure, or hoarding _________(you fill in the blank), or getting to feed little bits of crackers to his sisters. He is so animated and smilie all the time. He really is a great kid. We just visited the Dr. for his three year check up. He's officially the size of an average 5 year old. He weighed in at 43 lbs. and 43 1/4 inches tall. He wears a size 11.5 shoe and 4T pants are becoming floods, time to dig out the 5's. I can't believe how big my bubba is getting. He's such a good boy and since he has started to talk more he's become much more of a ham. He's always saying things like "that's good mommy", or "remember" when he recalls something from long ago, which he does all the time. He loves to car seat dance when the music is loud, and he loves it when he can get the girls to "dance" too. He's a caring boy who is usually very polite. He tries hard to say "please" and "thank you", and he's gotten really good at saying "sorry" too. I guess when you are three it's hard to always be nice to your sisters. He must feel out numbered at times. The only guy in the house until 5:30 pm each night. Myles loves watching movies, and has the Johnson knack for repeating lines from the shows. Although he's a giant I have to remind myself that he's still a little guy and he's only 3. I expect a lot of him, and he generally delivers. I love, love, love my little bubba!

From the same pod

I'm not sure why I'm feeling so nostalgic today, but I am. These are just a few thoughts I want to share of Audrey and Lydia. They are growing WAY to FAST.

This is how she spent her first day at the beach. She loved the dirt and digging in it.

This is Lydia Keiko Dodd. She is half of my beautiful pair of girls. She has a fire in her. She is somewhat devious. She is a love. She loves toy cars, being outside and tickles. She will sit in her car seat and tickle her own toes, then laugh hysterically. She will tickle Audrey and Myles and laugh. She has always been first at her milestones. I guess she is trying to make up for being born second! She is her daddy. I love, love, love her to pieces.

This is how Audrey spent her first day at the beach. She never got off the blanket, nor did she have any interest in getting her hands and feet into the sand.

This is Audrey Amiko Dodd. She is the other half of my beautiful pair. She is the first born and yet she is the one who will sit and watch very carefully. She is a snuggler. She is all girl. She talks, yet refuses to walk at 17 1/2 months old. She loves shoes, sunglasses, and her blankie. She loves to be outside and kicks and screams when you make her go inside. She is a drama queen. She is precious. I love, love, love her to pieces.

These two beautiful girls are such a joy to me. I'm so blessed to have them and to be their mother. I can't believe how much love I have for them, and Myles. I can't imagine my life without them. I'm so glad they have each other. Forever "womb mates"... no matter what else they do or the different directions they may go. I hope they will always be close.

Halloween 2010

It was past bedtime when this was taken, that's why the girls look so thrilled.

We had a very fun Halloween season this year. The day itself fell on a Sunday and since we don't live in Mormonland, where the night would have been moved to Saturday, our kids didn't trick-or-treat. Not to worry, they still had plenty of fun and didn't even miss trick-or-treating. I'm always hard at work trying to come up with costumes for the whole family that won't break the bank. So this year we went with the book, The Cat in the Hat. Bjorn and I were the two kids who sat in the window while their mother went out. Then we took our fish bowl with a goldfish, Carlos K. Crinklebine. Myles was the Cat in the hat, a costume that I resurrected from the girls birthday party. The girls of course were "Thing 1 and Thing 2". Complete with "crazy" hair made of feather boa and nylons.

Look at that cute little face!

Just thrilled to be walking about.

Last Monday was the Ward Halloween Trunk-or-treat. It's always a great event for everyone. It starts with dinner and some carnival games. Then a costume parade and finally finishes off with the trunk-or-treat. The candy Myles collected from that little 5 min. activity was more than enough. He is still working on it.

Then Saturday was our Block party. It was a great event where we set up carnival booths around the common area and had the kids pumpkin bowl, pin the nose on the pumpkin, a fishing pond, cookie decorating, a fun foam craft, and a station for face painting/balloon shapes/magic tricks, and a doughnut eating contest. Then later the adult men had a game of broom pumpkin hockey. It was quite a day. The kids had a great time and I think it was a hit.

After a long afternoon of fun and games, this is part of the group we had.

Disneyland Vacation 2010

Minnie Mouse and the sleepy girls

Donald Duck and Mylo

Buzz and Myles

The very tired girls, including the momma!

The magical land of Disney. We had such a wonderful trip this summer. It included 4 days in the parks, great food on Downtown Disney, and inside the park. We loved the hotel and Myles even started "pooping" in the potty there. It was a great mini vacation. It's nice to be able to come back for an afternoon nap, or sleep in a little and still get there when they open. It's fun to be able to walk back to your bed at night, no drive back home. It truly is a MAGICAL place.

hep me mom!

This is how I found Myles one day. "Momma help me". I don't know what he was doing, or exactly how he got in this predicament, but it was really funny to me. Look at that cute little face!

Sisters

Since moving into the new house we have been exercising at the local horse/bike path. It's about a 1/4 mile from our front door. We see this funny sign there everyday. I finally remembered to take the camera and get a shot of it

Lost and Found

My parents and my sister and her family are all in town for a weekend of Disneyland fun. We spent Thursday at the beach, then went to Disneyland and California Adventure on Friday and Saturday. They all had a great time, but were very tiered. It's hard work having so much fun. Because it takes so much "stuff" to move a family of seven, I told my sister she could use all of my stuff (double stroller, high chair, pack-n-play). Today they used the single stroller that I last used when we went on vacation to Disneyland for 4 days. It was the trip that I lost my then brand new camera, along with all our vacation pictures. I was totally bummed out about it. Well Kristin called me today and said that she had found my Nikon Cool Pix camera in the luggage area of the single stroller. I couldn't believe it. I was sure it was lost on the ground of Disneyland the night before we left. I was sure I would never see it again. I am sure that I looked there already, I'm sure Bjorn already looked there. But as Myles says all the time " tah-dah", it's back! I can't wait to download all the pictures and see what I have. Stay tuned! I'm going to have some catch up to do...

Bubba turns 3

(Notice how dark it is outside, well that's because it's only 6:15AM. Myles gets up early these days because he needs to pee. Joy!)

Happy Birthday Bubba! Friday was his actual birthday so we spent the morning opening a few gifts from family and then had Mickey Mouse pancakes(which he didn't eat, instead he ate raw oatmeal). Bjorn went off to work, while I loaded up the kids and went to the local bakery. Myles picked out two cupcakes, one with pink sprinkles and one with purple. We sat outside the bakery eating our treats and then drove back home. After lunch we all piled into the car and headed to Disneyland where Myles would be getting his season pass since he is now 3. We had a great time there. We finally made it on the "Small World" boat ride, a hit with all the kids, and the parents especially because it was air conditioned!

We hit the usual rides, autopia, dumbo, tea cups, the little train, the merry go round, and toon town. We ate dinner while watching the Jedi night training and had a grand time.

We arrived back home by around 8:30 with all three kids passed out in the back seat! A perfect day for the little bubba. The next morning, Saturday, he got his present from mom and dad, a motorized Jeep, which he loves to drive and give his sisters a ride in. He's getting really good at steering and is careful not to run into things most of the time. The Jeep going to be hours of entertainment for him and the girls.(pictures to follow)

I'm back baby!

Now we're talkin. I just got my new camera from Canon. It's a T1i with HD video. I'm going to love it. Now I just need to read the book and figure out all the ins and outs of it. Watch for more pictures.

The "Lost" vacation

We ended our summer with a fun filled four days at Disneyland. We thought it would be fun for the kids to stay in the Disney hotel and get to use the park as much as possible. When you have little kids it's hard to pull an all day/night at Disneyland. Thus staying right on the property let us come back to the hotel for a nap in the middle of the day. It was wonderful. The kids had a great time and did really well. I think by the end of the trip the girls were not so happy to see the stroller. They would give you a bit of fight when they were being strapped in. Not bad for two little ones who are not yet walking and spent most of the days sitting in the stroller.

We had dinner at a character dining place called "Goofy's kitchen". It was really fun. You sit and eat and the characters come to your table and you get to visit with them. It would have been even better, but Myles needed to poop after not going for 4 days, so off we went to the bathroom, SIX times. Only to be told after getting on the potty, no poop, done. ARGGGGGG. Oh well, we finished dinner and headed to our room for some much needed sleep. When we got to the room Myles went into the bathroom and did a "Big Job" all by himself. I couldn't have been happier. It almost made the six trips to the bathroom at dinner worth it. You see Myles has been potty trained for about 2 months now, but only pee. He hasn't wanted to go poo in the potty. He would still prefer to do it in his pants. I don't know why, if I did I wouldn't be having this problem. Anyway he was told by Mickey Mouse that he could poop in Mickey's toilet. So that's what he did.

We visited both California adventure where there was a really fun Mickey Mouse clubhouse show that had all the puppets from the favorite cartoons that Myles watches. He could have stayed in there all day long. He LOVED it!

We played in the water @ California Adventure, rode the huge Ferris Wheel and a few other small rides and then we spent the rest of our days over in Disneyland. It was lots of fun. Myles especially loved the Buzz light year ride. And of course the Dumbo ride is still his favorite.

No pictures you say...well the last night we were there I put the camera in our bag, but didn't zip it up, and I think that it must have fallen out as we exited the park. I'm really sad about all the photos from the previous 4 days. And not to mention that the camera itself was only about 6 weeks old. Mom bought me a new one after it went swimming in July. UGHHHHHH.....Oh well what to do. Go buy a new one? Yep, and quick, it's almost Myles third birthday. ( I don't know how that happened. He was just a baby a few weeks ago...)

Hmmmm...

Can you see their clothes on the floor in front of the crib?!

I put them to bed with clothes on...It would seem that we have a couple of strippers on our hands. It's not the lack of clothes on that bothers me. It's the fact that yesterday Bjorn went up to see why Audrey way crying after being asleep for a while. He picked her up and cuddled her and then noticed she wasn't wearing any pants or diaper! What the crap, we can't have finger painting during nap/bed time!

priceless

Prizes, treats, and stickers...10$

20 pair "big boy" underwear...20$

Mommy, pee pee's...PRICELESS

We started potty training Myles on Friday morning. We had 8 small dribbles friday, woke up dry from nap, but wet from night sleep. Saturday we had one small dribble, one poop in pants, woke up dry from long nap, and dry from night sleep. Sunday we haven't had any accidents, large or small yet today. It's 2:30 and he just went down for a nap. Cross your finders that he's got this thing down. So far, so good. Yea, Myles, way to go buddy!

Hollywood Kids

Welcome summer! The kids have their shades and hats and are ready to roll. We love summer. Can't wait for Disneyland in a few weeks.

Fun summer outings

We have been keeping busy since summer started. We've been trying new and exciting things and places. First the Dalton Park splash pad. It's a great place for all the kids, and it's really fun on a hot day

The next place is the local school playground. We love to have lunch up there and play for a while.

The last place is a playground inside the local mall. The really nice things about this one is A/C and nice public restrooms. This is going to be especially important starting next week as we are potty training Myles this weekend. Wish us well

New Do

I've wanted to try doing the girls hair for some time now, but Lydia hasn't had much hair to do. I've always put bows in their hair, but they don't like to keep them in for long. It's something for them to play with and pull out IMMEDIATELY after I put them in. It's almost not worth it. I went to the store and got some little elastics and have been playing with them. The girls don't like to sit still for long so I have to be quick. I've learned that putting them in the high chair with a little finger food is a good distraction and it gives me a few extra min. See what you think..

And then there was one...or so we thought

Since we arrived home a few weeks ago we had noticed there were two new baby lizards who would hang out on the back patio. It was lots of fun to see these little guys who were not so fast. Myles would often get to touch them because they were so slow to move. When I say baby lizards I do mean small. I think they were about an inch long when we first saw them. I never saw a momma lizard with them, and I'm not sure how it works in lizard land, I guess you are on your own from the get go. Anyway we had been having fun watching these little guys run around and play. When you saw one the other wasn't too far behind. Well I noticed that one was in the same spot on the patio for quite a few hours. The other just hanging around beside him. When I went out to investigate further I saw that the one baby lizard's head had been smashed to the pavement and the other little guy was just hanging around like he didn't know what to do.

I felt so bad for this little remaining guy. He hung out all day and into the next day beside his dead little friend. What should I do? I didn't want to go scrape the dead guy up, then where would the other little guy go. I didn't want to leave him there all smashed on the patio for the dog to go and have a tasty little treat...what to do, what to do. Well I did nothing like a big chicken and the following morning I took out the dog and noticed that the dead little lizard was now gone. I was glad that I didn't have to worry about it anymore, but sad for the remaining little guy who I thought would be all alone now. Drum roll please...well it turns out that he isn't all alone. Today I went to take out the poopy morning diapers and found in our rubber mat outside the door there were again TWO little lizards.

I couldn't be more happy about it. Now I don't worry about the one! Hurray! We love the lizards, they keep down the bugs in the backyard and the bigger ones don't like people so they are a great friend to have.

Single mom vacation

My hat is off to all your single parents. I don't know how you do it. I've just returned home from a two week trip where I was single parenting most of the time. It's no fun and it also made me realize how lucky I am to have my husband help so much. Don't get me wrong, my mom was there and she is an amazing grandma, but as for the other parent that I'm used to having after working hours, I was on my own.

We traveled to Utah for a two stay while Bjorn was really crazy busy with work. We wouldn't get to see him much at home, so we took off for a bit. It was a full trip packed with lots of cuzzies, grandma and Papa, Aunties, and Uncles and lots of Utah fun.

We drove all night Thursday night thinking that the kids would sleep most of the way and it would be a great way for them to travel the long distance. Well, they didn't sleep. Lydia slept the longest and that was for only two hours. They didn't cry or fight, they just didn't sleep. They watched movies, ate and just sat there looking like they would really like to sleep, but they never did. We arrived at 8:30 am in Bountiful just ready to crawl into bed. Not so fast. The roof was being removed and we were sleeping right under it. Then the machines in the backyard were going. Not the best way to start off the trip, but fortunately Bjorn and Myles and the girls were so tiered they slept right through it. I choose to stay up and get the car unpacked along with all the other things that needed doing. I also ran our errands for the day and was home when the kids got up from their naps. Bjorn left early Saturday morning.

Our fun filled time was full of activity. We went swimming to the Bountiful Rec Center. It's a great new facility full of pools, splash pads, a water slide, lazy river and more. This is the day the camera went for a swim so this is the only day I have photos of anything. The kids loved it. Well lets just say Myles was crying when i made him get in and crying when I made him get out for us to leave.

We also visited Snowbird resort for an alpine slide, bungee trampoline bouncing, rock climbing, tram riding, bounce house bouncing, bull riding, chair lift riding, and ice cream eating. It was a great fun day with Leslie and Seth and Tate.

We were in town for the 24th of July Parade and carnival. It's always a hit with the kids. They love the parade and the get lots of candy. The carnival has all kinds of good junk food to eat and fun little rides for the kids. Myles wandered off during the parade, I had to go retrieve him from the announcers stand. He was really "scared", but no worse for the ware. He stuck close by after that. All this was followed by fire works at the Jr. High, visible from Ryan's front lawn.

Mom and I took the kids to do some shopping at the outlet mall in Park City. I love the stores there and its always cooler than in the city.

We got to see our good friends Mary and Jack and their two boys as well as Kate and her two boys and Elisabeth. We had a great pizza dinner in the park and the boys all got to feed the ducks and eat popsicles.

I got to have lunch with three of my Kindergarten friends. That was a highlight for me.

More shopping at Kid to Kid in Bountiful. I have a small addiction to that store.

Lagoon was a highlight for Myles. He loved all the rides and it's where he discovered that his floating ring does really hold him out of the water. It's funny he took so long to discover this. He loved it so much he was drug kicking and screaming from the water. Good thing we did the water park too, it cooled up all off and the rest of the night was great. All the kids were great, even the girls who didn't get to ride anything except the train.

We went to the South town expo center to view the floats that were going to be in the "Days of 47" parade on the 24th of July. It's fun to see them up close and be able to see all the details and time that goes into working on these big floats. This was followed by lunch at McDonald's where Myles had a total and complete melt down. Good times, Good times...

And what trip would be complete without a visit to the local E.R. Audrey ran a really high fever for a few days and had a seizure one night so she spent the morning in Primary Children's Medical Center Emergency Room. This tag is the only picture I got of her. I should have captured her sad eyes. She was really pathetic looking.

There were lots of late nights for me as I was catching up on all my Tour de France watching at night over to Ryan's house. It's always a good time when we go to visit family. Thanks for a great stay everyone.

Take a picture mom

Mom and Kristin and I took the kids to the Bountiful pool. It was a great day and the kids had a great time. I wanted to capture some photos, so I asked mom to take a few. I got some great shots, but then the cameral went into the pocket of moms shorts and went for a 40 min. swim. I think that Myles said it best, "camera no workie." Stay tuned for photos later, I'm searching for a new camera.

Sleep anyone?

Last night (7/18) Audrey went to bed with a fever. Not all that unusual since she is cutting teeth. Around 11:30pm she was crying, by 1:30am she was in bed with me. (Mind you that Thursday night was spent driving to Utah all night. So no sleep that night either. I felt like warmed over death by the end of this night) If you know my kids, then you know that they don't wake up during the night. I've trained the to be good little sleepers and sleep is the one thing that I'm very careful to protect. I'm out of town visiting my family in Utah and Bjorn is home working really hard on a trial, hence the reason there was room in my bed for her. And as an aside, I don't ever let the kids "sleep" with us. It's not any fun for anyone and I value my sleep way too much. Anyway, back to the story. Audrey ran an extremely high fever all night so I called my SIL who is a nurse and she said to take her in. I was going to wait till morning, but around 4:30am she started to convulse. It scared me so bad that I scooped her up, ran to get into the car and was at the hospital 30 min. later. They just needed to observe her and run a few tests and wait for her fever to drop a little before letting us go home. It was just a virus and therefore nothing could be done for her. Poor little thing, she was such a good little sick baby. She just lay there and would moan, but not cry and she had the most sad eyes you have ever seen. She fevered for the next 24 hours, but thanks to Tylenol and Motrin every three hours around the clock she recovered fine. By the following day she was getting back to her normal self. What a trooper.

It's neck and neck

I always think of race horses as I put the girls on the stairs to climb up before naps and bedtime. It's always a race to get to the top, and one that Lydia usually wins. You see, Audrey could go fast, and does when she is trying to get away from me. The problem is that when they are both going to the top she gets distracted by other things and is always the slower of the pair to reach the top. Not that it's always a race, but Myles gets great pleasure in yelling "go, go, go." It's fun to watch their progression side by side.

In other news the kids all had a first this week. I took them to the park myself the other day. (usually we go with a big group of moms, but this day I was on my own) There were not a lot of kids at the park, so we got to all use the swings at the same time. They only have two "baby" swings and two "big kid" swings. Myles usually used the "baby" swing, but he agreed to try the "big kid" swing so that the girls could swing too. It was their first time swinging, and Myles' first time on the "big kid" swing.

All the kids love the new fountain at the new Library. It's especially nice on a hot day. Myles thinks it's great to stick his arms into the cold water. He would climb all the way in if I let him.

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle...

This week on one of my three trips to Costco(don't ask!) I purchased 25 lbs. of sugar. It comes in this nice big pink and white bag made of woven plastic. I brought it home and put all the sugar into other containers as you can't store it in the bag for fear of ants. I was going to put the big pink bag into the Recycle bin, but got an IDEA! I *Heart* all my shopping totes, but I always wish that I had a smaller one for taking lunch to the park or the zoo or for snacks in the car on road trips. Ta-dah, it came to me. I could use this old sugar bag to sew a new snack bag. This is what I whipped up today while all the kids were sleeping. All materials were reclaimed items. What do you think? And cute too! Pink handles would have been even better, but hey, what are you going to do?

Casualties

The kids are just at the ages when casualties happen often. Yesterday Lydia was found in the middle of the floor crying. No one around her and blood pouring from her lips. She aparently bit her lips as she crashed to the floor. She is starting to stand and she isn't so stable, thus, the casualty. She is completely unfazed by it today.

Later that day we were walking home from the park when Myles, who is quite clumsy, ran right into the corner of a building. The hit was so hard it knocked him back and he instantly had a large goose egg and bruise over his left eye.

It's a good thing kids are so pliable. Otherwise they wouldn't make it out of childhood. Let's just hope that the rest of our injuries are this small and don't require the E.R.

Happiest place on earth

In a word: Disneyland!

Memorial day we decided to go to Disneyland to get our season passes. We knew that it would either be a great day or a horrible day. It would either be really crowded or empty. It would either be really hot or it would be a great mild spring day. The kids would either be really great, or grouchy because of missed naps. I'm happy to say that they LOVED Disneyland.

Audrey and Lydia were playing at the water park in Bug land @ California Adventure Park.

They were great the entire day. It was a day of the great mild weather, few people in the parks, and great behavior on the kids part. We made our way through the lines quickly, got to ride a ton of rides, some Myles really liked(Dumbo, the train, merry go round...), others he cried through(Pinoccio, Matterhorn). The girls got to ride several things too. They could ride on most things in Fantasy land. We even got to have our picture taken with Mickey Mouse in Toon Town.

It was a great day! We started the day thinking we would leave the park by 3 pm. but we didn't leave the park till 8:30 pm. The kids just kept going, and going, and going. They loved all of it. It's such a difference from a year ago when we took the kids. Myles can now successfully wait in lines, he LOVES the rides and even stays close by most of the time. He walks and rides through the park with ease. He loves getting to ride things twice, thanks to the great idea of the "Parent Swap"( One parent waits in line with a kid, then the other parent waits with the other children. Parent "A" rides the ride with the child then when the ride is over they get off and the other parent gets right on). It's really great! The kid gets to ride twice for the wait of one line!

We are now proud owners of Season Disneyland passes. Anyone want to come to So Cal and go?!