Bubba and the Beans

Funny Myles

2011-11-06T14:40:00.000-08:00

One day last week while Bjorn was getting ready for work Myles joined him in the bathroom. Bjorn got out of the shower, toweled off, did his hair, brushed his teeth and then came this little voice. "Daddy, your fur is all dry!" He was talking about the curly hair that covers Bjorn's legs. It's STILL funny to me to hear out loud the way kids think. And just when I think I have heard it all, he reminds me that I haven't. Love you Bubba!

One foot, two feet...

2011-09-27T15:33:00.000-07:00

Can you see the bruising on the top of the big toe? It extends all the way up the top of the foot almost to the ankle.

Battle wounds

This is how mom saw me most of her time here. I was totally taken care of. She brought me everything I needed. It almost felt decadent.

Lets just say last week was a hard one. I woke on Monday to an abscess that needed attention. After calling the dentist I dropped off my kids to my friends home and went to the dentist who deduced that it was a "difficult" root canal that would need to be done. She sent me to the Endodentist who luckily could get me right in. He started the two prong procedure and by noon I was home with the kids after undergoing phase one. The following day I was scheduled for foot surgery that has been coming for a while now. The surgery was referred to by the doctor as a "bump and run". It only takes a few hours for the Doctor to go in and shave off the excess bone, but it takes quite a bit longer to heal. I assure you there is no running going on here. In fact I now have an old lady walker to help me get around and to act as a barricade so the kids don't come to close to the very painful feet. I now have two incisions on each foot(inside and outside). The doctor said it would be no big deal to do both feet at once, the nurse and everyone else kept saying "are you sure you want to do both feet at once?" I now know why they were asking me! I have to say it is more painful than I thought. The first night I got to sleep at 6:30 am. It has a horrible night of pain and restless legs. When you can't get up and walk, and your legs are crawling, it's a horrible feeling. The following day I was able to get some stronger pain killers which worked well, but make me nauseous. So it's back to the IBU 800.

I went back to the doctors yesterday for the follow up to surgery. The sutures look great but will stay in for another week. For now it's "take it easy", feet up, ice, and don't get them wet. It's not that easy taking a bath with both your feet hanging out the side. You try it sometime. I can't wait to get into the shower and get both feet wet! The up side to the story is this, 1st it will be nice to wear any shoes I want and not have to worry about if they will hit in the wrong spot, 2nd, it's always nice to see mom! Myles told me, to tell her, that "she could come back tomorrow."

A huge shout out to Mom who came and saved the day taking care of us. I felt so bad just sitting on the couch or in bed while she did all the work, but at the end of the day the kids *HEART* having her here. We had great food, fun playing and reading, and lots of kisses. It's always fun when Grandma's in town. Thanks Mom!

House maintenance

2011-09-27T15:24:00.000-07:00

Lydia was in the middle of getting changed when she spotted the "problem" and got to work right away!

Myles, ever the fix it, had to don the safety goggles in order to get a handle on this "problem".

Lydia, now dressed, is always a helpful assistant. Do you see that pipe wrench? Well I guess we really have a problem spot because, that is where the pipe wrench lives. It CANNOT go in the toolbox with the other tools at the end of the job, it must stay there for safe keeping.

This is a little insight into a Sunday afternoon at the Dodd house. You know the plumbing is always a problem and needs constant attention. Not to worry, I have three very willing handy men to do the job. It's a favorite pass time for everyone. Let's just hope a real plumbing emergency doesn't arise as the real handy woman wouldn't have a clue what to do!

First day of preschool

2011-09-27T15:08:00.000-07:00

Myles and Audrey wait by the "lunch wagon" before entering the classroom.

The VERY proud and happy preschooler. He was thrilled to go to school, and even more thrilled to find out he has a "cubby" to put his "stuff" in.

It's official my kids are growing up way too fast. Myles started his first year of preschool on the 6th of September. He is the oldest in his class and by far the tallest. The smallest girl in his class of 5 only comes to his shoulder. It's quite funny. He absolutely loves it despite his "I don't want to go to school" comment each morning before school. When I asked him how his 1st day of school was he simply said: "It was pretty cool Mom."

He is enrolled at a Presbyterian church run school that would have been super close to our old house on Ivy Ave. It's just one block west, though we are not far even in our new home. Just a short 2 min. drive. He is going twice a week this year. I wish I could afford to send him more. He seems to really love it. He has already come home singing a song about apples! It's really cute. I will try and get a video of it so you can see.

Now if I could get Lydia to stop crying each day we drop him off. She would just really like to stay too. Next year! I think he should get one whole year to himself. The girls could technically go in a month or so, assuming I could get Audrey potty trained. But for now I think that we will keep them home for the year.

Way to go my big bubba! So proud of you!

Old friends

2011-09-04T20:47:00.000-07:00

My old Boston roomie Somer, and her husband Billy, baby Paz, and Jack the dog came for a quick visit on their way to Mexico. They are moving there and have driven from Calgary, Canada stopping in Seattle, So. Cal, and then on to Mexico. Good luck in your travels and the grand adventure you are about to embark upon. Thanks for stopping to see us. It was a great day at the park. We loved the visit. Maybe the next will be in Mexico!

A Circle

2011-09-04T20:38:00.000-07:00

Myles and the girls *HEART* playing on the stairs. I hate it and tell them not to play there all the time. I was doing something... I don't know what, but I heard arguing over a blue ball. Myles of course won, but as he grabbed it he began to fall backward and down the stairs. He reached out to grab something, Audrey. They began to fall head over heals down the entire flight of stairs, landing at the bottom with his face against the null post. He came running to find me screaming so loud that he couldn't breath. I finally got him to calm down and tell me what happened and all he could say was, "Momma, we were like a circle falling down the stairs". I hope this will teach them to play somewhere else in the house.

Cheeky Monkey

2011-09-04T20:27:00.000-07:00

I can't remember why he didn't have clothes on this afternoon. It's an occurrence that happens oft at our house. They get in the pool without clothes, they get wet at the water table, they get hot... the list goes on. Although I have to say that riding while naked isn't the most responsible thing. It could cause a few "chaffing" problems if you know what I mean. I do however love those cute little cottage cheese buns!

Myles has really come out of his shell the last few months. He has become quite the imaginative boy. He loves to make believe and pretend and make the girls follow along. The other day he set up his "country" in the living room. It was the country of Living land. I thought it was rather cute. He sets up shopping all the time and announces with his microphone that lane #3 is open for shopping. He takes his Fred Flintstone cars to the "gas station" (the garden hose) for fuelling all the time. It's quite a job imagining all day long.

Myles starts pre-school two days a week on Tuesday. I'm jumping for joy and think he is going to love it. I wish I could afford to send him more, but I'll take two days. The hardest part is going to be the girls. They cry when he leaves them. I forget that the three are always together. The girls keep telling me that they are going to school too. It's very cute.

Way to go Myles, you are getting so big, and I'm sure you have big things ahead. I can't wait to see what live has in store for you!

Love you Bubba.

Wait for it...

2011-09-04T20:11:00.000-07:00

So as promised I have finally taken pictures of the little girls room. It turned out really cute if I don't say so myself! I found the cute picture on our last trip to Prague. Then the Dolls hanging on the wall are from mom and dad's trip to Russia. The red mirror was a hand-me-down from Aunt Carol and Uncle Hal when they moved to the East Coast. It was stained brown, but I put a coat of red on it and love how it looks hanging from these curtain tie backs from Tiapan Trading. I picked them up for 3$ each and a quick coat of paint on them for the tie backs and the hanging letters. I love them. The toy stack was an Ikea find that needed to be pained too. And last but not least the lamp I found a strand of black and red beads in my sewing stuff. So I guess what I am saying is the only thing I really spent money on was the framing of the picture. It is always the most expensive and I wish someone(ahhmm...Ryan, Leslie, Dru) would buy and mate cutter and learn to do this well. I would pay for the mate cutter. Anywho there you have it! What do you think.

Potty training #@*&

2011-08-12T21:51:00.000-07:00

This is the bucket of pee pee pants at the end of the first day of potty training the girls. Score card says...18 pair of underwear. Not bad for two girls, but not good either. Man I forgot how much the first day sucks. It's an intense 3 days, but so worth it when you are done, or so I thought. Well, turns out Audrey had a little bug and she had "butt pee" for the first day and a half when i finally threw in the towel with her. I just couldn't take it anymore. It's one thing to have pee running down the legs, but poop is entirely different. So...I put her back in diapers. She was a little sad that she wasn't going to get treats and prizes, but I still gave her treats when Lydia got them and she was happy as could be.

Day two I only had 4 pair of undies in the bucket, and Lydia had actually had some success at going pee on the potty. By day three she only had one accident and was getting to the potty almost on her own. Now two weeks into it she just takes herself to the potty. She isn't so good at wiping, so I try and stay on top of that, but WAY TO GO LYDIA. I love it when it's done, I just hate it when I'm doing it. Two kids down, one to go...

Silly Myles

2011-08-05T23:07:00.000-07:00

Myles and I had a "date" on Tuesday evening. A co-worker of Bjorn's gave us some great tickets to the Barnum and Bailey Circus that is in town. As we were walking into the arena I said: "do you want to hold hands?" He said: "Why mom?" and I said: "Because we are on a date and that's what you do." He said: "Sure mom, I'd love to." Then he said: "I think we should bring dad on our date next time."

We watched the whole circus and had a great time. I asked him the following day what his favorite part of the circus was and he said: "when the lady pushed the button to get your Coke into your cup." Translation, when we went to get snacks I got a Coke from the bar because the line was much shorter than the other food lines. So the bar tender had a soda fountain that was handheld. She pushed one button for the Coke to come out and he thought that was the best things since sliced bread. The things he says make me laugh all the time. I think he's going to have such a dry sense of humor. It sure is funny to watch their little personalities unfold before you.

Trip to Utah 2011

2011-08-01T15:13:00.000-07:00

The kids and I took a trip to Utah for the 24th of July. There is always a lot going on that time of year and everyone tends to be around. This was the second time we have gone and it was just as fun as last year. The kids love to stay with Grandma and Papa. Heck I do too. Who wouldn't, it's like staying at a B&B. You get all your meals, local travel info, even free babysitting. Who wouldn't love that! Anyway we packed a lot into our short week and a half.

A big Thanks to Dad who flew out and drove with me to Utah. I don't think it was quite like our road trips of yore, but it was fun all the same.

We visited the Hoggle Zoo with Some of Kristin's kids as well as some of Leslie's kids. The weather couldn't have been better. Not to hot and overcast most of the day. A perfect day I would say. We visited most everything on display, but there was construction so some of the animals are not there. Not to worry though, we still got to see plenty. The bird show was great! A little long and I could have done without the hawk trying to eat the Parrot, but otherwise really good.

Next it was bowling with the kids. Myles had his first time bowling and he loved it. Tess and Graham were very patient with him and his wanting to go all the time. They kept their cool and told him when to go.

We didn't make the parade this year, mom and dad where in-charge, but it was too hot and I didn't want to sit with the kids for that long. So we went to the Park for the carnival while the parade was en route. It wasn't crowded and we had a great dinner of pulled pork, corn on the

cob and fry bread and creamies. Well I did at least, the kids just ate junk. They loved the rides and the games and we came home with quite a haul of carnival trinkets.

I got together with my Kindergarten friends who all happened to be in town too. With all six of us there and all of are kids there were 23 kids and 6 mommas. What a great time we had at the Blanchard's pool. Thanks Kristin for letting us come and invade your space.

Winnie the Pooh was out so I thought it was time for Myles to take in his first ever movie. He loved it. He even sat through the whole show. I had six kids in tow and everyone was great. A little candy and popcorn goes a long way with this crowd!

A quick trip Paces Dairy Ann and Salt Lake with my friend Michelle turned me on to all kinds of wooden crafts to do. I have now completed all my projects and need to return to get more supplies. Maybe it's a good thing I don't live closer...

Then Saturday after Bjorn got in we went to the Church Museum in Salt Lake. Mom is a Docent there and she knows just about everything about that place. We saw a lot that I had never seen before and it was very interesting. They have a great area for kids too so they could blow off some steam after being bribed to be quiet for about an hour and a half. Thanks mom, what a great tour. I would recommend your services to anyone! This was followed by a scrumptious lunch at Hires in downtown Salt Lake. This was the place Bjorn and I went to eat lunch following our pictures on our wedding day. Mom had taken all my things home and thus I had to eat lunch dressed in my wedding dress. The lady who was our car hop thought I was crazy to eat a burger and fries in my wedding dress, I just told her I was supper hungry. She brought me back about 10 bar towels to lay across my dress so I would drip anything on me. How nice. It's still the best place for a root beer float.

Sunday was the day to head out of town. It was a fast trip, too bad getting home wasn't just as fast. We forgot about Sunday Vegas to Cali traffic. It took us 15 hours to get home. Oh well, we won't make that mistake again...

Thanks everyone for a great trip. It's always fun to see you and we love coming to play. See you next year!

burrito kids

2011-08-01T15:00:00.000-07:00

Would anyone like a "bubba and bean" burrito? My kids beg me to make them into burritos everyday. They think it's really funny. I think that it all started when the girls were little and we would wrap them up tight like this. Myles, ever the memories, hasn't forgotten and now the girls think it's fun too.

4th of July 2011

2011-08-01T14:49:00.000-07:00

Myles learned how to balance with his floating ring and could kick and get around the pool quite well.

This year for our 4th of July Celebration we got together with our friends the Larsens. They moved last year to Glendora, a neighboring town to Monrovia. We were sad to see them go, but they found a great house for them, and lucky for us they have a great pool. We ate a BBQ dinner full of fun 4th red, white, and blue themed items and then we all took a dip in the pool. After swimming we ate dessert and did a few fireworks and sparklers with the kids. It was a great time had by all, especially the kids!

Lydia still a little shy about the water wanted nothing to do with her ring, but would be fitted with water wings. Not that she was going to drowned. She had a death grip on me the entire time.

Audrey loved to use the ring upside down as it didn't ride her as much. She especially loved the warm hot tub.

Myles with two fists. One full of ice cream sandwich, the other with California's version of a "sparkler". Not much spark, just flame at the end of the stick. I don't get it.

Even Audrey joined in the sparkler fun.

Daddy with the kids. Can you see how Lydia didn't really like the ring. She cried till I took it off.

Thanks Larsens for your hospitality. We always have a great time when you are around!

Dodd Family Reunion 2011

2011-07-10T11:09:00.000-07:00

Our family reunion was held in Solvang, California this year. It was attended by about 50 members of the Dodd family, with Thora having most of her children and grandchildren there. We visited Legoland with Andrew and Lydia and their children just a few days before the reunion started and then we headed north for the big gathering. Her is Myles on the nights joust ride.

All my monkeys sitting atop the camel in Legoland. It appears harder that I thought to get everyone to look at the camera at the same time. Who knew?!

Maggie on the knights ride.

Lydia the "little Angel".

Myles the "Biggest Angel".

Here we are with Tommy, Carolyn, Aunt Kalite and Uncle Byron.

My very first picture of Audrey and Lydia on the slide together. I have so few pictures of the two of them together looking in the same direction.

Aunt Kalite playing cars in the sand with Myles. He was in total heaven to have someone give him so much attention.

Katharine Driving her Volvo at Legoland.

Myles and Daddy going on the big slide. Myles first attempt at the slide was without his sack, and it didn't go over so well with the employee's of the park. Oh well, better luck next time. He must have gone on this ride about ten times in a row.

The wild and crazy ride with all the kids. It was quite funny to see all of us riding this bike.

The rest of the "Crazy Danes" on bikes. We had a total of 5 bikes for everyone. The largest of the bikes held 11 people.

Esther, Wyatt and their kids.

Andrew, Lydia and kids, along with Heather and Adam and kids.

All the cuzzies.

Mommy, Myles and Audrey who never got off my lap to get into the water.

Audrey, Lydia and I sitting on the rock and cooling our feet on a hot day.

A cold day on Gaviota State beach. We found lots of great big sea shells and I had a great time "hunting" for them. Audrey was her honery self that morning. Lydia just had fun walking up and down the beach with her little bag. Myles just kept up with me and would hold all the fun shells I found. While adding his own collection of rocks along the way.

Lydia looking like quite a little girl and not a baby any longer. It was fun to see everyone!

Big girl beds

2011-06-30T20:15:00.000-07:00

Audrey and Lydia are officially girls and and not babies. It's one of the sad things about not having any more kids. I almost hate to see specific stages come to an end. Don't get me wrong. It was well time. The girls had been climbing out of their cribs for about a month when I finally bit the bullet and put them into the toddler beds. This was them on the second night. At least they were both in their beds. Lydia is kinda in between two beds, while Audrey still looks like she is sleeping in a crib. I have now decorated the room and it looks really cute. We framed a picture and put up their initials on the wall above their bed. We got a toy bin for the other side of Lydia's bed and a book shelf and lamp for Audrey's side. I painted a mirror that my Uncle Hal and Auntie Carol gave me when they moved away a few years back. It all came together and when I get their curtains finished I will photograph it and let you all see.

For the most part it hasn't been a big deal. I now have to sit with them to get them to take a nap. Usually about 10-15 min. is all it will take. For bedtime we just read a story and put them down. They do the rest. I think it helps that it's dark. We have found them in each others beds a lot, on the floor a few times, but mostly just in their own big girl beds.

Tour of California 2011

2011-06-30T20:06:00.000-07:00

This was us waiting for the riders to come past us. It was a good thing we didn't have to wait too long there as there was only the sidewalk and then the road. The girls didn't want to sit in their chairs and kept walking into the street. See the look on Bjorn's face, what a nightmare to keep them all in their chairs. There is the ring leader herself right in front, Miss Audrey.

We had a great time seeing all the riders and even scored a water bottle from one of the riders who was off loading it as he past our section. Having a friend who lives right across the street of this stage was really nice. We stayed in her home till about 10 min. before they got there and then ran across the street to check it all out.

The only thing about seeing it live is that you don't know who is in front, who just passed you, or how well your team is doing. It's not the same as having Paul Sherwin and Phil Liggiot in your ear, but a fun day non the less.

Too cold to swim

2011-06-30T19:57:00.000-07:00

Thanks Auntie Leslie for the cute birthday box of swimming suits, undies and other fun stuff. The girls wanted to wear them right away, but as you can see it was a rather cold day so they put them on over their clothes and wore them the entire day!

photo problems

2011-06-23T14:09:00.000-07:00

So I have a ton of posts just waiting to go, but I am having such a struggle since my new camera is sooooo much better than the last. The problem is that blogger takes sooooo long to upload photos that sometimes it can't even do it. Sometimes it takes overnight, and sometimes(always) it will take an hour to tell me that it can't publish my video clip. I need help. I need to know how to compress or lower my pixel numbers so I can get back to the blogging world and get all these things down for my kids. Anyone?!, Anyone?!

P.S. I don't use picassa, and I have a mac.

"Were having fun, Momma"

2011-05-21T04:19:00.000-07:00

This afternoon the kids wanted to watch the Elmo movie. So Myles put it on and we all piled on the couch to watch. I had just a few min. before getting lunch together. I thought I would sit on the couch too and watch for a few minuets. I did, but it turned out to be longer than that. You see when I sit down I fall asleep. I did so for about 15 min. till I heard the sound of the master bathroom toilet flushing above my head. I woke up shocked at the quiet house. Never a good sign. Then as I went up the stairs I still heard nothing. Again, not a good sign. I walked all the way down the hall and noticed a few drops of water on the floor. I thought to myself, has Myles peed his pants?, no it was worse than that. I open the door to my bedroom only to find the bathroom door closed too. I can hear all of them screaming and laughing and having a great ol' time. As I get closer to the door, my feet are getting wet, yep, soaking wet! I open the door in time to see Myles dumping a "pot" of water over the head of Lydia. "What are you doing" I yell. He said "we are having fun momma!" There must be a 1/2 inch of water on the entire bathroom floor and all the towels and rugs are now soaked. I look at the kids who are also soaked and then I notice that the sink water isn't running. Yep, you guessed it. They were getting the water from the TOILET! EWWWW...After stripping them all down and putting them each in their beds I notice that the water wasn't only contained to the bathroom, it's all over my bedroom. The floor is wet everywhere and there is pools of water on each of the nightstands. The entire bed, pillows and all, are soaked with toilet water and the pictures above the bed are dripping with water. I can't believe it. I didn't even know where to start. So I make Myles come and help me clean this mess up. He spends the next 10 min. hauling wet laundry to the garage. I'm soaking up all the extra water with towels and trying not to beat him in the process. I then tell Myles that if he has gotten water all the way to my bed it my be ruined. I told him how much it cost and that he would owe me the money. I asked him if he had 2,000$ and he said, "yea". I was so mad at this point that I sent him back to his room.

I then put each of the kids in the tub one by one to wash off all the toilet water and then dress them again. In the middle of one of the girls bath I turn around and notice that Myles has left me a pile of all his coins as payment for the bed. I start to feel really bad, but then I remember how much of a mess I still needed to clean and forget about being soft.

I get everyone washed, fed and into bed for naps and then I get to tackle 6 loads of laundry, and major disinfecting of my toilet water bathroom. It was a good 15 min. nap, but I don't think it was worth it. Kids do the darnedest things! Wishing I had a picture of the events.

Myles' isms

2011-05-19T21:54:00.000-07:00

Mom, Honestly!

When Yoda was barking at traffic in front of the house he yelled, "Yoda- RELAX."

When questioned about what was hooked to his pants (carabiniere) he replied, "It's a hooker, see it goes in and out, in, out, in, out."

On our way to Disneyland we have to travel a section of the 5 freeway. It's always congested and slow. It's still the fastest way to get to Disneyland, but Myles hates it. He asked where we were going and why it was taking so long. I told him it was because we were on the 5 freeway and there was traffic. He then turned to me and said, "Mom, the 5 SUCKS". Now whenever we get on the freeway he wants to know if we are going on the 5, because it sucks!

More to come...

While Momma is away...

2011-05-19T20:06:00.001-07:00

The girls will play. Audery and Lydia were found in the tub, fully clothed, covered in baby wash. Yep, the whole brand new bottle. I wish you could see how much they had on them. The wash is clear however, but you can imagine. Lydia even managed to get it in her eyes. I don't know about you, but I just turned by back for a second and this is what happened. It seems to me that the older the girls get the faster they are about getting into trouble. The only thing left to do was to run get the camera and then strip them down and run a HUGE BUBBLE bath. Yep, they had a good ol' time!

First haircut for the Beans

2011-05-16T19:12:00.000-07:00

Audrey post snip

Audrey before her cut, "what you talking about Willis" is all I can think of when I see this face she gives me daily. It's so dang funny to me. I just know I'm in for it durring the teenage years.

It was time for the girls to have their first haircut. I've been waiting for Lydia to get enough hair, but all she can grow is top and back, nothing on the sides. It was a real problem and a long mullet so we opted for a snip. Audrey on the other hand has a ton of hair and I just got her a trim so that she could keep her length for piggy tails. It turns out that Lydia's hair is really cute short and I love her little kissable neck that you can now see. We are really lucky to have our friend cut the kids hair as they are supper wiggly and not always the most cooperative. Thanks Lala! What do you think?

Lydia being bribed to hold still for the haircut

Lydia post cut with her cute short snip

My babies are TWO!

2011-05-15T20:05:00.000-07:00

I'm not sure how this happened, but the girls turned two yesterday. It's been the shortest two years of my life. It's been a little blurry at times and a little crazy at times, but it's been the best two years. I have to say we've come a long way in those two years. Our family went from three to five in two short minutes. We went from no talking children to all talking children. We went from babies to toddlers and beyond. It's been amazing to watch these little ones grow and develop. I couldn't have picked a more fulfilling job than being their mother.

Audrey's accomplishments: 27# or 53%, 35" or 90%

Walking

Talking

Full set of teeth

Full head of hair fit for piggy tails!

Great big sister to Lydia

She is compassionate

She is stubborn

Lydia's Accomplishments:26# 13oz. or 50%, 35 1/2" or 95%

Walking

Talking

Full set of teeth

Obedient (mostly)

Dramatic

Funny

The best shot we got of the girls with their beloved Minnie Bags.

The girls started their birthday week out at Disneyland. It's a favorite of everyone so why not?! They each got their birthday button to wear and everyone was wishing them "Happy Birthday" all day long. One notable difference is that they are no longer wanting to ride in the stroller. They would rather walk. One would think that is a great thing, but at the pace they walk it would take you 5 hours to walk a mile, but they did it. I think they only rode two short trips in the stroller the rest of the day they walked and that's a lot of walking for those short little legs. Let's just say they were asleep in the car before we hit the freeway. They enjoyed the entire day save one meltdown by Lydia when she was awoke from her stroller nap sooner than she would have liked. More on that later. The kids experienced new rides as we spent the entire time in California Adventure. They love Monsters Inc., the sea creature marry-go-round, and Toy Story. The highlight of the trip was the Minni Mouse purse they picked out at the end of the day. We have been wanting to get them something fun for their birthday. I've even taken them to the toy store to look at different things. They look with great delight and play with many things for a min. or two before giving it back to me and saying "no like". I was stumped on what to get them. We walked through this princess store and they looked and collected several things they thought were cute. Upon making a final selection they each at different times chose the same thing! Funny how similar they are sometimes. They love these little bags and haul them around filling them with all kids of funny things. Thanks Auntie Kristin.

Now for the meltdown. Lydia had fallen asleep while in the stroller for a short ride from one side of the park to the other. Bjorn let her sleep while I took Audrey and Myles on a ride. When we got back Myles wanted to do the ride again so Bjorn took him on the ride and Audrey just hung out with me. Well the stroller got bumped and the sleeping bear was awoken. I'm telling you this was the worst tantrum I have EVER SEEN. She started to cry right away. I was working fast to get off her straps and get her out of the stroller. By the time this was done she was pulling things off the stroller and throwing them on the ground. Anything she could move she was. She was hitting me, wriggling out of my hold, trying to push the man who was sitting next to us on the bench. It was a doosey. If you've ever seen a t.v. show where someone is mad and they take their hand and knock off everything that is on a table, that was Lydia. She was so mad it took her about 15 min. to walk it off. She just walked around in circles trying to get away from all of us while screaming and crying. Bjorn just walked behind her in the distance and let her blow it off. Man, don't cross this little girl. Note to self: watch out for the teenage years!

Having a great time in the bounce house

On their birthday morning we took the kids to IHOP. I don't know why I can never seem to remember why this isn't a good idea, but it just isn't. It's not that we don't go out, it's just the wait time from ordering your food to getting the food. It just about kills us. Anyway we all had a great big breakfast before heading to a local nursery school for a carnival. The kids loved the carnival and had a great time in the bouncy house, fishing, getting balloons, going in the petting zoo and various other things. Then it was home to catch a nap. That's a full day when you are only two.

Lydia's Duckie cake

Audrey's Ladybug cake

We returned home for naps and a quick dinner before eating cake. It was a great day. I love these little girls, they are so fun and full of life. It's an honor to be their mother. Love you Beans!

Adults only!

2011-04-25T20:19:00.001-07:00

We've just returned from an adults only vacation. It was a wonderful 10 days spent in Eastern Europe just in time for the Easter Markets. Bjorn and I were lucky enough to have my parents offer to come out and stay with our children so we could get some much needed R&R. I searched the internet and found a trip to Prague and Budapest that just fit the bill. We booked the trip and were out the door in about 4 weeks time. I have to say I was a little unprepared for the trip.

I usually do more planning and investigating for a trip, but this came up so fast I just didn't have time. The only planning I was able to do was to get the travel books and start reading about Prague, our first destination. I never did get to the Budapest book. I turned that one over to Bjorn who did a great job of finding all our sights to see and things we "must do".

We spent 4 days in Prague where we visited the Palace and Cathedral, Terrazin concentration camp, Old town, The Jewish Quarter, Multiple Easter Markets complete with entertainment and traditional food. This beautiful city was picturesque in every way. Right down to the cobble stone streets and sidewalks. Which we began to hate by the last day. On our last night, our anniversary, we went to eat in a cellar Czech restaurant and see a ballet, Carmen. I turned out to be rather a "budget" show, but the singing at least was worth it and the dinner was great! The dancing left a little to be desired.

That night we loaded up and took the night train to Budapest, Hungary. It was a great way to get there and not burn a day. We departed at midnight and arrived at 8:30am. We purchased tickets for a private cabin complete with a TINNY toilet and shower. It was great to arrive at your destination having had a nights sleep and a warm shower and breakfast in your belly.

We then spent the next 3 days in Budapest. A rather beautiful and slightly communistic city still. I mean to say that there are many reminders that it wasn't all that long ago when they were under the communist system. In Buda we visited Castle Hill and the many sights there. In Pest we saw the Grand Market, took in an Opera at the Opera house, visited the Parliament building and plaza, went to the Thermal Bath's and hot pots for the afternoon, walked along the river and the many bridges connecting the two cities, walked along many old and narrow streets till our hearts were content, and took a day trip to St. Andrews, an old city on the Danube with tons of charm.

A HUGE shout out to mom and dad for coming and taking such good care of our kids and our home! We couldn't have done it without your generosity.

Pants

2011-03-30T14:56:00.000-07:00

Myles was having problems with going poop on the potty so I put him back in Pull-ups till he could go four time in a row on the potty. Anyway he wasn't too fond of the pull-ups because they are not only hot, but big and bulky and they get all bunched up. Especially since I make him wear them till they practically fall apart. So we were walking through Target and he is walking all crazy and lifting his legs up all funny. I stopped and said "Myles what is the problem?" He looked at me as said in a very serious face "Mom, my pants all jacked up!" What do you say to that! I just looked at him and started laughing. What else do you say to a statement like that? What a cute boy.

I do it

2011-03-27T20:09:00.000-07:00

The girls are now at the age where I can't get away with feeding them anymore. They always want to do it themselves. It's really bothersome for me. Only in that it takes forever for them to eat, and it's REALLY MESSY. I hate both! This is Audrey and her chipmunk face. She looks like she is storing food for the winter. Meals are such a fight right now. I always want to feed them, and they always want to "do it myself". What fun.

Conversations

2011-03-27T19:47:00.000-07:00

Me: "Myles, you do know that orange pants and a red stripe shirt don't match right?"

Myles: "Well, it matches my underwear!"

What the heck goes on in the mind of a three year old! It's too funny. We have so many funny and odd conversations just like this one.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

2010-11-28T21:31:00.000-08:00

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

2010-11-28T21:27:00.000-08:00

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

2010-11-28T21:20:00.000-08:00

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

2010-11-28T21:11:00.000-08:00

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?!

2010-11-28T21:06:00.000-08:00

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

2010-11-05T15:45:00.000-07:00

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

2010-11-02T15:16:00.000-07:00

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

2010-11-01T19:23:00.000-07:00

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

2010-10-26T21:41:00.000-07:00

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!

2010-10-24T20:14:00.000-07:00

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

2010-10-24T20:01:00.000-07:00

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

2010-10-16T17:39:00.000-07:00

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

2010-10-03T19:10:00.000-07:00

(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!

2010-09-20T16:02:00.000-07:00

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

2010-09-13T15:48:00.000-07:00

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...

2010-08-21T10:28:00.000-07:00

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

2010-08-15T14:15:00.000-07:00

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

2010-08-14T20:15:00.000-07:00

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

2010-08-13T12:58:00.000-07:00

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

2010-08-12T14:02:00.000-07:00

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

2010-08-06T14:36:00.000-07:00

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

2010-08-02T16:06:00.001-07:00

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

2010-07-24T21:04:00.000-07:00

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?

2010-07-12T13:59:00.000-07:00

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

2010-07-02T19:43:00.001-07:00

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...

2010-07-02T19:22:00.000-07:00

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

2010-06-30T16:20:00.000-07:00

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

2010-06-06T20:46:00.000-07:00

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?!

Decisions, decisions

2010-06-04T14:56:00.000-07:00

I tried to get a shower today. It's always a toss up when the kids are awake. Either ignore them for a while and get a shower, or wait and hope that all THREE kids will SLEEP at the SAME time at SOME point during the day. Today I brave it and take the shower I most desperately needed. Not just because I'm dirty, but for my sanity. I just needed 5 min where no one was pulling, kicking, pinching, sitting, walking or otherwise abusing me. Myles was already in bed and I thought the girls could just play downstairs while I ran and took a 5 min. shower. Lydia, who is now crawling quite well, will follow me up the stairs so I remember to put up the gate to stop her dead in her tracks. Then I open the toy bins and pull a few favorite toys out. This ought to be enough for my short shower.

The shower part went well, without incident.

I come walking down the hall and make a stop to put Myles back into bed. He was just opening his door to come out as I walked by. I peer over the railing to see the girls playing quite well on the floor down below. Okay, not bad. Shower accomplished.

I walked down the stairs and saw Audrey sitting right next to the TV cabinet. Odd, but okay. I walk outside to water the grass and the plants and come back in. I find Audrey now lying on her belly in the middle of the rug with the entire bottom half of her shirt covered in POOP! AHHHHHHHH...where do I even begin... FIRST, get Lydia out of the way. She comes over to investigate and "help" as soon as she sees me interested. I put her into the high chair so she is contained. Then I go get a plastic bag and some wipes, about a box full, and the poop mat. Then I start peeling off the clothes. At this point you know she is just going to need a bath. It's REALLY bad. I think I'm almost done when I look over at the TV where she was sitting when I first came down. Well there is poop all over the front of the cabinet. I'm talking everywhere. Upon further investigation it's all over the rug and the toys they have been playing with too. I'm now in for some major cleaning and disinfecting. Where to start! SECOND, get the dog into the garage. Poop is right up his alley and he would be all too happy to "help" clean it up. I get the girls into the tub, then down for a nap. Then it's on to the cleaning. THIRD, gather up all the toys and get them into the bleach. Then hit the rug with carpet cleaner and get all the poop out of the crevice' on the TV cabinet. All in all it's about a 45 min. which doesn't include soaking and washing the clothes of two very dirty little girls. Man... who knew that ONE little girl could produce SO MUCH POOP!

The worst part of the whole thing, no camera, Bjorn took it to work today so he could show a friend some pictures of the kids. Bummer. Oh well, sometimes your imagination works just as well. Just picture mustard yellow poop all over said children, the TV cabinet, rug, toys, etc.

Isn't being a mommy a GLAMOUROUS job! I need a RAISE is all I have to say.

Backyard makeover

2010-05-28T16:57:00.000-07:00

This is what our backyard looked like when we moved in several months ago. I'm proud to say that we now have green living things in our backyard. It's still a "postage stamp" size lawn( thanks to my brother Ryan for naming it this), but we love the green look and it does make it look a million times better than it did when we moved in. Take a look, see what you think.

Daddy Shoes

2010-05-26T19:13:00.000-07:00

A few months ago I was looking for summer shoes for Myles. His feet are getting so big and it seems I am constantly looking for new shoes. Anyway, I found these cute little black and white Adidas slides for a great deal at Burlington Coat Factory. I thought they could be cute because they are similar to those that Bjorn has. I didn't know if Myles would wear them however, he has a hard time walking in flip flops and opts not to wear them much. I brought them home and he took one look and them and said "daddy shoes." From that moment on it's all he wants to wear(with the occasional wellies mixed in). I even think that while I was out of town he wore them to church because Bjorn didn't want the fight to get them off his feet while trying to get three kids to church on time by himself. What a good dad for taking three very small kids to church by himself in the first place( my friends all commented the following week that they thought if funny that Bjorn let Myles wear the sandals to church). I'm just glad he can get them on by himself! We love the "Daddy Shoes"!

By popular demand

2010-05-26T19:03:00.000-07:00

True Audrey

Quintessential Lydia

Lydias B&W for my bedroom

Audreys B&W for my room

So for those of you who already saw some photos, there was a request for more. Here you go. Not any of Myles, but I was trying to get photos of the girls. Here they are. The bottom two are the ones I chose, I love them, and they are going to look great on Canvas above my bed. Now all I have to do is sew my curtains...

Photos and more photos

2010-05-25T21:42:00.000-07:00

My fabulous friend Angela came to the house the other day to take a few pictures of my kids. I've been needing these two pictures of the girls for my bedroom. They turned out really well and I'm going to have a hard time choosing which ones to put on the canvas. Thanks for you great talent Angela. I've been blessed many times by the photos she takes of my family. Take a look and see what you think!

Trying to get three kids to look at the same time is worse than pulling teeth!

Little Lydi, she's my lil' bully

Audrey my little princess

Momma and her girls. I just love these little faces. Man, I think I'm getting more and more freckles each year!

Tour of California 2010

2010-05-22T19:19:00.000-07:00

Big George Hincapie

Today was stage 7 of the Amgen Tour of California. This year the Los Angeles stop was a time trial. This was a great way for us to see all 85 riders multiple times. The course was a loop that had to be done twice. It started in Downtown LA in front of the Staples Center and the top of the loop was up near the Disney Concert Hall. Like last year we made the day of it. Now that we have two more children to add to the mix it's a bit harder, but it's still fun and we are STILL determined to do the things we like to do. Sometimes our activities are harder, or slower than usual, but we are still enjoying them. Today was no exception.

We took the train into Union Station in LA, then took the subway one stop to Civic Center where we walked about 2 blocks and there was the course. Myles loved riding the train. He sees it all the time while we drive on the freeway. So when I told him we were going to take the train he was very excited and told me "choo choo".

Cancellara

We picked the perfect stop because we got to see the riders both coming and going. We saw most riders, many whom we didn't know, but many we did. Armstrong had pulled out of the race a few days earlier due to a crash that left him needing stitches under his eye. We were able to see George Hincapie, Levi Leipheimer, Andy Schleck, Jens Voight, David Zabriskie, and Fabien Cancellara to name a few. Each rider had a motorcycle escort, plus a team car following behind. Myles had a great time cheering when the cars drove by, he would clap his hands and cheer. Although I think he was cheering for the cars, not the riders! It was fun all the same. The girls took a short nap in the stroller while the rest of us had a picnic lunch right there in the middle of the street. It was superb(wish I would have taken some pictures of us!, next time). A great free family activity that I would recommend to everyone.

This video is of George Hincapie riding away from us, while another(unknown name) rider is riding towards us.

Happy Birthday Thing 1 & Thing 2

2010-05-18T21:31:00.000-07:00

My "Thing 1" & "Thing 2"

Well I have no idea where the time has gone, but Audrey and Lydia are now one! I can't believe it. They are getting so big and changing so fast. I need to find a way to freeze them in time. Their birthday was Friday the 14th, and we celebrated in Dr. Seuss Style on Saturday the 15th. It was a great party. We had invited friends and family alike and everyone enjoyed their stay. That is everyone other than the girls. They were both in bed before the end of the party. Audrey wasn't feeling well that morning and she wasn't too thrilled to see so many people. When I made her stick her hand into her cake she began crying and it didn't stop till she went to bed. It was her party and she did "cry if she wanted to!". Lydia was just tiered so by 1:30 so she was off to join Audrey in bed.

Uh mom...I got stuff on my hands...

The "smash" cakes.

Lydia enjoying her cake.

The party theme was "Thing 1 & Thing 2". We had a bounce house for the kids and several games for them to play. The girls each had a "smash" cake to eat and play in while the rest of us had cup cakes. We had three kinds to choose from, white cake with cream cheese frosting, vanilla bean with cream cheese frosting or "thing 1 & 2" cupcakes with red velvet cake and cream cheese frosting complete with cotton candy for the blue hair on top. The thing about these cup cakes is that you have to make them just before you are ready to eat them. The moisture from the frosting melts the cotton candy leaving you just a pile of blue sugar on top. Really cute idea for about 15 min.

"Thing 1 & 2" cupcake

We had a pizza, salad, fruit k-bob, & veggies for lunch. I think everyone had a great time. The kids made their way between the bounce house and the drink bucket. Stopping along the way for some games. Pin the hair on the thing, cat in the hat dress up relay, and balancing book relay.

Before everyone left we gave them a bag to fill full of red and blue candy. We also gave each family a Dr. Seuss book to take home. I wanted to give everyone a book, but couldn't afford to, so we gave one to each family.

The site of the party. This is the "green" space in our development. Thanks for the shade dad! What a life saver. He even colored it in the coordinating color of the party!

The girls got some really cute things from our guests and family. Thanks to everyone who came. It was a lot of fun! I have to say that I'm a little sad about the girls turning 1, but excited for the new things to come.

Mothers

2010-05-09T17:27:00.000-07:00

My mom. She is the best. She is the kind of "hands on" mom you wish for. She was always around when we were kids. She was the room mother in our elementary school classes. She was our tour guide when we were kids out on summer break. Always planning fun things to do with ALL 4 of her children, by herself, I might add. She was the one who checked up on us, she was the nurturer. She still is. She is the best grandmother I could ask for. She willingly came and sat with my THREE kids under THREE for 8 days, by herself. She loves me and my kids. She gets down on the floor with the kids and plays with them. She remembers all their birthdays and holidays and is sure to drop something fun in the mail so my kids know her well. She's AMAZING! I love my mom, especially now that I am a mom. I now know all the sacrifices that she made for us and NEVER complained about. She still makes sacrifices for us, and she still never complains. She does it with a smile on her face. I can't even express how blessed I am to call her MY MOTHER! Happy Day today mom! LOVE YOU! To the moon and back...

kiddo update

2010-04-11T19:40:00.000-07:00

Lydia is becoming a parrot. She has taken to shaking her head "NO" when we say the words. She is also getting really fast at the army crawl. It's really fun to see the girls progress these days. It's amazing how fast they are learning things.

Audrey, still content to sit, is starting to move a bit more. She's just taking her sweet time. While she is still upset by Lydia taking her toys, or moving away from her, she is getting better about moving on her own. She has also started to clap her hands which she is very pleased about.

Myles is still growing like a weed. He's as big as a four year old. His speech is getting better and better. He is gaining more words each day. Not all that intelligible, but at least he is trying. His vocabulary is growing by leaps and bounds!(He doesn't qualify for speech assistance from the state, he isn't deficient enough so we will continue to work on it ourselves)

The kids are doing great. I love my job. It's great to be a mom.

Happy 40th Bjorn!

2010-04-08T19:53:00.000-07:00

To celebrate Bjorn's 40th birthday, we traveled with our good friends Emily and Steve, across the "pond" to beautiful Ireland. Thanks to the generosity of my fabulous mother, who stayed with my three kids, we enjoyed 6 wonderful nights in a fantastic country. We got a fabulous deal on a total package that made this trip possible. Thank You Adare Manor! We loved your fabulous grounds and the home away from home that you provided us with. Here are a few pictures of the beauty of this country.

(Our first stop was Dingle. It's one of the last few places in Ireland that still speaks and teaches Gaelic in school. They have some signs in Gaelic too, but since it's a large tourist spot many have english translation under it. This area once had a population of about 40,000, but because of the potato famine they now have only about 10,000. It's a very sleepy little sheep village. We really enjoyed our time there. )

This is a common sight along the coast of Ireland. There are some cliffs that are even taller than these.

The "rock of Cashel", a beautiful spot that was taken by many over hundreds of years.

Is this road one lane or two?! Silly me, it's two! And don't forget that we drive on the left, from the right side of the car, and shifting with the left hand. Good job Steve!

The beautiful Manor that played host to us. It's a fabulous 800+ acre estate. We didn't stay in the manor itself, we had an entire villa to ourselves. We did tour the Manor and we also had a fantastic three course dinner in the main dining hall complete with candle light!

These are the Villas. They are a 2,000 Sq. Foot home with 4 bedrooms, 4 baths, kitchen, dining, living and sunroom. We all loved it.

This ruin is on the property. It sits on the Maigue River, a world class trout and Salmon river. We even saw two fly fishermen one morning.

Happy Easter!

2010-04-06T20:34:00.001-07:00

Happy Easter! Our morning started earlier than Bjorn and I would have liked. Myles woke us up at 6:15. Not willing to come back to bed, we all went down stairs for the egg hunt. Then the babies awoke and were excited to see what the fuss was all about. Can you tell from the pictures of the girls that they were not quite awake yet.

With no church to get ready for we had a nice leisurely morning while getting ready to listen and watch conference. It was great, watching and eating while being in your PJ's. I think this is how church should be every week.

After conference we had some friends over to the house for traditional Easter dinner complete with another huge egg hunt outside. What a great day! I Love holidays now that Myles is getting older. It's fun to see the excitement on his face.

Ireland to come, stay tuned!

"Chompers"

2010-04-06T20:21:00.000-07:00

So the girls both have two bottom teeth now. It's really been fun to stick your finger in there and have them chew away. Well, no more. It's now not safe to put your fingers into their mouths. They can and will bite you, HARD.

10 month check up

2010-03-19T16:43:00.000-07:00

The girls had their official check up yesterday. It was the 9 month check up, but we couldn't get in till they were 10 months. So here are the stats. Audrey is 30 inches tall and weighs 19#15 oz. That puts her in the 50% for weight and 95% for height. Lydia is close behind at 29 1/2 inches tall and 19#2 oz. Which places her in the 50% for weight and 90% for height. The Doctor said we have beautiful slender girls. Not skinny, slender. I had to laugh that they are so tall. He keeps asking me where we get such tall kids from. I DON'T KNOW! Myles is still a giant at 39# and 40 inches tall. Off the charts for him.

On a more serious note the doctor detected a slight heart murmur on Lydia. He just wants to watch it for the next little while, but we may be going to visit a Cardiologist in the future. It isn't the kind of thing a parent likes to hear from the Pediatrician, but I'm trying not to get to worried about it and just wait till we have more information. Anyone an expert in this area is welcome to send any and all information my way.

The girls are doing great! Hitting all their Milestones and are just a general delight to have. They couldn't be more happy babies. Lydia is "soldier crawling" all over the house, while Audrey is content to sit still or roll to her destination. Most of the time she doesn't move at all. They both have two teeth on the bottom and are "talking" a lot. They love to be near each other but and are not so nice to each other when it comes to hitting and kicking.

A day at the Zoo

2010-02-23T20:18:00.000-08:00

Sorry these pictures are in no particular order. I can't figure out how to use my Mac. I can't drag the pictures where I want them. Sometime soon I will sit and really figure this computer out!

In October we went to the Zoo. The line to buy tickets was incredibly long and I just didn't want to wait in it with three little kids. There was a kiosk in front of the entrance gate that read "Zoo Memberships". I stopped to inquire about it and found that not only did I not have to wait in the huge line, I could get a family pass for the price of two visits to the zoo. I was all over that. We got the pass and just like that we walked into the zoo as "members". That day was a great one, and we have had many others too. I took the kids to the zoo today because the weather was just beautiful. The weather was in the low 60's and the sky was filled with beautiful white fluffy clouds. We arrive early and leave as soon as the first signs of "melt down" occur. It's great having passes because I NEVER feel bad about leaving. If we paid to get in every time I would push to stay the whole day. In the winter you can get to the zoo in the A.M. and have the whole place to yourself. We didn't have a problem pulling right up to each of the exhibits, and if you have seen our stroller you know how much room we take up! It was wonderful. We got to see almost every animal out today. The kids were great, the weather was beautiful, and the animals were all cooperative. I also really love the ride home while everyone takes a nap as soon as they are buckled into their car seats! Pure quite time to myself. It almost makes me wish the zoo was farther away than just the short 20 min. drive. Take a look at our photos and see what you think

oops!

2010-02-17T22:27:00.000-08:00

Living in a two story home has brought about many changes for me. I now run up and down the stairs about 20 times a day. I try and minimize the things in my hands by throwing things over the railing down into the hallway or living room below. Well today I learned what NOT to throw over the railing. Picture this: a VERY full night time diaper from the beans. I toss it over not thinking anything of it. I aim for the back sliding door as that is where the big black garbage cans are. I hit my mark but the diaper full from a nights use was no match. It blows a quarter size hole in the diaper, spilling MILLIONS of TINY gel beads filled with PEE all over my floor. CRAP! Let me tell you ladies and gentlemen, these things are nearly IMPOSSIBLE to pick up. They don't sweep, scoop, or lift up. It took FOREVER to clean up. So, I guess I will be walking all diapers down the stairs from now on!

I HEART

2010-02-13T19:18:00.000-08:00

I *HEART* the Olympics. See you in 16 days! I will be parked in front of the T.V. until they are over.

An early Valentine

2010-02-11T22:00:00.000-08:00

Grandma and Papa sent a box of fun for the kids. They are each enjoying their toys and the books have been a hit at nap time and bed time. Thanks Grandma and Papa.

Ta-dah

2010-02-10T21:39:00.000-08:00

Master Bathroom

Garage door from the dining room

Living room looking from the kitchen, this room is two story and you can see a catwalk from the stairs to all the bedrooms.

Hallway and front door looking from the living room

Dining room with new table. We still need more chairs, they are on order.

Kitchen

Front of the house.

So by popular demand I am posting some pictures of the house(in no particular order). I'm not at all ready to do this, but I guess I will never be ready. We bought this 1400 sq. foot home with 3 bedrooms, 2 1/2 baths, and 2 car garage. We bought the home right before the holiday and then we left town three days after moving in.

I still have a long list of things to do to finish the house, but they will have to wait till I have some time. I need to find frames so we can hang photos up the stairs, plus I still need to sew the drapes in the Master bedroom. I need to get fabric for the kids shower curtain, and hand something on the wall. I need to paint the mirror for the girls room and finish their quilts. I also need to hang up Myles airplanes and cloud sconce. I just don't know if all his furniture is staying in the same location as we are still waiting to relocate a dresser to his room. When we get our dresser he will get our old one. Then when I get it all in the room I will hang things on the wall. Eight weeks is seeming like a long time. I just can't wait till we get that dresser and the chair. All in time I guess.

So what do you think?

Milestones

2010-02-07T15:50:00.000-08:00

So the girls are 8 1/2 months old now and they are just starting to sit up regularly. They still like to lay back, and Lydia just likes to roll all over the place. Audrey is content to just roll once onto her belly and stay where you placed her. They are both really sweet and happy girls. They don't cry that much, and they are content with a few toys for a long time. They are really great babies, thank heavens. I don't know how I would do it if they were really "needy" babies.

Anyway, the girls are hitting all their mile stones, just a little slow. I figure it's mostly my fault. I just don't have the time like I did when Myles was a baby. If I had hours to sit on the floor and help them learn to sit up, or crawl, or walk then maybe they would be on schedule, but I don't. Oh well, they'll get it eventually. Heck, I haven't even finished unpacking all the way yet. I can't figure out why it's taking sooooooo longgggggg. It's crazy around here. Add to that, I'm sick and tiered of being fat so I've started exercising. Well guess what? That takes a lot of time. I walk for an hour, but there is the time getting everyone ready to go and then the time when we get home to get everyone out of the stroller and into the house and fed again! Not to mention the time it takes me to get into the shower and dressed and ready for the day. The price mommy's pay for trying to look good. We have a great trail near our home and we try and walk/run there three to four times a week. Some weeks are better than others, but we do our best. I recently started running half of it. Can I just say it's really hard running with three kids in front of you to push. I have a GREAT stroller, but it's still tough. I better start seeing some pounds melt away or I'm going to have a melt down.

Look at that face!

2010-02-05T21:38:00.001-08:00

This is what I found when trying to get all the kids loaded into the car. Now take a step back and just think that I usually load in the babies first. Then I lift Myles up and he can press the garage door button on the wall. We used to let him use the opener in the car, but we had a problem with that so now he is only allowed to push the button on the wall. Okay, now go back to the picture. He took my keys, opened up the car, got in the car from his door, crawled into the front to push the button and open the garage door. Got back into the back seat, up into his seat and snapped his top buckle. He was sitting there just a happy as could be. He couldn't have been more proud of himself. All this was going on while I was upstairs getting the babies ready to go. Now let me just say that the keys are now placed out of reach because, the fact that the garage door was up and he could have be who knows where is a little frightening for me. Not to mention that the dog would be out too, as he loves to run out every time Myles opens the door. Can you say that Myles is just too big for his own britches. His height allows him to get into and out of many things that a normal 2 year old would never be able to reach.

Random

2010-02-04T19:25:00.000-08:00

Audrey and Lydia got these cute shirts from their Grandma and Grandpa Dodd. We had to get pictures in them right away because they are almost too small.

Two going on twenty. Myles loves to drive the car and he's always careful to put his seat belt on.

Myles finally is interested in his sisters. He asks to hold them all the time. It's usually not that successful, but it's important that he cares about them at all.

BUSTED! Myles was in his room taking a nap, or was he. I came into the room because I heard a big crash, it was the toys all hitting the ground. Well we've come a long way because now he doesn't nap at all. We don't even pretend to nap. It just doesn't happen. It was a very sad day for me. Now we just have "quiet" time. I don't care what he does as long as he does it in his room!

On another note, we are all doing well. The kids are all healthy now and everyone seems to be loving the extra space at the new house. The kids are growing like weeds and we continue to work on getting the house put together. Weekends come and go TOO fast. We never seem to get enough done.

Look who's*#!

2010-01-30T07:31:00.000-08:00

The BIG 40! That would be Bjorn on the 23rd of January. He's really not affected by turning 40 other than his body is harder to get into shape. As for his looks, well, he will always look like he is 12 so that's not a big deal.

We celebrated with a quiet dinner to an Indian food restaurant and the Cheesecake factory for dessert. It was a very nice quiet evening for the two of us. Then Sunday we had friends over for dinner and more friends over for cake and ice cream. It was a lot of fun. We decorated the house and some of the friends came dressed in black! Thanks for the ideas mom!

I thought long and hard about what to get him for his monumental birthday, and I decided that we would take a trip. Thanks to my mom in advance for coming to watch my kids. She is the bed grandma ever. She loves each of my kids and is so capable. It's really going to be nice to not have to travel with them. It will be the first trip we have taken by ourselves since Myles was about a year old and she and my dad came and stayed for a weekend while Bjorn and I went to Monterey with our good friends Emily and Steve. Well this is going to be a lot longer. Both in time and distance. We found a great deal on a trip to Ireland. We are very excited to go and see the country and partake of all it's rain! I am getting a little nervous about how long we will be gone. A total of 8 days. I know mom can do it, but I think it will be a VERY long week for her. It's hard doing it all on your own. By dinner time you are ready for bed and so are the kids. Everyone in full "melt down mode". I hope that in the next two months the kids get easier. We leave middle of March. I can't wait.

You've accomplished a lot in your 40 short years. You served a successful mission to Brazil, finished your graduate work for your law degree, found a great job with the LA District Attorneys office, found a fantastic wife!, had many demanding church callings that you served in beautifully, had three beautiful children(the hard way), and bought a home. You've been busy!

You are liked and loved by all who meet you. Your Myles best buddy. The girls dare devil playmate, and my listening ear when I need to "rant and rave".

Happy 40th darling! We love you. You are an amazing Daddy, husband and best friend.

Christmas

2010-01-27T20:26:00.000-08:00

Matching Christmas PJ's. The girls got theirs from Grandma and Myles got his from Santa. They must shot at the same place.

So happy with his "topper" he didn't even look at the rest of the gift for many more min.

Seeing the lights on Temple Square. It was a balmy 13* that night. The kids were great though and we had a great time with family all the way from Hawaii.

Dressed for bed, on the way to LAX. Myles fell asleep 5 min. before getting to the parking lot. NOT ideal. I had to hoist him (40#), and the seat (25#) out of the car while Bjorn searched for a parking spot in the VERY crowded economy lot at LAX.

CHRISTMAS

In a word "WONDERFUL". Thanks mom. I know you put a lot of work into making Christmas great for all of us, especially the kids. I loved every min. of it. I love the decorations, the food, the people, the lights, the snow, the rest, and most of all the kids faces on Christmas morn. Myles is just old enough to know about getting new toys, but doesn't understand that "Santa" brought them to him. He was very excited to see his pile of loot on Christmas morning. It's great. There is nothing better than a big ol' smile from my Myles. The girls, well, they don't get anything yet. Next year!

Catching up

2010-01-19T20:23:00.000-08:00

Okay, so I've just noticed that my last post was NOVEMBER 17th. Yikes! Sorry for the long delay, but life has been really crazy for the last few months. I hope it will return to our normal crazy, but for now I'll try and catch you up on the comings and goings of the Dodd family.

So, mid November we finally found a home to buy. It's in our same town of Monrovia, about a mile and a half from the house we were renting on Ivy Ave. It fit our criteria of: a new build, three bedroom, outdoor space for Myles, garage, in the ward boundaries, in a good elementary school boundary. Well it wasn't going to be good timing, but my life rarely has good timing. We entered Escrow on the 20th and had 25 days to get the loan done and funded. Mind you this is the start of holiday season. NOT a good time to move! I began packing almost immediately knowing that it was going to take some time with three little ones.

Meanwhile all the kids got sick. Audrey came down with a 104.9 fever on the 1st of December. I take her to the Pediatrician who send us to the Emergency Room. NOT what you want to hear when your baby is slightly lethargic and only 6 1/2 months old. She was tested for the flu, a UTI, and Pneumonia, all negative. No reason her temp. should be so high. Sent us home without an explanation. The kids are now trading cooties back and forth. Someone is always sick and I'm STILL packing.

Another week passes. My mom is now in town to help me out with the rest of the packing and the kid care. She is a life saver. I wouldn't have been able to do it without her. I don't know how the children would have survived without her. She was their mommy for 6 days. She packed, cleaned my old house, made dinner and fed my kids, and was a major support and help to me and Bjorn.

We start moving on the 16th of December. My brother Ryan and my Dad come into town on Thursday night and work like dogs to get my "punch list" done. They build storage in my garage, a lot of storage. They install my ceiling fan in my master bedroom, take out the glass doors in my kids bath, install a curved shower rod in the kids bathroom, patch and paint various holes in most of my walls. Then they paint accent walls in my master bedroom and living room, and build more shelving in my closet. They install towel rods in my bathrooms, and wood blinds in my kids rooms. It was a lot of work and they helped move furniture on top of all that. We unpack as much as we can, re-pack for a trip to Utah. Then three days later close the door and leave for a week of vacation for Christmas. It was hard to leave an unpacked home, but it was a much needed break from a month long job of moving. Oh, and the kids are still sick. I get sick as soon as we get to Utah. I'm out of commission for two days. Bjorn's back is still bothering him, so no skiing for him. But we did get lots of needed rest. Thanks for a great Christmas mom!

We arrive back home for New Years. We beg off for New Years Eve, just too tiered. But we did have friends over for a New Years day BBQ. It was a great day. We still had sick kids.

Last week we went back to the doctors to see if we can get a handle on all this sickness. Audery ends up with an ear infection, and a lung infection. She gets a round of antibiotics. The other kids are sent packing without anything. Two days pass and the other two are sounding just as bad as Audrey so I call and get them all on the same medication. FINALLY. I can't wait to have healthy kids!

The unpacking is going well. I only have a few more boxes to go. We've been shopping for furniture and are almost set. We are waiting for a dresser and chair to arrive then we will be complete. I've found a large mirror for the living room, a new bigger book case, a clock, Washer and dryer, a hall bench with storage under the seat, three rugs. One for the kitchen, one for the living room, and one for the hall. I still have to get a fridge(eventually), curtains for the master bedroom, finish the kids shower curtain, sew a pad for the hall bench, buy bath towels, and we need to hang our pictures and other things. It's all starting to come together and I hope our life is coming together too. It's hard when you don't feel settled. I promise to post house pictures. I was going to do "before" and "after" photos, but I didn't get the before shots done and now there will just be after pictures...way after.

Hope you had a nice and relaxing holidays!

6 month and growing...

2009-11-17T20:50:00.000-08:00

The girls are now 6 months old and growing like weeds. They are still neck and neck for weight. Audrey is 16#9oz., Lydia is 16#6oz. And they are both 27 inches tall. That puts them in the 65% for weight and 90% for height. It's amazing that I have all these tall kids, since I myself am not tall, nor do we have height on the Dodd side. Hhhhmmmm, are these really my kids? LOL. One look at Lydia and you know she is all Bjorn. And the same for Myles and Audrey with me. Can't believe how different they are getting. Fun personalities too. They are way more interactive than Myles was at this age. It's really fun, exhausting, but fun.

Myles thinks that when you say "cheese" you close your eyes too. Can't get him to do otherwise. But he really wanted his photo taken too. Who could resist a face like that!

Growing up

2009-11-03T07:34:00.000-08:00

So what does it say about your "little boy" when all of the sudden he is VERY interested in the Toys-R-Us Big Book of Toys? It's like my baby transformed into a big kid. He spent about 15 min. pouring through the pages of this catalog, almost like he knew what it was. I'm really not sure if he just liked the pictures and bright colors, or if he knew they were really toys. Either way I'm holding on to this little gem. It's 15 min. of uninterrupted time for me!

Fall fun

2009-11-01T20:53:00.000-08:00

Well it's that time of year when the weather FINALLY gets cool, the leaves go "crunch, crunch, crunch" under your feet, and the little kids all say "trick-or-treat"! We have been busy making our Halloween rounds this year. It started last Monday with a "trunk-or-treat" at the church. We all dressed in costume and won the family prize. If you can't tell Bjorn and I are flowers and the kids are all our bumble bee's. Yea for the Dodd hive! The girls loved this costume because they love to be held and baby bjorn's simulate this. The night was full of chili dinner, ghost cup cakes, carnival games for the kids, and the trunk-or-treat to finish it all off.

Friday night was the Myrtle street fair. We like to take a walk down there every so often. Not every weekend, in fact I don't think we have been there since June. Anyway, with our big triple stroller you can imagine what a zoo it is to walk there. We get stopped every 5 feet and it takes a lot of patience to get through the place. It was a perfect night for us however, there were a lot less people than usual and we made our way through with ease. Myles even had a stop at the petting zoo for a pony ride. He's wanted to do this several times before, but I didn't think he would sit still long enough. He had such a great time! Take a look at his cute little face.

Saturday was trick-or-treating on Myrtle street. All the merchants come out on the street and hand out candy to the MILLIONS of families who parade their kids up and down the street. It's really a nice thing for little kids. It's early in the afternoon and you don't have to worry about where to go. It's fast and the kids get a good haul. Then you don't have to feel bad about putting them down to bed before the trick-or-treaters get to your home that night! What a successful Halloween. May they all be this easy.

"I can't hear you"

2009-10-21T16:16:00.000-07:00

As a mother I take pride in the fact that I usually keep my cool. I am usually very patient and try to explain why I want Myles to do things. I try to use distraction in order to avoid temper tantrums. I'm usually very level headed when it comes to the kids but, what does it say when your two year old covers his ears before anything comes out of your mouth? Picture this: we have been having a really hard week at the Dodd home. Myles has been exceptionally grumpy and disobedient. This has caused me some stress(okay, A LOT of STRESS). I've tried everything I can think of, but when you have to put a child down for a nap for the 22nd time you just start to loose it. I'm not kidding about 22 times! So Myles was playing yesterday while I was doing my hair. He pulled out the keyboard drawer and then pulled out the extra space shelf, and I'm guessing here, used it to get up on the trunk. Of coarse it isn't rated for this kind of weight and it split the wood that housed the drawer. I came out to the sound of a crash. Myles took one look at me and covered his ears as if to say, "I can't hear you!". He knew I was going to be mad and yell at him. I guess I've been doing too much of this lately. It makes me feel bad, but sometimes it's either yelling or killing, and I think the first is the better option.

Back on the move

2009-10-11T15:04:00.000-07:00

I'm now seeing how dark this picture is and I'll try and post a better one.

I've been meaning to post about this for a while now. I've had my "BIG" stroller for a while now and I can't tell you how much I love it and how happy it makes me. The kids and I can now get out of the house every day. It' s so nice to be able to walk at a normal pace and not at Mylo pace. You see that's how we used to do it. I would put the girls in the double and Myles would walk. Well you can guess how well that didn't work. He would walk in the opposite direction that I wanted/needed to go. Then he would walk soooo slowwwww. It took us 1/2 hour to walk 2 1/2 blocks to the grocery store once. So now that I have the big stroller we can zip in and out of the store. Or at least that we the plan. We must be quite a sight because I have yet to use the stroller when I didn't get stopped at least once by someone who was interested in all the kids, or the stroller, or both. It's funny how perfect starangers will tell you their life story if it has anything to do with the fact that they had twins, or knew someone who had twins, or for no reason at all. Anyway, we love our stroller, we love that we are now back on the road.

Celabration

2009-10-11T14:45:00.000-07:00

I *HEART* Fall. I love the cool weather, I love Halloween, and I love the beautiful colors it brings. I also love that October bring my birthday month. I look forward to my birthday all year. I guess I'm still like a kid in that regard. I celebrated my 34th this year. Yep, I'm in my MID THIRTY'S now. Not that I really care. I'm still young compared to Bjorn who will turn 40 this January. I guess he can always say he is in his EARLY FORTY'S! Anyway, it was a great birthday.

I had a great time on Friday night at the baseball game. I love getting to watch the Red Sox play. I have a fabulous husband who planned a great weekend for me. He even did his own shopping for a gift, flowers and a cake. I was going to say that he baked a cake for me, but non of you would have believed me. You all know he doesn't cook anything but oatmeal. Then on Saturday morning we drove to the Farmers Market at the Grove and had Crepes. It's something we used to do often when we lived on the West side. Now that we are farther away we don't do it that much, but I do love it. I love the cool weather over there and I love the outdoors. I love the crepes too. Then to top it all off we had take-out for dinner.

We put all the kids into bed and had cake and ice cream by ourselves. It was a glorious day. A whole day where I didn't have to cook anything. What more could I ask for. It was a great birthday thanks to my sweet husband. I'm not sure how I landed him, but I'm thanking my lucky stars!

Two year old stats

2009-10-09T08:35:00.000-07:00

(Myles and Lydia, yes mom, he did get a haircut for his second birthday.)

Myles is now two, and he had his two year old check up with Dr. Ng. He is now 37# and is 40 inches tall. That's on target for 6'-7'' in case you are wondering. I'm wondering if he is ever going to slow down. He's already wearing Seth and Tates size 3 clothes and a size 9 shoe. He's wearing a helmet that was for a child ages 5+. Where did this giant come from? We don't have this kind of height on either side of the family. I guess only time will tell how tall he will really be, but I think we better start working on our ball skills!

Birthday Fun

2009-10-08T20:33:00.000-07:00

(Angela is the tall one on the left. Sorry this is the only picture of Angela I could find. Among other things she is great at she is always taking the pictures. I have very few of her. You know always behind the lens kinda thing.)

So my friend Angela picked me up this morning for a fun date. We both ditched our kids and went to the opening of the Nordstroms Rack in Pasadena. It's been a long time since I've been there since we didn't have a close one to us. Anyway, it was very busy. As we walked in the door they almost made us wait till some people left. They said we were the 800th people inside. Then when we were checking out the sales guy said they had 350 staff too. I believe it. Man was it busy, but man was it great! Three hours seemed like three min. to me. Does this mean that I need to get out more?! We found some great stuff and I will be going back when the store isn't as crowded. It's a fun place to go and dig, especially when you don't have your kids. Today the store was brand spanking new and everything was in it's place. It was great! Then to top it all off I was treated to a lunch at my favorite bread shop, Panera. What a great birthday treat. What a great friend I have. Who else would want to go shopping at a really crowded place on the opening day. Angela would!

Picaso?

2009-10-02T19:19:00.000-07:00

This is Myles favorite doggie. He got the original from Auntie Bug, when he was just a wee pup himself. As time has gone on he has grown to love this little doggie. You ask "what is the doggies name?"...well....Doggie of coarse! He can't go to sleep without him, he carries him all over the house and to most places we visit. Since he loves him so much I bought Myles a few extras since they would get really slobbery from all the loving Myles inflicted on him. If I didn't wash him about every two days you can't stand to sit next to him it would stink so bad. Even out of the wash he still has a small odor of spoiled milk and laundry detergent. Above you can see what a "new" doggie should look like. The picture below is the Picasso doggie. I often look at the poor thing and think of all the weird paintings that Picaso did. After Myles gets done with him, this little guy could resemble some of them. Notice how doggie is missing his hard plastic nose. Instead, he has stuffing coming through the hole where the nose once was. His face has sort of been "rearranged" by all the chewing and loving on it. Unfortunately you can't smell this little doggie nor does my photography portrait him in his true Picasso state. This little doggie is one of those things that I both hate and *heart*!

Two years old

2009-10-01T20:49:00.000-07:00

My first born turned 2 today. I can't believe it, where has the time gone? Myles had a fun filled day beginning with presents early this morning. He wanted his P.J.'s off, so that's why he is filmed in his diaper. You can really see how much he is thinning down and getting REALLY tall without his clothes on.

Cars from Auntie Kristin and Uncle Chris
Train from Uncle Dru and Auntie Melissa

After breakfast we packed up for a shopping trip with a great friend and a little buddy of Myles too. We shopped for a while then had lunch on Myrtle street. After lunch we came home for a quick nap then it was off to the park for cake and ice cream with some friends. What a fun day.

The cake this year was Blue's Clues, Blue. Myles has loved the show the last month or so. He flashes his fingers open and closed when he wants to watch it. He was very happy looking at the picture I had pulled off the Internet this week. Then when he woke up this morning he was really happy to see the finished cake. He wanted to put his little fingers right in it! We also made a M&M cake, just to make sure we had enough for all our friends. Myles loves M&M's, and each morning he shows me his two fingers and points to the candy jar full of peanut M&M's. He knows he only gets two. This is a child of habit, if you can't already tell. It's kinda like living "Groundhogs Day", every day.

We had a great day, can't believe he's already two. Now I can say I have three kids, 2 and under!

Gravy Train

2009-09-26T16:27:00.000-07:00

Well the girls are 4 months old and I just had to buy the first package of diapers for them( other than the preemie size). Can you say this is the end of the "gravy train". I think we did really good considering the amount of diapers we go through. We had so many generous people give us diapers as a shower gift. I imagine that it has saved us hundreds already. I don't really like to think about how much diapers cost over the life of the child. It's too depressing to do the math. I also still have 4 packages of size 2-3's which are still too big but we will use them when they grow a little more. And speaking of growing...

I don't know where the time has gone, but Audrey and Lydia just had their 4 month check ups. They are both growing and thriving. Audrey is 24 1/2 inches long and 14lbs. 2 oz. Lydia is 25 inches long and 13 lbs. 14 oz. That puts them both in the 50% for weight and Audrey in the 50% for height, but Lydia in the 75% for height. She grew 3 1/4 inches in two months! They are great babies and we can't imagine, nor remember, how life was without them. Here's a little shot of them playing in the "jungle gym". They love to be near each other and are often found with their sisters body parts in their mouths. I tried to capture this, but was too slow at getting the camera. I was lucky to remember to take a video at all! It's been a long day already since Myles got me out of bed @ 5 am today. I HATE the big boy bed for that reason alone. When he wakes he is on the prowl. Not much I can do about that. It is nice to have the girls in their real bed in a real bedroom however. All three are now sleeping great in the same room.

Big boy bed

2009-09-03T15:57:00.000-07:00

Myles has been transitioned out of the crib, and into the queen size bed. I have to admit the first night I thought I was going to regret doing this. He came out of the room about 5 times and was awake for a LONG time. The problem was that he could get out of bed by himself, but couldn't get back into bed without help. We quickly found a stool to place at the end of the bed. When I finally checked on him, hours later, this is what I found.

Little Myles asleep peering with his head poked through the curtain, with his head off the edge of the bed. The other two nights have gone MUCH better. He hasn't come out of the room at all, and has only cried till the bedroom door shuts. Maybe he knows that we aren't going to come and "save him" if he continues to cry so why bother. He has even been sleeping in the right direction when I have checked on him. The only down side to the bed; when he wakes up in the morning he can get out of bed! Then he comes to get ME out of bed! What a bummer! You gotta love being a mommy at 6:30 am. And speaking of Mommies and Daddies, why is it that he only wants the Mommy? Why doesn't he ever want the Daddy during times when parents like to be sleeping.

Snow in September in So. Cal

2009-09-01T08:44:00.000-07:00

This is my freshly washed car now covered in snow/ash

I woke up today thinking it was a really nice cloudy overcast day. Well, not so. It is cloudy, but not the kind of clouds you are thinking of. They are of the kind that are big and gray and full of ash. The fire in La Canada( about 20 miles away) is putting out all kinds of ash into our air. I was all excited to take the kids for a walk, but with it raining ash. I looked at the car and wondered, "did it snow." It doesn't snow in So. Cal but every 20 years or so. No, this isn't snow, it's lot's and lot's of ash. I think we will wait for a better day to take a walk.

Note to Self

2009-08-31T12:45:00.000-07:00

Picture this:

I strap all three kids in the car. We drive to the local "do it yourself" car wash. I pull into the bay leaving the car running, it's already 80* and it's only 8AM. I get out of the car, go to the machine and get my quarters. I walk back to the bay, put in my quarters and select high pressure soap. I proceed to lather the car up and wash it down. By now my time is almost up and the machine is beeping at me to add more quarters or it's going to shut off in 16 seconds. I quickly add a few quarters to get me through the rinse process. I'm rushing like a mad woman because I have no more quarters to add, and I need to finish getting all the soap off the car. One side down, one more to go. I round the back of the car, now to the last side, the side of the car that Myles sits on. He is strapped in his seat this time. I'm spraying like crazy when all the sudden I can see this look on his little face, then a little scream. Then I realize what has happened here. He has OPENED his window and I am now spraying off the entire inside of the car and Myles is dripping wet. I quickly stop and start yelling, ahhhhh...

Note to Self: when washing the car while kids are still in the car, mom MUST put power windows on lock so as not to flood the inside of the car!

I'm telling you, I just shouldn't go to the car wash. Every time I have in the last few weeks it hasn't turned out good! Plus now it's been two hole days and my car is covered in little while bits of ash from one of the many fires near our home. GREAT, so glad I washed the outside, and inside of the car.

SICK

2009-08-25T12:40:00.000-07:00

" I cannot go to school today
said little Peggy Anne McKay.

I have the measles, and the mumps,
a gash a rash and purple bumps."

OK so thanks to a little Shell Silverstien. I'm not that sick, but Bjorn has taken a bunch of time off to help me and the kids. It's wonderful to know that he is so capable and competent. It's great to know that Myles throws a fit now when daddy leaves the house to go to work after having him home for almost a week.

We've been watching A LOT of T.V. and movies this past week and as the Little Einsteins would say, "Yea, Bjorn." Thanks for all your help this week sweetheart!

History Lost

2009-08-14T13:47:00.000-07:00

My Grandma "Pat" Nakaya died late last night. She had 4 boys, and one daughter. She had 13 grandchildren and 25 great grandchildren, with three sets of twins. She was 93 and it was her time to go. She had been living without her husband for 5 or 6 years now and she wasn't really happy to be in this life anymore. With the exception of the last two or three years she has been healthy and strong as a horse. She would walk the halls of the local mall, swim laps each morning, and tended a beautiful yard and garden. She cultivated beautiful flowers to place at the alter in her church each Sunday and she was also an amazing cook, although this is part of the loss. She didn't have anything written down. No more raisin cookies, yum, baked spaghetti or New Years Shogatsu.

Grandmother was one tough cookie if you know what I mean. She raised 5 children on a shoe string budget. She was an excellent seamstress, and a hard worker. She even worked for a famous movie star. She later worked for Ropers Department Store in the old ZCMI center in Salt Lake City. She could grow more vegetables in a small space than anyone I knew. She was a grand fisher lady. She would often take all 4 of us grandchildren on early morning fishing trips to Strawberry Lake. She managed to live through "Camp". For those of you who don't know what "camp" is, it was a really dirty thing that we did to our own people. During the war we rounded up all the Japanese Americans and put them into camps around the country. My grandparents and their three boys were placed in a camp in Colorado. They were given little notice and even less luggage allowance. They lived in this camp for several years during the war. While in camp my father was conceived and was born only three short months after they were released from camp. Most of all grandmother was a survivor. She outlived almost all her friends. I guess getting old is lonely too.

I'll miss her, but I'm happy for her too. Like my Grandmother Williams said " getting old isn't for sissy's". I've seen this first hand. I'm glad I got to spend so many good years with her. I'm glad I will always have lasting memories of her as a younger woman full of vigor and energy. I'm glad she was such a wonderful grandmother to me and great-grandmother to my children.

Escape

2009-08-13T21:09:00.000-07:00

So I'm starting to see a pattern to my post'. The last post was about Myles escaping from the crib. This post is about Myles escaping from the HOUSE. I'm not kidding. He can reach, and has now mastered, the deadbolt. He can successfully get the front door deadbolt unlocked. He does it with ease and is quite quick about it. Before I know it he is half way to the street. I can't believe my not quite two year old is causing me so much grief. What is a mother to do?! I guess I need to get a safety latch at the top of the door. I don't know what else to do. He's too smart for his own good!

The end of an era

2009-08-06T20:57:00.000-07:00

Today I put Myles in time out, the offense isn't relevant, but he had other ideas. You see time out in our house is in his crib. While I sat on the couch feeding Audrey, I watched as Myles tried to figure out how to CLIMB OUT OF THE CRIB! I know that I have been lucky that he hasn't tried this before now, but really what am I going to do now? It started with him reaching his arm through the bars to see how far away the bed is from the crib. Then he stood up and pulled himself up on the end of the crib. Then the foot was over the rail. Then the other foot on top of the rail. A bit of nervous crying, and he didn't actually get out, but if I had let him try longer I think that he would have. I can't believe it. That means bye-bye long naps where he would play in the crib for and hour( or two). Bye-bye to sleeping in on Saturday mornings(he knows how to open doors). Oh, I really don't want to be in this phase of life. I like putting the children in a particular spot and knowing that when I come back for them they will still be there. Not so anymore! Maybe I should get a lid for the crib!

Blessings x2

2009-07-27T16:29:00.000-07:00

(Our first family photo, too bad Myles bit the driveway Saturday morning)

Yesterday we had the blessings for Lydia and Audrey. It was a really nice event and I thought that Bjorn did a wonderful job of giving each of the girls a great blessing. I especially liked the part where he blessed them to be each others best friend. You know they were "womb mates" after all. The girls were perfect during the entire blessing, they didn't make a peep. It was really fun to have Mom and Dad and Kristin fly into town for the event too. Dad was able to represent the Nakaya's in the circle. The girls looked so beautiful in their dresses that I had ordered from Belgium. The shoes that Auntie Kristin made for them fit perfectly and were just exquisite. They truly were the "Bell of the ball".

The proud momma

After leaving church early we came back to the house where we hosted a brunch for family and friends. We ate egg souffle, assorted muffins, and fruit. The kids mostly ate assorted pink candies I had out of the table as a centerpiece. Since it was such a nice day we had some people on the front porch(still in the shade), and others just milled around in the house.

Jacob, John, Audrey, Lydia, Ashley,& Holly

Another special thing about the day was the three sets of twins in our home. Angie's boys, Jacob and John, and the Hyer twin girls, Ashley and Holly. What a fun picture. Now all we needed was Ryan's boys.

Sleep

2009-07-16T14:12:00.001-07:00

Lydia on top, Audrey on bottom. They like napping on the bed, on their bellies. Don't tell the Pediatrician.

Sleep is not something I have been doing a lot of for a long time. It all started with pregnancy and then continued once I delivered these beautiful girls. I'm not complaining, I'm merely stating the facts. It has been about 4-5 months now since I got a full nights rest. Well last night I got one. I was sooooo tiered that I didn't even notice the dog had jumped up on the bed to sleep with us. I always notice the dog. He gets out of his bed and shakes his floppy ears and I notice. Not last night. You see it was the first night that the girls got the boot from our room. They now sleep in the living room till they can learn to sleep through the night. They did great last night( I think), I only heard them once and then when I got up to feed them in the morning it was just Lydia screaming, Audrey was sleeping like a perfect little angel. I think that I could get used to this sleep thing!

9,10,34

2009-07-15T14:51:00.000-07:00

These numbers are the weights of my children. Yesterday we all went to the doctors office together. Myles had his 21 month check up and Audrey and Lydi had their 8 week check up. Lydia weighed in yesterday @ 9lbs. 15 oz., and is 21 3/4". Audrey is 22" tall and weighed 10 lbs. 2 oz., and Myles the big bubba weighed 34 lbs. and is 38 3/4" tall. He didn't gain any weight, but grew an inch. His feet are growing too. He's now into a size 9! His feet don't look big, but when you put shoes on those feet they sure do. He's on target to be 6'-4". I can't believe how tall he is. Unfortunately he is built like me. He has a long body and short little legs. He also got long arms from his daddy. I guess we need to start teaching him tennis. He has the perfect body for a Tennis Pro..

We will be getting the girls to sleep through the night this week! YEA! I'm really tiered, to the point that I can't remember anything. I need a full nights rest or I'm going to have a serious problem. I feel like a person with sleep apnea. I can fall asleep in under 30 sec. these days.
We'll let you know how it goes. That also means that Myles is going to have to start sleeping in a big boy bed next week. I'm dreading that. I don't want bedtime to become a three ring circus.

Life at the Dodd house is never dull!