The One...the Only....Dallin

Yes, my post this week is 1 day late, but it has been a terribly busy week. Early in the week, we went out with friends several times and enjoyed ourselves tremendously. Here is Dallin and Kate after a day of fun with friends, Emma Luke and Jenna Higginson. They were so tired. Dallin fell asleep sitting up!
We also got to go out with Uncle Willie and Aunt Tammy to McDonalds. Dallin has now associated Uncle with McDonalds, and regularly calls him on the phone when he wants to go there. It is really funny!
As I said I would, I enrolled Dallin in an activity. And the winner is......AirTime Gymnastics Mom and Tot class! Yeah! Unfortunately, earlier that day Dallin tripped and fell (while throwing a tantrum) and found the window sill with his face. His teeth (we aren't sure whether it was top or bottom, went clean through his bottom lip and we found ourselves making phone calls and on our way to the emergency room. He was a trooper and ended up with 3 stitches...2 on the outside and 1 on the inside. (And yes, we ended up back at McDonalds afterwards....it was a bribe). Mom also did really good. I am always proud of myself for not passing out or throwing up in the ER with Dallin (for those who don't know this is his second set of stitches in the past 7 months). I do not do well with blood, but my desire to be there for my baby wins out and I try to act like it is no big deal. I don't think he notices that I look away every once in a while while they are stitching him up. I always feel really sick and dizzy. LOL Here is a picture of his stitches. You can barely see them. They are under his lip. Tomorrow we will go and get them taken out.
And...we STILL MADE GYMNASTICS!

It was fun and I think Dallin really enjoyed it. He had a hard time sitting still and listening during the explanations, but he really took to the actual activities. And I know I am biased, but he was WAY better than most of the little girls there who had been coming for months. He did awesome on the tramp, especially when he got to do straight jumps "rocket jumps". He also has really good balance on the balance beam, and some amazing airplane arms. He popped right up into a headstand too. What talent! Those little girls got nothin on my guy! Here he is at the gym. The pictures are a little blurry because he was moving.
Finally, here is Dallin playing with his special get well soon gift from his Grandpa and Grandma Kellogg.

He got it in the mail (very exciting stuff) and was so excited to open it. It was a cookie set with food coloring pens to decorate the cookies. They also sent him a little wooden rolling pin. He has been rolling everything ever since. LOL We HAD to use it right away. So here he is decorating his cookies. He had a blast and even called and thanked his grandparents. What a cutie. Poor Kate got stuck with the packaging. She made a grab for the roller once, but Dallin hit her in the head with it....sigh....well not a perfect day, but hey. LOL
We hope you all have a wonderful week!
P.S. A little news on Kate the Great. She is standing alone more and more now, and this week officially said her first word (MOM!...Yes!) and her second word(Dada!). She also has three top teeth that are through...where oh where could those bottom ones be? LOL

The Tooth the Whole Tooth and Nothing But the Tooth

Yes, I know this picture is blurry. Yes, I know you can't even see the tooth very well, but there it is! Perhaps someday in the future I will be able to get a picture of Kate, proving that she has teeth once and for all, without feeling like I am in a rodeo or trying to torture my poor daughter. I couldn't get her to lay there and smile while I was also holding the camera trying to take the picture so I had to wrangle her and hold her lips...yeah...she LOVED that. Note: Yes, my daughter is some kind of hillbilly freak because her only tooth is on top. Hmmmm...I have never seen this before..usually bottom ones come in first. And in all our wrestling, I did notice that the other front tooth is dropping and the tooth next to this one is almost through. (Still all top teeth, but improvement nonetheless).
Here are some pictures of Kate proving that she is indeed happy and not being tortured all of the time.


This week Kate has been sick and we had to go to the doctor. Lots of decongestant later...here she is with only a few traces of crusty boogers and a VERY sore nose. At one point after I cleaned it she started bleeding all over the place. She must have super glue boogeys or something. She has really enjoyed being a big girl this week and loves eating her table food...especially at snack time. She has stood a few times on her own now (just letting go of what she holds onto) and she can really cruise with her push toy. She also tags along after her brother wherever he goes. She thinks he is the best! I love these pictures because you can really see her blue eyes. I know I am biased, but isn't she georgeous! Look how blue those eyes are! Man...can I make em good or what!? LOL


These random pictures of Dallin are courtesy of the fact that every single time I pull out the camera to take a picture of Kate's first tooth (or anything Kate for that matter), he jumps in front of me and yells "CHEESE CHEESE!" until I take his picture. He really likes seeing them on the LCD screen after they are taken. This week has been a big one with Dallin. We were all very sick and he really really pushed things. We have purchased a parenting book called "Parenting the StrongWilled Child" by Drs. Foreman and Long. We are hoping that it will help. So far it is almost creepy because it is like someone has been in our house watching us and now they are writing a book about it. Hopefully, our parenting skills will get the CPR they so desperately require. It has a five week program for us to go through. Wish us good luck! Dallin is becoming more and more verbal. New words and sentences are escaping his lips daily. Some of my favorites are "McDondalds!", "God" (yes, grandma...used IN context and appropriately),and "I cooking". Dallin helps me cook many meals now. He also seems to be very into describing when we all do things together. I guess it probably doesn't happen enough. With our current work schedules, someone is always home with the children, but we tend to tag team it. I am glad that he enjoys it when we are all together.
Finally, we are all getting better again and are looking forward to a better week. Here is my final picture. It may look like a normal pizza box except for the inscription which Pizza Hut provided. I was having a REALLY REALLY hard day and being very hard on myself. I managed to get both children down (or at least sent to his room) for naps and spent the next 3 hours sobbing. I called my mom and she ordered me my very favorite deep dish cheesy pizza and Pepsi from Pizza Hut (which I don't normally order because everyone else wants toppings). She must have told them I was having a hard day because this is what they wrote on the box.

Yes, I spent at least another 10 minutes bawling over that when I saw it. PIZZA HUT IS THE BEST!
This week I am going to enroll Dallin in some kind of mom n me classes so that he can get some one on one time, get out of the house, and make some nice new friends. Any suggestions? Also, I am looking for a cheap class or something for me. I need some me time now and again. I am thinking about maybe doing the rec center aerobics class or something...again...suggestions? Hope you all have a great week. See ya next week!

New Year New Post

As many of you out there, I am resolving to post more regularly. My plan is to have a new post every week on Sundays. I hope all of you had a fun Christmas. We had a great time in Coalville (haven't gotten our pictures back yet...sorry). The kids were totally spoiled. Dallin loves his moon bounce and train and Kate got cute clothes and girly stuff.
In other news. It is the beginning of the end. We bought Dallin his last case of diapers...then we officially begin potty training. Here he is sitting on them looking very proud. He always tells me when he is pooping now and really wants Thomas the Train underpants.
Kate has 1 tooth now. It is a top tooth so she looks a little funny. I am hoping to get a picture of her tooth on here next week now that you can see it really good.
Dallin and Kate are starting to play together (and also fight sometimes). They will just start giggling with each other and it is so cute. Here they are looking out at the snow. Dallin kept telling Kate all about it and she kept looking up at him like he was the wisest person on the planet. Every once in a while he would lean down and love on her. So sweet! What a good brother.
Here are some pictures of our recent family home evening (or daytime in this case). We had a great time out in the snow. Dallin gets such a kick out of it. We pulled them around in the sled out in the parking lot. Both kids seemed to really like it.




Note: 2 days later Dallin got really sick....we are on 4 medications now.