Disney On Ice

We went to disney on ice with email and gracie. We had such a fun date night. The girls loved it! I think em and i had just as much fun! I teared up a couple of times. Just to see how much she was enjoying it was great for me. The pics are in reverse order. Thanks em for taking them i think I only got a couple on mine. So I stole yours :)
The girls were wiped. We left about 600 and the show started at 730 and then we got home at 1000! They had so much fun!

I hadn't updated pics in a bit. Here are some recent ones.

Daddy and his girls, ahhh.

Lorelei's first ponytail. So cute! She left it in for quite a while actually

I love her cheesy smile!
Jackson and Abagayle made a breakfast for Dad, 100% by themselves. Yogurt, devil juice "aka mt dew", candy and a peeled but not cooked potatoe. When I came downstairs they asked me to cook the potatoe for dad.
Yes they do peel potatoes for me, they are quite good at it actually.

They got temp tatoos when I had to go to the dr a couple weeks ago, Jackson got a superman one like his uncle brandon.

We went to the zoo a couple weeks ago, the camera died after this picture. Lorelei loves to ride the sit and stand like this. She did so good, just standing there as we pushed her around. She didn't try to get off until we stopped...most of the time.

Jackson was in a time out. Lorelei wanted to join him. She stood there the whole time, 6 min. She would lean over and talk to him or poke at him. She LOVES Jackson, more then me I think sometimes :)

Brandon found a praying mantis in the backyard. The kids loved to look at it. Abagayle like to have it on her. Jackson would have no part of the touhing though. We had Ezra over, he held it too, I missed it with the camera and didn't really want to hold it again. sorry jess.
Lorelei loves to read or be read too. Tell her to go and get a book, she runs to the book cupboard and brings one to you then turns around and waits for you to pick her up. while saying "uppahhh"
This is her favorite meal. I hate to feed it to her.....can you guess why :)
Sorry it is blurry she kept trying to grab the camera :)

Monster Mash

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Doctors ...well kid Doctors...RANT!

We went in for Lorelei's shots on Wed. a few of my doctor pet peeves were hit BIG time. The first being a total lack of respect for my time. If I was 15 min late for an appt I would have to reschedule and probably pay a fee for canceling in less then 24 hrs notice. However if I spend 20 min in the waiting room and then go to ask about why I am still waiting for my appt that was 20 min ago, I am inconveniencing them. Then I totally love to spend another 40 plus min in the actual patient room. For a about 5 min with the doctor and 5 min with the nurse. RUDE!

This discussion usually come up all time with the doctors, I really have not had to go there yet with this doctor. "Let you baby/kid cry it out till they go to sleep" (Let me preface this by saying this is what works for us and what WE believe, no judgement or offense to anyone else and what you do with your kid)
We DO NOT let our children cry it out in bed. When you tell a doctor that, you would think that I was abusing my child. For us it is not what we feel, and have prayed about, is the right choice. We help them go to sleep until about 18 months or so then I read stories them till they fall asleep and within a month or so I could 2 books and tell them goodnight and they go to sleep and stay in bed. before that we just hold them or lie next to them.
Your child cries to let you know something in wrong or they are angry or .... If respond to that request from them it builds up a trust with them. When you need mom/dad I am here. My child cannot communicate well as a baby or early toddler. How do I know why they are crying. Are they hungry still, did they just poop, is their tummy upset or are they just over tired. Until they can tell me what is going on with them, I am not leaving them in a crib to just cry.
Now when I tell you this, doctor, please be respectful of my position. I understand kids needs sleep, I am not stupid. Maybe if my kids were lagging in growth and mental development, then I might listen BUT they are not!

Also I know you are supposed to give your kid whole milk at one, we don't. I understand the reasoning behind their request. But when I say, pretty firmly, that we give the 2% milk because that is our choice. That should be the end of it! Clearly my other two healthy and intelligent children did just find. Lorelei is not lacking in height or weight (over 95 percentile for both, no surprise) nor is she lacking in intelligence or behind on milestones. In fact she just finished telling me how she is ahead of her age for quite a few things like walking really well/almost running, starting to self feed with a fork/spoon and saying a more then two words.

I usually just nod my head and tell them what they want to hear and then do what we think is best and has worked thus far. So rarely do I disagree with them, that they know of. Clearly my children are doing good, they are healthy so give me a little credit please.

Weird thing though a week and half ago Lorelei was 26 pounds and now she is over 28 pounds :) I knew she felt heavier to me. Sorry for the rant, don't like it...don't read it :)

One Year Older and Wiser Too!

One year old!

My little escape artist, if the door (front or back) is open she is gone..no fear :)

Her in the birthday girl shirt

Done with the cake...yummy!
The other two loved her birthday, they sang "You had a birthday Shout Hooray" all day!!

She is one now, I cannot believe it! This first year has gone by the quickest for sure. Lorelei is just over 26lbs and is 32 inches tall, yikes! She wears 18 -24 months now, crazy to me.

She is a busy bee. She walks everywhere all the time. Loves to climb up and down the stairs, unless she is being lazy then she sits at the top and cries until I get her :) So cute, sometimes. She loves to eat or drink whatever you have. She is getting really good at signing "all done". We usually only do one or two signs with the kids, she picked up on it really well. Instead of throwing food on the ground when I give her more, she usually signs all done to me. That says nothing of the food already on her tray which she throws about the house at will :) She babbles along to books as you read or if she is laying on ground reading to herself. She is starting to climb. She loves to climb the kids picnic table in the yard and then stand on it, so unsafe.. She is almost up on the couch. Her bed is right by the light switch in the room. Now when she gets up in the middle of the night she turn the light off and on. Everyone loves it ;) Time to move the crib around.

Jackson and Abagayle are such great helpers. They love to play with her...most of the time. They always try and make her laugh when she cries, if she doesn't stop crying it's "mom will you make her stop, it's too loud" She does have a set of lungs.

Lorelei 1st Birthday Cake!

Here are a couple 30 sec. videos of Lorelei's 1st birthday. We did a small party at home, in between school and work for Brandon. The kids loved it!

First Day of School - Jackson

He had his first day of kindergarten today, tear... Dad took him in to the school to his class. Brandon said he was so excited to get to his class. They have to wait in the cafeteria until the teacher comes to get them. He found his little table with his name on it, so cute. Brandon said he was already making friends. I think we will walk him in for the week or so, then move up to the curbside drop off. I don't know if I am ready for that. At preschool it was curbside dropoff but to a person who walked him, so different then get out and find your way :)

Abagayle starts preschool in about a month, she cannot wait to go back. Jackson is in AM and Abagayle will be in PM, a little time with mom each day.