Fun times

Bynn had her 9 month doctor visit this month and she keeps going down on the weight charts. She went from 48th percentile at 6 months to 14th! Because she does eat so well the doctor didn't seem concerned. I might be adding in some doughnuts to her diet though, haha.

Caleb is really into Bob the Builder right now. He will put on his construction hat and ask to watch it. It's pretty cute.

Here's sweet Brynn getting a little daddy time in:

We also went to the aquarium this week to see the new attraction: sea otters. Unfortunately they were sleeping the whole time. Good thing we have year passes or I would be really disappointed. At the end they were giving out otter pops, what a cute idea!

New Blog!

I am so excited to say that I am starting a new blog! It will have everything creative I do on it (music, flower headbands, sewing, hair styles, recipes, etc.) Check it out: What These Hands Do

Pictures and Playing

Caleb has gotten into taking pictures. I am constantly deleting pictures from my camera. Mostly they are of his fingers over the lens but here are two that actually showed something.


Also, a big day has come to our house: Brynn and sit and play by herself. Here she is playing with some toys. It actually allows me to get some things done while she is awake.

Caleb has said a few funny things lately:

1. Derrick's work provides dinner every night for the employees. If it doesn't get eaten, it gets thrown away so Derrick brings food almost every night. Once when Caleb woke up from a nap I told him daddy was at work. Caleb said, "Daddy go to work to get food." We think Caleb really thinks that is why Derrick goes to work.

2. Continuing with the food from work thing, once I asked Caleb what he wanted for dinner. He said he wanted pizza. I told him we didn't have pizza and Caleb responded, "Call daddy, he get some from work."

3. Caleb was watching the garbage truck gather the trash. A neighbor was bringing down her trash as the garbage truck was leaving our culdesak. Caleb yelled out, "Garbage truck come back! There's one more!"

4. I gave Brynn a toy measuring tape to play with on the floor. The next time I look over Caleb has the measuring tape and I ask him if he took it from Brynn. He said, "I give her octopus." Sure enough he did replace the toy he took. At least he's considerate when he wants a toy she's playing with.

5. We were trying to change Caleb's diaper and put on his pj's. He was more wiggly than normal (if that can be possible). We asked him if he could hold still and he responded, so sincerely, "I can't do it." I don't think there could be a truer statement.

On the Brynn front, she is sitting completely without support. She always has to be doing something, whether it is simply watching something interesting, playing with a toy, eating paper or trying to get her hands on whatever I'm working on. She isn't crawling yet but she sure wants to, it's in her eyes.

Christmas

For Christmas we stayed overnight at Derrick's parent's house for a few days. One night was a family gathering and Lynne arranged for Santa to show up. Caleb got some Christmas Peeps from Santa. We also had a white elephant gift exchange.

Caleb had fun playing with Ron and Lauren's kids. Here he is making a tunnel for the train Peter is pulling:

Christmas morning Caleb sure loved his presents. He was literally shaking as he was opening them. We think he really had too much stimulation, he even had a breakdown about a half hour after starting to open presents. It was sad but once he had some breakfast he was a lot better.



We ate sausage, eggs, french toast and smoothies for breakfast. Here's Caleb with his smoothie mustache:

When we got back home we did this over and over again:

Luckily it wasn't too cold. We had a great Christmas and loved spending time with family.

Matching Skirts

I found out how to make this skirt on pinterest and since I had a little extra fabric I made one for Brynn too. I think it looks cuter on her than on me so that is why I pictured her first. I think when Brynn grows out of that one I'll have to make another because it's just too darn adorable!

Where it come from?

It has started. The "where it come from?" questions. So far here is what Caleb has asked about:
1. Where finger nails come from
2. Where mail comes from
3. This is the one that has been hardest to answer: "Where messy come from?" Caleb will ask us almost everyday why we shower. We try to tell him you just get dirty from walking around everyday but he doesn't get it and we don't expect him to because we can't even explain that very well.
Before we know it the question will be where babies come from. Not looking forward to that one.

Vacation and Sickness

Our San Diego vacation had it's pros and cons. Here's the story:
Friday afternoon we get into the Long Beach airport. We spend the night in Huntington Beach with my grandparents. I got to visit with my favorite cousin from the moment she was born, Jodie. I loved hearing more about her wedding plans and just talking to her! My grandparents loved Brynn. It was their first time meeting her. She would just sit in their laps so comfortably. It was very cute.
Saturday morning we drove to El Cajon. Had pizza for lunch, grandparents drove back home. We went to my parent's church Christmas party, ate food, saw Santa and watched a small performance by the primary kids.
Sunday was church and we watched 17 Miracles that night. Monday morning rolls around and, since it was raining, we went to the air museum at Gillespie Field, I have lived about a mile from that place my whole life and never knew there was a museum there. We found this cute little airplane for Caleb to get in. It had pedals so you could ride it like a bike.

Then we went to Parkway Plaza. I bought two outfits for Brynn and Caleb went on a few rides:

We got Yogurt Mill for lunch and after that I got a stomach virus. I wanted to die! I had that bad for one day, Derrick got it, Brynn got it, my dad got a mild form of it and I heard Andrew got it after we left. It was so awful, even after the stomach sickness was gone, you feel weak and have head aches for another day or two. My mother took care of both children and all the sick people. To my angel mother, thank you!
Wednesday morning the rain was gone and we felt well enough to take Caleb to the park for 2 hours. He loves being outside. Then after lunch we drove back to Huntington Beach, saw some Christmas lights and went out to dinner.
It wasn't the vacation we hoped for but at least I didn't have to take care of my children while I was sick.

Story Time

1.This morning Caleb and I had a cute conversation:
Caleb: Get big, Mommy and Daddy
Me: Yes, one day you are going to get big like Mommy and Daddy
Caleb: Caleb drive car
Me: Yes, when you are big you will drive a car
Caleb points up to our picture of the temple and says: Drive to the temple
Me, while Caleb is making a motion as if he is steering the wheel: Yes, you will be able to drive to the temple and go in when you get bigger.
This was one of the sweetest things I've ever heard him say. I feel good that we have already instilled in him the importance of going to the temple and that he wants to!
2. While at our church Christmas party, Scottie, Caleb's friend from next door, see me and asks, "Where's Caleb?" I point to Caleb and Scottie runs over to where Caleb is. I love that Caleb has a little friend. Too cute!
3. Yesterday Caleb called 911 for the first time. He was playing with an app on my phone and the next thing I know Caleb says, "The phone is making funny noises." I look down to find 911 on the line. They tell me who they are and I tell them we're fine. That was embarrassing. Afterward I explained to Caleb that we don't press the "Emergency Call" button on my phone and we only use it if there is trouble. He asks, "What is trouble?" I told him if mommy or daddy are really hurt, that is trouble. Who knows, maybe he will remember that if something ever does come up.
4. We tell Caleb to not go pee pee in the bath, since he has done that on a number of occasions. One day I told him I was going to take a shower and Caleb says, "Mommy, no pee pee in shower." I told him he was right.
5. Caleb will pick up his play cell phone and say, "Derrick." This is imitating me of course. He will also call out "Danielle" or "Derrick" if he hears one of us say it.
6. Caleb is picking up on a phrase I say all the time to him. "Just a minute." He says it when he wants to procrastinate something.

Craftiness & Happiness

I knew I wanted to make Brynn a Christmas flower headband, so this version of a poinsettia is what I came up with.

Brynn just loves Caleb and he loves to make her happy whether that's feeding her snacks, saying simple things like, "Good morning" or playing with her.

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving morning the boys played football with the ward and the girls made the desserts for that night. We all enjoyed a wonderful Thanksgiving meal together. Despite the fact this was the first Thanksgiving meal Derrick and I ever did ourselves, it turned out perfect!

Caleb loved having people over to play with all the time.

Brynn was initially scared of everyone but by the end she warmed up to them. She is definitely a mommy's girl. Can you see Brynn's top teeth coming in?

We had fun playing games together and introducing Psych to my family.


We went to temple square and saw the breath-taking Christmas lights. No picture could ever do it justice.

And here's just a cute pic and video I took of Brynn on Sunday because she was so cute!

Heber Train

One thing we did this weekend while my family was here was the Heber train. Well, the boys went shooting, the girls and kids went on the Heber train. Santa made an appearance and Caleb was so excited to see him. Santa came on and got off at his own platform. He stood outside the train to wave goodbye to the kids when he left. Caleb sat looking out and him and saying, "Bye, bye Santa." It was very sweet. Oh, and he knew to ask Santa for a present. He asked for a dump truck (which my mom already bought him...so he will get what he wants!)

Brynn and Another Snowman

Brynn just keeps growing. She is eating solid foods wonderfully, she loves to watch Caleb and she loves to be upside down. That's right, if you ever sit her on your lap and lay her back so far that she is upside down, she doesn't want to come back up, she fights it.

I think Caleb is going to ask for a snowman every time it snows. He has so far. Here is our second snowman, this time built by Derrick:

Snowman and Little Drummer

We built our first snowman, or maybe I should say penguin because that is what it looks more like.

A few days before the snow stuck, it lightly snowed. Caleb was excited but then a little disappointed when he got outside.

Oh yes, and Brynn has decided to be a drummer.

Ok, so she needs some practice.

Mickey and Minnie Mouse

Boy did Caleb love Halloween. On Halloween day we had Caleb draw on his pumpkin. As I was putting it back out on the porch I told Caleb, "We'll put it here so the kids can see it." When the first trick-or-treaters were walking away Caleb asked me, "Kids see pumpkin?" I told him they did and they loved it. He was so proud of his pumpkin (the only thing I drew on the face was the tongue because Caleb asked me to). Can you see the eyes, nose, mouth and hair?

Derrick took Caleb trick-or-treating. After almost every house Caleb would ask politely, "Go get more candy?" He was so excited and held his bag open and ready the whole time.
Once, Caleb was behind a pack of kids who all got one piece of candy. Then when he got up there the lady told him he was so cute she would give him extra candy and she did.



Caleb showing off his costume:

We also had a church party with soup and trunk-or-treating. Caleb loved that too he mostly played on the grass with some other boys and then I took him around to get candy. He was so sweet. He says both trick-or-treat and thank you afterward.