Happy Birthday Dawson!

I can't believe my baby is 2 years old! Where does the time go?

He is such a sweet boy and we love him so much!



Poor little Dawson was sick on his birthday, but we managed eat cake and ice cream and snap a few cute photos before we put him to bed. Antie Katie stopped by to wish Dawson a happy birthday and drop off a gift.

This is how I found Dawson the next morning with his new gift! Thank goodness for washable markers!

How does the quote go...

"The world is my canvas...?"

Christmas all over again

Dave's parents came to share a belated Christmas with us this year. They arrived the sunday following Christmas and when we arrived home from church it looked like Christmas morning all over again! As you can imagine the kids had a blast! It was fun to have them here for the week.

Dallin really enjoyed some one on one time with Grandma playing games and reading books. He even got to go to McDonalds with Grandma and Grandpa.

Dawson was obsessed with Grandpa's big truck and loved going for rides in it.

We went and saw the gingerbread house display at the Broadmoor, visited Will Roger's Shrine, (wish I'd remembered the camera) and played with remote control vehicles.

And we couldn't let them leave without putting Grandpa to work.

Thanks for the fun visit!

The New Hypersonic Spacecraft!

Here it is!

Introducing the New Hypersonic Spacecraft!

Dallin has been very excited for me to post these pictures for everyone to see. He and his dad worked very hard for several hours on Christmas day putting together all 795 pieces. I was afraid it would only last a day, but it actually made it a whole week in it's original form.

Now Dallin is getting creative and going back to building his own spaceship designs. His friend Colin told him about some Lego contests where you can send in a picture of your own creations to win free Legos. Just the thought of winning a contest got Dallin very excited about building his own stuff again. I'm sure you'll be seeing some of his work soon!

Christmas!

What could be more fun than Christmas with 2 little boys! Dallin has been dreaming of Mission to Mars Legos for months and was confident that Santa would come through for him.



Dawson was just happy to get anything with wheels!



Mom was happy to have the gifts wrapped and under the tree on time.

Dave enjoyed spending a day and a half with his family and no pager.

We spent the morning at home opening presents, building legos, racing cars, and cooking. Then we headed to the Gavins for dinner and fun with their family. I think one of the highlights of Christmas was hearing Dallin tell his dad how happy he was to drop off presents for a child at church. Dallin said that he felt "as happy as if I'd seen Jesus!" And of course nothing beats the look on a child's face on Christmas moring!

Dallin's Plan

So those of you who know Dallin well know that he's a real "thinker." He comes up with brilliant, and very logical ideas for things that even some adults don't seem to grasp. He is a very curious kid and loves to learn and ask questions. His favorite book is a Children's Encyclopedia which we read from nightly. I'm sure that one day he will write a book, or become a lawyer because he has a reason, or a logical answer for everything.

Today Dallin has been talking about "getting healthy" and tonight he presented his plan. He wants to be the healthiest boy in the world! He explained that for 10 weeks we are only going to eat only healthy foods. We are not going to eat candy or pizza or anything else unhealthy. We may still eat aebleskievers for breakfast, but only like once a week. When he goes to bed he is going to be listening and if he hears us eating something he is going to come out of his room and ask us what we ate. If he is sleeping he will ask us in the morning if we ate anything we shouldn't have. We may only drink water and eat healthy foods when he is in bed.

We can only watch TV if we are exercising (this is something we started doing last week after Sid the Science Kid had an idea of an invention for a TV that was powered by exercise.) He not making any changes to his video game day (once a week currently), but maybe in 10 weeks he will.

I think it sounds like a good plan. Who needs Weight Watchers when you have Dallin to be accountable to! Anyone care to join us?

Thanksgiving

We had a simple, but fun Thanksgiving this year. We kicked off the day with the Turkey Trot at the YMCA. Dallin ran his little heart out at the Kid's Fun Run. He did awesome! Debbie and Kristine did the 5K together while the kids had fun warming up inside and jumping in the bounce house.

We made Indian headbands and gave ourselves Indian names. We were "Chief Hunts for Turkey", "Mamma Cook the Turkey", "Dallin Hunts for Treasure", and "Little One Feather." Dallin and mom made the napkin rings and the boats earlier in the week to decorate our table. We missed being with family, but it was great having Dave around for the whole weekend!

Dawson

It's hard to believe that my little baby is 22 months now! He is such a funny little guy with an endless amount of energy. I thought he was going to be my mello child, but not so. He has no fear whatsoever and will jump from the couch or plank fall onto the carpet and get up and go back for more! He loves his big brother dearly and is not afraid to defend himself if need be. He is a daddy's boy and loves motorcycles. He loves to wave goodbye to daddy every morning in his pj's, and will run out to the driveway to get as much waving as he possibly can. He loves to be cozy, and will request milk and try to wrap himself (or request help) in a snugly blanket in the morning and sit on the couch. He loves to "lolor" (color) and copies anything his brother does.

As I've mentioned previously, he loves candy (and hates to have his teeth brushed) He LOVES his bottle of milk and always wants water with ice (just like his big brother), but can not seem to keep the water in the cup to save his life! I have seriously cleaned up 15 spilled cups of water in a 2 day time period! He is very independent and very persistant when he wants something. At 18 months he was going to the bathroom in the toilet at his request, once even 3 times a day. He seems to have lost interest which is ok with me. I am fine with diapers.

You can ask him any question and he will respond with a nod or a shake and look at you so intently that you are sure he understands every word he says. Most of the time he says yes. His vocabulary is growing although most of you probably cannot understand a word. I am positive that when he really starts to talk that it will be in sentences. In fact I think he's been speaking in sentences for quite a while now..... we just can't understand him.

He is very good natured and seems to get along with everyone. He loves "ories" (stories) and is good about saying "peas" and "nane you" even to the baggers at the grocery store. He will not sit still for anything so church and story time are difficult. He wants to be in preschool. If he gets the oportunity he will dash into Dallin's classroom in the morning and play with the kitchen or sit down inconspicuously for circle time with the big kids. I usually have to take him kicking and screaming to the car.

He's a little guy and at his 18 month check up he had finally made it on the charts at 3% weight. He may be little, but it doesn't slow him down, in fact he would make an excellent gymnast. He's a great climber, can hang on the oven door and he often bounces down the stairs jumping from step down to the next step. One night he bounced up the last few steps with his hands on the step above him and when he reached the top he went right into a forward roll followed by a second! I wish I had that one on video! It's hard to believe that my sweet little baby is going to be 2 years old soon!

We love you Dawson!

Quotable Kids

Tonight out of the blue Dallin said, "when I grow up I'm going to be a dad who stays home with my kids. Because I like spending time with my boys. I really like Dawson." Later on when I was tucking him in bed he said, "Mom, when I grow up I want to be a Scientist!" I said, "I thought you wanted to be a dad who stays home with his kids?" He quickly replied, "Well I would work at night and sleep a little in the day, but in the morning I would play with my kids."

About 15 minutes later he informed me that he wanted to be a pilot when he grew up, but that he wanted to fly a plane with lots and lots of buttons. Hey, at least the kid has options!

On Friday afternoon we went to the mall. As we were walking to the car Dallin started to complain of stomach pain. I asked him to show me where it hurt and with confidence he answered , "Right here in my bird cage!" later that night I had him point out his pain to Dave and he again mentioned the bird cage and told us that he remembered it from his body book. I still can't help but laugh every time I think of it!

Trick or Treat!

Halloween was pretty simple this year. Last year we had a Halloween party and Dallin and I spent the entire month of October planning, making decorations etc. We had so much fun, but this year we decided just to keep things simple. Dallin told me that Halloween is not his "habit" (??) since he doesn't like scary things. He prefers Mother's day. He told me that Mother's day and Father's Day are his favorite holidays. How sweet is that!

Dallin had several fun activites surrounding Halloween like Parent's Night Out, Dad's night at school where they got to carve pumpkins and perform their well rehearsed spooky songs, and his fall festival and costume parade at school. Dave said that while all the other dad's seemed to be doing the pumpkin carving for their kids, Dallin was very intent upon doing his all by himself. He also helped me make spiderweb cupcakes to share with his classmates. On Halloween night we ate our Jack-o-lantern pizza, went trunk or treating, had homeade donughts at the Talbots, and ate ice cream at "Auntie Katie's house." talk about a sugar high!

I am not kidding when I say that "nandy" was Dawson's first word! The kid is a candy magnet. He knows just where the candy (gum) cubord is and he is very persistant about pushing over the bar stool and trying to get some. He can chew gum without swallowing it. He brings it to me when he's done or chucks it in the kitchen sink. This is so funny to me, considering I don't think I let Dallin ever try gum till he was 4 years old!

Uncle Greg

We are lucky that Uncle Greg gets to take a business trip to Denver every year. Last year he visited us first and we sent him back to work with the flu, so this year he worked first and then spent the weekend with us. We had a great time and tried to show him a few of the local sites this time. We hiked Helen Hunt Falls one day and took him to Bear Creek Nature Center the next day. October may just be my favorite month of the year! When we first came to Colorado to interview for Dave's residency it was early-mid October and it was so beautiful that we fell in love instantly. Seven years later and we're still loving it here! One day Greg will decide to move out here and he'll love it too!

The Cog Railway

As you can see I have a lot of catching up to do. Better late than never right? In October we were lucky to have Grandma and Grandpa come for a visit. Six years ago we gave my dad a "coupon" for a ride on the Cog Railway as a Christmas present. For some reason we've never been able to make the trip to Pike's Peak either because of weather, pregnancy, new baby, etc. This year we were not going to miss it. It was the perfect time of year to make the trip. It was a beautiful day and the leaves were gorgeous. The Cog Railway was great, but Dave and I decided that next time we go to the top of Pike's Peak it will be by foot. Anyone for a hike?

When we got home Dave and I hopped in the car and headed to Breckenridge for the weekend, leaving the kids with Grandma and Grandpa. The next day they took the kids to the fire station and the park for some fun activities. Dallin got to dress up like a fireman for an obstacle course, escape from a burning building and even sit in a helicopter. The kids had a great time. We just wish we had Grandma and Grandpa here more often.

Dave and I had planned to ride our bikes over Vail Pass. When we arrived in Breckenridge we realized that we had not prepared ourselves for the cold. Still we decided to go for it, layering on whatever warm clothing we had. We unloaded our bikes, put on our helmets and Dave pumped up his tire with a bit of air....... and when he took off the pump the stem broke and his tire went flat! So much for riding Vail Pass. We ended up finding a great place to hike instead and after a little outlet shopping and a nice dinner we decided to head home.

Red Rock Canyon

We LOVE Red Rock Canyon! It is our favorite place to go on a saturday afternoon. It has awesome mountain bike trails, great hikes for the family, and is breathtakingly gorgeous. It's hard to believe it has only been available to the public for 2 years! Dallin would have prefered to go to Bear Creek Nature Center so he could point out the poison ivy (he went there for a field trip) but quickly discovered that Red Rock was like an Indian Jones adventure! It was a fun place to take Grandma and Grandpa and we got some great pictures (if only we had planned our outfits to match...)

Chad and Des

It's been a while... but still wanted to add that we enjoyed a quick, but fun visit from Chad and Des passing through on their move from D.C. Des just finished her Physician's Assistant program and Chad transferred to a new law school. We loved spending time with them and are excited to have them back in the west.