Damon's New Room and Sitting and Girls

 I am loving Craig's list here in the Denver area.  We found this great bedroom set for Damon with the mattress, mattress cover and sheets for $200.  The furniture is very heavy and seems well built.  It will a great addition to our home.  Damon loves it.  We had to switch rooms to make it fit the best - that took awhile to move the beds, clothes, train table and everything.  But it works well now.  The reason for the switch was to move Chris out of his toddler bed and into a twin  in the hopes that he will sleep better at night, don't know if it helped much :)

 The bed has 3 drawers underneath.

 Tyler and Chris - have to change sheets on the top bunk again, didn't miss that.

The girls are sitting pretty well now - Kaylee is still a bit wobbly but getting better. 

Kaylee

Jenna

Jenna and Kaylee

Happy Birthday Christopher

Happy Birthday Christopher!  3 Years old!

Chris's birthday is hard being so close to Christmas and we just had gotten home from our trip.  But we managed to make a cupcake cake with a Lego Ninjago design.  Chris has claimed both of the 'Jay' mini-figures and we made the nun-chucks of lightning.

Chris got a dump truck, Jeremy the Jet (from Thomas the Train series), a fire engine Lego set, a yellow car, some golden Piston Cups, and a learning alphabet game.  We received some money from grandparents as well - I will probably go buy some clothes or something - he really doesn't need any more toys. :)

Oh boy, time to blow out the candles!

Happy Birthday Christopher we love you!

Here are some things about Chris:

He still loves cars and also loves playing Legos with his brothers.  He has some great Spin-jujitsu moves.  Lately he climbs into bed with us at night, probably because he is cold - but then we take him back to bed.   He talks a lot and does pretend play with his cars when he is alone.  Potty training is still ahead of us, but we are hopeful to try in the next couple of months.  He likes to eat hot dogs, french fries and any sort of treat.   He is cute with the girls and likes to try and hold them.  He can sing Old MacDonald, Jingle Bells, and I am a Child of God.  He likes to count and play hide and seek.  He can play with Play-Doh for over an hour.  He does pull some great tantrums and asks to go to his room (but then pulls a fit when you take his there).  We are still trying to find the best way to handle these moments.  But he is a super cute boy and so grateful he is part of our family. 

8 months old

8 months

6 months

5 months

3 months

20 days

Well, the girls turned 8 months old on the 2nd.  They are so much fun and getting stronger all the time.  They eat their cereal very well now and have tried sweet potatoes.  Jenna can now sit for awhile on her own, but I still have to watch her; Kaylee is getting better, but still too wobbly.  Jenna weighs 16 pounds 6 oz and Kaylee weighs 16 pounds.  They like to grab at things and love it when we talk, sing, and play with them.  They can sit in the saucer play things now and it is nice to have them off the ground sometimes.  They both can roll onto their backs from their tummies and I have twice found Jenna on her tummy - didn't see her get there,  but I guess she rolled on her own.  They wake up so happy from naps just talking and cooing.  Stranger danger is taking effect, but they warm up to people pretty quickly.  They are such good babies - what a blessing.

Sorry for  all the pictures, but I was getting lots of funny looks and personality.

Jenna eying Kaylee's headband

Look at me sit!

Kaylee did ok with a pillow for a quick shot.

oooh black shoes

Jenna went for the headband first...

then the shirt.

Then Kaylee was checking out Jenna's bow

This is my sister

Sizing each other up

Cute one of Kaylee

Dad came over to help get some smiles :)

And we were done!

Holiday Trip part 2

We had the Datwyler reunion at the World Mark in Bear Lake.  We got there Sunday afternoon and had a yummy soup dinner from Tannie.  It was really loud when we got all 12 cousins (ages 9 and younger) in one condo.  Gratefully we all had our own place to stay so bedtimes were quieter. 

We tried to have a group picture taken, I will be curious to see how that turned out.  The one with grandma and grandpa and all the grand-kids was quite funny to watch.

We went sledding here too - very bright and chilly, but the kids had fun.

We had a program in the evening.  Mom and Dad usually have a special message - mom's stories were about wreaths and popcorn-ball traditions.  She also read a new story about using your imagination.  We all read our memories while the kids watched Pocahontas.

We exchanged sibling gifts.  Richard made a cool musical instrument for Marcus and Annie.

We went swimming the next morning, it had been awhile since my boys had been - they had a fun time.  Dad was good to keep an eye on them while we were in the pool, even though he was so sick with a cold.

The girls were cute and we managed to keep them somewhat on their schedule.  They usually just ended up going to bed a bit later than normal. 

It was a fun visit, we hadn't seen my siblings since August of 2011 so it had been awhile.  We stayed up late playing games (except the first night, Doug got a case of the 12 hour stomach flu).  I am grateful for my family and the example they set for my family.  Mom and Dad really try to teach our kids good principles and try to help them realize that they can make a difference. 

We left first thing on Wednesday morning 9:30 and made it home around 5:00.  We only had to take 2 stops since we left from Bear Lake - it was our best trip yet.  Chris was a bit grumpy during the first hour, but got better as we went.  We listened to Harry Potter #4 for parts of the trip and a lot of Lego Ninjago episodes.