Stories From the Mill

Dylan is 15 months!

2012-01-18T13:11:00.000-08:00

Dylan turned 15 months at the end of December and I can't believe it. As I write this post I'm sitting outside watching him play. He's turned into such a little boy over the last few months. No longer a baby:( He's your typical boy. Loves to play outside and get dirty (as much as I'll let him), loves to wrestle, loves trucks, loves to throw balls around, and loves to growl at people:) He's still as sweet as can be but has started a little bit of a hitting phase. So far, his daddy and I are the only victims and it's really not that bad. He keeps me on my toes, constantly getting into things he shouldn't. I've just added the freezer to the list of things I need to figure out how to lock. I've had to put up glass decorations that I never had to move with Brooklyn.

Here the list of things I want to always remember...

He has 6 teeth. 4 on top and 2 on bottom. He's really out of sorts when they're coming in and wakes up a new person when they finally break through.
He's still nursing about 3 times a day. Once in the middle of the night and before naptime and bedtime. Once again, he wants nothing to do with a bottle. Won't drink milk either. So we're back to being inseparable:)
He's doing a lot better with food. His diet mostly consists of yogurt, oranges, bananas, grapes, apples, cheese, yogurt melts, crackers and rice chips. He calls all fruit "na-na".
He's got a pretty good vocabulary. Some words that I can remember off the top of my head are: mommy, daddy, baba (Brookie), Nana, Bapa (Grandpa), Papa, uh oh, No (says it like Noooooooo), what's that, outside, what's that, here you go (kinda run together), here you are (also run together), baby, hi, bye bye, sit, sit down, ni-night, hot, truck, ball, hey, boo, book (which just sounds like "ba") and Auntie. That's all I can remember off the top of my head.
He's started putting 2 words together. Hi baby, bye baby, hi mommy, sit down, etc. It's really funny when he's trying to combine 2 words and gets tongue tied. Keep working buddy!
He's a Momma's boy. If I'm not around he's just not himself. It's flattering but makes it kinda difficult at times.
He loves to open and close doors.
Once in a while I'll catch him "dancing". Definitely doesn't have the rhythm his sister has:)
He's got a really high pain tolerance.
He holds his own with the big kids. If someone gets too close he has no problem yelling at them and pushing them away. Guess that comes with being the youngest in most groups.
Every time we get out of our car at home he points to the house across the street where his friend Jaxon lives and says, "Hi baby!". Too cute.
He's busy ALL the time. Always moving. Just like daddy.
He's taken a new liking to books. So cute to watch him "read". He babbles and points to the pictures and says, "what's that?!".
I've never seen a kid make such a mess in such a short amount of time. He's a baby tornado.
When it's time for bed he lets me know. He'll decide he's tired and say ni-night. He goes around to daddy, Brookie and Maddie and gives them all kisses and says ni-night to each. Then he takes me hand and pulls me to his room. I wonder how long this will last....

Day at the Park with the Cousins

2011-12-30T15:17:00.000-08:00

I think my kids are officially sick of me taking their pictures. So I harassed Kate and Luke instead:)

With some help from photoshop I was finally able to get a decent picture of the 4 of them!

Christmas Day

2011-12-25T15:20:00.000-08:00

Christmas day fell on a Sunday this year so we had a very full and fun day. We woke up in the morning and opened a few gifts then headed to church. I love that Brooklyn is more excited that it's Jesus' birthday than she is to get gifts. Every party we went to she would ask if Jesus was gonna be there this time. Kind of a difficult concept at her age:) After church we went over to Nana and Grampa's house. The kids had a great time and were once again spoiled with gifts.

When we woke up in the morning we found Brooklyn sitting on the chair playing her computer. She wasn't all the interested in the presents we had waiting for her.

Pretending to be asleep...

A new backpack to keep her computer in!

Opening gifts at Nana and Grampa's...

Another great Christmas!!

Christmas Eve with Grammy & Papa

2011-12-24T15:11:00.000-08:00

This year we spend Christmas eve over at Grammy and Papa's house. Brooklyn had a great time playing with her cousins. The grown ups enjoyed a yummy prime rib dinner. Brooklyn was especially excited about getting her very own "computer"! What a great gift! It keeps her busy and she can work it herself. Dylan got a few very nice shirts, he looks so handsome in them.

Thanks Grammy!

Grammy had the cutest wrapping! A, B, C, D, E...Ava, Brooklyn, Charlotte, Dylan and Eli!

Thanks for a great day Grammy and Papa!!

Brooklyn

2011-12-23T21:49:00.000-08:00

I feel like Brooklyn has changed so much since she turned 4. It's time for a little update and what she's up to lately....

She's sassy as ever! Although along with the sass comes some pretty funny stuff. She's always cracking us up.
She has a really good imagination. She comes up with some great stories. For example this is what she said to me out of no where, "One day I'm gonna marry daddy and then you are gonna be in my tummy. And Kate and Luke are gonna be in my tummy. There will be 3 babies in my tummy. They will both be so cute!"
She begins almost every sentence with "emember?"
She is still so patient with Dylan.
She loves to wrestle.
She still calls all her baby dolls "Jacobs".
She favors a new stuffed animal every couple weeks. Right now it's the bison.
Recently she got in a little trouble for not listening. On the car ride home I told her that she was going to get a consequence when we got home. She freaked out and wanted to know what it would be. I told her that she couldn't play with her Innotab (kid version of the iPad) for the rest of the day. The water works started and she preceded to tell me that she was "too pretty" to get a consequence. Oh brother!
Speaking of the Innotab... she LOVES it. It amazes me how quickly she can figure that thing out. She carries it around in her backpack and calls it her "omputer".
She talks to anybody and everybody. By the time we're done with a shopping trip everyone in the store knows her name. In line at Disneyland she makes sure she introduces herself to everyone within ear shot. Still not shy, AT ALL!
She loves to have her daddy sing to her at bed time.
She talks about Jesus frequently.
Anytime she feels fit she tells me to "take me a picture!"
She changes her clothes 10 times a day. If she's not changing her clothes it's because she's not wearing any, also a frequent occurrence in our house.
After putting her to bed we have found her in random places. Once in our bed and once in the hallway asleep under Maddie's pillow.
She likes to scare people.
She loves preschool.
She's still in ballet/tap class and is getting really good:)
She's very social and loves to be out and around people. She never wants to be or go home.

I know there so much more about her that I always want to remember but have already forgotten some of it:( Times just goes by way to fast!!

Here are some pictures of my pretty girl...

Fun day with Kate

2011-12-21T21:09:00.000-08:00

The other day we had Kate come over to play and had a great time at the park. I was so glad that I took my camera along.

Brooklyn LOVES to swing as high as I can push her. She's always loved that feeling.

Dylan, however, prefers to barely move....

He loved it when Kate would give him a little push. It's so cute how much she loves him. She was thrilled when she made him laugh and smile.

Preschool Christmas Party 2012

2011-12-19T21:01:00.000-08:00

Brooklyn had so much fun at her preschool Christmas party and was VERY excited that I got to go and decorate her classroom. After the party was over we all went to the Chapel and the kiddos put on a super cute singing performance. Brooklyn, once again, showed that she LOVES to be in front of crowds. After each song she did a dramatic bow, she was the only one. After the show I got approached a couple times by people asking me if, "my daughter was the one that kept bowing." What a ham:)

December Happenings...

2011-12-15T20:23:00.000-08:00

December is always a very busy month. This year was no exception. Among the many get togethers were some nice nights at home enjoying our Christmas decorations and a nice cozy fire. Dylan loved the fire and would look at it and say "Hotttt!" Here are some cute pictures from a random night at home...

Peek-A-Boo!

And of course some wrestling happens every night.....

Dylan's First Hair Cut

2011-12-09T15:51:00.000-08:00

Last week we had a sad day in the Vander Molen household. At least it was sad for me, Curt couldn't be happier. It was time for Dylan to have a hair cut:( I just loved his little curls but I was sick of Curt calling him Frasier Crane. I guess it had to come some time...

Some adorable "before" pictures...

He was a trooper! Curt held him on his lap while I fed him some frozen yogurt.

And after!! He's still my handsome baby. Just looks so much older!! :(

Christmas Card "Rejects"

2011-12-02T20:38:00.001-08:00

And my very favorite.... ;)

Hanging Christmas Lights

2011-12-02T20:03:00.001-08:00

It's SO nice to have help convincing Curt to hang up the Christmas lights! It's usually pretty hard to get him out there to do it but this year he couldn't say no to Brooklyn:) She is SO excited every time she sees a house decorated.

2011-11-26T15:18:00.001-08:00

I went into the nursery at my mom's house and thought, "what great lighting, I think it's time for some pictures." I was really frustrated when the pictures came out really dark. With some camera tweaking I finally figured out how to shoot in doors without using the flash! I was so happy:) Here's the product of my practice. Not perfect but getting better!

Thanksgiving 2011

2011-11-26T15:14:00.001-08:00

We had a fun and busy Thanksgiving this year. We are usually in the desert with extended family but we decided to skip it this year and stay home. We spent Thanksgiving day with the Parker side and the day after with the Vander Molen side. I didn't do so great taking pictures but here are a few.

More practice...

2011-11-13T15:02:00.001-08:00

This blog just might turn into a record of all my practice sessions. I'm determined to take better pictures so I torture my children at least 4 times a week by taking their pictures. Brooklyn was a trooper today. She sat pretty still so I didn't have to go grab my neighbors baby who can't crawl yet:)

I had to get the pictures in between Dylan running in front of the camera. Guess he helped me practice my speed:)

He even sat still for a minute later in the day so I could get a couple...

While I am learning to actually take better pictures I am also learning the wonders of photoshop. Here a couple that didn't turn out so good but were made better with some editing.

Before

After

Before

After

I learned that there just wasn't enough light in that room to not use a flash.

And of course Brooklyn dragged me in the room to take a picture of her in her helmet.

Just because she's pretty..

2011-10-31T07:53:00.000-07:00

13 Months!

2011-10-30T22:11:00.000-07:00

I wasn't planning on doing another post only 1 month after Dylan turned one but I feel like he's changed so much in the last month that I had to write about it. The learning and growing just goes so quickly at this age!!

Here's a list of new things from the last month.

He got his 3rd tooth. Unfortunately, it is his top right outer incisor. Just like his big sister. What's with my "vampire" babies??
He walks super fast now. Not quite running but he's pretty darn close.
He points and signs "more" all the time.
He barks when you ask what the doggy says and growls when you ask what the bear says.
He's been doing this for a while now but I don't think I mentioned it in the past blogs. When I say "Dylan it's time for ni-night" he walks to his room.
He loves to put small objects into things. This makes it even harder to find objects he "misplaces".
He just started saying "baby". I LOVE it. He was doing his sign language for nursing and saying "oh baby" it was SO cute!
The separation anxiety has begun. Hopefully it's short lived.
He gained 9 ounces in the last month.

Complete devastation when we took his stick away. That face just breaks my heart!

How could you say no to that face! He was very happy when he got the stick back:)

Cutie Pie

2011-10-29T11:34:00.000-07:00

Just because he's adorable:)

A little fall photo shoot!

2011-10-28T20:43:00.000-07:00

Just some cute fall pictures of the kiddos....

Camera Practice

2011-10-25T11:18:00.000-07:00

I got a new lens for my birthday and decided to practice with some of the settings. Not perfect pictures but it helped me understand how different settings affect the pictures. And we had fun doing it:)

Cookies

2011-10-21T11:28:00.000-07:00

I decided to having a little baking session with Brooklyn. She loves helping me in the kitchen. We had a great time!

She kept asking, "can I take a lick?" She's too cute:)

Not really part of the cookie making but she wanted me to take her picture and I thought it was cute:)

Pumpkin Patch 2011

2011-10-11T15:32:00.000-07:00

This years 2nd cousins annual pumpkin patch trip was quite the spectacle. The group has certainly grown. It started off with 3 kiddos (I wasn't invited yet) and this year there was 11! It was pretty impossible to get a perfect group shot with all the kids looking good, so I had to play a little with photoshop. With some little tweaks I got a pretty good one!

Brooklyn was SO excited to have long hair! It was fun to see her flip it over her shoulder even if looking at her totally freaked me out.

Some pictures before we headed to the patch...

Some family pictures before the whole gang gathered...

Brooklyn worked up enough courage this year to go on the big slide.

Dylan had a great time running around and picking up hay.

Such a boy!!

Pumpkin Carving

2011-10-11T11:24:00.000-07:00

This is the first time that we carved a pumpkin with Brooklyn. She wasn't all the interested once we started. It ended up just being me and Curt out in the garage carving a pumpkin together. Oh well:)

This is what she did when she realized how gross it was inside the pumpkin.

And this is what she did when I put her hand in the pile of seeds.

The finished product.

Dylan's 1st Birthday Party

2011-10-01T13:21:00.000-07:00

For Dylan's 1st birthday I decided to do a Hungry Caterpillar theme. I loved these invitations! It was a lot of fun to do. I went door to door and put the invitations on people's door steps. Worth all the work!:)

I was SO excited to be able to have someone come to the party and take pictures! It was so nice to be able to enjoy the party without having to worry about getting good pictures. Erin did a fantastic job capturing all the great things that happened at the party.

A mini photo shoot before the party started.....

These "caterpillar balls" were a HUGE pain in the rear but turned out SO cute!

My caterpillar cake and cupcakes turned out exactly how I wanted them to! How did people function without the internet?! I found the best ideas for the party:)

We are SO blessed to have so many friends and family who love Dylan. We had about 60 people there! What an event. It was a blast! We had hot dogs, fruit, potato salad, pasta salad and some other goodies. Everyone brought their picnic supplies and we just hung out and enjoyed the food and each others company. We rented a bounce house for the kiddos and Curt had a bean bag game for the adults.

I wasn't sure how Dylan would do with the cake since he's not a big fan of food yet. He did GREAT! He did exactly what he was supposed to do. He demolished that cake and took a couple of tastes. I LOVED it!!

Dylan received some great gifts. He loves all his toys and his clothes are super cute. What a lucky little guy!

He was a little distracted with his toys so Brooklyn had to step in and help a little bit.

All in all a GREAT day. Lot's of work for a 1st birthday but it was the perfect way to celebrate surviving the first year.

Happy Birthday Dylan!!

He's 1!!!

2011-09-30T10:32:00.000-07:00

Why!? Why does time have to go by so fast?! It seems like just yesterday Dylan was a cuddly newborn. Time has gone by WAY faster with Dylan than it did with Brooklyn. Maybe it's the busyness of having 2 kids. Whatever it is, I don't like it!!

We celebrated his birthday at the park with family and friends. Blog to follow soon.

Here's a list of the fun things Dylan is doing these days...

He started walking right at 11 months so he has it mastered.
He attempts to run and I love it.
He still crawls if he wants to get somewhere really fast. I love watching his little booty shake back and forth.
He points at everything.
He walks around with something in both hands and his mouth all of the time.
He destroys EVERYTHING he comes across. If he walks by a table with stuff on it he'll turn around and make sure everything is off the table and then he moves on. He truly is a baby tornado.
He's still not the best eater of solid foods. But we're doing better. Cherrios have been added to his diet and he doesn't gag anymore.
His vocabulary consists of Dada, Mama, Uh Oh, Oww (which is says really loud and really high pitched), he attempts to say Brookie (Ba-k), wow, hi, bye bye and hey.
He sleeps through the night most nights.
He has a low raspy voice but can scream like a girl.
He still LOVES his mommy:)
He has the most gorgeous curly hair. Daddy wants to cut it but he's gonna have to fight me first!
He has his own sign language when he wants to nurse. He hits the back of his hand to his forehead. Not sure where this came from exactly.
He loves to pound on stuff and he does it REALLY hard.
He doesn't like people in his face and he's not afraid to push you away if you get too close.
He signs "more".
He still only has 2 little bottom teeth.
He's 22 pounds even and is at the 50th percentile. Not sure about his height.

Brooklyn's 1st Day of Preschool!!

2011-09-12T13:38:00.000-07:00

Brooklyn started preschool today, I can't believe it!! How is it possible that she is old enough for school?!? This morning was filled with a mixture of emotions. She went from excitement to apprehension within seconds of each other.

Starting off the traditional 1st day of school porch picture...

Once we got to the school she was overcome with excitement. And when she saw Luke both of them were just ecstatic.

Brooklyn and Luke stuck by each others side for only about 5 minutes then went off on their own.

Making play dough with Miss Jan.

And of course licking the table...

Playing with the play dough they just made...

She, not surprisingly, was in the dress up area the most.

Brooklyn found a friend to go have a "picnic" with. Glad to see she makes friends very easily:)

Waiting on her mat to wrap things up. She was a little apprehensive at this point. As soon as it was time to sit in one spot she was saying she wanted to go home and wouldn't let me out of her sight. It will be interesting to see how Wednesday goes when she's there all by herself.

All in all a pretty good first day! Excited to see what the year brings.

We finished off the morning by going out for a special lunch just the 3 of us!

Injured

2011-09-01T14:25:00.000-07:00

We recently had a very traumatic event in the Vander Molen household. An air conditioner vent thingy fell on Brooklyn's toe. I was in the house nursing Dylan and talking to Shanna on the phone when I heard a scream from the garage. Something in the tone of the scream told me that it was real this time. I put the phone down and ran into the garage mid feed. I looked down at her foot and all I could see was her toe with a small puddle of blood under it. I picked her up and brought her into the house and set her down so I could put Dylan in the play pen. I then carried her to the counter (all while blood was dripping all over the floor). I calmly told her that she had a bad owie and that we needed to go to the doctor so he could fix it. She was not happy about this. She kept insisting that it would get better by itself. Broke my heart! My mom came over to stay with Dylan and we met Curt down at Willow Urgent Care. The sight of me holding her with a very bloody paper towel was enough for them to take us right back. After cleaning it and making sure there was no damage to the tendons the doctor put one stitch in it. The worst part was when he had to numb it, but Brooklyn did great. We told her it was okay to cry and scream but she needed to hold still. The doctor was SO impressed with her (and mommy and daddy). After they took some x-rays (which were fine) we headed home. Then of course Brooklyn got spoiled with some TLC. The only time she has complained is when we've cleaned it. She never says it hurts and just goes about her business with a slight limp. I have to force her to take a break and put it up to ice it. The doctor says she'll heal just fine with a slight scar and possibly some nail damage. Let's hope her nail keeps growing!!

Here are some pictures, captured with my cell phone, of the injury....

Day 1

Her froggy ice pack.

Day 2

Day 3

2011-08-31T11:42:00.000-07:00

Just some fun pictures of my bathing beauties!!

11 Months

2011-08-30T14:04:00.000-07:00

It's true Dylan is 11 months! Which means he's only a month away from turning 1!! How is this happening?!? He's changing daily. He has a great personality and is still super easy going. He's happy most of the time. However, this month his little temper has decided to make an appearance. Out of no where he can let out the loudest frustrated scream. It's actually pretty funny. He loves to throw around balls and I'm impressed at his skill in doing so. He's got a really good arm! He's still not walking but has taken a few steps. The longest he's gone is about 6 feet. He gets around really fast by crawling and seems pretty content. Fine by me!! He loves to wave and say bye bye (ba ba). His limited vocabulary consists of daddy, mommy (bobby), hi, bye bye and he does the "what's that?" whisper. He cracks me up when he throws his head back and does this throaty fake laugh. These days he's weighing in at 22 pounds. He is still primarily breastfed but has started to eat some yogurt. That's it for him..breastmilk and yogurt. Hopefully we can get him eating so he can enjoy some birthday cake in a month!

Some pictures of my baby boy...

He loves to play on this chair. He climbs up on it, leans against the wall, rocks back and forth, sits down and rocks some more.

Love his rolls!!

Seriously, look at this face!! I could just eat it up!!

VBS 2011

2011-08-06T11:34:00.000-07:00

This was Brooklyn's first year going to VBS (vacation Bible school) and she had a blast! I was a little concerned at first because she was separated from her cousins but it turned out fine. She's a pretty outgoing little girl and did well at just going with the flow. She was one of the youngest in her group and definitely the smallest (as shown in the following pictures).

Waiting patiently for VBS to start...

Showing off her "light up" shoes to her friend Jordan.

Her favorite part of the week was the cupcakes. Of course.

It was sad watching her play a "keep the balloon off the ground game" because she was too short to be the first to hit the balloon but she didn't seem phased at all!:)

She had a great time all week long and is already talking about doing it again next year!

Dylan is 10 Months

2011-08-01T15:34:00.000-07:00

Dylan is 10 months and I've seen so many changes in the last month. First of all, he got his first tooth followed by the second a couple weeks later. Now he's got the cutest 2 little bottom teeth! I love that!
He's much more interactive now. His game playing is in full force. He loves peek-a-boo, crawling away while you chase him, making funny faces/noises and pretending to go to sleep on the floor.
He's not walking yet but loves to cruise around furniture and push anything that moves around the room.
He hasn't gained much weight over the last few months. At his 9 1/2 month doctors appointment he weighed 21lbs7oz.
There was the discussion with the doctor about him possibly needing speech therapy secondary to his VERY sensitive gag reflex. His only source of nutrition is me! He has no interest in baby food and gags (then throws up) when he has anything solid. I've tried everything! He has 2 months to get his act together:)
He's such a joy to have around and makes us laugh every day. He laughs so easily now and has the BEST smile. I just love his little lips and could kiss them all day long. He gives me the best open mouth baby kisses ever!

Look at the lips!

The longer his hair gets the curlier it gets.

Playing "nigh-night"

San Clemente 2011

2011-07-24T11:05:00.000-07:00

This year we had to do our annual summer San Clemente trip a little early due to Brooklyn starting preschool in September. We love going in September to avoid the crowds but I must say the weather was WAY nicer in July. We were limited on our activities due to Dylan's age but we had a great time just hanging out at the trailer and going for walks.

How could you not enjoy just hanging out at camp with this view!!

This is how we got Dylan down to the beach. He enjoyed the ride:)

Dylan didn't last very long at the beach. He was actually kinda grossed out by the sand. Brooklyn, however, had a great time.

We were able to make it down to the Dana Point tide pools. Dylan enjoyed his ride in the back pack..

Brooklyn had a great time running and jumping in the waves.

All in all a GREAT vacation!!

4th of July 2011

2011-07-04T10:40:00.000-07:00

This year for July 4th we celebrated with our friends the Nichols'. They had us over for yummy dinner and dessert. We had a great time hanging out at their house then we headed down to the beach to watch the fire works. We had a great day!

A little photo session before heading out....

We had to get a picture of the kids out on the bench outside. It was a lot harder this year...

Two new additions to this years picture!!

Shanna and the kids joined us since John was at work. That was an even harder picture to get!!

Dylan is 9 Months!

2011-06-30T10:38:00.000-07:00

Dylan has entered my favorite stage. Can I please freeze time?!? He's at the age where his personality is in full force, he's happy almost ALL the time, he sleeps relatively well at night, takes 2-3 naps a day, does not talk back or defy me and is over all pleasant. Love it!
Some fun facts about my baby boy...

He has a smile that lights up the room.
His lips are SO kissable!
He's such a boy. Loves to wrestle and rough house.
He loves to bang toys together.
He loves footballs, basketballs and soccer balls.
He can crawl at light speed.
He loves to carry around toys in his hand while he crawls so they make noise on the wood floors.
He is SO proud of himself when he goes into his room and gets his pacie out of his crib.
He likes to "hide" from me throughout the house.
He gets stuck under and behind things at least 5 times a day.
He thinks it's hilarious when he's doing something he shouldn't and I say "no".
As soon as he sees the garage door open he bolts for it.
He goes down stairs head first with precision and little effort. Only once in a while he falls on his face:)
He can walk while holding onto furniture.
He does not understand that if he dives off of high furniture he will hurt himself. I've caught him by his legs more times than I can count.
He can spot tiny objects on the ground from across the room. He will then put them in his mouth and choke on them. As a result I have done the Heimlich maneuver on him multiple times.
He's still solely breastfed. While he puts everything in his mouth he has no interest in edible objects. Just paper.
He now takes a bottle!!
He's 21 lbs and 28 inches. That puts him at 50th percentile.
He LOVES Brooklyn. While he is a lot easier to make laugh, all Brooklyn has to do is look at him and he starts cracking up.
His hair is curly.
He'll be playing quietly and then all of a sudden let out, what I call, a "warrior cry".
He's in the stage where he throws everything down on the ground just to watch you pick it up. Fun fun.
He never stops moving.
He likes to blow raspberries and make a clicking noise with his tongue.
Even when he falls over he smiles or laughs about it.
Every time I rock him for sleep he puts his forehead against mine for a few seconds.

I love this kid to death and I'm enjoying every moment that I'm allowed to make him a Momma's boy:)

Bees

2011-06-28T10:18:00.000-07:00

We had some visitors in our backyard the other day. My worst nightmare. Brooklyn was playing outside and I took Dylan out to dip his feet in the water. I looked up to see a swarm of bees in the tree above my head. As calmly as I was able I got Brook in the house and grabbed the camera to take some pictures from the safety of our back door. So with Dylan in one arm and my camera in the other I looked down to see one crawling on Brooklyn's neck. I quickly and calmly put the camera down and right as I was about to get it off her she heard it and freaked out. I thought it got her but after further investigation I came to the conclusion that I got it off her before the stinger was able to puncture her skin and it was just resting on her neck.

This is what I thought was the bee hive but what turned out to actually be just a bunch of bees hanging on each other.

Curt went to Lowe's to get some bee killer but before he used it I made him call a bee hotline. As he was on the phone with them and they were telling him that it wasn't a hive and that they would probably leave with in 24 hours they had started to fly away in a swarm. I can't write this blog with out itching. Gross!

On a lighter note, enjoy a video of what happened during our walk....

Brooklyn's Dance Recital

2011-06-18T09:47:00.000-07:00

I'm pretty sure this is the most excited I've ever seen Brooklyn. She could not wait for her dance recital! Every day she said, "Do I get to dance on the stage today??" They had a dress rehearsal and the next Saturday was the actual recital. So she had a taste of what the show would be like. On the way to drop her off back stage she was literally dragging me by the arm. She couldn't get there quick enough! Her teacher even said she has never seen anyone so excited for the recital:) The volunteers who watch them back stage gave me a "good luck" when I picked her up and mentioned that she was very "spirited." She has an abundance of energy.

Some pictures in her pretty costume..

After the recital she was greeted by family and given a bunch of flowers. She felt so special!

Her fans:) ( Auntie Kari came too but I didn't get a picture)

Brooklyn did an awesome job. She knew the dance really well when she was by herself but would get thrown off looking at the other girls. She had a very serious expression the whole time because she was looking for people in the audience. She said she couldn't see any people because the lights were too bright. At the actual recital she didn't smile until the curtains started closing and she could hear the audience clapping:)
These are the videos of the rehearsal...

8 Month/4 Year Photo Shoot

2011-06-03T19:58:00.000-07:00

Brooklyn is 4 and Dylan is 8 months! I think that calls for a photo shoot!

Dylan hasn't accomplished any huge milestones this month. However, his personality is really starting to show! He's a fun loving, happy little guy. Oh, he does LOVE to wrestle. He tackles any stuffed animals and growls and bites it. He also loves it when Brooklyn gently tackles him. What a boy! I love him to pieces!!

Brooklyn's Desk

2011-06-01T11:25:00.000-07:00

One day I couldn't find Brooklyn. She was in her room with the door closed with all her coloring stuff on the floor. I asked her why she was in there and she said that Dylan was trying to eat her crayons. I decided that for her birthday I would get her her own desk to do all her coloring on. I put the word out to family and friends to keep theirs eyes out for a desk at garage sales. Grammy and Papa found a perfect desk and Curt and I (ok, mostly Curt) refinished it. The desk idea turned into quite the family affair. We did the desk, Grammy and Papa did the chair, Uncle Jim painted the knobs and Auntie Shanna made a cork board for her to hang all her creations on. What a great birthday gift!!

Uncle Jim did a fantastic job painting the knobs! I LOVE them!

"Love, Uncle Jim" So cute!

The finished product!

She loves having her own space.

"Nope Dylan, you can't reach!"

Brooklyn's 4th Birthday

2011-05-31T11:23:00.000-07:00

Since we had already celebrated Brooklyn's birthday the day before, we kept her actual birthday pretty low key. We, of course, still did the traditional birthday donut. Brooklyn insisted on eating it outside where she had her birthday cake the previous day.
She had a hard time grasping the fact that she is actually 4 now. She's been talking about turning 4 since she turned 3. She kept saying, "I'm not 4 yet! If it was 4 then I'd be at school!" She's too funny!

Just a lazy day at home..

Some fun things I want to remember about Brooklyn...

Every year it amazes me that she gets even weirder.
She loves to watch Dora on my "umputer".
She adores Dylan.
She's now figuring out that she can actually play with him. The other day I caught her with a rope tied around his leg. She said she was going to walk him like a kitty cat. A couple things wrong with that picture...
She says funny things ALL the time. I wish I was better about writing then down as they happen.
She has names all her baby dolls "Jacobs".
She thinks that she'll be a baby again one day. One time after she was talking about being a baby again I tried to explain to her that she'll just get bigger not smaller. I said, "You're not going to be a baby again. You'll just get bigger. Next you'll be 4 and start preschool, then 5 and start kindergarten, then you'll go to 1st grade, then you'll go to junior high, then high school, then you'll graduate and go to college and then you'll get married and have babies." She just stared at me the whole time I was talking and replied, "Well, that sounds fun."
She calls any random older people grandma or grandpa. We'll be in Target and I'll hear her say, "Hi Grandma!" They're not always amused.
She still has NO modesty. Before she gets in the bath she has to run into the family room naked to show us her bunsies. The problem is that she does it even if we have company.
She LOVES her dance class and seems to be a natural:)
She's never really liked sleeping in our bed at night till recently. Now she wants to be in our bed and cuddle. She likes to fall asleep with my arm over her chest.
She's a petite little thing. She finally hit 30 pounds though! She's 37.5 inches.
She talks about going to school all the time. She says, "I'm so excited to go to school!! But I'm going to miss you. It's ok though you can leave me there, just pick me up."
She loves figuring out who peoples parents are. For example she'll say, "Grammy, who's your mom? Is it Grandma fish?" Or "Nana who's your dad? Is it Bapa?" She's got it pretty well figured out.
She loves to be out and around people.
She's VERY outgoing and not shy at all. She's got a great little personality. She makes me laugh everyday.

How did she get so big?!?

Happy Birthday Brooklyn!

Brooklyn's 4th Birthday Party

2011-05-30T19:48:00.000-07:00

This year we tried to keep Brooklyn's birthday party relatively small by just inviting immediate family (and Brooklyn's best friend Teagan of course). She had a great time. We had yummy nachos, hot dogs and fruit. Nice and simple. At Brooklyn's request we ended the party with some yummy ice cream cake.
We decided to rent a bounce house to keep the kids entertained. They had tons of fun!

The guests seemed to enjoy the food:)

Baby August even got to join the fun. He's hiding inside the Baby Bejorn:)

Brooklyn was SO excited to have her cake with candles on it. And even more excited with she realized that I was going to let her lick them!

The rest of the kids seemed to enjoy their ice cream too.

Brooklyn got some awesome gifts!

Dylan was there too.

What a great day!

Palm Desert May 2011

2011-05-18T11:01:00.000-07:00

This year we spent Mother's Day in Palm Desert. Curt took a whole week of work off so we could have plenty of time relaxing and swimming. The first half of the trip was not exactly what we wanted. Dylan had a fever and was miserable from Saturday till probably Wednesday morning. A trip to the E.R. was NOT what we had planned for the week. Long story short, by Tuesday his fever broke and by Wednesday the rash appeared. Mommy's diagnosis of Roseola was correct. In your face stupid E.R. doctor!
The rest of the trip was as relaxing as can be expected with 2 young children.

Brooklyn is still quite the chicken in the pool. By the last day she finally figured out that she could float with a life jacket on and had a blast. Before that she stayed safely on the stairs.

This is how Dylan looked the majority of the time for the first few days. Poor baby:(

The rash.

Once he was feeling better he really enjoyed the water.

We passed time by taking rides in the Jacobs' golf cart. The kids loved it:)

The sprinklers went on out on the golf coarse. Next thing we know it Brook's got her pants off and is running toward the sprinklers on the grass. What a weirdo!

A pretty good second half of the trip!

7 Months!

2011-04-30T20:21:00.000-07:00

Dylan is 7 months! It's amazing how much a baby can learn in such a short period of time. With a couple months of crawling under his belt he's now SUPER fast. With that, comes a lot of owies. His poor little forehead is covered in little bruises. He LOVES to climb. I often have to run over to him as he's climbing on one thing to get up to another. I can't keep him away from the stairs. He likes to climb up them and then turn around and take a header off of them. He's already fallen down them more times than Brooklyn has! If there's something dangerous in the room he'll find it. He's such a boy!

I decided to give baby food a try this month. I've been making it myself which has turned out to be not only easy but fun! He doesn't hate it but doesn't seem to love it either. So every few days we try a little bit. So far, he's had squash, sweet potatoes and pears. His favorite seems to be the sweet potatoes. He gagged on the pears:)

Just like Brooklyn he does not laugh easily. Once in a while he'll give out a tiny giggle or grunty laugh. He smiles constantly and always looks like he's about to bust up but doesn't. The other day Brooklyn really got him going in the bath. I'm SO glad I caught it on video!

Our impromptu 7 month photo shoot...

Look at that chub

Easter 2011

2011-04-30T20:02:00.000-07:00

We had a great Easter this year! Unfortunately, I did not do a great job of taking pictures.

After church we came home and I told Brooklyn that a bunny came to our house while we were gone and left a basket for her and hid all the eggs that she and Kate had made. The look on her face was priceless!

After our home activities were over we headed over to the Tanis' house to celebrate with the DeYoung/Vander Molen family. We enjoyed yummy food and a fun Easter egg hunt.

We finished the day at my parents house. That's when I really failed with the picture taking:(

Easter Eggs 2011

2011-04-23T15:28:00.001-07:00

This year Kate joined us for Easter egg dyeing. They were SUPER excited.

Waiting patiently for the eggs to finish...

They decide they needed a break to stretch and practice some ballet:)

They were so happy when the eggs were dry enough to be decorated with stickers...

Posing with their favorite ones!

6 Months!

2011-03-31T07:32:00.000-07:00

How is it even possible?!? I'll probably say it every month. I can't believe Dylan is __ months old!! It seems like he went from a newborn to a crawler over night! He has changed so much in his 6th month. He's all over the place, crawling like it's his job (I guess it kinda is). He loves outlets, wires and the stairs. Such a boy! He can pull himself up on short objects and stand holding on for quite a while. He's not super coordinated yet so I have to watch him carefully. He's even started to wrestle a little bit. He'll attack Brooklyn's skirts and his stuffed animals. He lays on top of them and growls and bites. So cute! He's such a happy baby and smiles all the time. The only complaint is that he doesn't giggle!! He'll give us a little grunty laugh but has only really giggled for Brooklyn a couple times. And I'm really funny! He's still a very easy baby. He only really cries when he's hungry or tired. Although, when I'm at work he'd rather wait to nurse than take a bottle. The boy will go hours without eating! He's not the best sleeper, he gets up every 3-4 hours. I'm hoping he'll be growing out of that soon! If I had to guess a future occupation is would be drummer. He loves to bang on things and is constantly squealing.
I now remember how much I loved this stage with Brooklyn. From this point till about 2 is my favorite! I'm looking forward to how he's going to amaze me in the coming months!

They LOVE each other!!

Monkey Crawl 2

2011-03-24T13:24:00.000-07:00

I'm seeing a pattern....

5 1/2 Months!

2011-03-21T14:21:00.000-07:00

I missed Dylan's 5 month post. It's ok though because things got more exciting at 5 1/2 months. He mastered crawling! He's been practicing since he turned 4 months. My days have gotten busier trying to keep him out of stuff. He caught me off guard. I was not prepared for him to crawl already. My house needs to be re-baby proofed. If I had a choice I would have had him wait a little bit for this milestone. But I'm still a proud Momma!
Dylan continues to be a happy easy-going baby. He's full of smiles and little laughs. He has such a boy laugh and saves his giggles for Brooklyn. So far, she's the only one who has gotten him to really give out a good giggle.

Here's some cute pictures of Dylan at about 5 months.

Here's the first video we got of him crawling...

Dylan tolerates Brooklyn bugging him constantly. He even seems to like it!!

He's starting to get her back:) They're almost the same size!

Valentine's 2011

2011-02-19T13:12:00.000-08:00

This year we celebrated Valentine's over the whole weekend. The Saturday before I took Brookie to a party at church. They played games, made crafts, and decorated cookies. Of course Brook was most excited about the cookie part. I left for a little bit and apparently all she could talk about was when she was gonna get to decorate the cookies. Not surprising.
Dylan stayed with Daddy. They ran some errands and hung out in the garage.

Brooklyn called Kate ahead of time and they planned to wear the same tutus and matching hair.

Sun love.... :)

All Brooklyn cared about was eating the cookies so Kate had to help her decorate.

Waiting to pick up the craft they made.

When we got home I had these beautiful roses waiting for me.

On Valentine's day we wrapped and decorated Daddy's present. Brooklyn wanted to make him a "heart card" so we did that too.

My "future heart breaker" wasn't really into it.

The finished products....

All in all a pretty good day:)

Almost Crawling!

2011-02-12T15:23:00.000-08:00

When Dylan's pediatrician told me that he would be an active kid he wasn't kidding!! At 4 1/2 months he has mastered rolling both ways and is trying his best to crawl. Curt thinks he will be crawling by next week, I'm hoping he's wrong.

Oh, and he's completely mastered spitting up all day....

Big Things

2011-02-10T07:12:00.000-08:00

Brooklyn has had many new exciting things going on in her life lately. One minor thing (big to her) is losing her pacie. We had plans for the pacie fairy to come but days before, it went missing. To this day I have no idea where it is. Maybe the pacie fairy does exist! To celebrate I took Brooklyn to go get ice cream and pick out a toy of her choice. After some yummy chocolate ice cream she picked her first Barbie doll.

Brooklyn is now officially registered for preschool. She won't be starting till the fall but we took her for a little meeting with the director and a tour of the classes. To say she was excited would be an understatement. She ran around each class checking out everything in it. She would exclaim, "that is so cool" about pretty much everything. She was even excited about the little toilet and little sink. I'm hesitant and excited for this phase in life to start. I really think she will enjoy school but it's sad to think she's old enough to go.

Lately she seems to be getting a little bored being at home most days. I thought it was perfect timing to put her in a dance class. Yesterday was her first day. She was ecstatic! You'd think she knew exactly what I was taking her to. She ran in there like she owned the place. Other than occasionally having trouble following directions and paying attention to the teacher (she was too busy looking at herself in the mirror), she has some real potential:) When she actually copied what the teacher was doing she had excellent form. I give credit to the dancing girl on Little Einsteins and her cousin Kate:)

Right away she ran into the class to check herself out in the mirror. No hesitation with leaving me.

I had a hard time getting pictures since I had to take them through a window that had the blinds down. I did the best I could.

She was supposed to be stretching her legs like everyone else. Instead, she had to be right in the middle of the circle.

Changing into her tap shoes. She can't wait to go buy some for herself. Those were a little too big.

She didn't appreciate the loud music.

Look at that form!

4 Months!

2011-02-02T14:16:00.001-08:00

Dylan is 4 months. He's still such an easy going, happy and energetic baby. He's mastered rolling from front to back. He wants to crawl desperately. He's really strong. He holds himself up on all fours. He has his hands in his mouth constantly. He loves his paci and HATES the bottle. Currently not sleeping as well at night. He gets up around 2:30 and 6, not too bad though. He loves to take his naps swaddled on the couch. And he loves his mommy:)
I took him to his 4 month check up. Doctor gave him a clean bill of health. He weighs 17 lbs 11 oz and his over 25 inches. That puts him in the 95th percentile. Big boy!!

He found his toes...

He's most entertained by his sister. If you watch closely he jumps a little in the middle of the video. That's what cracks Brooklyn up:)

"Grandma Fish's Mountain Trip"

2011-01-26T16:19:00.000-08:00

Last weekend we decided to take a little "getaway" to Curt's grandparent's cabin. We hadn't been there since before Brooklyn was born. It sure is different going up there with kids. We weren't able to do much. We mostly hung out in the cabin and went for walks. Brooklyn had a great time. She called it Gramma fish's cabin (that's what she calls Curt's grandma). I can't wait to go back. Curt doesn't really think it was worth all the work to get up there, but I disagree. It was nice just to get away.

Dylan's favorite thing to do was stare at the ceiling....

and sleep in the jogger..

There are streams on both sides of the cabin. So nice to hear it, there was quite a bit of water going down from the previous snow.

Brooklyn and I went for a little "hike" up the side of the cabin and I made the mistake of telling her we couldn't go any farther because there might be bears. All of a sudden I felt a tugging on my arm, she was out of there!
This is her scared face:)

Unfortunately, the only snow that was there was the dirty kind on the side of the road. Brooklyn still had fun playing in it. Although, she did keep asking if we could go find some clean snow.

Photo shoot on the deck.

This is what we got when we said it was time to go. She just loved it there!! Hopefully we'll go back soon!!

Brooklyn.....

2011-01-18T14:19:00.000-08:00

Something happened to Brooklyn when she turned 3. To say that she has been a challenge would be an understatement. Along with asserting her independence, she has been sassy, contrary, stubborn, hyper, etc. I am happy to say that with consistent discipline (including "sassy spray" water/vinegar mixture) things are looking up. She still has her difficult moments (who doesn't) but overall has made an improvement in her behavior.
Although, at times, she has made me want to pull my hair out she has always made me laugh. So instead of making the blog post negative I'm going to highlight all the things I love about her....
Part of her asserting her independence includes getting her self dressed. Most Sunday mornings she insists on picking her dress. One Sunday I relinquished some control and let her dress herself. We showed up with her in her puffy Easter dress, "fur" jacket, boots and sunglasses. One word described how she looked that morning, diva!

She's silly!

She has a HUGE imagination. All day long we are pretending. She says things like, "I'm the mom you're the little girl." I've had to play a lot of different rolls throughout the day.

The Jacobs family got her a chest full of princess dresses for Christmas. She wears them every single day.

She's a girly-girl. Loves to play dress up, try on clothes at the store and have her nails painted.

She is an extrovert. She'll talk to anybody. When we're out in public she'll tell a perfect stranger all about herself. Example "Hi my name is Brooklyn! I have blue eyes. I have a baby brother. His name is Dylan. He's SO cute. He's getting bigger bigger bigger. I was a butterfly for Halloween."
We went to the grocery store just the two of us the other day. I let her push her own little shopping cart and she loved it. She was so polite, saying excuse me to anyone that was in her way. Except to one man in particular who cut her off. Then she loudly said, "Excuse you!" When she says it it sounds like, "Scew you!" Embarrassing.
We've been talking about "stranger danger" lately. I'm scared that she would walk away with anyone who asked. So we've been acting out scenarios together. Me-"Hey little girl do you want some candy?" B-"No stranger, I do not want candy! It might hurt my tummy. Then I run away." It took some convincing, she LOVES candy. Now she asks permission to talk to strangers. That's progress.
So shy...

I'd have to say that the thing I love most about Brooklyn, right now, is how much she loves Dylan. She is constantly talking to him, singing to him, kissing him and putting his pacie in his mouth. She tells me how much she loves him and brags about him often. She helps as much as you can expect a 3 year old to help. She'll make a great mommy one day!

It's exciting and sad to see her grow up. She's been telling me that she's ready to go to school with Luke and Wyatt now. I tell her that she can't go until she's four and that I'll miss her. Her response, "Don't worry mommy, I'll come home Sundays." I wish I could freeze time!

Photoshop

2011-01-17T21:22:00.000-08:00

Curt got our family photoshop for Christmas. It's pretty complicated so I've found that I need to play around in order to figure it out. Here's one of my "creations".

Pretty cute:)

Any resemblance??

2011-01-16T14:37:00.000-08:00

Here's a picture of Dylan and Brooklyn at exactly the same age, in the same spot and on the same seat. Is there any resemblance at all?? I don't see any!!

Picnic at the Beach

2011-01-09T14:03:00.000-08:00

We had to miss church again this week. Brooklyn still has a pretty productive cough. While I don't think she's contagious and didn't want to freak any parents out. We decided to get out a little and have a picnic at the beach. It was kinda cold at first and then the sun came out and it turned into a beautiful day. And, of course, a great photo opportunity.

Brooklyn wasn't cooperating..

My handsome boy...