Determination

Jackson LOVES his binkie! We have been trying to wean him by hiding it while he is playing and give it to him during naps and at night. That isn't going to stop him. And neither is shutting the door to his bedroom to keep him out of his bedroom.

Just Grandpa and Me

Christmas Night at Grandpa Dale's

After a delicious dinner, Grandpa prepared a wonderful program for us.

Merry Christmas

On the way home from preschool one day, I was trying to guess what Sam got me for Christmas. The wrapped package on his lap was the size of a small book, so I was guessing things that obviously wouldn't fit, like refrigerators, a dog, a plant, etc. My next guess was a new brush, because mine had recently broken. Sam's response was, "Mom you are teasing me! How did you know that dad and I got you some new brushes and hid them in a box in dad's office?"

Cheesy!

While Tim and Haley were in town we took the boys to Chuck E Cheese. I don't know who had more fun, the little boys or the big boys.

Afterwards we hit up Winger's for some much craved amazing sauce. Though at the end of the day we all felt like this...

Nerf War

Grandma and Grandpa Dorman got all the "big" boys nerf guns and thus began the war. Grandpa Dale even got in on some target practice. Jackson was content being ammo coordinator.

Pretzel Thief

5 1/2 pounds of caramel

6 pounds of chocolate

7 bags of large pretzel rods

10 hours dipping

1 little man who has learned to move chairs around the house to get what he wants

So Glad

we don't have to cut down our Christmas tree in 12 degree weather every year.

Forts and Sleepovers

Sam and Laura have been talking and planning and scheming a sleepover at each others houses. On the drives to and from preschool, they discuss what toys they will bring, what pjs they will wear (or in Laura's case which 20 different outfits she will bring), what stuffed animals they will sleep with and every other detail a sleepover entails. Unfortunately, we haven't been able to get them together yet.

Fortunately for Sam, Grandma helped him make this giant fort in the family room and Jordan and him were able to spend the night in it.

Thanks to Aunt Jordy

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

White Christmas

Brandon and I were able to go to White Christmas with his parents. It was a great way to kick off the holiday season. White Christmas has been one of our family favorite movies. Brandon and I first watched it when we were dating and Sam loves watching it year round. The play was a little different than the movie, but still very good. Sam was bummed when he found out which play we went to (we told him we were going to a play, just didn't tell him which one.) The first question he asked, "Did they have the big Christmas tree and all the little girls and boys?" We will have to take him when he is a little older.

Run and Jump

What started with some crazy boys and a down comforter has turned into hours of enjoyment. Though the videos don't fully portrait it, the boys will spend hours running across the house or jumping off the couch onto the futon pad covered in pillows and blankets. But for some reason every time I pull out the camera they just want their photo taken. We will keep on trying. The best is when we can get them on a video chat on the computer. They love to show off.

Think your house is a mess?

Hope you feel better.

This mess is since gone, well, most of it at least. Our beautiful floors are in. The boys have been testing out all the different versions of slipping and sliding. It is a great sliding floor. Now we are just waiting for the trim to arrive and this project will be ready to wrap up. Hopefully in time for Christmas.

Samisms

E: Sam we need to cut your hair.

S: Mom, only scissors not the mower (clippers). Mowing the hair is not a good idea.

S: Why did the horse eat the cat?

Because the horse was hungry.

B: Why was the mom so smiley?

S: Because the son said something nice.

My hairdryer broke this Sunday halfway through drying my hair. Sam told me, "Mom, we should say a prayer to ask Heavenly Father to make a big wind and you can go outside and dry your hair." So we did. Later that evening it did get winding and Sam said his prayer worked. Luckily my hair was already dry, so he didn't make me go outside in the cold.

Demolition Zone

So we took on the big plunge and decided to do some remodeling. We picked out a beautiful walnut hardwood floor to put in the entry, hallway, kitchen and family room. The wood was delivered, demolition began and we were scheduled to have the new floors installed three days later. Then everything came to a complete and utter halt.

Amist demo, Brandon noticed some dents on the new wood we had laid out. Not just little ones, but LOTS of BIGS dents. The boys had been "helping" Brandon pull up trim with their plastic toy tools and in return left their "mark."

So what to do next? Continue and become floor nazis or start all over? We immediately posted the hardwood on criagslist, not knowing if we could return it to the store. The next morning we went back to the store, found out we could exchange it for something different, looked at every different type of floor and came home with a dozen samples.

So our kitchen has had different samples tucked underneath the cabinets. We finally narrowed it down to our top two. Acacia and a Hickory with a taupe stain. Both would work with our existing cabinetry and are gorgeous. But the more I looked at them the more they looked the same and yet so different. I am not very decisive to begin with and it took me forever, but we finally made a decision.

So the wood has been ordered and we are just playing the waiting game now. But this is what we get to wait with...

Can't wait for our new non-plywood floors!

Which one would you have picked?

Halloween 2009

We took the boys to the LAMEST trunk or treat in the history of the world. A total of 20 cars were present for the 3 ward activity. And most of them were leaving when we arrived. The boys got some candy then we headed to get some pizza and home to eat. Brandon and I were party poopers and just plain pooped, so we let the boys hand out candy and we hung out a home. Maybe we will get out next year.

Brown's Halloween Party

Friday night we went to Brandon's Uncle Cory and Aunt Lisa's annual Halloween party. Wouldn't miss it for anything. I think this year also had the best spook alley.

Christmas Sweater

Brandon has another children's book in bookstores today. The Christmas Sweater is authored by Glenn Beck, who also has a video on his website.

You can also order it online here.

Halloween Party

We got together with some of our friends from Enumclaw and threw a little Halloween party for the kids. We had some fun games, decorated pumpkins and cupcakes, trick or treated from door to door, and had PB &J's cut in Halloween shapes.

We didn't get a photo of the all the kids before they started stripping away the costumes during the playing, but Sam was a fireman, Jackson a monkey (in more than one way), Taiya and McKenzie were ladybugs with Alexis "Bumble" Bee, Brynne was a pioneer princess, and Chloe was the cutest bat.

Fun foam, our kid friendly pumpkin decor.

Emily the FAT Pumpkin, Carol the Gypsy, Lori the Clown, Jessi as Tinkerbell and Stephanie.

This was the first time I have seen Carol on her prosthetics. She did an amazing job maneuvering around the house and has the best attitude towards the situation. I don't know if I could be as positive as she is. She is just plain amazing.

Pumpkin Patch 2009

This year we joined Sam's preschool field trip for our visit to the pumpkin patch. Hence the lovely bright red shirts. We had fun with the "other Dormans" as we went on the tractor ride, picked out little pumpkins, explored the farm and tried to maneuver around all the mud puddles. It had rained for several days before and was luckily dry with the side effect of mud everywhere.

You can see these giant hay spiders from the road and every time we pass by the farm Sam freaks out with excitement when he sees them. He was too excited to ring the bell and play the drums that he didn't really want pose for a photo and Jackson was having too much fun jumping in the puddles.

I don't know what was said, but I love Laura's pout in this photo. The kids were all ready for a nap so we called it a day and headed to the car where we stripped the kids of anything muddy. Which was about anything from the waist down.