Ticklish

Layton may not look a whole lot like me, but he does at least have one trait that he definitely inherited from me. He is very very ticklish. Just like me, he is ticklish on his belly, around his neck, on his legs and feet, even along his back. His little laugh is so cute to me. Just hearing him laugh makes me laugh too.

Big Bugs and Baby Bugs

Ever since we started going to the museum this summer, Dallin has been begging to show Daddy the big bug display that they have going on right now. We finally got to go all together as a family last week and Dallin was so happy to be able to show off the bugs to Daddy. Dallin is so funny about it though. He has a kind of love-hate relationship with the bugs. He is absolutely fascinated by them, but he is also quite scared of them. This is kind of understandable because the bugs are huge and they move and make noises. Dallin is particularly fascinated by the praying mantis, but it was just about all we could do to get him to stand in front of it to take a picture. Mandy is pretty scared of them too, but she still likes them. It is funny how kids seem to enjoy being scared. And then there is our little baby bug Layton. He is such a little spoiled bug. We brought a stroller along to push him around in, but as you can see from the pictures, he didn't spend a whole lot of time in it.

Each time that we visit the museum, Dallin and Mandy insist on visiting Friendship Fountain as well. They think it is so much fun to see the water spraying into the air. Dallin refers to it as the Whale Fountain, because he thinks that the water being shot into the air looks just like the water a whale spouts into the air. We love spending time together as a family and we try to do things together every chance we get.

Little Devils

This little gem of a photo was orchestrated by none other than the lead little devil himself, my sweetie Nathan. Sometimes he acts as much a kid as they really are. And truthfully, I love that. I love that he plays with them and has fun with them. That to me is what makes him a great dad and that is why they love him.

Musical Moment

Dallin and Mandy decided to put on a little music show for me. They were so proud of themselves that they actually asked me to record them. Immediately after recording them, they wanted to watch themselves. So we have now watched this little clip of video about 20 times already.

Nightmares

Dallin doesn't usually wake up during the night, but a few days ago he did. He came out of his room and woke me up to tell me that he had a bad dream. He wanted to know if he could sleep with me, but I am not too thrilled at having a child that moves around and kicks in his sleep in the bed with me. I told him that he would have to go back to his bed and so he began to whine. And everyone that knows Dallin knows that he is a champion whiner. So I thought for a moment about what I could do to get him to go back to bed and I told him that we could say a prayer and ask Heavenly Father to help him not to have any more bad dreams. At that suggestion, Dallin stopped whining and we knelt down and he said the prayer. Then without another whine, he gave me a kiss and went right back to bed. In the morning, he got up and told me that he had not had any more bad dreams and that Heavenly Father had "protected" him from the bad dreams. Since that night I have been thinking a lot about how pure and simple Dallin's faith is. No wonder we have been told to become as a little child. Dallin believed that Heavenly Father would help him, and He did. It leads me to think that perhaps if I exercised my faith the way that Dallin did then I would receive more answers to my prayers.

Terrified

I know I am probably a bad mom. Instead of immediately wrapping up my scared little girl in my arms, I take a few moments to take a picture of her misery. I just couldn't help it because it really is rather funny. This picture was taken a few days ago right at the end of Mandy's nap. She was asleep and a big storm came up and it started to thunder pretty loudly. At one particularly loud clap of thunder, Mandy came busting out of her room screaming for me. She was in such a panic that she ran right past me sitting on the couch. So what do I do? I grab the camera and when I finally get her attention after she has run through every room in the house, I snap her picture. Then afterwards I played the good mommy and comforted her, all the while trying not to laugh at how she looked running through the house with her short little legs and her hair all a mess, screaming at the top of her lungs for mommy.

Inchworm

"Inchworm, Inchworm, measuring the marigolds"

Our little inchworm may not be measuring the marigolds, but he is inching himself forward to get his toys. Even though he is only 4 months old, Layton is already trying to scoot himself along. He has figured out that he can get his knees up under himself and pull with his arms to make himself move.

Granted he only moves an inch or two at a time, but he is moving. Dallin and Mandy didn't crawl until after they were 6 months old, but I think that Layton will be getting around sooner than that. He is so active and wants to be doing something all the time.

1st Soccer Practice

It's official. I am now the proverbial soccer mom. Dallin had his very first soccer practice on Tuesday. And let me just say that watching 4 and 5 year old kids learn to play soccer is some seriously quality entertainment. They should sell tickets to their practices. Dallin was particularly entertaining with his antics of running to kick the ball and completely missing it, which he did not once but several times. It was like watching a really skinny Charlie Brown try to kick a football, only there was no Lucy to pull the ball away. Dallin just missed it all on his own. In fact, one missed kick was so comical that he not only had me laughing, but all of the parents standing along the sidelines were chuckling too. No matter though, he had a wonderful time and he can't wait to go to his next practice. His coaches are a couple, Alex and Kim Morrison, which have a little girl on the team too. We signed him up for soccer through the YMCA, so at the end of practice, Coach Alex let us know that their coaching philosophy was Christian based and that they emphasized learning skills, working as a team, and having fun rather than winning. In Dallin's age group they don't even keep score at the games. They just let the kids play and have fun! He also said that they normally start each game with a prayer, which I thought was really nice. The coach let the kids pick what the name of their team would be and since only one little boy piped up with a name, they are going to be called the Black Stallions. Dallin won't be complaining though because black is his favorite color. I know that it is rather odd, but Dallin is rather odd so it fits. And we can't forget our little Mandy girl now can we? Because she ensures that she is never left out of anything. We bought Dallin's cleats and shin guards on Saturday. Sunday after church Mandy comes walking out of their room wearing the cleats and shin guards which she had put on all by herself. Don't you think that they go well with her Sunday dress? I guess she will be the next soccer star in the family, only she will be a fashionable one.

Bossy

I know that most people like to talk about little girls being bossy, but Dallin is every bit as bossy as any little girl that I have ever known. He bosses Mandy around all day long. He is constantly telling her what to play and how to play it. The crazy thing is that Mandy just goes along with whatever he says. I will give him this though, he is very creative with what he comes up with for them to play. I counted yesterday and he came up with over 10 different things for them to play. I took pictures of a few of the things, but these pictures don't show all that they did. They played toy store. Dallin took the money out of his piggy bank and gave it to Mandy. He then proceeded to tell her to go get a toy and that she would have to pay him for the toy. She went and got the toy and then he took whatever amount of money from her that he determined that the toy was worth. They continued this way until Mandy ran out of money. Then Dallin decided he wanted to be a teacher and teach Mandy words. He held up the flash card and asked Mandy what it was. If she didn't get it quite right he would make her repeat the word after him. Then he made her repeat each letter of the word after him. After that they played cars. Dallin made Mandy take hers to the other side of the room and he had her make the car come at him so that he could crash her car with his car. Then they played with dominoes and made little buildings and towers with them. The whole time Dallin directed Mandy in how to do it and she followed what he said. Then they went outside to play baseball. Dallin told Mandy where to stand and how to catch the baseball. If she didn't get it right he would be sure to correct her. Dallin also likes to play a form of red light, green light with cars. Somehow though, Mandy's car is almost always at a red light, but his car is almost always at a green light. And let us not forget playing doctor and patient. Dallin ordered Mandy to go to bed and away she went. I could of course keep going, but I think you get the picture. Now I won't say that Mandy didn't protest at doing some of the things that Dallin told her to do, but for the vast majority of things, she did exactly what he said. This is pretty crazy to me considering how independent she is about doing things in general. I guess she just loves that her big brother is playing with her and is willing to do whatever he asks so that he will keep playing with her.

Wii like to play

Dad decided to buy a Nintendo Wii game console because he had played it at the Gavilan's and got hooked. He told us how fun it was and so we were invited to his first Wii party. I grew up playing video games and have always enjoyed them but I thought it was kind of funny that my Dad would buy one. We had a blast playing the games. Dallin of course was itching to play ever since he saw Grandpa playing it and showing us what it was all about. Dallin did alright even if he did swing the controller funny. We played a game of golf and it would register Dallin's swing even though he was swinging it backwards. Katheryn did really well too during our bowling game. Dallin had the best celebrations though. He would throw his hands up in the air and even drop on to the floor sometimes. Mandy was our cheerleader and gave everybody a five when they were done with their turn. Nana had just had her surgery and wasn't up to playing but she said she would beat us next time. One of the most fun aspects of the experience was setting up our Mii characthers and choosing our different facial features. As corny as it may sound, Wii are big fans!