Happy Birthday Mom!: January 6, 2011

Happy Birthday Mom!

Highlights from today: (click here for pictures)

• It started off as a pretty rough morning for Graham.  First he got in trouble for kicking Mom and was sent to bed.  After a few minutes, he stopped screaming and Mom thought she better check-he was standing in the middle of the floor quietly (probably scared he would get in trouble again when Mom found out that he had gotten out of bed)
• His morning didn’t get any better when Dad dropped him off.  It was an all out fit-Mom and Dad are starting to get a little bit worried since Graham’s early morning teacher is as old as Methuselah!  Campbell is a sweet little girl at school-her teachers asked to take her home.  They were also impressed with her multiple waves and kisses.
• Anderson and Reagan walked right into their class today.  After Mom dropped Reagan off, she had to look for Anderson.  He was in his class playing with a bucket of sand.  Poor Ms. Wendelyn thought that the sand was going to stay on the little mat she had it on-I bet sand was all over that room!
• Grannymom picked up Reagan and Anderson from school.  They spent most of the afternoon playing inside and then playing outside.  When Mom arrived with Graham and Campbell, everyone played outside more and then went inside for lots and lots of snacks. 
• Back at home, Campbell took a nap and the rest of us played and played until Dad came home from work and then it was time to celebrate Mom’s birthday! 
• Mom had already been celebrating all day beginning with lunch with Dad.  Tonight at Nonna and Pops’ house we had a huge Hawaiian hamburger with all of the trimmings, fries and beans.  Dessert was brownies and a delicious chocolate pie.  Then we opened presents-money from Beebee and Papaw, a Target gift card from Jason, a shopping trip IOU and a plate from Mom’s Christmas dishes from Nonna and Pops.  Overall Mom had a great birthday-and still plans on celebrating for the rest of the month!
• Yesterday, Reagan and Mom were talking her birthday and eating supper at Nonna’s house.  Reagan asked if lots of people would be there, if there would be a pinata and if there would be goodie bags.  The answer to all of the questions were No so Reagan thought for a few moments and then said “Mom, I will show you a real birthday party”

Dennie Kids: January 5, 2011

Highlights from today: (click here for pictures)

• Grannymom was over a little bit before 9 and Mom and Reagan were off to the eye doctor.  Reagan had failed her eye exam at the pediatrician’s office so we made an appointment.  She did great and has 20/20 vision so no glasses were needed here.  He did say that she had some allergies in her eyes (Mom wasn’t surprised because allergies are the theme of the week)  Reagan spent a lot of time deciding where she wanted Dad to take her as her reward
• After Grannymom left, Mom worked on the house for a little bit while everyone watched a movie.  Anderson was going to watch one in the living room and Reagan asked to watch hers in the den.  As Mom was trying to put Reagan’s movie in, Mom realized that the DVD player was missing (Dad did it).  Reagan was very disappointed but was quickly distracted with Anderson’s movie
• On the way to Nonna’s house, we had a very long discussion about Bailey (our other dog that ran away over 3 years ago).  Reagan, Anderson and even Graham told me how much they miss Bailey, how they wanted to find her and they wanted Dad to call the pound to look for her (Mom mentioned the pound).  As soon as our conversation ended, Reagan said “was Bailey a cat?”
• The big kids stayed at Nonna’s house while Mom took Campbell to the Nutrition Center.  Campbell was not pleased when we stretched her out to measure her and she was definitely not pleased when it was time to put on her brain lab hat.  She did finally calm down and sat nicely through brain lab.  During the psych, she was the cutest baby ever.  She would try her best to grab the toys, wouldn’t give them back and would shove them away when she was finished!
• Mom had put three car seats into Nonna’s car and then everyone met at church for supper and then Cubbies.  Mom was Zip E Zebra tonight and they had all figured it out tonight-probably because Reagan saw Mom running ahead of her class to get to the puppet room on time.

Video Round Up

Here a few videos taken the past few days:

Click here for video - Driving to Dallas (December 30, 2010)


Click here for video - Reagan (5 years, 3 months old)

Click here for video - Anderson (4 years old)

Click here for video - Graham (2 years, 5 months old)

Click here for video - Campbell (1 year old)

Dennie Kids: January 4, 2011

Highlights from today: (click here for pictures)

• This was our first day back in the swing of things after the holiday (well most of us).  Reagan and Anderson were off of school for one more day.  The rest of us made it to work and school at a fairly decent time. 
• Robby said that Graham didn’t fuss until after he left the room-he also said that he was about to walk back in the room and get the boy and take him back home.  Reagan and Anderson didn’t have to think twice about spending the day with Nonna.  They went to the library for story time, played with fuzzoodles and went to see Beebee and Papaw
• Mom picked up Graham and he was so happy to see her.  Campbell’s teachers said that she had thrown one fit but also at one time during the day, the teacher was giving Campbell cheerios one at a time.  Each time she handed her one, she would put one on her pants leg for Campbell to pick up.  Later, when the teacher gave Campbell one in her hand, Campbell placed it on her leg and then picked it up to eat it.
• While Mom was at work today, the nurse called to tell her about Anderson’s allergy test.  She started off by saying that he was allergic to quite a bit-tomatoes, corn, peanuts, walnuts, every tree, every grass, dog, cat…and there were a few that Mom couldn’t write down the nurse was rattling them off so quick.  Goodness gracious.  Needless to say, we will make an appointment with an allergist tomorrow.
• Nonna and Pops brought Reagan and Anderson home and after they left, everyone started getting on their Razorback Red.  Mom didn’t think too much about it when Graham started talking about the razorback in his cage (we saw it last time we went tailgating) but when Anderson said that maybe Jacob would be there, Mom knew she was in trouble….the kids thought we were going to the game.
• Mom had just showed them where the game was and where we were on the map when Dad walked in.  Dad could see the disappointment on the faces and quickly thought about getting the inflatable hog out, which led to the inflatable football man, which led to the inflatable goal post and Razorback flag.  Soon all of this led to a full blown family night.
• Family Night-we had our hot dogs and cheese dip (football food) and even took a few family pictures.  Mom quickly whipped up a brownie in a football shaped pan (and there is a reason there are no pictures of it).  After supper while Mom and Dad cleaned up, the kids had to find 3 red things.  Then everyone had a turn throwing the ball to the inflatable football man and playing catch with Dad.  Next up, was putting on pajamas-they all had to find some with red on them (everyone did all by themselves-even Graham).  Then we devoured Mom’s football brownie.  After Campbell went down for the night, it was time for the football game. 
• Anderson was on the edge of his seat the entire time.  When the touchdown was called back and Robby said the player put his wrist down-Anderson shouted “I don’t know what a wrist is”   He even said that he was going to be a football player when he grows up. 

Dennie Kids: January 3, 2011

Highlights from today: (click here for pictures)

• There wasn’t a lot going on this morning around here.  Anderson and Reagan spent most of the morning building bridges and animal homes using train tracks, blocks and the animals.  Graham spent most of his time knocking down their buildings and Campbell spent most of her time crawling as fast as she could toward all of the buildings attempting to knock them down herself (Mom spent her time chasing Campbell, getting on to Graham and calming down Reagan and Anderson)
• We read a few stories at breakfast and then read a few more before lunch.  Reagan and Anderson will sit so still for a story and Graham is really getting better at sitting down.  Maybe they sat so well today because they were eating the entire time.  We finally just sat the big popcorn bucket down in the middle of us so they could grab it easier
• Dad came home for lunch and we all ate our spaghettios and cheese dip-the lunch of champions.  Campbell spit out her spaghettios so she had green beans instead.  Mom was trying to only let her have her sippy cup today-we didn’t do so good.  She finally finished off one cup at breakfast but had a complete meltdown when she saw an empty bottle in the dishwasher.  When Dad came home for lunch though, Mom did let her have a bottle-at least they made it until lunch…baby steps
• Speaking of baby steps.  Graham wore big boy underwear and did very good all morning long.  But there must be something about lunch time because he then had 2 accidents.  He did take off his underwear for Mom and handed them to her while saying “I poopoo in my pants”-thankfully it wasn’t poopoo but they were wet!  We made it until lunch with our big boy underpants and then it was back to the diaper
• Nap time and then everyone put on their clothes (yes we were still in our pajamas) to go to Nonna and Pops’ house for pizza.  The kids enjoyed playing for a bit and Mom and Dad took everyone’s pictures and did some video shooting of the kids.  We even used the ink pad to make Campbell’s footprint for her wall. 
• Campbell found a seat at Nonna’s and she was so proud of herself sitting on it.  She was also pretty happy about letting Anderson push her around while she was on the little push toy-until he knocked her off and then fell on top of her.  When he knocked her off, he slammed his hand to his forehead and muttered something!  Later when he fell on top of her, he bounced up and shouted “I’m okay”
• Tonight when we went to check on the kids, Reagan had put her taggie on top of her head with her headband securing it.  She looked like she had on veil-oh my!

Dennie Kids and Tara’s Birthday: January 2, 2011

Highlights from today: (click here for pictures)

• Since church wasn’t until 11 this morning, everyone had time to sit at the table and eat breakfast.  Campbell took a quick shower and then Graham had one.  The whole time Graham was in the shower, he was crying and squealing but as soon as Dad turned off the water he said “that was fun”
• At church, the boys and Campbell went to class while Reagan went to big church with us.  She spotted Beebee and Papaw and went over to say hi and show them her new shoes. 
• Church went long and then it took a while to get the kids and leave the parking lot so when we made it to Grannymom’s house everyone was starving.  Campbell practically ate a whole can of beans and when Mom was serving Anderson more rice, he said “I can just eat out of the bowl”-he was talking about the whole serving bowl.
• After lunch, we celebrated Tara’s birthday with delicious pie and presents-what could be better.  She opened up cute bowls, a Southern Living cookbook, under shelf baskets and 2 boxes.  It was a great start to her month long birthday celebration.
• The kids played for a while and then it was time for naps back at home.  Everyone but Reagan and Anderson took a nap (even Mom and Dad).  Reagan and Anderson played for awhile and then watched a few movies.  When everyone woke up, Mom and Dad spent the evening cleaning, straightening and organizing.  The kids got out all of the toys in the den (yes, all of them) and arranged them and said they were having a “hoe-down.” 
• We had to put the gate at the bottom of the stairs because Campbell can now climb up the steps-she has only made it to the second step so far but since she is pretty strong willed it was time for the gate.

IKEA Excursion plus more: January 1, 2011

Highlights from today: (click here for pictures)

 

After a wild night of partying, we were all sound asleep before midnight…and boy were we tired.  The hotel was a little busy so I was worried that we would hear some noise at midnight but we slept right through it.  The kids had been asleep for hours and we had been asleep for almost an hour.  Around 2, I did hear a bang and then saw Anderson whispering about his covers.  The brave little guy walked through the room he was in all the way to my bed in a dark hotel room.  I got him back down and fixed his covers and the next time any of us looked at the clock it was almost 8-we love hotel sleeping.

 

Breakfast wasn’t as busy this morning and Robby didn’t have to wait in the omelet line too long.  The kids ate well (not as well as yesterday) but their tummys were still full (until the moment we set in the car).  Then we went back upstairs to load up to head home.  I have taught Reagan and Anderson to do a search in the hotel rooms for anything that we have left-they enjoy looking under the beds, opening the closet and drawers and looking behind the drapes.  I don’t know how much that would really find but they seem to like their job.  When Robby had the luggage cart, he wheeled it out of the room full of our bags and full of 3 little Dennie kids hanging on for a ride. 

 

As soon as the kids bottoms hit the car seats, they are begging for food.  I started opening the box of crackers and turned around to see 4 little hands stretching out to grab some crackers.  We went through 3 sleeves of saltine crackers on the way home-imagine how many crumbs are in the car!  Graham saw IKEA as we drove off and got upset.  He thought that we were going back-Robby did ask if we needed to go back but our budget started on the 1st so what fun would just looking be!

 

We didn’t stop until New Boston at McDonalds.  The kids had been asking about a bathroom stop for a little bit and this was the first place we saw.  They forgot all about needing to use the bathroom when they saw the slide at McDonalds.  We all ate and then Reagan, Anderson and Graham slide 3 times while Campbell practiced drinking from a straw (she likes coke!).  Back in the car and just a few miles down the road, they were asking for crackers again.  When Campbell and Graham are busy eating, they are quiet…and that is nice!

We could have gotten gas when we left New Boston but thought we would drive as far as we could since we would soon need another bathroom stop.  We made it to Arkadelphia before having to stop for a quick pit/gas stop.  The kids were ready to get home but they did a good job in the car on the trip.  The movies that I had for the ride home didn’t keep their attention quite as well.

 

When we turned off of 630, Anderson looked around, heard the gps and said “we don’t need that gps anymore.”  He was right since we were home.  Robby and I dropped them off at Grannymom and Grandpa’s for a bit while we unloaded the car and started the zillion loads of laundry and unloaded a tableful of my IKEA purchases.

 

We went back to Grannymom’s for supper.  After supper, the kids played for a few more minutes and then we came home.  At home, we were able to play and then everyone went to bed…a few minutes earlier than usual (so nice that no one can really tell time yet!)

 

Robby and I worked on putting together our IKEA purchases.  Since it was from a box, you had to put it all together.  We are a pretty good assembly team and finished at a decent time.  We also had to rehang a picture and then opened up 2 lamps.  One is a tree lamp-that Reagan had seen and liked at the store.  I had seen it but just walked past but then looked at it again when she mentioned it and decided that I liked it too.  Once everything was assembled we were very pleased (even though Robby said that we couldn’t buy anything that we had to put together again)  Pictures to come tomorrow!