The way Christmas is supposed to be...

Dillon had a bad morning. He didn't want to play with his toys because he wanted his room to stay clean for Christmas (Santa doesn't come to a messy house, you know). I told him I'd help him clean up his toys, but it wasn't enough.

He was so emotional, and lonely, that he started to cry. I had him sit in my lap and we rocked like we did when he was little.

We started talking about the gingerbread man that disappeared from his kindergarten class. Aunt Melece and Grandma Graves have both seen him where they live. I told him that maybe we could make a gingerbread man someday, and he looked at me and said, "But it will run away!"

I told him that not all gingerbread men run away, and then I took the opportunity to prove it.

I'm so glad I did.

I looked up a recipe online, and discovered that I had exactly the 1/2 cup of molasses that we needed, as well as all the spices. We hurried to make the dough so it could refrigerate for an hour and still leave us enough time to bake and decorate cookies before afternoon kindergarten. (We did take time to smell the ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, molasses, and vanilla as we added them). Dillon decided that molasses smells just like Rico's doggy treats. I think gingerbread tastes just like Rico's doggy treats...

We considered taping the refrigerator door closed, so that the dough wouldn't run away, but Dillon used his thinking cap and determined that dough doesn't have legs, so it wouldn't be able to run.

He did, however, sit right by the oven the entire time they were baking to make sure that none of them got away.

(Does anyone know how to clean the crud off of the inside of my oven door? I've heard you shouldn't use oven cleaner in a self-cleaning oven, but the "self-cleaning" feature doesn't do such a great job on the window...)

By a tender mercy from heaven, I came home from Walmart yesterday with a bag of gingerbread marshmallows. I don't even like ginger, or marshmallows, but for some reason I saw them and instinctively put them in my cart. Dillon was thrilled and they were the perfect addition to our little celebration.
Dillon and I had a nice little party together (he ate gingerbread cookies, while I took pictures of them :o). The baby slept the entire time (another tender mercy) and I was able to give Dillon the one-on-one time he needed.

This is the way Christmas is supposed to be.

So many questions...

Dillon: Mom, how much days do I have to go to high school to be a toy maker.

Me: I'm not sure, but you'll probably want to go to five years of COLLEGE if you want to have your own business.

Dillon: Five days of college?

Me: No, five YEARS of college.

Dillon: How many days is that?

Me: More than one-thousand five hundred days.

Dillon: (wheels turning as he ponders): Mom, how much days of high school do I need, to work at Build-a-bear?

Me: Not very many. You can work at Build-a-bear while you're IN high school. But you won't make enough money working at build-a-bear to support a family, so you'll still need to go to college.

Dillon: Mom, where is that Build-a-bear that we went to?

Me: We went to build-a-bear in Salt Lake, but they are all over the country.

Dillon: Even in Wo-uh?

Me: No, not in Loa. But I'm sure there's one in Provo.

Dillon: That not very far...

"Mom, does Vanessa know Santa's e-mail address?"

And on...and on...and on.

Turkey Disguise

The kindergarten teacher here always sends home a turkey pattern that we are supposed to "disguise" before Thanksgiving. Brayden made a superhero turkey back in '06. Caleb made a Santa turkey, and Dillon chose to make this fire-fighting turkey.

I had everything we needed IN MY STASH! I usually get frustrated with projects like this because we don't have any craft stores around here. We used a wooden spool, silver paint, a pipe cleaner, and a blue feather for the fire hose. The fire hydrant is some kind of a jewelry box that I had in my craft bin--random, huh? I also had the reflective ribbon in my sewing room.

Dillon had a great time disguising his turkey.

Big Brother

Dillon is such a good big brother. He is constantly fussing over Justin, making sure he's 100% comfortable at all times.

Here's Dillon's crazy hair. He asked me to make it crazy, but when he saw it in the mirror he got worried and asked, "Are you SURE it's crazy hair day?"

My baby goes to school

Dillon has been the youngest for so long that I'm having a hard time not calling him "my baby" or "my youngest". Now he's "my third" which reminds me of the "nerdy thirdy".

(When he was young, Todd wrote a family award winning* paper for school about his younger brother, entitled "The Nerdy Thirdy")

Anyway, my Dilly Rob started kindergarten today and I'm trying to figure out when he got so big! He is in afternoon kindergarten, but that didn't stop him from putting on his backpack on at 8 AM and wearing it until school started.

Here's his new outfit, with big boy Nike shoes that I'll have to teach him how to tie.
And the thing he was most excited about...
Walking home with his boys!

*family award winning: a term used to describe "legendary" family stories.

Cub Scouts and brotherly love

I told the boys I was posting this picture for the Grandma's, but it's really just to show off the fact that I finally got around to sewing their badges on...and now I'm behind again.

Tonight Caleb earned his Bobcat, and Brayden got his Bear. I will never understand why the Mom has to paint their faces, or why we have to cheer by pretending to spit out watermelon seeds, but the boys had fun. Having been a den leader for a year, I can more fully appreciate all that their leaders do.

And here is a picture of poor Dillon, anxiously waiting for his boys to come home from school. Tomorrow is the last day of the school year, and Dilly couldn't be happier. I, on the other hand, could use another week to finish de-junking and organizing before having the kids home all day long.

Dillon's 5th birthday

Dillon wanted a Hot Wheels birthday this year. Here are the boys coloring Hot Wheels pictures while we wait for the Grandparents to be ready to "Skype" with the webcam so they could watch him open his presents.

I had planned to borrow a horseshoe cake pan and put two cakes together to make a racetrack, but when my friend with the pan wasn't answering her phone all morning, I ended up ordering this cake from the grocery store. It cost more than the present we gave Dillon, but it was nice to not have to make a cake (I despise making birthday cakes). Plus, I hate all the thick nasty frosting they put on them at the bakery, so I wasn't even tempted to eat it and "waste" the calories :o)
We were supposed to have a mini-pinewood derby or a demolition derby (in a rubbermaid container full of dirt) to "win" the trophy and medals, but between Scouts, Basketball practice, and homework there wasn't any time for games. Dillon was thrilled with his trophy anyway. I had it made at a trophy shop and it only took 15 minutes and $6. Totally worth it to see the joy a five year old gets from a shiny piece of plastic. I also got a Hot Wheels movie from Netflix that we didn't have time to watch, so Dillon watched it the next day.

Caleb made this poster for Dillon. If you look closely, it says "Your Hot Dillon" in flames. I thought it was funny.

Grandma Graves got all my super boys a Superman shirt and they LOVE them. Todd's is faded on purpose ('cause I like it that way and I got to choose it). They'll come in handy at my Superman party in May :o).
The birthday boy blowing out the candles:
I can't believe my baby is five.

Happy Birthday, Dilly Rob!

My baby is FIVE!

Dillon got up this morning, and after asking if he looked five, announced that he "used to doe up to Tawub's cheet, but now I doe up to Tawub's bwain." translation: "I used to go up to Caleb's cheek, but now I go up to Caleb's brain"

I guess he grew overnight.

Oh, how I love this little boy. We're friends, you know. On the days he doesn't have preschool, it's just the two of us. Mommy and Dillon. Dillon and Mom. Even though he'd rather be playing with "his boys", I'm so glad we've had this time together. When he smiles, sunshine comes out of his eyes, and it makes my heart happy.

Here are a few facts about Dillon:

-he loves sugar in any form, and he can sniff it out from anywhere in the house.
-he grew up too fast, thanks to his older brothers. He never got into Elmo...he just went straight for the Transformers and Star Wars stuff.
-he's our most athletic kid and is excited to play soccer this year.
-he's very shy in public, but he "rules the roost" at home.
-he's by far our messiest kid. Not too keen on cleaning up...
-he's the most accident prone. He's had a broken elbow, stitches, staples, glue, and too many nosebleeds to count.
-he's going to be an awesome big brother. He talks to the baby (in my belly) every single day, and can't wait to have a "sistuh owe bwuhwuh".

Like father, like son

Look at my cute boys!

(I'm partial to the red hair and freckles)

My friend Vanessa took this picture of Dillon. You can't tell, but he's holding a ring pillow for a tutorial she's doing next week (I cropped it out so as not to ruin the surprise). Anyway, it reminded me of this picture of Todd from first grade, so I lined 'em up together. I love how their opposite eyes are squinting the same way.

People always ask where our boys get their red hair, and we tell them "from every side". I need to scan some of my old pictures so you can see that my hair was once quite red as well. (maybe my mom would want to do that in her spare time...hint, hint)

Three little monkeys...

Dillon's latest injury: He and "his boys" were jumping on the trampoline when he bumped his head and needed 3 staples. He was super brave, even though it hurt a little when the doctor took them out.

It got me thinking about raising little boys, and all the injuries/illnesses we've had in the past 9 years. We've been through:

stitches (4 times)
glue (between nostrils)
staples (once)
broken arm (two casts because one got wet)
broken elbow (this one required an x-ray every week while the cast was on)
x-rays (too many to count)
RSV (required oxygen and a nebulizer)
Croup (required oxygen and a nebulizer)
IV for dehydration
ear infections (way too many to count)
poison control calls (three)
911 calls for ambulance (tw0)
seizures (too many to count)
EEG
trip to Primary Children's
throw-ups (way WAY too many to count)
OCD
Pinworms (twice)
asthma
pulmonary tests
allergies
cavities (at least 10)

And this is just off the top of my head. I was about to write that we've never had pink eye...but I know better than that.

It's not snowman snow...

We rarely get the kind of snow you need to build snowmen here. It's just too dry and powdery. Our first storm of the year was perfect snowman snow, but Dillon had preschool that day, and by the time he got home, it had all melted.

His eyes sparkled when he saw the snow this morning. When he got home from preschool, I asked him if it was "snowman snow", and he sadly told me it was not.

A few minutes later, however, he came in with his gloves on and said, "Mom, I don't care if it's not snowman snow. I'm going to make a dead snowman."

I helped him get his coat on, and he insisted that he needed a pickle for the nose. I have plenty of carrots in the fridge, but he was determined to use a pickle.

Ten minutes later we had this wonderful dead snowman in our yard:



Oh, and let me tell you about the kid-sized snowshovel. It's hands down the best purchase I have ever made. Our kids fight over who gets to shovel the steps. Next time we pass by Smith and Edwards, I will most definitely be purchasing two more!

That's our boy...

Today was our last day of soccer. I am a terrible mother and didn't take a single picture, but it's been a great season.

Caleb scored his first goal a couple weeks ago, and he's still talking about it. Soccer has since become his FAVORITE game.

We discovered that Dillon got all the athletic ability in our family. He can kick the ball while running, and he's not the least bit scared to hit the ball with his head (even though he's terrified of the wind). This season he just practiced with a ball on the sidelines, but next year we'll definitely put him on a team.

Brayden pulled off the move of the century this morning. He was playing defender, and in usual Brayden fashion, got distracted and bored, and laid down flat on the grass to watch the clouds.
The other team was kicking the ball towards our team's goal, and Todd started yelling at Brayden to get up. Brayden raised his head to see what was going on, just in time for the ball to bounce off of his head, which blocked the goal, and his team won for the first time.

It was a perfect ending to the season.

Dillon goes to preschool

Today was Dillon's first day of preschool. We couldn't get a decent picture because he was too wound up. Can you tell he's a *little* excited? His favorite part of the day was playing with play-dough.

Todd didn't have to go in to work until this afternoon, so we spent our first child-free morning on a "date" (folding laundry while listening to General Conference).

Ambidextrous

I think Dillon might be ambidextrous. Brayden started out doing this, and then became right-handed, but he was younger than Dillon when he stopped using both hands. Dillon seems to use his left a little more, but always colors with both hands.

Excerpt from wikipedia:

Ambidexterity is the state of being equally adept in the use of both right and left appendages (such as the hands). People that are born ambidextrous are extremely rare. Some people may be able to teach themselves to be ambidextrous, by practicing equally with both hands. People that are made ambidextrous are called Penwald ambidextrous; they can also stop being both-handed.

Although ambidexterity is rare, ambidextrous people may still gravitate towards performing certain types of tasks with a specific hand. The degree of versatility with each hand is generally the qualitative factor in determining a person's ambidexterity.

Stalling...

Setting: 10:15 PM. I am downstairs searching the net for summer fun idea's for my upcoming enrichment class, and Dillon (who is supposed to be in bed) comes to the top of the stairs to ask some very important questions. Todd is passed out on the spare bed next to the computer (he's had a fever for two days).

Dillon: "Mom!"

Me: "What, Dilly?"

Dillon: "Mom? Would you be afwaid of a twotodioe as bid as a house?"

Me: "Yes, Dillon, I WOULD be afraid of a crocodile as big as a house!"

Dillon: "Mom! Would you be afwaid of a twotodioe as bid as a smawe house?"

Me: "Yes, I would be afraid of a crocodile as big as a small house."

Dillon: "But Mom! It would tate YEAWS foe him to eat you. You awe BID!"
translation: But Mom, It would take years for him to eat you. You are BIG.

Todd: ...suddenly alive and laughing hysterically.

It's a box!

Poor Dillon. He is SO bored when his boys are gone at school all day. Yesterday, he made himself a box costume. Yeah, he cut the cardboard for the arm holes by himself.
He's been running around in his costume all day. It's pretty funny when he falls and can't get up.

He's also been making lightsabers out of popsicle sticks. There are at least 42 of them kicking around the dining area. They each have a handle, a button to turn them on, and a different color of "glow". He turns them on and flips them over while making lightsaber sound effects, and then battles anyone who will put up a fight.

In other news, my house is falling apart as the dizziness continues. The doctor did some lab work today and ruled out anemia, and diabetes. (I wasn't too worried about either...) I don't have any current ear or sinus problems, so his best guess is a virus...which seems to have been going around in these parts. He gave me some medicine that has helped with the dizziness, but makes me drowsy, so I still haven't done too much housework. If it doesn't get better soon, the next step is a CTscan. I'm not really expecting it to get to that point.

What a coincidence...

Remember when I said that running into doors and getting stitches runs in our family?

We were just leaving ToysRus in Orem (yeah, three hours from home) when Caleb and Dillon decided to fight over who got to get into the van first. Caleb was pulling on Dillon's shirt, and then suddenly let go...I'm sure you get the picture. He hit his forehead on the van door and popped it open.

I called my friend V, who used to live in Provo, and she gave us directions to the hospital, where we spent our next two hours.

The triage nurse AND the doctor both thought they were going to have to use anesthesia to put Dillon to sleep, but I asked them to please try to stitch him up without it because I didn't want to stay overnight. They tried it, and Dillon did AWESOME! He didn't budge. The nurses and doctor were amazed, and I was SO grateful. A trip to the ER is going to cost enough already.

Dillon's "battle wound" is exactly the same as Brayden's, just on the opposite eyebrow. The doctor gave him 6 stitches, as well as two suckers, a sticker book, an old-maid card game, a bendable toy, a dinosaur ring, and a whistle. He was one happy kid leaving that hospital, and we were one happy family listening to that whistle all the way to our next stop...

Yoda

Dillon just walked into the livingroom and said, "Look Mom...I'm Yoda!"

He's wearing two nets from our "Elefun" game on his head,

and walking with a baseball bat.

It looks like our little Yoda has been snitching something...

perhaps he's not as wise as he looks.

Dillon is 4!

Dillon wanted a "horse birthday" and we've had a fun day. Here he is, begging to open his presents before church :o)



Opening a Hot Wheels launcher from Grandma and Grandpa Salisbury. When we got on toysrus.com to see what he wanted, he liked anything that said "blast" or "launch". When he made his list, he asked for a clone helmet for Caleb, star wars lego's for Brayden, and a hot wheels car for himself. Such a sweetie to think of his brothers :o)

This is my favorite part...the display.

I made the Happy Birthday banner a month ago by ironing fabric onto felt.

We ate chili dogs in tin plates, drank "sasparilla" (root beer), and had carrot sticks.

Since horses (and Dillon) like oats, we had oatmeal for breakfast.

I had to be creative since the dollar store had NO cowboy/horse stuff at all.

The silverware was wrapped with pipecleaner rattlesnakes,

and I made wanted posters for place cards.

We played "There's a snake in my boot" by dropping plastic snakes into one of Todd's boots. (he would like everyone to notice that his boots are ruffed up and dirty...not at all like a mail order cowboy)

We had a "shoot out" using Dillon's new Nerf gun from Grandma Great, and some empty soda cans. Dad also got a Nerf gun for his birthday (a week early), and I think I've been shot at least 2000 times today, and we are currently missing 10 darts.

Todd was laughing at me, but I managed to hit my target :o)

We wiggled a 12 foot rope for a rattlesnake,

and took turns trying not to get "bit" while jumping over it.

Todd sarcastically stated that this cake is one of my best. I do not do cakes. Watch for an upcoming post on this topic. Dillon helped me make the fences out of popsicle sticks and hot glue. (Todd gave me a hot glue gun for Christmas so I wouldn't have to look for my old one, or use tub sealer ever again).

I used a tootsie roll to add a litte horse....poop.

That about sums up how I feel about horses.

Todd was going to make no bake cookies with green food coloring,

but he didn't get around to it.

Dillon loves his clone helmet from Grandma Graves! We gave him the light saber, and he's been walking around looking like a bobble head all day. We also gave him a Webkinz monkey (he named it Monkey), and a horse on a stick.

We blew up 25 balloons (okay, we used an air compressor) and the kids had a "cattle drive" trying to get them from one end of the livingroom, to the corral in the kitchen. It was a riot!

Before the cattle drive, we "branded" each of our cows in case any of them got lost.

Click to watch part of the cattle drive, and listen to Todd's great impression of a cow.

Gone fishin'

We had a giant box that wouldn't fit in the garbage can this week, so Dillon and I took some duct tape and made a boat this morning. We attached a magnet to his real fishing pole (drilled a hole in the magnet), so he can actually reel in the fish.

I much prefer this activity to the one the boys did yesterday using the styrofoam that was also in the box...you can see bits of styrofoam all over the floor.

I made these quilted fish years ago and they have been the best! There is a metal washer sewn onto each side of the batting that's between the fabric. Then I quilted the fish with my regular sewing machine (lower the feed dogs and use the hopping foot), and cut around the edge with pinking sheers.

The boat is big enough for two, so I think I'll join him for a minute before starting my day...