First birthday pictures

I took Alexandra on her birthday to get her pictures taken at JcPenney. This time I hardly had to wait and had a good experience. I thought her pictures turned out great and she was in such a good mood. Enjoy!

She's walking even better ...

Happy Easter?!

So we started off the morning with the boys fighting over finding the hidden Easter eggs. After an hour of being the "ref" .. I had had enough I went back to bed hoping when I would wake up the day would be a little more peaceful. I think next year the Easter Bunny isn't going to hide any eggs. Can the Easter Bunny put coal in a basket, like Santa can in a stocking?

For dinner we had tri-tip, funeral potatoes, rolls, with strawberry shortcake to finish off the meal. When I pulled the tri-tip out of the oven Miles asked me if we were going to be "eating the Easter Bunny!" What a funny kid.


Thursday, Caden's preschool class had a Easter party. They had an Easter egg hunt, sang "Spring" songs and had a potluck.
Caden and his "Bunny Ears." (aka Alexandra's tights.)
Friday was the start of Spring Break for Miles. We went to McDonald's and treated ourselves to the $1 menu. We went to the park and had an Easter Egg Hunt with our friends. (A big thank you to Jeremy who came and hid all the eggs for us moms.) Alexandra enjoyed carrying Sophie's Easter basket around her neck and on her head.

Just woke up from her Sunday afternoon nap.

Playing Pat-A-Cake: Roll it:

Mark it with an "A":

And throw it in the oven!! (her favorite part)

Saturday was the start of the baseball games for the season. The boys' first 3 games are all at the same day/time. So I was back and forth watching both games. Luckily the fields are close to each other. Miles hit a triple and got a few outs at first. Caden hit a home run and caught a fly ball and turned it into a double play! It's fun to watch when your boys play well.

Also, I got a new camera for my birthday a few weeks ago. I have had fun taking pictures of Alexandra with it. I haven't figured out all the features of it, yet. I love the 10x zoom and how clear the pictures turn out. Hence, many pictures in the post.

Other good news, is that we heard today that the seller accepted the offer that we put on a house. Now, the offer goes to the bank which can take 2 to 3 weeks to hear back from them. Then if the bank accepts the offer then we go in to the regular 30 day escrow. What a long process.

My Little Pony

When I was 4 and 5 years old one of my favorite things to play with was the My Little Ponies. There is even a story of me entering a contest to win a free My Little Pony on TV. My mom helped me enter the contest. On the contest day, I watched the TV intently hoping that my name would be called. They never called my name and afterwards I cried and cried because I didn't win. My mom cried with me. Recently, My Little Ponies have made a comeback into the toy world. Excited that I would be having my first girl last year, my mom made a My Little Pony blanket for Alexandra. She also gave Alexandra her first My Little Pony last week for her birthday. How fun to have something in common with my daughter.

Then the other day there was a commerical on Nickelodeon and I saw this logo:
2008 is the 25 year celebration of My Little Pony. At that moment, I felt old.
How can I be old enough to celebrate a 25 year anniversary of anything?

Happy Brithday Alexandra!

We celebrated Alexandra's first birthday yesterday. It was a busy and somewhat stressful day for me, but we survived and had a good time. After running around town getting decorations, cake and ice cream and getting her pictures taken at JCPenney. We had her birthday party. Grandma & Grandpa Doll came over, along with Great-Grandma Duncan and Aunt Denise. We ate Skipolini's pizza and salad for dinner. We followed with opening presents. Alexandra got a ton of cute clothes in the 12 to 18 month size range. She liked all her clothes, and tried putting them on her head. Then we followed with chocolate cake with raspberry filling and vanilla ice cream.

Time for dinner birthday girl!
"Leave me alone, Caden, it's my birthday!"
She liked her balloon.

She really liked her new swimsuit.
The cake.
"I'm not sure how I feel about this whole blowing out the candles business?!"
"I do know that I like chocolate cake!"
"I really, really like it!"
Taking a bath to clean up the chocolate.

Showing off her walking skills

An Alexandra update

(Standing!!)
(Waving at Tim.)
(Pushing in her shopping cart the Raggedy Ann doll

that was mine when I was one!)
She found a chocolate kiss on the floor yesterday

and thoroughly enjoyed it.

I have the same question as Tammy ... when are the first steps?? She has taken steps, 5 consecutively, but most of the time she still falls on her butt.
(Thank goodness for padded diapers.)

I can't believe we will be celebrating her first birthday tomorrow.

More pictures of #4

I went to the Dr. Friday for my first "official" well baby check up. After waiting in stirrups for about 10 minutes so she could locate an ultrasound machine, I got to see the baby again. #4 was quite active. You can see its' leg in the first picture and its' hand in the second one. It still amazes me every time I see a child growing inside of me. I'm about 13 weeks now.

Update: The packages have been located

Hooray! The packages were found. FedEx delivered them to the wrong house, 5 houses down the street. The guy who lives there called me this morning saying he had 3 packages at his house and wanted to know if he could drop them off. (Or have FedEx come pick them up and try to re-deliver them again.) He dropped them off around noon. So, they have been sitting at his house since Tuesday morning and I got them today! At least it was a happy ending (and I got alot of cool stuff for free).

Suprise treat for Sherman

Yesterday was Tim's dad's 54th birthday. Tim's mom was in Utah helping out Suzi. So we decided we would surprise Sherman with a treat to celebrate his birthday. He had a stake meeting that night, so we drove out the the Martinez Chapel and showed up singing Happy Birthday. (We got permission from President Shuck before we showed up.) We treated the whole Stake Presidency to brownies and ice cream. Happy Birthday!!

Where are my packages?

I had a Pampered Chef party last month. The order was placed and 3 large packages were shipped. Yesterday they were supposed to arrive according to the FedEx tracking site. I was looking forward to getting the packages so I checked the status of the tracking on the website and it said "Delivered. Left at front door. 10:18 a.m." So I ran to door and opened it. (This was about 11:00 a.m.) No packages. What the ..... So I started walking around the house. No packages anywhere. Where are they?? So I called my consultant and asked her if she had put in the right address. She checked and it was correct. She also called FedEx for me. They told her the same thing that was on the website. They also were going to try and contact the driver who supposedly delivered the packages and ask where the packages were left. It's been almost 24 hours and I haven't seen the packages or heard from FedEx. HMMM..

The cake headache

Last Thursday was Miles' first Blue and Gold Dinner for Scouts. Each boy is in charge of making and decorating a cake for the event. I had NO CLUE what to do. I am not very crafty in the cake decorating department. My idea of decorating a cake is frosting a cake then going to Target to find a small toy to put on top!! I asked for some ideas from some good friends. I couldn't believe all of the ideas that I got!! I decided on using a friends Giant Cupcake Pan. It was a success. It makes one huge giant cupcake, then I frosted the bottom brown and the top pink (supposed to be red) and then we stuck chop sticks out of the top. (The theme was Chinese New Year.) It was very easy to do and I didn't mess it up too badly. I was proud of myself for making a decent looking cake that wasn't in a 9x13 pan. So this is what it looked like after days of worrying about it:

She stands!

Not for very long, but Alexandra is standing on her own. The first time she did it was last Tuesday night. Teri and I were in the kitchen talking and all of a sudden Alexandra is standing up in the middle of floor. I couldn't believe it! Then she did it again on Wednesday morning. This morning we were in the bathroom and she stood for about 10 seconds. She doesn't do it all the time. Just whenever she feels like it. I guess the next thing is taking a few steps while standing. She is growing up so quickly. We are hoping we can get her potty trained before the baby comes in September.

The exhaustion is setting in...

I was feeling pretty good with the whole pregnancy ... until this weekend. I was helping out at the baseball fields with uniform distribution and snack shack on Saturday. When I got home I was exhausted!! And have been since. Maybe it was because I had a busy week and that was the final day that did me in or I am a wuss. I remember now why I don't enjoy being pregnant. This is definitely the last time. I just remembered that last year on my birthday I was pregnant (Alexandra was born 3 days later), and this year I will be pregnant again on my birthday. I am lucky that my kids don't care if the house is messy, or if we have cereal for dinner. They are pretty laid back and easy going. I am also lucky that Tim is willing to help me out when I am not feeling great.

!!!(#4)!!!

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Surprise! We posted the ultrasound picture this morning, not telling ANYONE. We wanted to see how long it would take for the word to spread.

We figured out that I was pregnant this week. I was joking with Tim last week that I was pregnant because I was being forgetful and wanted to eat chocolate all the time. Just like I was when I was pregnant with Alexandra. I was at the $1 store on Monday getting some Valentine's treats and as I was checking out there was a pregnancy test, so I threw it on the conveyor belt, thinking "yeah right." But it was only a $1 loss if it was negative. I took it Monday night without telling Tim. It came up positive instantly. I didn't tell Tim. I was going to wait until Valentine's Day and give him the stick as his present. But I only lasted about 24 hours. I told him on Tuesday night. He said we should go to the store and buy a "real" test, not a cheap one. Instead, I called the Dr. on Wednesday to make an appointment. They told me that I HAD to come in and talk to a Dr. because of the medications that I take. I have taken these same medications with all 3 other pregnancies and have been fine but they still wanted me to come in. So I got an appointment for Thursday. I ended up taking Sophie and Alexandra with me because Tim had a meeting that he couldn't get out of, that was the same time as my appointment. While I was in with the nurse I asked if the Dr. could "check me" because I had no idea if I was "for sure" pregnant or how for along I was. They kindly checked me and yep there was a baby and a heartbeat and I am about 9 1/2 weeks along! Wow! That part shocked me. So my due date for this little one is September 16th. We are excited. I have felt that we would have one more, I have felt that way ever since Alexandra was born. Tim kept saying that 3 was a nice round number for our family, but he knew that we would be having one more too.

Miles' Baptism

Saturday, February 2nd was a special day for our family. First off it was the day of President Hinckley's Funeral. Second Miles was baptized. The whole program turned out perfect and the spirit was felt very strongly. Grandma Redding gave the opening prayer and Grandma Doll spoke about Baptism. (With only a few tears shed.) Then Miles was baptized by his dad. Grandpa Doll and Grandpa Redding were the witnesses. All went good. (No re-dos unlike the little girl who was baptized right after Miles.) After they got dressed, Miles was confirmed a received the Holy Ghost. I am so proud of Tim for doing such a great job and being able to hold the priesthood and being a good dad. I am proud of Miles for being a good kid and wanting to be baptized. Those who helped with the confirmation were: Grandpa Doll, Grandpa Redding, Uncle Mark Doll, Bishop Score, Travis Burr, Chris Rossi & Jerry Keiser. We want to thank all of our friends and family who came to support Miles on his special day.

New Suit. Doesn't he look so grown up and handsome?!
Doll family members.
Grandma & Grandpa Redding.
(That is why my parents drove with us back to Concord from Disneyland so that they could attend the baptism.) My dad said that the baptism was the best thing that happened all week.

Disneyland 2008

We had a great time in Disneyland. We ended up going for 5 days. (I think the original plan was for 3 1/2 days). Sunday morning we woke up early and drove down to So. Cal. We left early because the Tejon Pass had been closed a few days earlier and we were hoping to beat some bad weather that was headed that way. We made it to Anaheim a little before noon and walked on over to Disneyland from our Hotel. We took our jackets because it was a little chilly and overcast. I almost forgot to mention that it was Miles' 8th brithday. The boys were excited, and Alexandra was just looking at everything and taking it all in. We went on the Jungle Cruise and on the Matterhorn that day because I read online that they would both be closed starting Monday. Ok, I know that the Jungle Cruise is a little cheesey with the same jokes, but hey it is part of the Disneyland experience, right?? We were enjoying our time with our little family (before the rest of the family showed up). And then it started to sprinkle little drops of rain. Me and the boys were standing in line for the Casey Jr. train and Tim was sitting with a short-napping Alexandra. By the time we got on the train it was pouring. I asked one of the workers what closes when it rains at Disneyland. He said the only rides that close are the teacups and Alice in Wonderland. So we rode. We were lucky that we were in the front of the line and got to sit in the monkey cage (which was covered). However there were these 2 guys who were sitting right behind us in a car that wasn't covered. It was hilarious watching them get wet and trying to hide under their small umbrella. Then after the ride was over the rain stopped. So I looked at Tim and there was no one in line for Dumbo. What?? There is always a line for Dumbo!! So we walked over and got right on. I've never had that happen before. It was great. Our butts got a little wet from sitting on the wet ride but nothing worth complaining about. We were enjoying our time until about 4 p.m. My parents and brother had just flown in from Utah and had just entered Disneyland when the rain hit. It was pouring. It was insane. There was water flowing everywhere. My parents bought us all $6 Disneyland ponchos, but I really think we were already too wet for the ponchos to keep us dry. We stayed until about 6:00 and decided that it is no fun being wet at Disneyland and walked back the the hotel for the rest of the night. We went to IHOP to celebrate Miles' brithday. (The food wasn't that great, and my dad and I got sick. So we will probably never eat at that IHOP again.)



Everyday that we went back to Disneyland turned out to be a little bit better weather wise. Monday was still cold, but by Thursday we were wearing our short sleeve shirts with no jackets during the day. Linda and Sherman and Great-Grandma Duncan flew down on Sunday night to hang out with us for a few days. My Aunt and Uncle and 2 of my cousins (along with 2 of their cousins from the other side of the family) came down on Monday night. Monday night we sang Happy Birthday to Miles at the hotel and had cupcakes that I had made before leaving. We didn't light any candles because no one had a lighter and I had forgotten to bring one.



Tuesday morning we went over to California Adventure. We rode Tower of Terror first off. But Miles wouldn't go on it. Then we rode on Soarin' over California. Miles wouldn't go on it. Then we went to ride on California Screamin.' Miles wouldn't go on it. We went on the Golden Zephyr. Miles wouldn't go on it.. Do you see a pattern?? He wouldn't go on anything that day for the first 3 hours. He was being a brat. Caden went on everything (except California Screamin' because he's not tall enough). Then we split up after lunch and Miles went to hang out with my 18-year-old cousin, Chey. After that we didn't see much of Miles for the rest of the week, he wanted to hang out with the "big kids" who are definately cooler than Mom and Dad. Miles went on pretty much everything they did including Tower of Terror. I think he went on Indiana Jones about 5 times. The only thing that he still will not go on is California Screamin'. We will get him on it one day.



Wednesday morning I had bought tickets off e-bay to go to the Mickey's Toontown Morning Madness. You get to go into Toontown an hour before it opens to everyone in the park. They have a show with all the characters. We took the kids and Caden and Alexandra seemed to really like it. Afterwards all the characters come out and you can get autographs and pictures taken with them. Caden was totally into getting autographs this year. He thought it was the coolest thing. He accumulated quite a few this trip.



Wednesday night, a cousin of mine from my mom's side, is in the Marines drove up from San Diego to visit with everyone for a few hours. I haven't seen Ty in about 15 years. I was good to see him.



One of my favorite rides this time was when we went on Splash Mountain. We got on a log with Tim in the front, followed by Miles, my Dad, Me, Parker with Sherman and Caden sharing a seat in the back. None of us really wanted to get wet because it wasn't that warm to dry off. We went down and Tim and Caden got soaked. The rest of us were still fairly dry. It was hilarious.



We ended up staying all day Thursday because my parents got sick and stayed most of the day in the hotel. The plan had been to leave that afternoon to drive back to Concord but we ended up staying an extra night and left Friday morning. It was a packed car. 4 adults and 3 kids in a Ford Explorer. With a car topper full. And somehow Tim got pulled over for speeding after being on the freeway for about 2 miles from Disneyland. Go figure. I'm sure I left out a ton of details on everything that we did. But we had fun seeing family, riding all the rides, taking Alexandra to the Princess Fantasy Faire, watching Miles get picked for the Star Wars Jedi Training Academy and so much more. We told my Aunt and Uncle the next time that they go that we will just send Miles down to go with them. He liked hanging out with them so much more.

Note: I am going to post this without pictures for right now. Tim thinks our motherboard is dead on our home computer, so I am using his laptop. When I can get the pictures off our computer I will add them.

Long time and no posts

There are a few reasons for the lack of posting:

1. We were on vacation for 6 days.
2. I got sick after we returned from vacation.
3. I am lazy.
4. Trying to figure out where all my free time has gone recently.

So I am hoping to catch up on some things that have happened the last few weeks.

I will start with the Friday before we left to go on vacation. Many of you know that I was babysitting Kaysee. She was at our house 12 hours a day, 5 days a week. She is also 20 days younger than Caden. So it was like have twins -- who constantly fought with each other. I kept telling Tim that I couldn't handle having her at the house anymore. I was so stressed out at the end of every day. He kept telling me that it will get better. And one night gave me a blessing to keep me going. A few weeks later I knew I couldn't keep it up anymore. And Tim was starting to feel the same way (finally!) Then the Thursday and Friday before we left were pure HELL. I had had ENOUGH. (I'm not going to get into everything that happened but it kept getting worse.) Friday night I was taking a bubble bath and Kaysee was sitting in the longest time out when Tim came home from work. It was time to tell Kaysee's dad that we couldn't watch her anymore. (This was hard to do because Tim has known Kaysee's dad for about 20 years, and we knew that he didn't have a lot of money for childcare. But it was better for our family if she wasn't at our house anymore.) Kaysee's dad picked her up and about an hour later Tim made the phone call. I made him do it. I couldn't. I hate confrontations with people, and not wanting to hurt their feelings. And it was done. We felt like it was a good time. Because we were leaving and her dad was taking the week off, (because he didn't get a babysitter) so he had time to find something else for her to go to by the time we got back. What a relief. Our Disneyland trip was much needed so I could get out of the house.

Happy Birthday Caden! The Big 5.

Caden's birthday was on Monday. I asked him what he would like for dinner. He said pizza. So we ended up having Papa Murphy's Pizza. I was feeling sick all day so I didn't even make him a cake or cupcakes. That was fine because he wanted doughnuts. So we went to Safeway and he picked out a dozen doughnuts for his "party." He said that it wasn't his birthday until he got to blow out his candles. It was a low-key day but he enjoyed his chocolate doughnut with sprinkles, and Grandma and Grandpa Doll came over to celebrate.

A new blog to check out

I started a blog for the kids. You can see it at:
http://thedollkids.blogspot.com/