The Cookie Monster

Dalin discovered oreo cookies with Daddy last night...'nough said!

Sweet Girl

From rough and tumble to pretty in pink...Ciara got this cute dress up outfit a little while ago and has had fun dressing up in it. She's a lot like me when I was little. She will play in the dirt or drive the skidsteer with daddy and then come inside and put on a dress and dance around the house!

last Sunday I was getting out of the shower and Ciara was in her room reading the scriptures. It was so cute she was "reading" about covenants and Jacob. I took a picture and thought I'd post it.

Odds and Ends

I've been meaning to write for a while now so this post is going to have a little bit of everything in it. First, the other day I was really suprised when Ciara asked if she could go for a ride in the skidsteer with Zane while he was working next to the house. She's terrified with loud noises so I thought she would be scared but she climbed right in and had a blast

Speed Racer

She had fun spinning doughnuts and popping wheelies. She also had fun a few days ago pretending to be daddy winning motorcycle races. Dalin was sleeping and the rest of us were in the garage and she wanted to ride the four wheeler. She kept saying pretend I'm Zane and you have to cheer for me.

Funny Giggles
Ciara and Dalin were being so cute the other day I took this little video of Dalin laughing at Ciara.

Favorite Place

One of Dalins favorite things to do is try to climb onto the little swing of Ciara's. I know he's going to fall of one of these days when I can't get to him, it's evenvitable. The other day I took a few pictures of him trying to get on it himself and one of him after I put him on it and pushed him. He was so proud of himself that he was able to finally swing on it instead of being pulled off.

Trying...trying...trying... so proud of himself!!

Bee Bottom

Dalin usually sleeps in the same position almost every time I lay him down here he is on a couple occasions in his favorite position.

Icing on the Cake

I just got done making this and thought it turned out half decent so I thought I might as well blog it. I made this diaper "cake" for a friends baby shower. It's actually a joint shower and my other friend is having a boy so I'm off to make another one. I didn't have as many diapers as I thought I did so I have to go back to the store. Ciara helped me pack the diapers together in the cake and she had fun with that for all of 2 minutes and then it was too boring so I finished on my own. So much for my lovely assistant!!

Cute kids

I thought this picture was so cute of the kids. They both love to swing on the little porch swing. Dalin is always trying to climb up on it by himself. One of these days it's going to buck him right off.

The New "Hot Rod"

I'm not a soccer mom, I'm a hot rod mama. That's right, I'm going to by lipstick in the same shade as my mini-van. Yea, I'd be super cool then. Well, you asked for it and here they are, pics. of the new ride. She's runnin' great, we're going to jump the bridge. (hehe, old commercial inside joke) Anyway, we bought this yesterday and Ciara is already in love with the DVD player. Zane and I can't seem to keep ourselves from making jokes at our own expense at the fact that we own a min-van. O-well, someday we'll have cars that are completely impractical.

Let the games begin

Dinner started out like any other dinner, Zane and I were starving, Ciara was complaining that eating dinner was too boring and Dalin was screaming in his high chair because he was immobile. Then it all happened. Zane gave Dalin a plastic plate to play with and he dropped it on the floor...so Zane picked it up. After 3 or for pick ups Ciara decided she needed to try so Dalin would giggle and laugh then drop the plate and Ciara would giggle and laugh and pick it up. Around and around we went. They were both having such a fun time. Zane and I were glad that someone else was picking up the plate for once!

The pictures are here!!

Our pictures have arrived. A big thank you to Celia Mangus Photography. Celia was very professional and we had a great time taking the pictures. We got a lot of really good shots. If you want to check out Celia's web site here is the link. Like I said, she is very good at what she does and the price was very very reasonable. http://celiamangus.com

Family Portraits

Buyers Anxiety

I HATE CAR SHOPPING!! Okay, if I was say, single or married without kids and I had a limitless cash flow and all the time in the world I would love it... But I have two small children, no money, and a husband that works till 5:30 every day and car dealerships that close at 7:00. Needless to say we are attempting to buy a car 45 minutes at a time and it's not working. We are fighting with all of our being to avoid a minivan but I think we're losing the war. We just can't find anything that has what we want AND what we need in one vehicle. We were really interested in a Chrysler Pacifica but after reading a LOT of online reviews the older model that is in our price range seems to have several mechanical problems so I don't think we want to take a chance on it. We can't really afford the gas mileage on an SUV that has a third row. So that leaves us with the minivan, the dreaded soccer mom mini-van. I can feel the dark side pulling me in. I don't know what to do. I want to get something that will work for us and something that is going to be reliable but not having a vehicle is getting to be very taxing on our family. I feel pressured to make a decision that I don't feel like I can make. I'm definitely feeling the stress physically. Once this is all over I'm going to pamper myself with a massage. Darci, when I got your email about Thomas's party I instantly thought, "if we have a vehicle by this weekend I'm going to talk Zane into taking the week off and coming to UT for it." I think we're all ready for a break but Zane is so busy at work that he hasn't even been able to leave from work early so we can shop for cars. Sometimes I think maybe we should leave the kids with someone so we can focus on looking at cars but we need the kids with us so we can see how they fit in the car with the seats. Well, I'm done with my gripe session for now. I'll keep everyone updated on the situation. I just have to keep reminding myself that this to shall pass.

Another one bites the dust

Well, it's official, I've totaled my first car. It's not as bad as it sounds. I got in a little "incident" the other day while driving home. No one was hurt and I didn't have the kids with me. The claims adjuster caim today and deemed the car totaled since it would cost more to fix it than what it is worth. You can tell from the pic. that I ripped the bumper and fender off. I also pushed the frame back and twisted the axle. I was passing a water truck that was burning ditches and didn't see the truck and trailer that was doing the burning because it was completely covered in smoke and I hit the back tire of the trailer going around 30mph. Needless to say Zane and I will be doing a little car shopping tonight.

First Teeth and Daddy daughter dates

Today, I discovered Dalin's first tooth. Well, actually the shrill screaming and crying coming from my six month old clued me in. I checked his mouth and low and behold there it was. Needless to say, I dug out the orajel and we've been using that repeatedly today. I actually can't wait till he has a few more teeth so I can start giving him a broader variety of solids. For a long time he ate baby food really well but lately he won't take it and he doesn't want solids, like breads and pasta either. All he wants is milk. At his 4 month appointment the doctor said I need to be feeding him something other than milk because after so many feedings a day it doesn't give him any additional nutrition. I'm not quite sure what to feed him. With just milk it seems like I feed him every hour and a half. Ciara never ate baby food, she hated the stuff. For the life of me I can't remember what we fed her! Well, live and learn, and in this case relearn!

Ciara had quite a fun day today as opposed to Dalin's discomfort. Zane took her on a lunch date and then after work we were all going to go to the swimming pool but I just wasn't up for it so Dalin and I stayed home and Zane and Ciara went. After the pool Zane took her to the library and they picked out a few fun books to read. We read a book every night before bed so it's nice to have a change once and a while. We have quite a few books but it seems like we read the same three books over and over. She always loves it when she gets a new book so being able to go to the library is fun and exciting for her and saves me quite a bit of money at the bookstore!

Fun in the Sun

Today was a new adventure for us. It was the first day at the pool for Dalin. Ciara was really excited to go. We left the house at 12:30 in pursuit of bathing suits for Ciara and myself... 6 stores, and one grumpy mom later we were on our way to the pool at 5:30. The pool we went to has a kiddie pool that has a slope into the water so I sat on the edge of the water and stood Dalin up in it. He wasn't to thrilled at first. He turned and looked at me as if to say, "this is the biggest, coldest bath tub I've ever been in." He started getting used to it. He mostly drooled and grunted a lot. He didn't like it when kids would run by and he'd get splashed, he'd cry and grab onto me and pull himself as close as he could. Ciara on the other hand had the time of her life. She was all over the place. She kept jumping into the 3 inch deep water yelling, "CANNON BALL." Zane was volunteering for something with the motorcycle club that we belong to, in addition to the yearly fee the members are also required to volunteer 20 hours a year so he wasn't with us when we went to the pool. Let me tell you trying to hold onto an 18 lb. baby and change out of your clothes and into a bathing suit is not an easy task. Especially a baby that likes to grab EVERYTHING in site!! Of course, I forgot to take the camera with me. I don't think I would have been able to get any pictures of the kids anyway. Maybe next time when Zane can go with us we'll be able to. I really need to invest in a cell phone that has a camera in it!

Family Pictures

We had new family pictures taken yesterday. We went out to Riverfronte Park with a photographer. It was a little miserable until my mom went and got some bug spray. The mosquitos were everywhere. I think about half of our pictures are going to have one of us swatting at bugs. I asked my mom to come with us to help entertain the kids and get them to smile. Ciara and Dalin did pretty good. We made the mistake of letting Ciara bring her stuffed Horton elephant with us and she wanted him to be in all of the pictures with us. Then she decided he was hungry so the first half of our pics we're swatting bugs and the second half Ciara either has grass in her hands or she's pulling at the grass. O well, maybe we got one or two good shots in there. The photographer said she'd have the CD to us in a week or two so as soon as I get it I'll post a slide of the pictures. Both the kids got a little grumpy towards the end. It was hard to get Dalin to smile so hopefully we got one or two of that. I want to get a print of each of the kids close up, just thier faces, in black and white and frame them in 12x12 frames and put them in Zane and my room. It will be so nice to update all of the pictures around the house with current shots. The last time with had family pictures done was February of 2007.

Our Growing Boy!!

Dalin had his 6 month checkup today. He is 18 lb. 4 oz. and 27 3/4 in. long. Those measurements put him in the 95th percentile for hieght and 75th for wieght. The doctor told me that if he keeps growing at the rate of growth that he is now Dalin will be at least 6'2". Like Ronda always says, "we grow them big in the Kotter Family."