Little Stinkers!

Well, they've finally found where I spend most of my time...the laundry room. They had the time of their lives climbing in and out of the dryer. At least I got the clothes out this time before they got in! When I went to get the camera to take a pic of them playing in the dryer, this is what I came back to find Kylie doing to Krista.

Valentine Craft

This week Dayna has been doing nothing but asking to make valentines. She finished the ones she needed for school and wanted to do more. Seeing this cute craft on a friend's blog I looked on the internet for more examples of animals and we set off to make our own Valentine Heart Animals. Cant figure out how to delete a picture from the blog once i have it on, which is why this pic of dayna is still here!

Dayna showing off her butterfly

David's mouse

The whole animal collection: dog, fish, ladybug, bunny, butterfly, mouse, butterfly, and a caterpillar.

Krista and Kylie are 1!!!!!

I can't believe we made it to the year mark already! It seems like it has taken so long and happened so fast at the same time! We had some cake for their birthday and the kids we extremely anxious to watch them eat it! They both really enjoyed it. Kylie dug right in. Krista picked at it first and then joined her sister in making a nice mess. Kylie is running and climbing everything. Her favorite thing to do is to find a chair that isn't totally up against the dining room table and use it to get onto the table, stand up and then yell/smile to let us know she did it again! Krista is still trying to master the whole walking thing, I am happy to say that she is now letting go of things and trying to walk more frequently and on her own. We've never had one before that didn't walk/run by the time they were one. She's still two pounds and two inches smaller than her sister. She is just a petite little thing with a smile that will get you. She has figured out how to climb onto the kids' little rocking chair and into drawers. Thanks Kylie for teaching her those. At least Kylie can get out and down when she's finished with it, Krista just screams until someone gets her!

Trouble

Looks like Kylie could be trouble!! Although I think I can honestly say that I believe I have a pic of all the kids doing this at some point and time!!I found one of Dylan. Look how he pretends to be so innocent!Couldn't find one of Dayna and David, but I thought this was close enough! They'd empty the drawer and then sit in it...daily!

David and Daynas 5th birthday

Happy New Year!! Today was also Dayna and David's 5th birthday! This was a big one to them in their minds. This marks the beginning of the year they get to play soccer, play baseball and get to ride the school bus. Well, okay those were just mainly Davids big deals! Dayna is just Dayna as was thrilled to finally get to do/eat whatever she wanted. So of course for lunch we packed up the whole family and headed back to Red Robin (kids saw the icecream sundae that Dylan got there for his birthday). This was our first resturant experience with our whole family by ourselves. We survived it, although I'm pretty sure we won't be going anywhere again anytime soon! Here are the kids anxiously waiting to open their presents. They each got their own cake this year. White for David and of course chocolate for Dayna, she had wanted a princess cake, but ended up agreeing to just decorating her own cake with hearts and having princess plates.

Apparently you should always read the label on the candles before you buy them because within seconds of the kids blowing out their candles they all relit!! Dylan jumped in to try to help get them to stay out. David kept saying these were scary. I have to agree with him, they kept sparking everywhere! Ended up pulling them out with salad tongs and throwing them into a bowl of water.

Overall, I think they had a good birthday. David got to spend the WHOLE day playing either WII or his DS. Dylan kept saying he thought David was setting a new world record for playing video games! Dayna got to do her girlie stuff--paint her toenails/fingernails, make a beaded necklace, feed her doll some food and play with her walking pup. We ended the night watching Alvin and the Chipmunks the Squeakquel, their current favorite movie.

Last few months!!

It has been a long time since I have posted anything!! My camera cord had been chewed/sucked on by Kylie and would not allow me to download any pics onto the computer. Keep forgetting to buy a new cord while at a store and my goal to get in and out of any/all stores as fast as I can equalled months of not having anyway to access my pics. So I am now doing a brief synopsis of Oct-Dec. In Oct I met my good high school friend Kelly Rietema in Apple Hill to enjoy the many apple orchards that were in full swing. While looking up which ones to go to we realized that just our two families classified us as a "field trip" (10 kids between the two of us). We were crazy--10 kids with two adults and all kids 8 or under! We handled it just fine and had a great time!! Hopefully we will be able to do this again!

The next weekend brought us down to Chino for my Grandma Douma's 80th birthday. As you can see the kids got to play miniature golf. They also enjoyed bumper boats, roller coasters, and dinner at the park BBQ'd by my Uncle Henry which always means great tri-tip!! I honestly think the hi-light of the trip for the kids though, was being able to stay in a hotel. They thought that was great! I am just thankful for the large room we had and the fact the hotel was honest and had kept the clothes I had left there for almost a month!! I couldn't remember where they could have gone and kept telling Dave I was convinced someone broke into the house and stole some of our clothes!! OOOOOPS! Thanks Aunt Val for collecting them for me!!Of course October ends with Halloween! The kids had fun as usual dressing up and trick-or-treating. We are thankful for Tom and Laura who allow us to tag-along in their neighborhood and always supply us with a fun dinner of appetizers! If you can't tell Dylan is Mario, David is Luigi, Dayna is a pink bunny, and Krista/Kylie are sheep.The week before Thanksgiving, Dave and I took a much anticipated trip to Maui. Neither of us had ever been there before and now understand what all the hype is about! We had a ton of fun with the three other couples that also went, enjoyed the carefree days of not worrying about the kids (thanks parents for helping out there!!), and even got to remember how good food can be when you eat it while its still hot!December began with David and Dayna's preschool's Christmas program. It was very cute as usual. We have the DVD if anyone is interested :) Dayna performed her part as Mary perfectly. She rode (walked by) on the donkey, laid her baby in the manger and received the gifts from the wisemen. David was very proud to get to be the wiseman who carried the star. He got to lead all of the other wisemen to the manger. They both did great and were very happy to have their grandparents (and Aunt Nancy) there to watch them!Next on the December agenda was Dylans 8th birthday. He was super shocked and happy to get the basketball hoop he had been begging for for about 2yrs. Now if we can just keep the rain, wind, and cold away so they can be outside to enjoy it.

Finally, after everyone but Kylie enjoyed a bout with the flu, Christmas arrived. We did take a pic of the kids opening their stockings Christmas morning, but didn't think it was right to post a pic that only showed four kids. Krista was zonked from the flu so she didn't make the pic, you can only hold four kids away from long awaited stocking stuffers for so long!

We had a great year in 2010. I know I didn't include much about Krista and Kylie so here's a little tidbit. They are officially 11months old today. Kylie is walking everywhere and has really gotten fast at it in the last couple of days. She still only has two teeth but both her and Krista still eat whatever is given to them. She enjoys following the kids around to the point that they now shut all doors behind them to keep her out! Krista is on the verge of learning to walk, tonight she actually took two steps! Don't ask for proof, because when I tried to show someone then all she did was her usual huge smile, laugh and just dive forward. She finally got her first tooth a couple of weeks ago. She isn't as big into following the kids, she'd rather watch the kitties. Although, if Dayna has her baby stroller out Krista will attack her and try to take it away. It is the only time I have heard Krista yell at one of the kids!!

Reading

This was just too cute not to post!! Dylan is reading to all of the kids.

School and Baths

I just started giving the girls baths together last week. It speeds up the whole bathing process! The only downfall, at this time, is they splash together. When it was just one at a time they would splash a little and then get bored with it. Now it is pretty continuous. When one starts the other joins in! By the time we are done, I think I am just as wet if not more than them! I am attempting to add a video of some of their splashing at the end of this post, we'll see if it works. Two weeks ago was the start of school for the kids. Here are David and Dayna on their first day of school. Sorry its such a dark pic, had to take it in the shade because while standing in the sun, David was uncooperative!

Dylan is ready for his first day of 2nd grade! He is excited he has Mrs Vander Molen, who was also his Uncle Jason's teacher at Ontario Christian and his Aunt Laura's teacher here at Ripon Christian. He is also feeling pretty lucky because he doesn't have to ride the bus for awhile in the mornings. Grandma K is subbing for a teacher in the HS for awhile and has generously offerred to take Dylan to school in the mornings! I am thrilled, because it means I don't have to worry whether Dave is going to make it into the house on time to bring him to the bus stop or not and I don't have to load 4 other kids into the car at 715 to bring him to the stop myself! Thanks Mom again!!! He really enjoys his alone time with Grandma!

Knights Ferry

The other day we spent the afternoon in Knights Ferry. A nice close get-away! The kids enjoyed seeing the covered bridge, old buildings (dylan was proud he could read all the naratives), hiking the trails and playing in the very cold river. It was a lot of fun to get out and do something that all of us could be a part of. Dave and I had carriers on in order to carry the girls. They were super good and enjoyed being outside and watching their brothers and sister run and splash around. The kids outside one side of the bridge. Walking through the bridge. It had a few spots that it didn't have wood on the side, kind of like windows, so you could see the view and/or the river below.

The kids peering through the boards to see the river below us. Dave said wouldn't it be fun if there was an earthquake right now. Dylan and David were excited with that thought. They wanted to surf on the boards while fell into the river.
A semi-group picture at one of the stops during our hike. At one point we heard a rattlesnake and that put a look of terror on Dayna's face for the rest of the hike!! We ended up telling her it was just the wind through the weeds :)

The kids stopped splashing and skipping rocks long enough for me to snap a pic of them in the water under the bridge.

Beach

Last week we got a good excuse to leave the heat and go to the beach...Melanie and her kids were here!! Little did we know that the day's high in the valley was only going to be in the 80s and the beach was going to be freezing!! Most of us spent the day in sweatshirts or wrapped in towels, the kids did brave the water for awhile and would come out freezing and with blue lips! Despite the weather we had a good time, even got the four youngest kids there to take naps! Jenny, Dayna and Mom spent a lot of time working on their sandcastle. Dayna is still talking about it!

Dylan and David, well, mainly Dylan, dug a big hole. He got some help from Daddy and Grandpa. It ended up being not only deeper than this, but bigger. It was a fun hole/hideout for most of the kids to jump in and play.

Here are the three little ones enjoying their first experience with sand. Those bumbos sure were a great invention!!!

David got a fat lip last week saturday while we were at a wedding. He decided to be a catcher and walked behind the babysitter who was the batter and got nailed by the backswing! It was a pretty nasty cut inside his mouth, but thankfully no loose teeth! Cant really tell by this pic, but that half of his lip pretty much hung about half an inch lower than the other side! He never complained about it, past the initial hit, but didn't eat. All he want was shakes and something to drink. It is now almost normal again. Its still a little bigger than the otherside, but not as noticeable, at least people arent staring at him anymore!!

pool days

Sorry the computers being a pain, can't move the pics into the order I want or add the one like the one below except it has Tom, Dylan and Dayna.

The boys really had fun doing this, but had to learn to let go of their uncles once they fall into the water. Hard concept for them to grasp because they didn't want to fall and would just end up holding tighter and Tom and Kenny ending up deeper and deeper in the pool!!

Even Kara got into the mix!! She could really push Dylan down!!Krista and Kylie enjoyed playing with cups of water while sitting at the side of the pool.

A game of basketball was also enjoyed. David stayed outside of the pool this way he could actually play/help.

The kids absolutely love swimming. We try to get to Dave's Mom's pool as often as we can, which ends up not being as often as the kids like. But, when you have two infants and about 3-4 bags that need to go along it makes it a big project. I must say though, that the little ones do pretty well there. Better than I ever expected. I didn't think we would get to the pool more than 10 times this summer, but we have beat that already. I wish it was warmer in the mornings because I find that to be the perfect time--getting there at 10 before the major afternoon heat and flies take over! Unfortunately for me, that almost never happens and the kids like the afternoon so it is super warm. Either way though everyone has a lot of fun. Here are a few pics of the kids having fun at the pool a day that their uncles were there also! Apparently, the best swimming is done when you have an adult or two willing to play with you. Thanks Kenny and Tom the kids loved it!!

Blueberries and Father's Day

Last week we went to Jessup Farms with the VGs to pick blueberries. The kids had a ton of fun. What I thought would maybe be a 30-45min outing quickly turned into almost 2hrs!! The kids got to pick berries from the bushes, which they thought was soooo much fun! We didn't lose too many from buckets getting tipped over! They also had a couple of putting greens, bounce house and purple sand to play in. The boys spent much of the time putting or jumping and the girls found this statue to imitate!

Dayna and Emily picking berries. They had the quickest technique for picking them. The boys just grabbed while the girls went for the berries that looked better.

The boys picking theirs, I think they ate as many as they put into their buckets!!

After buying them they enjoyed eating them straight from the bag.
HAPPY FATHER'S DAY DAVE!!!

Random pics!

Just some random pics that have been taken in the last couple of weeks. Dayna has found a new use for the stand/legs of the giraffe limbo game we have. It is now a microphone. A few minutes after this pic was taken Dylan had the other one out as the guitar and soon enough David had the lego box out to use it to play the drums! They have been putting on concerts ever since!! Look at how big they are getting!! We almost having them holding their own bottles!! They are about 4 1/2mo old now and thoroughly enjoy their siblings. The kids can get them to smile whenever they want, its so cute to watch!

Here's Krista sitting up in the bumbo! They both like to be upright and like the different view. Yesterday, while Dave was bbqing and the kids were outside playing I had the girls in the bumbos by the sliding door so they could watch all the excitement. They LOVED it! Every now and then one of the kids would come and knock on the glass to get them to smile and pay attention to them again.

Krista was enjoying a seat on Daddy when the boys saw it and got a little jealous! They quickly joined in.

All the twins having a chat!! David and Dayna just thought this was the funniest thing, of course their giggles brought on giggles from the younger too as well. Life is busy and there are rarely quiet moments, but I wouldn't change it for anything!! The kids are all happy and love eachother so much. I love watching them talk with eachother, whether thats listening to the older ones play imaginary roles, the boys pretending they are the Dodgers playing in the world series, or them all swearing that krista and Kylie just said their first word they all interact mulitple times in different ways throughout the day and I enjoy watching it!!