Daniel playing peek-a-boo

We love this one. It is a movie of Daniel playing peek-a-boo at dinner. He loves to have all of our attention at once. And he is tired and hyper here, so he is laughing pretty hard.

A day with Daniel

For those of you that have never had a boy, let me tell you what it is like. And for those of you who haven't had a boy for a while, you will smile knowing your turn is done. This is Daniel, who got away from me after his bath before I could get his diaper on, which is usually a fight each diaper change. In about 5 seconds he went into our bedroom, climbed up the back of this chair and straight on to our bed.
You will notice there is a theme for Daniel, he loves to climb, the higher the better for him. I try to hide the stools and close the bathroom door. He loves to climb on the toilet and get into the cupboards above. This is a picture of him making his own stool out of drawers. If he does it right, he can climb on top of the kitchen counter. That is scarey because the stove is in the middle of the counter, it is electrical with hot coils.
Daniel has the ability to climb on top of the table in a couple of seconds. Though, I think I have him trained now to stop before he gets on the table. We are still working on him not climbing the back of the chair.

More good times with Daniel.

Daniel continuously climbs up these bars. Sometimes up three levels.
Daniel was trying to get down from the chair that he climbed on. He was very stuck.
He loves to climb over these books to get to the back of the bookcase to push those books from the back. What a mess.
Daniel playing peek-a-boo with messy cooked oatmeal all over his hands. The fun part, of course, is that he can usually see through his fingers.
Daniel climbing again, and into my clean laundry. Nice!

A very pleasing moment

This is Abby's first tithing envelope. She ripped one of my nice pillowcases when she was playing inside of it(king sized). Since this was not the first time I told her not to play in it, I decided she had to buy me a new one, and earn it herself. She earned the $6, and then some. This is her tithing of $.70 for her to give her Daddy(the second counceler in the bishopric) on Sunday. She is pleased only because we made a big deal about it, but pleased none the less.

This is a video of Abby doing her "cool dance" as she calls it. It isn't the best one she has ever done, but we still had to post it.

Oh, so validated!!!

I am a mother of a few frustrations, and a very big one was validated this weekend. Last night, Frank and I got the rare chance to go out with some friends. My mom and Amy(sister), watched the kids for us. After a few enjoyable hours, we came back to my mom's house for the kids. When Amy saw us, the first thing that came out of her mouth was a question much like this, "Kristin, I have a question for you. Do you just clean all day long or just do two big cleanings and pick ups a day?" I was little confused by the question, so she explained something to the effect that Daniel just goes from one thing, pulling everything out and making a mess and on to the next, without any brakes. Amy said she couldn't imagine trying to keep up with that all day, everyday. I FELT SO VALIDATED! Even my mother, who had seven kids, also says I have my hands full. That helps me feel like I am not crazy when I can't get anything done. Oh, and Amy has some funny pictures I will post when she uploads them for all to see from that night.
This week I was reading something in the living room. The last I knew Daniel was playing with Abby, Kiah, Jeordin, and Tylan down the hall. But then I heard Daniel making a noise as he was hitting something. Could that be Daniel hitting the top of the stove? But how? I come into the kitchen and this is what I see...... How did this little monkey get here?
I come around the counter, and on the floor are the two stools that Abby and Kiah left from putting the silverware away. Daniel opened the second drawer, climbed on the stool and then climbed into the drawer and figured out how to stand on the edge of that drawer. He had great balance on there. He was so pleased with himself, and very happy to be able to see so much.
Later in the day, I came walking down the hall to the sight of Daniel sitting on the the table. He had used a stool to climb on the the green chair, which he has gotten up there without it before, but continued up to the table and was playing with the napkin bowl. He was having so much fun. This is a small glipse of my day with Daniel.

Having fun with Kiah

We are having so much fun with Kiah at our house during the week. Abby's job of putting away the silverware isn't so "boring" as Abby puts it, when Kiah is there to help. Kiah loves to clean and help, and Abby loves to teach her how to do things and say "good job, Kiah!"
Wednesday was a wet morning on the back deck. Daniel is dirty and wet for the deck, and Abby and Kiah are hanging upside down, and oh, so pleased with themselves. It was a fun morning for the kids, and there were definately baths after all of the fun.

Life is a little busy, but fun.

This is Daniel with our neighborhood grandpa, Bob.

Daniel loves to move the controller stick around.
I recently started tending my good friend, Jenn's, daughter all day and her boys after school for a couple of hours Monday-Thursday. This is Abby and Kiah in our own little preschool playing with the play dough they helped make.
Abby was not home for this picture. She was at Bronson's house for her neighborhood 4 yr old preschool. So, Kiah and I did preschool just for her today. She is looking more than pleased with herself here. She just said her first prayer, with my help, for the opening of our little preschool. Yeah, Kiah!! Oh, and she was in her "car seat" as she calls it.