Dallin's Bedtime Routine

Dallin loves to play with swords, pirates, superheroes, dinosaurs, all the typical boy stuff. He even likes to tease his sister, but he has a soft side to him. He is very caring and loving. He dreams about the day when he will be a dad. One time he told me, "I wonder what I'm going to name my kids and what my kids friends names will be?" He has the funniest thoughts. I like to encourage him to play with boy toys because Justin would rather him not play with dolls and things like that. Dallin has superhero toys and dinosaur toys. But, his favorite thing to do with them is to give them a bath and then wrap them up in a blanket and put them to sleep. He has loved doing this since he was a little baby. It makes me smile because this is what he likes to do and I love watching him take care of things and be so kind and gentle. He usually is very nice to his sister as well. He loves to copy us in the things we tell her. So, he will say Elise say "----", sometimes he tries to get her to say words that we don't want her to say. Dallin also loves to be the first one in Elise's room when she wakes up from her nap. He will say "How's my Lalla girl"(Elise calls him Lalla). Also, when we go to the doctor's office for her check ups the doctor will ask if Elise is doing this or that and Dallin will answer all of the doctor's questions as if he were her Dad. Anyway these are the things that Dallin does that make me smile every day. Here is a picture of his Spider-man all wrapped up in a blanket.

Oops! They don't make stroller like they used to!

We were on our way home from a walk this evening, with Dallin and Elise in the stroller and Justin pushing. Both kids were eager to "go fast," and Justin complied. The problem is, the stroller didn't. The front wheel fell off, and the stroller flipped up in the air and landed upside down with the kids inside! It was the most terrifying moment of our lives (with the exceptions of a few other crazy Dallin moments). Justin grabbed the stroller and turned it back over, with both kids screaming and blood gushing out of Dallins mouth, nose, and forehead. Elise was hysterical too, but not bleeding. As it turns out, she was buckled in and never made contact with the sidewalk. As you can see, Dallin took the brunt of the injuries. He was not buckled in and hit the sidewalk face first. Poor kid. He was a trooper though, and as of this post is sleeping soundly. And no, none of his teeth are missing, thank goodness!!!

The Last Friday of Every Month

The last Friday of every month is something that we look forward to in Iowa. Everything at the mall is free for kids; the carousel, ice skating and even food. So we take advantage of this and have so much fun. Dallin tried ice skating for the first time, but he thought 20 minutes was enough. Good thing it was free. But of course, Dallin and Elise love the carousel so we go on it at least five times. This is one of those things that we will miss about Iowa.

Dallin's Glasses

Dallin just got some new glasses. We tell him that smart people wear glasses, so he feels very smart. However, he does have a hard time keeping them on and we have lost them twice during the first week since he got them. Hopefully, we'll have better luck. Dallin has one eye that he can't see very well out of, so he relies too much on his other eye. Good thing the doctor caught this at Dallin's 4 year check up because it can get worse the longer that it goes untreated. We have to get used to Dallin with his glasses, but of course we think he looks extremely cute.

Swimming and The Beach

Dallin loved swimming at the beach and at the swimming pools. It was so nice to swim. Dallin even learned how to swim without floaties this time. He is getting braver and it is a little scary. Dallin also loved the sand and made sand castles and got buried in the sand. Elise, on the other hand would not let her feet touch the sand. But, the ocean was great. We love relaxing and swimming so we had a great time.

FLORIDA

Just about the most exciting thing that has happened to our family this year is that we got to go to Orlando, Florida last week. We went to Disney World and the beach. It was such a nice break since we have been freezing in Iowa. Dallin asks me every day when we are going back to Florida.
Our Favorite rides were the flying Dumbo and the Flying Triceratops. We went to Disney's Animal Kingdom and we liked it better than the Magic Kingdom. Of course, it was fun to see the castle and the characters at the Magic Kingdom, but for kids I think the Animal Kingdom is so fun.

OUR SNOW DAYS IN IOWA

We have had a lot of snow in Iowa. This past week it actually got to 30 degrees and we could go out and play in the snow. We had so much fun!!