We are all alive...

Brandon got back on Friday from two weeks in Oregon for a work training test. WE ALL LIVED!! I didn't think it would happen, but it's finally over and I am a much happier mommy. Brandon and I were having the "who had it worse" debate, whether it was worse to be gone from your kids and wife all alone in a strange city, and eating out every night. I think I win, but it was a really close one:) During the long, lonely, two weeks...

Kenzie is a daddy's girl to the core and lets anyone around her, who is not her daddy know it. She was (and still is) teething, complete with fever, runny nose, diarrhea and all out misery, combine that with missing her dad, we had a fun two weeks.

Dillon was trying to see Kenzie at the store and tipped the cart on top of himself, Kenz and all. He has my screaming ability and he uses it each time he is injured, just bruises for both of them, thank goodness.

I had to spend my b-day without my wonderful husband:( He did send some beautiful flowers though and let me shop all I wanted:).

A few days later Dillon fell and cut his chin really badly and I had the mental debate (without my very calm husbands presence) of whether we needed to get Dillon stitches - in the end he got a butterfly bandaid, a movie and a sucker:) The next morning he peeled off and threw away the bandaid and informed me that since it was gone so was his owie. I noticed that while I was not trying to calm a little screaming boy dripping blood off his chin and praying he was okay so we wouldn't have to go to the hospital at 9pm and wake his sleeping sister, that his cut was much smaller than the amount of blood spilled. Stinkin' head wounds! (He's sleeping there, sorry for the up the nose shot:) )
He's being Mr. Cool here by the way. I bribed him with YoGo's to have his picture taken but he still wouldn't do a normal smile.

Kenzie got some hand me down shoes - if we haven't already established, Kenzie, in true girl fashion is obsessed with shoes - she insisted on wearing these ones and was being so cute I had to take her picture - probably for the first time in her life she participated willingly!!!
Dang it, have you seen how cute these kids are??? I think he wins, I would go crazy with neither of them to take care of - though a day or two might be really nice . . .
She looks like a girl who has had 20 tons of hairspray, a pick and a blow dryer. Not that though, hers is combination green bean juice, and pulling her piggy tails out:)
Dillon decorated this house all by himself. I took the kids to mutual with me while Bran was gone, the older girls were doing gingerbread houses for other kids in the ward and Dillon jumped right in.
All in all, we survived, but we are glad our sweet daddy/husband is home to take care of us!

Bountiful Bubbles & Blessings

We LOVE bubble baths here and the kids recently discovered turning the jets on in the tub - hence the monster amount of bubbles!! Kenzie isn't so sure if this is the thing for her but she always comes back for more, maybe because she wants to eat them. Dillon begs to have a bath everyday now.

I love the picture of Dillon with the shadow across his face, I'm not certain why I like it so much, possibly because I'm his mother and everything he does and everything to do with him is adorable:)

We are trying our hardest to survive the next two weeks - Brandon is gone to Oregon for some very in depth training and tests to see if he is ready to take over his own branch. It's going to be tough (on all of us), but I expect lots of emails and phone calls from you guys!!! Little daddy's girl Kenzie seems to be having the hardest time with it, combine that with 2 teeth coming in and a cold and we're having a great time. It's only Tuesday, it feels like it should be Friday. This should be interesting.

Man, I cannot believe how quickly Dillon is learning things. Everyone says kids are like sponges, I've learned that is so true. He was playing and something wasn't going right so he stood up and yelled,"What the heck?!?!" He is totally eating up letters right now. He loves his name. Everywhere we go he looks for the letters in his name and mommy, he'll starts yelling like theres a fire if he sees one.

Have I told you all how much I love Christmas? It is the greatest feeling on earth. Christmas just makes me feel happy. It's so much more fun now that I have kids. It's more about giving than it ever was before, which is maybe why I like it so much better. I miss the 12 days of Christmas though. My mom made us special pillow cases with pockets in them and starting on my b-day every year we'd wake up with little treats in the pockets. Not big stuff but special stuff, like a note saying we could make cookies with her that day, we could get a back massage, or little things like nail polish, candies, a tape. (back in the day:) ) It was like Christmas everyday! I tried doing it for Brandon but it just wasn't the same, he doesn't get too excited about stuff. Oh well. I want to do it for Dillon but Kenz is probably a little young. Well, Merry Christmas everyone.