Life in Abilene

Dallin's 6th Birthday

2012-01-30T21:05:00.000-07:00

This was the year that Dallin was having a family party at home. We decided awhile ago that we would parties that the kids invited friends would be on the odd number birthdays. But I also wanted Dallin to have a fun day. I knew he wanted Transformers as a theme so I decided to go a little further and give him some games and more than the usual decorations. His birthday was on a Saturday so it was a perfect day to have his party. Tarek took the kids out for a little bit so I could get everything ready for the birthday boy.

First came the cake, not it is partly my fault that I started so late but I waited until 8:30pm on Friday to start baking cakes. So 7 hours later I had this to show him that morning.

So after Tarek took the kids out for a little bit I got busy decorating.

Since we moved here Suzi and Dylan have always been at the kids

birthday parties. And now they have Tanner so he came too. They are

part of our Abilene family. Tanner loved all the Transformer things and

playing the games with the kids.

The first game Dallin was super excited to play, pin the symbol on

Bumblebee.

Tarek even took a turn

I made an Autobot bean bag toss for the kids to play with. They loved it.

Finding the Allspark

I made little paper all spark cubes and put them into a box with

shredded paper. Dallin wore a blind fold and the younger two

just had fun digging them out.

Optimus Piñata

Having Fun

Leapster Explorer Mayhem

2012-01-30T20:07:00.000-07:00

Dallin owns a Leapster Explorer from Leapfrog. It is a game system kinda like a Nintendo DS but all the games are Educational. So he ends up doing reading, math, science and history on it instead of those other video games, I am trying to not get into those for a very long time. Keely even likes playing on it. The one advantage to this system is that as the kids knowledge grows the games become more complex. It grows with them by the age level I set. Anyways the games for this thing are very small and I was always finding them everywhere.

So I went on an internet search and tried to find something that I could make to keep these little buggers all together. I came across this site and under Kid stuff I found what I was looking for. A Leapster cartridge roll-up. http://www.deliliahdesigns.blogspot.com I got to work looking for the things that I needed to make one of these for Dallin.

I cut two pieces of fabric, one for the back and the other for the inside.

I found this net bag in the bathroom for some toys that I wasn't using

and decided I can use this as my pockets so you can see thru it to see

the games.

I measured how big I wanted the pockets to be so that I could fit the

games. The example that I found on the web was for the older

Leapster and those games are much bigger than what we have.

So I had to adjust my sizes.

The pockets are pinned to the right side of this fabric for the inside. I also

added some elastic to the bottom so it would close. I stitched across the

bottom of each pocket and then down the middle of the whole thing.

Then I put the other piece of fabric on top with right sides together and

stitched around, turned it ride side out and stitched around it again.

Now he has a small case to keep his games together and it

is easy for him to use. Keely even likes to use this too.

A Little Catch Up from 2011

2012-01-22T20:44:00.000-07:00

I have not been very good with keeping up with this blog, but here is what the rest of last year was all about in the Thomas house. First up is a little day trip to Fort Worth, Texas. We went to the stockyards to see what was happening there. The first thing that Keely saw were the ponies. Right away she asked Daddy if she could ride the pony. She was so excited to ride, Dallin was a little nervous but was cool when he got on the pony. We stayed long enough for the walking of the bulls down the street. It was a fun little adventure for the day, which we drove their in Bumblebee, the car.

The Pumpkin Patch

We take the kids here every year. And they love going back. This year we

let them pick out small pumpkins. They got to ride on the hay

ride pulled by the tractor. The kids never get tired of going on that ride.

Halloween

This year Dallin decided to be Optimus Prime, and Keely wanted to be

Cinderella. We opted out of trunk or treat this year and only went around

our neighborhood. Keely's little friend Tanner came along

as Frankenstein to Trick or Treat with us. All the kids had fun

and got lots of candy.

Time for Christmas Pictures

It was that time again to take the kids somewhere to get some pictures

for Christmas cards. This year I chose to go to another University in town.

ACU has this place called Jacob's Dream, with stones and many places to

pose for pictures. I will definitely go back here for other pictures this spring.

Tarek took this one of Dallin next to Bumblebee, he didn't really

want to take another picture but I think it turned out pretty good.

Thanksgiving

Dallin had his first kindergarten program and I took the day off from

work so that I could go see him dance and sing. It was to cute.

Especially the turkey tango.

For Thanksgiving this year we went to San Antonio and stayed in an

awesome hotel and Grandad came too. The kids had fun visiting and

seeing all the lights that lit up the river walk.

Keely Turns 3

This was Keely's year to have a friend party, since we only do

them every other year. So it ended up being the odd number years

that they get a friend party. Of course she wanted a Hello Kitty party,

and I decided to make it small and do it at McDonalds play place.

We invited some of her friends that were going to be in

her new class at church and most of them came to have fun with her.

She loved her cake and I think she loved her gifts, by the

looks on her face while opening them.

Christmas 2011

This year we decided to stay in Abilene for Christmas.

It has been a long time since we had a Texas Christmas.

Mommy and Keely wearing their Hello Kitty

Christmas shirts. She picked it out for me.

Christmas Eve

Christmas morning, Dallin woke up Keely and she was

not ready to get up.

After opening all the presents and destroying the living room with

paper we had cinnamon rolls for breakfast. I think they enjoyed their Texas

Christmas.

Yee-Haw!!!

2011-08-13T22:40:00.001-06:00

The kids have collected some western gear over the past few months, and I have been wanted to take pictures of them in it. It has been so hot lately that I only took 1 shot outside and the rest were inside. I even let them pose with their cap guns. The enjoyed it and I have to say that some of these are my favorites. When I went to get some developed at Sam's today I was asked who took them. I told the lady that I did, and she made me fill out a form that said I took them and I can make prints. That was a first. The picture of both of them looks really good in Sepia tone, kinda brown. I only know how to make it that way through Sam's photo printing. But if you ever come to my house you will be able to see it on the wall. Enjoy some new pics of the kids, all ready for a rodeo.

Sacrament Books

2011-07-27T22:31:00.000-06:00

When we go to Church on Sundays, it has become a toy fest on the floor of the chapel. I want to get the kids out of the habit I started with bringing a bag of toys to church. So as I was searching the internet and I came across this idea that I thought was cute. I can't remember which blog I found it on, but I totally borrowed this idea.

First I found all my old Friend magazines and tore out all the activities that I thought Dallin and Keely could do on their own, I even found some online.

I then bought two 1/2 inch binders, one for each child

I used plastic page protectors and inserted the coloring and activity pages in the binders.

I bought the kids a set of Dry Erase crayons and a case to carry them in, they came with their own cloth for removal.

I then got some scrapbooking paper and make covers for the binders with their names on them. The original blog with this idea used a cricut machine to cut out the names which look a lot better. But I used my computer and printed right on the paper since that is what I had on hand.

Hopefully these will be able to keep the kids occupied while in Sacrament, I am looking for more reverent ideas to keep them quiet but occupied during church. Any ideas?

Spring!

2011-03-17T23:01:00.003-06:00

I took the kids out to take their pictures for spring wearing their
Easter best. I gave up trying to go to a portrait studio and paying
for something that I didn't really like. So for Christmas and now Easter
I like to take the kids outside and let them walk around and try to get
some cute pictures. The kids did really good today, we went to a local college
here in Abilene and they enjoyed playing on the bridge and walking around
the water. Dallin is so good about taking pictures, Keely on the other hand
is a little tougher. She doesn't always like to look at the camera.

Not sure what she was doing in this picture, I call it her Marilyn Monroe
impression.

Keely's 2nd Birthday

2010-12-10T21:14:00.001-07:00

More Christmas Pics

2010-12-07T14:07:00.004-07:00

Christmas Pictures

2010-12-02T11:15:00.002-07:00

It's Been Way to Long....but not enough time.

2010-08-08T16:22:00.003-06:00

It has been a long time since I had posted something on here, I mainly use Facebook to post pictures because it doesn't take as long. It takes a long time to post to blogger. But here is a recent picture of the kids together that I took the other day. They are growing up so fast, that I can't believe that they are going to be 5 and 2 in 5-6 months. It's just crazy.

Keely will be turning 2 in December and she is a little ball of fire. She has already started throwing herself on the floor if she doesn't get her way. Which she goes straight to time out to do that, after about a minute she stops and find something to do on her own. She loves to play with stickers and color. If she finds a crayon watch out she will write on anything. She is also in love with her shoes, she wants them on her feet all the time. Her vocabulary is growing rapidly. A lot more than Dallin did at this age. She has taken an interest in books lately, pulling them all out of the basket or shelf and then going through each one. It is really cute to see her try to read them.

Dallin is getting taller by the day. He loves his class at school and even has a girlfriend already. He can write his name, mom and pretends to write other words. Just yesterday he went swimming with only arm floats and went down a pool slide and jumped off the diving board, I wish I had pictures but I was in the water with Keely when he did those things. Dallin loves to go to primary at church, it is so cute to watch him sing the songs that he is learning. We have a copy of the songs in the car and I can hear him singing along with it. It is just to cute. He is really excited to go to the beach in a week to play in the sand and see airplanes fly.

I wish I had more time to post some more pictures, but I am still in school and that takes up alot of my nights after the kids are in bed.

Just Happenings....

2010-05-13T19:32:00.004-06:00

Well it's been a crazy few months lately. Using this blog is time consuming when trying to upload pictures. I usually just post to facebook all my pictures. But I thought that I would post something. Dallin started playing T-Ball two weeks ago, and he got his uniform this week. His team name is the Tigers and of course they are orange. He enjoys every minute of it. His first game is this Saturday and I am excited to see him play. I took the kids to a bluebonnet field a few weeks ago to get some pictures. I got a few good ones and they loved walking through the field of flowers. Keely is getting bigger everyday and showing off her little attitude. I made her a little tutu last week and the picture show on here was the first time I put it on her, she did not like it at all. The second time I put it on her so she could show her Daddy, she was strutting around like she was queen bee. It was too funny. Just wanted to share some recent pictures. If I can get some time this weekend I will go back a month and post some from then.

2010-03-11T08:16:00.003-07:00

It has been a really long time since I last posted. It takes a long time to upload pictures to the blog, so I usually use facebook to post my pictures. But I thought that I would update you on what's been going on. I am still truckin along in school. I was inducted into Alpha Chi a few days ago, which is the College Honor Society. I have a full load with 15 credit hours this semester and will continue to have a full load until I am finished. I am hoping to student teach by Spring of 2011. The kids are doing well in daycare, Keely is now starting to move up to the next class since she is finally walking. She should have moved up 3 months ago. Keely got her first black eye from walking by hitting it on a coffee table. But she is doing fine and loves to walk down the hall at school. Dallin is enjoying his preschool class and learning to write his name. I was shocked to see that he could write his name. He also likes to help out with feeding the pets. Tarek keeps busy with his new hobby of a salt water aquarium, he enjoys going to the pet store on Wednesdays to check out the new shipment of fish.
We are going on Spring Break this coming week for a vacation with Tarek's mom, so I will try to post some pictures from that trip.

Random Pictures from my Phone

2009-09-29T11:38:00.002-06:00

It is hard to keep up with taking pictures and posting them these days. But I usually can take pictures with my phone since it is always handy. Some of these might be a bit blurry but they are still cute. Dallin can drive Keely around in his power wheels now and he knows that he has to go slow with her in the truck. She loves to ride with big brother. I finally got Keely outside in her walker so she could walk around and she is not used to wearing shoes so she kicked one off. But she loved to be outside and chase Dallin around on the drive way. The last picture we were in a show of some sort and they had dirt bikes there and Dallin found the little ones so we let him sit on one. He thought he was so cool.

Our Vacation

2009-08-24T20:44:00.004-06:00

We took a mini vacation in between my school semesters this past weekend. We drove to San Antonio and stayed in a hotel next to Sea World. We visited the Riverwalk and took a boat ride, visited Sea World on Friday, and the Alamo on Saturday. Dallin loved Sea World, I think his favorite was feeding the Dolphins. My favorite part was cooling off in the water park. This Sea World is alot smaller than Orlando, Florida; but the water park makes up for it. It was really hot and it was nice to sit in the water and cool off. Saturday we ventured to the Alamo to say that we saw it, well lets just say if you really want to see something like this, with it being hot, don't bring the kids along. Dallin is to young to understand what it is and so he was a little bored with it. But all in all I think we had a good little trip.

Tarek and Dallin our on the far left of this roller coaster. Dallin has his hand raised and Tarek looks like he is screaming.

Dallins New Room

2009-08-24T20:30:00.004-06:00

Dallin has wanted his room painted ever since we painted Keely's room. So when I finished my summer II classes I painted his room. He helped pick out the colors but didn't know when I was going to paint it. I took them to school like a normal day and painted my heart out while they were gone. I managed to get it done just in time to pick them up and brought him upstairs to see it. He was so excited to finally have his new room painted.

Gotta love that face

2009-06-30T13:01:00.003-06:00

Keely has been sporting her new hair do lately. She does pretty good with leaving them in. I think she looks to cute.

This picture was taken not to long ago while at a restaurant, I decided to try her out in a highchair. She did pretty good, besides getting tired and we ended up holding her. But for a good while she sat there with her gerber cookie and played with toys.

Here is a before picture with Keely's pig tails.

Now here she is when you take them out. Keely has horns as Dallin would say.

Dallin was showing Keely how to play the piano.

This is the face I get when she is all done eating or drinking. Goofy Baby.

Keely loves her prunes.

Eating Toes

2009-06-30T12:48:00.002-06:00

Keely loves to eat her toes. It was kinda funny at her 6 month check up the doctor asked if she could eat her toes. Never got that asked before.

The picture of Tarek and the kids were taken on Father's Day.

Sitting Up and Brotherly Love

2009-06-30T12:34:00.002-06:00

Keely can now sit up with a little help. She loves to sit up and play with her toys. Dallin is such a great big brother. If Keely is crying he will try to make her happy until I can get to her. When she wakes up from her naps, Dallin goes to see her. Usually climbing in his bed with her to play too. But he loves to help me with her. The other day we were driving to school and Dallin was talking about a friends baby and this is how the conversation went:

Dallin: Where is baby Tanner?
Mommy: He is with Suzi, his mommy.
Dallin: Baby Tanner is Suzi's baby and Keely is my baby.
Mommy: Yes thats right.
Dallin: Mommy, I want another baby.
Mommy: I don't know about that.
Dallin: Well then, go to the doctors and get me another baby.
Mommy: So babies come from the doctors?
Dallin: Yeah

Kids say the funniest things.

Keely's First Baby Cookie.....YUM

2009-06-17T21:53:00.002-06:00

Tonight after her dinner, Keely had her first Baby Cookie, the ones from Gerber. She thought it was the coolest thing. She made the biggest mess, but she loved it. Can you see her hair do that she had today. She looked so cute. The funny part was when I took the bands out her hair made her look like an Ewok. She is just to much fun.

6 Months Already

2009-06-16T22:46:00.002-06:00

I can't believe that my baby is 6 months already. She is just growing up so fast. We went to the doctors on friday for her checkup. She is healthy and growing big. She weighs in at 16 lbs 7 ounces. And is 26 3/4 inches. She has doubled her birth weight and grew 6 3/4 inches since birth. WOW. She is almost sitting up now, still work not to fall backwards. But she doesn't fall completely forward anymore. She is using her legs more, pushing herself backwards in the walker, and jumps like crazy in her Jumperoo. She loves to eat anything you give her, especially paper. If she can get it, she will eat it. She can drink from a sippy cup now, and eats baby food like no tomorrow. She sleeps through the night from 8pm till 7am. It's great. She still doesn't like being on her tummy. Still hasn't mastered rolling back onto her back again. She always rolls onto her tummy then starts to fuss. Keely is a happy, funny, and content baby. We have been really blessed to have her in our lives.

First Day of School

2009-06-16T22:40:00.002-06:00

Well last week on June 8th, the kids started "school", or daycare. I call it school for Dallin. He was so excited to go the first day. He was ready with his new pillow that I made him and his new Thomas the Train shoes. His class was outside when we got there that he handed me his pillow and took off, didn't even say goodbye. It's been a week and a half and he still is doing great. Keely got a new blanket that we keep at school. She loves her teachers and always smiles at them when we walk in the class in the morning. She's had a great time playing and being with the other babies.

Fun Pictures

2009-06-16T22:18:00.004-06:00

Tarek called this picture Little Bo Peep. I think she kinda looks like it. She is starting to get to big for the hats to some of her dresses so I thought that I would take a picture.

I asked Tarek to take some pictures with him and the kids. These are 2 of the best ones. I forgot my camera was on black and white, but I think this picture turned out ok.

I got them their 4th of July outfits and just had to take a picture. Couldn't wait.

Here is Keely and her new buddy Tanner. He was born at the end of May, just wait till their both running around. We better watch out.

Home Depot

2009-06-16T22:05:00.003-06:00

I found out about these kids workshops that Home Depot does once a month from my friend Vanessa. We finally made it to one. And Dallin just loved it. He thought it was way cool to hammer nails and use the glue. We will definitely be going again. They were out of aprons but he will get his orange apron next time.

I just love Keely's face in the background. She was very curious about what was going on.

A Mommy Update

2009-06-16T14:09:00.003-06:00

I thought I would give an update on Me. I have been in school since the beginning of May now, my first class was a little rough but I got an A in the class, so I was a little excited about it. It was Intro to Christianity. (The university that I attend is private) The classes that I have now Intro to Psychology I am getting an A so far and History I have a B. I was doing pretty bad with the quizzes in History but have found a new study pattern for it and it is working a lot better. All these classes have been online, I think that it is much harder to do, I would much rather be in a classroom. The kids are in the second week of "school", they go to Day Nursery of Abilene. The best part it is that it is right around the corner from where I am. They are doing great over there, their teachers are great. I am so glad that we got them in when we did. Right now I spend my days in the library reading and taking notes to prepare for the quizzes, there are a lot of them. In July I will have 3 classes, 2 of them I actually go to a class for and another online one. Except I will be going to 2 schools for the month, the community college here has the same classes that I need just much better prices. So I will have a class at McMurry (university) and then 2 classes at Cisco (junior college). And speech is one of them, not my favorite, to talk in front of people.

The one thing that I do miss since starting school, is the fact that I miss a lot of things that I did with Dallin and playgroup. And talking to my friends every week. And I enjoyed going to MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) and that is out now. Gotta make sacrifices sometimes. I just know that when all this school stuff is done that I will have a job to go to and it will be something that I enjoy doing.

Well it is time to pack up here at the library and go get the kiddos. Until next time....

Pictures taken with Tarek's Phone

2009-06-06T16:11:00.003-06:00

I got some pictures taken off of Tarek's phone. The
first two are recent, the last one is from May.

Dallin just loves his swimming pool. He sometimes
goes swimming in just his underwear. Which is
what he is doing in this picture.

Keely chills out in the shade if the water is too cold
for her. She takes over Dallin's chair and hangs out
with Mom or Dad.

This picture was taken on May 2nd. I bet you thought it
was from winter. Well this day was supposed to be the
airshow at the airport. But of course the weather decided
to get cold and rainy. We were all bundled up like it was
December again. No planes in the air today. This plane
is the one Daddy has been taking his CFI class in recently.

Ear Piercings, Rolling over, Strange Visitors and More

2009-05-29T22:33:00.007-06:00

I finally did it! I got Keely's ear pierced on May 21st. I had my friend Suzi come with me, and Dallin came too. Daddy didn't want to see it. She cried and then was comforted by me and then Suzi while I paid for it. But after 10 minutes it was like nothing happened. Here is a before and after picture of her.

I found Keely a red bow to match her skirt so I took some pictures of her in it. I gave her the banana so she wouldn't fuss. But then she got happy.

And the little one said roll over. Keely learned to
Roll over on May 21st. She does it all the time now.
But doesn't like it when she ends up on her tummy.

Abilene Visitors
We have had some weird visitors in the past few weeks. Mr. Frog showed up on a saturday night after getting stuck in the garage. We caught him and put him in a box so we could show Dallin in the morning, we even laid something on top of the box so it wouldn't jump out, well it found
a way to get out and it took 20 minutes on Sunday morning to chase him out of the garage. We were a little late for church too.

This strange looking turtle was sitting outside of our garage one friday morning when Tarek was cutting the grass. Dallin thought it was the coolest thing. He found a better spot in the bushes and we gave him some celery, but he didn't eat it. A few hours later he was gone.

We are not sure where these animals came from because we don't have a pond or lake by our house. The turtle was covered in wet mud, who knows where he went.

This video is of Keely rolling over.

More Pictures.....

2009-05-27T14:29:00.003-06:00

Mother's Day 2009

Dallin made this for me in Nursery. His handprints are
pink because he told them that was my favorite color.

Keely playing with her new sippy cup. She likes to
chew on it.

Dallin's new pool. He filled up his penny bucket for
using the big boy potty. He wants to go swimming
every day.

Keely's Jumperoo, a present from Grandma and Grandpa.
She loves to rock back and forth. Bouncing will come later.

Dallin's Thomas the Train tent, a present from
Grandma and Grandpa. He thinks its way COOL!

The kids at Tarek's office. We were there for a "Burger Burn" before
the Memorial Day holiday.

Long time no Blog...

2009-05-26T22:17:00.005-06:00

Well time has gotten away from me and I haven't been able to post pictures for
awhile. My class took my time at night, which is when I usually blog. But it is
coming to an end so I am trying to catch up with some pictures over the next
couple of days. So here are a few to start, from the last month.

Lots of Pictures...too many to choose from

2009-04-29T22:56:00.006-06:00

I have been taking a lot of pictures lately and haven't been
able to post them for a while, so this post is a little long. But I
wanted to share them all. So here is the few but many that
I chose to share. Enjoy

Keely started eating fruits and veggies and here are
some of the faces that she did while trying out these
yummy foods.

Bananas

Sweet Potatoes

Before Peas

After Peas..this one took awhile to eat.

I loved this picture, it looks like she is saying that
she conquered the peas with her spoon. Yeah Keely!

Playing outside, the weather was pretty good this day. Tarek laid
Keely in the grass, to see what she would do. She took a
handful of grass and held onto it until she was picked up. Dallin was
also given a "job" to pick weeds. He is earning money to get a
swimming pool, so he likes to ask for jobs to do so he can get more
pennies to add to the "Potty for Pennies" bucket.

Dallin doing some workbook pages for the color red.
I have started doing a preschool workbook with him to
see where he is at in knowing Alphabets, numbers, colors,
tracing and opposites. Also these two pictures were supposed
to be after his hair cut pics that are below. OOPS!

The kids are all ready for MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers)

I decided to try on Keely's Blessing outfit again. She was
blessed months ago but the bonnet was way to big for her head
so I dressed her up and got some shots of her. I think the
bonnet is still to big.

Dallin finally got a hair cut. Since it is starting to get hot here
I decided that I would cut it really short so he will be cooler
when he plays outside. Dallin is not a fan of getting his hair
cut. He says that the hair clippers tickle him.

Dallin was playing in the drive way with a remote control car
and Keely was sitting in her stroller watching Dallin. I just love the
picture of her watching him. So content.

Keely has pretty much gotten to the point where she can sit
in the bumbo seat. She will sit there for a few minutes playing
with a toy and then is ready to get out. She is a very squirmy
baby.

They grow up so fast

2009-04-17T23:22:00.003-06:00

Keely had her 4 month check up on Tuesday. She is a growing girl. She now weighs in at 13 lbs 8 oz. And is 24 inches long. She got her shots that day too, and she was not a happy camper for 2 days. The doctor said that she is doing great and growing well. I can't believe that they are growing so fast. Keely being 4 months already and Dallin is 3. Time just flies on by.
I love every minute that I get to see them grow and progress.

Terrific Turtles

2009-04-17T23:15:00.002-06:00

Thursday was the Preschool Class at the Zoo. It was Terrific Turtles Day.
Dallin loved the turtles, he had to make sure that he could see them.
They also brought in some Ocelot cats that were about 7 weeks old
and they are trying to get them used to people so they let the kids see them.
If you can't tell Dallin is the one with the bright blue and white striped shirt.

Keely's New Dress

2009-04-17T23:08:00.001-06:00

I bought this dress for Keely before Easter. I found it on sale at
Dillards. So I had to take some pictures of her in it.

It's Potty Time

2009-04-17T22:56:00.002-06:00

Well Monday I came home from MOPS and while Dallin was taking a nap, I decided I was going to put big boy underwear on Dallin and try to start potty training him.
So he woke up and I took his diaper off and tried to put the underwear on, and that boy stood there naked for 10 minutes pleading with me not to put them on. I was determined to get this going, so I held him down and put them on him. All while he is screaming and crying. I did get them on him and he continued to cry in his bed for a bit. I left him alone until he stopped crying, and then decided to check on him. I explained that he had underwear on and that he needed to tell me when he had to go potty. Because we don't pee in our underwear. And if he went pee in the potty then he would get a penny to put in his jar. (I got that idea from Diana, thanks)
He has been wearing the underwear during the day ever since. He has done great. Only two small accidents, which he realized what was happening and finished on the potty. We even made it through Walmart and a doctors appointment with no accidents. If I'd known it was going to be this easy I would have started months ago. That was the last "baby"thing we needed to get rid off. Diapers....he still wears them to sleep though.
WE ARE SO PROUD OF DALLIN!!!!

Easter 2009

2009-04-12T21:30:00.004-06:00

Happy Easter to All!
We had a great Easter. On Good Friday we
took the kids to see the Easter Bunny at
Walmart, it wasn't the best looking bunny. But
it was free. Then we decided that we would easter
baskets and egg hunts on Saturday. So everything
was laid out for their baskets on Friday night. Tarek
also decided to hide the eggs that night as well, so he
wouldn't have to hide them early the next morning.
So Dallin got up around 7am to see what the Easter
bunny brought, then headed outside to find those eggs.
But when we got outside the first egg Dallin found on
the ground was open and the candy had been eaten, the
paper was shredded. Some animal, we believe a raccoon ate
the candy out of 5 eggs. Funny thing is that the animal opened
some of the money eggs and left the money on the ground, and
it was still there when we went out side. That's kinda amazing
seeing how we live in the windiest part of Texas. Dallin
still had fun finding all the other eggs.

Keely slept through the whole event.

Can you find the egg? It took Dallin a few minutes to
find this one. .

Keely is kissing on her new baby doll.

Young Women Sleep Over

2009-04-12T21:04:00.004-06:00

I am currently in the Young Womens program, which I
am really excited about. This past weekend we had a
sleepover. I stayed until 1am due to me having Keely
at home. But it was a lot of fun watching the girls
sing and dance. And listening to all the interesting
things that they had to say.

It's Cereal Time

2009-04-09T18:18:00.006-06:00

Well today was the day that we tried baby cereal with Keely.
She will be 4 months tomorrow so I thought I would try it
to see if she liked it. The first bite she was like what is in my
mouth. But after getting all her giggles out, she chowed
down like she had been eating this stuff for a while. She
did keep trying to suck on her thumb while I was feeding
her. But she finished the whole bowl that I made. She was
quite a mess when all finished so into the tub she went, the
hairdo is the aftermath of the tub. After her bath I handed
her off to Daddy and gave Dallin a bath. Tarek asked me to
come see Keely and she had fallen asleep while playing on
her toy mat. Just too cute.

Keely Days

2009-04-09T14:35:00.002-06:00

Keely is getting so big. She will be 4 months old on the 10th.
She loves to talk and sing to you. Her favorite toys are
her play gym that she lays on with toys above her. She also
loves to talk to her bird friend on her bouncy chair. Oh and
she loves to drink her bottles. She is starting to recognize them
I think. She will grab at toys and whatever you put in her
hands. We got a package from Grandma and Grandpa yesterday
and there was a card and money in it for her. So I put them in her
hands to hold so I could get a picture. I think she likes the
camera too.

A Day at the Park

2009-04-09T14:23:00.003-06:00

We took the kids to a park that just got re-done. Dallin
loved it. I even put Keely in the swing and she had
a blast. She was just to cute. Check out the video below.

EGG BUST

2009-04-09T14:15:00.002-06:00

Tarek used to do these Egg busts with his dad...now
he showed Dallin how to do it. You are supposed
to eat your egg if it gets busted, but Dallin won't eat his
so you end up eating them for him. He just wants to bust
them.

Keely's Piggy Tails and Trying to roll....

2009-04-09T13:50:00.002-06:00

Keely was sporting a new hairdo the other day..PIGGY TAILS.
She does not like for her hair to be pulled up....and it doesn't
stay very long either, her hair is still to fine. While she was laying
on the floor she started to roll on her side. It won't be long now
before she rolls completely over.

Dying Easter Egg

2009-04-09T13:07:00.003-06:00

Monday night we let Dallin dye Easter Eggs..he just loves
doing this. He had so much fun. He even learned how to
use the dipper that comes with the kit. Keely liked
watching her big brother put eggs in the colors. Dallin
had been asking me all weekend to color eggs so we
decided to let him do that for Family Night.

Dallin and Keely's Easter Pictures

2009-04-05T20:41:00.003-06:00

These are the pictures that I had taken of the kids at
Walmart for Easter. They were scanned into the
computer so the color is a little strange. I am so
happy that we got them both to smile.

Family Night - Planting Flowers

2009-04-02T18:46:00.004-06:00

For Family Home Evening this week we decided to let
Dallin plant some flowers, when I came outside with
Dallin, Daddy had put this sign on Keely.

Dallin is all ready to dig the hole.

Helping put a flower in the hole, he didn't want
to do the rest.

He would rather water all the plants.

What cute kids!!

Just being Keely

2009-04-02T18:27:00.002-06:00

Here are some more pictures of our little Kiwi Fruit
(that is what Tarek calls her)

Keely is doing much better with Tummy time
She hated it a month ago.

Day Out With Thomas the Train

2009-04-02T18:04:00.003-06:00

We took Dallin to see and ride on Thomas the Train. We
didn't tell him we were going, we just showed up. After
getting there we started walking along the train tracks,
Thomas was right ahead. Dallin wasn't paying much attention
at first, but as soon as he saw Thomas, he was all excited.
He yelled out, "There's Thomas, lets go see him. I'm so excited."
Dallin was a little anxious when he got his picture taken with
Sir Topham Hat. But he had lots of fun on the train.

Gotta love em..

2009-03-26T21:12:00.007-06:00

I was playing with my camera the other day and was
taking pictures of Dallin, here are some that I liked.

Keely's First Ponytail
I was actually able to pull some hair into a ponytail, I was
so excited to do her hair.

I just loved Keely's face in this picture it cracked
me up.

This one is much better of the both of them smiling.

Daddy and Keely

Keely was talking to me. Look at the those ears.
I think we might get them pierced soon.

Backyard Bugs at the Zoo

Dallin is petting a hissing cochroach in the picture above.
And coloring his butterfly below, he is using his left hand.

All Better

2009-03-19T22:43:00.002-06:00

The kids have gotten over their colds and illnesses, thankfully. No more
coughing in the middle of the night. Keely is actually sleeping in her
own room in her crib. She sleeps through the night as well. Dallin
got the Lincoln Log set for Christmas, and I decided to take it
out finally and let him play with it. Of course we had to build the
houses and tunnels, but he loved the train part.

I had saved one of Dallin's baby outfits and I put it on Keely the
other day, and when I laid her on the floor to take a picture
Dallin joined to have his picture taken with his baby sister.

Spring has sprung, our peach tree had bloomed with the little
pink flowers so I had Tarek take a picture of me and the kids.

Keely thought that she was hot stuff sitting up in the stroller, this was
the first time that I tried this and she loved it. We went for a walk since the
weather was so nice. She talked the whole time. If you notice her bracelet
that she has on, her Grammy made that for her when she was blessed. It
finally fits her now. She has been wearing it everyday this past week.

Poor Keely

2009-03-12T15:21:00.002-06:00

Our little baby girl is sick. I took her to the doctor's yesterday for a bad cough. She ended up having ear infections and redness in her throat. Poor thing. She is on an antibiotic for the ears. She coughs in her sleep and chokes so I am having to make her sleep in this carseat.

Keely is 3 months old!!

2009-03-10T15:24:00.004-06:00

I decided to take another picture today of Keely in the same
bouncy seat as Dallin was below. (To try to compare size)

This is Dallin at 3 Months...I thought it would be
neat to compare a little. (A little Chunky Monkey)

Keely Stats at 2 months: 10 lbs 11 oz 22 inches long

Dallin Stats at 2 months: 14 lbs 5 oz 23 1/2 inches long

Dallin's New Big Boy Car Seat

2009-03-10T15:22:00.004-06:00

Dallin finally got a big boy carseat. He was getting
way to heavy for the other one. So now he has his booster
seat and uses the regular seat belt. He said that is was really
cool.

Daytona Beach, Florida

2009-03-10T15:03:00.006-06:00

We made it to Daytona Beach, it ended up being cold
while we were there, but Dallin loves to play in the sand
so I made sure that he got to do that. Keely even touched
the sand with her toes. There were alot of seagulls on the
beach so I had Dallin chase them just to get a picture.

While were there we got some pictures with the family.

Dallin is showing off his Cooties, from his new game.

My aunt drove down to visit us for a couple
of hours, Dallin had to have his cooties.

Defuniak Springs, Florida

2009-03-10T14:29:00.007-06:00

Our first stop in Florida was in Defuniak Springs,

where Tarek's dad lives. Dallin was very excited
to go see Grandad. There is a lake in front of the
house where we got to feed some ducks, we also
found some baby ducklings. Dallin found the slide
which he went on over and over.

We had gone to Walmart to let Dallin pick
out a goldfish for Grandad's pond. He carried it
through the entire store, he was so excited.

Dallin and Grandad playing with the blocks.

Dallin conquered the dirt hill. We went to see
the progress of Grandad's hanger and there
was a large hill of dirt. Dallin was scared at first
but after getting up there he didn't want to come
down.

Dallin sporting his new shark sunglasses.

A nice day outside

2009-03-10T14:20:00.005-06:00

Just before our trip we had some really nice weather so

I took the kids out front and we did sidewalk chalk. Dallin
just loves it.

In the Beginning

2009-02-21T14:20:00.003-07:00

We just received a cd in the mail from Tarek's Dad.
On it were pictures of our wedding in 2003, that were
on his camera. Here are a few of those shots.

This is right before we left to go over to the Oralndo Temple.

Coming out of the Temple. We are Married!

Nicole's Family

Tarek's Family

Tarek was being funny, trying to throw
the bouquet.

Mr. and Mrs.

After the Temple we went to Bucca's and sat at
the Pope table.

Nicole's Family Reception Day

Tarek's Family Reception Day

Awesome Opossum and the Zoo

2009-02-20T22:01:00.004-07:00

Dallin went to a preschool class at the Zoo on Thursday.
It was about opossums. He liked playing with all the puppets.
He even petted the opossum too. He got to do some crafts, he
made his handprint to compare to the opossum and made a
opossum nose. He only kept it on for a few seconds but I
was able to get a picture. After the class we went into the
Zoo. Dallin loves buying the crackers to feed the animals. His
favorites to feed are the giraffes and the ducks.

Keely Days

2009-02-18T22:10:00.003-07:00

Daddy and Keely enjoying some quiet time.

Keely trying out her new sponge for the tub.

Bad hair day. Just after her bath, where's the brush?

Our Little Ballerina
Keely has some pink ballet shoes, so I couldn't resist putting
her in a tutu and taking some pictures.

Our Little Valentines

2009-02-15T22:15:00.003-07:00

Dallin was still able to wear his Valentine shirt from last year, it says Official Heartbreaker. He was showing us his moves while listening to some music. Keely slept so much that all I could get was her sleeping, you can only see her red bow. Tarek bought me some beautiful flowers, when Dallin saw them he asked if they were for him. Now if you ask whose flowers they are he says they are his. It's just too funny.

My Newest Project

2009-02-10T21:43:00.007-07:00

This has been my newest project lately. I bought the stretchable
headband and looked up online how to make bows.
These have alligator clips on the back
so that you can change them out of the headband.
These are some of the clips I made without bows. I can use these
without the headband.
Here is the bow on the headband.

I also got flowers to put on the headband for fun.

Here is Keely modeling the headband with my newest bow.
I took the picture today for her 2 month picture, big flower and all.

2009-02-10T21:38:00.003-07:00

Poor Keely...she got her shots today.
She was all smiles until the shots came.

He's so excited!

2009-02-09T12:18:00.002-07:00

Dallin is just so excited about going to Florida in a couple of weeks. He wants to go see Grandma, Grandpa and Grandad. He asks to go them every morning when he wakes up. It is just too cute. We are going to Florida for a little vacation before I start school in May. I will be going to school through the summer so we won't be able to take time off. So off to Florida we go. I can't wait to take Dallin for a walk on the beach again. He loved looking for shells.

2009-02-08T15:22:00.000-07:00

Just to Cute
Dallin is just to cute with his Baby Sister. He loves to hold her.

Keely's New Do
Keely got a new headband that can change
out the bows, so I decided to put a big
flower in it. She's our flower baby.

Too Many Smiles
The kids had some cute smiles to show off. Keely
likes to smile but only when she is ready.

Some Videos

Happy Birthday Dallin!!!!

2009-02-01T14:30:00.001-07:00

We celebrated Dallin's 3rd Birthday at our home on January 28th with some Birthday Cake and a Present. Then we gave him a birthday party with his friends on January 30th. He had lots of fun with his friends.

Dallin sees his cake for the first time. It was a surprise.

What a happy boy!!

Eating that birthday cake. Yummy!!

Opening a present from Grammy.

This is just too cool!

Getting ready for the party.

Setting up for the party.

Dallin just loves playing with the balloons.

Dallin was all excited to see the bounce house. He and his friends had a blast jumping.

Dallin with his friends eating pizza and cupcakes.

Dallin was very proud of his new carpet.

Of course he loves opening presents.

January Ice Storm

2009-01-28T07:53:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we started getting hit with ice storm, by lunch time this is what our trees looked like in the back yard looking down from the second story. Also we had gone in the back yard to look at some things, and not thinking that everything was icy I walked right down the sidewalk and slipped and fell on my butt. Dallin saw me and started crying because I fell. I didn't get hurt, but now I am careful where I step.

By night time we had the ice and snow on the front walkway.

This is what I found this morning after Tarek left for work.

I took this picture of Keely last night because Dallin used to have the same little pouty lip too. I couldn't resist taking the picture.

A Day at the Park

2009-01-25T18:55:00.001-07:00

Today we decided to take Dallin to the park since the weather wasn't to cold. He had fun sitting in the tree to pose for some pictures. He also wanted to take his bubbles along and blow bubbles. Keely was relaxed in her bunny suit and front carrier that she fell asleep after being there a few minutes.

Do we have another Dallin?

2009-01-24T19:30:00.000-07:00

When I saw Keely holding onto her blanket I had to take a picture. This is the way Dallin was with his blanket and pacifier. Dallin still loves to have his blankets. I wanted to add some more pictures of the kids, I finally got to transfer some more pictures to the computer. I had taken a few black and whites of Keely and thought that they turned out cute. Dallin loves to play Mario Kart on the Wii so I had to take a picture of him playing. He likes for me to take his picture now.

Here it is!!

2009-01-22T06:55:00.000-07:00

Well I have finally made a blog. We will be using this instead of our other website. So you can check this blog out for updated pictures and stories of our Life here in little Abilene. So far we are trying to adjust to having 2 kids at home. It's alot of work. But well worth it. The kids are doing great. Dallin is very protective of his new baby sister, always asking where she is. Keely is growing and doing very well. No more problems from the hospital. Thank goodness. She has learned to smile at you, of course when she wants too. She also will follow you if you move around her. She knows its eating time when you put a burp cloth under her chin. Dallin is very energetic and keeps us on our toes. He has learned to use his kids scissors and loves to practice. He still loves to paint and color. And thankfully he loves to go to Nursery at church. Dallin will be turning 3 next week and we are having a birthday party for him on the 30th. I will be posting pictures of that as well. Here are a few pictures of the kids to get this blog started.