Pause the Music at the bottom before watching the video.
Dantzel is getting really good at riding her bike. I think daily she asks if I can move the Expedition out of the garage so she has a flat place to ride. I am so proud of her!
If you listen close you can hear the clickers on her wheels. Grandma Bug-A-Boo gave them to her. They are from Mexico. Thanks Mom!
Many emotions as I remember our sweet prophet. Can you imagine the reunion he is having with his dear wife? I wish I could have been there with them to celebrate. I am going to miss many things about him. Some of my favorites are:
Don't be shocked. I do play with the kids. Brandon just never takes any pictures of us.
I was having story time with my two cute kids. The only thing that is missing is the dog. He is usually on my lap with the kids. I am glad I have a lap big enough for everyone.
Brandon and I are now Travel Agents. We hope to be able to take more "wholesale" family vacations together. If you would like to join in on the fun please feel free to ask us how we plan to do this. :)
We had a very eventful day yesterday. I will tell just one per kid. I don't want to bore you with any more.
It started with Dantzel and her breakfast. She wanted Cheerios's with chocolate milk (as the milk). I got her all up to the table and then left for the other room. A little while later I heard James and Dantzel laughing. My first thought was "oh how cute, they are playing together". Then they just kept laughing and I could hear splattering going on. I went in to find Dantzel flipping her Cheerios everywhere. James was under her (he had crawled in there). He had chocolate milk all over his head legs arms I guess I would be safe if I just said his whole body. Oh yeah, I forgot to add that Dinky was in the middle of it all too. He was covered with Chocolate milk as well. So I grabbed my camera because, I try to do that when I get mad at the silly things my kids do. This way I have the memory and proof so I can look at the photos and laugh when I get it all cleaned up. Let me tell you, we had Dantzel's breakfast everywhere. The walls, my whole kitchen floor, the table, her chair and booster chair, my kids, the dog, and anywhere else you can think of. By the time I had it and my kids-dog cleaned up, then I had to get myself cleaned. I was sticky from the mess. What a morning.
This picture didn't turn out the greatest but, it will do. It is missing the dog. He knew better, he was out of there. Smart dog!
Now on to what James got into yesterday. We had just got home from the Post Office and so I was getting the Newspaper all read. James was in the Family room playing with toys. I didn't think anything of it until I heard him coughing. I called out to him, "are you okay buddy"? He has been sick with a cold and so coughing wasn't that big of deal. So, he kept coughing and so, I decided I better go check on him. Sure enough, he wasn't in the Family room anymore. He had crawled his way into the entry. As you can see he was having a good old time playing with my pretty Poinsettia. I had dirt and leaves everywhere. By the time I picked him up to get everything out of his mouth I took him to the kitchen to get him a drink. On the brighter side, I got to clean my floors again in the same day. Anyhow, dirt was tracked from the entry to the kitchen. So, I picked him up over my head to see if he was all clean and guess what I got... yep a mouth/face full of dirt. I guess I deserved that one. :) It was still falling from his clothes. What a joke. So after I thought about it for a minute I got a little scared because I wasn't sure if the plant was poisonous. I went right onto the computer to check things out. Whew, it said that the plant was NOT edible but wouldn't hurt you if you ate it (not recommended for eating). I was totally relieved. I guess it is time to child proof my house even more. James is just too curious. 
I might even have to get ride of the giraffe because he loves to play under and by it. I hope Brandon doesn't see him by it soon or he will really make me get ride of it. The joys of being a stay at home mom. I swear we could all write books on the funny things our kids do.
Look at how beautiful the weather is. I just had to hang James on the front door frame. While he jumped, I helped Dantzel ride her new bike.
James loves to jump! My favorite is when he jumps really hard, and then just lets his feet hang until it is time to jump again. I wish they had a jumper my size. No wonder he loves it so much.
Dantzel was singing into her blocks bucket. It was fun to watch and listen to what song she made up. Dinky obsessively liked it. She is such a jabber box. She gets that from her Daddy. If I would let her she would talk on my cell phone for hours. You think I am lying, give me a call and I will put her on the line. :)
James took his first crawling step on the day after he turned 8 months. I was so happy. This is a few days later when he has finally got his confidence up just a little more. He still loves to do the army crawl. He knows he can get where he wants that way pretty fast for the most part. He has been doing the army crawl for quite the time though.
Let me tell you, it is hard to get a good video of him crawling with a big sister always wanting to try and help me video. She just has a hard time with me giving any attention to James with the camera anyway. What am I going to do? :)
Oh yeah, don't forget to pause the music before you start the video.
Don't forget to pause the music before watching the video.
This was so fun and cute! James just loves bubbles. Dantzel was playing with her toys on this big red blanket. She really wanted to blow bubbles but, her mean mom won't allow bubbles in the house. As soon as Dantzel goes down for a nap guess what her mom does? Yep, blows some bubbles for James to pop all by himself. It was so cute to watch him try to grab them. It is almost like he has little claws for pincher's. I love it when they learn to grab things. Bubbles are a fun but, rude thing for them to learn with. :)
So we decided to add the music feature to our blog page. I sat down with Dantzel, and picked out a few of her favorite songs. It is amazing how fast she learns songs. She will even sing alone when they are playing (dang cute). We listen to these songs on my IPod in the car while driving. I know she likes the song when she keeps telling me to play it again and again until I can't take the song anymore. We will see how long we keep these on the blog. I might have to change soon because I get to hear these songs all the time in the car until I am CRAZY!
Another reason why I decided to add music, is because I learned that you can pause it when you actually want to listen to a video that has been added to a page. Really, that was the number 1 reason for adding the tunes! If you have any requests, please let me know. ENJOY!!!
We have been working really hard with Dantzel and her potty training skills. We have gone from sticker charts to her picking her own treats out at the store to not being able to let her ride her new bike that she got from Santa. We even tried doing all the rewards at the same time. What a long process for her mom and dad! 
So far, the best thing that has worked is suckers. I wish I would have figured this out a long time ago. Ever since we have discovered the suckers as being such a big motivator potty training has been a whole heck of a lot easier. I even think she is enjoying it. As you can see in these pictures, daddy has really been enjoying all the suckers as well. James has now discovered the suckers and so he likes to think he gets one too. I finally gave in and gave him his own last night. I think it made everyone a lot happier because they didn't have to share with him. I am such a sucker! hee hee.
In a previous post, I have the funniest picture of Dantzel and her goggles. Well, since then she thinks she needs her goggles to see EVERYTHING. It is really funny. I was telling Brandon that I didn't think we could ever get a decent picture of her with her goggles on. As you can see in the top picture it turned out pretty good. The second picture can make you laugh for quite a while. Our little Dantzel is so funny sometime!
