Nine

Where has the time gone?

It seems like a month ago that Rachel was born and looked like this...

NOW,

my darling girl is 9 months old!

Rachel is such a shining star in our family!

She loves her binki which is totally okay with Mom. Much better than a thumb.

She smiles lots. She babbles and just two days ago said her first word: "Mama!"

Rachel dances all the time. She recently figured out that my alarm clock (which sit on the floor by my bed where she can reach it) makes music. She will crawl to it and bang it until she just so happens to hit the right button to turn it on. Then she starts shaking her head and bouncing up and down. So cute!

Her hair is getting longer in the back now. I can easily do a little pony with a clip. She loves looking in the mirror for me to do her hair but she does not like when the elastic starts getting tight. If she wears a headband she usually pulls it off and sucks on it. 

She is a MOVER! She crawls all over and explores. She likes to be by Dayton and interacts with him a lot. He is probably her favorite person. 

She loves to play pat a cake and peek-a-boo! She can clap on her own.

She gives open mouth kisses and routinely gives them to D every night before bed. 

She can climb the stairs, yes all of them. I follow behind her to make sure she doesn't fall.

She wears shoes. Typically because she is on the move so much now I put them on to protect her toes. 

She loves being outside and likes the dogs. She squeals with excitement when they are out running.

When she goes to sleep she loves a blanket right up by her face to hug and cuddle. 

She sleeps great! Typically 8:30pm-6am, takes a bottle, and sleeps until 8:30am. So nice!

She is now is size 3 diapers! All of her clothes are 12 month sizes or up.

She has blue blue eyes that I adore and chubby thighs.
She is getting her first tooth which is on the bottom.

She can stand on her own for a good 5 seconds but is too afraid to walk, she sits down and crawls. 

She pulls up on everything to see and she wants to be apart of what is going on all the time. 

Rachel Roonie, you are my sweetheart! We sure love you!

Being 2 is tough...

This little guy just can't win lately!

Being 2 is so fun but it is also tough. I mean really think about a 2 year old. Their head is still too big for their body, they think they can fly, and they just want to try everything they see. That has got to result in some big "boo boo's."

TODAY was one of those "just can't win" kind of days. Dayton was playing outside with his firetruck pushing it around on the driveway when he tripped and fell flat on his face. Instant tears, then screams, and blood! I knew he was really hurt because he usually doesn't cry he jumps up and brushes it off saying "I'm okay Mom." Well, that sure was not the case today. He really did scrape off half of his upper lip. It was swollen about an hour after and when lunch came it hurt so bad he refused to eat. 

Ibuprofen to the rescue! I am grateful for modern medicine. 

For some reason the pictures just don't make it look as bad as it really is. Poor kid!

Luckily part of being 2 is that you forget about thing quickly. After his nap Dayton was playing upstairs like a champ! I came up to check on his after feeding Rachel and found this display on the window sill. 

Dayton is matching things well lately. We play matching color and pooh bear games together which he loves. He is also lining things up often which results in patterns too. Seriously, he is getting so smart, so fast! Maybe he is picking up on my organiztional skills or should I say "pickiness"? Look closely, totally a pattern and he put similar dinosaurs together.

Here is to hoping that he grows into himself a bit more. Or maybe just realizes he needs to be more cautious, Dayton is not a very cautious child. I just want  less "owie's" and more fun!

Feeling so blessed!

After Adam's 30 minute interview around 9am Thursday morning with Logan City School District he felt pretty confident that he did well. While at work that day he received a call to go in for a second interview at 1:30pm that same day. Adam was thrilled and of course gladly accepted. This interview was very different and entailed a lot of disclosure about what has been going on in the district and how it needs to be fixed. Adam was in the interview for over an hour and left the second interview feeling much less confident.

I am just so proud and was just so proud of him for making it to a first interview considering this competitive job market, let alone a second interview? I mean really, GO ADAM!!! Anyway, we had all weekend to think about the result of the interview and to pray and pray and pray that things would work out for the best. We both wanted this change so badly!

Well, today rolled around and by late afternoon we still had not received a phone call. We were getting so nervous, thinking they had offered it to someone else and would call Adam tomorrow to say he did not get it. Finally at 4:00pm he got a call. They wanted to offer him the position as district accountant! What? Yeah! We are so happy and feel so blessed.

This job will be so much more challenging and rewarding for Adam. He will get to be in a manager type position and he gets his own, really big, office! Sweet! The benefits and retirement are huge and he gets a pay increase as well.

We went to dinner to celebrate without the kids tonight. Adam will go in the morning and sign his new contract. Good bye tax season! Hello, school district!

Dayton's foot

D jumped down the stairs last weekend and this resulted. I waited for 4 days before taking him in because I figured it takes a lot to break a bone and maybe after a couple days he wouldn't be favoring it anymore. Well, after 4 days with him waking in the night crying about how it hurt and still limping we headed to Dr. Firth. He said that he definitely wanted to get an X-ray but meanwhile he would give him a temporary cast. It was a half of a cast with the hard stuff along the back of his leg and the bottom of his foot. Firth said either way he wanted D to wear that cast for 5 days to help it heal and make him take it easy. Well, getting a two year old to wear something he knows he can take off is near impossible however we did our best. The x-ray tech lady said Dayton was the best two year old she had ever done. He thought the "big camera" was so so so cool! The x-ray came back showing no big breaks. However, doc said with little kids its super hard to see breaks unless they are big ones when their foot is bent in half. That is why he wanted D to wear the temporary cast for 5 days but there was no hard cast for 2 weeks. Yeah! Dayton would have been upset about that. It seems to be helping his foot heal so far so we hope it helps. What a crazy kid!

Things to remember!

My life is good!
See below.

A big day for us!

Today is a big day for us! Adam has been applying for other jobs recently. Not because he does not like the company he is at, he just struggles doing taxes all day, EVERY day! It is driving him crazy! It has been about 3 months that he has been looking, daily online, and applying.

Well, just 2 weeks ago he turned in a very extensive application to Logan School District to be the district accountant. Not only would this position give him more dynamic and opportunity to work in many aspects of accounting (which is really what he has always wanted) but it would include a pay raise and the awesome state benefits and retirement!

After not hearing from the district for a week and a half we were getting nervous. Then on Monday the phone call came and today is the interview. Yes, at 8:50am he will be showing them how amazing he is and we are thrilled!

Last night we went to the temple to help us both feel at peace and get a better eternal perspective about the whole job thing. We also spent last night writing down questions for Adam to ask in the interview and we have spent the last couple months just praying that Heavenly Father will help us and guide us to what will be best for our family. Most of all I have been praying for what will make Adam happy.

So, today is the big day! We will see how things go. For now it is just having faith that things will work out whatever way is best for our family.

Good luck Adam! I love you!

Work Lagoon Day

We had a blast! Sue and Ainslie got to come as well. It was fun for D to have a buddy to ride with. Rachel was super brave and went on Puff the Magic Dragon, the train, the kid rocking boat, the merry go round and she didn't even cry! I was surprised but she totally loved it! D went on some big kid rides this time too like Boomerang, Puff, the new Dragon roller coaster, and the little kid version of the rocket. Apparently my kids have no fear when it comes to Lagoon. We had fun!

Summer reading program

All summer we participated in the summer reading program at the library. We read every night to Dayton for at least 15 minutes and I normally read to him during the day too. So I figured even though he is only 2 why not participate in the reading program. It was actually fun! Dayton understood the concept of reading, coloring in the squares, taking his paper to the librarian and getting prizes. It was fun to see him enjoying it! Today was the closing social and it included water games, a ventriloquist, free pizza, snow cones, and a reward bag for each kid that participated. Here is D with his reward bag loot! Awesome.

Bedroom Spruce Up!

BEFORE

 AFTER

I love our new bed frame! It really makes the whole room look nicer. Plus it matched my picture frames and jewelry chest. I love ksl! Now, for new bedding...

Bear Lake with the Day's; The Lake

Picture Overload!!!

We had a blast at the lake together. This year we got a great spot with two tables and we borrowed a shade canopy from Mom's neighbors so it turned out much better than last year. It also resulted in much less sand eating during lunch. That is always a plus! We built our castle, the boys played frisbee, Rachel and Talia hung out in the shade mostly, and Dayton crawled on his belly everywhere and got plenty wet! It was a great time. Thanks Mom for making the memories with us.