Those Crazy Dixes

My Apologies

2012-01-27T15:10:00.000-06:00

Sorry (Dad) for not being a regular blogger as of late. But I'm pregnant, and have a nasty cold. But hopefully I'll be all better and my immune system strong in 3 weeks when I have this baby! Until then, here are my first two babies entertaining themselves while I make dinner:

They took all the covers off of all 4 beds upstairs, including pillows, and made this fun jumping contraption. It was much more impressive in person.

We've started a punch-card system at our house. Everytime the kids do something extra nice, or are obedient, or tantrum-free (Cami!), they get a punch on their punch card. Fill it up and they get a prize. Krispy kreme, Dollar Store, ice cream @ mcdonalds, etc. Here is Cami with her cherished snow globe from the dollar tree.

Typical night: Cami getting her hair dried; Warren acting like a maniac (he gets some serious 2nd wind after 8PM)

Toy Story on Ice

2012-01-27T15:01:00.001-06:00

Back in December, we took the kids to Disney on Ice. It was great. Cami's attention span petered out at the end, but I anticipated that. We all had fun, even though we didn't buy $15 snow cones. We went and got treats afterwards that were much better. :)

Warren's "Note"

2012-01-07T18:19:00.001-06:00

Taylor told Warren that he needed him to come help clean all our junk out of the car. W was less than excited, so instead of throwing a fit, he decided to leave Taylor a note. He typed it up on the computer -

DEAR DAD PLEES DON’T MAKE ME KLEEN OWT THE CAR LOVE WARREN

Convincing, eh?

Christmas Eve

2011-12-30T16:20:00.001-06:00

Both on the 23rd and 24th, we went sledding. Well, they went sledding and my planet-sized self stayed at the top of the hill.

Cami was mostly interested in eating snow. I found an untouched patch by a little tree for her to nibble on.

On Christmas Eve, the Cronins joined us and Cami liked sledding a lot more with her best buddy.

The boys were little dare devils. And were too quick for me to get good pictures of them sliding down. This is a little ramp that some bigger kid built and they both caught some air on.

Then home to decorate cookies and eat chinese food for our Christmas Eve dinner. Another tradition in the making?? Perhaps. I'm loving this easy meal thing for holidays.

CHRISTMAS!

2011-12-29T00:18:00.001-06:00

The loot for Santa. Warren wrote a very thoughtful note.

Cami crashed in Taylor's arms at about 7:30 as we were reading the Christmas story in Luke.

self-timer family picture

Warren took a picture of our tree

I copied an idea I heard about blocking off the way to the Christmas tree with newspaper. Considering how early my kids like to wake up, it sounded like a nice tradition to start.

This is what Cami looked like when she came to wake up us at 6AM.

6:30 Am. Mom and dad are up, Cami woke Warren up, we brushed our teeth (priorities!), and they waited here to tear down the wall.

First present - dress ups from Santa

mid-present-opening, Cami decides to leave the room and dance "like a princess" to Silent Night. (I usually have the honor of being the "beast" when she's Belle, but today she's Sleeping Beauty, so I'm a prince)

Grandma and Grandpa Dix came in the afternoon to continue the spoiling

MORE DRESS UPS!

My homeless princess and her sugar cookie.

Another outfit and playing with her Belle dolls.

The boys choose to hang here and play their new Wii game.

A couple days before, we went light-hunting. Found some sweet spots.

This house was all rigged to music and played a four-song loop. The kids LOVED it.

Santa Pics...

2011-12-22T22:30:00.002-06:00

...that didn't really turn out. So we took this one in front of the tree when we got home.

This Santa lets you take pictures with your own camera. The first one would have been good, except my boy had his eyes closed.

And it only took Cami 5 seconds to decide she no longer likes Santa. So she's standing grumpily with the candy cane the elf bribed her with. Ah well. Free pictures.

Beautiful Princess Cami

2011-12-20T10:00:00.001-06:00

"She has curly red hair, and pretty blue eyes, she's beautiful Princess Cami. She's smart and she's sweet and so very funny....Beautiful Princess CAMI!!"

She also loves to sing her own songs. Here's a good example. Enjoy, JM!

Rumour Has it...

2011-12-11T22:34:00.000-06:00

...my boy's got some SWEET dance skills! And Cami knows when to come in on cue.

Dipping Chocolates

2011-12-11T22:32:00.000-06:00

This was during the "pretzel" portion of our adventures. We also did oreo truffles and peanut butter cups. They had fun, don't ya think? We've been on a continual sugar high and it's only December 11th. Bring on the treats!!

Cami, Cami...

2011-12-01T12:41:00.001-06:00

She's just crazy. 90% in a good way. Don't cross her, though. She'll get ya. But most of the time she's just funny and loud. Her new thing is talking or singing from the main floor bathroom while she's taking care of business. More like yelling and screeching, to be more accurate. I guess she just wants us to know she's still around even if she's in the loo. Typing it out doesn't make it sound so funny...but it's hilarious. Oh, and she has taken to calling me either "sir" or "mother".

She's not allowed to come downstairs after we've put her to bed. So sometimes she sits at the top of the stairs and "whispers" Mama! Maaaamaaa! Mama!

And by most afternoons, the cute girl whose hair was combed and had on normal people clothes, changes outfits and re-"fixes" her hair to look like a princess. A homeless princess...

Those aren't headbands - they're crowns. To be worn across the forehead if she can get them to stay there. She also has a blue "cinderella" dress that she wears a lot, and a tutu. I guess I haven't photographed those precious moments. She's getting some dress up stuff for Christmas, so at least there will be more variety in her afternoon wardrobe changes.

Thanksgiving

2011-11-27T23:07:00.001-06:00

We had a GREAT Thanksgiving this year. My pregnant self was in no mood to cook all that food, and after Amy realized Kohl's would need her to be in at 10PM for a marathon black friday shift, she decided she wasn't in the mood to cook either. So off we went to Table Mountain Inn & Cantina in Golden for our feast. And holy cow, this place did not disappoint! The food was super delicious, the kids got to pick whatever they wanted from the buffet (Warren, "the carnivore", had 5 different meats, 4 tiny green beans, and grapes. He might have had a roll, too. Can't recall) and we all left happy and properly stuffed. AND I didn't have to spend any time in the kitchen that morning, or cleaning up turkey guts in the afternoon. Win, win. We don't have leftovers in the fridge, but I'm over it. I think the Colorado Dixes might have found a new thanksgiving tradition!

Cami opted for a more traditional meal, with the addition of salmon.

Tough guy and his shrimp

Cami's dessert: chocolate cake and chocolate fountain

My dessert: cheesecake, chocolate pecan pie, pumpkin pie, carrot cake, red velvet cake. And yeah, I ate all of it. Don't judge me. I forgot to take the picture before I started chowing down.

Warren went twice to the fountain. He sort of enjoyed that. :)

My crazy kids

Photo by Warren

We walked around the empty main street to work off a little of our dinner

Cami found a buffalo that needed his nose picked.

Handsome guy

Leaves are for Jumping

2011-11-12T15:31:00.000-06:00

Well we didn't do so much jumping as throwing. But you get the point. :)

$3!

2011-11-12T15:18:00.001-06:00

On clearance at King Soopers for $3: this awesome Iron Man costume that W has taken a liking to. :)

Warren's Party

2011-11-12T15:17:00.000-06:00

We opted to stay out of the house for Warren's 5th Birthday party. We went to this little indoor amusement park and they had a blast. We found a good deal and spent less than I probably would have if we had it at home. And my house didn't have to be scrubbed to be destroyed. Good thing. The boy scored 5 lego sets and some other choice presents. Thanks, friends. And we hear they all enjoyed the whoopie cushions that we put in the goodie bags.

The little girls had fun, too.

Happy 5th Birthday, Warren

2011-11-06T16:03:00.000-06:00

5 years ago, this little boy stole my heart.

Here's what he looked like then:

He's turned out to be kind, smart, funny, obedient, loving, with just the right amount of crazy-boy. Oh, how I love him. He reminds me that he doesn't want to grow up, but he has to. And that when he leaves me forever, he'll be sure to come back and visit his mama. Oh, and make sure I keep all of his toys so that he can play with them when he visits. Can do, baby.

Happy Birthday, little man.

Halloween!

2011-11-06T15:31:00.000-06:00

Trick or Treating this year was great. The weather was perfect - I just wore a little sweatshirt. And the kids had a blast. I had to keep Warren from running to the next house and make sure he included his sister on the porch before he rang. Cami acted genuinely surprised each time she got candy. She yelled "Happy Halloween!" instead of "Trick or Treat", but it still resulted with candy in her bucket. They made out like bandits, and we'll have candy for the rest of our lives.

Cami was a monkey (because we had that costume already and she didn't know there was any other option), and Warren went as a jellyfish. It was a little tricky to find some jellyfish costumer instructions, but we made it work and he felt very cool going to school and trick or treating in his creative costume. That boy sure loves the jellies. :)

We had a great burger king birthday dinner for Warren before we left for the night and had fun saying hi to all our neighbors and seeing the other kids running around in their costumes. Is Halloween not the coolest holiday? Where we dress up and visit our neighbors and get candy just because?? I love it.

501st post

2011-10-18T12:27:00.000-05:00

I didn't realize my last post was #500. That's a lot. Here's a photo dump to celebrate.

I've been putting Cami's hair in buns lately. This is what happens when I take them out at the end of the day:

"My hair is CRAZY!" she says

We went to the zoo on a day off from school with some classmates of Warren's

And ate ice cream.

Cami is an all-over-the-place kind of sleeper. Here's how we found her one night. Bum hanging off the bed must've been really comfortable, right?

We went to a farm/pumpkin patch

He's so excited to have fed the horse some hay. I love his natural smile.

Bum-crack thing is genetic. All 4 Dixes have insufficient bum to hold up a pair of pants.

We went to a little friend's birthday party at a gymnastics gym.

They had fun.

Heaven Help Me...

2011-10-03T10:57:00.001-05:00

Another girl!

Take a peek at me sweet, precious, creepy baby. She's healthy and perfect. We love her already.

Though she wouldn't give us any cute profile pictures. Just skeletor pics. I have a cuter video, but the file is too big. You'll just have to come visit us if you want to see it.

"I look like Jesus!"

2011-09-25T17:42:00.000-05:00

That's a direct quote.

To Grandpa

2011-09-22T22:13:00.000-05:00

I'm notorious for forgetting to send birthday cards. And I'm usually good to forget a birthday, too. But I manage to at least remember to call my family on their birthdays. It's the very, very least I can do. So my dad said he wanted a new blog post for his birthday. I didn't have any great new photos, so here you go.

We Went Camping

2011-09-10T10:30:00.000-05:00

A while ago before school started. We had fun, the kids thought the KOA was AMAZING. (It wasn't. But I remember KOA's being magical when I was younger, too. Either this one wasn't as cool, or I was deluded like my kids are now). But we cooked over a campfire, slept in a cabin, went swimming, took walks together, went mini golf and took a ride on paddle boats. Fun was had.

Our next-door neighbor and her dog. Cami loved them both equally.

Bunk beds!

The "lake"

The pool was cold, but the kids loved it.

Driving around.

Getting sweaty.

Warren the photographer.

Cami cooling off by the air conditioner. Worth the $ we spent on a cabin, I'll tell you what.

Chuck E Cheese after we came home and cleaned up.

And Warren finally got brave in the deep water. Those floaties are air-filled confidence.

My Daughter is Crazy

2011-08-22T18:06:00.002-05:00

Moments ago as I sit at the computer, a little girl - naked as a jaybird - comes running into the office. "Look at me, Stephanie!" (Stephanie?!?!) I turn around and she starts a shakin it. "Bummy bummy bummy bum!"

ps - a haircut is in order, for she looks like an orphan

Then there's this gem of a movie. I blame Taylor's genes. For I was never this weird.

Kindergarten!

2011-08-17T19:43:00.000-05:00

Warren was dressed and ready to go at 7AM when he came to wake me up. Too bad he was wearing a hat and flip flops, but he got pretty close to what I had laid out for him and he was cute. 2 hours later he was sitting in class ready to learn!

Chocolate Chip Pancakes (with peanut butter & syrup!) = 1st Day of School tradition

He was in the back because he ran back up to me to make sure he was sitting in the right spot. That's my kid - always cautious and making sure things are ok.

No tears were shed, I'm just happy he's in school and I'm excited for him. It's basically the same thing as preschool, so I don't see what the big deal is. Although when I think I only have 12 more of his first days of school, that does make me a little sad. But he assures me that when he goes to college that he'll come back and visit me. So generous.
His teacher seems great and we're very impressed with the school. Good & fun things are coming!

Trip to WA

2011-08-05T15:09:00.001-05:00

Bowling, Children's Museum, Bounce House, "Beach", Tball w/ grandpa, snap peas and swimming pools. What more could they ask for?? They miss their G&G already.

Before...glorious before!

2011-07-18T19:43:00.005-05:00

During

2011-07-18T19:43:00.004-05:00

After - aka - Death and Destruction

2011-07-18T19:43:00.003-05:00

It was like watching them get murdered. I'm so sad...

Anything that "survived" is totally bruised and will probably rot. Time to get to clean up! (And maybe re-plant??)

4th of July and other things

2011-07-10T14:39:00.000-05:00

Being Jedis

Refusing to leave Dad's side while he "base-coaches"

4th of July Ward Picnic

Bowling with the Smiths

Watching fireworks

What her hair looks like after being in buns

Falling asleep on the floor while eating an apple. (We're giving up naps)

Wearing her "Special Agent Boobies" (She loves Special Agent Oso and just about everything is a "special agent" something or another)

BOMB POPS!

Summertime!

2011-06-28T10:42:00.000-05:00

And the pool has been busted out of hiding! We've been taking trips to the outside pool at our gym, but I'm much to preoccupied with keeping my children from drowning, that I haven't taken any pictures yet. Priorities, people.

While the kids play, "Mr. Jesse" (as my kids would say) refinishes our deck. Now there are 2 non-ugly things in our backyard. Only 100 more to go. Perhaps I should take a picture now that all that red paint is off, eh?

And I got to sit and read a book. "The Help" was really good and I can't wait for the movie. Although it made me feel funny reading about the women who just sit around while their maids did everything for them. Because I was sitting and reading while our handyman was working right behind me. He probably thinks I do nothing all day.

Dear Dad,

2011-06-20T02:15:00.001-05:00

Thanks for coming to Colorado and helping us paint every single stinking wall of our new house. That's the worst job ever, and you volunteered and did it without complaining.

Thanks for staying up late with me as a kid making the ultimate dioramas and class projects and reports. My Clara Barton civil war hospital is one of my 10 best accomplishments to date, I'm sure. And I still think there's a good chance I can still market my kickball board game I made for "invention week" in 6th grade.

Thanks for teaching me the proper way to color - "back and forth to hide your strokes".

Thanks for being a night owl with me and letting me stay up to watch Dragnet (The story you're about to see is true. The names have been changed to protect the innocent.), Get Smart, The Dick VanDyke Show, and the likes. I know more of old-timers TV trivia than anyone else my age. I doubt many of my friends know who Patty Duke, Donna Read, or Jed Clampett is.

Thanks for expecting me to get good grades and to graduate college and for making me do schoolwork the right way - as opposed to the half-assed way.

Thanks for always thinking that your children walk on water and loving us accordingly. It probably helps that you deal with delinquents, drug addicts, and punks all day long and so that's who you'd compare us to. But I'll take it anyways.

Thanks for always being nice to my friends. Although sometimes you'd talk their ears off and it was totally embarrassing. :)

Thanks for sharing your gross snacks with us. Perrier is sick and so is liverwurst. But because you loved them, we decided they were awesome. I've evolved to tap water and turkey sandwiches.

Thanks for driving all over Lakewood looking for me because I was late for curfew. Totally annoying at the time, and I love you for it now. (Cell phones would have been useful back then, eh?)

Thanks for leaving cute notes in our lunches whenever you had the honor of making them for us.

Thanks for loving my babies and missing them so much and buying them cute little things because you know they'll like them. You're thoughtful that way.

Thanks for sticking up for me and Taylor when perhaps we needed you to. :)

Thanks for loving the gospel and always reading your scriptures. What a good example you've been to us.

Thanks for loving our mom. (Swap meet arguments, aside.) You helped create a loving home for us to pattern our own families after.

Thanks for being calm, and rational, and loving, and kind, and hard-working, and dedicated, and sleep-deprived, and supportive, and everything else that I needed you to be.

I love you!
Stephanie

TBall!

2011-06-19T23:26:00.001-05:00

Warren's team is the Tigers and they are the cutest little 4 and 5 year olds out there. The best part of his first game was when Warren (as a runner) was on 2nd base. His teammate hit the ball, and instead of running to third, he started to chase the ball with the other team. Took him a long time to figure out where he was really supposed to be. They'll get it soon enough. But in the meantime, it's fun to watch them try. :) And who can resist team huddles & cheers, and snacks after the game?

Last Eyesore - check!

2011-06-19T22:23:00.000-05:00

The last true eyesore (inside the house) is gone. Say farewell to our 1970's shelves and ugly brick fireplace and brass cover.

First, our man Jesse ripped out all the old shelving and mantel.

ahh...better already, right?

A little drywall and texture, custom cabinets and shelves, new mantel, crown moulding, painted brick, and voila! ("voila" took several days, I make it sound easy. Like we did anything anyways. I did paint the brick. Go me)

We love it. That room was so dark and sad before. I definitely need to get some cuter things to put on the shelves, and we're taking family pictures on Tuesday and will put a big one above the mantel. And I need some big candles to put inside the fireplace. Then it will be perfect. But this is already a gazillion times better, so I can wait for ultimate cuteness.

We got rid of the heavy wooden blinds (shown here), too. I'm sure they cost a fortune. Now they are garbage. Sorry old owners. Now if only I had new wood floors and new (un-ugly) kitchen counter tops. We'll get this house in shape soon enough. This was a huge step. :)

RIP Baby Bunny

2011-06-13T13:49:00.000-05:00

At 9:28 AM, I scooped up our bunny's lifeless little fluffy body from the street and put him in a bag and threw him in the trash. So sad. We loved our baby bunny. He was getting so big and will be missed.

*I'm fully aware that I don't have the skills to determine if this is OUR bunny or some other bunny. So should a miracle occur and we discover that our bunny is safe and sound, we'll let you know. But I'm not holding my breath. We'll continue to mourn.

Family "hike"

2011-06-06T00:08:00.001-05:00

Today was nice out, so after Cami's "nap" - not sure she ever fell asleep - we went up for a little hike. It was still pretty warm, but it had cooled off in the afternoon enough for us to enjoy ourselves. Until Warren took a fall and scaped up his elbows. You can see his sadness in the stroller picture. Good thing we brought it cause he was having a cow there for a few minutes. He got better.

Funny faces on the way home. Cami looks totally sweaty. And you can see one of W's scrapes.

Good day.

My garden

2011-06-05T23:57:00.000-05:00

Don't even pretend like you don't want to see my plants. Taylor pretends every day that he doesn't care when I request he come outside and see that another bean sprouted. But I know inside he's just as giddy as I am.

cilantro

back - carrots
middle - romaine and leaf lettuce
front - tomatoes & peppers (and a couple marigolds that are supposedly good for the other guys. I just do what I'm told)

see? a baby orange pepper is growing!!!

carrots are finally getting the "real" leafy tops

tomato blossom

back - snap peas (need to get some chicken wire going around there this week!)

middle - onions

middle - cucumbers (inside the wall o water, too)

front - strawberries - we've even harvested a few already this year. Kids love checking every day to see if a new one is "ready" yet.

the wall o waters totally work. These guys are way bigger than the others. But I planted too many and need to thin them out soon.

snap pea!

baby green bean!

older baby green bean!

pumpkins inside these walls

back - pumpkins and honeydew
middle - zucchini
front - green beans

I Like Peanuts

2011-06-05T23:46:00.002-05:00

Warren and Malachi. They dress up and play games with each other all day long. The fence between our yards had to be replaced and we got comfortable having the boys being able to play with each other in either yard anytime they felt like it. So we still have a few boards left out. We're thinking of adding a gate or something. It's been super nice.

On to the peanuts!

I was so careful to not let her diaper show in the pictures, but you can totally see my pants-less babe in the video. We're a little white trashy in the backyard. We make sure and cover up in the front yard, though.So it's totally cool.

Reminds me of hanging out in my grandpa's work shed eating peanuts on his swivel barstool. Both my kids think eating peanuts is a huge treat. And Cami can even open them on her own. "I do it MYSEEELLLFFF!"

Black Eye!

2011-06-05T23:34:00.001-05:00

Cami got in a fight with a wooden swing. She won, but she has a little battle scar. It's been over a week, so I'm hoping it goes away soon.

Related?

2011-06-03T14:34:00.000-05:00

Are they cousins, or what??

Garden

2011-06-02T10:45:00.002-05:00

Step 1: Tear out random brick wall. Use lots of muscles.

Step 2: Rock relocation program. For 3 days move the rocks into another corner of our yard.

Step 3. Look cute while trying to "help"

Step 5. Bring in a crazy amount of dirt to fill in the slope. Make sure it's level. (See our fancy method??)

Step 6. Cut some boards and linseed oil them and fit them together and hammer and screw everything in.

Step 7. Buy all sorts of yummy soil and compost to go in the boxes.

Step 8. Plant

Step 9. Mulch and stepping stones.

(Blueberries and raspberries. Or at least their bushes. We'll see how long it takes for us to get fruit on these guys.)

When I type it out fast like this, it doesn't seem like that much work. Let me assure you that it was...
Now we wait. There's already lots more little green guys coming out of the dirt since i took these pictures a few days ago. It's been fun so far, here's hoping I don't kill anything. And now we have one small area in the backyard that doesn't make me want to throw up when I look at it. We have SOOOO much work to do, it's crazy. But we'll be here for years and years, so I guess we've got time. Taylor and I always remind ourselves of his grandparents phenomenal backyard and the dirt pit it was before they began. We'll get it there, too.

Graduation

2011-05-28T01:09:00.001-05:00

self-timer photo after graduation. We all got tons of unanticipated sun.

Cami in the park before it begins.

She sorta likes to swing.

Here comes W and his classmates.

Moving the chairs back and forth before, during, and after the "ceremony"

W getting a little love from Sunna - the cutest girl in the land.

Mrs. Gall was so sweet and said nice things about all of the parents and had their kids hand them a rose. Carson and Warren were lumped together since the Cronins and Dixes have officially morphed into one family.

Oh, Warren. Look normal, would ya??

Me, Laura, and Amy. The mormon mamas

(ps - Laura had a baby like 4 seconds ago and is already way skinnier than I am. Curse her. No, curse oreos. No, not oreos, I love oreos. We'll go back to cursing Laura.)

The very best preschool teachers that ever graced the earth. For real. I'm SO sad to be leaving them.

What do we do now that preschool's over? Dress up like a clone trooper and welcome summer.

Preschool almost over...

2011-05-23T16:24:00.000-05:00

Look how cute his little friends are. This friday is graduation. I'm so sad. One because summer means I have to entertain my children for 3 enitre months, but mostly because he won't see most of these friends again and we won't see his phenomenal teacher, Mrs. Gall anymore. Pictures of graduation to come...

Goings on around here!

2011-05-15T21:59:00.000-05:00

Taylor stacked the deck one round so Warren had only draw two's and wild draw fours. His face lit up like it was Christmas morning!

Cami doesn't understand that her toys need to stay downstairs. So several times a day, she tries to bring them upstairs. All at once. Usually purses, babies, and strollers. She also has crazy hair.

Comparing Warren's ears to Carson's. They laugh because Warren's ears are "huuuuge", and Carson's are "teeeeeny"

Easter duds.

They like each other! (Warren wore flip flops because he had a wicked blister on his heel and his regular shoes hurt)

Scored some star wars dress ups at a garage sale!

I'm going to miss W's preschool. I thought this little letter project was funny. Check out bottom-half-naked Cami just chillin in the background.

Easter Egg Hunt

2011-04-26T14:26:00.000-05:00

Desk Before and After

2011-04-26T14:17:00.000-05:00

Or to be more accurate, afters and before!

Holy cow this bad boy took FOR.EV.ER to finish. Totally not worth it, if you ask me. BUT I do have a nice desk for Warren and it did turn out pretty well. So no more sanding to the bare wood and refinishing furniture for me. I'll just be painting from now on, thank you very much.

Love Letters

2011-04-26T13:49:00.001-05:00

I wrote a message to Taylor one night while he stayed up to finish some work things. (If you know me/us, having me go to bed before Tay is a HUGE deal.) The next day, Warren felt inspired to leave one for his mama. I love how thoughtful he can be. I hope he still wants to write me love letters when he's a teenager! This made my day.

Cami's 2!

2011-04-26T10:21:00.001-05:00

Friday the 8th was Cami's 2nd birthday. We put on our best birthday outfit (totally from last year, but I made the skirt too big, so it still works) and hit the town, going to the grocery store and Warren's preschool and jazzercise. She felt cool in her birthday skirt. And people told me all day how cute she was. It was a good day

Off to take W to preschool. Her hair was darling in the little sponge curlers.

Dinner at Red Robin. She's running around and yelling to be funny. Looks moderately homeless.

Morning birthday presents!!

Day 2 of festivities - a "party" that Warren insisted we have. When we told him that we were just going to have a party with us and grandma and grandpa Dix, he had a little cow. He more or less demanded that Cami have a friend party so that they could all sing happy birthday to her. Cake was made, ice cream brought and friends invited. Easiest "party" ever.

Brooklyn came - Cami's one true friend. They stayed at the table LOOONG after the other kids had left to play.

Day 3 - church and Grandma and Grandpa come over.

After nap presents. Leftover cake and ice cream. A birthday weekend that was a blast!

To Utah To Utah

2011-04-06T20:22:00.000-05:00

Grandma came during her spring break. We hung out with her for a couple days and then she drove with us to Utah to see everyone else. Taylor flew in on Thursday night and we stayed until Sunday morning. I spilled water on my camera and it died for a while. So consider yourself lucky - you only have 32 pictures to look at instead of 60! :)

Early birthday presents!

Cousin JM - 2 weeks apart!

Look at that hair! Send this girl back to the 80's! This is a morning bath after she slept on her hair. All natural and craaaazy!

Cami had a love/scared relationship with Loo.

Some cousin love with Chloe and Caite

Elder Warczak and Warren are using the force to fight each other

We love our Uncle Elder!

At the conference center on Saturday

The whole Warczak crew

Right after this was taken Cami yelled (and continued to yell) really loudly. Made a big scene and made JM cry. She thought it was funny.

With grandpa Walker, Wray, and Joe going to the Priesthood session

70 degrees to snow the next day?! Boo.

Cami hates road trips as much as her mama.

Home again, home again, jiggity jig.

Go Cougs

2011-03-24T09:49:00.000-05:00

I am the best of the fair weather fans. So don't count on me to post about my Cougs when they stink. But, my friends, they're on fire. So we're pumped to watch the game tonight and hope Jimmer keeps it up. He has his own glossary, you know. HERE. It's nice to wear my BYU shirt in public and have people excited about something other than the honor code. :)

Holy St Patricks Day!

2011-03-19T08:31:00.000-05:00

We had a blast celebrating St Patricks Day this year. We started with the parade downtown on Saturday. Wish we would have picked a place in the sun,w e got a little chilly sitting in the shade. But the parade didn't disappoint. We didn't even stay for the whole thing since it's so long, but we got lots of beads and candy and attention (maybe because there weren't as many of us in the shade??) from bagpipers, storm troopers, stilt walkers, cool cars, princesses, and crazy clowns. After that we went to the zoo and finished off the evening at Cheesecake Factory with our buddies Yon, Melissa, and kids.

We were assigned the snack on the day they celebrated in Warren's class. So I made rainbow cookies, a rainbow fruit tray, and green popcorn (butter & honey dyed green - with salt). Then on St Patty's, we ate shamrock pancakes and met Taylor for lunch. We saw a lot of basketball players walking around downtown, but no Cougars. Bummer. But we got ice cream and cookies, so that was nice.

Photo taken by Warren and is completely out of order.

THE PARADE!

waiting around and saving spots

should I submit this to awkward family photo?

(BJ Howie & Erica are radio DJs that hook you up with beads if you make a sign.) So I made 8 of them for all the kiddos in our little group. Used my laminator - thanks mom. They worked like a charm - our kids got lots of beads and made out with candy like it was Halloween.

Our friend, Dave, got to be a storm trooper. The snow kind. Or something like that. My boys could tell you. Warren got into an argument at preschool today over whether or not Darth Vader (pictured below) saved Luke or not. He was right, DV does sacrifice himself for Luke, but that's no reason to be jerky about it to your friends, kid. This obsession of his colors way too many areas of his/my life.

Exhausted after our family fun day!

~~Gay Pride~~ Rainbow cookies!

Leftover dough makes tie-dye butterflies

Shamrock pancakes!

Cami is definitely a charmer

People like to comment on my babies' red hair. Especially on St Patricks Day. My cute little leprechauns.

I didn't know anything about St Patrick. So I went on wikipedia and did some extensive research. Basically, St Patrick is a parton saint of Ireland who is credited with bringing Christianity to the people. He taught the doctrine of the trinity using the shamrock. That's why he's so cool and thats why we're all about the shamrocks on St P's big day. Also, people get to take a break from Lent on the holiday. Lucky ducks can have a feast and drink like mad. Hmm...that's why people are so outwardly nice to my red-haired children. They're slightly to moderately inebriated. I'll take the compliments anyway.
So now you know...

To Grandpa Warczak - Love, Cami

2011-03-10T20:38:00.000-06:00

My dad told me he watched Cami's last video 30 times cause he thought it was so funny. Well, here you go, Gramps! Just for you!

Cami can climb onto the counter now that she figured out how to move chairs and use drawers to her advantage. It looks like a squirrel moved in. :)

ps - I SWEAR she has other shirts/sweaters. This one just begs to be photographed, I guess.

Movies

2011-03-06T21:26:00.000-06:00

I'm not so delusional to think that anyone will watch and/or enjoy these except for grandparents. But here they are.

Not much going on these days. Trying to figure out what to do with our super ugly yard this spring. Taylor and I went to dinner and the ballet on Friday night. We didn't document the evening with photos, because we're grown ups and I would feel weird about asking strangers to take our picture as if we're at Disneyland. The ballet was nice, boring enough that Taylor stereotypically fell asleep for a moment. And dinner was amazing. We didn't have to pay for any of it, and that was the best part. Thanks, lawyer Tay, for knowing the right people in this town. :)

Happy Valentine's Day!

2011-02-14T18:29:00.001-06:00

Out of order....dumb blogger.

Pirate Cami! She likes saying "Arrrrr"

They each ate the ENTIRE giant candy bar. Whoops - maybe I should pay attention to my children.

Cami the thug

Snowman! With 60 degree weather, he's sure to not last through the week. (This was Saturday)

Cami's after-church accessories. High heels and police beanies.

For breakfast - heart shaped, pink pancakes and red juice. Warren liked his hearts broken. He's a complicated and mysterious little soul...:)

Snowy & Cold

2011-02-09T18:21:00.000-06:00

But we're still having fun.

Another marathon photo-taking session. I have literally 50+ pictures from today. Some decent ones, but ZERO winners. Notice all the different locations chosen by Camille. She would run away, and I'd make Warren run after her and put his arm around her. It only sorta worked.

The kids

2011-01-30T22:37:00.000-06:00

Here's what January looked like:

Chipotle for lunch in Dad's office

Cami fell asleep in the car and STAYED asleep on the floor for almost 20 minutes. That's a first.

Rise and shine!

We finally got some snow to go stomp around in.

It was tasty.

They love each other

Warren found a passion for "decorating". Once the tree and other Christmas things came down, he decided that his tent (and our rooms, shelves, counter tops and couches on any given day) needed sprucing up. He spent hours on this and was VERY proud of his accomplishment. (About 50 soldiers, 30 critters, a dozen bells, some play food, and several of our kid-friendly Christmas ornaments ought to do the trick...)

I dried the flowers that Taylor brought me on our anniversary.

Warren and his babysitter built a wicked cool fort with blankets and sheets.

We remembered to take pictures BEFORE church. We come home looking rather homeless after 3 hours of Sunday worship. :)

Cami developed a skill of making faces. Here's one of our favs.

Watched some saturday morning cartoons

Wore headbands. (W&C still love each other!)

We played with friends.

And learned to cover our "privates" when posing for risque photos. She took off her dress and put on her boots alllll by herself! Modest is hottest - don't you forget it!

January was rather uneventful, but it was nice to take it easy. Our buddy from Iowa, Jared, came to town scoping out dental practices, we had some Cafe Rio and I schooled him at Super Mario Brothers. Warren honed his skills at creating clues for treasure hunts (thanks Uncle Todd!). Cami now says "I loff yooo" anytime she really wants something. Taylor has been diligent in teaching Warren the ways of the Jedi. We had some awesome spring weather last week and we picnicked in the park, washed our cars, cleaned the garage, went out to dinner, and played with friends outside all day long. We've been really good at reading scriptures as a family every day - one of our New Years resolutions. Warren picks up so much and it really has helped bring the spirit into our home. Bye January - bring on Valentine's Day.

Christmas

2011-01-08T11:11:00.001-06:00

My parents, Todd, Jocelyn, JM, and Courtney came to spend Christmas at our house. It was a lot of fun - we love having a big enough space to house everyone!

Grandma came with us to check out some cool houses that were all lit up!

At zoolights

Check out Jocelyn's face! Too funny.

The group

The photographer and her assistant

Warren decided that the manger needed some "decorating". So boas, lightsabers, "ornaments" out of construction paper and some other Christmas guests were beought in to get the job done.

Christmas Eve and new jammies from Grandma

The ONLY picture of all 3 kids that isn't crazy looking.

The one present he got to open on Christmas Eve. Lookin gooooood!

Grandma and Grandpa with their grandbabies

Thanks, all 3 kids for looking normal - sike.

Cookies for Santa and reindeer food. We left a note asking Santa to put the presents in the living room.

Castle Tent!

Play kitchen/restaurant!

Grandma and Grandpa Dix came for Christmas Dinner and to spend the day with us.

For you, Jocelyn. Cute picture of JM and Grandma!

Chuck E Cheeeeese!

2011-01-07T23:57:00.000-06:00

Could you just smile??

2011-01-02T22:20:00.001-06:00

And try not to look weird??

(10 of the 30 pictures I took that night. I think I have one semi-winner)

Preschool Program

2011-01-02T22:06:00.000-06:00

Quite possibly the cutest thing I've ever seen. Warren was a little more entertaining than most of the other kids, what with the random jingle bells and loud talking to Carson (why they let them stand next to each other is a mystery to me). Though he was much better behaved than at the Primary program at church. There he was a typical sunbeam taking his tie on and off, drumming on the pulpit, clapping during quiet songs, and looking at us while making ludicrous hand motions when he should be sitting reverently. As if he was saying "what are you going to do about it, mom? You're sitting alllll the way down there!" But I digress. Here are some cute pictures from that night.

Today

2010-12-09T21:59:00.007-06:00

(Just cause I know you were all DYING to know how Cami's little word bubble came out...better, right?)

Today was nice and busy. Watching kids, hosting lunch for the chicas I visit teach, missionaries for dinner...lots of prep and clean up time today. Warren entertained himself well, he even went on a spelling spree all by himself. Let me decipher the hieroglyphics for you.

"Hapee Famlee" Warren WARREN (Those would be capital Rs, don't ya know?) Mom, dad, Camy
Oh, and 3 angels - with lots of buttons. I was unaware angels used buttons to keep their robes on. Now we all know.

deer grant i luv yoo ("OH! I forgot to write Warren") Warren ("OH! I forgot to write from!") From
- to his buddy that came to play today

We're getting better at printing, but what a good speller! Taylor's son, let me tell you. He'll probably go on to memorize the chinese dictionary, hard-bind all his college essays, and correct everyone's grammar. The normal things that everyone does, right?

The genius with an outfit he picked out of Dad's closet all on his own. Mini-Tay. Brain included.

Cute & Cheap

2010-12-07T17:07:00.003-06:00

Been to wordle.net? I hadn't until two days ago. You type in whatever words you want and it comes out as a cool word collage. The more times you type a word, the bigger it comes out. (It looks pretty cool when you do an essay or newspaper article. Wonder how talks from General Conference or the Christmas Devotional would come out??) Pick the colors and which layout you want and bam - free Christmas present. Buy a Hobby Lobby frame at 50% off and it's art. Couple of things that bug - you can't save it as a picture, but you can print it to a pdf. You can't arrange the layout yourself, just mess around until it gives you want you want. Go play! I think Elder Scotty will get one for Christmas, and so will my kids (obviously). I need to re-do Cami's. I don't love hers as much. But I dig W's.

Warrenspeak

2010-12-07T00:03:00.003-06:00

Warren said a couple of cute things yesterday and today.

#1 at the dinner table (eating roast beef) "Mom, is this part of somebody's BRAIN?"

#2 when he fell down in the hallway "Warren, are you ok?" He stops and puts his hand on his chest and says "yes, my heart is stiiiiiiiill pumping!"

#3 he was climbing over the pews at church (during choir practice, not sacrament meeting) "Warren...we don't climb on the furniture! Whose house is this??" His eyes get real big and he points and looks upward. "Sorry for standing on your seats"

#4 "Mom, if a mean man came into our house and defeated you with his gun (we don't say kill, of course), I would call 9-1-1 and the police would come and defeat him and I would be so brave."

#5 "I'm the smartest of all my class. No, actually, I'm the smartest of all the people."

#6 (after he'd been put to bed and I was downstairs) "MOM! MOM! MOOOOM!" I ran upstairs and asked what the problem was. "I just forgot to tell you that I love you so much. Goodnight."

He melts my heart, that boy. We've been debating whether or not to put up a stink and get him into kindergarten early since his birthday is in October and he misses the cutoff. But then I think about how I'll lose him a whole year earlier for college and it makes me want to cry. He's soooo good, and kind, a great friend, obedient, and funny. I hope he stays that way and becomes a good man. I just love him so much I can barely stand it. I never thought I'd be the type who thinks their child can do no wrong, but maybe I am. Cause I think Warren is the bees knees. Any person (or girl) who hurts my baby will have my wrath to deal with. I'm getting all riled up now just thinking of the possible heartbreaks. I just hope he likes me in 10 years. Cause I'll like him for always.

Cami and Warren

2010-12-06T08:51:00.005-06:00

Cami loves hats. And taking pictures. And wearing a hat to take a picture.

"cheeeeeeeeese!"

Warren looking snazzy before church.
(I know, I need a tree skirt)

Peek-a-........

BOO!

Ode to Shutterfly

2010-12-03T14:48:00.002-06:00

So Shutterfly is giving away 50 free Christmas cards to people who blog about how much they love their service/products. They have the cutest Christmas card options I've seen, so I'm excited to get some! I'm a sucker for free things, it's true, but I also happen to adore Shutterfly. I've tried other products from similar sites and there is no comparison to their quality. Here are three things I love.

1. Their prints come out perfect - some other places colors were totally off and the paper they were printed on was super thin and flimsy. And the cost is very reasonable.

2. Their photobooks are really easy to create and make the most thoughtful gifts. I make one for each of my kids every year. And usually one for the family, too. I treasure them. They always send me really great coupons and promotions, too, so I can usually get a good deal on them.

3. I haven't bought one, YET, but I really want to try out their new canvas prints. How awesome is that? I'd love to have one in my house. Maybe next family pictures??

I also love the online storage part of it all. If something should happen to my computer and/or albums, I know that I can come online and order the prints again, reorder the photobooks I've created, and preserve those memories should my house burn down. No need to run back into the flames for them, because I have them online. Perfect!

...and to be fair...

2010-11-22T17:35:00.002-06:00

A video of Cami. Or as she calls herself "Mackie" or "lelemenlal". She's a great talker, but her name is obviously far too tricky. It's just funny now.

Warren's Santa Letter

2010-11-22T17:23:00.003-06:00

Dear Santa,

I've been good. (Tell him how long you've been good) For 10 1/2 hours. How are your reindeer? Sometimes my sister doesn't want to play with me and that makes me sad, but then my mom just catches her and tells her to play with me. I don't push my sister down, I do not yell and scream at my friends. I hope you come quickly before my birthday cake candles burn out. (??) I'm nice cause I play "store" with Cami and I'm so much nice to her. At school I "stop, look, and listen" and I always keep my toys (from home) in my pocket and I don't take then out at school. Cami and I play on the slide together.

Please bring me:
a race car
a brand new truck
a "pobo" stick - it has handles for the legs and handles for the arms
I want a brand new toy hamster
a new yellow and orange computer that's on the list (aka Target ad)
a play castle - a big one - so i can fit inside

I love you,
Warren

Well he better stop all this potty talk if he wants Santa to come through.

Train Museum

2010-11-22T17:08:00.005-06:00

Thank You, NBA

2010-11-12T18:06:00.004-06:00

Warren got in trouble today for writing on his arms with a marker. After coming out of time-out, I asked him why he drew on on his arms. His response: "But mom, I'm a basketball player and I had to get ready for today's game!"

So thank you, Birdman, for inspiring my son.

On to the tats:

The one on his left arm says "toot". He's got the vulgar thing down, too.

Halloween Night/Happy Birthday Warren

2010-11-03T14:46:00.005-05:00

Tay's parents came down for a Halloween/Birthday dinner. We hung out, opened some presents, ate dinner, then did a little trick or treating. The kids had already loaded up at our church's trunk-or-treat, and it was Sunday, so we just hit a few of our neighbors, said hi and got some more loot. Then we came home and Warren had fun handing out candy to all the trick or treaters. He'd say - "Wow, nice costume! What are you?" and was quite the little host. Eventually he decided to wait on the porch for kids to come. And when he saw some walking past he yelled "Hey! Trick or Treaters! Come to my house!" They said they already had been, so he was cool with them skipping us on their return trip.

She was worried when I dumped out her previous candy. So she held this sucker in her free hand the whole time we were out and about.

She likes suckers.

2 Halloween Things We Can't Get Enough Of

2010-10-26T17:25:00.003-05:00

IT'S HALLOWEEN!

MONSTER MASH

We watch both of these AT LEAST 14 times a day. Kids love 'em both. Cami will dance and sing "haaaaaaweeeeeee" and point to all of us monsters in the second one. I love Halloween!

Warren's Birthday Party

2010-10-24T17:20:00.007-05:00

We had a ton of fun yesterday at Warren's birthday party. He finally decided on a bug-themed party after deciding and redeciding 100 times. We played bug bean bag toss, had a bug hunt, earned some prizes, smashed my 4-days-to-make-6-minutes-to-destroy spider pinata, ate dirt cake, and had an overall blast.

Of course these are in bakwards order, because that's the way I like to do things. :)

Let's note how many different spots he opened these presents in. He'd pick a new one, go to a new spot, and the mass of children would reconvene wherever he went. It was funny. He loved opening presents a little too much for my taste. The photo of him in the rocking chair is while the party is still going on and he just wanted to sit and look at his presents. He uttered some delighted phrases during this process, but the best one was HOLY SHMOLEY! Where'd he get that one from??

Long Lost Photos - After Church One Day in May

2010-10-19T14:22:00.004-05:00

I miss our old front yard in a very big way. We were on a corner lot with a huge grassy lawn. Sigh. But now we have a garage, so I suppose I won't complain.

Long Lost Photos - 1st Birthday Cake!

2010-10-19T14:19:00.002-05:00

Out of order, but still cute. HOW did I not share these with you??

Long Lost Photos - Bonnie!

2010-10-19T14:12:00.002-05:00

Bonnie and Audrey came to hang out with us for a few days and we loved having them!

Be friends! Smooch! Reminds me of THIS picture from last November.

Here we are at the zoo by the giraffes. Warren is again being a photographer. He's getting better. (I didn't include all 1400 pictures Bonnie took of the baby tigers. Sorry, world.)

Long Lost Photos - Washington

2010-10-19T14:03:00.006-05:00

Warren became a photographer - here's some of his handiwork

Well not that one, but the others below...

I rode on an airplane with my two crazy kids. Soooo much fun, let me tell you what.

Long Lost Photos - California

2010-10-19T09:35:00.009-05:00

Here are some long lost photos that I never blogged. I've been feeling uber lazy lately with blogging. So let's catch up.

Seaworld - Warren's highlight of the trip. I remember it being much cooler. Don't think I would spend the money to go back, except it's all Warren talked about for weeks. Touching/feeding sting rays and seeing orcas had him over the moon.

The Halls joined us and it made the day much more fun!

We visited Taylor's Grandma Jane.

And my Aunt Linda and cousins Jen (with daughter Lindsay) and Kevin. Look at all those redheads! Kevin had a full head of it at one point. :)

Charlie Browns! I remember going here as a kid and it was even more magical than I remembered. It's the craziest produce stand/gift shop/restaurant ever conceived.
Yep - turtle meat, "sirloin" alligator meat, duck and bacon sausage, frog legs. You know, the staples.

Or you could always buy a dinosaur to go on your front lawn, too.

Our old house. Looks a lot nicer than most in Palmdale these days. It's funny and cool to see the house you grew up in and look through all the pictures of us kids in this front yard. $10 says our hand prints are still on the back patio.

Cami's hair was so short! And my bangs looked so dumb! ;)

The hotel in Vegas on the way there. Guess who liked it?

And I must apologize, because we stayed with Taylor's brother and his lovely wife and my cutey nephew and somehow have ZERO pictures for documentation. What is wrong with me? I stole this one from their blog. But I vow to never let this happen again! I guess we were having too much fun.
ps - we got to see every single sibling and parent in this Utah/California trip. And some cousins (we saw 2 of Taylor's Aunts and a few cousins as well - but of course, crappy photographer Stephy didn't bother to document that) It was really great. I look forward to Thanksgiving and Christmas when we'll get to see mostly everyone again!