Drew's 6th Birthday Party

We had a fun assortment of neighborhood friends, and cousins, and siblings.

We almost always do a pinata each year on the kids birthdays. They always request it and everyone loves it. We tried to wrangle the kids onto the rug so no one got injured with that bat. So far, we have a 100% safety record with the pinatas. They always make me nervous though.

Cousin Hannah and Rachie.

Good old pin the tail on the donkey. Such a random game.

Cousin Ella and Bubba. Working on those yum-yum yummy cupcakes.

Of course, Nana. She always makes everything so much fun. I appreciated her help with the party so much. She is always there for me.

When you ask your kid what kind of cake they want for their birthday, be prepared for their answer. Phineas and Ferb, anyone? I was actually pretty proud of this drawing. He was delicious.

The kids each decorated a cupcake with candy and different frostings. We ended up with some disgusting, er- I mean "amazing" creations!



It's hard to believe my baby is 6 already. He is growing up to be such a great kid. He loves kindergarten, and is super smart. He has picked up reading quite easily, and he is good at writing, and spells the words he doesn't know phonetically. He is amazingly creative, and is always drawing, drawing, drawing. I have piles and piles of his artistic creations around the house. He likes to draw and cut out and make sculptures out of paper. Some of them are quite advanced! I wonder if it is just a kid thing, or if he will always be so artistically inclined. He is good at making friends and loves to ride his bike to peoples' houses. We finally got him a new bike for his birthday, and he is still trying to get used to it. He rode that teeny little red one for the past 3 years and he has gotten too big for it. The new one seems huge on him, but hopefully with some more practice he will get the hang of it. I had a good laugh watching him ride it down the street and drive over to the curb in order to get off it. Then he fell over. I tried not to laugh then, but I did maybe a little. He was fine, got right back on and kept going. Which surprised me because let's just say that Bubba isn't exactly the toughest kid in the world- he can be very sensitive. In the long run, though, I think that is a good thing. He is a sweet kid, and a great brother to his sisters. Although he wouldn't admit it, he and Allie are good friends and have lots of fun making up games and playing together. We love you, Bub! We are so happy you are a part of our family.

The Annual Dial Family Christmas Tree

Every year, we pack up all the kids (it seems like there are more every year!) and everybody bundles up and we head up to a special spot we visit each year to look for Christmas trees. We always finish the day out with some donuts and hot chocolate. It is a fun tradition that everyone looks forward to every year.

The fam (well, some of them.)

My sister Rachel. She is due to add the latest Dial to the crew right around Christmas Day. We are all so excited!

I just wanna eat those cheeks!!

Drew loves eating snow. "And he likes to make snow angels and make snow men." (He is sitting on my lap as I type this helping with the captions.)

Rachel and Daddy- all nice and cozy!

Tiny and my mom's dog, Boo-boo. They also enjoyed eating the snow.

My mom and me.

Stinkin' Cute!

Baby Rachie is getting so big! It always happens so fast, I hate that. She is almost 6 months old now. They don't stay little babies for long. She is the sweetest, happiest baby ever, and is such a joy to everyone in the family. Especially to her brother Drew. I think she definitely has a protector for life in him. He is totally in love with her, as are all of us. She is so smiley, and my heart swells with joy every time I am near her.

These baby blues still rock my world!! I am still trying to get used to having a kid with blue eyes. She is such a beauty!

The hair is coming back in, looks like we've got ourselves another redhead! Love it!

"Sweet baby" is right! She is looking so much like Allie did as a baby.

This picture cracks me up so much! She was zipped up in daddy's coat when we were out in the snow, and the hat was squeezing her little cheeks out.

Little Rachel has been such a joyous addition to our family. Especially joyous is the fact that she has been sleeping through the night for the last little while, which of course makes me extra happy. She is getting to where she is trying to sit up on her own, and is very interested in trying to grab whatever we are eating and help herself to it. She is more interested in what we have than Gerber stuff. She does enjoy her bottle though. Since I went back to work, she discovered the perks of bottles, and decided that she was too cool to nurse anymore. I was a little sad that she ended things so early, but there wasn't much I could do about it. She is a great sleeper and loves to be put in her bed awake- no rocking to sleep for this little one. She wakes up every morning singing in her bed, and nothing does my heart more good than going to her room in the morning and seeing that huge smile and scooping her up and smothering her with kisses.

Having 3 kids has definitely been a challenge, and a bit of an adjustment for everyone. Sometimes I take a step back and realize that hey, I am a mom with 3 kids! My mom has 3 kids. It is a strange realization. Sometimes I still wonder at how I went from clueless first time new mom to minivan-driving mom of 3. It happened fast! We are all doing very well though, and we have a lot of love to go around. I feel really blessed to have this opportunity to be a mother. It is the hardest, most thankless job ever, but still...I love it.

November

Things have been pretty busy around here lately and updating my blog has definitely not been anywhere near the top of things I feel like doing with my little spare time. Nonetheless, there are some pictures and stuff I would like to share, so here goes. I still lament the fact that my photography skills (and camera, for that matter) really do leave much to be desired, so I do apologize for that.


Kids having a movie "date night" on our bed. This is something we have been doing for years, and the kids really look forward to it every Friday night. Rachie was jealous of the treats.

There is no shortage of helpers in my kitchen. I hope I can really teach my children to learn how to cook. It is hard sometimes to let them help because I like things perfect, and it is really tempting to "fix" their contributions, but I do try. We enjoy spending time together in the kitchen.

Allie is really into any kind of little creatures, be they plastic, stuffed, or otherwise. She will almost always be found with some type of tiny stuffed animal or plastic figurine in her hands. She is always handing them to me and demanding that I "make them talk!" She makes sure that I don't get too busy to stop and play with her. It is hard sometimes to make time to just play with the kids, because I tend to get wrapped up in whatever I have going on, cleaning, cooking, work, etc etc all you moms know what I mean. This little one tries really hard to bring out the kid in me, even though that kid has been stuffed way deep down underneath all the mom responsibilities.

This is the closest thing we have had to a family picture since the baby was born. It was after church one Sunday, so we were all a bit frazzled and tired and I could have really used some lipstick or something, but anyways, there you have it. I love these people.

It would have made some sense to have some Thanksgiving pictures in this November post, but Krista, the photog extraordinaire, remembered to bring the camera but was too busy stuffing her face and chasing kids to remember to take any pictures, so that figures. We went to my uncle's house in St. George and met with a bunch of other crazy Dial's (including my 93 year old grandpa) and had a short but nice visit with them all.

Autumn Leaves

A few weeks ago my mom, me, and my girls took a drive up Cedar mountain to look at the fall leaves and to just be together. It was such a perfect day, and we came home with lots of pretty leaf bouquets and some awesome rocks for landscaping. I wish I had taken some pictures of all of us. We love being together and we always have so much fun.

First Lost Tooth

Recently we had the first of what is sure to be many, many lost teeth by children in our household.


Notice how there isn't really a space? It's because the permanent tooth had already grown most of the way in behind the baby tooth before it fell out. And might I add that it was twice the size of the baby tooth. I have a feeling this kid is going to have some seriously crooked teeth...guess we better start saving for braces! He was so excited about leaving it for the tooth fairy, and getting "a whole dollar!!"

Allie's First day of Preschool

Allie started preschool last week. She is going to Miss Wendy's preschool, who was Drew's teacher last year. She loves it of course! She, like Drew, is very comfortable adjusting to new situations and people. She didn't even look up at me when I told her goodbye. Not that I expected anything different. I hope I never have a kid that clings, because I am not going to know what to do with them! Allie's favorite part of preschool is finally getting to wear her new "Twinkle Toes" Skechers Nana bought her. (The new clothes were always my favorite part of school, too.) Such a big girl!

Drew's First Day of Kindergarten

Drew started kindergarten today. This day has been a long time coming for him, because he is such a social kid and he loves learning new things. He is definitely not the type of kid that clings to his mother's skirt- I love that my kids are independent and confident in that way. His teacher's name is Ms. Cooley, and as it turns out, he will be attending the same school where my mom taught fifth grade for years and years. In fact, my mom was Ms. Cooley's student teacher when my mom was still in school, and now my mom is retired, so that means Drew is getting a wonderful, experienced, awesome kindergarten teacher. We are so excited to begin this new chapter in Drew's life.

“Making the decision to have a child is momentous. It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body.” -Elizabeth Stone

Happy Girl

These pictures make me so happy. Nothing like a cute, smiley baby to totally brighten up your day!

Representin'!

You're welcome, Marshall.

(Booties courtesy of Grandma and Grandpa Chamberlain.)

Sweet Baby Ray

What a beauty. Love the widow's peak.

Her brother and sister adore her and dote on her every chance they get. Allie likes to read her stories.

These baby blues still kill me. I never thought I would have a kid with blue eyes. Gorgeous!

Check out the tiny arms. She is as tall and skinny as can be. This girl is Chamberlain all the way!

Can't believe she is 2 months old already. Time flies!

These Make Me Smile...

My nephew Zack and Baby Rachel.


My niece Hannah in a pirate costume with a stuffed lemur.




Two men in their thirties- my husband and his brother, dueling with duct-tape swords.



Tiny pinning daddy in my parent's backyard.

Bubba the kid.

First timer.

Hula hoop workshop.

Trying so hard to wrangle the crying baby.

Just plain cute.