The awards banquet

Sorry the pictures are so bad, but all I had was my cell phone!

We had the end of the year swim banquet tonight. I don't know if you all know the story of the swim-a-thon, but here it is. Skylar was supposed to swim for 20 min to raise money for her swim team. She could get money per lap, per minute, or a straight donation. I thought that she would do maybe 4 or 5 laps and so I pledged $20 per lap and convinced others to donate to her cause. Turns out she swam 13 laps! My jaw just dropped, but I stood by my pledge. Skylar raised 3 times more than anyone else on the team so she got a prize for being the top money raiser at the awards banquet tonight. She raised $1100, the next closest person was $350. The whole total for the team was $4000. I'm on to her, so next year it might not be so high! Here she is getting her prize.

After a long weekend!

James can't stay awake after a long weekend of playing with Skylar! He crashes way before bedtime.

A picture of Marilyn and Jim's house for those who are interested (they are still finishing up the stonework).

Ummm.....

This is what happens when you try to get 15 extra minutes of sleep in the morning and let the kids roam free. Was it worth it???

I'll show you, you dumb turtle! Brennen is back on the nebulizer treatments and he really hates them. He attacks the mask with a vengeance whenever we do them.

Friday Night Slumber Party!

Friday and Saturday nights are slumber party nights for Skylar and James. They always go in James' room (even though Skylar has a double bed and a bigger room) and pull out the trundle bed. Then they fight over who gets to sleep on the bottom. Usually they end up making a deal and one night James gets the bottom and then the next night Skylar gets the bottom. Then when the door is shut, they laugh and giggle for the next hour. I usually have to go in there about 10 ten to tell them to be quiet and go to bed. Finally, I have to threaten, "Any more noise and you will be separated!" That usually does the trick (I do love that they are best friends and secretly I don't mind the talking and laughing).

Tonight they decided they would both sleep in the bottom bed and the pink unicorn would get the top!

James eats Brennen for lunch!

James gets some extra lunch...Brenne ala king!

That brother of mine just makes me laugh!

It's Potty Time!

Yes, it is that time of Kellen's life where is has to learn to use the potty. He, however, is addicted to his diaper. He comes up to me and says, "Mama, I need my diaper." I just tell him to use the potty and then he does. If he has underwear on at all then he just uses it as a diaper, so he spends the days half naked! We are making progress, but he just really likes the diaper.

Mama, what on earth is this thing?

Oooh, I like it! Brennen gets his first biter biscuit and he just loves it. Unfortunately, Kellen walked by a minute later and swiped it out of Brennen's hand ate his "cookie" as fast as he could. Poor Brennen just gets abused!

Skylar literally walked in the door and states,"Mom, I'm bored!" Home 30 sec. and she is already bored? It took about 50 suggestions of what she could do before she finally settled on a floor puzzle.

Don't look so excited Brennen!

Everyone seems to think that putting a spoon in your mouth (as a baby) is hard work. I find it rather easy and not all that exciting

An Impromtu Pool Party

It was an absolutely beautiful day today and Skylar had some friends over. Somehow, they got the idea to bring out the kiddie pool (I thought they were crazy as it is only the middle of March, but it was nice and warm out). I filled it up by mixing hose water and hot water. It was nice and warm and the kids had a great time!




Then the girls decided that it was time to sunbathe. I really did not think I would be seeing this kind of stuff until Skylar was a teenager. It really made me feel like she was growing up to fast.

Of course, the boys thought that copying the girls was a good idea. They just kept looking over at the girls wondering what was so great about sunbathing.

Then it was time for a little refreshments!


This is Kasey and Jessica, two neighbor girls that Skylar and James play with all the time. James always tags along and he is considered one of the gang!

This is Damien. Skylar says that she is going to marry him. He lives across the street and they play all of the time. He is a bit older (10 years old), but they do get along very well.

Even Brennen got in on the fun! He was totally a ladies man!

Following in her Mama's footsteps

Skylar loves to do craft/scrapbook projects, just like her Mama! I think this is something we will spend a lot of time with together in the future.

Mr. Happy is back! (Thursday)

I am finally back to normal today after a week long period of crankiness! I did get a new tooth out of it all and I learned to sit, but I am mad that I still can't roll over. Is that really an important step? It seems so unnecessary. I hate being on my stomach, so why would I want to roll onto it? It seems to be important to Mama though.

Big Moves!

I am not sure if you can hear it, but Skylar is yelling directions out to James on how he should be swinging. She was in such a good mood because she got moved up to the top reading group today in school!

Brennen sat all by himself today for the first time. Of course, by the time I got the camera and got it all focused I only got about 2 sec. of him sitting. Then Kellen hit him and he was no longer in the mood to sit.

Kellen and his ever-present blankie!

An Ouchie Day!

There were quite a few accidents today. James got stabbed in the face with a fork today. Apparently he was playing (forks) with a friend at lunch today and his friend accidentally got him in the face.

Skylar was riding her bike in this dress (it was 70 degrees today:), and I told her to wear pants) and she wiped out.

After a few bandages on her legs, she was fine! It's amazing the power band-aids have.

Finally, Brennen's first tooth came through today! He sure has been cranky and I am hoping that he is back to normal tomorrow.

A fun filled weekend

Skylar and James are playing shop and they are cleaning up to make sure that their store is nice and clean!

Brennen is not feeling well again. I don't know if it is his ears or he is getting teeth or what, but his eyes were all red and he was so cranky.

We have been reading Junie B. Jones is a hair shop guy, where Junie B. cuts her Bunny slippers, her teddy bear, her dog's hair and then her own hair. Skylar decided to play hair shop and I thought for a second she was using scissors. Thank goodness, it is just a lint roller.

Jim is turning 60 on St. Patty's Day, but they will be out of town. So we had a little early birthday celebration.

We love batter!

It is my turn to bring treats tomorrow. The kids surrounded and attacked the batter bowl like sharks around a drop of blood. Maybe I should make treats a little more often?

They did pause in their feeding frenzy to try and give Brennen some batter (see the little drop on his lip). I thought it was sweet, even though he shouldn't of had any.

Hey everyone, I have feet!

Brennen has found his feet and loves to play with them! He is very ticklish on his feet and just laughs and laughs when you play with them.

Snow again!!

When we woke up this morning it was snowing hard. So out we went to enjoy it because it was melting as fast as it came down.

I can't post a picture of Kellen enjoying the outside because he decided to play outside in his Vikings sweatshirt and his green boots. Nothing else. No diaper. I was putting Brennen to bed and when I came out of the room, Kellen was just coming in crying that his butt hurt. I have no idea how long he was playing outside naked in the snow, but his butt was quite red! The kids are not the only ones who love the snow!

Skylar lost another tooth today. I think it is so cute that she is missing all four of the front teeth. It is very important to her that everyone knows that she cannot say third right now.

How we pass the days

Play with cars..

Play some games...

Iron Beads..

Eat, sleep and be merry!

KELLEN!!???!!

Kellen, we do not go outside in our PJ's with no shoes or coat in the middle of winter. Kellen's response: "I play outside."

Ok, maybe it is a little cold out here. I will make a small concession and wear boots, but you can forget about me wearing a coat.

See, I think it is great out here!

Please let me in! I'm cold!

Good Morning Dean Boys!

Brennen does a lot of talking in the mornings. He loves the sound of his voice. When he wakes up and is laying in his crib waiting for me to pick him up, this is what we hear. He doesn't cry, he yells (In my head I hear, "Maaaaamaaaa, come and get me now!).

Papa spends a few minutes with the boys before heading out to work. (Skylar is already off to school by now)

Then all of the boys eat breakfast together!

Our weekend

Jt flew back to Arizona this weekend to go pick up Jim's new toy (see below). There were not many of these cars made so you had to get them where you could. Then JT and Ross tag-teamed driving for the following 24 hours to get the car back to Iowa. JT had the camera with him, so I am sorry I coudn't post anything sooner.

Meanwhile, back at the Dean Ranch, we rented movies, ate popcorn and Skylar lost another tooth. She is about to loose yet another one. Soon all of the front four will be gone. Then she will look really cute!

Now it is back to reality. Skylar does her reading homework with Papa!