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Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Jordan!

My niece Jordan came to stay with us for a week. We had a lot fun but we probably bored her with all the baseball! We had some of Adam's side of the family in town over the weekend which included some teens her age which was a lot of fun. Once they left, she was stuck with the old aunt and uncle with 4 bratty boys! But she managed to survive.

She got to drive with me to take the boys to golf, swim lessons, baseball games, baseball practices, and art class. Good times! We also made a trip to Target so she could buy a new satchel (which is teen girl speak for purse!) and a short trip to JC Penney while we were down 2 kids.

Most of our time at home was spent working on a couple art projects. We made bowls out of yarn that were awesome. Even though all the men in the house thought it wouldn't work. And we made bean art (you glue different colors and sizes of beans on canvas to make a picture). The bean art was a big FAIL but we had fun doing it. And its been a week and I'm still sweeping up lentils.

We also worked on creating some flyers and brochures for the community garden she started. Because she's awesome like that.
We had a lot of fun with her and hopefully she won't be too cool for us next year and will still want to visit.

FYI, Jordan has visited us every summer for the past 6 years. (Except for last summer when I was very pregnant, but she stayed with us during Christmas break so I think it still counts.)

DONE!

Sunday night these guys (and me) finished reading the Book of Mormon! It was a big accomplishment that we are guessing took about 4 1/2 years. We started with each of us reading one verse a night and then recently kicked it up and started reading 2 verses each.

Honestly, I'm posting this so we can keep better track. What do you think, will we be able to finish in 2 years now that we are reading twice as much?

Aiden



So the other day I was wearing my Maroon 5 concert tee (its one of my favorite shirts!). Aiden points to Adam Levine (the cute guy in the middle in white) and says, "My dad." Then points to James Valentine, the guy on Adam's left and says, "My mom."

Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Grayson - 10 months

Grayson is now 10 months old! He is such a good sweet baby, we feel very lucky! He is usually happy crawling around playing with toys or watching his brothers horse around. He loves to crawl over you if you are laying down too. He is very smiley and laughs and smiles all the time.

He is a good eater. He is starting to eat more table food since he is getting more teeth. He has 5 coming in all at once! The top 4 are starting to come in and one on the bottom. He has handled it very well. He had one day with a little fever and crankiness. But that has been it.

He got his first haircut, which is funny since he hardly has any hair. But he was starting to look like an old man, bald on top and a mop on the sides. So Adam trimmed him up. He handled it pretty well, just a little upset.




Sunday, June 19, 2011

Father's Day

We celebrated Father's day with our annual bbq. My parents came up along with Adam's parents and his brother Marty and family. We had burgers, brats, and hot dogs along with some sides. It was all yummy and hopefully everyone had a great time.

Xavier's Family Party

We celebrated Xavier's 8th birthday after his baptism. We did a little lunch and then got our party on. Xavier wanted a lego Star Wars cake. I don't know how many Star Wars cakes I have done, but this one was the easiest. We ordered a legos kit for them to put together and I made the cake simple to just sit on it. I did figure a little contraption to make the ship fly above the cake...because I'm psycho like that.

Present time...





Ben and Kelly sent Xavier and I birthday presents that arrived during the party (perfect timing those two have). Xavier got some cash and I got a dozen, yummy chocolate chip cookies. We were both giddy.

Xavier's Baptism

Xavier was baptized yesterday, the 18th. My sister Carrie and her family were able to come, along with Adam's parents, two of his step brothers and families, and our friend Todd.
I might have to buy Xavier a white jumpsuit. I just think he looks so cute.
The family
Two of Xavier's friends were also baptized. It was a fun day!

Monday, June 13, 2011

Hugh Hefner without the (Bunny) Tail

For the past week as Aiden has been working on potty training the kid has decided to stay in his pjs all day. He has always been partial to the pajamas over regular, day-friendly attire but now he refuses to wear anything but his pjs. In fact, the only reason I got him to willingly change on Sunday morning was the promise that he could put on pajamas right after church. So we have now started calling him Hugh. We also decided that they may have even more then just a pj wardrobe in common. There is a good possibility that Mr Hefner sleeps in diapers too.

Friday, June 10, 2011

First Race

Damon and Xavier ran their first race on Wednesday, the Poyntz Ave Run. Its a 1 mile race straight downtown, ending at the mall. The boys trained with Adam for a couple weeks and it all paid off. They got the time they wanted, a free t-shirt and free pizza. What more could they ask for?

Adam also pushed Aiden and Grayson in the jogging stroller so it was a true Dolezal boy event.

The start of the race

Running by, You can't tell Xavier is excited.
Yes, he is fully off the ground in this pic.
More like leaping, then running.
At the finish line.

If you notice, Aiden is asleep. He slept through the whole race.
It was really hot that night, the boys were pretty hot after.


Wednesday, June 8, 2011

Friends and Baseball

Damon and Xavier are both playing baseball again this summer. I'm thinking I will do one big baseball post for each of them at the end of the season. At this point baseball is taking over our lives. Damon has 2 games a week, Xavier has one and they both practice once a week as well. It is basically what we do every night.

Monday, Damon's team was playing against his friend's Eli's team. The game ended in a tie, 0-0.

Caught!

Someone has been going in the potty, last night he was even enjoying a game while doing his "business."

I have found the key to potty training this kid...put the potty by the tv. He does pretty good at home, unfortunately he has no desire to use someone else's toilet. But its a start!

Tuesday, June 7, 2011

Summer Night Games

First off I have to admit that I hijacked all these pictures from Facebook....Saturday evening we got together with friends from church for some night games. The kids dressed in black and wore face paint and ran around like maniacs playing games in our friends HUGE yard.

Xavier jumped on the trampoline...
Damon was ready for battle...

Aiden was soaked because he fell in their little fish pond...lucky for us a good mom was watching and rescued him. (I'm pretty sure Adam and I were inside stuffing our faces with yummy treats.)And the rest of the night I sat on the porch talking with friends and trying to stay away from the bugs that were flying around like crazy.

Xavier's 8th Birthday - Friend party

Saturday was Xavier's birthday and we celebrated with a little party for him and his friends. (We are doing the family party along with his baptism in 2 weeks.) We decided to do a movie party so I set up a little popcorn bar for him and his friends. They each had their own popcorn container and they could add candy to it like chocolate chips, mike & ikes, mini m&ms, candy coated marshmallows, and almond joy bites (if you haven't had those they are AWESOME, they are everything the coconut m&ms should have been but weren't).

Of course we had cake pops, popcorn cake pops. I can't decide if I like making these or not. I hate the process but love the cute result!

Then they watched How to Train Your Dragon. Which was a really cute movie. Then the broke the pinata and got more candy!
and ended with presents, of course.
Xavier had fun with his friends and I think had a really good birthday. He was slightly bummed that he didn't get presents from us but I keep reminding him he will get them all soon.

Friday, June 3, 2011

BBQ

We had a BBQ for Memorial Day/My birthday. It was a lot of fun and we had quite the house full. I told everyone to wear orange if they loved me. That was my favorite part!

My nephew Jax

Lois and Jordan with Grayson and Jax

Grayson enjoying potato salad

Adam cooking

Carrie

The Ridings with Karen

A lot of cupcakes

Jim, Charla, Lois, Dad and Carrie