Soccer

Preston is doing a soccer class once a week at the YMCA and he loves it! He also loves his shin guards!

Kelvin can stand

Kelvin now can stand all by himself. He stands and waits for us to clap for him. He also stood up in the middle of the kitchen (without holding on to anything) for the first time on Tuesday. We love this little guy!

New minivan

The other weekend, we bought a new Chrysler Town and Country Touring-L minivan. We bought it from Dave Smith Autos in Kellogg, ID and we would highly recommend buying from them!! We also bought our truck from them in 2008 and they make buying such a great process. Anyway, after driving up to Kellogg, we stayed the night and went to an indoor water park, which was fun. After we sold my car more than a month ago, it is nice to have another car again! And I love my new minivan! It is so nice to have the extra seats and I love the automatic doors. Preston can get in, close the doors himself and buckle up..... My life just got a little easier! We also do not have to worry other cars parking so close that it is hard to get the kids in and out! Preston also loves the DVD player! Now we just need a few more kiddos to fill it up :)

 Preston wanted to ride in the very back, so I flipped the seat into the floor.... such a nice feature!

Preston is off to preschool

Yesterday, I took Preston to his very first day of preschool. He was so excited to go and as soon as he woke up, he asked, "Is it Tuesday?" He is getting so big!

Kelvin's 1st birthday!

On August 4, Kelvin turned one!!! I can barely believe that he is a year old now. He is starting to play with Preston more and more. He can crawl very quickly and we love watching him go. If Preston lays on the ground, Kelvin crawls right over and climbs on top of him. He also love to snuggle Preston. He will lean in and start sucking his thumb, while he grabs Preston's shirt or shorts. Sometimes Preston will "baby talk" to Kelvin and when Preston starts making babbling noises, Kelvin will perk up, no matter where he is or what his is doing and looks around like he understands that Preston is calling him. Kelvin usually starts jabbering back and crawling to wherever Preston is located. Kelvin likes to reach his arms up in the air, while on his knees and say "up" although it sounds more like "uuhh." He also looks at Dallas and says "daw" and just yesterday, when we were reading a Clifford book, on each page, he pointed to Clifford and said "daw." He also says "Mama" and "Dada." Kelvin can be opinionated and if cannot do something that he would like to do, he throws himself back and yells. He has started making kissing noises and loves to give kisses (especially to his brother). Some of the other things that Kelvin loves are baths (he will lay on his tummy and dip his face in), swimming in the pool, crawling up the stairs, eating sweets (although he will eat any foods), playing peekaboo, listening to Preston and me sing, and reading books. Whenever he reads a book that has flaps that open, he will open it and say "aha." He is such a smiley baby and laughs all the time. There are so many things to love about Kelvin, but one of the things I enjoy the most is that he loves to cuddle and he will hold onto me like a koala bear. Here are some of the pictures of his birthday...

 24 pounds 4 ounces and 30 inches long

 Birthday cake

 Kelvin's birthday cake

 Sitting with the big kids

 Kelvin and cousin Taylor opening gifts

 New John Deere ATV

 Cousin hugs

 Kelvin and Uncle Lucas

 Thanks for the great pics Aunt Leslie!!

 A little overwhelming at first

 But it tastes good!

 Preston loved the frosting too!

 Kelvin and Preston were so different.... Kelvin got right into the frosting and Preston would not even touch it on his first birthday!

Kelvin is 11 months old!

On July 4, Kelvin turned 11 months old. It is such a joy to watch him growing and developing new skills and more personality. While he had been pulling himself on his tummy to get around, just in the last few days, he is now crawling around and getting faster by the day. He doesn't want to miss a beat with Preston around. He loves swimming and will even let us dunk him underwater. When we sit him on the edge of the pool, he leans over to fall in, so we will catch him. He also loves to play with the Preston's little dive balls and will drop them in and then reach down to grab them, even if it means he has to stick his face in to get them. With his love of water, also comes his love of the bath. Anytime we go toward the bathroom and he is naked, he will shriek with excitement! Kelvin is now waving hi and bye and often sounds like he can almost say both of those words. He signs now for milk, more and all done. He loves to reach out to people and see if they will grab him and then reaches back to me. Kelvin loves to talk and babbles all the time, which we love to hear. He also has an opinion and let's us know it. If we pick him up and he does not want to be picked up, he will arch his head backward and yell. He also yells in protest and then looks at me if Preston will not let him play with something. He also will yell if we do not feed him something we are eating or don't feed him fast enough (especially if we are eating ice cream... he takes after me!), but he seems to love all different foods, even if they are slightly spicy. Although he knows what he wants, he is still pretty easy going most of the time. He has just started walking along the furniture and will walk a little when we hold his hands. He seems like he wants to be big and cannot wait to do everything that his brother does. He loves to shake his head no. The first few times, we said no to him (sternly, like after he bit me nursing) he got his huge frown on his face for about 30 seconds or more and then would start wailing. His frown was so cute that it was hard not to laugh. Now he thinks shaking his head no is very funny, so he will put his mouth on my leg like he might bite, and then looks at me and shakes his head. He is now 23 pounds 4 ounces and 29 2/3 inches long.

 23 pounds 4 ounces

Remodel ... Entry

My husband is amazing at getting our remodeling projects done. We had been waiting to get our new front door installed before Carl could tile the entryway, but now we have a beautiful entryway floor to match our fabulous new door. We put the same slate tile as our kitchen floor with a mosaic. Now we haveone less tiling project to do!!! Carl is a tiling pro. In our old house, he tiled our kitchen, laundry room, both bathrooms (floors and our master shower and tub surround), kitchen backsplash and bathroom countertop. Here in this house he has tiled our bathroom floor, countertop, tub surround, kitchen floor, backsplash and now our entryway)! He also put up his sister's backsplash in her kitchen! We have definitely gotten our money's worth out of our tile saw. This entryway project reminded me our of old house and old tiling projects, when he had his spotlight out and was cutting tile in the dark! Thank you, Carl, for always working on our house and making it beautiful!

 The cement board is down!

 New tile!! 

Kelvin is 10 months old!

On June 4, Kelvin turned 10 months old. Each month I say that I cannot believe Kelvin is ___ months old, but it is seriously hard to believe that he is already 10 months old. He is quickly approaching one year old and I feel like I just had him. Kelvin is a fun, smiley baby with a vibrant personality. He would definitely like to be able to do things like Preston. When ever he has a little car toy, or a boat or even a plane, he will "drive" the vehicle and make a "bruummm" sound. He also now drops things and says "uh oh" and will repeat it constantly (unless of course, I would like someone else to hear him!). He crawls around by dragging himself on the floor, so no matter how often I clean our floors, he is still constantly dirty. And he always finds, and eats whatever little pieces of dirt he can find on the floor. He still loves bathes, and will crawl into the bathroom, shrieking all the way and then pull up and stand beside the bathtub. He also shrieks in excitement, whenever we take his clothes off and walk toward the bathroom. Kelvin sucks his thumb and when he is tired, he snuggles a blanket next to his face with his other hand, but if a blanket is not available, he will snuggle with other replacements.... I have seen him crinkle up paper and snuggle with it. One day, he pulled himself into the bathroom and grabbed a towel (our vanity does not have doors on it yet), then he tucked it under himself and drug it out into the hallway, then sat up and started sucking his thumb and snuggling with the towel. He loves to talk and babbles all the time. He is just starting to get into our kitchen cupboards, although his favorite places are Preston's room and the bathroom. He loves to smile and laugh. It is such a joy to watch him and Preston grow! Preston is such a great brother and whenever Kelvin wakes up, Preston will say "it's okay Kelvin. I am coming" and he will run in, climb into his crib and entertain Kelvin. This month he weighed 23 pounds 2 ounces and is 29 1/4 inches long. 

 Pictures are more of an adventure!

 I love my matching brother pictures I took on June 4 also!!

Kelvin is 9 months old!

On May 4, Kelvin turned 9 months old. He is a very happy baby and he is now starting to move. For a while, he had been pushing himself backward across our hardwood floor and finally on May 8, he started pulling himself forward. It is not a traditional crawl yet; he is pulling himself around on his belly, but he gets up on his hands and knees and rocks so I think he will do a traditional crawl eventually. He can get from a sitting position, down to pull himself around and then back up to sitting. He also started clapping, on the same day he pulled himself forward. And he has been trying to pull himself up to standing on the coffee table, but he has not quite figured that out yet. Kelvin loves to eat food and he likes most everything. Kelvin seem so excited to be on the move. He also loves to babble. It is such a joy to watch him develop. Preston likes watching him clap and do new things and today Preston look at Kelvin and said, "I love you, Kelvin" and it was just so sweet.

22 pounds 4 ounces and is 29 inches long.

 Kelvin smiles all the time

 I love this picture and it reminds me so much of Preston when he was a baby.

Pulling himself across the floor