the Dittman family

I think this might be encouraging the behavior....

2010-08-14T19:25:00.001-07:00

Oh yes, she did it again.

♪♫Everything Today is Thoroughly Modern!♪♫

2010-08-10T10:07:00.000-07:00

I have always wanted to go out to Starlight Mountain Theater, and when my friends Maria and Shannon told me they were showing Thoroughly Modern Millie, we knew we had to go. I grew up with the movie and love it, and I guess forced my friends to see at least parts of it in high school, so it became a running joke among us.

We made the hour or so drive up to Garden Valley with the help of Maria's Norwegian-speaking GPS and found a huge sign with the theater's name. We saw the will call booth right off and picked up our tickets and since the GPS showed the theater still a short distance away, we climbed back into the car and took off, pleased with ourselves for arriving early...only to discover that there was soon no sign of civilization (although there was a sign for "neat stuff"). We eventually turned around despite being yelled at in Norwegian by the GPS (and just for the record, there is nothing more creepy than a robotic woman's voice commanding you to turn around in Norwegian) and ended up right at the ticket booth. Then we saw the cars parked about 50 feet down and a theater. We ended up being 20 minutes late. Woops. Fortunately, we usually find ourselves far more entertaining than anything else around us, so we don't feel we missed out on anything. We did have to get a picture of some of the cast because the lead male, "Jimmy" was outside when we finally made it to the theater and made a snide comment and we couldn't be certain that the lead female "Millie" didn't have at least one fake leg the way she was dancing. We discovered she had both limbs intact, but must have been wearing cement shoes for the final disastrous leap (or full body upheaval) into Jimmy's arms. We did get some classic pictures of, well, ourselves. And we laughed like crazy ladies, so I consider it a successful outing.

Summer 2010: Yep, another Mega-Post

2010-08-06T10:08:00.001-07:00

All right, summer is coming to an end (already!) and I haven't posted one darn thing. I guess good intentions don't quite do the job...Anyway, summer has been nice and relaxing with a pretty flexible schedule, just what we needed!

Alli and Mary took horseback riding lessons from our good friend Maria. They loved it! Maria was so fun and knows everything there is to know about horses, and she was great-Alli and Mary think she is the coolest. They loved being on their own horse and knew exactly which horse they would be riding the next week and would talk about what they were going to learn next time.

Jack came along and chilled with me, while Hazel was generally all over the place. She loved to walk over to see the ponies in back of the house, look for the cat, and play in the little play house she dubbed the "tiny door".

For the Fourth of July, our family drove down to Utah to see all of my family for together. It was a super fast trip, but luckily Quinn and I know how to cram in lots on trips. Our first day we all went to the Dinosaur Museum. It was at Thanksgiving Point, where we like to stay in UT.

Since Jack has a dinosaur bedroom, I took some pictures of the dinosaurs for him. We tried to get a picture of him next to one, but with little success. And I had to include this picture of Mary, who was struggling that evening and just wanted to rest.

The next day was the 4th. We took the kids to the Hogle Zoo which was a lot of fun! Later that evening we met up with my family and did some sparklers in the parking lot at Adam and Melissa's apartment. They were really cool to let all of us come invade for the evening and even entertained kids with paper to color on, which wins my girls over anytime!

This was one of the big attractions at the zoo: the baby elephant. I have to include a picture because who can resist a baby elephant? Which also leads me to what I wish I could invent if only I knew how to manipulate genes: a tiny elephant for a pet. A lap elephant, if you will. You can laugh, but then you envision it and realize how cool it would be. Still not convinced? Imagine a tiny trumpeting. Now you're sold!

Okay, back on track, July 4th:

On our last day in UT, we visited the farm at Thanksgiving Point. There were pony rides, animals to see and feed, and most importantly, this:

The rest of summer has been pretty low-key. Hazel continues to eat her "pea balls" which are frozen peas. She thinks it's a frozen treat and I'm not about to tell her otherwise!

Jack started solids

We are finishing up our summer with dance camp and (hopefully) closing on a house!

Can't keep a clean house

2010-07-10T18:58:00.000-07:00

This is how I feel this summer with a house full of kids. And yes, I always sing in harmony with myself as I calmly scrub floors by hand. Ask anybody.

Lyrics | Cinderella - Oh Sing Sweet Nightingale lyrics

Summer is Here: The Mega-Post!

2010-06-18T13:45:00.001-07:00

The end of school always ends up as blur to me. There is too much to fit in right at the end and everything becomes completely chaotic. So, here's what we've been up to these last couple of months:

Alli was baptized May 1. She did great and it was really nice. She loves being able to go to Activity Days now. The next day Jack was blessed. He didn't make a peep!

Of course, we had to make another trip to the zoo. Hazel is now obsessed with going to see the animals. We met up with Drew and Pyper and so our kids got to play with their cousins Lucy and Kyle at the zoo.

Alli has been asking to get her ears pierced since kindergarten. We told her we would talk about it when she was at least 8. She held us to that, wanting to get it done for her birthday. Unfortunately, she was in soccer then and couldn't wear earrings for games so she had to wait a little longer. Quinn didn't want her to get her ears pierced because it was an acknowledgement that she's growing up, so he tried to tell her a variety of reason why she couldn't do it: the store exploded, all stores are out of earrings, and so on. She didn't buy it, and although she was nervous, Alli was tough. She didn't flinch, and even said after that it hurt so bad she wanted to cry, but didn't want to cry out at the store! She is so happy to have her ears pierced, and for the first few days she would stop and admire her ears on just about anything that would reflect her image!

Before...

During...

After!

School finally did end, and we are happy to stay up late. Still working on sleeping in...that's okay, the weather is still working on being warm. We're hoping to get it and actually feel like a summer vacation some time soon!

Hazel gets a last-minute snuggle with Alli before a neighbor friend gets her and Mary to walk to school. And yes, Alli is wearing a jacket the last week of school.

Mary's kindergarten class, and her teacher Miss Clegg.

Alli and some of her buddies on the last day of school.

And that gets us caught up a little for now. More to come, hopefully in smaller, easier to digest chunks!

Camera Thief Srikes Again!!

2010-04-29T16:56:00.000-07:00

Mary got the camera again. After deleting countless pictures of random objects in the den (under the desk, the wall, Hazel's feet), I saw these and started laughing out loud. I thought I had better post them, if not just for my own amusement!

Hazel's Giraffes

2010-04-28T09:51:00.000-07:00

For the past two weeks, Hazel has been talking about giraffes. I'm not sure what sparked the interest, but suddenly she loves giraffes. Last Saturday, I decided that while Quinn took Alli and Mary to their soccer games, I would take Hazel and Jack to the zoo. Hazel was really excited, and even now four days later, she still is talking about the animals at the zoo. This was Jack's first trip to the zoo. He looked around a bit, took a little from his bottle, and slept.

On the way downtown, I told Hazel I would get her some food to eat at the zoo since it was close to lunchtime. She was very concerned that I meant eat instead of the zoo. That took some explaining, but she finally got it-and was still too excited to eat much. She was fascinated watching giraffes eat and told me over and over again that the giraffes ate snacks! Apparently that was funny to her. We had a fun time, and Hazel is ready to go back, which is good because she has two older sisters who were kind of bummed they missed out. Now I'm trying to use our next trip to the zoo as motivation to start potty-training again....

Alli's 8!

2010-04-24T14:10:00.000-07:00

Alli just turned 8, and she has been so excited, because it's a big birthday! Unfortunately, her birthday fell on a Tuesday, so she had to go to school, but after school we went to the mall for dinner and to find a dress for her baptism. Since Quinn had to be out of town on her big day, Alli got a doll from her dad a few days early. I gave her the big 8 year-old present: her own set of scriptures. She was so excited and loved the fact that her name was engraved on them so they were just hers! Not to mention the fact that they came in a little pink carrier... After the mall, we went out to ice cream (good old Delsa's!) with Grandma Cindy.

These are some pictures we took outside our house in Alli's
special dress for her baptism announcements.

Mary is 6!

2010-04-11T17:46:00.001-07:00

Mary turned six April 3. She is quite the character-all she wanted for her birthday was Moon Sand and 10 packs of gum. She had specific instructions for her birthday cake, too: brownies with six cherries on top. While she was thrilled to get the Moon Sand (and I was not thrilled about buying it-it is a mess), she loves two presents more than anything: her Zhu-zhu pet and her charm bracelet, both from the grandmas. We went out to eat and stopped by Pojos for games.

Mary loves to steal my camera and take pictures of herself. They are always a surprise to me as I'm uploading pictures! She loves to play on the Wii with her dad, and already acknowledges that I am hopeless at video games. She still loves her special bear, Cuddly Bear, who she sleeps with every night. Mary is becoming a real reader; it is fun to have her read books to me. She is lots of fun-she has a great sense of humor! She is hilarious to watch wrestle her dad, which she insists they do every day, and she lovingly refers to dinner as "slop". Life wouldn't be the same without Mary, we're glad we have her!

Not a Good Week

2010-03-19T15:43:00.000-07:00

For the last couple of weeks, everyone has been sick. Last week, it all caught up with Jack, and he progressively got worse until Friday (3/12) I took him in to the doctor. His oxygen levels were fine, but he wasn't eating much so I was worried about dehydration. He was clearly sick, but checked out okay, doctor just said to keep an eye on him and push the fluids. That night he slept the whole night, which is not normal, and the next day he was white and listless. Worst of all, he wouldn't eat. At all. I had to feed him formula from a medicine dropper where it would take me an hour to get almost an ounce in him! By that evening, it was not improving so I talked to a nurse who recommended he go to the ER. It's a good thing I did because his oxygen levels were really low. They took all kinds of tests including blood tests and a spinal tap (which was awful!), and a chest x-ray. His white blood cell count was really high, indicating some kind of infection, and he had something showing up on his x-ray.
He ended up spending four days in the hospital, testing positive for RSV and has been pumped full of antibiotics to treat pneumonia. It was the scariest thing I have ever been through, and I am really thankful that Jack is back home and recovering quickly! I have never been so happy to change diapers and love it that he is super hungry! The best part is that Jack was just starting to smile right before he got sick. He was not smiling at all for that week that he was really not well, but the last few days he has been all smiles! Unfortunately I have not been able to catch him in the act, so no smiling pictures yet.

Here he is at the hospital. He did have a tube running across his face and into his nostrils, but I was too traumatized at the time to take pictures. These were taken after he was showing improvement and I knew he was going to be okay!

Jack is here!

2010-02-08T10:16:00.000-08:00

Okay, so it's been a week, but let's be honest, for me that's not too bad.

We are so excited to finally have our little guy. We named him Jack Gary Dittman, after Quinn's dad Gary who passed away two days before Christmas. I love his birthday: 02/01/2010. Yeah, I'm probably the only weirdo out there who notices that kind of thing, but now that you know, you have to admit it's kinda cool. He was born at 9:01 a.m. weighing 7lbs. 4oz. and was 21 inches long. He has the most hair out of any of my kids, and I think he is just adorable! He is really mellow and has even been sleeping pretty well. I am just going to post a bunch of pictures because I know he's going to wake up soon so I can't figure out how I ever did slideshows before....oh, and before you shudder cruelly at any pictures of me, give me a break. I am not cute after I have a baby like some of you out there (Angie).

Baby, It's Cold Outside!

2009-12-15T16:41:00.000-08:00

After a mild fall, we finally had some snow! It really feels like Christmas now.

Speaking of Christmas, this is from a few weeks ago, but had to put it in...Alli and Mary worked up the courage to tell Santa what they wanted for Christmas. Hazel would have nothing to do with him and gripped Quinn with her hands and feet. From a safe distance, though, she will point to Santas and say "ho ho ho"! Some more snow pictures....

Mary decided she likes to shovel snow Alli had fun sledding, and throwing snowballs. I noticed I was a favorite target.

We are pretty sure Hazel liked sledding. It was her first real time going, and she liked to lay back in the sled and close her eyes. Apparently she found it relaxing...? Quinn was just pulling her around, maybe once she hits some hills she will find it more exciting!

Hazel is 2!

2009-12-01T18:09:00.000-08:00

Hazel had her second birthday on Thanksgiving this year. It was a busy, crazy day so of course I did not get all the pictures I wanted to! What Hazel wanted more than anything was a doll with a binky (she is obsessed with her own). Grandma Cindy gave her a stroller to go with it, and that is what she did the rest of the day! She has taken that baby everywhere, she even sleeps with it. It's fun to see her love something so much, and it makes me hopeful that maybe a real baby in the house won't be such a traumatic adjustment for her!

Hazel's personality has really come out over the last year. She is a little busybody, following her big sisters around. They have taught all kinds of valuable things like how to make noises that sound like bodily functions, and also they helped her come up with this strange phenomena:

She keeps constant track of each family member by holding her hands out to me during the day and asking "where Daddy?" and going down the line as I explain that everyone's either at work or at school. She is my little shopping and cooking buddy, so I also hear "ina hep" (I want to help) all day long! She is a sweet little girl, and we can't get enough of her!

Halloween

2009-11-13T20:34:00.000-08:00

The weatherman kept telling us to prepare for a cold, wet Halloween. We lucked out and had pretty mild weather. We had a fun time walking the loop in our little part of the neighborhood, seeing friends dressed up, and eating too much candy!

Alli was Emily Elizabeth, and Arthur was Clifford.

Mary as a cat.

Hazel's costume was a last-minute decision. She's a little tiger.

2009-11-13T14:12:00.000-08:00

I swear I'm almost done...

2009-11-13T13:46:00.001-08:00

I have to have a somewhat coherent timeline when I look back at my blog, so yes, I am posting first day of school pictures even though we are already into our second quarter of school. If you didn't know I was slightly OCD, well, now you know.

Alli is in 2nd grade and is having a great time. Mary is in Kindergarten and is still getting over the fact that she has to go EVERY SINGLE DAY. I keep reminding her that if we were still in Arizona, she'd also be going full day!

Catching up...McCall 2009

2009-11-13T13:00:00.000-08:00

Every summer the Dittman family has a reunion in McCall. And, every summer I question the necessity of a Dittman reunion when every single member of the Dittman crew lives within a five mile radius of each other, and gets together at least every other Sunday for dinner! Either way, the kids look forward to going because it is pretty up there and they get to ride in boats, swim, fish, and sleep all together with their cousins. Alli and Mary both begged to go fishing. Mary ended up having a little more perseverance and was rewarded with a fish! She helped Quinn gut it and even tasted some.

I took a couple of pictures while we were there, but my sister in-law took a bunch and so I am making what she gave me a slideshow. I feel that I do need to explain a few of the pictures. You see, it wouldn't be a Dittman function without some competition. Thankfully the ladies' swim relay was not documented, but we did get a "friendly" race on film between Quinn and his oldest brother Eric. There wasn't a definite winner because the whole thing started looking like the chariot scene from Ben Hur. In the end, they each claim to be the fastest, so I guess everybody wins.

Catching up....Oregon Coast August 2009

2009-11-13T12:54:00.001-08:00

2009-07-25T11:33:00.001-07:00

2009-07-25T11:32:00.001-07:00

More Summer

2009-07-18T20:58:00.000-07:00

Okay, Maria, you were wondering when our BBQ at Manwaring's was coming....here you go. On a related note, would you be honest and tell me if I am really extra wide in real life or just in the picture?

My camera battery died after I got only these pictures of the 4th....

And what is summer without a lemonade stand? Alli and Mary (and a cousin) gave a good effort, but we live on a quiet street. Good for not getting run over, but disappointing for lemonade stands. A couple of friends came by and bought some, but in the end these guys ended up drinking themselves out of business.

Summer 2009

2009-07-16T16:23:00.000-07:00

My relaxing summer has turned out to be more crazy than expected. We've had unusually mild weather (this week it's supposed to reach 100 for the FIRST TIME THIS SUMMER), and we've just been busy doing summer things, I guess. So, to appease my type A-ish personality, I have to log what we've been up to since last posting...

Mary graduated from preschool! She is super excited to start kindergarten-there are a bunch of kids in the neighborhood that she and Alli will walk to school with.

Alli and Mary were in a children's performing arts group and had their spring concert. They sang and danced to some fun songs, hitting the big time when they landed a gig at the Meridian Dairy Days parade! It rained and was freezing, but the girls felt like celebrities.

At the beginning of June, Alli went to a jump rope camp. A week of jumping rope every day was heaven to Alli, she loved every minute and learned some cool tricks!

Later on in June, I got to tag along with Quinn on one of his business trips to Seattle. We had fun being part of a big city, and seeing the Wharf and Pike Place Market. I also got to see some of my cousins and my aunt, which was really fun!

I watched the guys throw the fish at the fish market which was cool, but I could have done without the smell...we had just found out not too long before our trip that we are expecting #4 and morning sickness was rearing its ugly head!

Botanical Gardens

2009-05-08T15:59:00.000-07:00

Another field trip...this time with Alli's class. We had a good time at the Botanical Gardens looking at plants, creepy crawly things on the ground, and of course, worms. Alli volunteered to hold one of the worms, but when it started wriggling around in her hand, she wasn't too sure.
It didn't take long for her to warm up to her little friend.

I think I may now function in society

2009-05-08T15:31:00.001-07:00

I think I've figured it out. Video. I am pretty much awesome. Oh yeah, and if you get seasick watching this, blame Hazel. It was a battle trying to film Alli while Hazel was trying to grab the camera.

This is a song of Alli singing Earth Day songs with her first grade class. Yup, they can't sing Christmas songs, but they can sing all about Mother Earth and saving the planet. So, I gritted my teeth (not so good for TMJ) and recorded a song because even if they started doing some sort of pagan sacrifice, I would still think that Alli was cute doing it. Go green!

To the Zoo!

2009-05-07T19:30:00.001-07:00

Mary had a field trip to the zoo with her preschool. We had fun- we were able to go see what we wanted to, so we didn't have to follow a group. There were some new animals this time, too! Mary and Hazel liked the penguins the best.

Happy 7th, Alli!

2009-04-15T09:56:00.000-07:00

Alli had a smile from the minute she woke up on her birthday, even though she had to go to school! We ate dinner out, and stopped for some doughnuts, which Alli wanted instead of cake. We got her to stop dancing around the table at dinner long enough to take this picture. She is one of the few people I know who burns the calories before they're digested!

Easter

2009-04-13T13:59:00.000-07:00

With all the birthday stuff, we put off coloring eggs until Sunday morning. Here are the girls in their pj's dipping the eggs. Hazel was content to watch for only a few minutes!

Once everyone got out of their pajamas, we took some pictures in front of our house.

Party!

2009-04-11T16:58:00.000-07:00

Today was Alli and Mary's birthday party. We had a lot Easter fun. I was most excited about probably the lamest part, namely the napkins. They're carrots!

We ate bunny cupcakes that Alli and Mary decorated for the party.

Everyone played jelly bean tag and jumped in the "bunny sack" race!

Singing to the birthday girls

Happy Birthday, Arthur

2009-04-11T16:55:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was Arthur's birthday. He turned 3. Now don't you all feel guilty for not sending a card.

Spring Break Fun

2009-04-03T16:47:00.000-07:00

Now that we live in the frigid North, where I'm convinced that I will never be warm again, our spring break was cold and wet. We played with friends as much as possible, and one day we decided to go bowling.
Alli and Mary liked their bowling shoes.

Alli had an interesting technique. She took a running start, and then heaved the ball chest-pass style at the lane. It worked, she got a strike!

Mary did the best she can, since every ball was as big as she was!

Hazel helped Quinn out on some of his turns.

He beat us all, but come on, he had Hazel helping him! What a cheater.

Happy Birthday, Mary!

2009-04-03T11:29:00.000-07:00

Mary turns 5 today! She is really excited to be a whole handful (like she wasn't before) and has been showing me all day how she is taller, her arms are longer today. You be the judge.

No excuses!

2009-04-03T10:49:00.000-07:00

I'm done being lame. Let's just say that I have some great Christmas video I took with my camera, but don't know how to do anything with it (although I'm told it's easy). So I froze. Anyway, here are the girls, in case anyone forgot who we are.

Moving

2008-12-23T12:28:00.000-08:00

We did it! We made the long drive with little snow and one long, lonely stretch of highway. We drove down the Extraterrestrial Highway, but saw no aliens. Too bad!
Alli and Mary did run into a little trouble in Wikieup...

Sleepover

2008-12-23T12:19:00.000-08:00

Over the Thanskgiving break, Alli and Mary had a giant sleepover with their cousins at Grandma Jan's house. They stayed up too late, of course, but had a great time!

Hazel turns 1!

2008-12-23T12:00:00.000-08:00

Hazel had a big birthday not long ago. I can't believe that it was just a year ago that I was hurrying out of WalMart, hoping that no one else could tell that my water broke...awesome. We are really glad that Hazel is part of our family, she is so much fun! I can tell that Hazel already has a sense of humor. She loves to have her binky pulled out of her mouth. It cracks her up! She gives lots of kisses-the good wet open-mouth baby kisses that really probably only a mother could love. She also blows kisses and waves at everyone. If she hears someone on TV say
"see ya later", she will wave at that, too! Hazel is not walking yet (I'm told that is a third-baby thing), but can really move when she crawls. She does like to bounce to music, and does little donkey kicks for no other reason that I can think of than because it makes all of us laugh. Hazel loves being the center of attention.

Mary's Christmas Pageant

2008-12-23T11:56:00.000-08:00

During Thanksgiving we found out that we were moving back up to Idaho-and quick! We had about two weeks to pack and get everything ready for Christmas. Mary was going to miss participating in her preschool's Christmas pageant so they had a rehearsal so that she could perform for me! It was really cute-my favorite is the "Chubby Snowman" poem!

Thanksgiving

2008-12-23T11:47:00.000-08:00

We went to Idaho for Thanksgiving-we got a taste of cold weather and got to see my brother Brett fresh off his mission from Ukraine! Here are the girls having fun at Grandma Cindy's house.

We also went to Festival of Trees, which used to be a tradition for our family each year. Alli and Mary picked out the Star Wars tree as their favorite!

A trip to the fire station!

2008-12-23T11:39:00.001-08:00

Mary got to go on another field trip, this time to the fire station!

Student of the Month

2008-11-20T19:42:00.000-08:00

Alli was chosen as Student of the month, which was celebrated in an assembly today. As the name of each student was read, their name and picture come up on the big screen.

Alli walked up to get her certificate,

and she now can eat free at a bunch of local restaurants!

Alli has really been looking forward to her assembly. As most of you know, last week Alli had a bad reaction to a virus and broke out in horrible red spots all over her body. Her biggest concern was making it to her assembly. She has recovered faster than I thought possible-the spots are supposed to take 2-6 weeks to disappear, but are fading faster than that. She was adamant that I not take her picture as a spotted lady, so you can tell how much better things are!

And, since we're talking about Alli, here's a funny Alli quip: we were waiting in the doctor's office while she was sick, and I called her Polka-Dot. I asked her if I could call her that from now on. Without missing a beat she replied, "sure, as long as I can call you 'Don't Call me Polka-Dot!'" I knew then that we had Alli back!

Catching Up-Pumpkin Patch

2008-11-11T13:17:00.001-08:00

It still felt like summer, but we got ready for fall by visiting a pumpkin patch not too far from us. There were a lot of activities: corn mazes,
train rides, petting zoo, games, face painting, all kinds of fun things to do.
The girls all had fun playing in dried corn. Seriously, there were areas of corn to play in kind of like the balls at Chuck E Cheese. It was Alli and Mary's favorite part of the entire outing!

We also got to hold baby chickens-when they let us.

At the end we all agreed on a pumpkin to bring home.

Catching Up-Disneyland

2008-11-11T12:48:00.000-08:00

As you know our camera wasn't working there for a while, so we had to use the backup old school camera. When I got the CD that I had made from the film I sent in, I discovered that our disk drive on our computer did not open up. My point is, it has taken way too long to get these pictures up, but I managed to get everything working the way it should again and so here is a little chunk of our lives that you all missed out on. I am sure you have all been suffering from the loss...

At the beginning of October we went to Disneyland. Jan came to visit and joined us on our trip. We were all looking forward to going and even made a chain of "disney facts" to help us count down the days.

Alli and Mary say hi to Goofy,

Alli and Mary at one of the parades. We were right up at the front and had fun having all the characters come up to us!
We had a great time-the weather was great, lines were short. Everything was decorated for Halloween and there were lots of characters to see.

Barnes and Noble

2008-11-10T13:49:00.000-08:00

Today Alli had her first field trip of the school year to Barnes and Noble. Hazel and I met up with her class and had fun listening to Thanksgiving stories, making Thanksgiving crafts and of course, time for shopping (B&N aren't stupid). Alli had a good time and picked out a guinea pig that she named Lilly. What else would you get at Barnes and Noble?

Fun with D week

2008-11-07T15:55:00.000-08:00

Mary's preschool class highlights a letter each week. This week was the letter "D" so they had fun excavating dinosaurs from plaster and making a "cereal-asaurus". Mary has had fun doing these things this week, but today when I picked her up from school, she was dressed like a dalmation. I thought it was so cute I had to take a picture.

Halloween

2008-11-01T09:59:00.000-07:00

Ugh. No more candy. I am officially sick of Halloween, so I guess it's time to move on to Thanksgiving. Here are some highlights of our day...

Alli traded in her broom today for a different form of transportation. She had a fun party in her classroom which Quinn visited. Mary's preschool party was going on at the same time, so Hazel and I covered her party. Mary won the prize for "sweetest costume".

Halloween started to fizzle right around trick or treating time. Mary was done wearing braids, Quinn and Alli opted not to paint faces, and Hazel was so tired we didn't even bother dressing her up! We never did figure out wings for Arthur (who was supposed to be a flying monkey), so he became the cowardly lion. Keeping true to character, he wouldn't go up to a door that had a standing skeleton that glowed and made noises.
Alli and Mary had a lot of fun trick or treating. They got too much candy and now every few minutes they are asking if they can have more candy and are negotiating how many pieces they can have. Another successful Halloween!

It's a Love-Hate Thing

2008-10-25T20:31:00.000-07:00

Hazel loves Arthur.Arthur does not care for Hazel.
He's never mean, he just gets up and leaves. Hazel just wants to get some fistfuls of fur and smack him on the head a few times. She has a hard time understanding why he insists on keeping a safe distance from her. You'll notice that it doesn't bother her one bit that his head is almost as big as her entire body!

We're baa-aack!

2008-10-25T20:01:00.000-07:00

We now have a camera that works, thanks to Quinn. He couldn't wait until Christmas like we had agreed and surprised me with one today. I am very excited-especially since this was the first Halloween activity we went to tonight. Our ward had a party with a big chili cook-off, a mini carnival, and of course good old "trunk or treating". Alli and Mary thought it was great and couldn't get over all the candy. I was really happy that I could take pictures of everyone! It's kind of hard to tell in these pictures, but we are all characters from the Wizard of Oz. Quinn is the Tin Man (he wasn't wearing his hat), Alli is the Wicked Witch of the West,Mary is Dorothy, Hazel is Glinda the Good Witch ( I really wanted her to be a Munchkin but realized I had no idea how to put together a costume for a Munchkin), and I am the Scarecrow. Our actual Halloween pictures should be better!

Still Kicking

2008-10-17T12:30:00.000-07:00

In case anyone has stumbled upon this blog and wondered if we are still around, I thought I would let you know that we are still alive and kicking. Our darn digital camera has decided it is done working and so we are doing things the old fashioned way. So check back in and we should hopefully be up and running soon!

Mary's first field trip!

2008-10-05T09:04:00.001-07:00

Mary got to go on her first field trip last week to the Wildlife World Zoo. It is a fun place and Mary thought that it was great to be there with her class. To quote what she repeated the entire time we were at the zoo, "This is the funnest day I've ever seen!" So I think she enjoyed herself! Of course my camera was not working, so I had to take pictures using my cell phone. That means that the pictures are not high quality. The class picture is one the Miss Tracy, Mary's teacher, emailed the parents. Mary is the one on the far left.

Bookworm

2008-09-30T16:16:00.000-07:00

Alli just got her first Junie B. Jones book from a book order at school. When she got off the bus, she had the book in her hands and said she was already on chapter 2! As soon as she got home, she could not keep her nose out of the book. Alli said that the book kept getting "gooder and gooder!"

She takes pictures just like her mom!

2008-09-27T10:50:00.000-07:00

Look out, D-Backs!

2008-09-26T18:51:00.000-07:00

Quinn brought home a child-sized baseball and bat today. Alli and Mary had fun taking turns hitting the ball.

Here they are in action-sort of...

I think they must get their hair done at the same place...

2008-09-19T19:31:00.000-07:00

I'm just saying there's a resemblance.

Labor Day

2008-09-01T22:09:00.000-07:00

Today we visited the Coconino County Fair in Flagstaff on our day off. We had a fun day of rides, fattening food, and nice cool weather!

Alli, Mary and me on the merry-go-round. Quinn took a lot of pictures trying to get us all facing the right way and looking normal. The girls were cute. Sadly, this was the most flattering picture of me.

The highlight of the fair for Alli and Mary was the little roller coaster. They were cracking up the entire time!

The highlight of the fair for me was my first (and last) deep-fried Snickers bar. I think I exceeded my calorie intake for the week, but it was totally worth it.

We had a great day and were really glad we went up. The weather was wonderful-Quinn and Alli came back a little more brown than they left, and of course Mary, Hazel and I came back a little pink. Here's Hazel's sunkissed look.

Goofy Girls

2008-09-01T22:00:00.000-07:00

Alli and Mary love to dress up. Usually, they're princesses and ballerinas, occasionally we'll see a fairy or a cheerleader. The other day, however, they came up with these getups and had to model what they came up with.

Mary's in Preschool!

2008-08-25T16:58:00.000-07:00

Mary's day has finally come! Mary has been looking forward to preschool for SUCH a long time. She went right in and even seemed embarrassed when I gave her a hug goodbye (I knew better than to kiss her). She got to be the teacher's helper today passing out papers and seems to have had a great time.

Hazel

2008-08-24T20:32:00.000-07:00

Finally I am able to get some pictures up of Hazel. I have struggled taking a picture of her because I have been wanting to get a picture of her teeth and she does not like to hold still! She is quite the mover-she crawls all over the place and is currently perfecting the "turbo crawl". She also has discovered that she can open cupboards and there are all kinds of things to take out of the cupboards.

She is really fun, we are enjoying seeing her personality come through more and more. She loves being a part of the "big girls". Mary was cracking up when I was taking these pictures because Hazel wanted to play with the camera. And by play with it, I mean stick it in her mouth, hence the Jaws picture. At least it shows her teeth!

I wondered if any of our kids were going to inherit Quinn's curls, and decided that it would be a boy if we had one. But, Hazel's hair is definitely curly! This picture is supposed to show her curls. I can see them, but let's be honest, there still isn't much hair there!

Back to School Begins

2008-08-12T20:17:00.000-07:00

The effect of this title doesn't seem as interesting as something like "Batman Begins", but sorry, that's what is going on at this house. Alli started the first grade yesterday and so far she loves it even more than kindergarten. So I am down to two kids at home for the next couple of weeks-Mary starts preschool at the end of the month. According to Mary, it isn't coming soon enough. Which is making it a long few weeks for the rest of us! Here are a couple of pictures of Alli on her first day. The close up is to show off her newly lost baby teeth/newly found "grown-up teeth".

Happy now?

2008-08-12T20:08:00.000-07:00

I have had too many people tell me I should start a blog. Since apparently everyone is doing it, and I want to be cool, I am caving under peer pressure. So, I guess for anyone who thought they needed it (and I now have to worry about you), you can get your Dittman fix here.