Leneah's 7!!

It's very hard to believe that my little Christmas baby is getting so old! It seems like a short time ago we were bringing her home to our little apartment in Saipan. She is a wonderful big sister and is such a sweetheart.

Our Christmas Stars

In the midst of all the Christmas preparations I frequently found myself needing reminders of what the season is truly for. As I downloaded pictures of Christmas from the camera with the intent of posting some pictures of our Christmas to the blog, I came across these choice shots from our ward Christmas party. Dallin was asked to be the star of the nativity, with Angel Leneah and little mother Mary Kaela watching over him. The girls were so excited for the opportunity, and Dallin did a wonderful job looking adorable in his swaddling clothed carseat manger. I was worried he wouldn't be the peaceful baby we sing about in Christmas carols, but he was impressed with the stage lights, and I'm sure the spirit of the moment and just laid in his manger kicking his cute legs and sucking on his fingers. I love Christmas. I love the lights, the tree, the goodies, the gifts, the songs, the parties. . .but mostly I love the feeling of peace I have as I think of a tiny newborn baby being cuddled by his young new mother, who must have felt so overwhelmed with the knowledge of who her little son was and what he would do for us.

Merry Christmas from the Elfsingchs

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

November Review. . .Mid December

We had fun celebrating little cousin Reagan's 2nd birthday. Michael (Guygo, as Reagan calls him) and she (Yayen as he calls her) are so much fun. They are best of friends and worst of enemies one minute to the next.

Here's Dallin enjoying the party. He's grown so much in the month, and he's lost alot of his hair

I'm noticing as I write this blog!

Here's Dallin in his blessing outfit--SMILING!!! He's got a very fun smile. It's more like a silent laugh. The best smiles are available at 5am each morning, a special thank you to mom for keeping him happy all night I guess.

Here's Leneah with lost tooth #3. She lost this one at school much to her pleasure because the school nurse has cool tooth necklaces for the kiddos that moms don't have at home. She is going to have a gorgeous and expensive smile in the future because her baby teeth are forced out of her mouth by her impatient adult teeth, which are forced to grow in crooked. Those ought to be some fun bills.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DADDY - O!

We got grandpa his very own baseball team for his birthday. They are the California Cousins, and they are looking to be pretty good. . . in the future. Dad gave the kids some tips and we had alot of fun with him. I remember going to softball games as a kid when dad coached at the high school and it was fun to see him in action again. Isn't he a good looking coach!

Here's Leneah playing catch. This is pre-pointers from grandpa, which would explain why she's got the glove on the wrong hand. We've got some work to do.

Kaela and her invisible bat intently listening to Grandpa's instructions.

Michael looking cute and innocent before he ran off and ran through a nice mud puddle.

The team minus Angie the photographer.

The fun finished with Dejongs Dairy chocolate milk, vienna fingers, and a quick ride through the parking lot in Grandpa's truck.

THANKSGIVING!! The Southwicks went away for Thanksgiving, so it was just us and mom and dad for the feasting. Harvey really wanted to cook underground so we had quite a feast for such a small group, but it was much enjoyed. I don't at all mind when Harvey wants to do the cooking! Here's Michael helping out with the pit.

Dallin's first Thanksgiving

Bringing in the feast. Don't you love our serving dish? It doubles as a fun kiddie ride when not loaded with food. Oh, and you could use it for yard work I guess.

Happy Harvey with the masterpiece. It was delicious!

The hungry family. Nanny was able to come over for Thanksgiving and we were also lucky to have my cousin Shannan and her darling little guy Cai for a visit from Canada, and Sara down from Fresno.

Here's our family with Shannan and Cai. They were here for a week and we really enjoyed the visit. Cai is almost one and is an only kiddo and grandkiddo in Canada. Our kids enjoyed playing with him and even taught him how to throw his first temper tantrum, much to Shannan's pleasure.

And now, our tribute to Disneyland. Our annual passes expired last week, so the kids and I made a few trips alone, and Harvey took a day off so that we could get in our fill until we renew our passes again. . .someday. Yes, I took 4 kids to Disneyland a handfull of times. I'm know that some people thought I was nuts, but we had fun. The kids are good, or I wouldn't even try it. I only lost Michael twice. . .not really.

We won Mickey ears as part of the year of a million dreams. The kids thought that was extra special. Doesn't Harvey look great with big ears!

Dallin enjoys Disneyland as much as any 2 month old can. He sleeps on me for the most part, but this Winnie the Pooh ride actually did interest him a bit.

Harvey flying with Michael and Kaela on Dumbo

My little bugs going to see the Bugs Life movie

Happy Thanksgiving!!

I think that it is wonderful to have a day set aside especially for being grateful for all that we have. I feel especially blessed to be living the wonderful life I wake up to each day. Today, I am especially glad that I am not a turkey. I'm also grateful for friends and family like you and wish you a wonderful holiday!

Meeting Princess Aubree

Here's my big brother Chris and his sweet treasure Aubree Nicole. I thought they looked so sweet on the couch. (If you don't know Chris and his family, Aubree is child #7 and girl #1, so she is pretty exciting!) Chris and Sherelda came for a quick weekend visit so we could meet the loooooooong awaited princess.

And here's the princess and our little man. While Chris was here we had Dallin blessed, and Harvey gave him the sweetest blessing. I should be posting pictures of that here, but I don't have them right now. . .Ughh. If you're lucky you'll get to see them sometime.

OOPS!!!

On the night of November 4th, election night, I was making phone calls for the Yes on Proposition 8 campaign when I answered a call from my husband who was calling to share the news that he had been in an accident. It was the phone call we all dread. . .however, Harvey was laughing as he told me, so I was instantly assured that he was okay, thank goodness for that. If you don't live in CA, you are probably still aware of the HUGE deal this proposition has been here, but doesn't it shock you that someone would intentionally rear-end my husband all because of a bumper sticker?!! No, that is not what happened (though the man that Harvey bumped into told him that was the problem). Somebody couldn't stop in time in traffic and in trying to avoid the car in front of her swerved and sideswiped two cars and then ricocheted off to hit Harv who then hit the person in front of him. Yikes!! He was able to drive the poor car home, but it is considered totalled (it doesn't look so bad in the pictures, but it wasn't pretty). We are so grateful that Harvey wasn't totalled. He's got some back pain that bothers him, but otherwise he is well. For as much as he has commuted in his CA life, I'm grateful he always makes it home safely.

Halloween

Halloween has come (and come and come and come and come) and gone, and it was busy. We started our holiday fun a week and a half before the fun day with a few costume birthday parties, a school harvest fair, church trunk or treat, and finally trick or treating. It was fun, but truth be told, I am quite happy that November is here. Here are a few pictures of the kids from the trunk or treat. Michael was supposed to be Squirt the turtle from Finding Nemo, but he hardly wore his turtle jacket, and when he did, never wore the hat. Because he has had a few too many terrible two moments lately, I certainly didn't force the issue. He loves his "mumkin andy" (if you need a translation, that's his pumpkin bucket filled with candy), and woke up moaning for it the other morning as he frequently does for a sippy cup of milk. Very fun.

Kaela was going to be the cutest pirate you've ever seen, at least since last year when Leneah was the cutest pirate you've ever seen, but she was set on being a cat. Michael loved having a little cat to take care of.

Here is Leneah dressed up as a good witch. I think that she is too cute to be scary, so we didn't even try.

Here's scary. . . I'd cry too if my mother did this to me. Dallin actually had a cute snugli penguin costume, however, since he wore it only minutes in this beautiful socal fall weather (we reached 100' one day last week) this is the best we can do for this post.

Happy Halloween!

I haven't given up blogging. . .

We just haven't done much worth reporting around here lately! With Halloween right around the corner, we've got a few events that will be more fun to document, so don't give up on me! I enjoy reading all of your posts!

Here's Boys Night Out (In)

. . .and Family Fun Night!!! I guess I was the party pooper.

It's not much to look at, but our couch sure is comfy.

Growing Dallin

Here are some more recent pictures of Dallin for those who've been asking for them. At 2 weeks he's up to 10 lbs 1 oz, finally has white eyes instead of jaundiced yellow ones, and loves to eat and sleep. He has even slept 6 hours straight at night on 3 different occasions!!!! I'm so grateful for that. I don't think that Michael did that until, umm, last year maybe. We love having this sweet little baby here in our family.

Kaela's 5!

Our little Miss Kaela Wailah is 5! (This is a little late I know, but I'm just getting used to this blogging thing) She's a wonderful 5 year old, I must add. She started kindergarten this year and is doing so well, in fact she just got her first student of the month award this month for knowing all of her letters and sounds. It took a few weeks of morning tears to get her used to school, but she now loves it thanks to her marvelous teacher Ms Burke.
She is a great little helper at home and is so full of energy and silliness.

Doesn't she look marvelous? Be grateful this is not a video with sound. . .

One Big Happy Family

Here's Dallin waiting to meet his sisters and brother. We left them all sound asleep in our bed the night before when we went to the hospital, and they woke a little confused as to why grandma was asleep on the couch and mom and dad were missing. They have been anxiously awaiting the arrival of their little brother and were very excited to come and meet him.
Little Miss Kaela and her baby brother. He looks most like her so far, except for the size issue. Kaela's comment: "I don't want to go to school. I want to stay here all day and hold him."

Mom and kiddos. Michael wanted nothing to do with me, though he was interested in the little baby, but not more than he was into the balloon and mom's breakfast bacon. A VERY happy big sister Leneah and her new favorite toy. Her comment: "I don't want to go to school. I just want to stay here and hold him all day." She actually got half her wish and played hooky with grandma.
Grandpa and his newest grandson. He makes grandchild #20 for the happy grandparents!
And, the birthday girl with her newest birthday present. Happy Birthday Mom and Dallin!

And even more birthday fun!

Welcome to the Family Dallin Yul Olsingch!

September 19, 2008 1:22 am

9 lbs 13 ozs

The fun wasn't over yet. . . Not long after grandma's celebration we started another BIRTHday celebration with the birth of our "little" boy.

Here's the happy grandma finishing Dallin's first bath. Grandma and Dallin will share birthdays! (We celebrated the day before her real birthday at Build-A-Bear) Dallin was born at the hospital mom works at, so we got some royal treatment there, and mom royally treated all of the wonderful nurses on our behalf.
And here's the proud daddy x4. Dallin's got a lot of Daddy in him - Daddy's nose, Daddy's ear lobes, Daddy's upper lip, Daddy's chin, Daddy's eyes, Daddy's hair. . . I think that mommy can take credit for his size and big feet.

And here is the proud and relieved mama x4 and my beautiful new son. His original due date was 9/14/2008 so, though 5 days late isn't bad for our babies, for some crazy reason I thought he might have come early. The delivery went well and I'm glad its over, and now I cannot get enough of my little guy.