Doot Family

A few pics

2012-02-07T21:30:00.002-05:00

I can't believe Charlie is already 5 months. He is doing great!

One of our favorite treats, doughnuts. Yummy!

The neighbor boy let Theo and Norah go for a spin on his new ride. They loved it.

Charlie

2011-12-21T22:10:00.005-05:00

First of all, THANK YOU for all your love, support, and prayers. Charlie was born 9/7/11 at 3 am and right after I pushed him out he was struggling to breath. They took him straight down to the NICU. After I got cleaned up they took me down a few floors in the hospital to see him. I remember so badly wanting to hold my baby; yet, they wouldn't let me while he was hooked up to so many lines and tubes.

The next day Theo and Norah came with Grandma to come see me. I was kind of hoping this would have been the pic with all three of my children in the hospital bed. It was so weird being on the postpartum floor with no baby. But, that evening I did get to hold Charlie for the first time.

Eventually he came off the c-pap and moved onto a small nasal canula to keep the airway open. After several tests they diagnosed him with a paralyzed vocal chord which was obstructing his airway.

The ENT was hoping that his vocal chord would start working in the next couple of weeks so we waited.

It didn't start working in the time frame they allowed so they put in a trach so he could go home and breath safely.

We had to let the trach site heal and then he had to learn how to eat. Luckily he didn't have to have a g-tube, which most trach babies have. After 5 weeks of being in the NICU we got to take him home and it was the first time Norah and Theo got to see him. Norah still thought the baby was in my stomach until he came home. Here he is not minding the trach so much.

After a month of being home we went to see the ENT. At our doctor visit, he put a scope down Charlie's nose and we saw that his vocal chord was working. It was amazing. Our prayers had been answered and your prayers, too. About a month after the ENT visit we were able to go back to the hospital for about a week and get the trach removed. Now he just wears a bandaid.

We are so very thankful for all the many prayers and help that came our way. We had visitors, e-mails, phone calls (even though I wasn't always good at returning them), packages, letters, rides for my kids, playmates, food, and much more. So many people were so willing to help us out. I can't express how grateful I am to you all.

Wedding announcement

2011-08-04T16:22:00.001-04:00

We are pleased to announce the wedding of Optimus Prime and Princess Norah. The happy couple is registered at Auto Zone and the Disney Store......

Norah Dancing

2011-04-23T18:46:00.000-04:00

Our trip to Houston

2011-02-27T17:00:00.006-05:00

A super pretty rest stop. It looked liked a camp ground.

The Beach!

The kids loved the sand and the water.

A quick stop at the entrance of the space museum.

Kemah. This is Theo feeding the sting rays.

Theo's reaction.

We tried to get Norah to pet the sting ray and this was her reaction. I would say that this was one of my favorite activities of the trip. I could have stayed longer petting the sting rays and sharks.

This was also part of the aquarium.

Fun rides.

And of course, Theo could not leave without stopping to play a game. I think he picked that up from Timmy.

We had a great time. Thanks Jerry and Cindi for everything.

Our little girl is two.

2011-02-21T23:02:00.003-05:00

She loves to say "Two." She thinks everyone is two. Does anyone remember when they were two?

Thanks everyone for the cards and gifts! She loved them.

Crazy Weather

2011-02-21T22:58:00.003-05:00

The end of January to the first part of February we went from this (75 degrees)....

To this (about 25 degrees).

Theo's Birthday

2011-01-16T09:22:00.003-05:00

The big oh-four

We had problems right after the movie ended ( That is why the movie ended )

Theo drew a picture for the design of the cake that I duplicated.

Cupcakes that Theo took to his preschool class.

DC for Christmas

2011-01-16T09:07:00.011-05:00

We went and stayed with Jared's sister and her family for a week and had a great time. DC has lots of free stuff to do.

This is on the bus ride into the airport. We left on Christmas morning and almost got stuck in Atlanta. As we were getting on the plane, the attendant got on the intercom and said that if we did not hurry, they would cancel the flight as it was starting to snow. We are so lucky that we got out of there.

At the Air and Space Museum, Theo liked the "rocket ship" the best. I liked the SR71 Blackbird they had there.

We went and saw some of the sites around DC.

Norah was just all over her cousin Abby. She was with her about 90% of the time that she was awake, sometimes laying on top of her.

The kids both got a lot of attention.

Christmas Morning

2011-01-01T14:19:00.007-05:00

Theo and Norah got lots of great gifts. Almost every present that Theo opened was followed by "This is just what I wanted". We will see how long that keeps up.

We are alive......

2011-01-01T11:13:00.003-05:00

Some pictures from our trip to the Dallas Zoo. I know that it has been a while since we have posted, but we did celebrate Christmas and Thanksgiving. More to come.

Happy Halloween and a dead bird

2010-10-31T22:01:00.006-04:00

People here in Texas know how to celebrate Halloween. This is Halloween party #1. You can see Theo with his pink bucket. He is next to the M& M kid.

Halloween party #2 at the library.

We went outside and they had a girl throwing fire. Theo said that was his favorite part.

I could only take so many Halloween parties so we took a break for a few days. This is a pic before Halloween party #3 in which they received so much candy we actually didn't go out, door to door. Theo chose the pink Easter bucket over his skeleton.

DEAD bird. These poor birds keep flying into our windows, killing themselves. I think this is the 3rd or 4th bird that Jared has had to take off of our patio. Maybe we should start a bird cemetery.

Texas and Michigan

2010-10-23T20:42:00.008-04:00

Okay, if anyone wants to come see us during the State Fair, it is pretty cool. Well, we had a great time and we found out how to get in at a discount rate.

They had a great petting farm/zoo. Theo loved it. Here is the Emu waiting for the food.

A camel. They have really large tongues. They also had a zebra, giraffe, ostriches, and a four horned sheep. Have you ever petted or fed a giraffe?

Then they had the cutest little farm experience for the kids.

MICHIGAN
BACK in Sept. (sorry, I should have posted sooner) we went to MI. We had a lot of fun. Thank you, thank you to Grama and Pop-pop for all that they did for us. And thank you to our cousins, siblings, and in-laws for meeting us there. We really had a great time with everyone.

Theo loved helping Pop-pop give Mac a bath. My husband says, "Poor Mackinaw."

We went to a county fair nearby Kzoo and this exhibit was my favorite, the birthing exhibit. I don't think I have every really seen a chick hatch from its egg.

The kids loved checking out the tractors and lawn mowers.

We went to a cider mill. I have one word for that place, YUMMY! Great doughnuts and cider. I must also add that our kids have some pretty cute cousins.

Thanks Gigi for loving our kids!

We also got to go to a MI game. It was a lot of fun. Theo looked at this pic and said, "Oh, you look so cute." So, I posted it. Is it bad that I am influenced by a 3 year-old's opinion?

Another Win!!!!!

2010-10-03T09:32:00.002-04:00

At first we were like

and then we were like

Ahhhhhhhhhh

2010-09-11T22:06:00.003-04:00

Yes!
502 total yards!
Are you kidding me?

School

2010-09-05T21:33:00.003-04:00

Theo started preschool and I wanted to get a picture. Norah insists on doing everything Theo does so she also was in the pic. She also cried and screamed when I dropped off Theo because she wanted to be in school, too. Do you like the one shoe?

Relief

2010-09-04T19:38:00.001-04:00

Until about Wednesday

I wear my sunglasses.....

2010-08-08T21:48:00.003-04:00

We have been going to the free mall events and we received these cool free sunglasses. Theo absolutely loves them. When he first got them he kept saying to me, "I look cool, mom." Now he keeps them in the car with our sunglasses.

Norah is trying to learn how to be cool from Theo.

Great cheap entertainment.

Happy 4th of July!!

2010-07-04T08:40:00.003-04:00

The parade got rained out so we had our own inside the house.

Don't forget the candy!

Visiting Family!

2010-06-21T20:41:00.008-04:00

I felt almost a little discouraged about blogging this trip because we did so much in such a small amount of time. I have so many pics to choose from and I didn't want to leave anything out. But, I did. Maybe you will see more pics from this same trip in the future. I also wanted to say thank you, thank you to all of our family on both sides who made this trip so great! And especially my parents for letting us stay with them. With that being said......there are a lot of PICS:)

We were able to play with our Doot cousins a couple of times. Theo loved playing with his Uncles.

Norah loved my dad.

Theo rarely ever takes naps anymore. But, when my mom would tell him that she needed to lay down he said that he needed to, as well. He took a few naps with Grandma during our stay.

I saw an advertisement for a 5k, so on a whim, I talked some of my family members in running it with me. It was a lot of fun. Thanks family for doing it with me!

We played baseball with all the cousins.

Memorial day fun after visiting the cemetery. Theo had so many cousins to play with that he rarely needed me.

We went to the zoo with my friend and her kids.

Playing at our friend's house. Norah loved the trampoline. She had no fear of getting close to the edge.

My brother going down the fun slide my family rented.

Theo was a little scared of the slide but he loved the hose and little pool next to it.

Norah's first baseball game. This is Theo's second. His first was at a Tiger's game when he was 3 months old. Great Grandpa Doot claimed he saw Theo on t.v. He always made us laugh.

Art museum and more

2010-05-08T00:13:00.004-04:00

This is the "and more" part of the title. This picture looks very similar to the one where our little one had a cookie but this is not a cookie.....dirt. I don't remember Theo eating dirt??? Same thing happened with play dough, I thought she might like touching it; but no, she just wanted to eat it.

We went downtown to the art museum. We found out that they had a free day and took advantage of it. Nory wants to be big just like the rest of them.

She loves to color and sit up to a table her size.

They had dancers and a story time. Theo seemed to like it. Although, when they tried to get him to come out and dance with them, he declined.

And to add to the whole experience, we took the train there and back.

The Hunt and Grandma

2010-04-04T22:22:00.007-04:00

The little town of Sachse had an Easter egg hunt. It lasted about 5 minutes, but it was worth it.

Theo was all over it and filled his bucket up pretty fast.

Tootsie didn't quite understand what was going on. She kept running out onto the egg hunt territory before the hunt began. I had to continually run out to retrieve her.

Although, she did seem to know what to do once she got a piece of candy in her hand. Run!

Grandma came to visit and it was wonderful. We didn't do much but we did make it to some fun parks. This was at the train park. Theo thought it was great that Grandma would buy tickets from him.

We also colored Easter eggs. Theo loved the color pink and putting stickers on the eggs.

Happy Easter everyone!

The Big "1" and snow?

2010-03-07T23:04:00.008-05:00

Happy Birthday!! Norah decided to walk about 2 weeks before she turned one. We also had to do something with the growing mullet so she now wears pigtails. Well, at least until she pulls them out. Norah is fun, spunky and a very busy little girl.

I was so excited to get the cupcake tier. The larger cupcake cake next to the tier really was one whole cake mix.

Once that frosting contacted Norah's taste buds it never left her mouth.

We celebrated with Norah's twin, Angie, born on the same day. See how the cupcake is still glued to her mouth.

Norah was so happy when Theo shared his cookie with her.

Snow? Yes, apparently we received more snow, this fine day in February, than they have received within a 24 hour period in the last forty years. I wish I would have had my camera when we were out and about because I think almost every house, business, and park had a snowman. Theo and I took advantage of the situation and built snowmen in our front yard......

.....and a snowman in our backyard.

The snow even stuck around for about four days. It was fun to put on our boots once this year.

4Runner

2010-02-16T19:41:00.002-05:00

What does English sound like to non-English speakers?

2010-02-09T18:50:00.003-05:00

Ever wonder? Maybe something like this. I personally think he sounds like a mix of Steven Tyler and Bob Dylan.

January fun!

2010-02-03T20:49:00.003-05:00

January has come and gone. We have been loving the Texas weather! I think the high for this day was 72.

Norah loves this car.

Theo's first band experience, following in the footsteps of his Pop-pop.

Here is another pic of our celebration of Theo's birthday. We didn't have a big friend party so we went to the Rainforest Cafe. He calls it the jungle. Both of our kids really liked it. He is holding up his monkey for all to see.

Only in Texas

2010-01-17T09:17:00.001-05:00

Came across this in a gas station. Now I want one for our bathroom.

Theo's Birthday

2010-01-17T09:13:00.004-05:00

Happy Birthday Theo. 3 years old.

Robot cake "I am a robot"

Blowing out candles

Some weird dragon ball thing he picked out with GG's cash. Thanks GG

2010 Toyota Jamboree

2010-01-17T09:07:00.004-05:00

So I went to the 2010 Toyota Jamboree in Gilmer, TX over the weekend. Think of it like a bunch of Burr Oak employees with southern accents and large trucks. So basically a lot of good people with mustaches. Here are a few pictures.

Our pre-Christmas events

2009-12-20T23:25:00.005-05:00

We did get some snow! I had to take a picture; but, this may be the only snow we will get for Christmas.

The kids helping me decorate. Theo used the stocking the logical way.

We went to Santa's village and met this cool snowman.

We went with some friends to another Christmas event. Theo loved riding the train.....

And riding a pony! Thanks Grandma Utah for the fun hats.

We went to a fun Christmas parade. Then we went to see Santa. Did you know the real Santa is in Sachse, Texas. Yep, take a look. If you come to visit us next year before Christmas, you may also get to meet him.

Norah was not sure what to think but she didn't cry.

Thanksgiving in Kalamazoo

2009-12-05T12:48:00.004-05:00

Thanks Grandma and Pop-Pop, we had a great time!!

Our kids and an 80's party

2009-12-02T10:37:00.002-05:00

We went to the grand opening of a play place in the mall. Here is Nory with her friend Angie. They were born on the same day.

She really wants to start walking but hasn't quite got it.

Theo chose tweety-bird to have painted on his face.

Jared and I went to an 80's party and these were the outfits we put together at the last minute.

On my ride to work

2009-11-29T23:14:00.001-05:00

Thought this was a cool picture for the morning. This is on my bike ride to work

Happy Birthday Joan!

2009-10-30T17:01:00.004-04:00

Happy birthday Joan - hope you have a great day today! And Happy Anniversary yesterday Jared and Joan!

Here are some fun memories with Joan and Jared-

Hiking Twin Peaks

Playing games at the Deville Cliff

Road trippin. This is right after we ate at Perkins (the first time)

We chose House number 2

2009-10-22T18:25:00.012-04:00

There are a few reasons that we chose the second house.
1. Proximity to work
2. Not near a busy road
3. We loved the inside.

Most of you seemed to already know which one we were going to choose. Here are pictures of the inside and backyard.

Here is right when one enters in the front door:

Here is that same basic area from the stairs:

The office is at the front of the house, just on the left:

Just past the stairs is the living room:

The kitchen is off to the left:

Another view of the kitchen:

To the right of the living room is the Master Bedroom and the Master Bath:

Up the stairs is an additional living area and 3 bedrooms. They are even painted appropriately:

Here is the backyard:

We are excited to move in. We have an extra bedroom now, so come and see us whenever you want. Winter is supposed to be real nice here.

Our version of HGTV

2009-10-16T20:02:00.005-04:00

So, we are going to be homeowners on Thursday. We decided to purchase a home here in Dallas. We had a request to give all of you a chance to guess which house we chose. These are all actual pictures of homes that we looked at. I will list a few specifics about each home underneath the picture; If you would like to comment on which one you think we chose, or which one we should have chose, that would be great. We will post more specifics and inside pictures of the house we chose in a few days. Here goes:

House number 1:

4 Bedroom, 2.5 Bathroom, 2451 sqft, Near a busy street. About 12 miles from work. This was the least expensive of the Three.

House number 2:

4 Bedroom, 2.5 Bathroom, 2657 sqft, Smaller bedrooms. About 4 miles from work.

House number 3:

4 Bedroom, 2 Bathroom, 2854 sqft, Huge bonus room. About 10 miles from Work. Near busy road.

Pumpkin Patch

2009-10-12T19:42:00.005-04:00

Since the playgroup to the pumpkin patch was canceled due to "cold" (read 55 degrees), we went to the church down the road for FHE. They had a nice little pumpkin set up.

They even had a giant spider

Theo with a couple of pumpkins:

Bath Fun

2009-10-12T19:39:00.001-04:00

Here are a few SFW (safe for work) bath photos

2009-10-10T19:50:00.001-04:00

Probably the coolest hockey team intro ever

2009-10-01T22:41:00.003-04:00

What we are up to.

2009-09-30T22:14:00.004-04:00

As some may or may not know, we moved to TEXAS. Here is our new backyard. We love our apartment(minus the third floor part) but hope to be in a house soon.

This is Theo's new favorite movie.

When it is hot here in TX we go to the nice air conditioned mall. They have a fun little play area and Theo loves to ride the train.

Nory is now pulling herself up on everything and wanting to stand all of the time. She is trying to catch up with her brother.

And now that she crawls everywhere, she gets herself into some tight spots. I am glad that she is learning and growing; but, I must say that it was a lot easier when she wasn't mobile.

Happy Birthday Timmy!

2009-09-27T16:20:00.003-04:00

In honor of Timmy's birthday, I thought I would post a couple of my favorite pictures of my little bro-

Timmy and Anna celebrating after winning the first ever Doot Family Peanut Championship

The classic "five monuments" picture (as GG calls it)

Happy Birthday Timmy!

Happy Birthday USAF

2009-09-18T17:01:00.001-04:00

Christopher's First Year

2009-09-16T10:39:00.002-04:00

So here is a little slide show of pictures from Christopher's first year.

Pic of Theo

2009-08-22T23:04:00.000-04:00

My new favorite picture of Theo:

Our little reunion on the lake

2009-08-22T22:41:00.003-04:00

We visited Jared and Joan at a campsite and had a great time with them and Joan's family. We were lucky to snap a few great pics of the cousins. We missed you Dave, Sarah and Chris-Dave.

Dad, This One's for You

2009-08-22T10:40:00.002-04:00

I always think of dad when we pass the welcome to the state signs because he would make sure that when we were on road trips, I would see those signs :)
Here are the state signs we saw on our last road trip -

Thanks Grandma!

2009-08-21T14:29:00.002-04:00

We had so much fun with Grandma this last week, thanks for coming!!! Here are some pictures we got from the zoo.

Grandma, Chris, and if you look closely, a lion

Chris loved the invertebrates, especially the ones that stuck to the glass
This mom gorilla was carrying her baby around and feeding him, it was so cute!

Grandma and Chris watching the elephants

The panda was taking quite a comfortable nap

Thanks for coming Grandma! We love to see you!

Sweet picture for Pop-Pop

2009-08-20T00:55:00.002-04:00

I played around with this picture and thought this was sweet. Hope you like it. --Janine

Norah is talented too

2009-08-12T17:12:00.003-04:00

So with all this videos of talented kids popping up on the blog, I decided to shoot a video of a particular talent that Norah has. She can sing just like R. Kelly. Check it out.

Mya is a Wildcat!!!

2009-08-12T13:41:00.003-04:00

Thanks to Taylor, Mya is now able to enjoy her new favorite song... Wildcat. When Taylor was over at our place before the big race last weekend we were listening to some great songs that we had listened to one year earlier when I ran the half marathon with Taylor, one of them happened to be Wildcat by Ratatat.

For those that do not know this, Mya has a deep love for cats... why, I can't tell you. I detest them and Janine holds no love for them either, but Mya, she really likes them. I think that it is because our wonderful babysitter has one that lets Mya do whatever she wants to it. Thus, the love for cats has grown and now she just lights up and says "Ooooohhhhhh" and makes a face when she sees one. Right after doing this, she will run after the cat until she can touch it.

Well, without further adieu, here is Mya, doing the "Wildcat"....

Tupperware Love

2009-08-07T10:44:00.003-04:00

So, on the Hopkins blog, I mentioned Christopher's love of tupperware. I got a video of him scooting his tupperware lids all around the kitchen. Its pretty funny.

Glasses please.

2009-08-05T22:39:00.004-04:00

I was giving Theo a bath tonight and he asked me for "the glasses". I was a little confused; but, quickly I figured it out and here are the results.

Norah Rice Cereal

2009-08-02T08:49:00.002-04:00

2009-07-29T12:48:00.001-04:00

Fun in Dallas

2009-07-27T17:52:00.002-04:00

Random Pics

2009-07-20T16:34:00.004-04:00

Chris really wanted to know what his hair would look like with gel in it. He was pleased with the result.

We cannot keep Christopher away from the piano - he LOVES it. Hopefully he'll take after his grandpa.
He loves chewing on these ring things.

We've been eating outside a lot lately

Up on dad's shoulders

Family Pics

2009-07-20T09:14:00.006-04:00

This sums it up. The kids never stop moving.

Just thought this one was nice.

Wish Theo would look at the camera.

I like when she wears her hood up. Kinda like a little punk.

This one is better

2009-07-16T15:57:00.001-04:00

Janine came home for lunch and we got this video of Mya walking to the kitchen and around. It is better then the last one I posted.

Walk it out

2009-07-16T14:54:00.001-04:00

Mya has been on an emotional roller coaster the past few days. She has a top tooth coming in, so I think that the tooth may be contributing to most of the drama that has been going on in her life... although... she is a girl, and as we all know, drama is part of the lifestyle. She is starting to act like Janine, she just wants to be held by me sometimes... and never let go, because simply put, life ends when her dad is not holding her.

To go along with the tooth, Mya has been walking around quite a bit. By walking I do not mean frolicking in the backyard, picking daisies, I mean taking some baby steps towards walking. Now, add the walking to the emotionally unstable baby, and we have quite the combination.

To explain this I would like to use an example of something that happened yesterday. I went over to our friend's house (Josh and Lexy) to deliver some homemade strawberry jam that Janine had made on Tuesday night. All was well when we arrived... then when I wanted to show off Mya's crazy walking skills, things took a turn for the worse. I set Mya on the ground and she stood up as if she was going to walk over to my outstreached arms, but then...it began. She began to produce a sad beyond reason facial expression (those of you that know Mya know this face) and proceeded to cry. Most of the time when this happens she will instantly fall to her bum and ball her eyes out. Not yesterday. She stayed standing and then started walking towards me, little step by little step. I think that she took about 15 steps in all. I don't know what was more amazing, the fact that she took 15 steps or the fact that she was balling her eyes out when she did it. Of course, like the wonderful father that I am, I picked up the crying child and attended to her as soon as she stopped walking.

Well, I did not get that life changing experience on tape, but Janine did film her walking around the kitchen this morning. It is not quite as dramatic as the walking that she did last night, but it is still pretty good.

Enjoy

2009-07-14T16:34:00.002-04:00

Theo's half birthday

We like any reason to celebrate

2009-07-14T16:16:00.001-04:00

She speaks

2009-07-10T16:38:00.001-04:00

Speaking of Nerds and Geeks...

2009-07-10T14:51:00.004-04:00

Chris has a great chance of being a nerd/geek because of his parents. One of his very favorite things to do is read. This has been true for a while. He loves it when we read to him. Lately, since he's been able to move himself around, he likes to read on his own. This is what he does:

Pulls himself up on his bookshelf, and picks out the books he wants. By "picks out" I mean, pushes them off the shelf onto the floor.

Then he sits himself down in preparation for his reading

One of his favorite books - "Brown Bear, Brown Bear"

"Okay, I'm done, on to the next book"

Timmy, you gave me an idea - I think I will introduce Christopher to some Engineering and Chemistry books. Get him started a little early. I think he'll eat them right up - literally.

My daughter, the nerd

2009-07-09T16:14:00.003-04:00

As many of you know or don't know, Mya is the most fashionable girl around in our neighborhood (of course, other than Janine). I have heard some people say that she is the perfect clone of me... in girl form. They always seem add on the end of that statement, "but she is so beautiful". What does that mean? Her father is nothing to look at? My figure must be on the decline, who knows... anyways... Little does anyone know, other than Janine, that Mya is a total nerd. It appears that she really is like her dad.

She loves computers, iPods, TV's, cameras, camcorders, cell phones... basically anything that has to do with technology. Last night was a perfect example of this. She was playing around in the front room while I was doing my homework. I left my book and notepad on the couch while I went to go get some ice cream (one of Mya's favorite foods). I came back into the room and she was grabbing my book! Of course I thought that she would stop when she saw the ice cream... she didn't. She would not let that book go. When I took it away and tried to give her something else she went crazy. Not even food would console her. That is really wierd, especially coming from a Doot. What must have been going through her little head? Why play with a stuffed animal or eat ice cream when there is an engineering book on the ground?

Today I was working and went into the other room only to return and find her playing with my protecting glasses that I wear when working in the machining shop. What can I say? Like father, like daughter.

Grandma's visit with a few added pics

2009-07-06T09:39:00.011-04:00

It is official, Nory is a thumb sucker but a great sleeper because she will often find her thumb and put herself back to sleep. Yipee!

Dad, this photo is for you. Jared and I are both really enjoying our first garden experience.

Grandma came to visit and we went to this cool restaurant called Ella's Deli. They had a million different things to look at while you ate your food. If you look at the top of this pic you will see Harry Potter flying on his broom. Thanks Grandma for going with us!

Even the tables you ate on had things to look at. This table that Theo is looking at had a train that went in circles after you pushed the button.

And to top it off, we got to ride this cool old carousel just outside the restaurant. Oh, they also have great ice cream/custard.

Theo loved deflating Grandma's air matress.

"It is always fun when Grandma comes, when Grandma comes....." Thanks for coming and staying with us Grandma/Cathy!!

Happy 4th of July!

2009-07-06T08:30:00.002-04:00

Walking Tall

2009-07-01T00:22:00.004-04:00

I don't know if we have ever mentioned Mya's posture on the blog before. When she sits, her back is completely straight. However, she would fold over when we left her standing alone. This week, she is starting to stand and walk tall. Her back is straight and she is getting stronger. Yesterday and today she stood for a really long time. She even took two steps forward without help last night. She seems to be getting more confident in herself. She is growing up fast. She will probably be walking in the next two weeks. She is so curious and anxious to do as the other kids do. We'll see what happens.

All in a days work...

2009-06-29T16:34:00.006-04:00

As some you may know, I now work from home for a company that develops software for the iPhone. I am the "tech support" guy for the company, so I get to deal with hundreds of emails ranging from "My device will not sync to iCal" to "My iPhone goes to sleep after about 30 seconds, can you make that not happen?". Needless to say, I see some interesting emails throughout the day.

You may also know that Janine recently found a job and is now working at a Dental College here in Provo. She is gone from 9am-5pm so I am left to play Mr. Mom. We have a lot of fun. I just thought that I would share a few moments from this afternoon.

All was well until little Mya woke up from her nap, on the wrong side of the bed (if you know what I mean). So I decided to try to cheer her up... by listening to music and dancing. Well... it worked! I just stuck her in front of the computer with "Photo booth" opened and the second she saw herself she couldn't help but cry harder. Fortunately, those cries turned to smiles, which turned to laughing and all out dancing. Here is the sequence:

Happenings

2009-06-26T22:18:00.003-04:00

I think this is the title of the highland high year book the year that I graduated.....

An Attempted Escape

2009-06-25T15:14:00.005-04:00

Chris always tries to escape the basket blockade that I made to try and keep him in the family room. Yesterday he had a failed attempt and got high-centered.

(Hi guys)

Zoo

2009-06-12T16:34:00.002-04:00

We went to the zoo today. Theo loves the zoo. He wanted to ride the train, but I told him that I did not have any money. The whole way home he disparagingly said: "Train... no money."

One More Birthday Post for Dave

2009-06-12T15:45:00.003-04:00

Mom, I thought you would be proud of the poster and decorations I made for Dave's birthday. Happy Birthday Dave!!

Our Not-So-Little Boy

2009-06-12T14:29:00.003-04:00

Christopher had his nine month appointment today. He did great. His stats:
*weight: 19 lbs. 15 oz (50%)
*height: 29 in. (75%)
*head circumference: 18.5 in. (90%) - this must be why he is so smart :)
Christopher is crawling SO fast all over the place now. Its nice because he doesn't get as frustrated anymore because he can get to where he wants to go. He is also pulling himself up on just about anything.
Chris talks ALL the time now. His favorite "words" are: dadadadada, mamamamama, and babababa. And he LOVES having screaming contests with his dad, he thinks it is so funny.
He is interested in just about everything and it is so cute when he concentrates really hard on what he is playing with. He is very independent and likes to do whatever he can by himself (which is sometimes hard for me).
What a great kid we have!

Happy Birthday Dave

2009-06-12T08:51:00.002-04:00

Anyone who sees Dave today, wish him a happy birthday.

A little more Michigan

2009-06-10T17:03:00.002-04:00

So I just found some pictures we never posted of our visit to Michigan. I thought there were some good ones. The first one is not from Michigan. I took it a couple of hours ago, but I loved the lighting and how it caught Mya's eye color. And...if you blow up the picture, you can see her two teeth. She is getting so big. She now walks around the couch and anything at her level. She is fascinated by our DVD collection. She loves to pull them off the shelves. She is getting so big. She just turned 8 months yesterday. Oh how the days fly by.

I loved the snot bubble. I had to post it.

Some Pics

2009-06-09T00:36:00.003-04:00

I just wanted to share a few photos. Theo won the cow when we went to "Cows on the Concourse" at the farmers market. He had to say his favorite ice cream. He has been carrying it around since Saturday.

2009-05-29T07:15:00.003-04:00

This is Christopher's new favorite thing to do WHILE he is eating

The Doot cousins

2009-05-24T20:51:00.005-04:00

Here are some of my favorite pictures of the Doot cousins. They are all so unique and fun to be around. It was a fun weekend.

Christopher or Chris-Dave

Mya

Norah or Nory

Nory

Theo

Christopher

All four playing together

Brother/Sister Love

GG with the great grandkids

GG Doot and the Arnolds

2009-05-19T10:54:00.003-04:00

We loved seeing GG Doot, Aunt Laurie, Uncle Bruce, and Rita in DC last week (sorry I didn't get more pics). Christopher even got an awesome Tigers shirt that he is so excited to wear! Congratulations on graduation Elizabeth!

Chris says "hey guys, I'm so excited to see you this weekend!"

Wisconsin Dells

2009-05-15T17:17:00.006-04:00

So, we just got back from the dells. We have been here in Wisconsin for 2 years and have not been there yet, so we thought that it was about time. I must say that we were amazed at what was there. The Dells is very touristy and also is known for it's waterparks. We also came to find out there are also roller coasters there. Theo was just as amazed.

The hotel that we stayed at had a kids water park and a pool, here are some shots from that.

There was also a theme park with teacups, a balloon ride, and a few go-cart rides. I took Theo about 7 times. He loved the cars.

and here is just a cute picture of our kids.

Theo's two-year-old pics

2009-05-10T22:13:00.002-04:00

Happy Mothers Day!

2009-05-10T09:06:00.000-04:00

We Love You

Ball Popper

2009-05-04T21:28:00.003-04:00

Aunt Susan got Christopher this awesome ball popper and he LOVES it. He loves to grab the balls after they pop out and then try to eat them. As you can see, he also tries to eat the ball popper itself...

(sorry its sideways)

Christopher has been way into Cheerios lately, and the Cheerios box.

He was smiling really big for the camera this morning - don't you just love those gums.

Grandma and Pop-Pop visit

2009-05-03T13:40:00.003-04:00

For those who don't know, Pop-Pop is Grandpa. (We got Theo to call him this after watching all three seasons of Arrested Development.) We had a lot of fun this weekend. Thanks for coming out.

Almost spring

2009-04-30T18:44:00.002-04:00

It is almost spring here. Hopefully full blown spring will come soon.

SO HOT!!

2009-04-28T07:11:00.003-04:00

It has been SO HOT here the last few days - in the 90's. We're hoping spring will come back. Christopher doesn't quite know what to think about the heat but he still had fun at the park:
Christopher is learning to stand up pretty well while holding on to things. He doesn't quite have the balance thing down yet though.

Norah

2009-04-25T16:14:00.001-04:00

The end is the best part

Happy B-day Sarah

2009-04-20T23:30:00.003-04:00

It is close enough, I could not wait any more......

Theo and Norah wish Aunt Sarah a Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday Jared

2009-04-20T07:43:00.001-04:00

Christopher wants to say - "Happy Birthday Uncle Jared"

Brainwashing starts young

2009-04-18T21:15:00.000-04:00

Just had to write this. Theo and I were going over the alphabet. He is pretty good at recognizing the letters in any order. So we came to "M", he said "M" and then followed that with "Go Blue". Yes!

Sisters for sure

2009-04-18T15:05:00.003-04:00

I just thought this was funny. As many of you may know, I do not wait until my birthday to open cards, packages etc. (Thanks for the socks Mom.) I got a card from Anna and a card from Sarah. They differed in the color that they chose, but the lettering is nearly identical. Did you guys plan this out ahead of time? Anyway, thanks.

2009-04-16T14:00:00.003-04:00

A few recent pics of Mya. She is getting restless indoors. Too bad it snowed last night and we are stuck here.

Take Me Out to the Ball Game

2009-04-14T11:10:00.004-04:00

Last night we went to the Nats home opener. We had a lot of fun. Christopher was great! The cheering scared him a little bit at first, but he got used to it pretty quick. We were even able to stay in our seats the WHOLE game! What a great baby!

Dave was very excited to take his son to his first baseball game.

We tuckered him right out.

Isn't he the cutest little guy ever?

Happy Easter!

2009-04-13T22:03:00.004-04:00

This is right after Theo got up. He got up this morning and the first things that he said were: Eggs? Candy? He would not eat breakfast. Maybe next year we will do it a little differently.

Here is Norah and I before church.

Here is the Easter egg hunt with some other 2 year old boys. It was fun. We put goldfish and marshmallows inside the eggs rather than candy. Theo was disappointed.

Pictures and a Movie

2009-04-11T20:28:00.004-04:00

April 9th: Mya's Half Birthday

2009-04-11T11:55:00.003-04:00

Mya celebrated her half birthday on April 9th. She is getting so big. She has been sitting up for the last two weeks. We love that she sits up because it allows us to leave her alone for awhile as she plays by herself. She weighed in at 14 lbs. 14 oz. and is 26 1/2 inches long. We can't believe how fast the last few months have blown by. She is getting two teeth and lets us know it. Poor girl.

As for me and Tim, we are excited that our lives will be going back to normal. I finished student teaching yesterday. It is a nice feeling to be done. Nothing left except graduation. My parents are going to come in town for graduation so I am excited. Tim has finals in a week. He is getting prepared and I bet he will do great. I married such a smart guy.

Below are some pictures taken of Mya on her sixth month b-day. She looks so cute.

Mom's Visit

2009-04-05T10:16:00.006-04:00

Thanks for posting, mom. I thought I'd put up a few more pics -

Christopher and Grandma

We had a lot of fun with the Millers and Aunt Peggy. Here is Christopher with his second cousin, Abbie (is that right Jared, second cousin?)

I think this is a really funny picture of Chrisotpher - he loved meeting Moose! And Moose loved meeting him and gave him lots of kisses

Thanks for coming Grandma! We had so much fun!

Trip to Virginia

2009-04-01T20:36:00.003-04:00

It is always wonderful to visit the Hopkins in Sterling, VA. And the Millers and Peggy in Baltimore.

We had a great visit at the Millers...lunch was great - thanks!

Christopher David is so big...I wanted to share some pictures! Christopher loves to sit on laps...

And he looks just like his dad...and loves to wear red

And he and his mom are both so photogenic! Thanks for the visit!

Mya's daily exercise

2009-03-31T13:44:00.003-04:00

A couple of days ago we were sitting in bed with Mya, who was leaning on a pillow, and she just kinda sat up. Last night I was about to put her to bed and I had her on the couch and she started sitting up. The first couple of times it kinda looks like I give her some momentum, but on the last ones you can tell that she can actually do it. We thought this was pretty fun.