Uncle Ben has a brain!

Let me begin by saying my brother-in-law might kill me for posting this picture. If I end up missing-contact him.
Anyway...this morning Chase had his first Dentist appt. so I was having Tyler explain all of the fun things about it. Ty was telling him sometimes you have to shut your eyes b/c the light is really bright while they look in your mouth so I asked if the dentist uses sunglasses during the exam. Ty (in his upcoming teenager snotty way) said "no!!!" So I said that's what Uncle Ben does at his practice. And Ty thought for a minute and said, "mom-that Uncle Ben-he has a brain!" (as if Booner needs to inflate his ego anymore...:) )

Mr. Books

Growing up Phil loved (and still does) the Mr. Books. I find them totally obnoxious, but he got the boys into them and we're collecting quite the library. Phil's mom was here today and Tyler asked if he could have some of Phil's books from her house. She has a whole shelf of them (heaven help me) so she told Ty to make a list of all the ones he does have so that she doesn't give him duplicates. Tyler did this all by himself. He was so proud he could spell DO and HAVE by himself, and then the rest he just copied from the books. Darling!!!

Imagine if you will

That this chair is painted cream and antiqued w/ a glaze and has a really bright oilcloth seat. And this will be my "new" kitchen table set. We bought this set from friends and it's about 50 years old and it's solid wood and I could CRY!! I just love the details on it. The table has so much character too. I can't wait for the finished product!!!!

My new BFF

Good friends of ours gave me this little gem. I've been looking for a chair for the sad corner of our bedroom. I hope to go to the fabric store this week for a bright and color fabric. I'm loving how it's turning out-thanks Grubers! Taking a break from staple removing. I was a bloody stub after this was done. But beauty is pain-isn't that what we were taught as kids?

The piggies

I love them.

It's becoming a problem...

I can't stop taking all of Eliza's too small onesies and turning them into a dress. This is number 6-and quite possibly my favorite. It may have something to do with my obsession with birds...Anyway. Eliza is asleep in her room so I can't take pics of the others. It's fun and easy!

The warm weather is among us!

This week Chase figured out how to pump his legs all by himself! Don't you love the gloves and boots? This has nothing to do w/ the weather, this is a staple in his wardrobe-indoor and out!And this little girl seriously giggled the entire time she was on it. Loved it!

LOVE this show!

This show has really inspired me to continue my goal for this year to eat food in it's most recognizable form. If you haven't seen it-stop what you're doing now and record it!

I finally got my scanner up and running...

And found this little gem. Jenn and I at my senior her junior prom!

A Secret Admirer

We just opened up Tyler's backpack and found this note. The other side says, "I love you." Oh, sweet heavens it's begun! (and I secretly love it.) Tyler's reaction? "I think Reilly did it. Somebody has a crush!"

And for the record...

I'm going to be doing my posts differently from here on out. I just recently had my blog printed into a book and it's a fun journal of the highlights. But there could have been more! So I'm going to be adding random tidbits about my family so they'll be "etched in stone" so to speak. Like I haven't mentioned that my little Eliza is standing all by herself and is soooo close to taking her first steps. And she's getting interested in the stairs. Yikes! Time to get creative on a baby gate at the bottom of our stairs!

don't mess with a cute thing

One of my pet peeves is when somebody corrects my kids. Not behavior, their words. Like Chase says just about every word incorrectly and I love it! If he wants to say "later today" he says "amorrow aday." Maybe I'm messing them up for later in life, or it's my sick way of keeping them little forever-but these small things make me laugh and keep me going. Yesterday Tyler came tearing into the house yelling excitedly that he'd been invited to Matthew's birthday party at "I bounce you." This place is really called Pump it Up-and I probably should correct him b/c he'll say this to the kids at school and they'll think he's nutso-but I just love it. He's been calling it that for months and it makes me laugh every time!

Great Wolf Lodge

Our room was awesome! Here's the little den where the kids slept. Also-Chase fell off the steps coming down this way. This kid just makes me paranoid!!!
Getting ready for swimming! That is a cute bummy!

Ready to rock and roll!

This is actually where the "incident" took place. I was standing here and Chase was gone. Freak! This is the next day-so imagine 1 million kids in this pool area!

Awesome kids slide. So fun!

Lexi and Ty had s much fun doing these. It was fun to watch.

Eliza was a super-star just hanging out.

If you look closely you'll see Phil w/ the 3 kids up there.

Such a lady

Lexi

Silly boys

Ty and Lex coming off a slide. So hilarious!

Chase doing the lazy river by himself. Such a big boy!

Phil and Lex being birthed

the gals

She literally fell asleep 5 seconds after I took that pic of us.

The great fireplace in the lobby where we hung out to warm up

On each floor by the elevators is a window over-looking the waterpark. Eliza, Chase and I hung out here a while to take a break.

This weird little boy is by the clock tower. 3 times a day they do a little show here and he talks and it's really kind of freaky. This is us imitating his freakiness.

It Happened...

That awful moment that every parent dreads. You turn around and your child is gone. This weekend we took the kids on a fun little trip to the Great Wolf Lodge in the Pocono Mtns. It has an indoor water park and Phil had Eliza, and I had Tyler, Chase and Lexi. (we brought our niece w/ us) We were walking over to meet up with Phil and I turned around and Chasey was gone. Just vanished in thin air. It had been maybe 2 seconds since I'd turned around it was that quick. I panicked and dragging the other 2 around I'm screaming like a mad-woman, and realized that was pointless b/c this place was insane crazy. Kids everywhere, screaming and water running. So I ran over to a lifeguard who radioed for help. I was shaking and bawling. So the long and the short of it was that Chase had decided to find Phil on his own, and I have no idea how (except that Heavenly Father was watching over him) and he found Phil. I kid you not that this place was a mad-house. Phil could see me across the room freaking out and he was trying to get my attention, but I didn't see/hear him. So thank goodness it all worked out, I've never had this happen to me before. I've lost sight of my kids for a second, but never for 10 minutes. I was just running around praying and praying and praying. I am so thankful we're all back together, and let me tell you this has not helped my urge to keep my children safely in a bubble for the rest of their lives!!

A Complete Set

I just copied this from my sister Stacey's blog. She put this together-how cool is that?!?!?

We have a complete set now! The five Dunlop sisters had five daughters, in age order. What are the chances? The baby girls are grandchildren 12, 13, 14, 15, & 16 for my parents. We should have loads of fun . . . watch out!

This is on the cruise we took in October, pre-completion!


Molly Sophia Wolfe
January 7, 2008


Reagan Mortensen
August 27, 2008


Eliza Kathryn Barno
February 23, 2009


Lucy Meyerson
May 12, 2009


Adeline Shafer
January 27, 2010

The gangs all here!!

Update on Walking on Water

This weekend we're taking the kids to the Great Wolf Lodge in the Poconos and so on the way to school Chase informed me, "that he was going to the deep end to walk on the water." So now I'm really freaking out. I tried to tell him he can't, but this kid doesn't listen to me! I may call in reinforcements and have Grandma and Grandpa tell him he can't. He seems to think they're smarter than me! Yikes!

A good moment gone wrong

The other night, about 20 minutes after reading scriptures with the boys, Chase comes into me and says, "mom-I have enough faith to walk on water?" And my heart melted. And I told him if we have enough faith and Christ tells us we can walk on water, then we could. And then I thought of the pool in our yard during the summer, the lake, the pond and imagined my adventerous son trying to walk on the water and I freaked out. So then I told him no. No you can NOT walk on water. I can just see him thinking Jesus told him to or something. I don't know. I told him he does have alot of faith and that's great, but that we aren't excpected to walk on water b/c we have boats. He's a little young to understand this concept anyway, right?!?!?!? Sometimes being a mom is scary!!! Anyone have better advice?!?!?!?