Aquarium of The Pacific

we had to see a beach that night- It was our kids first time ever!

messy but happy- who could ask for anything more!

Tate playing with his shark toy

Chad bought Livy this pink dolphin- she has not put it down since!

Touching! Finally our mom let us look with our fingers and not just our eyes!!!

Livia by all of the Nemos

The diver is showing the kids the sting rays mouth

Mad that I told her we would not be seeing any mermaids today

Tate wanted in the water too!

They had these fun squirting statues that the kids could play on- Tate was in heaven!

The seal loved our family!

Feeding the birds the lovely lunch I packed for my family

Disney Vacation

Livia called these trees "Hula Trees" she especially loved the baby ones.

We had a great family vacation this year in California. I strongly recommend going during this time of year. We had Disneyland all to ourselves and the Christmas decor and parades and fireworks were out of this world. We never had to wait for the rides and my heart was soaring with my kid's happy faces. We also went to the Aquarium of the pacific and to Newport beach. We did not want to come home! We actually stayed a night longer than we planned because Chad (who was dreading this vacation- mind you) was not ready for it to be over. My kids can't stop talking about it.

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving in New Mexico. We had such good food that I am sad we had to leave and not be able to partake of all the leftovers! It was nice just hanging out with family and watching the kids play. Livia and Zoey play so well together. They just quietly disappear and entertain themselves. I remember just wishing and hoping that the day would come when my kids could entertain themselves and now it is finally here! Chad and Grant helped my dad move a gas line on the land and it was fun to watch all of the big farm equipment being used. Tate was just in heaven. It was also nice to visit with Jill and her kiddos since they only live a mile away from my family now (so weird how that happened) Tate had a slumber party with Max and was so tired on Thanksgiving that he slept in my mom's arms. Tate has been doing a lot of sleeping lately. Sometimes he falls asleep on the job like in the pic of him folding laundry. He also sleeps so hard that nothing seems to bother him or interrupt his slumber (note the picture of his head hanging off the bed at my parents) I am thinking that he must be growing right now because he has a really healthy appetite as well. We are decorating the house for Christmas this week and I am excited to take out all of our decorations. Chad and I have bought each other a new ornament since we were first married and now each year we include the kids in picking their own decoration of the year. I love times of tradition. The kids and I went to Pier1 on Saturday for them to choose their 2008 decoration and I figured out a great trick while I was there. A lady who was shopping and also had two small kids kept saying "this is a hand in pockets store!" I loved it! I told her that I was stealing that idea from her and she said she always makes sure her kids have on jackets with pockets in stores like that and that you have to make sure you zip them up or they just point with their coats and it can make even more of a mess. I just thought I would add that little tidbit of info since the shopping season is among us. I hope everyone had a great thanksgiving!

A sharing heart..................

Lately I have been focusing a lot on the negative when it comes to how my kids are treating each other. Since Tate got his brain a while back and has decided for himself what he likes and doesn't, my little control freak daughter has had such a hard time with him. Not to mention that they love teasing each other (this is a major Dunn thing) The problem is they can dish it but can not in any way take it. It is just exhausting and is the main reason I am not keeping up with blogging anymore I think. Just when I was about to lose my mind this week with the whole sibling rivalry I was put smack dab in the middle of a situation that assured me that they do indeed love and treasure each other.

Livia had gotten some birthday money from her Aunt Tess and Grammie and had been begging me to take her to the store. Since Chad was home and I could leave Tate with him, I decided we could go yesterday afternoon. When we got to the store she saw a bow and arrow set on the end of an isle. "my brother would love that! Can we get it mom?" "Maybe for Christmas" I said. I had only brought her birthday money. We went to look at the dolls she had wanted for some time and there were two that she especially wanted. one was significantly cheaper but didn't have all of the accessories that the other one had. I can always see Livia's thoughts processing by the way she looks off to the side and holds her hand to her mouth. "Mom? I want to by the smaller one cause I think I can buy the bow for Tate too if I do that." It almost hurt it was so precious. My daughter spent her birthday money on her brother. Who does that? She was so excited to bring it home to him and see how excited he would be that she talked about it the whole drive home. I really needed to witness that I think. I love my Livia girl and her generous heart.

just this once.........

Five random facts about me:
I never participate in tags but I thought- what the heck let others in the world of Amber however boring or strange it may be.......................

#1 I LOOOOOOOVE to sleep. I think about it all the time and dream about how great it is going to feel to go to bed at night. In fact it is what makes things hard for me when I have a newborn. I can handle just about anything but the whole lack of sleep situation. (no I am not depressed- i just move too fast while I am awake and I get exhausted I think)

#2 I love music. I have music playing in the background all day long. I sing and dance with the kids every day. It is what inspires me.

#3 When I close the blinds at night they all have to be in the same direction. yes it is true -OCD is part of my life. Sometimes I catch Livia doing something strange like that and I think - poor kid.

#4 I love it when my husband sings songs to me that he has made up. They are hilarious and heart warming and he has done this since we dated. It is our special little connection I think.

#5 Sometimes my heart gets overwhelmed with the love I have for my kids. Nothing could have ever prepared me for being a mother. I Love waking up in the morning to their beautiful faces. I love cuddling with Tate and how when he is telling me something he is always rubbing my cheeks or playing with the hair underneath behind my neck. They have such different personalities and they are what gives me motivation each day. You always have to get up and do service as a mother and I believe that is the happiest existence. Even the cruddy times are still surrounded with overwhelming love for my children.


I hope this was random enough. I am glad that I finally have a "Tag" on my blog so people don't think I am a Tag snob.

My little Livia is growing up there is no doubt. Today when I was cleaning up the house she came up behind me and said "do you need any help your majesty?" It cracked me up. She folded blankets put away toys and then said, "I just love a clean house you know" like she and I were just two ladies having a conversation. I know it is a simple little moment to write about but it just describes the way Livia thinks of others and how she appreciates our home and the work I do. With Chad gone so much, She and I run our home together. She really is the perfect personality for a first born child. She loves being in charge and helping out. She is also a little homebody much like her mother. Whenever we are running errands she will say "let's just go back to the house and make something." I used to not understand why mom's were sad to let their kids begin Kindergarten. I myself could not wait for the day- now that I see it is in deed going to happen very soon- it actually breaks my heart. It is like my time with her will soon be forever shared with real life and our days of nurturing in our home and having her by my side are over. So sad. That is why I just need to keep having babies! The thought of not having a kid around all the time makes me hurt................................

Livia is Five!!!!!!

We had a wonderful birthday for miss Livy. While she slept the night before I decorated her room and put her in some new beautiful princess jammies (not once did she wake up) She woke in the morning to a surprise and came running into our room ready for her special day. Our Home Teacher's wife is a cake decorator and she made this beautiful gift of a cake for our little one. I didn't even want to cut into it! I made the white trash decorated zingers for Livia's preschool treat and I guess the kids thought it was a hit! We ate pizza played games and mostly just spent special time as a family. Next year she will have a friend party again- I like the idea that on her odd number birthday's it will just be a family affair. Happy birthday my sweet angel girl! You are getting too big! (Check out my other blog for info on Moragan's amazing Cakes!!!)

First time in five years...................

That I have not had to change a diaper. Tate is finally fully potty trained. I almost posted this last week but didn't want to jinx it. So you wonder why this is worth posting about?- let me explain- Tate was by far the laziest stinkiest diaper boy that ever existed. He had accident after accident and only chose to use the potty at stores and restaurants purely for his own entertainment. He was able to do it just didn't want to fully commit if you know what I mean.........My mother claims I was the same way and I believe her because I distinctly remember sitting on the heater vents and peeing during Saturday morning cartoons while everyone was sleeping in the house because I was too lazy to go to the restroom- plus I might have missed something important on the cartoon. Maybe that was way too much info. I didn't tell my parents this information until last year and they were shocked they had such a bizarre child. Any whoo- I knew that Tate was ready and so I used the potty training system my friend Heather uses when kids are just being lazy (note: if you work for CPS this would be a good time to click on another blog.......) When Tate would go in his pants I would just simply say "Oh dear, now that you are so big, wipes just don't do the trick anymore, I am so very sorry but you are going to have to take a potty bath............." Then you simply throw- I mean set the child in a tub of ice cold water and begin to scrub and clean and pour water on them- the whole time you do this you say "Oh honey, I am so sorry- I know this is sooooo cold but it is the only way to get you clean now that you are a big boy and it has to be cold so it can kill all of the yucky germs. I am just so sorry- I wish you would have just gone in the potty so we wouldn't have to do this because it must just be awful." Two potty baths later, Tate was miraculously completely potty trained even at night! He was scared to death of having a potty bath and the best part is it wasn't me giving him a consequence in his mind- it was just what had to be done so he couldn't even be mad at me. My mom thought this was pretty cruel but any of you who are in the 9th month of so-called potty training are so excited to try it- I know. This is the first time in five years that there isn't a basket of diapers in each main room (Since Livia was still in diapers when Tate was born) It is exciting and sad at the same time.