New favorite photos!

Since the photo shoot with the kids I have been playing more with my simple little point and shoot. I loved these photos of Joshua.

Kellina's birthday!!

We have celebrated Kellina turning three once now at grandma's house. Her actual birthday isn't till Monday, but we sure did have fun! Mom got a farm themed cake and Kellina had to eat the pig that was on it. It took a couple tries for Kellina to blow out the candle, but she did it. Most importantly she did it before another anxious kid did it for her.

After cake we jumped right into presents. This is the first year Kellina has really enjoyed opening her gifts. Turns out my mom is the best gift wrapper ever and you have to be super strong to get into the present.

I think the things that so far have provided the most fun are the balloons. Although Kellina hasn't been able to play with her gifts yet. Jeff and I are mean parents and the girls got in trouble yesterday which meant no toys. Anyways the balloons have been a ton of fun and provided some good photos. Joshua has the green, Caleb the blue, and Melia is the balloon monster.

Saturday Morning

Saturday morning and all is well. I was up at 6:30 am with Caleb and decided no better time to do the laundry then now. I was trying to be quiet because in our living room every one was sleeping. Our church camp out gave us such confidence in our camping skills we did it again. Yes it was only in the living room, but we live in Washington and weather can be tricky. Beyond that Jeff realized how much work it would be to put up the tent for one night in the back. Yes we are slackers. Anyways being quiet only lasted till Josh woke up then the girls decided they should be helping mom with breakfast. They did a great job. We had pancakes, eggs, and homemade hash browns. Yummy! Now we are headed to moms to celebrate Kellina's birthday with a BBQ. Oh yeah just FYI I did get 3 loads of laundry in by 10:30.

Mornings with the Doyles!

I thought I would share some mornings with the world. This morning seemed like a good one to start with. You may wonder what we do in this house at 7:30 am or you may care less, but I am going to share either way. Currently I am boiling cloth diapers. Yep, I said boiling cloth diapers. Boiling diapers so I don't need to spend so much on disposables. The things I will do to save a buck. I really have nothing to complain about because its not that hard. Its not something I ever thought I would do, but it makes so much sense and in the end a little hard work and funky smell will enable my boys to have the cutest buns around! Oh in case your wondering the cloth diapers were hand me downs so boiling removes any bad smell. By the way if any one out there has more hand me down cloth diapers I always could use more.

Caleb gets dressed up!

This beautiful hat is thanks to Sam's trip to Disney Land for her ninth birthday. It recently has become a big hit at our house. For the boys and the girls.

Kellina opened some birthday gifts early with her Aunt and had to wear the hat. She will be three on Monday! Crazy! If you want to see other cute photos of my kids dressed up go to www.bakersdozen.typepad.com. I finally got some professional photos of the kids done. If you link to Little Earthling Photography from the first blog there are even more cute pictures. I can't believe how great the photos look!

Itchy days!

Did you know that you can get a rash from a cold virus? I did know this because Kellina has had many hive issues due to cold viruses, but this time around it was Melia who got the hives. Kellina it was never a big deal, but poor Melia itched so bad. She got to live on Benadryl for a couple of days. So glad its gone now! Although Joshua woke up at 1 am with a fever and cold this morning. He stayed up miserable from 1 am to 4 am then finally fell asleep on my tummy. He doesn't have the fever so far, but he does have a nasty cough.

Hair cut for Crush!

Crush being the type of dog he is requires a hair cut once every two months. Tuesday was the big day! He looks so handsome.The person who does his hair cut is also the daughter of one of our friends. That meant we got to have an afternoon of visiting which we topped off with dinner. It was a lot of fun. The families there included the Einfelds, the Thames and of course the Doyles. We all have babies about the same age so watching them play was a blast. I know Kellina is not a baby, but when she walked in with her red cape I knew a photo was in order.

Caleb's cuteness!

I love this picture of Caleb! He looks so cute and yes he is sucking on a Tylenol bottle. Who took this brilliant photo you ask. Well Melia of course. I think she may have a new skill.

Guitar doctor

Jeff has a new job. Guitar doctor.Wouldn't you like this man to help you? Since he knows about guitars and likes to play them it means when some one is in need he helps. Okay he's only helped one person, but I'm sure he'd help more if he could. The bonus is after you tune you must play the guitar. It means I can't give him a hard time while he plays.

Bigger Doyle Family

No, I'm not expecting. We had Samantha's friend over the other night and we were all gathered in the living room. I had a moment where I loved the fullness in the room. Even the noise made me smile. That room was just bursting with love and joy. I told Jeff we should adopt a 10 year old and have two more of our own. I don't think he was on the same page as me, but there's still time.

Super Model?

Is he a super model or a baby? Sometimes I think he may get a little confused. This is a very classic Joshua pose. He does it all the time. No, Caleb does not do it. Joshua has claimed this one all for himself.

Moments with Kellina

We were all hanging out together when Kellina came up to me and began to hang on my leg. She looked up and said mom look I'm a monkey. This is how a monkey does it! Last night she found a hat that she decided was for the beach. She pretended that the blanket on the floor was the water and the floor was the sand. She would take her hat off to swim and put it on to hang on the beach. What really cracked me up was her concern for Caleb who was on the blanket so was in the water a long time.

Kellina is the girl in this house with the big imagination.

Which came first the chicken or the egg?

I may not have the answer to that one, but I can show you all the eggs laid at the Lynden Fair in just two days. Yesterday was fair day for the Doyles! What a blast! I made a deal with Samantha no rides this year, but for sure a funnel cake. Can you believe neither Jeff or I have had one before.

We made it a day to see the animals. We saw exotic animals.

Yes the girls did pet a giant albino snake. All except Sam who had no desire to touch a snake of that size. She enjoyed petting the turtles instead. That's a girl after my own heart. We enjoyed pretending to be farmers and milk a cow, drive a tractor, and pose as a famous pair of farmers.

Melia started asking me as soon as we entered the fair. Can we milk the cow? The determined look on her faced killed me. We also enjoyed the barns filled with all sorts of livestock.

Petting the sheep and pigs was fun, but Melia watched a pig take a bath for nearly 10 minutes. Go figure!

I wanted to show the girls a llama, but as soon as they spotted the donkey it was all over. All I heard was donkey, donkey, donkey as they swept past me.

There was also the cutest area of all baby animals. It was my favorite and Kellina liked it so much she tried to climb in.

What did Jeff enjoy most. The giant propane tank.

Yep he loved it so much he made me take a picture. I also really enjoyed the 4-H horse area. When I was younger I showed horses, so it was fun sharing my knowledge with the girls. They loved to be able to pet one horse.

The boys did great and were bushed by the end.

Samantha's very own blog!

Samantha has been asking me for quite some time now if she could have her own blog. Well now she does. We just got finished setting it up. You can get to it by the link on the side. Yes the one that says Samantha's blog. Have fun getting to know my wonderful girl and all the things she thinks are blog worthy!

Game night

I love to have game night. Its time to enjoy other adults with fun and laughter and no kids wanting attention. They are to busy watching a movie. For us it usually means that Jeff's parents come over and visit. We usually play cards or dice games, drink coffee, and eat treats. It is a very fun time.On this night Joshua must have felt like I was ignoring his hunger and thought he would take matters in to his own hands.

tub time fun!!

Here are the boys loving the bath. Jeff was amazed at how much they love it and how much Joshua loves to splash!!

more kids = more sickness

I guess when there are more people in one house sickness seems to last forever. Caleb is doing great and you wouldn't even guess his ear hurts. Joshua is still fussy, but I've been to the doctor to much lately so were going to ride to it out. Besides the boys go in on Friday to have their eyes checked out. Kellina did go back in and they say she just has a second virus. They wanted to put her on antibiotics for her lungs, but because she already had an upset tummy they held off. If she spikes another fever we are back to the doctor for chest x-rays. I think though she is turning the corner. Although she coughs all night. Melia has now developed the cold and fever combo. She is handling it well though. Last night she had to sleep with mommy which was fine as long as daddy slept on the sofa. Samantha is doing well with zero sickness and fun planned around every corner.

Lots of updates!

I made a ton of blogs that were suppose to be stretched out over a period of time, but life here changes to quickly. I decided I'd post them all and you can go back and look or not(sorry Amy about the amount of reading and hopefully commenting for you). Joshua was creeping(old blog by a couple days) and over night he started army crawling like a master. I couldn't not post that mile stone. He goes from point A to point B in no time. He also sits with no problem. Caleb gets on his knees and rocks so we thought he would be mobile first, but nope to that. I took both boys to the doctor today because I was sure Joshua had an ear infection. He is normally the happy calm baby and lately has screamed and fussed. It turns out he is perfect not even a tooth to explain fussiness. However Caleb who I thought was fine, but got checked to be sure has an ear infection and needed antibiotics. Kellina had a fever that lasted 5 days and now has no appetite, but has a lot of gas. She burps and toots almost as much as her father(or mother). Maybe that's a TMI. This is strange for her( not for her mother or father). She is always telling me her tummy hurts. I figure if it doesn't change by Monday I'll call the doctor. Melia is working on obeying mom even if she doesn't want to(tough lesson for all). She is also trying to give me ukulele lessons. Samantha went school clothes shopping today and is getting excited for starting Bellingham Christian in September. That's my update and I'm sure I won't blog again for a little while. Until one of my kids does something new and amazing. Okay it may be as soon as tomorrow!

Sitting all by themselves!!!

Both boys can now claim that they can sit all by themselves. They are the cutest pair of sitters that I have laid my eyes on. Of course I do have mommy blinders on.

Canning Crazy

This summer my mom has not been working. To fill time the two of us have been canning crazy. I knew we had done a lot, but it really hit me when I lined them up on the counter for a photo. So far we have done strawberry, raspberry, blackberry, and apricot jam. Hot chile salsa and tomato salsa. Pickled beets, pickled green beans, kosher pickles, and spicy dill pickles. So far everything taste soooo yummy. I love canning!!!!

Creeping babies!

The boys can't crawl just yet, but boy do they creep. Not only so they creep Caleb has learned to roll to get where he wants to go. Caleb gets up on all fours and does the rock that means only one thing, mobile babies are coming soon. Joshua has almost mastered the army crawl and can go when he really wants. Here is Joshua trying to get a car. This was taken a couple weeks ago, so Josh moves even better now!

Kellina's guitar!

Kellina is my musical child. She loves to sing and play any instrument. Jeff plays guitar and with Melia getting her purple ukulele I guess Kellina felt left out. She has now started using hair brushes as her guitar. Caleb really loves it!

My little duckies

I don't know where I got these outfits for sure, but the boys were to cute to pass up photos. In these pictures Caleb is in brighter duck suit(the baby in the jumper).

Who did that?!

Sometimes the things I walk into when I've been out of the room even for a second amaze me. This was one of the funnier things I came back to one day.














I still am unsure who thought the headbands were cute, but I think they were right. I like that Joshua's matches his outfit.

REDEMPTION!!

If you follow this blog you know that at Jeff's last softball game all I did was take photos of a cute little boy. Well he had make up games due to rain outs so I got my redemption. I took photos of the actual game. Hurray!! Okay I also took photos of my boys, but really who can resist.

Tear free bath

My boys are 7 months and have always HATED bath time. I've never had kids who HATED bath time. The girls don't like water in their face, but that's it. They love to be in their bath. Not the boys. They have screamed in the bath since day one and last night was the first bath with 0 tears. They both even learned to like splashing and kicking their legs. Since I was home alone there are no in the tub shots, but I took these when they were all dry and dressed. Oh just an FYI Joshua is in the blue.

More camp out photos

Melia 4years old

Kellina 2 (almost 3) years old.

Samantha 10 years old.

The girls competing in the olympics.

The boys cheering them on. So much fun it was hard to capture it all!!

The saddest girl.

Kellina has now had a fever since Saturday and is the saddest girl I've seen. I took her to the doctor yesterday to make sure she only had a virus and sure enough that's all she has. What does that mean to us. Lots of rest and fluids. Oh yeah it also means we have one fussy girl.