Silly Betsy

Joseph's friend Josh Dutton was over, and Betsy and Josh said something at the same time and Betsy said to Josh "jinx, you're going to have my baby" (or something like that)  so Travis said "Betsy, your going to have to marry Josh, to have a baby with him" and Betsy looked very distressed and said "I can't marry Josh, then my initials would spell BAD"  and sure enough Betsy Anne Dutton would indeed spell BAD...Silly girl...I laughed like crazy

Caleb Scooting/Crawling

Photo Book

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Another week around the Kirkman house

 This week was a little better than last week, but still filled with frustrations and stresses, but that's normal. Caleb is getting so mobile. He is scooting all over the place, and pushing himself up into sitting position from the laying down. He is pulling himself into standing with a drawer handle or his crib, so we had to move his crib position. He also has crawled a couple of times, he is getting so big. Samuel and I were talking about something we were going to do that night, and Samuel said "Hold on, I'm going to see if night is coming", and he moved over to the window and opened the window, then he said "yep, night is here, I can hear it" This is at about noon, and nowhere near dark, so I asked him what he meant by "hearing the night" he said "listen", and so I did and sure enough I could hear crickets. He said he heard the crickets and the wolves, and that meant it was night. I had to convince him it had to be dark too, and he finally agreed to wait until it was dark. Also they were practicing for their primary program today during primary, and as I was going to feed the baby, I walked through the chapel where they were practicing, and Samuel was just getting up to practice his part, and I don't know what was going on, but he started laughing and giggling so hard, that he couldn't even say his whole line, so they finally gave up trying to get him to say it, and had him sit down, still laughing uncontrollably. We'll have to work with him this week, because I don't want him to do that during Sacrament Meeting next week. Betsy loves to hug and kiss her Daddy, in fact she was hugging and kissing him so much, that he had to make a rule that she could only kiss him once every 10 minutes. Betsy also found out that her teacher gives extra rewards for reading more than 20 minutes. So Betsy has been trying to read 45 or 60 minutes every day, and she's been doing a great job. Austin has been a great helper this week, she has been helping me make Travis' lunch every morning, and herself a healthy snack, and helping with the baby, and the dishes, and getting her homework done too. Joseph started choir this week, it is wednesday and friday mornings. He loves to be the first one there, and loves to wake up early those days to get there fast. He has gotten behind in his spelling homework, and has been trying to catch up this week. This week we've had a houseguest, his name is Ryan, and he is in Travis' chaplain program at school, and is a really nice guy. He's needed a place to stay the next two weeks, so he's staying with us. He has been a really good infuence on the kids, and getting them to help around the house, and also to listen and do what they've been told. He also will help do the dishes after dinner. With our dishwasher broken again, I love not having to do the dishes every night! I love going to my classes, it is a great break from taking care of children, and doing housework. Travis picked up a free treadmill this weekend and set it up downstairs in our craft room, and the kids have all loved using it. It actually works, and is a good outlet for the boys especially when they need to get rid of some excess energy.   This morning Caleb woke up a little after 5am, so I fed him and asked Travis to take the baby, so I could sleep in.  Well at 6:30am, Travis was back with the baby, saying that I'd had enough sleep.  Since when is 6:30am sleeping in?  Oh well, I was happy for at least one extra hour of sleep.  The BYU vs Utah game was Saturday, and so I decked Caleb out in his BYU cougars outfit, but about half-way through the game, he got all wet, so I had to change his outfit, and then BYU started losing and lost big-time.  So, we all figure Caleb must be BYU's good luck charm, and next game, I'd better keep him in his BYU outfit!!

Highs and Lows of the week

Travis left this scone for me on my plate after breakfast, he is very sweet

Betsy and Caleb on one of our walks this weekend

Highs and Lows of the kirkman week,




Highs:

Caleb started scooting around

Caleb slept through the night 2 nights in a row

Austin had a project due in school tomorrow, and she finished it all on her own, without me even having to tell her to do it.

We got rid of unwanted clothes, and got new clothes we needed at a clothing exchange

Travis wrote I love you with chocolate sauce on a scone for me, and left it in the kitchen

After dropping Samuel off at pre-school, the baby fell asleep on the way home, and I had 2 hours of peace and quiet. It was awesome!!


Lows:

Caleb got a cold

Samuel peed on two people this week, locked me out of the house, got banned from the rides at trafalga becuase he wouldn't obey the rules and is still name-calling and hurting people.

Joseph was really difficult at church today

I couldn't get Joseph to do his eschool this weekend

At Samuel's Autism testing appointment he threw some of the pieces for his testing down a hole in the ladies desk, and we couldn't finish the testing.


Random moments:

While coming home from our second walk of the day on Saturday, Samuel all of the sudden fell to the ground, and started whimpering, I asked him what was wrong, and he said his foot hurt. I asked him what happened, and he said "I don't know, it just died", I asked him how it died, and he said "It walked too much, and now it's dead." so I helped him up and he held on to the stroller, and hobbled the rest of the way home (we were almost there). We got home and Samuel layed down for a few minutes, and then got up and said his foot was 'alive' again.

We were walking home from picking up our produce, and I saw one of the wrappers on the ground, from a snack I had given Samuel, so I had a talk with him about littering. I really wish he would listen to me this well all the time, becuase the entire rest of the way home (about 1 mile) he had to pick up every single piece of trash he saw, we ended up with two big bags full of garbage, and two bouncy balls Sam found along the side of the road.

Baby Caleb

Caleb likes playing in a box

Caleb likes to stick his toungue out in funny ways

Oregon Vacation and Betsy's Birthday

The kids and some of their cousins on our hike to a waterfall in Oregon

Betsy and Sam were both cold on our hike and had to wear hoodies, they're not used to the cool weather, after nice, hot weather in Utah

Joseph and Shayden having fun climbing on rocks

Daddy and Baby Caleb having fun

More playing on rocks



Our family up on a big rock





Our family in front of the beautiful waterfall



Travis pretending to throw Joseph into the water, the water was really cold.

Betsy posing in front of the waterfall, she didn't want to get too close, it was too cold.

At the beach house we stayed in, the boys using weeds as moustaches

Shayden building the biggest pyramid

During Minute-to-win-it games, Travis trying to stack baby blocks on his head.

Betsy and Aunt Kellie bouncing and catching ping pong balls in cups

Austin and Kolby stacking the blocks on their heads

Travis trying the pyramid challenge

Issac finishing the m&m and straw challenge

Samuel doing the dominoes challenge

Jospeh and Shayden doing the ping pong ball and cup bouncing and catching

Grandpa trying the block challenge

Austin trying the pyramid challenge

Austin blowing a ping pong ball around the cones

Kyle and Dillan doing the Domino challenge

Betsy trying the block challenge

Grandpa and Isaac completing the M&M sorting challenge

Betsy blowing the ball around the cones.

Caleb wanted to try

Cousin baby Hazel age 7 months and Caleb age 6 months.

They are soooo cute!



Jonathan and Caleb wearing a santa hat the one of the Nagle boys crocheted

  

Betsy lost her top, front tooth

We had the most wonderful vacation/reunion to Oregon.  On Thursday, August 11th, after lots of work getting everybody ready, We left our home early in the morning.  Travis and the kids dropped Caleb and I off at the airport to catch our flight to Oregon.  Caleb does not like his carseat at all, so driving in the car 12 hours for him would have been torture for him and us.  So my wonderful husband bought me a plane ticket, so the baby and I could fly.  He drove the rest of the way to Oregon, all day long with the kids, I don't think it was very fun, but they all survived the trip and made it in one piece.  So Caleb and I had a delayed flight, but it wasn't too bad, Caleb was fussing for part of the airplane trip, but overall did pretty well.  When we got to Oregon, my Mom picked us up and we dropped off Caleb at a babysitters, and picked up my sister Misha, and we went and got pedicures together.  It was a lot of fun, and at the end our toes were very pretty.  It was really nice to have a day with only Caleb to have to take care of, it was much quieter than I'm used to, and was a great break.  We went on a 4T hike in downtown portland that was really fun, we went on a Train, Trail, Tram, and Trolley.  We rode the MAX train up to the Trail, and then hiked around in a forested area in downtown Portland that I never even knew exsisted, then walked over to the Tramway and rode that down, and then over to the Trolley, and took that back to the Train, to go to our car.  We were waiting for one of the cousins to go to the bathroom, then we went to get on the train, as we got on, I realized I couldn't see Betsy, so we quickly got everyone off before the doors closed and went back to look for Betsy, my Mom was carrying Caleb and as we found Betsy across the street my Mom fell off the curb, she was able to save the Baby from getting hurt, but she hurt her foot, we all felt really bad.  We got Betsy who, when she couldn't find us, walked over to the pay phone and was trying to call me on my cell phone.  (Smart girl)  Got my Mom on the Train and went the rest of the way home, so she could ice her foot.  Thankfully she seemed to heal quickly and was able to enjoy the rest of the reunion.  Travis and I got to have a fun game night with our friends, Kyle and Michelle playing Dominos.    Betsy lost her top front tooth while we were there, she looks pretty cute.  We had fun the rest of the week going on hikes, playing outside, playing with cousins, picking berries and things from the garden, going to a health fair and got $5 helmets for everyone, going to TCBY, going out on the river in the boat and going tubing, and playing along the riverfront, going to parks, and then going to the beach for the weekend.  On our way to the beach we went to this awesome waterpark in Mcminnville, OR.  It had a 747 airplane on the top of the building, and waterslides coming out of the airplane that you go down, a big wave pool, and several kid areas to play in, that were a lot of fun.  We stayed there for a long time, and had a blast.  Then we drove the rest of the way to the beach.  We stayed in this big beach house,  in Pacific City, OR which was close to the beach, and had some very nice things, but unfortuneatly you could hear everything from all 3 floors, and when you have 3 adults, 8 kids, and a baby in two rooms downstairs seperated by a divider, it doesn't make for very good sleep.  So my wonderful husband, took one of the bunk bed mattresses and made up a bed for me in the car, so I would get a better sleep...he is so sweet.  We roasted marshmallows on the beach and had smores one  night, that was fun.  Unfortuneatly the beach was cold and windy so we didn't play on it as much and we would normally, but it was still fun.  Austin and I got up early one morning and picked up shells along the beach.  I brought some stuff for us to play the minute-to-win-it games and we had fun doing that.  At one of the beaches there is a huge sand dune, that we all took turns climbing up, man, was that a good work-out, and had an amazing view.  On our way home from the beach we went to the Tillamook Cheese factory, and had cheese samples, and ice cream cones.  It was really busy, but still fun.  Then, we went the rest of the way home.  Travis and the kids left really eary the next morning, so that they could be home in time for their first day of school on Monday.(my flight home wasn't until monday night)  It was so weird going to church without a bunch of kids to help be quiet and behave.  I actually had a really hard time staying awake during sacrament meeting (caleb had fallen asleep too).  But I really enjoyed sunday school, and reief society and seeing lots of people I grew up with.  It was so nice to actually have a relaxing Sunday.  On monday morning, I called Travis and the kids and got them up early to get ready for school, and get them all off on time.  Then my mom and I went for a morning walk, and then we went and picked 34 lbs of delicious blueberries.  I brought some of them home for me on the plane, and froze them and put them in the freezer.  Caleb and I made it home safely on the airplane, and he was pretty good this time, and Travis and the kids picked us up from the airport.  Then we dropped Travis off at his Uncle Nick and Aunt Nora's house (they live near Salt Lake City), because Travis had to work the next day in SLC, so the kids and I got home after eleven, and went to bed.  The next morning I got kids off to school, whew!!!

On the MAX train, on our 4T hike around Portland

Playing on a car, while everyone was waiting for people in the bathroom, and me to feed the baby on our 4T hike in Portland

Travis and the baby sharing a carrot

Grandma reading to some of her grandchildren

I love Caleb's smile

Samuel petting a snake at the health fair in Oregon

Caleb wearing Daddy's hat

Austin and Betsy at chuck-e-cheese for Betsy's birthday

Betsy's princess doll cake

Princess Betsy standing next to the Pin the tiara on Princess Betsy game that we made

Betsy and all the princesses at her birthday party, and Samuel

Spent the next week getting ready for Betsy's birthday party, cleaning up after the vacation, and getting ready for Samuel to start school, and Travis and I to start at BYU, while Travis was working all week in SLC.  I was really stressed out about Betsy's birthday party.  I was having a hard time getting everything done that I wanted to, adn take care of everyone else.  So we ended up simplifying it, and I had a really hard time with the cake, the house was too hot and the frosting kept melting, and the cake started falling over, so it served it's purpose, and Betsy liked it so that's what's important.  She had a fun time with her friends, doing a princess treasure hunt, pinata, pin the tiara on princess betsy, and having cake and ice cream.