New feature

So last fall I was ranting and raving about this new camera Tony got me for my birthday. The thing is awesome. It can do so many things - most things I have no idea how to do. Anyways, I've been playing around with it and found that it has this super cool feature that ages your subjects. I've had fun taking pictures of the kids now and then seeing how they'll look in a year. Here is a couple of the cute 'age-progression' pictures that we've taken:

I love the action shots too!

Pretty cool, eh?

Happy Birthday Aliya!

I cant believe it ... my Aliya turned 4 last week! She is such a fun kid to have around. She's got enough personality to charm anyone and enough stubbornness to get it done. When Aliya is happy, everyone around her is happy. When Aliya is upset, WATCH out! She lights up a room with her smile and when she focuses her green eyes on you, you'll give her whatever she asks for!

We always give our kids the option of picking where we go out to eat on their birthday. I expected her to say "McDonalds" but she immediately replied "Olive Gardens". That kid loves their Alfredo (almost as much as Tony)! Great Grandma Close and Grandma Nette Nette were in town to help us celebrate (which she loved)!

Spoiled thing got TWO cakes! We also celebrated her birthday when the Uncles were in town. After we had cake she came up to me and said "Mom, birthday girls get presents too". She didn't quite understand why she had to wait a couple weeks!

This cake was HEAVEN! My girlfriend Amy has a blog dedicated to desserts and has some killer ideas. Her site stressed spelled backwards is filled with fun, easy recipes and cute giveaways too!

For her birthday she got a princess hair set. Poor Blake has been her favorite doll to try out all the toys! I don't think he needs his hair straightened but she's doing a great job!

Just a quick blow dry! 

Two of her Great Grandma's and one Grandma sent her money. She loved getting to go to the store and pick out whatever she wanted. I think the favorite so far has to be her "Hula loop". She loves it! Bless her heart she tries and actually gets it around a couple times! Check out her determination!

I love the face! Way to go sissy! We love you so much Aliya and are so thankful you've been a part of our family for four years. We love watching you learn and grow. Keep being such a terrific kid!

Great Grandma Close!!!

We had Tony's Grandma in town for a while and it was AWESOME! She is 82 and I have no idea where she gets her energy from. One afternoon I caught her rolling down the hill with Aliya. The kids absolutely adore her and Blake rapidly became her little shadow. I loved having her all to myself everyday. We had so much fun and cant wait until she comes back. The morning after she left, Blake walked into her room a couple times and you could tell he missed his buddy. Thanks so much for your visit Grandma, we cant wait to see you again!

This picture was taken the night she left. The kids had just got out of their baths and were ready for bed. I don't know why I am so forgetful to take pictures. There are so many fun memories I wish we'd captured!

In her suitcase, Grandma brought a whole bunch of toys. Each day the kids would get to pick a surprise. One of Blake's presents was this little puzzle. I figured he was way too young but Grandma got him putting in most of the pieces by the end of her time here. Each time after he'd put the correct shape in the hole, she'd clap or give him a high 5. He loved it!

Grandma taught my girls how to play Bunco. Tae was so excited. She's heard me talk about it and has asked me to teach her but I never find the time. Grandma was so patient and the girls loved it. Aliya has some great rolling skills! That girl was constantly getting baby Buncos! I just might take her with me to my next Bunco night!

Here is Grandma enjoying a nice cold one at the park! Busted!

We had to take her to feed the ducks. Aliya helped herself to Grandma's piece. She had Grandma wrapped around her finger!

Blake loved getting to sit and play with Grandma. She'd patiently turn the Jack-n-the Box thing over and over (I don't do that. Kid gets it once from me then has to just look at the thing). I love how patient Grandma's are. Thanks Grandma for being so patient, kind and loving to me and my family!

It finally happened ...

Well, it finally happened. I taught my daughter her first swear word. I figured it would have happened a long time ago.  Taeya has a research project due on Jack Rabbits so we went online and researched where they live, what they eat, how they survive, etc. At one point she asked how they got the name Jack Rabbit. I had read it on one site but figured we'd just skip that topic. After her question I explained that initially people thought they looked like Jackasses and so called them Jackass Rabbits. Eventually it was shortened to Jack Rabbits. So she asked what a Jackass was and I explained its another word for Donkey and she said she'd rather call a Donkey a Jackass than a Donkey. I then explained that ass is not a nice word and we should just say Donkey instead. Then she asked what an Ass is. Lovely! Tony and I both figured the first swear words our girls would learn would be "ah hell" but nope, I taught my kid Jackass! Sign me up for Mother of the Year yet again!

Nuncles ... The END!

On Sunday we did our annual 'feed the ducks/play at the park' with the Uncles and Aunt Kristi. Blake wasn't too thrilled we wouldn't let him go play. He could care less about feeding the ducks. Whenever we do, he just eats all the bread. You can tell from the above pic he is not happy about not getting to play yet!

Taeya loves getting to climb trees (how sad is it that we've never lived anywhere where should climb a tree in our yard)? She was excited to find out that Uncle Jeff, aka Monkey Boy, loved to climb as well. Eventually Ben and Kristi got in on the climbing action too!

Last year Jeff and Matt came to visit us over New Years. They brought a couple Gingerbread Houses that the girls had so much fun decorating them. This year I bought, and forgot, a Gingerbread House. They had fun making a Valentine House!

Taeya & Ben, Aliya & Matt, Kristi, Blake & Uncle Jeff

Here is everyone! The girls are wearing their cute clothes (great pickings Uncle Matt) and Blake is squirming to get down. The cute eye patch Uncle Jeff drew is below!

Arrrrr  matey. I wish we could reuse this patch. It is by far my favorite!

One of the other things they did while here was make Valentines for everyone. The girls LOVED it! They each decorated their own envelopes then had fun creating Valentines for each other. What fun Uncles!

Matt made the girls these GINORMOUS bows for their hair. Aliya would do a runway walk with her booty shaking and bow a jiggling!

Thanks everyone for a fantastic visit. We love you all and cant wait until you come again!

Part 3

Since the Nuncles got to have fun racing Go Karts, the girls wanted to go do the Bungee Trampoline jumping at Desert Ridge in Scottsdale. They LOVED it!

Isn't she so stinkin' cute? 

Taeya would do back flip after back flip!

Aliya absolutely loved it too! It took her a while to get the whole flip thing down but she did eventually eek one out!

Nuncles ... part Deux

Saturday morning Uncle Jeff got all the fun a.m. cuddles. I don't know what it is but my kids are GREAT snugglers in the morning (unfortunately I rarely have time to take advantage of this ... I am usually rushing to get them ready for school, sports etc.) Tae loves to read and if she can find a new audience, she does. She does a terrific job.

L-R: Uncle Matt (single, can you believe it?), Uncle Jeff (ditto the single thing) and Uncle Ben (married to Aunt Kristi - aka Barbie)

That afternoon we took the boys to Speed Street. Its a local 'go-kart' racing place. Tony and I went last year and LOVED it. Usually you have your foot pushed hard into the pedal to try to get it to go faster but this track is fast. Each turn you actually have to use your breaks. 

Tony, being the kind, gentle older brother, lovingly T-boned Uncle Matt, almost sending him out of his cart. Some bruising and blood is nothing new with these boys. Tony got a couple nice bruises in his ribs too (dumb men)! For some reason anytime we go somewhere as a family, its always Matt that gets sick or injured (last cruise he had appendicitis and had to be rescued at sea by the Coast Guard then taken to the Florida Keys for an emergency appendectomy. Lovely eh?)

Aunt Kristi took care of the girls why the boys were playing. Each girl won one of these stuff animals in those dumb hook-type machines. I've never been able to win at those things but the girls won their first try. Beginners luck I guess!

The Nuncles visit ... part 1.

This past weekend Tony's three brothers and sister in law came to visit. The girls counted down until they arrived. They knew they'd have a ton of fun and in no way were they disappointed!

Uncle Jeff had been in our house no longer than 20 minutes and Aliya was already bleeding. During their 'craziness' somehow Aliya's scab got ripped off. Needless to say there was much teasing about him immediately injuring a child. He's never hurt one of my kids (nor would he'd ever do it on purpose) but there has been numerous times when my kids have almost become a statistic (before her loss of scab, she narrowly missed cracking her head on the tile -- I think he caught her about an inch from the ground)!

The Uncles always come bearing gifts -- dang good ones at that. We all hope Uncle Matt doesn't get married until my kids stop growing. Tae got a killer Sunday outfit from Justice. She loves it because she looks like all the Young Women. Aliya got a cute capri/sun shirt combo that unfortunately wasn't a hit. That kid immediately tossed it aside and said she didn't like it (the only reason she didn't like it is because the predominant color is yellow, not pink). Blake got two KILLER outfits ... he now dresses just like Uncle Matt (which is a good thing). I have no idea how they can find such cute outfits but THANK YOU, THANK YOU!

Blake was 'thrilled' with his clothes, can't you tell?

The afternoon they arrived, everyone had a nap. Their flight left at 7:00a.m. so they were up early. I left to go help out at Tae's class party and EVERYONE but Aliya was asleep at my house. I think that's the quietest it was all weekend! Much more to come . . .

Excuses, excuses, excuses . . .

I have been a complete slacker on my blogging. The main one is that not too many exciting things have been happening around our house. The other is that I caught our computer monitor on fire last week. I have no idea how it happened but that sucker is TOAST! Until Tony finds us a new monitor we're working off the laptop which has NO pictures on it for me to upload. Hopefully things will start to pick up around the Dickamore household!

Cowgirl up!

A few weeks ago Grandma Nette came into town and spoiled the kids ROTTEN! First of all, the kids adore her; second they were looking forward to seeing anyone BUT Mom and Dad and third, she brought gifts! For Christmas she and Papa Bruce decided to pimp out the kids. The girls are OBSESSED with anything horses or cowgirls. They are now officially cowgirls (and cowboys in Blake's case)! 

They got each of the kiddos Wranglers, darling 'blinged' out shirts and belts, boots and custom made chaps. Who knew they made pimped out belt buckles for a one year old? 

Blake was exhausted and didn't enjoy playing dress up. It was past his bedtime! Tony's uncle made the comment that its no wonder the poor kid is crying -- he doesn't know if he is a cowboy or an Indian.

His chaps are by far my favorite. They look so stinkin cute on him. He may not appreciate them now but I have a feeling he wont want to take them off in a couple months (if he's anything like his sisters he'll be wearing his boots to church)! I think he's the cutest cowboy around!

Here is Aliya, our poser! I swear, that girls was born with the knowledge of how to pose! Next I'm going to post pictures of the girls in the hats they conned Grandma into buying them! She's as big of a softie and Papa Bruce!