My little ballerina!

Ashlyn just barely started dance class. She LOVES it! Right now her class is learning three dances. She gets to do a ballet, jazz, and hip hop dance. (yes, you heard me right, my three year old will be doing hip hop... I find this to be hilarious!) And they are also doing tumbling during class time, but they won't be learning a dance in that category. She is soo cute at her dance lessons. She has a huge smile on her face the whole time, and is always looking my way to make sure I am watching. And to top off her cuteness, I bought her a little pink leotard with a little sheer skirt that goes over it. Everytime we put it on her she says, "Daddy and Blake will think I am so beautiful!" BUT... the best part of all is, Terry gets to do her ballet dance with her!! HAHAHA! The dance is to a song that a man is singing about dancing with cinderella, so all of the dads have to be on stage and dance with their little girls. It really is actually pretty cute! When I was asking Terry if I could sign Ashlyn up for dance, I already knew that the dads had to participate, so I wasn't sure if I should let Terry know right away, but I decided I better tell him and believe it or not he has been a really good sport about it. I didn't have to convince him at all, he just agreed right away. (He has a pretty soft spot for Ashlyn!) Well the other night they had their first "Daddy practice", so I made sure to have the camera on hand. Below are the pictures I got of Terry and Ashlyn dancing... (Please ignore the picture quality! I have a pretty cheap camera, but can usually get decent pictures, so I am thinking that I must have had the camera on the wrong setting. Sorry!)

Damon's 1 month pictures

I took Damon to get his 1 month pictures taken. I was kind of disappointed in them. I took him to JC Penny's to get them done. I like going there cause they are really cheap, and I have gotten Blake and Ashlyn's done there before and they turned out great. But this time I was not impressed at all. I hated the background options, and I really didn't have much to choose from as far as good pictures. Although, Damon is not a very happy baby, so I can't really blame the picture options on the photographer. He always has this grumpy look on his face. So anyway, here are some of the pictures we got. The first one is my favorite even though he isn't looking at the camera. Maybe we can get some better ones at his next photo shoot!! (I still think he is pretty darn cute anyways!)

This was the only naked picture that I thought looked even a little good... He is about to cry in this picture.

Ashlyn's Handy Work!

So, I have been downstairs taking down all of the Christmas Decorations. Meanwhile, Ashlyn decides to get onto the computer without my knowledge, where my email is still pulled up. Somehow she manages to copy the information that was up, logon to my blog, (which by the way was NOT already pulled up), and paste the information that she has copied into a new post, and then publish the post! How do kids figure these things out?? I am just lucky, cause who knows what kind of emails she could have sent out!!! (By the way... disregard any weird or unusual emails that you may have gotten from me!!!) Below is the actual post made by Ashlyn. (yes, it is just a bunch of nonsense, but when I was her age, if I had stumbled upon a computer, the only thing I would have managed to do is push the button that turns the computer off.) And please, keep your fingers crossed for me that she didn't send any emails out!!!!

Juno Message Center: "Home Mail Address Book Loading ...
aubrey8676@juno.com Switch User
Your Weather Return to Classic Email Sign Out Check Mail Compose New SearchInboxDraftSentTrash (10)EmptyJunk MailEmptyMy FoldersAddMy FoldersAdd FUNNYInform...import...my res...pictur...recipe... (49)Create a New Email Address for FreeGeneralPersonal InfoRead /ComposeVacation ResponderJunk Mail"

Christmas 2009

We had a pretty good Christmas this year. On Christmas Eve we had Terry's parents over for dinner and to play games. The kids got to open one present. (Which were new pajamas. They get new jammies every year on Christmas Eve. Damon also got his very first Christmas Ornament.) Late that night my mom, dad, and brother Ricky came in to town from Utah. Then on Christmas morning we woke up around 7:30 and found all of the goodies that Santa left for us. We opened all of our presents and then had a yummy breakfast. Later we had Terry's parents back over to spend the day with all of us, and to enjoy our yummy Christmas dinner. We had a lazy, yet fun day. Unfortunately I didn't get a ton of pictures, but here are a few...

Here the kids are taking off the last ring for our Christmas countdown.

Excited to open their first present Christmas Eve.

Showing off their new jammies.

I had to get a close up of Damon in his.
Damon Christmas morning being attacked by the puppy Santa left him.

Ashlyn posing with her new things.

Blake with his.

Me with my favorite present!

Damon Mark Olson

Our sweet little Damon was born on Friday, December 11th at 1:36pm. I was induced into labor that morning at 5:00am. He weighed 8lbs 5oz and was 21 inches long. We were very suprised by his size. I was much smaller with this pregnancy than with the others, and the doctor predicted that he would be in the upper sixes lower sevens. Dr. Robinson was the doctor who delivered him.

This was by far the easiest delivery I have had. Thank goodness! The epidural was wonderful, and I didn't feel a thing once I got it. I even asked if I could take some home! Terry and my mom were there during the delivery, and the kids got to come later that evening to meet there new little brother. Blake was a little "standoffish" at first, but now really seems to love him. Every now and then I will find him sitting next to Damon just rubbing his head or sometimes just giving him a little kiss on the forehead. I am really glad he his warming up to him, and I know he will be a great big brother to him and they will be the best of buds. Ashlyn has always been excited about having a baby brother so we knew she wouldn't need any time getting use to him. The first thing she said at the hospital was, "how long do we get to keep the baby?" We told her forever, so she was pretty happy about that. She loves to hold Damon and feed him his bottle. She also likes to give him his binky, but he hasn't really seemed to like it so far. We are just so excited that he his finally here. He is such a sweet little guy, and I personally think he is the cutest little baby in the world! We just love him to death! He's a keeper!

*Just on a side note... when Damon was first born, he had the funniest cry. It was like this high pitch little girl scream. So cute! Terry says it sounded like a cow elk call. (Not that I have any clue what that would sound like.) But his cry has changed a bit. Still cute, just different. (Although, it really isn't that cute at 3:00 in the morning!!)

Just a few hours old.

He looks like he has been in a fight in this picture!

Proud big sister!

Proud big brother!

Our Big Adventure

Right after Halloween Ashlyn, Terry and I came down with the swine flu. So we were locked up in our house for over a week. So once we were all feeling up to it, we decided it was time to get out of the house. So rather than going to a movie, or anything else that would keep us indoors, we decided to go on an "adventure". (Well, that's what we called it anyways!) So we all dressed up real warm, grabbed our winter gloves and hats, and piled into the car. The kids were sooo excited. Terry drove us up to Swan Valley, and over to the "girls camp" over there. And here is what we saw...

The world's biggest slide!
(or at least the biggest slide I have ever seen!)

Terry's Grandpa Peterson helped build this slide, and was actually the first person to ever go down it!

Blake did not even hesitate. He ran up the stairs, got on, and slid down. I was terrified!! I just knew he was going to fall over the side to his death! Luckily I was wrong, though he did shoot off the bottom of the slide. He got going pretty fast down that thing!

Terry being a kid. He was just as excited to go down it as Blake was!


Ashlyn and I were happy enough to just watch. She was too scared to go down it, and I was too scared for her to go down it!!

(Terry did take some pictures of me, but I look like a Sumo Wrestler in them so I decided to leave those out!)

After we had enough fun on the slide, the kids got to swing, and we threw around a frisbee for a little while. We also went on a short hike on one of the trails that were up there. Then on our way home we stopped and had some of the "famous" square ice cream cones. We had fun, and it felt wonderful to step out of the house for a little fresh air!!

Halloween '09

We had a pretty fun and busy Halloween this year. To start it off, we carved pumpkins on the Wednesday before Halloween. (Well, Terry and I carved ours, the kids drew on theirs.) Then on Thursday we went to a family costume party that our friends, The Highs, put on. We all dressed up, and there was a ton for the kids to do. They bobbed for apples, did a cake walk, decorated cookies, and also had a pinata. There was a ton of food too! Thanks Ashley and Cameron for the fun party! The next night we had another family costume party that our friends, The Daniels, put on. We put our costumes back on, and played a bunch of Halloween themed games, while the kids played their own games with a couple of teenage girls. It was nice to have the kids busy so that us adults could socialize without the kids bugging us. Thanks Angela and Tyson, it was fun! Then on Halloween night we went to our church for a "trunk or treat." The kids got a ton of candy, though I personally enjoy the "traditional" trick or treating. It is way more fun going door to door for your candy. Oh well, maybe we will do that next year. We had alot of fun and look forward to next year! Here are some pictures taken from all of the fun...

Ashlyn showing off her beautiful pumpkin.
Blake with his.

Me carving mine.

(Enjoy the prego shot, cause its the last one your gonna get!)

All of us posing under our pumpkins. Notice the baby's tiny pumpkin on the end.

(If Terry loved me AT ALL, he would have told me to sit up or something, cause I look HUGE in this picture!)

These 2 pictures are from Blake's school. This was at their costume parade.

Ashlyn dressed as batgirl.

(She wanted to be batman, so we settled on batgirl!)

Blake as Darth Vader

Our whole family. Terry and I are rockstars.

Ashlyn wearing "billy bob" teeth. How ugly is this!!

Terry's parents stopped by the house to show the kids their costumes!