Dane Turns 3!

My little brother, Blake, was kind enough to share Dane's family birthday party. He turned 23 this year. Thanks bro!!!Dane's life consists of eating, sleeping, and Thomas and Friends trains. He is the center of our universe, and knows it. Dane loves eating pepperoni, mandarine oranges, pizza, and pears. He is fearless, and was also potty trained this year. I just love spending my days with this little munchkin!!

Dane is also a birthday hog. He things every birthday is his birthday. Thank Heavens he is finally blowing out his own candles!

I love this action shot!

Dane is a Poser!

Baby Dane found my camera in my purse the other day when we were at the splashpad. He loves to pose for pictures.

Kindergarten Field Trip to Superstition Farms

This year the kindergarten field trip to the Superstition Farm did not disappoint. The weather was fabulous! The kids got to see over 2000 dairy cows, horses, donkeys, rabbits, chickens, turkeys, geese, and learn all about farming in Arizona. This big dairy is within 5 miles of our house.

Good friends...

Farmer Dane...

This chicken loved Tyler!

Two Little Monkeys

Jumping on Grandma Wilson's antique couch! Heaven!:0)

Alone At Last!

Baby Dane turned two last August. Because of his late summer birthday, Dane will not begin kindergarten for 3 and a half more years.

I find myself thoroughly enjoying this child. I'm not used to only having one set of diapers to change, or only one needy little one at home during the day. I'm not used to having a 2-yr-old at home and not worrying about when i'm going to get pregnant again, or having morning sickness most of the day long.

Needless to say, it is pure bliss. We go to the park, we shop, we read, we cuddle, we play. He watches a show while I buzz around getting things done.

Together we get things ready for "the brothers" to come home in the afternoon. Dane is my little buddy for the next 3.5 years, the perfect little caboose to our crazy Coates train...and I am loving every moment of it!

Power Ranch Winter Festival

Each winter our community has a big winter festival. There are shows, booths, bouncers, and food. Best of all, hundreds of pounds of snow are shipped in. Now this is my kind of snow storm...Lots of white stuff in 70 degree Arizona sun! The kids had a blast!

Preston

Tyler
Dane

They just couldn't get over the Dave's BBQ pig!

Dane was psycho on the bouncers! He is definately the fourth of four boys!

Dane...Sigh.

Being the fourth of four boys, Dane truly has a personality of his own. He is going through a floatie stage. He wants to wear them everywhere! Here is Dane at our ward park day. He wouldn't even take them off to swing. Though it's the end of November, you can be sure that Dane is safe around water!

Pumpkin Patch 2010

We have a family tradition of going to the "Mother Nature's Farm" pumpkin patch every October. All of the boys were very excited about it. They are getting older, but still get excited about this special night. Look closely at Cody's pumpkin. He was careful to pick out one that looks like a "butt". I know, I know...But, what do you do with a 10-yr.-old???

Dane was beside himself. He was so excited to be it the dirt, on the tractor, and with the baby ckicks! He watched the chicks for a good 30 minutes.

Crazy Hair Day

We are extremely strict about education at our house. We discuss college and occupations when our children are in preschool. We expect only the best grades from them. However, I must admit that I am a sucker for the "fun" parts of school. I think they're important. I love "Crazy Hair Day", "Football Friday", class competitions, read-a-thons, and Halloween parties.

Today was the annual "Crazy Hair Day" at Power Ranch. We did black and green paint to match football jerseys. I have no idea what Dane is doing with his mouth, but he wanted to participate too!
Big "T".

Crazy Dane on his bike. He was screaming at me to take this picture.

Fourth and Final

For the last ten years I have had babies at home all day long. It has been such a blessing to be able to stay home with them. However, I would be lying if I said it wasn't stressful and hard some of the time. This year we have three boys in school all day long. It feels kind of like having my first again. We shop, play, and hang out together. I am glad that Dane gets some alone time. He deserves it being the last of four boys. Dane, surprizingly, doesn't miss his brothers at all!

He loves to eat Goldfish and watch Thomas the Train videos on his Thomas the Train pullout. Yes, he is drinking Koolaid out of a bottle at 2 years of age, and I don't even care. You relax by the fourth, and it's SO much more fun!!!
This is what Dane Did on Friday morning. Yes, he runs around naked some days, and we are totally O.K. with that!

Baby Dane Turns 2!

Two years ago, this month, Baby Dane came into our world. Because Dane was a breach baby, and because of some other complications, he came to us two weeks early via c-section. It was a special day, and we just cried when we saw a healthy baby. What a blessing he is to us!

Dane is the fourth and final of four boys. He turned 2, but thinks that he's 8. Dane enjoys Thomas the Train, The Wiggles, and playing with trucks. Tagging along with his bro's is also one of his favorite pass times. He got lots of trucks, a jack-in-the-box, new clothes, a pretend puppy, and new books for his birthday.

Now that the boys are all in school, Dane and I have alot of alone time together. We both love it. He is a shopper, and loves to go on drives with me.

Happy Birthday Dane!! We love you so much!!!

Carlsbad Beach 2010

We met up with the Bonds one of the days on our vacation. We always enjoy hanging out with this family, and Kendra doesn't seem to mind tagging along with all of the boys. We really had a good time!

Throwing rocks.

Boogie Boarding

They spent hours finding sea shells and crabs.

Dane was a total poser at the beach.

Disneyland 2010...The Rides!

We had such a fine time at Disneyland this year. Everyone in our family thoroughly enjoys "The Happiest Place on Earth". However, I think that Warren gets more excited than anyone to go. He never went as a child, and I think he is making up for it now! There are no pictures of me on this vacation for some reason...don't cry, we'll take more of me on the next trip!

This is what Dane looked like the entire time. We were worried about taking him, but he opened and closed the place each day with the rest of us! He is SO ready for California Screamin'!

This is what happened every time we tried to take a picture with all four boys. What you don't see is the group of Asians to the left cracking up, and taking videos of us trying to get our four boys in a picture together!



Tyler is our first child who is totally into the characters. It was so cute. He wanted to wait in the little character lines and get pictures with some of them. I loved it!

Tyler and Tigger!

This was one of Dane's favorite rides. We went on it over and over and over!

It was fun this year because most of our kids wanted to go on all of the scary rides. We got Fast Passes and Switch Passes, which made getting on and off all of the rides quick. We love nothing more than spending time with our little family. We had an awesome time!

Dane Does Not Like To Wear Clothes...Need I Say More?

It is my daily battle. He prefers to roam freely a natural...no restrictions. In this state, my little monster has now peed on clean laundry, out the back door, and on my foot. But it makes him so, so happy. I can't say I blame him.

Typical Sacrament Meeting

As we left church yesterday my cute friend said, "Now that is the first time I ever got to listen to Queen all of the way through Sacrament meeting!"

I quickly realized that her family had been sitting next to me and the boys during that hour. I apologized and then chuckled to myself. Yes, Dane loves to sing "We Will Rock You" at any given time. And, because he is just over 18 months old, he doesn't really know when it is or is not appropriate. Of course, it is usually during the most unopportune times that he decides to perform.

Because the only other song he knows is "Old MacDonald Had a Farm", we are usually happy when he is in the mood for Queen!