Snooknoggle

We made up a word - snooknoggle - well Robert made it up. We always ask Steph if she sees it out the window as we drive. She gets really excited and tells us she sees it. She brought it up the other day too!

Stephanie words:

"yeah baby"
"snookgoggle" - it's supposed to be snooknoggle...
"yes" - she anunciates this VERY clearly and says it soooo cute
"loser"
"tummy hurt"
when she wants to get down: "may I please have a 'get down'?" all said in a high voice as sweet as possible!


The picture is from Jessy's 12th birthday. We can't believe she is twelve - the time goes so fast. Jessy is so sweet and fun - incredibly helpful around here too! She has a great sense of humor and brings tons of blessing to all of us.

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Painting!

Dani & Steph Painting. This actually went really well. No disasters!

Stephanie Worshipping and other things

Today we kept Stephanie with us in church. At the end of the service we sang a few songs. A man near the front raised his hands really high. Stephanie proceeded to copy him with a serious look on her face. We all started laughing and almost could not hold it in. I think she did it twice but I could no longer look at her. She didn't know we were laughing as we were trying not to. People were coming up and making comments on her after church - it was very obvious. Mr. Farrell wondered if she could speak in tongues as well. The other funny thing is - there are 300 people in there - she copies the one! How funny is that?

Yesterday and I hestitate to say this one...she started singing the ABC's - Here's how it went..."a b c d e f g, h i j k l m n o P - Pee Pee Pee Poo Poo Poo, Pee Pee Poo Poo" Now - of course - I corrected her...but it was still funny! I promise - none of my kids have done that NOR have seen it in any movies. This was an original.

Only the 5th Child

I was in Costco today - Stephanie was her friendly self - smiling at everyone, yelling Hi to people, holding up 2 fingers for two, etc. I saw a lady I knew from church - she is new to our church - anyway - Stephanie said hi to her really sweetly with a huge smile on her face. The lady then asked, "How are you today?" and Stephanie replied with a smile, "Loser!" Loser said in the funny way they say it in Daddy Day Care. I started laughing because what else was I to do and said, "My daughter just called you a loser! I'm really sorry!" ...and proceeded to explain that she learned it from a movie (probably a movie she should definitely not be watching at 2 years old because of that very reason!) I then told Stephanie she is only allowed to call her brothers losers, but definetly not nice ladies from church!!!

Jessy

Just a picture of Jessy. This was from a tournament a couple of months ago...they won.

21 Years Till 60

The other morning I said, "I'm too old for that!" (Can't remember what "that" was.) Nathaniel replies, "Mom, you're not too old! You are still 21 years away from being 60!"

Now - I know he meant that as a compliment because he is only 9 and 21 years seems like forever - BUT we all know I was thinking, "Is that it???"

UCLA game

Robert surprised the boys with a UCLA basketball game last week. He just put them in the car and drove to Pauley Pavillion - they guessed where they were going when they saw the sign that said, "UCLA next exit!" ...and yes - we are VERY excited UCLA beat USC last Saturday (football). It was a great sports day for the Dodsons - Jessy's team won their softball tournament, Nanno his basketball game and both boys their first flag football game - that with UCLA winning - what a day!!! And yes - I know what most are thinking - too many sports...well - I didn't know flag football was the same time as basketball....I think Robert DID!

Today, Steph, Dani and I went shopping. We went to Chick Fillet for lunch. Stephanie had her own drink in a styrofoam cup. While I was picking up the food, I heard her screaming at the top of her lungs. She bit a hole in the bottom of the cup and the sprite spilled all over her - It spilled out like a faucet! Dani couldn't figure out what was wrong as she couldn't see the hole in the bottom of the cup!

Pictures of Grandma and two Grandpas!

Thanksgiving Day. We had a blast. Dani played cards all day with Grandma Lu. Steph went from person to person. We had family friends over, our parents and the Santa Clarita Ardos. We played basketball, cooked, cleaned and played with all the kids - 14 in all! God is good. We thank Him most of all for our salvation and the gift of His son.

Steph and "Me"

A lady over the weekend asked Steph her name:

Steph replied, "I'm me!"
The lady said, "You're me?"
Steph said, "Yah, Me!"

FYI - Steph used to be "you." She has now switched to being "me."

She says her name as Deffi Dawson - but only if I say, "Say Stephy Dodson!"

Steph asleep on the couch at Grandma Ardo's!

Palm Desert

We went to Palm Desert this week for a meeting for Robert's work. Beth and I just hung out with all the kids and saw Robert and Rod some of the time! One day Robert took Steph swimming - when it was time to go - she swam to the middle and would not come - knowing full well, he couldn't get her!

The kids had a blast - there was a basketball court and a nice pool. We had a great time with the shacks. It was fun to do meals together and hang out! We were supposed to do school but...somehow that didn't happen! We had Steph's birthday while we were there - kind of uneventful as she doesn't know what's going on. We got her an ironing board and cleaning things - figuring that when the other kids move out, she'll still be home to do all the chores.

Jessy's Room

We had a friend paint a mural on Jessy's wall today. Jessy's loves it!

Dani as a Grandma

We were going to go to Disneyland for halloween but Dani and Andrew really wanted to go trick-or-treating. We went around Big Range in Canyon Lake. At first it seemed like no one was out but then it was crazy. There were kids everywhere. It reminded me of how it was when I was a kid - a looooonnnnggg time ago.

We are still so sad about Jake. If you didn't know he had to be put to sleep, read the one under this one. He was the best dog!

Jake

Jake had to be put to sleep today. He was fine on Monday and Tuesday morning. By last night, he looked awful. This morning we couldn't get him up. The vet said we had to put him to sleep - He did an autopsy on him and said he had a perforated bowel . He also said that it was unrelated to the last thing because he couldn't have lived that long (as it was 5 weeks ago). It must have happened three weeks ago or so and because Jake showed no difference in behavior, we had no idea. The only way he could have been saved was had we known when it happened. Poor Jake! He must have been in so much pain and never whimpered or looked sick at all. Jessy, Dani and I have cried all day. He was the best dog. Jessy is trying to talk Robert into a puppy. Poor Robert - today cost a lot of money! I don't think we will be getting a new dog any time soon :O(

Stephanie at 2

Just things I want to remember as she turns 2 next week:

"go in nare" - Go in There
"candy, eat it, me" - she always ends whatever she says in "me"
"tired, ni-nite, me"
"Stephie Dawson" (said with a Sean Connery slur)
"color, me?" - loves to draw and color - starts on paper, ends on floors and furniture!
"go bye-bye, me" - loves going anywhere and everywhere
"jessy, mean"
"oh man, that stinks!" as she throws her arms down and her head back.
"mere" for come here
"see dis" for see this
"yike it, me" for I like it.
"ah pop" for otter pop
"paacuu" popcorn

She blames anything and everything on Nathaniel and he is usually not even in the room!

A Dry Eraser Marker is her tool of choice. It is on my front entry wall, my doors, my tables, under my tables, on the backs of chairs. All this done in a nano-second.

She sings the Barney Song, ABC's, Twinkle Twinkle Little Start and Jesus Loves Me pretty well.
A bottle is called "milk botto bobble" - She LOVES her bobbo.

Whenever she dumps anything out (which she does ALL THE TIME) - she sees me and says, "cwean up, cwean up."

At 7 in the morning today she looked at Robert and said, "food, burger, ketchup, me?"

She also sings Twinkle Twinkle in a demon voice - no idea why! It's super funny!

Juice packs come out as "poop pack"

Yesterday I told her no and she said, "Be quiet Mom!"

She loves being read to and especially loves puzzles.

Jessy Sleeping and Other Things...

This cracks us up. Jessy wants the hall light ON when she goes to bed but then she wraps her "bo-bo" (blanket) around her eyes to be in the dark.

Whenever something funny happens around here - Nathaniel says, "Mom - you can put that on your blog."

Jake is sick again - he just looks...wrong. Robert is not too happy. Hope he makes it to the morning. I think he must have eaten something again!

Nathaniel in Brianhead

We went to Brianhead this weekend to check on the place. In the middle of the night the power went out - it was PITCH BLACK. You could not see anything - it was really weird- it woke me up and I struggled looking around, finally gave up and went to sleep. A few minutes later I hear Nathaniel panicking and calling me, starting to cry. He kept yelling, "I can't see! Mooooommmmy!!" I felt my way in there all the while trying to ask him to "sssshhhhh" and brought him back to my bed. He told me in the morning that he thought he went blind. It struck us so funny because we could imagine him trying to open and shut his eyes over and over again. He said he opened his eyes, couldn't see anything, kept trying, turned the light on - it didn't work and then he panicked that he lost his eyesight! You could tell he was scared to death!

Jessy woke up in the commotion, went to the bathroom, ran into the refriderator - which isn't anywhere near the bathroom. Dani cried and I had to get up and find her, brought her into my bad - Robert went in her bed in case Steph got up (and because there was no more room for him!)- Steph woke up because everyone else was up. Sammy, of course, slept through the whole thing.

Sam and the Tooth Fairy

We think Sammy really believes in the tooth fairy. He's had about 4 teeth under his pillow (in a ziplock bag) for about a month - yes - I know - that is gross but anyway... Nathaniel came in the office a week ago and said, "Dad, you really need to give Sam some money for his teeth..." We were laughing that Nanno knows it's Robert. Another week went by with no money. Sam lost a tooth yesterday and came into the office and said, "Mom, I'm going to put this under my pillow but I have had other teeth under there for a LONG time and I never get any money." I said, "Alright, I'll talk to him." He says, "Him who??" I caught myelf and said, "Oh the tooth fairy, I know him." He was excited. We put a lot of money in there last night and you should have seen his face this morning. He ran out showing everyone - and Jessy just glared at Robert thinking that she has NEVER received that much money!!!

Dani and the Birds - Part 1

At Wild Animal Park, there is a place where you can buy nectar and feed lorakeets. It's the coolest thing there. The birds land on you and eat the nectar from a small cup. It's the kids (Jess, Sam and Nate's) favorite thing to do there. Dani was all excited to do it. When we got in, the lady told the kids to go to the center of the cage....well they stopped too quickly and we were stuck in a smaller area. Birds starting coming from all over. I think we were their first feeding of the day. A bird landed on Dani - you can see from her face in this picture that she's trying to enjoy this but that she hated every minute of it. Actually there is one on her shoulder - not sure she noticed it yet. Birds were going crazy. One landed on Reid's shoulder and started biting his head! The birds knocked Nathaniel's cup right out of his hand.

Dani and the Birds - Part 2

Lorakeets were everywhere - landing on Dani and freaking her out. When the bird started pecking her hair right by her face, she had had enough! I didn't have a free hand to help her (but I did manage to take a picture!)