Oldroyd Family Service Project

This year the Oldroyd family decided to put together a service project. Jeff and Nanci work at the NICU at IMC and Ryan works at the PICU at Primary children's hospital. We decided to get stuff for both places. For the NICU we collected fleece and money for blankets for the little baby's bed's. We than decided that whatever was leftover to buy toys and mobiles for the PICU. We were amazed at the generousity of family and friends. We got enough fleece donated so all the money we had was for toys and mobiles. But we got enough money to buy 4 baby mobiles for the PICU, a few rattles, two Winnie the Pooh Electronic books, at least 10 movies and a few more toys. We also got a baby swing for the NICU and a baby mobile. We also donated a few used toys and movies that the kids got together and Ryan gave up a couple XBox games.

Danielle cutting fabric for the NICU.

Us girls wearing the leftover fabric as scarves.


The swing for the NICU.

Showing all the kids what we got for the sick kids at both hospitals.

Gracie loved all the fun toys!

Packing up the stuff to take to the hospitals.

This was a really neat service project to do as a family. Hopefully we can continue to teach the kids about service. Thanks to all you that helped and donated. We really appreciate it. Thank you J and Tiff, Dan and Miranda, Jon and Jamie, Mark and Ceci, Court and Meg,my Dad, Lynda,Jason and Staci Nay and my Mom. We love you all and I know the hospitals and kids appreciate it.

Perfect picture moment

So... tonight I was on the couch with Brooklynn and Cameron. Brooklynn is sick and was snuggling me and I was holding Cameron. I was talking on the phone with my mother-in-law. I often think about my life and wonder if I will be blessed with more kids or what will happen. Just then I realized they both had fallen asleep. Their little heads were even touching and we were all so cozy. I just wanted to freeze time and wish I could have taken a picture. (Ryan's at work) I know that no matter what happens I have two beautiful kids that I love and they love me. I could have snuggled them forever.


Brooklynn, you are a joy in our lives and keep us on our toes. You make me laugh and cry. You are the most polite and thoughtful girl. I love that you are always concerned and if I make a noise in the other room you always ask. "Mom, you okay?" I love spending time with you. Thanks for being the best daughter ever! We love you so much.


Cameron, you brought us faith and hope. You are my little miracle. You are such a sweet, calm, perfect baby. You look so much like your daddy. I hope you grow to take after his wonderful qualities, like taking such good care of your wife (someday). There are so many more but always look up to him and know that we love you so much. Thanks for being my sweet little man.

Happy Birthday Berkie

Wow I can't believe 3 years ago we were in Walla Walla, in a hotel with our new little girl. She has completely changed our lives. I can't imagine my life with out her. We love you so much Brooklynn and are so blessed to have you in our lives. Yesterday Brooklynn turned 3 and sure is a big girl now.

Brooklynn got a cute new sweat suit. She looks darling in it.

She was so excited for the new Tinkerbell movie.
Brooklynn got a digital camera, now maybe she will stop trying to use mine.

Wahoo! Finally a new tea set. Brooklynn has been asking for one for awhile. She was very excited.

Brooklynn loves pizza, so for her birthday dinner we made our own pizzas. She was so detailed about what went on it and where it went.

This was the pizza she made Ryan. What a little artist, it was so funny watching her do it, because she wanted everything in specific spots. She even garnished the plate with the peppers. (I put them on top of the pizza to cook them though) But this is a lovely looking pizza, I can't believe she did it all by herself.

She looks so darling in her new dress from Grandma and Grandpa Oldroyd. What a beautiful birthday girl

This Christmas Season

We had a wonderful Christmas this year. The kids got a lot of stuff and were kinda spoiled. This year was so much fun to watch Brooklynn, next year will be great cause Cameron will be older and can acctually open his gifts. Brooklynn told me her favorite gift was what Santa left in her stocking in her bedroom 3 little Strawberry Stortcake dolls. (I wish I would have known, I don't think it cost Santa too much, cause I have seen those for only $1. I will have to remember that.) We got to spend a lot of time with family and friends.

I grew up with lots of holiday traditions some we still do with my family and some I do at my own house. We also have a few new ones that we started. A few of my favorite is that we get a new Christmas book every year so Ryan and I now 8 since we have been married and we read them through out the month of December. At my mom's we also have a Christmas Eve box that includes some gifts that we get on Christmas Eve. Both Ryan and my families have always had a dinner Christmas Eve so whoever we eat dinner with for Thanksgiving we do the other family for Christmas Eve dinner and switch off every year. Then after dinner we still go to the other house to finish off the celebrations. I love that with Ryan's family the kids do the nativity and this year Brooklynn was Mary, Ty was Joseph and Cameron was baby Jesus for about 2 minutes.

A new tradition that we started this year was Brooklynn and I made cookies for Santa, it was a lot of fun. It was funny though the next morning Brooklynn said, "Mom, I kinda sad at Santa," I asked her why and she said "cause he ate all my cookies." I explained to her that is why we made the cookies and he left her lots of stuff instead. And acctually we still had cookies left, we only gave him a few. She was happy after she knew we still had some.

Also in the last probably 4 or 5 years I have been given several nativity scenes. One is a hand-me-down, one from my grandma, one came from Russia, and one from when I was little and a few other gifts. I realized that I actually have 8 this year and thought that I would collect one every year also. Some day when my basement is finished I will have lots of room to display them. But for now my decorations are a little squished but I love this time of year.

Ryan's parents, my mom and dad all spoiled us this year. Ryan's parents gave us all a picture of Christ that Ryan's aunt Chris drew. (Chris passed away almost 2 years ago, this is a perfect gift to always remember her.) They also bought a Wii to keep at their house so we could all come over and play. My dad got us specific things for Ryan and me and I got a gift card to Old Navy to get new clothes. Wahoo! My mom got us a lot of different things, the coolest was in 1998 when the new quarters came out my mom bought the books to collect them and so all these years she has been secretly saving them and putting them in books for us. She finally finished it and gave them to us. Also she got me those blender things the Bullet. I am very excited about that.

We had a great year and got a lot of neat stuff and had some good experiences. In a later post I will put on there the stuff about the Blankets and toys for NICU and PICU. I hope everyone had a great holiday as well. Hope everyone also has a Happy New year.

Muffin Tin Monday (on Wednesday)

For Muffin Tin Wednesday we read one of my favorite books EVER! (Here is a background on the book)



Ryan and I tried to have a baby for 3 1/2 years with no luck we couldn't wait to be parents and after lots of fasting and prayers we felt very strongly we were suppose to adopt. The adoption process took about 6 months for all the interviews, home study and letters. Just 4 days before Thanksgiving, we got the phone call that we were approved for adoption. Of course they let us know it could take years, so we were planning at least one year. Only one week later we heard that someone heard about us through a friend and was very interested in us. So after playing call tag for 2 weeks I finally talked to the birth mom. With in just minutes on the phone she let me know that she wanted Ryan and I to be the parents. So secretly with the birth mom we planned when we would go down and she would be enduced. The only people that knew was Ryan's parents and my mom. We couldn't wait to tell everyone for Christmas. So.... my sister Terra knew that I love books and also Great Children's books. For one of our gifts she gave me this book called You Are My Miracle. It is everything that our little Brooklynn is. So I read it to her for Muffin Tin Monday... (Most of the pictures are things from this year except probably 3)

YOU ARE MY MIRACLE

I am your parent; you are my child.
I am your quiet place; you are my wild.


I am your hot cocoa; you are my marshmellow.
I am your nutcracker; you are my cookie dough.


I am your gingerbread; you are my fronsting goo.
I am your paper; you are my glitter and glue.


I am your wrapping; you are my surprise.
I am your don't peek; you are my wide eyes.


I am your bundle up; you are my dash outside.
I am your uphill pull; you are my fast sleigh ride


I am your fortress; you are my snowball fight.
I am your decorate; you are my tangled lights.


(Only picture she has let us take of her with Santa in 2 years)I am your helper; you are my do-it-myself.
I am your Santa Claus; you are my Christmas elf.


I am your glass ball; you are my popcorn strings.
I am your pageant; you are my angel's wings.


I am your steady hands; you are my rising star.
I am your stocking; you are my chocolate bar.


I am your caroling; you are my jingle bell.
I am your favorite song; you are my first noel.


I am your old stories; you are my make-believe.
I am your go to sleep; you are my Christmas Eve.


I am your hush now; you are my lyrical.
I am your peace on Earth; you are my miracle.



What a perfect book to read for this season, with my perfect little girl.

Merry Christmas

We didn't get many cards out this year, but we want to wish you all a very Merry Christmas!

This year has been a great year with a lot of changes.

Ryan: Works as a Registered Nurse and transfered from IMC over to Primary Children's Hospital to work in the Pediatric ICU. He really enjoys it a lot. He works very hard at his job and around the house. Ryan did not run any marathons this year but plans to start up again next year. He did go mountain biking and road biking a lot though. Ryan also loves his XBox, luckily for me, he doesn't play too much. Usually when I go to bed. (he sometimes gets really loud yelling at the game.)

Dani: I worked at Stampin' Up! this year but a couple months before Cameron was born stayed home. It is a busy job taking care of two kiddies, but I love it. (I do miss the discount at SU though) I still am doing the same things I enjoy taking pictures, reading, writing and sign language. I spend most of my day cleaning and organizing. I will never be as organized as I would like but I try so hard. (I am a little OCD about it) I also love blogging and can't wait until the end of the year and I am going to print it in a book. I love the excuse for when Ryan thinks I buy too much scrapbooking stuff... "But Ryan, I am doing family history." I guess it doesn't work anymore until I acctually use what I have first.

Brooklynn: Brooklynn keeps me on my toes. She had a very eventful year. She went from being my little baby girl to a big sister and such a big girl. She is potty trained and got rid of her binky. She loves being a big sister and making Cameron smile and get little giggles out of him. She is a big helper around the house. Brooklynn's favorite activities are singing and dancing, dressing up and drawing and painting. Her favorite characters are Minnie Mouse and Tinkerbell. Just recently after seeing a commercial for the dvd's, she LOVES Shirley Temple. She also (just told me) "I don't like the shower, I like baffs(baths)" She is so sweet and we receive (at least) 10 hugs and kisses a day. Also numerous "I luvsh (love) you." It just makes my day.

Cameron: Is very calm and sweet. He gives very cute smiles and even big goofy smiles. He started laughing a little over a week ago and it is darling. He is very curious. Cameron likes to trick mommy and not stick to his night time schedule all the time. Overall he is very happy and sweet. I think he is a handsome little boy.

Hope everyone has a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Kid's update...

I am still playing catch up a little so here is the latest on Brooklynn and Cameron.
Today Brooklynn had her 3 year well check and Cameron had his 2 month well check. They both are doing great! Let's start with Brooklynn.

Brooklynn is 36 inches tall and weighs 30 pounds now. For her height she is in the 25% and weight 50%. She loved her the new Doc. Dr. "Toby". She wouldn't stop talking to him. The first thing she said is "I wear panties and go on the potty!" It was really funny.
Well it is true... A year ago Brooklynn was pretty much potty trained (except at night and at stores, the potties were "too dirty" luckily we worked through that.) Anyways... she was doing so good for only barely being 2, but then I went back to work (that really was hard for babysitters to keep up on). Also she got really sick and it was not fun for me to clean and she felt yucky when she didn't make it. So she stopped going potty. But 2 weeks ago today I didn't want to buy anymore diapers. I put her in panties to bed, and there has been 0 accidents in 14 whole days. Wahoo! I am so proud of her.

Another milestone... NO MORE BINKIES! (Thanks Courtney for the great idea) Last week Brooklynn decided she was done with the binky and just threw them all away. We were like "alright that was easy." But a couple hours later she was not having it. So we decided to use Courtney's idea and she could trade them for a prize. First I cut off all the nipples, so she knew they were broken. We then took them to the store. She was very excited and it was quite the decision. But she decided on a Snow White dress. She gave the cashier all her binkies and he threw them in the garbage. And it has been almost a week with out binkies. She still has her bunny but that is ok. What a big girl Brooklynn has become. She is a great daughter and big sister.


Cameron is becoming a little chunk. At the doctors he now weighs 12.4 pounds in the 60%. He is 23.9 inches long 80% and his cute round head is only 5%. He had to get his shots today and he did not like it. I am becoming a lot stronger. Since Brooklynn was a baby this is the first time that I haven't cried when either one of them got a shot. I am so proud of myself. Poor little Cameron was very upset.
We came home and he had his tylenol and the smiley picture was only an hour after the shots. He sure is my cute happy boy with a goofy little smile. What a sweetie he is. Saturday we had our Ward Christmas breakfast and Cameron sat on Santa's lap and wouldn't stop staring at him. We'll see next year though. (Brooklynn admired from afar, she wanted the girl Santa.) I am so lucky to have a handsome boy and beautiful girl. I love my little kids and am so proud. They are growing so fast.

P.S. Cameron is not doing as well from his shots. Poor little guy really hurts. Luckily the tylenol helps for awhile. But at least I can stay home with him all night and tomorrow and just snuggle him.

Birthday Celebration

My mom decided to celebrate Ryan and Brooklynn's birthdays together(even though Berkie's isn't until the 28th). So Sunday we went over there and had a yummy turkey dinner and then had cake and icecream and opened their gifts. Brooklynn was very excited. She got to help Grandma Bean put the candles on the cakes.

They did pretty good blowing out their candles.

Terra gave Ryan a picture of her that says 'Sister Friend'. It is a big joke with them. Very funny. Ryan also got money and Panda Express gift card and Jake gave him a manicure set. It was just a joke, Jake gave him an IOU.

Brooklynn loves opening her gifts. And was very excited for her Tinkerbell dress.

She got a lot of Tinkerbell stuff. She loves her new dress and jewelry box the best. We had a fun night, Thanks, mom, Grandma and Grandpa Budd, Josh, Johana, Caleb, Terra, Jacob and Amber for hanging out with us and for the gifts. They really enjoyed them.

Bunco Bella sleepover... kinda!

Some friends started a Bunco group in September and every month someone else hosts it at their house. This month it was Kelli Whitney and since she works for Marriot she decided to have it at a hotel.OH YA, no boys allowed! I thought it was way fun. I didn't sleep over but I stayed until 3:30am. I don't think a lot of people slept much either. It was so much fun, Thanks Kelli for a great night! So what do girls do at a sleepover???

Hmmm... I'll never tell...

Pillow fights...

we talked all night...

Playing games...

Acting wild and crazy...

Oh ya... one little cutie got to come. It was a fun night. Too bad I didn't sleepover. But Ryan let me sleep in until 10am, so that was nice. Can't wait until next month.

Our Big Helper

My friend Natalie had these milk caps she had saved and her little boy loved playing with them. I started saving them as well as my mom and Jeralyn who all gets different colored caps. I didn't know what to use them for until... We have struggled with discipline and rewards with Brooklynn. We have tried stickers, time out, sending her to her room, earning money... the list goes on. Nothing really worked. So I saw this on Jen's blog who said she got it from Supernanny. (I love that show). So Brooklynn gets to earn tokens.
Brooklynn got to paint her token box all by herself. It turned out really cute!
Brooklynn painting her token box. She is our little artist who loves to paint.
Berkie and Daddy counting her tokens. She loves earning tokens from anything like throwing away diapers, cleaning her room, being nice, taking a nap and sleeping in her bed (which has been a struggle).
Once she earned 50 tokens (which doesn't take long) she gets a prize! She was so excited to get her pez that she worked so hard for.


Brooklynn also helps us by playing with her brother and making him happy.Cameron was watching Brooklynn and smiling and giggling. He thought she was really funny.
What a good big sister Brooklynn is. He likes it when she sings to him.
Cameron REALLY wants to suck his thumb but he hides it under his fingers. What a silly little boy! We sure love him.