Happy Helper

Here we are again on a wierd weather sunday blogging about what we've been up to:)

 

This week's blog is all about my little BIG helper Danika...

 

She enjoyed helping me make chocolate velvet cupcakes. And Haddie wanted in on the action too..

Putting the liners in the pan...

 

Filling them with batter.... 

 

Topping it all off with sprinkles...

 

 

And the real test- getting to taste them! I think she liked it:)

(I will say Daren and I were NOT fans! I tried to be 'deceptively delicious' and made a bunch of foods containing beets, these cupcakes and frosting included. Danika couldn't tell, but we could and it just didn't quite taste like a normal cupcake)

Last weekend we had extra special visitors... Lori, Mike, and Miles came to spend the night. Danika was in baby heaven and was truly intrigued and a great helper with Miles. She would just sit near him and watch and talk to him, and if he started crying she would carefully put his pacifier in his mouth

 

 

He looks like a natural:)  

 

Danika didn't just enjoy Miles, but Auntie Lori and Uncle Mike too... She set up a full on tea party, complete with cupcakes and ice cream:)

 

 

Danika also continues to want to help with her sister... This is where I could use a little LESS help sometimes:)

For instance, at 5:15 in the morning when Haddie wakes up crying & talking and Danika feels like it's her 'helpful' job to go in to Haddie's room and turn the lights on to greet her sister (who of course smiles her biggest smile right back at Danika:) 

This has been happening a little too frequently for my sleep deprived self! They're lucky they are so darn cute!

 

 

Haddie the explorer!

I thought I'd let her play with the bag of potatoes while I made supper- not the cleanest thing, but definitely not the worst in the kitchen either!  She seemed to like how it felt on her gums since she's been teething... but

 

She wasn't so sure once she actually bit into one...

I don't think she'll be running back to it anytime soon!

 

Haddie has taken quite a few steps here and there, but she seems a bit lazy to really get at walking without support, and I'm OK with that:)

Her favorite thing lately is to walk from chair to chair, using her activity table on the way... she just goes from one chair, around the play table, and to the next chair and back again:)

 

 

We have a special day to celebrate on Thursday in this house... yes, of course Valentine's Day like the rest of the world, but I lost that 'romantic' day for couples three years ago when a spunky little girl came into our lives! Ms. Danika is very excited this year and when I dare to take her to a store with me she finds about 50 things she says she wants for her birthday. She keeps asking 'Is it Valentine's Day yet?!?!'

 

"How old will I be?"

 

 

"Oh yeah, 3, that's big!"

 

"Oh my goodness, that's only 4 days away!" 

 

 

Oh don't cry Haddie, your birthday is right around the corner too!

 

:)

 

 

Have a great week, filled with LOVE!

 

Love from us,

The Dummers

Danika Home-anika

If you didn't get it, the title is a knock off of 'Becky Homecky' :)

We had a fun week of doing activities in the house trying to stay warm! Danika helped make a cake, do some Valentine's Day art projects to decorate the house, and made homemade play dough....

But before we get to all that...Somebody not so little anymore turned 10 months old on January 16th!

 

My mom says she's starting to look more like me, but I'm still convinced that she is 100% a Daren copy cat, especially looking at baby pictures of Daren, but even her personality is him. Danika was more of a sassy pants from the get go, and continues to be a bit theatrical (no, really?) just like yours truly when I was younger:) But the Hadster is so mellow, and laid back with a giant smile on her face, just like her dad most of the time.

 Pat-a-Cake:)

 

So back to the Danika Home-anika (a.k.a Becky Homecky)

She has been very interested in being a helper and has a bit more focus to help from start to finish with things, so I decided that this bitterly cold week would be a good one to have some fun in the kitchen.

 

First off, when Daren was gone for a week in Iowa for work, we decided that we would make him a 'Welcome Home' cake.  

 

So we slung on the apron and got to work mixing and pouring:)

 

....and she was working so hard she ended up with a sleeve full of cake dough! A hazard of the job I guess:)

 

We also did some Valentine Painting. I only had red and white paint so the 1st job was to mix them to make her favorite color, pink. Luckily, it's a Valentine color so she went crazy with it and her art work turned out very seasonal:)

 

We did a version of 'marble' painting, but we used balls we had around the house and painted on doilies.

 

And then we rolled paint with various design rollers...She was concentrating so hard on making them just right.

 

Since Haddie isn't quite at the cooking/artist/helper phase of life yet, she just roams around getting into mischief these days...her newest favorite activity is to find the wipes, NO MATTER where I think I've hidden the container, she finds it, and pulls every. single. wipe. Then if I still haven't caught her, she proceeds to try and put them in her mouth. I'm onto her little game though and ruining all her fun! (Except when I get the camera before I take them away:)

 

Today we made some play dough for my classroom and as an added 'helper' bonus, we made extra for her to keep at home and I let her choose the color. I'll give you 1 guess the color she picked?

What's that? You think Pink? WOW how did you guess:)

I was told when I put the food coloring in that it wasn't pink enough, so we had to mix a bit more coloring and kool-aid to get the right color. The cherry on top, well actually the glitter on top, was getting to put pink glitter in the play dough too!

 

Kneading the finished product:) 

 

 

That's the latest and greatest happenings at the Dummer household.

We hope you are all staying warm and safe in this winter wonderland we've had lately!

 

Love,

Jamie, Daren, Danika & Haddie

Short and sweet...Just like Ms.D and Hadster!

I thought I better blog a little, but as I'm sitting here ready to upload, I realize I have 1 picture from our entire week...yep, just 1.

 

Having a Packer party with Grandma Lynn and Grandpa at the farm- Although it didn't seem to be very luck for the Pack did it?!?!

 

Oh wait...don't see a picture? As I've been trying to upload the ONE picture for 20 minutes, I decided to give up so I guess you get none:)

 

 

The time just gets away from me and I don't get out my camera as often as I want or should.

So I thought since I don't have much to blog about and we're getting way too close to Danika's 3rd birthday (how did that happen?!?!) I would share a few of her latest and greatest quotes. I usually write down the funny things she says in her baby book, but it's hard to keep up these days. She is really mocking what she hears around her either from us, or other kids at daycare. Luckily, it's funny coming from an almost 3 year old:)

 

"I can't believe it!"

 

"It's not fair"

 

"Coooome ooooon!"

 

When I told her we were going to watch my nephew wrestle at a wrestling match she very confidently replied back to me "Then it's you and me's turn to wrestle 'cause I'm strong" :)

 

 

"Is it for we (us)?"

 

"Mom/Dad, just stop"

 

"Hey, what's going on here?"

 

As you know from previous posts Danika is very into imaginative play, especially with her babies. While changing her babies diaper she said "Oh baby, that's disgusting!"

 

 

She never seems to surprise us anymore:)

 

Well, that's the short and sweet blog for the week-

Time for me to get something done around this house! Daren is in Iowa this week for work so I'm doing the single mom thing...wish me luck:)

 

Happy New Year!

Love,

The Dummers

 

Snow, Milestones, Packers,Christmas and a Baby, Oh My!

What a month! I've got an overload of pictures since it's been a while (I suppose if I updated more often it wouldn't take me so long huh?!?)

 

For starters, We thought Danika would love to play in the 14" of snow we received earlier in the month...so Daren and her put on layer after layer and got all geared up to sled and play. 3 minutes later, they returned to the house:) Danika is not a fan of the snow quite yet- The saucer we had just wasn't working too good, but we did just get a sled, so hopefully she'll have a change of heart!

 

Her imagination is running wild these days...putting her babies to sleep:) 

 

And this is how you can find her sleeping these days:) She usually moved her blankets and pillow to the opposite end of the bed, and lays out all her stuffed animals in a row

 

Danika is also really beginning to develop her fine motor skills and loves to color and draw and 'write'. I was really impressed when she made this smiley face:) 

I helped tell her the shapes or lines/dots to make, but she did all the drawing:)

 

 

Hadster celebrated being 9 months old! 

She continues to be about 'average' in the 50th percentile for her weight and a little above that for height. She is completely on table food and loving every bite:) She is doing LOTS of creeping along furniture and transferring her hands from one thing to another. She'll also walk if you hold her hands, so I think give her another month, and she'll be on the move with this little legs on her own:)

 

Last Sunday Daren and I went to the Packer game at Lambeau with his sister Lisa & Ben. We had a blast tailgating and really couldn't have had much better weather considering it was late December! The Packers nearly had a blowout of a game and scored 50+ points:)

 

A tailgating tradition for Daren...the 'brat-a-ger' (A full hamburger and bratwurst sandwich)

 

 

 

Last Sunday also was a special day because we welcomed the newest 'Dummer' cousin... Miles Michael was born! He is so precious and Haddie is already excited to eat him up:)  (And of course be the best of friends as they get a little bigger) It's crazy that she seems SO much older than him at this point, but they are exactly the same age apart that Danika and Madeline are, and they don't seem much different at almost 3 and 4.

 

 (Auntie Lori treated us to Cherry Berry on Saturday and she went into labor that night, so Danika is quite sure it was the ice cream that did it:)

 

Really checking him out:)

 

Danika got a Dr.kit for Christmas and had to bring it with to visit the Brenner's at the hospital and give Auntie Lori a shot to help her get better:)

 

 

Let the Christmas festivities begin! We had Christmas Eve with my family at our house. Danika enjoyed having cousins to play kitchen with:)

 

She's not excited at ALL to open presents:) 

 

And Haddie just wanted to eat the paper... 

 

Danika showing off her new cupcake baking set for her kitchen 

 

And when the night was over we had to prepare for Santa. We started by  making reindeer food... 

 

Then writing a letter to Santa... 

 And on Christmas Morning...

 

 

Santa was very good to the Dummer family:)

 

Danika must have been a pretty good girl because she got the 2 things she really wanted, and a few extras!

#1 on her list was a Dora shirt- He delivered AND it was even Pink, her favorite color:) Her face doesn't do justice to the excitement she had when she opened it

 

Haddie enjoyed her gift too and immediately started chewing on it:)

 

The last gift for both girls was a big one, so they both started tearing into the wrapping paper... 

#2 on Danika's list was a trampoline.

We talked a lot about how we can wish for things, but that doesn't always mean we will get them... Santa might not be able to fit it in his sack, and how Santa is always watching to make sure boys and girls are being good. Anyway, after she unwrapped the paper she saw the picture of the trampoline on the box...she was excited, but not over the top because it was after all, just a picture of one:) So we opened the giant box and what do you think was inside?!?!

NOTHING...

That's right, not a thing. Danika stood in front of it, silent and perplexed for a moment and then said "I must have been on the naughty list"

It was a moment I will forever be kicking myself about not having on video. I was so cute and sad all at the same time. We instantly reassured her she wasn't because he brought her things in her stocking, so we decided to hunt around the house for it....

finally, we found it all set up in the basement. THAT was a moment of pure excitement!!!

 

 

 

Christmas evening we had our usual gathering at Daren's parents. It was a little strange not to have Lori & Mike there, but we did go visit them & baby Miles in the hospital.

 

The kids (and grown-ups) were again spoiled WAY too much and had tons of fun. The highlight of the night was Connor and Chloe reading the Christmas Story from the bible while Madeline and Danika set up the nativity:)  

 

 

All in all, it was a very hectic, but wonderful Christmas and we again, feel very blessed for all that we have, but especially for the incredibly loving family we are so fortunate to surround ourselves with.

We hope that you, our dear friends and family also had a great Christmas and a have a terrific 2013...

Thanks for catching up with us:)

 

Love,

Daren, Jamie, Danika & Haddie

We have been enjoying getting into the holiday spirit around the Dummer house... We had a cookie day with Granny and Aunt Heidi last weekend. Danika enjoyed helping, but only in about 5 minute time periods. She's help & taste, then play, then help & taste, then play again and so on...

 

 

Danika is a non-stop imagination machine and is always having picnics, playing restraunt, babies, movies, etc... Usually, she's pretty nice and lets Haddie join her too:)

 

 

Haddie continues to be adventurous and has discovered some new favorites lately...

Under the TV, where she can reach the cable 

 

And she's been drawn to the pantry, but the newest discovery within the pantry is the dog treats! No matter where I put them or 'hide' them behind other things, she can still find them! I finally had to put them in a more secure location...(A little bad parenting here...of course I had to run and get my camera for a picture of her chewing on it before I took it out of her mouth:)

 

 

This week I attempted to take picutres of the girls in hopes of getting a nice presentable picture that I could use for our Christmas card... I wasn't too successful. Danika is in a phase of REALLY big cheesy, "cheese" smiles and Haddie just wants to run away...

Apparently Danika thought if she choked her she'd stay still:) 

 

...and again "CHEESE"

 

So, we just played with lights instead:) 

 

 

This weekend we took Danika to the 8th Floor Macy's display in downtown Minneapolis and to meet Santa. (We actually didn't tell her about Santa until after we got there) She wasn't too exicted about it all, but I think mostly because she didn't understand what exactly she was going to see. Once we got there she loved it- The theme was "Santaland" with lots of elves and Santa's workshop. They used to change it yearly, but Santaland has been there for the past few years and sounds like it will continue to be. She liked the elves, but anything animal related was her favorite. After all was said and done we asked her what her favorite thing was and she said "The mouse running across the kitchen"

Yes, there was a fake mouse in the elf kitchen that they were trying to catch:)

We met some friends of ours and Danika had a blast with their daughter...

 

Buddies Danika and Rylan:) 

 

As for Santa, we only cohorsed her to go in the Santa room becasue Rylan did, and even though Rylan sat on his lap, Danika was NOT about to do that! She warmed up a bit and managed to whisper to him what she wanted, as we were about to walk out the door.

 

Before I sign off...I wanted to share with you a wonderfully written announcement...

 

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NO, not that kind of announcement! (I know what you may have been thinking:) No more babies in this household for now...

Daren recently took a new position at work. He still works for Pioneer, but with another 'department' if you will, and will be doing much of the same things, but have a bit more responsiblilty and working more closely with the farmers and seed salesman. I would say it's a 'promotion', although he doesn't use those terms:)

Here is the write up that his new boss wrote to all Pioneer employees (nationally) welcoming him to the position...

 

Announcement - Daren Dummer

We are pleased to announce that Daren Dummer has recently accepted the position of Senior Research Associate (IMPACT Area Lead) for the Northern Business Unit IMPACT team hosted by the Eau Claire Research Center, Eau Claire, Wisconsin.  Daren joined Pioneer in 2006 as a Research Assistant at the Eau Claire Research Center and was promoted to Research Associate in 2008.  He has contributed to several programs at the research center including management over the 95 and 100 CRM R3/R4 DP 100 testing program, management over aspects of the transgenic trials program, and contributions to the field testing programs including planting, note taking, harvest and cooperator relationships.  

Daren has a strong background in agriculture starting with experience on the family farms and as a graduate of the University of Wisconsin – River Falls in agri-business and agronomy.

In his spare time he enjoys spending time with his wife Jamie, daughters Danika and Haddie, and working on the family dairy farm.

Please join us in congratulating Daren as the newest member of the NBU IMPACT Team.

 

 

Isn't that nice he enjoys his family in his spare time;) Had to tease him about that one... He is a hard worker and earned it and we couldn't be happier for him, or more proud:)

 

 

We hope you are having a happy December and enjoying (safely) the beautiufl first snowfall of the season...

 

Love, The Dummers