January Camera Phone Dump

What have we been doing?  Not much.  This is a transition time for Kate.  She is 3 weeks paci free and doing great!  Hasn't asked for it and we are a non-pacifier home.  Potty training is improving and she is now going at school (thanks to some Starburst coaxing).  It will probably take longer than Jack because I have to send her in pull-ups to school until she is fully day trained.  Today, though, after school, I put her in underwear for about 3 hours and she had one accident.  Not too bad and she told me she had to go #2 and went in the potty!  Apparently after that, it was an underwear party for the little ones, so they played Legos in their underwear...

Today I registered Jack for Kindergarten!  I can't believe it.  I am so excited about it.  We are having a great year this year and I am sure it will be another great year next year.  Kimberly also registered the triplets for VPK and Reese for the 1s for two days.  Next year, all our kids will go to the same school.  That is so neat to me.

I may have also acquired a small addiction to Pinterest and have found some great ideas on there.  I made Gak the other night using Borax, glue and food coloring.  I also have used a shoe holder as cleaning storage on our back laundry room door.  Convenient and a space saver.

Here are some random photos from my phone that I have captured over the last few weeks:

February is upon us!  Can't wait for another great month and hopefully some great potty breakthroughs for Kate!

Hello, January.

I have taken a total of probably 8 pictures since 2012 started.  What have been doing?  We have been living!  Life just keeps rolling and we are making it everyday - and those have been blessed days.  The kids are good.  Jack is growing by leaps and bounds at school coming home with things he learned that day.  Kate is becoming more independent and girly.  Her paci is gone.  We took it away a week ago and she has done pretty good.  There have been times I wanted to give it to her to calm her, but I threw them all away that day as to not succumb to my temptation and be firm.  She has struggled a bit and is napping less, but overall it has been a pretty smooth transition.  The dreaded potty training is around the corner.  I have done it once, so I can do it again, right?

Everything is pretty status quo and I like it that way.  God is working in me and moving and that has been the greatest blessing of this year thus far.  Satan does attack (i.e. when we had our crazy day last week when Kimberly passed out and hit her head and I had to take her to urgent care, only to receive a call while there that Jack needed to be picked up from school due to throwing up).  Everyone was fine and we actually had a good laugh about it later.  The coolest thing I have started to realize is that I am seeing God differently now.  I remember envisioning God and who He was when I was a teenager and felt certain confidences and doubts, but now as an adult and mother, I am seeing Him in a new way.  It is like I am "growing up" in Christ and it is pretty cool.  I have a long journey of still learning more about Him, what He desires of me and how He loves us and I am excited to learn more.  That's all I got now.  I wanted to share that we are alive and doing well just taking it easy in these slow winter months.  See you soon!

A Splash and A Roar!

While visiting family, we made our way to Sea World on Tuesday after Christmas.  I hadn't been in at least 10 years and the kids had never been.  Jack was all about the rides.  He did watch and like the animals, though.  Kate liked the animals, but still isn't old enough to appreciate what they mean or what they can do.

The sea lions were great and we really enjoyed feeding them.  They would bark and beg for fish and even do some tricks to get anything.

 One of the best parts of the day was watching Gramma (Debby) and Jack get soaked by David on Journey to Atlantis.  Jack thought it was hilarious as did everyone else in the boat.  The adults did more rides and some of us headed home about 6pm.  Jack and Craig made it to 11!

We visited and hung out with family.  On Friday, we went to Dinosaur World to check out the "supposed" life-size replicas of dinosaurs.  Jack knew most of them and it was pretty neat to see how big they really were.

Saturday, December 31st we headed home and had a low-key start to a great new year!  2012, here we come!

Christmas 2011

Christmas flew in quickly, lingered for a while and is gone now.  Jack said today, "Christmas is far away".  Yes, it is, Jack!  After we got back from Disney, Jack had his Joyland Christmas program at school.  For weeks, he has been singing songs from the program and it has been such a blessing.  He is really starting to understand what  Christmas is about and we talk about Jesus and his birth and why we receive and give presents.  Joyland was about toys in a toy shop to be used by owner for a needy family.  All the kids were to dress as toys so I chose Mr. Incredible.  My mom has the outfit and I didn't have time to get creative.  I also did family photos using my business for the families that came.  That was a lot of fun and was glad for the ministry and opportunity.

The kids started gearing up for Christmas big time!  Parties at school, shopping and decorating their own trees for their rooms.  Since Jack had one, Kate had to have one this year.  They were very proud of them.

Christmas gift exchanging started when Craig's dad and family came up for the weekend.  We just hung out and they went to church with us on Sunday too.  They left on Sunday and on Wednesday, Gramma and Pa arrived to visit with us before Christmas.  We opened gifts with them and they got the kids a covered wagon that folds down too and can turn into a bench.  

After opening gifts on Friday morning, we went bowling with my family.  The kids had never been and we hadn't been in a few years.  We got the bumpers ready and got in our bowling shoes and hit the lanes.

After a day of bowling, we ate lunch, had naps and went to Brent and Kimberly's house for our annual get together with my Debby, Brian and all of us.  We ate dinner and exchanged gifts.  My parents also had an early Christmas present for the grandkids - a trampoline and they were excited!

They spotted it!

We headed home after a bit of jumping.  Saturday, Christmas Eve, Debby and Brian left and we went to church for Christmas Eve service at 5.  We then went to my parents for some food.  We came home and got ready for Christmas morning!

The kids got up around 7:30 or 8 and came into our room.  We read the Children's Bible Christmas story and then came to open presents.

 This is where is stopped for Kate.  She got hung up on the stocking and wanting to eat the candy and did not want to open presents.  A few tears and some bribery later, she opened the gifts and then asked for an airhead.  Just learning lessons for next year.

 Somehow, the kids ended up with no pjs on, but Annie opened her gifts and then we ate breakfast.  After that we headed to church for Sunday morning!  I love church on Christmas.  It was awesome.

Lunch landed us at my parents and another fun time of family, reading the Christmas story, the Lord's supper and gifts.

Christmas was a blast.  We headed out the next day for a week with Craig's family!