Baby Tyce Turns 1

Justin's brother Jay and his wife Erica's little boy just turned 1 and we had a great time celebrating with them. It was an indoor pool party and the kids had sooooo much fun. Chloe wouldn't let me take her to the bathroom and insisted that Justin take her. This was entirely because I was not in my suit and she was afraid I wouldn't le her back in the water. She loves the water and is fearless. The boys had a great time jumping off the diving board. Then we all went back to Jay and Erica's and hung out. Fun was had by all!

To Nap or not to Nap....

That is the question. If Chloe takes a nap she will stay up until past 10:00. If she doesn't she will often crash about 4:00 or 5:00. Here are a couple of those days.

Spring Break Wrap Up

Well, today was our second day back so I thought I should post some pictures of our fun during the week. We went to the water park with Jenny and the kids. The first picture is Chloe with Sam who is only 6 months older than her. They represent both ends of the height spectrum. Hehe

We spent lots of time hanging with neighbors. We are lucky to live near so many kids and even luckier to have made so many friends here. It is really a fun block. Somehow, our house seems to be the one where everyone ends up. I always wanted to be the house where everyone went to hang out after school. You may be surprised to learn that there's not a lot of competition for that honor.

The boys were treated to a David Mamet play for children y Grandma and Grandpa George. They got all dressed up to go. Wyatt loved to where a tie whenever possible. Wyatt even got his play bill autographed. Jake could have, but he's apparently not too impressed by celebrity. ;)

Easter

Okay, I cheated a little here. I re-dressed and photographed the kids after Easter because I never got one of the three of them on Easter. Here are some more from our photo-session. When I go through the pictures quickly it's like a flip book and it's almost as if you can see Chloe dancing. Hehe.






Easter went well. We have decided to stay home from now on for Easter and Thanksgiving and host any family and friends that want to come. Some years we have gine one place and realized that someone else in one of our families had no where to go. So, this way no one that knows us will ever not have a place to celebrate those holidays. This year it was my family and some wonderful neighbors of ours. Here are some pictures...

Easter Post 1 - Pre-Easter

The kids were so excited the day before Easter to get a package from Grandma Lynn. Here are a couple video clips of the kids opening the box as well as some egg decoratin clips. When Chloe says, "That's mine, mine, mine, mine, mine." She really means, "Wow, I love it all. Thank you so much!" And to further translate... during the egg decorating clips when she says, "Me, me, mine, I do it." She really means, "This is so much fun, may I have a turn next, please?" Hehe. Sooooo two. I swear that if you said, "Okay, Jake and Wyatt. It's time for your flu shot." She would be running right behind them saying, "Oh, me, me, my shot, MINE!" Lucky for her, she's my 3rd child and this behavior doesn't rile me up. I just like to video tape it so I can show her later. It's amazing how quickly and completely you can forget what a child was like just a couple years ago. When I watch video of the boys, I am just amazed at how much they've changed.

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I'll post actual Easter pictures in the next couple of days.

My Little Man Wyatt

I got this email today from Wyatt Cub Scout leader. What a gift she gave me. What a gift that rascally little boy is:

I had to tell you this story too...Wyatt did not have a hobby or collection to share tonight (sorry I sent out that reminder VERY late!) The other boys were telling about their things and I couldn't tell if Wyatt was upset about not having anything, he was being very quiet. He must have been thinking while they were talking because when his turn came he said "Here's my collection" and started pointing to all the other boys. He said "It's my collection of friends!" I just about died - talk about thinking on your toes, and how SWEET is that anyway??? It brought tears to my eyes - what a nice boy you have! Just had to share...

Chloe and Joey

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Chloe on Youtube

We made a little message for My friend Katie's little girl, Julia. Julia was adopted from Russia about 6 weeks before Chloe. Katie and I went through the whole agonizing process together. Chloe is so NOT a morning person. By afternoon she was telling me, "I want to play with Julia. I want to bulid sand castles with Julia."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o2gqVamW4Rg

My Camera is Fixed

Hopefully, I'll be better about posting updates and pictures now. We sent it in and some part had to be replaced and now it's working perfectly! Yeah!

We took the kids sledding recently. They had a ball! When we got there, Chloe said, "We're in the forest, just like Snow White." So funny! She is princess obsessed! I read the books constantly.

Here are some pictures:

Chloe is Potty Trained

Yes, you heard me right. P O T T Y T R A I N E D !!!!! When our second snow day was declared last Friday, I decided to use the three days stuck inside to work on potty training. She spent Friday naked and did great, Saturday she wore clothes and peed in them, by Sunday she was dry and using the potty. Monday, she peed in the potty at Pat's but pooped in her pull-up. Tuesday no accidents and she pooped in the potty at home. Today, she's completely in panties and telling me when she has to go. Woo Hoo! I can't believe it went that fast. She was not at all interested. But, she was telling me when she was wet, taking her clothes off, throwing her pull up away, putting a new one on and getting dressed again. I figured if she could do all that, she could use the toilet. I was worried that I'd feel sad when my last baby was out of diapers. Nope, not at all. Adios diapers!

And now.... more pictures!

Yeah Obama!Here's a few candid shots from recent days:

Pinewood Derby WInners

Last year Jake won the Pinewood Derby at our school for speed. So, this year Wyatt was so excited to be a cub scout so he could win, too. We were worried that he wouldn't win and would be so upset or only one of them would win and the other would be upset. Well, they both won first place in their age group for design. Wow! Two trophies. They were so excited. Here they are watching the derby:

Chloe had the best spot:

And just one of the three of them being so cute!

I need to take a picture of the actual cars. The award ceremony is in a couple weeks. Woo hoo!

Chloe Growing Up and Cracking me Up

My camera is all messed up so I haven't been posting too much. Sorry! I have been listing Chloe's clothes on ebay so I can buy more stuff for her for spring and summer (if that make anyone less annoyed)

She is just so funny! But, first some new skills. At Thanksgiving time she was just becoming interested in puzzles and started to be able to put the pieces in the right spots on a wooden puzzle with just a few pieces. Well, 2 months of puzzle mania later and she can do any 25 piece puzzle, the kind that comes in a box and has no frame or anything. Wow!

She just totally talks up a storm. From this morning, "I don't want a diaper, I need another princess pull up."

She is also full of "I am the little sister and therefor the princess of all things" attitude. It would probably be better if all 4 of us didn't find this so amusing. She is forever telling us, "I'm not a baby." Then when her brother bumped her she looked u at him and declared, "Don't push me, I'm the baaaaaaby." She is completely certain that she should be able to take whatever she wants from the boys and is then beyond upset when I don't let her. We're talking the kind of crying that has no sound at first and then erupts into a wail." It doesn't happen too often, but is is pretty funny to see her so completely outraged that she in fact cannot snatch Wyatt's wii remote out of his hand.

Then, this morning she made us laugh laugh so hard we cried. She was doing a puzzle with Justin and I heard her say, "I'm a nice girl." So, from the other room, I said, "You are a nice girl." She very seriously said, "I'm talkin' to Daddy, shhhh." Little stinker!

Still NO interest in potty training. When I suggest she go on the potty she relies, "No, I need to go potty in my diaper."

Here's a little clip of Chloe being silly. Hmmm didn't work. I'll try later

One year ago

Last January in Pictures:

It was a great year.

Happy New Year and Welcome Stomach Flu - Updated with Video Clips

We usually celebrate by having a big party at our house on New Year's Day. Lots of friends come and we have so much fun. This year we did all the prep work, rented a mega heated tent, Karaoke, made 4 pots of chili, bought loads of food and then the kids got the stomach flu and we had to cancel the party. :(

As much of a disappointment as this was for all of us, it's really minor in comparison to what lots of people are dealing with.
Here is my friend Julie's website. http://www.friendsofbarths.com/ I wrote about her husband Colin's cancer diagnosis while back.
Here's my friend Kara's website. http://www.caitlynchurak.com/ I have also written about her daughter who has cancer.

Once the stomach flu has passed we get to go back to being healthy. What a tremendous blessing.

Okay, on to something lighter. Here are some clips of the kids hanging out in the sick house and a couple pics of the tent we rented.

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