Trip to Seattle

I just got back from visiting my sister in Seattle. What a great trip! It was only me and Spencer. My mom flew down to watch the girls while I was gone. Let's just say they didn't really miss me at all. My mom is the greatest.
Anyway, I had a great week with Season and her family. She has a wonderful and talented husband--Gary...


He is working on painting and assembling these figures for a game called Warhammer.


Season has the cutest little ones. Enlee is 2 1/2,

Garret is 6 in a few days

and Mackenzie is 8.


When we weren't eating, sleeping or chatting, we were super busy sewing, shopping and making baby announcements. I had a great time.

I survived!!!

One of my goals for the new year was to get Sarah potty trained. Well, I did it and I really deserve a trophy or something. That was not easy to do! It took all last week and my house smells like pee but it's over. She is doing so well that I don't even know when she has to go anymore. She just takes herself whenever and keeps her pants dry. I am very proud of her.

 

 

 

Details. Details.

Avery received this stuffed animal from my sister for a birthday several years ago. She named him Bagheera after the black panther on the jungle book. Well Bagheera has been one of her favorite "babies" ever since. That poor thing has been through a lot. His arm as been ripped. He's been covered in bandaids. His fur has worn away in several spots. She's taken him everywhere and he sleeps in her bed every night. My sister let me know that she bought another black cat for her daughter at the same time she bought for mine and since her daughter never played with it, she was sending it to me as a backup. Great! So I put the second Bagheera away for an emergency situation. Well, Avery came up to Mark a few nights ago crying. Her Bagheera had been ripped again. Mark told her he would fix it then went downstairs and grabbed the other cat. When he gave it to her, the first thing she noticed was that his bandaids were gone. Then, she noticed that his tummy had fur on it again. She noticed that his tag that she had cut off had grown back. Also, she was frustrated that his nose was in the wrong place. I had no idea she paid so much attention to that old cat. She seems to be fine with him now but what do you think? Do they really look that much different?

Old Bagheera


New Bagheera

"You know Duty (doodie)--POO?"

I was watching this episode of "Friends" last night and cracked up at Chandler's inability to resist making a poo joke. It was FUNNY.

What is not funny is real poo. Poo that you have to clean up on clothing, carpet, the toilet and your little girl's body. Sarah has not been doing too bad with the potty training but today, we had a messy poo accident. I will spare you all the details but it was not FUNNY.

Making more changes

We decided to really buckle down this year and get some things done that we are dreading. The binky was one of those things. We took the next step yesterday and moved the girls in together.

We did this so I could do something I'm looking forward to--getting Spencer's room together. Well, I knew it would not be easy but since we don't have school or other commitments this week, I thought it would be a good time to start. Needless to say, they were so excited they didn't go to sleep till almost 10pm. Yikes! They woke up grumpy this morning and I am looking forward to nap time. I hope they get used to this soon or I might lose my sanity.

Meanwhile, I found this little gem on Craigslist.

A pottery barn crib bumper and pillowcase for only $10. We have been wanting to decorate Spencer's room in airplanes. Mark is working on some models to hang from the ceiling. I am looking forward to putting up his crib today. The room is still very pink but I plan on painting very soon. I will post pictures once I get it set up.

My next step--POTTY TRAINING! Wish me luck.

Starting off on the right foot (I hope)

Before Christmas Mark told me that it was time to take Sarah's binky away. The main reason is this...

Her teeth are terrible and getting worse. However, the thought of doing such a thing scared me to death and I pleaded with Mark to give me until the beginning of the year. Needless to say, January first came very fast. Mark informed me that it was really time and no more binkies from here on out. He told Sarah the same thing and promised her all sorts of toys and treats if she would just go to sleep without her binky. Sarah quickly agreed but it wasn't long before she was screaming for her binky. I told her I would try to find it for her so I did this to every binky I had left in the house.

Believe me, I had tears in my eyes as I cut the tips right off. I knew I had to commit right then and there because I wasn't going out to buy more. I went back to Sarah's room and informed her that I found her binkies but they were broken. After all the screaming and crying, she calmly looked at the binkies and said, "I don't want that binky. I will try to fix it in the morning." She had closure and we did not hear one more word from her the rest of the night. She brought the binkies down this morning, showed them to her daddy and threw them away. The End.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

I have fallen behing once again on my blogging. So, I'm updating on our wonderful holiday season finally. We spent Christmas eve and Christmas day here in Houston. It was wonderful to be able to celebrate in our home and party with our family who lives here. The girls thouroughly enjoyed the getting and giving of presents this year.



Spencer didn't care either way as long as all his needs were met.


We hopped in the car early on the 26th and headed to Nashville. Other than one minor setback (Sarah puking) we made it in a timely manor and had a blast with Mom, Dad, Park, Cyd and April's family. We went to the Opryland hotel for some dinner and entertainment. We also saw the Grinch Ice Exhibit. We had to wear heavy coats through this giant freezer where everything was made out of ice. We even slid down the ice slides. I am not made for those freezing temperatures and was very grateful to get out.




We enjoyed seeing this charming little fairy tale movie--The Tale of Despereaux.
Last night we partied like it was 2009! Truthfully though, I could barely keep my eyes opened and all the children were asleep well before midnight. I am looking forward to this new year. I have been pondering my own New Years resolutions. I really feel like this is going to be a great year!