Rocking Chair Pictures

Here's a picture of Sam in the rocking chair that used to be Grandy's when he was a little boy. We took a picture of Jack in it for his first Christmas and it's become a tradition for him. Anna hasn't been so cooperative for these pictures over the past few years, but we do have Jack in it every year.

Jack's first Christmas (8 months).
He's about a month older than Sam is now. With the exception of the drool on their sweaters, they don't look anything alike!

Second Christmas (20 months).

Third Christmas (2 1/2 years).

Fourth Christmas (3 1/2 years)

Pictures Under the Tree

A couple days before Christmas, we decided to go see Santa at the mall. The kids either had lunch all over their clothes or still had pjs on (one had lunch all over his pjs that he was still wearing at noon!) so we had to change before going out in public. Jack decided he wanted to match Sam, and Anna actually picked out something that made it look like we tried to coordinate for Christmas so I took advantage of the photo opportunity!








As a side note, I have zero pictures from Santa because they won't let you take any with your own camera. The computer/printer started going crazy when we got near the font of the line so we decided to forego waiting for them to fix everything just so we could attempt a picture with Santa. We got to go ahead and let the kids sit in Santa's lap while the "elf" worked on fixing whatever was wrong. Jack walked right up and sat on his lap. Anna watched from the sidelines for a few minutes and then decided to sit on Santa's other knee. My kids actually sat on Santa's lap, and talked to him, and no tears were shed, and I don't even have a picture to prove it!

Seven Months

At seven months Sam is still the happiest guy ever! He really only gets upset when he's tired or hungry. He still adores his siblings and is constantly entertained by them. Big boy is on his 4th round of antibiotics for ear infections, but it really doesn't seem to slow him down. He weighed in at 20 lbs at the doctor's office yesterday! He appears to be sleeping through the night again (8 pm - 7:30 am) and wakes up happy most times. He loves rolling around and flips to his tummy when he wakes up and plays happily in his crib until I go get him. When I walk in, I see his little face peeking over the side of the crib and I love it!

My Girl

Candy Train

Who needs a gingerbread house when you can make a TRAIN out of candy! I wanted to make a gingerbread house with the kids this year and we just never got around to buying the kit. I saw this idea online and knew my boy would love it! He had a great time creating his train and was so proud of the finished product. He told me it was Thomas pulling Annie and Clarabel.

Kitchen Helpers

It's so hard to find good help in the kitchen these days. All they want to do is lick the chocolate off the dishes and utensils!

Potty Training Update

So I've decided my girl just isn't ready yet. Day 2 was terrible. She only peed 4 times that day and none of it was on the potty. Every time she peed in her pants, she told me she was wet and cried, but she totally freaked out most every time I tried to get her on the potty. All day was a struggle and she really didn't seem to feel her best.

Day 3 she woke up wet and pitched a fit when I tried to get her to sit on the potty. She screamed so loud you probably heard her - wherever it is that you're reading this from, I'm sure you heard her! We put dry panties on her and in five minutes she wet them and melted down again. I asked if she wanted to put on a diaper and she said yes. She didn't complain about the diaper at all the rest of the day and later when Marshall told Jack to go potty, she thought he was talking to her and freaked out again. I definitely think that means she's not ready!

She loves stickers and candy but it really wasn't motivating her at all. She was so much more compliant and excited about going to the potty before we started the official training. Guess we will come back to it in a few months. It honestly doesn't matter to me when she gets out of diapers. I tried because I thought she was ready, but that would be a big NO!!! This Mama is not willing to fight over going to the potty. We waited until Jack was much older and ready and I know just how easy it can be, so hopefully if we give her some time Anna will be an easy potty trainer, too. (Or not, but we'll deal with that when the time comes!)

Jack's School Party

I was able to attend Jack's Christmas party at school last week and it was so funny to watch. The kids were so quiet when I walked in - which I know is not usually the case! They had snacks, made crafts, and had a visit from Santa. Jack even told Santa what he wants for Christmas - a huge improvement from last year! The kids loved having Sam there and Jack enjoyed showing off his baby brother.

Telling Santa he wants Diesel 10 for Christmas.

My big boy!

All of the kids wanted to show off their ornaments to Sam and then got tickled when he put them right in his mouth.

My big baby boy!

Happy Birthday Baby Jesus

The kids have been very into singing happy birthday to "baby" Jesus this Christmas. No matter how many times we explain it, they insist on always saying baby Jesus. Jack loves making a pretend birthday cake for Him, so we made a birthday real cake for baby Jesus a couple days ago.

I said get close to the cake so I can take your picture, and this is what I got!

Yum!

And yet again, this is what Sam did:

Potty Training - Day 1

First of all, let me just say that I know most people don't care about this, but I was so glad I documented Jack's potty progress, because I re-read all my potty posts recently and I had actually forgotten some things (even though it was only 10 short months ago).

For the most part, I'm doing things the same way I did them with Jack. She gets rewarded with one skittle if her panties are clean and dry when I ask. She gets two skittles for peeing on the potty and puts a sticker on her chart (once it's full she gets a big prize) and if she ever poops in the potty she will get 3 skittles.

What I knew about my girl, but was reminded about big time today: SHE IS IMPATIENT!!! She wasn't so interested in sitting on the potty if nothing happened within the first few seconds. Which is funny, since before we started the official potty training, she would sit there all day if I let her.

I didn't give her a lot to drink this morning so she really didn't have tons of opportunities to be successful early on. She obviously has a bladder of steel compared to Jack and doesn't go nearly as much as he did when we started this with him. She had an accident right before nap (had been 2 1/2 hours since she went the last time - even though she sat on the potty several times in between, nothing happened) and then had a poopy right after nap (before I even opened the door to let her out of her room). I think that freaked her out a bit because then she refused to wear her panties for the next 20 minutes!

I finally started setting the timer this afternoon and she was just fine going when she heard the beeps. I also gave Jack a skittle for going potty and that's all it took for her her back on track this afternoon.

Overall, I'm pleased with only two accidents on the first day. I'm pretty much expecting her to wake up wet in the morning, but I sent her to bed with the training pants we're calling panties anyway. I would like to skip the whole diaper/pull-ups thing at night. We were able to do that with Jack, but he was so much older than she is when he went through the process. I'm trying to remind myself of that and be open minded about the whole thing. Now we will just have to wait and see what tomorrow holds.

Lights

Last night we went to see the lights at Hopelands Gardens. It was definitely a change from last year when I wore flip flops and a t-shirt! We bundled everyone up and headed out. My pictures aren't the greatest, but we had fun, and that's what counts.

Jack took a picture of us. He could use a little practice!

Having a meltdown because she wanted to push Sam in the stroller.

Jack enjoyed pushing Sam around more than seeing the lights, I think.

Panties

Look who's wearing "panties" today for the first time! Actually, they are cloth training pants and when I put them on her she said to me, "That's not panties. That's underwear!" We're calling them panties, though, and we're pushing on with potty training full steam ahead. The princess charts are hanging in the bathrooms, skittles and stickers are ready, so we will see what happens. I think she's ready. She's been talking about panties for a while now and asking to go potty, but I'm a little spoiled by how easy it was to train Jack, so I'm trying to be realistic since she's so much younger than he was when we trained him. Think about us today!

Oh, and she's also wearing her brother's shirt today (along with his old training pants). We just love sharing in this house!

It's Cookie Time!

Earlier this week we stayed at home (a rarity these days) and made sugar cookies. As soon as Sam went down for his morning nap we hit the kitchen and started mixing, rolling, cutting, and sprinkling! The kids loved it. A side note though, next time we will steer clear of the watermelon flavored sprinkles. They were the only green sprinkles I had in the cabinet and they were gross! Of course, when you use as many sprinkles as Anna did, any flavor is bound to be gross!

Jack insisted on watching them bake.

Do you see the amount of green sprinkles?! That one's technically my fault, though, because it didn't have the tiny holes for the sprinkles to go through, just one big opening, and I turned my back for just a second . . . . !

Jack's cookies.

Please, oh please, ignore the extremely messy kitchen in the background.

Anna's cookies.