Thursday, December 16, 2010

Potty time...


With all my kids, 1 year marks the age that the potty seat comes out and the fun begins. I never expect them to be potty trained in a week, but we sit and make a huge fuss for months and months, so that by the time they are actually ready- they are used to the whole routine. My goal is to have them trained by at least 2 if not sooner, so I have 10 more months. I'm huge into rewarding super behavior, so every time she sits down she gets a chocolate chip! I know it was completely by chance, but she actually went potty while she was sitting there. After she realized there was a connection between sitting for a minute and getting a chocolate chip- she wanted to do it over and over (isn't that the whole point? Love it! Marshmallows work great too!) I say, whatever works!

Aunt Tawnya comes for a visit...






The last time my step sisiter came to visit was almost 8 years ago, so we were all excited when Aunt Tawnya came to Boise! We tried to let her relax a little too, but the girls insisted on seeing her almost every second she was here. Auntie came over for pizza and games, let the kids go swimming at her hotel, ate dinner together Saturday night, went shopping, out for ice cream and had lots of fun.It was really nice to have a little time with her and actually carry on a conversation for more than 10 minutes. I'm really happy she was able to come and relax for the weekend. We love you Aunt Tawnya!!!

Thursday, December 9, 2010

Willow's first pig tails!





Even when Willow is dressed in hot pink covered in flowers- people still say, "Oh, he's so cute." Or "How old is he?" Now, I completely agree that she could go either way- but when I have her decked out in 8 shades of pink, I walk away really puzzled. I gave up on flowers in her hair because she just ripped them out, yes, even after gluing them to her head with Elmers. But Tuesday was a huge victory moment. I tried little piggies, and they worked! And she kept them in! (probably because I wrapped those rubberbands about a billion times, they weren't going anywhere!)
Anyway- we thought she looked pretty cute all grown up, so we did them yesterday too!

Annikan's "actual' birthday at Rosie's...


We got together at Rosie's house Tuesday for a Shelf Reliance Party (Which was AMAZING by the way. The food is INCREDIBLE!!!) and then we had a birthday lunch for Annikan- you know because food the night before just wasn't enough! Here are the girl's hanging out watching a movie.

Annikan's Birthday Party...


Monday night was Annikan's birthday party- I love this girl-and Olive Garden! We had a great time at dinner and then of course walked around Target afterwards. I love Annikan because she is always there for me. Love you Annikan!!

Angie's "Sweet 16"...


We went out 2 night ago to celebrate Angie's 28th birthday. We went to Red Robin and of course had a great time talking, eating , talking some more, and then eating some more. I love Angie with all my heart. She is truely one of the most selfless girls I know. She is the best (even if she moved 20 minutes away!)
Happy Birthday Ang!

Monday, December 6, 2010

G-ma & G-pa come for a visit & exercising to earn money...






The kids had fun earning money by doing crazy exercises- Tristin jump roped for ever trying to earn his popcorn at the hockey game. G-pa Brent is so silly!

We were thrilled to have G-ma & G-pa come to visit this past weekend. We had so much fun together- THANK YOU FOR EVERYTHING!!! We love you SOOOO much!

Standing in the corner...





You just have to know my step dad to understand his silly sence of humor, but for the past 25 years, we have been performing the wildest stunts, tricks, performances
& services to earn money. I could write a book on all the crazy things we have agreed to over the years just to earn a dollar. So when he told the kids they could earn some $ by standing in the corner for an obsene amount of time, they were up for the challenge. The girls made it several minutes and each earned a dollar, and Tristin stood for 15 minutes I think and won $ 4.00! To them they were rich, to us, another crazy thing to sit back and watch! Love you G-pa!

Playing Bingo...





It's tradition- we have to play Bingo every time G-ma comes. We always go to the dollar store and buy silly prizes and the kids love it!

Hockey Game & decorating the tree...





For G-pa's birthday the boys went out to a hockey game Saturday night and HAD A BLAST!!! I think Tristin was just happy to be around guys for a few hours instaed of all the girls. Earlier, Brent & Trav went to watch the BSU game and later Mom & I went to a few thrift stores and looked around. We decorated the tree and had fun looking through all the ornaments G-ma had bought the kids over the years!