Cousins

I love this picture of Cameron and Elizabeth wearing their matching shirts that Grandma Judy brought back from Cozumel. They are even sitting the same way in the chair, how cute is that? Elizabeth was crazy about Cameron from the second she got here, she must have said her name a million times that week. And she is still talking about her a month after she left. How I wish they lived closer and we could see them more often!

The fireworks that never were.

We decided this year that we would keep the kids up late on the 4th of July and take them to see fireworks. They had been hearing them quite a bit from our neighbors and were getting pretty curious. The outdoor mall by our house does a big display every year so we thought we would drive to the Schmome Schmepot parking lot which overlooks the mall and we would have a pretty good view. We all piled into the car and took off about 9:00 pm, it had been raining and was pretty cool so I had put warm clothes on the kids and brought their blankies. We rushed up there thinking they might have already started, but they hadn't and we were able to get a prime spot. We all climbed into the back of the truck and waited, and waited, and waited. We ended up closing the back door and just rolling down the back window so the kids could look out. Except for a few cranky moments, the kids were great and had a blast! They just knew they were out late and doing something exciting and different, they just had no idea what. We saw a few fireworks going off in some random directions but the ones from Schmouthlands never went off. Finally, after waiting an entire hour for these stinkin' fireworks, we got back into the car and drove over to the mall to ask one of the security guys what was up. He said they weren't having fireworks this year which they had posted on their website but he had still had at least 100 people ask him that night. So we went home to check and sure enough, it said right there on their site which Chris and I had both looked at earlier but had obviously misread. But we weren't the only ones, there were several of us suckers sitting in that parking lot waiting for the fireworks to start. It was disappointing because the kids were really excited to see them, so when we got home Chris set off the (legal) fireworks he had gotten and we watched from the house. The kids loved them and asked for more, but that was all we had and it was 10:30 and time for bed.

It ended up being such a fun night and one we will probably be laughing about for awhile.

And they say boys are hard to potty train...

So we had gotten the kids a potty for their 2nd birthday, I wanted them to open it and us make a big deal out of it so they would think it was something special. I am pretty sure by the time I got the wrapping paper off they had moved on to something else though, as kids will do. I didn't even know if I would start it right away, there is such conflicting information out there about when to start potty training, I didn't want to start it too early and then have us all frustrated.

So just last Friday night we had the potty out and I put it in the bathroom before bathtime and was asking the kids if they wanted to sit on it and go peepee. I took their diapers off and they took turns sitting down on it and fighting over it (hmmm, maybe I should have bought 2?) They were just playing with it after a while and opening and closing the lid, when I saw it - someone had gone poopy! I was so shocked I thought someone must have been playing a trick on me! I know it was Daniel because he had been on it the most and was on it last. My shocked reaction made him feel like he had done something wrong at first, but then I quickly went into cheerleader mode and made sure he knew he had done a very good thing. I don't think he did it on purpose, I think it just happened, but my positive reaction and his reward (high fives and chocolate popcorn) will hopefully mean more poops in the potty in the near future. I mean, think about it, that was one poopy diaper I didn't have to change. We are well on our way!

Our own little tribute to Michael

Upon hearing the sad news of Michael Jackson's death, I got out my Thriller CD and played it for the kids intent on introducing them to the musical genius that was the incomparable Michael Jackson. Elizabeth is our little dancer as you can see in the video and Daniel was doing something that looked close to break dancing in the breakground. These kids are such a blast!

We are Family

It was so great having my whole family here for the kids' b-day, it's hard to live so far from home and I was thrilled that everyone wanted to make the trip to celebrate the kids birthday. Daniel and Elizabeth's new cousin Braden was the youngest guest attendance, just a little more than a month old. My cousins were in town this year for the party and we got a great pic of me, my cousin, my sister and our kids, the only one missing was Shelby who was in Oklahoma. These are some of the family pics we got at the party.