Ramblings from the husband

After passing a strenuous back ground check I have been granted clearance to our award winning family blog. Laura warned me that she may revoke this privilege at anytime so I better behave myself while posting.
Tessa has been on this "Little Mermaid" kick for awhile now. Recently Laura purchased one of those Disney sequels that went straight to DVD. I believe it is titled something to the effect of "Little Mermaid 2". Basically it is about Ariel's daughter Melody. So now Tessa goes around the house pretending to be Melody and calling me "Grandfather" in reference to King Tritan. Tonight I decided to participate even more in this game than I usually do. I sat in my recliner (King Tritan's throne) with our yellow broom from the dollar store (King Tritan's Trident). I ordered her to finish her dinner. We played this game for a little while until Tessa noticed Ashley playing with Tessa's toys. Later in the evening we rocked out to a "Doodle Bops" (some crazy acid tripping Canadia Sesame Street show) DVD. I don't think I could have predicted this night when I was single and watching "The Simpson's" at my apartment with Blake my roomate. It's funny how life changes and priorities get shifted around. I love my little girls Tessa and Ashley, my beautiful wife Laura, and possibly our dog Rosco that peed on the snowman I made. Stay tuned for the next installment of the "Rambling Husband" by Kirk.

Happy Late Halloween!

This is at the ward party. I think it was supposed to be for bean bag toss,

but we found a better use!

Cinderella, a little Piggy, and their Daddy.

Right before heading out to trick-or-treat. Our super cute
little Piggy, she even had a curly tail on her bottom!
(And she is a fancy piglet with her necklaces on)




Cinderella was having a fit about putting on her dress back on,
so we went to the dress up box and got out
her wedding dress instead, then we just called
her a princess.





Cute girls!
Notice the glass slippers:)

The loot, which we forgot to put away before we went to bed.

We woke up the next morning to Tessa with chocolate all over her face

saying "I found chocolate!"

Halloween Day at a small festival down the road,
hanging out with Kirk's sisters kids.

They had games to play so you could win candy.

Ashley is playing the mummy game, courtesy of the cousins!

She is the most beautiful mummy I have ever seen!



Ashley and Tessa, just hanging out watching the other kids. Ashley was too little

to play most games, and Tessa was too shy, so this is how we spent most of the time.

We had a really fun halloween, I know that it's almost Christmas, but I wanted to get some pictures up of the girls. So check in around Valentines Day for our Christmas post!! haha.

I made a decision

I made my advent calander decision. I only have a day or so to get it together. But I love it. Check it out.

Pizza Night!

I have bunco tonight, I haven't been in a few months because of scheduling conflicts, so tonight is Kirk and the girls doing dinner on their own. And what a great day for this, because

Tuesdays and Thursdays are

$2.99 pizza night at 5 Buck pizza!!!

Thinking Ahead

I just spent a few minutes searching KSL.com for Christmas trees (I am totally ok with a gently used tree)! And all the Christmas decorations made me think of how excited I am for Christmas, I just want it to hurry up and be time to put up Christmas decorations, maybe we will have to start the week OF thanksgiving instead of the weekend after! Anyways, all this looking made me realize that I want to make an advent calendar for the kids. I found this one online, but want to keep looking for other ideas, I still have a few weeks to get it all figured out I guess. Now, I need to start working on some of the homemade gifts we are doing this year, which I can't post because some people that may read this may be on the gift list! I will post them in January :)

I love Christmas!!!!

Things I Have Learned

Things I have learned in the past week:

*Ashley can eat her weight in grapes.

*I can kill spiders without screaming, but only the small ones.

*Laundry multiplies during the night.

*Tessa ALWAYS wants to share, as long as it's not her food or toys.

*I am in totally different place in life than I was a few years ago, and I never noticed the change in myself until it happened.

*I always stay up way too late, even when I am tired, and I don't know why.

Single Parenting

I am a single parent this weekend. Kirk is in AZ for an aunt's funeral, with his brother and two sisters. They took off this morning around 4:30 and I had a message that they got in safely, but haven't talked to him tonight, I am sure he is busy. So, for a 3 day spurt, it's just me and the girls.

So, I wonder, what will I do. Well, we went to the zoo today. It was a lot of fun, a bit on the chilly side since I forgot our jackets, but not too bad (I felt like a bad mom forgetting the jackets, but there were lots of other kids there without jackets too. It was in the high 60's, but the wind cooled it down a bit). We also had our cousin Olivia, since her mom is in AZ also, and I think Tessa and her had a good time playing today.

At the zoo, they have a new baby elephant, totally cute, just like Dumbo! And a precious little baby giraffe, it was just beautiful. The tiger cubs where almost full sized tigers by this time in the year, so that was a pinch disappointing, looking for cubs and only seeing large tigers, but everything grows up eventually.

We went with my friend Becky and her munchkins, which I think worked out great, because they kinda moved in a pack, so it was a little easier to keep track of them. I think Olivia has a new boyfriend, because she was talking about Ben on the way home, saying how funny he was and that she liked him! So funny. Thanks again Becky for taking us with you, the day turned out great!

The only downfall of the day was me dropping Ashley's binky down the giraffes ditch where they spray the poop into. And it was the only one I took with me, made for a bit of a noisy drive home :(

Now, for the rest of the weekend, I don't know what we will do. Hm. All I know is that tonight, I plan on getting a great nights rest in a big bed all by myself!!! :)

First Words

Ashley has finally spoken, and it's a real word. Yes, she does say the "bye-bye", "uh-ohs" and whatnot, but she also has her first actual word. Get ready for this, ok, you are ready?? She screams, yes, screams the word "Quiet!" Haha!

There is one particular family member she is directing this to, and you guessed it, it's Rosco. She stands at the glass door screaming Quiet! when he is barking. Sometimes not even when he is barking, just because she sees him. And who would you guess is right next to her yelling it also, yes it is Tessa. I typically tell Rosco "that's enough, no barking" or just knock on the door/window. But not Tessa and Ashley! Ashley actually says it anytime she is around Rosco or if she hears the neighbors dog barking, she hurries over to the window to yell "quiet". And sometimes she wakes up in the middle of the night, and we hear her saying very loudly "quiet"! Too funny. In fact, the other day, I had the laptop out, and she desperately wanted it. But then she heard the neighbors dog, and quickly crawled over to the window so she could yell "quiet", so cute.

And to top it off, tonight I was telling Rosco to sit while I put her pajamas on, and I swear she said "sit" also, like 3 times. So I will be listening for that one too.

Does this mean my darling is destined to be a dog trainer?!

That's my Girl

At the birthday party, they only offered sodas to drink. So I grabbed Tessa a sprite. As I sat down at the table, I explained that we don't give our kids soda and that this would be Tessa's first real soda, all for herself. Well, she took a sip and said "I don't like this water." Yeah!!!! That's the girl I have been dreaming of!!! I know, some people think it's totally crazy that we don't offer soda to the kids, and someday she will like soda, but for now, she doesn't need it (no one needs it) and she can have juice and milk and water instead. I love this little girl!

A few days later, we went to the Pollo Loco (my new favorite place), and they have strawberry soda, so I got Tessa a little bit. One sip, and she says "I don't like this. It's yucky." Bless her! :)

Happy Birthday Isaac

Tessa was invited to a birthday party for her little friend Isaac. I decided to make him a super hero cape. I have never made a cape before, and I wanted his name on it. So, I got really crafty and made my own "patches" for the cape. My stitching isn't the best, but I hope he likes it. Tessa wore it for quite a while the day before his party, so at least I know she loves it!

I used super thick iron on interfacing to make my letters and star. Then I stitched them on the fabric, which didn't turn out as well as I had in mind, which is why I am not posting that picture! I used Word to make my letter patterns. So, I thought it turned out pretty good for a first try, I just hope he enjoys it!

Isaacs party was a blast too. It was held at Thanksgiving Point at the Barnyard. We saw the animals and fed them corn, got our face painted, had the chance to ride the ponies (which Tessa declined, oddly enough since we OWN horses), went for a wagon ride pulled by the tractor, got a personal time with a cute little pony just for the party kids, played some games, and had pizza and cake and ice cream. It was a lot of fun, 3 hours worth and the kids loved it!

Ashley's first sucker! She loved it!

We have darling children, I must say!

Our wagon ride. Ashley is now eyeing the candy cup!

Tessa had so much fun, she even sat on the cow!

It was such a cute little pony, until one little girl didn't hold her hand flat to feed it and it bit her finger, then everyone got a little apprehensive.

MoonLight

Kirk surprised me with a night out on Oct. 2. He told me a month ahead of time to block that night out for our date. All month I kept trying to guess what he had planned. Then, the day before our date, he told me what it was, only because it was like snowing up in the mountains and super cold. He scheduled tickets to the full moon night ride on the lifts at Sundance Resort. It was really fun, great to be out together ALONE and have time to talk and laugh and not sing Sally the Camel or The Ants go Marching while passing crackers to the backseat. We, well I, wore so much clothing because of the weather that we kept warm but kinda ruined the romantic holding-hands-and-kissing-on-the-swing part. Thank you Kirk for such a great time!!!

As you can see, I stayed very warm!

Baby Legs

I have been trying to be crafty lately. I got out the sewing machine one day, because I needed to do something for me. So, I whipped out some leg-warmers for the girls. So totally cute!

This is the first pair I made, ages ago. Look how little Ashley was!

I have been wanting to make more ever since this day, but then the house

sold and life got busy and it just wasn't time for sewing.

A close up view. Darling with cute little skirts!

Shiner

Tessa got her first black eye a few weeks ago. She was running around the kitchen table while I finished up feeding Ashley, and she wasn't looking where she was going, tripped on a chair, and then hit another chair with her eye. It was like watching those 30 second video clips of a plant growing over a months span; it turned purple and blue within 30 seconds, right in front of my eyes. Amazing. Poor girl, it really hurt her, and we had to get out the frozen corn bag to ice it. I am just glad I took away the fork I hadn't noticed she carried the first time around the table!

I know, I know...

It's about time I added some cuteness to our blog. And don't worry, I will try to update our picture sometime too, since it is only 2 years old!

Take a Walk

Ashley has taken her first steps!

Sunday evening, I was on the phone with my mom, fixing dinner. Kirk and the kids are in the living room. Suddenly, Kirk yells at me "Ashley's walking!" And she was! She would take a few steps to us, and then we would turn her around and she would go back to the other person. Well, this continued for a bit, and then we had dinner and went to the neighbors for a little 3 yr old birthday party. And Ashley kept walking! She probably took about 35 steps that entire night. At one point, she was walking across the room, fell down, stood back up with out touching anything, and just kept walking on! It was like she has known how to walk for ever, and just finally showed us that she knows how. It was super exciting!

Now, she hasn't walked much since, just here and there, she is a much faster crawler and just prefers whatever way lets her keep up best!

Love

I just need it to be written that I very much love my husband. He is wonderful. He is an awesome daddy and the best husband ever. I love you Kirk!

Got Milk?

Ashley is showing signs of being lactose intolerant, not severely, but when she has had milk or yougurt or even just regular milk based formula, she is up screaming a few times a night. Ugh. I NEVER thought I would have an intolerant kid, because I drink like 2 gallons a week, just by myself, I LOVE milk. So, we have always bought her sensitive formula, which is a little bit more expensive, but she does well with it. The doc suggested that we get her some goats milk, or soy milk. I tried the soy, but she was still fussy a bit, so I tried goat milk, which she seems to really enjoy. Maybe the soy trial went along with teething that week or something, so we might give it another try in a week or so, because, get this, FORMULA IS CHEAPER THAN GOATS MILK! I added it up last night, and we get about 50 more ounces of milk for our $15 with formula than goat milk. Arg!!! I thought when Ashley turned 1 we would switch over to milk for $1.50 a gallon and be saving tons of money, and now, the formula will continue I suppose. So much for saving money, but I it's worth the extra $$ it if my baby will sleep at night and be happy!

As for Updates

There hasn't been too much exciting stuff going on here. No first steps yet, although hopefully any day now. But, for the un-exciting stuff, here is what we have been up to lately:

*I got a part time job, working at Ross Dress for Less! I am actually enjoying it so far, it's been about 3 weeks. I work two nights a week a week, and I have worked one Saturday for 4 hours. So, it's good, it gets me out of the house, and I am not spending money (well, at least I am making a little bit to cover what I spend at Ross!)

*Ashley stands by herself now. And she is trying to climb, she climbs the fireplace step, which she only fell off of 3 times, and can now get down pretty well unassisted too! She is trying the couch but can't quiet make it yet, thankfully!

*Tessa is in a home-based preschool and loving it! She goes right in and doesn't look back, and when I go in to pick her up, she tells me "Not Yet Mommy!"

*Rosco has been in Obedience Training for the past 5 weeks, he has 3 weeks to go. He is doing awesome, as long as you have treats in your hand. If you have no treats, forget it! But he is becoming the dog we always wanted, just slowly!

*Tessa hasn't used the potty yet. Has no desire, just screams no if you ask her. But one day, one day this will all change... I told her that all I want for Christmas if for her to use the potty!

*Kirk asked me last week what my thought were on having another kid, I mentally froze for a moment, and he filled in the silence with "I don't want to even really think about it until the first one is potty trained" phew! I don't want to think about it until the second one is consistently sleeping through the night and that isn't going to happen until all her teeth come in, I believe. And until the first one is toilet trained. I DO NOT want 3 children in diapers, no way no how, thank you very much. Two is too many to change already.

*We finished painting the kitchen this past weekend. It has a chair rail, so we went a lighter shade on top and our through-out-the-whole-house beige on bottom. It looks sooo nice, I just love it! And I feel more complete looking at an entirely painted wall instead of a big brown and white line down the middle of the wall :) Thank you very much Kirk!!!

*Tessa has began asking for ponytails!!! I knew that this happy day would come! She sits and waits and then asks for hairspray. I let her pick out the color barrettes she wants, and all goes well, and I LOVE IT!!! She is darling!

Anyways, these are some of the things that we have been up to lately, like I said, nothing exciting, but just our normal daily doings :)

Crate

About two weeks ago, I had been rearranging the garage one evening. While laying in bed, Kirk asked if I had shut the garage door. So I hop out of bed to come down and shut the door, and it's very dark out I notice. So I reach out to push the button for the door, and think to myself that someone could be in the garage and I wouldn't know since it was so dark, so I shut the house door and lock it, just in case, you know. As I switched the lock, I hear a noise behind me, in the family room or toy room (although I am not sure why a burglar would be in the toy room, perhaps stealing our little people collection?). So I quickly, and I mean quickly, run up the stairs to tell Kirk to go check the downstairs. As I am telling him this, I hear a loud crash. I am totally freaked out at this point, absolutely sure we have a burglar, and I have locked him IN our house now. Kirk swears he didn't hear the crash, I don't know now he didn't, but anyways. So we totally check out the downstairs, and then the upstairs. No burglars, and totally puzzled about the crash (which the next day we find out was a super big branch falling off the tree outside the family room window), we go to bed. So I have a dream that night that we had a burglar. In the dream, I am sleeping and wake up, only to see a man in black clothes in our hallway, he notices me sit up and steps into the room Tessa is sleeping in. I can't even talk, all I keep saying in k-k-k-k-k, stuttering Kirk. I was frozen with fear, totally frozen. All I kept thinking was, we don't have any weapons, well, there is a baseball bat, but it's in the garage, and the phone jack upstairs isn't working, so the phone is downstairs too. And Rosco, our big, scary looking with a really deep growl, but gentle as can be Rosco is outside. In dream Kirk says he is going in to confront the guy, or get Tessa or something, and I don't know what to do. I am afraid to go downstairs, because what if there is another burglar (they do go in pairs sometimes) and I am afraid to go outside to get Rosco, because what if they lock me out and Kirk and the girls are inside alone. I know, I have crazy dreams. Anyways, I woke up with a pounding heart, and had a hard time going back to sleep.

So now, lucky for Rosco I have scary dreams, he is happily sleeping in a Crate in our front room, with a great view of the front door and glass door. So, I know, what good is he going to do in a crate?? Well, I have the idea that if someone breaks in and starts coming up the stairs in the dark and hear a very large dog growling that they will quickly turn and go away because they can't see if he is crated or not in the dark. Hopefully we will never have to find out, but I do sleep a little better at night now. Thank you Rosco.

As a side note, Kirk told me last night when I was opening the front door around 9 pm after getting home, Rosco heard the noise and started growling, but then saw it was me and stopped. So Rosco is paying for his keep!

Growing Up

Tessa is getting so big. It just amazes me. When I read to her now, I let her finish the sentences. The other day, we were reading Cinderella, and I started with "The stepsisters tried to push..." and she ended with "thier big, ugly feet into the glass slipper." It was funny to hear her say "big, ugly feet" I just laughed to myself and was proud that she is getting to good at remembering. Which makes me also realize that she remembers, and that she probably remembers everything now. So, I need to make sure she has happy things to remember. (although at dinner time when Kirk asks Tessa what she did today, she always says "i don't know" so maybe she isn't remembering as well as I thought! haha)

Educated

I have such a wonderful husband. He let me go to Education Week this year. Well, I guess I shouldn't say let me like he is controlling or something, it's just that he was fine with me being gone every night for an entire week and putting the girls down by himself. So for this, and all the other nights I am out and about, I love him, he is such a wonderful husband and awesome father. Thank you Kirk!

I want to write a little about Ed Week. I had such a wonderful time. Next year, I want Kirk to go with me, it would be a lot of fun to go to classes together so that we would have so much to discuss, other than the kids and fixing up the house! So, I would recommend it to EVERYONE!

I went to a lot of different classes, some spiritual, some financial, some parenting, some marriage related, and one fun organizational class. The organizational class was very encouraging. It was taught by Marie Ricks, author and professional home-organizer. www.houseoforder.com I really enjoyed her classes, I actually only got to go to two of them, for they fill up fast. But I bought her book, House of Order Handbook, and have read it cover to cover already. So I am now going back and starting over and this time going to try putting it into practice. I really want our new house to be an organized one, this is why I still haven't put everything away yet, because I am scared of putting it where it shouldn't go, and then having to move it all again, so therefore I just leave it all in the garage packed up still. Yes, I sometimes have to go down searching for things, like last week the blender, so now I think I might have the courage to start unpacking! We will see!

I am actually taking her classes again at a stake center down the road in PG on Thursday nights, it's an 8 week course, free which is good, because I didn't get to see all of it at Ed Week. Some of the things I have learned though are:
*keep only half of what you already own. Like if you have 3 staplers, only keep 2 (she says to round up), or if you own multiple pots (like 10 or 20... I don't have that many) you really only need 4, max of 5, because your stove only has 4 elements on it.
*keep quality, and buy quality. Don't spend your money on junk products because they are cheap, save up a little more and buy something you will use more often and that will last longer. Her example was with kitchen utensils, don't buy dollar store plastic tongs, splurge and buy $10 metal ones that won't rust and will last years and years.
*File, don't pile. I love this saying! She talked about the counter top next to the fridge, how almost every single house has a "pile" of paper next to the fridge. So, she said when you come into the house with paper, like mail, don't set it down, set it in it's file (bills to pay, insurances to file away, etc.) She also said that 90% of the paper in your current Pile you will never look at again if you file it away, so she said have a pending file that you put things into, and then file them 30 days later, and with that 30 day buffer, you will have forgotten why you wanted to keep it anyways, so you don't file only to move them around forever but to never look at them again.

Another speaker that I loved, I mean absolutely loved, is H. Wallace Goddard. I went to both his marriage class, titled Inviting Heaven into Your Marriage, and his parenting class, Bringing up our Children in Light and Truth. He is also a columnist for Meridian Magazine. I just can't say enough about his lectures, except that if you ever have a chance to listen to him, it would be well worth your time. My favorite except from his class is as follows, from the marriage class:
*You want to build a house, but you have two favorite architects. So you ask each of them to build half a house. They both ask what specs you want, and you tell each of them to just build what they think is best. You then have your halves delivered and go to put them together so you will have the best house ever, from your two favorite architects. Problem is, they don't fit together. One may be a rambler, 3 bdrm, 2 bathroom style with a basement, but the other half is a two story, 6 bdrm, 3 bathroom, with a balcony. You can try to do the remodeling your self, to build a second story onto the rambler, dig a basement underneath the two story, but your chances of actually making a functioning, non-leaking, going to last a lifetime home are slim. What you need is a carpenter, someone that can come in a build a structure to unite these two homes into one. Someone that has experience, someone that knows what they are doing, someone that will make sure there are no leaks and gaps. That someone is the Lord.

If we let the lord unite our halves, then we will last the test of time. Our marriage is never just between husband and wife, but also between Heavenly Father because he is there to help us and keep us strengthened.

I love analogies, and this one takes the cake in my opinion. I just loved it and wanted to share it with you. I hope it can help you to take a look at your marriage and see what needs some "updating" or "home repairs" that Jesus can do for you.

The other time I went to this class, the night was titled, Looking on Your Spouse with Compassion. I was expecting something about changing ourselves and being humble, but what he spent almost the entire time on was the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37). He totally went in depth on it, and pointed out how it applies to our marriage. Fabulous class.

Anyways, there where lots and lots of other great classes, but maybe I will give recap of those at another time. So really, if you can make time for it, Education Week is awesome!!!

Happy Birthday Girls!!!

My goodness, it has been a long time, and so much has happened. Tessa turned 3 on July 12. Kirk and I celebrated our 6 year anniversary on July 23. Ashley turned 1 on August 27. And lots of other fun things have happened too, I just can't remember all of them right now. So, with that in mind, I will try to start posting things more often. See, the problem with blogging is that Tessa thinks she doesn't need to nap anymore, but Mommy thinks she does. So to get her to nap, I have to lay down with her. Only, it is usually me that falls asleep first and then doesn't wake up until Ashley wakes me up. So, my free time has been drastically cut, but I am much more rested now (or am I? Ashley has been waking up once a night for the past 4-5 weeks).

Anyways, here are a few quick pics to enjoy of the big celebrations. Sidenote, our anniversary wasn't a big celebration. We got a sitter, went out for ribs (yum!), and then walked around a few stores "window shopping" until our 10 pm curfew. So, there are no pics of this great party!! haha.

She blew out the candles before I could even get a picture!

We decorated cloth crowns and tiaras with foams stickers, it was a huge hit!

(and now they are part of the dress-up box we gave her for her birthday!)

Tessa's cake!

The decorations are melted Starburst rolled out flat and cut-out with cookie cutters, super simple and way fun!

The great balloon race.

Tessa was a bit camera shy at her party. Daddy had to hold her tight to catch just one picture. Don't you love the tiara?! :)





Happy Birthday Ashley!!!

Party Girls!

Ashely's cake!

So, the story about the cake. Well, it all starts when I spend like 3 hours on Saturday working on her cake (I know, it should look like a wedding cake if I spent 3 hours!) I felt a little bad that we didn't have any glorious presents for Ashley (her toys are from a yard sale, but she loved them anyways, as a side note) so I thought I would try out some fondant and try to make her a glorious cake. Well, after much research, I decided I wanted to make a cake that looked like a present wrapped up, with a big 3-D effect bow on top. Perhaps that was a little ambitious for my first try. So I decorated the cake with the white fondant, and then set about trying to make a bow. It wasn't working out, well, it has to set overnight, but I didn't have any faith that it was gonna set up hard enough to stand up as a bow, so I then undecorated the cake, only to start over, and this is what I ended up with. Still it looked really pretty in real life, I was and still am proud of it, since it was my first fondant try. Now, for Kirk's birthday, he is getting a cake that looks like a present wrapped up!! haha.

Anyways, it didn't really matter about the cake, because Saturday night Ashley is puking, so the Sunday party is off. So we celebrated Monday night, after everyone is feeling better, with just the four of us. The cake was a little 3-days-old by that time, but still ok. Oh, it didn't help that Tessa totally un-decorated the cake Monday afternoon when I was trying to lay Ashley down for a nap. I come into the kitchen and Tessa is next to the cake, saying she's "playing play-dough"! I tried not to be mad, but I was sooo mad, I hadn't taken my pictures yet!!! haha. Long story short, we had fun and that's all that matters!

So excited!

Tessa is a great candle-blower-outer!


Too bad for Ashley it was made out of marshmallows, so she couldn't eat the little circles! But she enjoyed playing with them and squishing them. And don't worry, there was icing underneath!


Yeah for Presents!

Tessa is always a helper!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY GIRLS!

It Is Time

It is time that Tessa learned to use the potty. We had our last straw yesterday. She woke up from her nap, and went into our room. I walked in and saw her squatting over, I asked what she was doing (knowing what she was doing), and asked her if she wanted to go sit on the potty. She of course screams NO, and so I told her to let me know when she was done so we could change her diaper. Well, she come out of the room about 3 mins later, holding her poopy diaper in her hands. This is about the 20th time she has done this, taken off her diaper. A few times, she has taken it off, went to the toilet and tossed the poop in, then flushed it away. So, if she is wise enough to do this, then she is totally wise enough to just poop on the potty, she is just playing us!

See, people keep telling me that she will use the potty when she is ready to use it, but this taking off the diaper thing is IT, I mean, she OBVIOUSLY knows what is going on. She always goes to hide to poop, and as soon as she is finished, she wants to be changed. So, Kirk and I decided that today is the day, she is all done with diapers, I don't care if she pees her pants till she is 5, she has to figure it out sometime, I am just hoping that sometime is sooner than later! (but I am not going to hold my breath).

The problem we have in our household, is potty resistance. Tessa knows what the potty is all about, she knows we toss our poop in there after she dirties a diaper, she knows Mommy and Daddy and Grandma and everyone in the world uses a potty, she just doesn't want to sit on it. She wants to flush it, and throw TP in it, and all the fun stuff :) but she doesn't want to sit on it.

So far today, we have had about 6 pee accidents, no successes, but thats ok, because she is sitting on it. We set a timer, usually around 15-20 mins, and when it goes off, we sit and "try". If we try, and our panties are dry, then we get a candy. If our panties get wet and then we "practice", there is no candy for wet panties.

I am prepared to wipe up pee for about a month or so, I am totally calm and just told Kirk that in a month or so, we need to have our brand new carpets professionally cleaned! Haha.

Pictures Worth a Thousand Words

Daddy and Tessa flying kites in the backyard.

Daddy hard at work!

Mommy and the Girls on Easter Day.



They looked so cute in matching dresses! Thanks Grandma!


Look what the Easter Bunny brought!


Breakfast.

Snacktime, sharing grahams.

Sisters.

Tessa says, "I got her!" Better hold on tight Tessa!

Our future cowgirls.

Another cowgirl and her Daddy.

Swingin' time.

Playing with our friend R.

They had so much fun playing together.

Ashleys first stroller ride without the carseat to sit in.

Her coat is so puffy that she can't even move!

I love this picture and this hat. This was the begining of Jan.

Our family, minus Daddy who is the photographer!

See, I said I had pictures going back forever. Here is Christmas after Santa Claus came.

We used large boxes and stacked the presents up really high so that it looks impressive in the morning.

It helps that our tree is only a tiny little thing!

I am also going to do a post of each girl seprately for the past few months. It's fun to see them grow and change. Look for that in the coming days......