Potty Training Talk

Quote of the Week:

(Hanging out on the potty, waiting for something to happen)

Lillianna: I think that my poo poo can't come out because....um....my feet are too long.

Wabi-Sabi

I'm participating, along with 14 others, in a Online Photography Workshop that starts today.

iMollie is the creative genius behind this (thanks Mollie!) and it has been so much fun to think outside the box as I snap photos each day. You'll have to read more about the assignment and check her site each day to see the photos submitted from a different participant.

Here's one I didn't turn in:

Don't know what day I'll be featured so you'll just have to keep checking her site (Mom).

A little Springtime Haiku

Bursting, blooming buds

telling of the Spring to come

Let's go play outside!

Sisterly love

Lillianna: Here, let me get that booger for you.

Ellenie: Yowzers! You got it alright!

Song for a cloudy day.

Sunshine, you are my sunshine.

You make me happy when skies are grey.

You'll never know dear,

how much I love you.

Please don't take

my sunshine away.

Happy Easter!

What a weekend!

First we got a visit from Dandy and Wil which lasted all weekend and was wonderful!

Then Uncle John Eric was in the neighborhood from Chicago and stopped by which was terrific!

Then it just happened to be Easter with lots of fun things to do and Ellenie was baptized which was very, very special. Then, Sue-Sue & Pops surprised us with being able to come up for the baptism which was truly great! To top it off, Aunt Kelsey & Uncle Ben brought Cousins Ella, Daisy, Leah & Bentley to visit and play which was fantastic! It was all just so good.

Here are the highlights:

Church Easter Egg hunt on Saturday morning... All the hunts in our front yard the past few weeks really paid off. Lillianna racked up on the chocolate and jelly beans.

You mean I can't eat all the candy right now?

Maybe just one more piece...

Our beautiful girls on a very special night!

Yea! The Millers are here! They made it just in time for the service Saturday night. How special & fun!

Easter morning!

Ellenie: Can we go get our Easter baskets now?

Lillianna: No, not yet.

Ellenie: How about now?

Lillianna: Sorry Ellenie but we have to wait for our cousins to get here from the hotel.

Ellenie: I don't know if I can wait that long.

The Easter Bunny left so many great treats!

Leah riding the Easter Horse

Ella galloping on the Easter Horse

Sweet Cousins!

Leah got all geared up for The Big Egg Hunt

The Sunglasses gave her an obvious advantage as she found the first egg!

Daisy stopped to pose for a pretty picture but...

Lillianna was in hot pursuit of another plastic pink egg.

Bentley found it first though!

Everyone sat and compared their loot and concluded while jelly beans really are the best.

Two very sleepy girls had a very happy Easter!

All the way up

So in the many books Lillianna likes for us to read to her is Guess How Much I Love You. It's about a Daddy rabbit and his little rabbit expressing how much they love one another. At the end of the story, the little rabbit says, "I love you all the way up to the moon." And the daddy rabbit says, "I love you all the way up to the moon....and back."

Last night at the dinner table I shared a piece of a York peppermint pattie with Lillianna who gobbled it up and then asked for more...

ME: Who loves chocolate?

Lillianna: I love it all the way up to my mouth...and back."

It was supposed to be sunny & warm

A playdate at the park on a warm, sunny Spring day. Who wants that when you can have a surprisingly chilly, very windy day where the french flies blow off the table and your newborn cries because she doesn't have on a jacket that zips up.

Oh, it really was fun...it's always great to be outside playing with friends.

Especially since this special park is right next to the train tracks!

Hi train. We're sorta excited to see you but a little unsure of how close you are...
Now we see that you won't run over us so yea, we're getting really excited.

WHOOO HOOOOO TRAIN! THIS IS SO GREAT! PLEASE COME BY AGAIN SOON!

BYE BYE TRAIN! I WISH YOU'D COME BY BY HOUSE SOMETIME!

Okay, now back to swinging.

and climbing...

and sliding...
and driving...
and taking turns.

Great fun = Great nap!

Don't Hate Me Because I'm Beautiful & Have So Much Hair

#1 and #2

Recently, I have been having dreams about poop.

yep, poop.
I can't imagine why other than it's the word most said in our house right now...

except for pee pee.

We've been potty-training for over a week now. I have a whole new understanding for why someone decided to call it "training." We're training for the long haul. This is no sprint race. This is a martahon that we've just started. That's what it feels like as I strip another pair of Dora painties off and throw them into the washing machine.

Lillianna has been running around the house in her long sleeve shirt, no pants, colored socks get-up and doesn't seem to mind. Actually she is doing a great job. 218 M&Ms, 2 trains, 68 jelly beans, 22 Special juices, 36 Skittles, 2 pieces of gum, and 3 books later...She is really starting to get the hang of it.

Yesterday we camped out again to make progress on #2.

Ellenie gave the pep talk that finally did the trick!

Lillianna then got ANOTHER prize...

A Thomas the Train Conductor's hat of her very own. sorry no pic.

(After an accident, in her robe, sitting on a towel because why waste another pair of clean, dry undies and pants this close to bed time?)

I can't think of a comparable parenting experience thus far. A complete mix of emotions - pride, frustration, sympathy, grossed-outness - all rolled into one. I can't believe I just wrote that sentence about pee-peeing and pooping. But I did...because it's true.

And it's all worth it.

Friends make days go by so much better..and faster

Gotta princess party to go to Lillianna?

"Uh yeah, Mom, did the shoes give it away?"

Happy 4th Birthday Princess Lydia! We had so much fun at your party!

Everyone got all dressed up and posed for the camera.

Wait. Where's Lillianna? Oh right, she's way off to the left there, too busy adding 44 more stick-on jewels to her foam crown to pose for a picture.

Later we enjoyed the day in Sam's backyard.

wheee.

Sam: I love to scoop the sand with my shovel.

Lillianna: I love to dust the sand off with my hands.

Sarah Laine: You guys don't know what you're missing! I love to feel the sand with my feet!

Lillianna: My feet might get cold. But I can do this and then I can do...

THIS!

No hands or feet! I must have my mom's abs! ha.

Emma Hensley was really getting the swing of playing outside.

Sam wanted to show off his skills on the sandbox lid.

Then Lillianna showed him how to play Buckin' Bronco style.

Then they pretended it was a boat and swam home for supper.