A trick!

Here is a cute video I thought I would share with you. I decided it would make my life easier if I taught them how to put their coats on. I used to teach this trick to my kids when I worked at daycares in college. So, now they can get themselves totally ready, shoes and coats. The only exception is zipping/snapping. That will be a few years yet! Enjoy!

Happy Days!!!

Here are some pictures we took at the end of October. They are of us just playing around in Dale and ellen's backyard. Ellen was the photographer. We took a couple of good snapshots that are going to be for our Christmas card, but then we just started playing and got these fun ones. I though a couple of them were cute and needed to be posted.

So the real news is that we think the boys are finally starting to get this potty training thing!!!! I am so happy about it! Last week, Tuesday, I think it was, Will just started telling me he had to go potty, and then would do it. He even told me he had to poop, then did it!!! We were averaging about 25% I'd say in the pooping department, but now we're up to around 90%, which is huge! Xander has improved, too. He's also started pooping pretty regularly in the potty and will ask to go potty several times a day. So, we've taken the boys out of their plastic covers and so far, pretty good. We've had an accident here and there, but overall a huge improvement. It makes me one happy mommy!!

Our only other news of significance is that they're all sick right now. Mostly runny noses, sneezing, fevers and the boys are coughing (of course). Grace doesn't really get sick that often, and she's kind of a grumpy sick person. She's been clingy and whiny yesterday and today. Plus, she doesn't sleep that well, she can't breathe! So, it's been a pretty low-key week because of the colds. We did hit the library on Wednesday (even though we probably shouldn't have). They aren't going to church tonight during bells like they usually do, my mom and dad are coming over to watch them. Monday we went to a playgroup at a new place in town called Lost In Fun. It's another indoor playground, but it has bounce houses and swingsets to play on. The kids had a blast in the bounce houses. Emalea (Hannah and Haylea's mom) got some great pictures of all 5 of the kids playing. I'll post them as soon as I can get them from her. They had a great time. It's expensive to play there, though. It cost almost $15 for those three. It'll just be a place we go on special occassions.

A couple of funny stories. Whenever Xander poops or pees on his Thomas or Elmo underwear he says "poor Elmo" or "poor Thomas". Well, on Monday he was wearing regular white underwear, which he peed on. He said to me "poor plain white underwear." Funny kid!

Will has been asking a lot of questions lately. We're not quite into the "why" phase yet, but he is always wanting to know "what's that?" I hear "What's that, Mommy?" a lot. Then, his second question is always "can I have it?" For example, "What's that, mommy?" "It's a knife." "Oh, can I use it?" Another example, "What's that on your shirt, mommy?" "I spilled some water." "Oh, can I drink it?" Another, "What's that on your plate, daddy?" "It's my dinner, Will." "Oh, can I eat it?" Our answer to his standard second question is usually "no" as you can tell from the examples. But, it is pretty funny to hear him wondering things out loud. He's also been announcing to us, pretty much everyday now, that he wants to sit on Santa's lap and tell him he wants Thomas the Train for Christmas. They'll have a chance to meet Santa at the multiples club Christmas party in mid-Dec, so we'll see if he'll actually do it! That's about all for now. We hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving next week. I'll post our pictures after the holiday on Thursday. Take care!!

Just hanging around!

Here are a couple of pictures of just them hanging around the house lately. Since it's gotten cold, we've stayed close to home. There's not many places to go in the cold and rain.

Not a lot of huge news to tell this week. It's been an OK week, some highs and lows. A good "high" is that Xander has started pooping in the potty (some of the time). He did it for the first time last week. He actually said "I need to poop" and then he did. He does things slowly (as you probably have heard me complain about before) so sometimes he sits there for 30 minutes, but he has had success, so we won't complain! Will had some setbacks with pooping when he was sick two weeks ago, and sometimes I think we're back on track and other times I want to scream. Some days, he'll just poop in his underwear without a second thought and have 3 wet accidents. Other days (like today) he does brilliantly, with no accidents. I wish I could figure him out. Still no brilliant ideas on our parts.

Xander has become the master of song. Here are a couple of his new ones:

#1 Tune Farmer in the Dell

The Beauty and the beast, the beauty and the beast.
Hi Ho the Derrio, the beauty and the beast.

The beauty takes a wife.....

The beauty takes a child...

(you get the idea). That one cracks us up.

#2 Variations on the ABC's

1st. ABCDEFHHHHHHHHHH......

2nd. DDDDDDDDDDDDDDD........

They are all getting pretty good at singing a tune now. When they sing something, it actually has melodic movement and pretty close to the right notes. So, when Xander sings "DDDDDD" it has the ABC tune, so I know that's what it is.

In the bath the other night, Xander had the washcloth and he said "I'm going to wash my pee-pee and my toes." Well, Will heard "pee-pee" and "toes" and said "pee pee toes?" and started laughing uncontrollably. So, now their new big joke is "pee pee toes" and they laugh like immature teenagers at it. Uncle Chad informed me that this won't be the last time they laugh at a bodily function joke. Thanks Chad! Their other new made up word is "giggle dog". We have no idea where it came from. They talked about giggle dog all day today. Who knows?!?!? We still have sleeping giants in our upstairs. Sometimes they have "put the giants down for a nap" and I'm not allowed to go into their rooms if the door is shut because I might "wake him up". They do pay him a lot of attention, though. "I'm going to go check on the giant" they say. It's nice they take such good care of their giants.

This weekend, Daddy will be a single father, as I am going to Grand Island for a scrapbooking weekend with Lisa and some of her friends from work. Daddy will be fine, it may be a long weekend for him, though. Although it will be a nice, relaxing weekend for me! :-) That's all for now. Thanks for checking up on us!

Fall and Halloween 2008

Here are the much anticipated Halloween pictures. I hope you enjoy. It was a nice Halloween this year.

We had had a busy week. The weather has been so gorgeous, that we've been outside every chance we get, and we've been trying to get outside work done before it gets cold again. We hit the park on Thursday and Friday last week, and Monday this week. They enjoy running and climbing, and even spent a good amount of time playing in piles of leaves yesterday. Sunday morning they spent all morning outside, while Brian and I cleaned/organized the garage and stored all the outside things for the winter. The kids had fun pretending their sleds were trains. I see that we have a problem only owning 2 sleds. I guess we'll purchase a third when it starts to snow. In all our outside time, Xander has gotten really good at pedaling, he and Grace go up and down the sidewalk. Will has improved, but can't always keep up on them. Especially since our 3rd tricycle is still a little big for them.

So, Tuesday night we went to Clark Jeary, a retirement home by our house and trick-or-treated and played games with the residents who live there. It was sponsored by our neighborhood association. It was a nice time. The kids got a ton of candy! Friday, my mom and sister came over for dinner, then helped me get them into costumes. We trick or treated in our neighborhood, then went to Dale and Ellen's and Pam and Mike's and did some trick or treating in their neighborhoods, too. They have a lot of candy. They'll be eating it until Christmas, since we only let them have 1/2 or one piece a day. They got into the "trick-or-treating" mode, and grabbing a couple of pieces of candy out of each bowl. I think they liked it. We didn't stay out terribly late, but they did sleep in until after 8 the next morning, which we loved!

Saturday, we had the Niebuhrs over to watch the embarrassing football game against Oklahoma. We slept in again on Sunday, and like I said before, did a lot of work around the house. Today, they went with me to vote and sat there like angels while I filled out my ballot. I was pretty pleased with how quiet they were, considering 10 minutes before going we were in the throws of several tantrums. Poor Will and Xander have colds and runny noses. Will's asthma was acting up over the weekend, but he's not doing too bad now. I don't think we'll have to visit the doctor.

Funny thing Xander said yesterday:
Xander: Mommy, I pooped in my underwear.
Me: You mean you pooped on Thomas the Train (his favorite underwear).
Xander: Yes, I pooped on Thomas. He doesn't like that. Poor Thomas!
Notice that even knowing Thomas doesn't like to be pooped on doesn't stop him from doing it!

I get asked a lot if Grace holds her own with the boys and my answer is a resounding YES! The girl is very sure of herself and is in total control. The other day, she was riding south on her tricycle, the boys, side by side, were riding north directly toward her. When they met, they all stopped. Grace didn't move. Then at the same time, the boys each parted to one side, rolled through the grass around her and went on their way. She didn't say anything to them, they just automatically went around and let her keep going. The girl's going to be OK!

Well, that's about all for now. Hope everyone has a nice week! Thanks for checking up on us.