Clean-cut boys

Aren't these the cutest kids you ever did see???  I cut everyone's hair today and decided they were too adorable to not take some pictures of, so we set up a little photo shoot on the bed.  I forgot how squirmy Mr. Wiggles is (aka Connor) so it lasted for approximately 90 seconds, but we got a couple cute ones.  Merry Christmas!

(Connor looks too grown up with the way I cut his hair - he's not allowed to be that grown up yet!)

Christmas in our little home

We only brought one box of Christmas decorations with us, so it didn't take us very long to put them up this year!  My friend Kristin gave us a little 4-ft. Christmas tree she found at a garage sale and it works perfectly!  It's fun to just have a simpler Christmas this year.  The tree fits just right on our end table and it actually works out very nicely to have it away from Connor's reach!  When we first brought it out of the box, Jeremy was a little concerned.  I think his exact words were, "It looks hairy".  Haha.  It was a little mangy looking, but after some TLC and some rearranging of the branches, I think it looks great!

Merry Christmas!!!

Potty training - a very belated update

I had a few people ask me how our potty-training went and I realized I never shared.  We potty-trained Eli way back in August, but it went so well I forgot to talk about it. :)

Potty-training Eli was one of the easiest things in my experience as a mother.  (Now, before you get mad at me, remember that Connor has never slept more than 3-4 hours at a time!  And he's almost 9 months old!  I have trials too!  I digress...)  Anyway, so potty-training was God's gift to me. :)  Eli was so ready and great, it really only took about a week.  I gathered all the helpful hints from family members and friends before I started and that made it a really great experience.  Here's what worked for us:

• Rewards: Eli got a few M&Ms if he went pee in the potty chair and then he got to pick a "big candy" (I got an assortment out of the bulk section at the store) if he went poop.
• My cousin told me about pouring a little warm water over the boy parts to help him go - this worked like a charm!  He would almost always start to pee when that warm water got on him.  This helped him to learn what it felt like to go and eventually he could do it on his own.
• Underwear from the beginning and never going back to diapers!  Several people told me this and although I was afraid, it was a really good idea.  There was no confusion and we were consistent.  Of course we just stayed home for a few days, but that worked.
• Taking him to go very often in the beginning.  I took him about every 30-45 minutes to prevent accidents  until he started to be able to tell me when he had to go.  We had a few accidents the first few days, but usually he would stop once he realized he was starting to pee, then tell me, and then finish in the potty chair.
• Fun underwear: We got one set with cars/trucks on it and one with Thomas the Train.  Definitely a hit!

That's all I can remember right now.  My brain is mushy from lack of sleep. :)  The first week I still put him in a diaper at night, but one night he got up at 4am and said he needed to go potty, so Jeremy took him and then went to put his diaper back on and he said "No!  I wear underwear now!" and so he put him in underwear and he only had 1 accident after that.  Seriously incredible.  I know I lucked out.

So there you go!  That was our crash course potty-train in a week experience.  It took awhile longer until Eli would tell me every time he needed to go (I would just take him pretty often), but for the last couple months he's always told me when he needs to go.  After the first couple weeks we got rid of the potty chair (hated cleaning that -yuck!) and now he just goes on the toilet.  What a big boy!

Thanksgiving

As I mentioned before, we went to New Jersey for Thanksgiving.  My sister Wendy lives there with her husband  Michael and their 4 kids.  They have a beautiful home and great kids and we had a wonderful time!  We got there Tuesday night and then left Saturday morning.  We were busy cooking and playing and I realized after I left that I didn't get a single picture of Wendy let alone of us together.  Bummer!  The food was absolutely delicious though and we had some amazing weather too!  Poor Jeremy got sick on Thanksgiving and ended up losing his dinner later that night. :( He was pretty much out of it all day Friday so he didn't get to enjoy the leftovers or the gorgeous day.  It was over 60 degrees and sunny!  We went on a walk in their beautiful neighborhood and played outside in their big backyard.

Here are some pictures from the week:

 Mmmm apple pie.  We also made pecan and pumpkin.

 These babies are 5 weeks apart.  Unfortunately they are at the age where they could not be left alone on the floor together. :)  They were way too interested in grabbing each other's faces!

 Cutie-pie Vanessa - she's almost 3 (4 months older than Eli)

 Wendy's kids love to color and do crafts.  Eli had a great time!

  Jeremy laying low on Thanksgiving - Vanessa fell asleep snuggling him. :)

The feast!  Wendy and I were both trying to quickly take pictures before dinner.  We had turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, asparagus, salad, sweet potato casserole, jello, rolls, and corn.  Mmm-mmm!

In their front yard getting ready to go on a walk.

I also forgot to get a picture of the kids on the trampoline.  It was Eli's first time on it and he was a little apprehensive at first, but then he really enjoyed it.  It was fun to see the look on his face as he was getting the hang of it.

On Saturday we left in the morning and drove through the Amish country.  Again I hardly took any pictures, but we had fun seeing all the horses and buggies, driving through the beautiful countryside and stopping at a few shops.

My only picture - a horse.  I'm so lame!

We then last minute decided to drive through Gettysburg as well.  I had never been and thought it would be neat.  We definitely need to go again because really all we did was drive around without any tour or anything.  But it was neat to see the battlefields and to think about what took place there.  Jeremy had been before so he gave me a little history lesson. :)

All in all it was a great trip!  The kids got along really well and it was fun to have a one-on-one visit with Wendy.  They have been all alone back east forever so this was the first time in 8 years that she spent Thanksgiving with family!  Crazy.  We were happy we could be that family!!

To tide you over...

I had 2 people in the last 20 minutes tell me I need to blog, so I figured I better get something up here! :)  We had a wonderful Thanksgiving in NJ with my sister and her family and have been very very busy getting ready for Christmas/flying to CA next week/sister's wedding, so I haven't had a lot of time.

SO....for now, I will just share this absolutely adorable video of my cute children.  (I put this on facebook so if you're on there sorry for the repeat).  Eli is feeding Connor and goes on autopilot for a second and puts the spoon in his own mouth.  It's pretty entertaining.  Love these boys!

And speaking of boys I love, here's a picture of my 3 favorite people in the whole entire universe.  I love my family!!!*

*(That was for my mom - during a family vacation as a kid she would not stop saying that over and over and we all made fun of her for it - she still says it when we're all together.  And now I'm saying it too!  Oh dear.)