Katelyn's {half} Birthday

Kateln's 2nd birthday came and went last August.  It was pretty lame and luckily she doesn't remember.  I had just returned from a 5 week trip, we headed off to live in a hotel for the week for David's job, and then my mind was in baby mode since I was about 8 months pregnant and hadn't prepped for him at all.  Her Birthday was mid week and living in a hotel, I couldn't make a cake, didn't think to buy one, and found a couple gifts she'd like the day before her birthday and didn't wrap them because that seemed dumb to buy wrapping paper since we have plenty at home that we rarely use.  She did get a balloon and a paper crown from Toys R Us and was pretty happy with those, until she decided she didn't want it tied to her wrist and then it started blowing away just faster than my pregnant body could chase it!  Someone had to be sitting at the security room at the back of the store laughing about that one for awhile...probably replaying it and showing anyone that passed by.  I am just so entertaining sometimes and I tried my hardest to snag that balloon but as soon as I got close enough to snatch it, a new gust of wind would blow it just out of reach, so I let it go!  I thought about chasing it down in my car...though about it.  And now that I have two kids, I ALWAYS think twice about leaving the house and sometimes it is just worth it to avoid the embarassment and stay home :)

So...When Katelyn turned 2, David happened to think about her and brought home half of his dessert he ordered (we don't like to go out with his co-workers because it has often proved to be less professional and more on the embarassing side so we avoid those) and we sang Happy Birthday, let her have a couple bites, showed her her presents (She loved the baby doll stroller best!) and then put her to bed.  Pretty lame, but in all honesty I didn't feel too bad about it.  She was fine with it and was too young to really care, let alone know who her friends are.  I just had higher expectations for birthday's and know that it will only get more difficult as more kids and more birthdays consume the years!

The week of her 2 1/2 mark came (at the end of February when I wrote this up and am just now updating and adding pictures to post it) and I thought it would be fun to arrange a play date.  She has a few friends that she really knows, but can have fun with any and all kids.  We set up to eat lunch at Chick Fil-A and then the kids could go play on the toys and us moms could hang out and chat.  It was simple and fun for them and for us and nothing crazy fancy.  I did make a cake...well it was a half cake for her half birthday.  We sang and ate cake and to our surprise, Chick Fil-A brought out little cups of ice cream for all the kiddos!    That was a nice little treat that I think all of us mom's ended up eating :)  We did some candles at home and we did them again when David got home because she is so fascinated with them.  It was just a fun day with friends.

A little about Katelyn lately:

• She is now 38 inches tall and 31 pounds.  She is stretching out!  She is on the average/tall side of things I think.
• She is such a chatter box now!  She often hogs skype calls and I have to put in a movie or let her play games on the iPad to get my turn to talk.
• She loves her Daddy so much!  If she ever sleeps in and he sneaks off to work before she gets up then she asks about him all day checking with me if he is still at work or if we are going to get him anytime soon.  Once he's home, she is glued to him and wants to show and tell about her whole day.  She always gets an extra boost of energy once he gets home and he loves it even if he doesn't get any alone time...even in the bathroom :)
• Skirts, dresses, or tutus are a must.  She now prefers them over pants and loves them for spinning and dancing (reminds me of her cousin Edison).  She has always enjoyed dancing a little jig here and there, but now she likes to include some "graceful" spins and CANNOT dance without the proper attire.  Sometimes we hear a fun song and "Dance Time" is announced and we all will dance.  David and I are usually told to stop and she remins us that we don't have our tutus on!  We forget all the time!  We were at a Valentine's party and all the kids were playing a musical chairs type of game and while the music played, everyone danced.  Katelyn broke down in tears as they were telling everyone to dance and she told me she didn't have a tutu and she couldn't dance!  What were they thinking trying to get all those kids to dance without tutus!?  And what mom in their right mind wouldn't come prepped with a tutu for dancing time?!  C'mon Mom! ;)
• She still loves her "Baby Butter" and she likes to do balancing acts that hover over him to kiss, hug and get smiles out of him.  They have both been sick this week and with how much she adores him, there was no way we could have kept them from sharing sick germs.  Anytime she gets a smile out of him, she is delighted and giggles and shares the news with everyone around letting everyone know, "Baby Butter 'filed' at me!"
• She is the queen bee in nursery now, I've heard.  The first six months were torture for her and I as we tried every technique to drop her off tear free.  Once the new year came and the oldest kids went off to be "Sunbeams" it just clicked and she has been pretty good ever since with the whole getting dropped off thing.  She got really confident now that she is the oldest and now she goes in and plays and sings her little heart out to Jesus Wants Me For a Sunbeam, Old McDonald, Wheels on the Bus, and I am a Child of God.  She likes to say prayers, knows the answers, and jabbers away making everyone giggle at her cute body language that comes along with her chattiness!  
• She knew her letters and their sounds by her 2nd birthday and we have been working on reading simple words and sight words.  She knows about 30 sight words and likes to spell out words she sees on signs around town now.  This is fun until we drive too fast and she can't finish....then she gets irritated and will ask us to stop the car. 
• numbers, colors, and shapes are another story.  We haven't spent as much time on those, and since she knows her letters so well it was funny to us how far she had come with those and every shape was a circle and every color was green (except green things were always another color)  and every number was 2 or 48...random I know!  She has come a long way in the last 6 months and knows most of her colors and numbers.  Shapes are coming too, but those are hard to say and differentiate...square vs. rectangle, hexagon vs. pentagon...it is really cute to hear her say the longer ones like triangle and rectangle!  Her pronunciation cracks me up and I love it! Lullow, gween, wed, peent, puhp-owe...too fun.  She will grow out of saying things so jumbled and cute, so I try to enjoy it without laughing and making her feel dumb as it is so cute to hear her talk and awesome how much she is learning.
• She knows lots of animals.  She has lots of puzzles (one of her favorite toys) and some are bugs, dinosaurs, sea animals, farm animals, and so on and she loves books about animals the best.  She has recently been attached to a stuffed bear that she likes to take everywhere with her and this little bear gets treated like her child.  Katelyn likes to make sure her bear has her jacket zipped, purse with snacks in case Bear gets hungry, and books to read.  Katelyn makes sure the jacket doesn't get in Bear's face so bear can be happy...I am not careful enough with Bear sometimes and Katelyn helps me know how to take care of her bear.  If we drop David off at work, she makes sure that he gives Bear hugs and kisses just like he does for Katelyn.  She is very particular about some things and wouldn't have it any other way.  Her animals are part of the family and have been treated as such!  
• We went to see the circus elephants.  They came to Lexington Market to eat lunch and for entertainment there were clowns, a live band, and Chik-Fil-A cows dancing around.  She LOVED this and still talks about it over a month later to anyone she meets.  A cow came and shook her hand and she was so giddy and thrilled by it.  She loved watching the elephants eat their "betch-ya-bles" (vegetables) and then for a treat each elephant got a watermelon and they stomped on it and then scooped it up with thier trunk to eat it.  Katelyn was in animal heaven and thought it was the most awesome thing ever!    



Davy was happy to hang out in the stroller the whole show!


• She loves to sing and usually it is "Happy Burpee".  She loves all of her songs she learns in nursery and has a few others that we have learned on our own.  
• She isn't as shy with strangers now and has often initiated conversations with kids and adults.  She just has so much to say to everyone lately!
• She is better able to say all the words with their proper sounds.  Her name has now transformed from "Tay-nen" to "Kay-nen" and words like frog and truck don't sound like the "F" word anymore...Thank goodness!  One thing that is new that shesort of picked up from me is that I say "Oh Good!" often...like "good job"... and now she says it, but a little different.  She will ask if I am done eating, and  I will say "Yes" and she will say "Oh God"  ...not good, God.  It drives me crazy because we don't use God's name in vain, EVER, and I try to correct her and she keeps saying God...and, she can say "Good job" just fine.  I have trying to get myself to just say "good job" now hoping that will help her grow out of it sooner.  ...and now she has started saying "Oh gosh" and I think Heavenly Father will be happy about that!
• With her being sick this last week, she has had a super runny nose.  It is constantly dripping and I am constantly wiping her nose.  She can sort of wipe it herself, but has figured out that her sleeve does a better job..gross I know!  What is worse than the grossness of that is that her sleeves are so rough that she has rubbed the skin under her nose completely raw.  She is now sporting a painful red mustache and slowly realizing that the tissues are really soft and don't hurt.
• We dog-sat a small terrier/shitzu a few weeks ago named Mickey.  She followed him around holding on to his leash that whole weekend.  I couldn't stand him most of the time and wished he could be outside, but Katelyn loved him and couldn't get enough of him.  She asks about Mickey-dog often wondering where he is.
• She doesn't care much for the books and toys that are spread around the house until it is time to put them away.  Sometimes I will get her to read with us by asking her to put a stack of books away...works every time so far!
• She likes her independence.  Anything that she has done on her own once before, she doesn't want help with...until she realizes she can't really do it and then will ask for help.  If I try to help right away, then she lets me know she can do it herself and will start over.  It takes a lot of patience on our part and we usually get around this by asking her to do something 5 minutes before we need it done (like getting dressed) so that she has a chance to do it on her own before we come to help. 
• She is learning and understanding more and more...like she can play games and take directions and remember what's going on.  She and a friend played hide and seek together on a jungle gym and the girl (who was 5) explained what to do and then they played and it was so cute to hear all about it from her and David after their Daddy-Daughter Date.  I tried to play this game awhile back and she didn't get the whole idea of one person counts and the other hides and then the counter comes to find the hider.  So it is cool that her mind is learning and grasping new and fun ideas!
• If she doesn't get her way she goes for the limp body approach and will just stay on the floor.  How do kids figure this stuff out?!



pretending to be some sort of puppy or bunny

• She is quick to say "sorry" and if she isn't sorry, she would rather put herself on the naughty chair for time out.  Hearing her say "sorry Mommy" is so sweet and sometimes she even follows up with a hug and kiss and melts my frustration away!  She's good! 
• Now that she has been potty trained and had lots of coaching on what to do she feels confident and can coach us in the bathroom.  We usually dismiss it, but then we have gotten caught off guard when we are in a public bathroom and she is coaching and  cheering us on every step of the way!  ...a personal favorite is when she announced in a quiet stake conference "Daddy!  Mommy go-ed potty and gets two chocolates!"  Thank you for making my personal accomplishments open to the public...now give me my candy I earned.
• She can open the fridge now... I just imagine a big mess of eggs, milk, yogurt, ranch, and anything else that looks interesting on the floor one day soon.  Or maybe she is planning on bringing me breakfast in bed one of these days :)  The sound of the fridge opening makes me jump up from whatever I am doing now.
• She could play in the sink all day every day.  Water is too fun!
• She can use a computer no problem.  We have ABC Mouse bookmarked and she knows how to turn on the computer, click on "the eye" (Chrome) and then click on the little mouse on the top to play her games.  She has figured out the old fashioned hand-held mouse and the pad on our laptops...crazy!
• She loves to play with Davy.  She loves dancing and jumping with him the most! She also loves it when we help him pin her down.  She thinks he is the funniest (He always gets the credit!)...unless he drools, spits up, or poops...then her extra sensitive gag reflex kicks in and we have to divert her attention quick before she pukes! (this has been tricky with her own potty training!)  
• Her hair is long enough for two pig tails!  It is my favorite way to do her hair lately!  They curl just right.  
• 
• She also LOVES to dry her hair and I have to limit her to doing it once a day although she is always a sweaty mess when she wakes up after her naps.  
• She is in a phase between one nap a day and no naps.  If she wakes up aound 8 am, she isn't tired until 3-4 pm.  If she naps at 3 then she isn't tired for bed until 11 or so.  If I lay down with her to help her to take a nap around 1 pm, then she falls asleep, but so do I for about 2 hours.  She will go to bed at a decent hour.  This is great some days, but I usually have so many things I would love to do during her nap time so it drives me nuts!  More importantly, this doesn't always work because Davy has  ants and needs too and isn't always asleep at that time.  I have tried to keep her entertained and tried the no nap, but around 6 pm, she willingly puts herself to sleep wherever she is.  So the no nap thing doesn't work, and I have to hope Davy is ready for a nap at the same time so I can go help her get to sleep.  
• She uses the phrase "little bit" all the time and it deosn't always work, but it is so cute.  Like she will say, "I'm a little bit all done eating." or "I little bit goed potty." or "I little bit wake up." or "I little bit make a mess" She  just throws it in there not really meaning "a little bit" but just that she did whatever she said she did a little bit of.  



Singing and in her own pretend world the other day.

• She is into a pretending phase where she will play with pretend friends.  She is usually playing with "Princa" (how she says princess) and Liz (the lizard from Magic School Bus) and she will "carry" them around, parent them, put them in time-out, help them go down her slide, push them in her car, and just have a good time.  Sometimes Liz and Princa don't get along and she gets so frustrated with them and asks me to help.  
• Potty training for the day time is pretty much complete.  Every once in a while she will forget, or have an accident for who knows why, but 95% of the time she goes in the potty.  We will work on the night time training later...any tips for that would be wonderful!



She misses her little friend, Logan!  He is as strong as Hulk but Katelyn loved having him around  and asks about him all the time!



Our friends, Colette and Logan!  We needed each other often and will miss them!

• She loves going anywhere, but leaving is ALWAYS an issue!  She never wants to leave!  The library, the grocery store with those awesome car carts she loves, the toy section (we have to run past those!), friends' houses, our own backyard ....Why does everywhere have to be so fun?!  She will run and hide when she hears that it is time to go and carrying Davy and her to the car isn't an option unless David is with me.    
• She could eat "Kangaroo Cereal" (Marshmallow Mateys) for every meal and ususally asks for it for every meal.
• She will announce where we are going in our own house as if she is leading an army..."To the potty!", "To the downstairs!", "To the nap time!"
• Brushing her teeth usually isn't her favorite thing to do.  Singing like Ariel the Little Mermaid always works...almost.  "Aah ahh ahh ahh ahh ahh ahh ahh"



Feeding the birds the leftover pancakes!

• She's even cute when she's sick!  We love this girly and love the spunkiness she adds to the family!  She loves to be involved with whatever we are doing and likes to be a helper.  She is opinionated, but will go with the flow too.  She gets emotionally attatched to people and when they are happy or sad, so is she.  She could play tag all day every day and loves the thrill of being chased!  It brings out the best of her laughs and makes us all laugh too.  She is very expressive when she talks and uses her shoulders, eyebrows and facial expressions thoroughly when she talks and we love hearing the recap of the day because she will tell you the ups and downs of the day and show all the emotion with her body as she tells you about it.  She can be tough, but it is usually when we are all tired or hungry so it is preventable!  She is so fun!!
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

Potty Training

Here is your warning:  This is a post about potty training and might include more details than you want to hear about our experience.  Short story is, Katelyn is potty trained.  It you want the long story, read on!

Just before December we bought a box of diapers and David and I looked at each other and had the idea that this could be our last box of diapers for Katelyn!  She had been showing signs of readiness here and there, but we still knew it was on the earlier side of being ready or not.  David had left it up to me since I would really be the one that would do the majority of the training being home with her during the week while he was working out of town.  I think David bought her potty seat around when she turned 18 months or so hoping that I would potty train her then.  I wasn't ready to do it then.  Then a couple months later he bought the movie Potty Power hoping that would get me excited to train her, but that didn't happen either.  Katelyn would show some signs of interest in going potty like a big girl, but they were just moments that I saw as her getting closer and closer to being ready, but not quite ready still.

We were nearing the end of the box of diapers and I had told David that once that box ran out, then I was going to go for it.  In my mind, I imagined that we wouldn't need diapers for night or day once she was potty trained.  As I began my research digging through the blog world I quickly realized that learning to be potty trained during the night usually didn't happen right away with the day time training.  We only had a handful of diapers left and it was midweek and David was out of town.  I didn't have easy access to a store, and I wasn't ready that very day to start training, so I was a little nervous, but compiled my game plan for this adventure and went at it.

I layed out sheets of vinyl and taped them to our carpet in our living room and all they way to the bathroom.  I planned on spending nearly all of the next week either in the kitchen or on the protected carpet.  This saved  our carpet many times in first few days of training.

I made a party out of it and Davy was invited, but was kind of our third wheel all week.  He was given attention as needed, but was very chill and laid back and I took advantage of his milk-drunkeness.  I offered Katelyn drinks of all types and wanted her to have lots of opportunities to practice so she drank milk, chocolate milk, strawberry milk, juice of all kinds, and smoothies sometimes too!

I pulled out our leftover Halloween candy....we still had a lot left at Christmas time... and told her she could have a piece each time she goes in the potty.  This seemed simple enough and an enticing reward that she was very interested in.

She wore her Princess, Minnie, and Daisy Duck undies and loved them.  She didn't understand the whole idea of "don't get pee on Rapunzel" or "Keep Minnie clean".

So we started our day and we had all the drinks being drunk and I had a timer set to go off every 30 minutes so we would go and try. Here is the chart of our first day...is is exhausting to look at this!


Wednesday December 19th 2012
Time What happened? What are we doing?
10:20:00 wet panties while playing with little brother in bathroom. Watching Potty Power
11:00:00 Wet panties while painting, and then we ran to the toilet and she finished going pee, washed hands, and picked out a dum dum
11:10:00 Said poo poo and grabbed bum and then started wetting pants.  We ran to the potty and she went pee, washed hands and finished sucker
11:30:00 Timer went off we ran to the potty and just sat and read books, no pee, no poop Painting wreaths
11:50:00 Changing movies out and wet her pants.  Ran to the potty and nothing came out.
12:00:00 Timer went off and no poop or pee on the potty Watching Potty Power
12:15:00 She asked for candy, and I told her she get s candy for going pee or poop on the potty.  Two minutes later, she stood up and started wetting her panties and then we ran to the toilet and she went pee some more and got a Krabby Patty for a treat painting popsicle sticks for Christmas trees
12:30:00 Wet her undies just before the timer went off and then didn't want to go sit on the potty.
You Rock Babe, remember the accidents are part of learning I love you
12.45 Asked for some candy and then I told her she gets candy when she goes pee or poop on the potty and so she ran to the potty and went pee.  Her undies were a little wet so we changed them, but her leggings over he panties were dry.
1:00-1:15 Sat on the potty when the timer went off and read a book.  No pee or poop Watch Musical Baby
1:20:00 Pooped in undies and didn't want to go to the potty when asked.  I made her go anyways so we could clean out her undies and then she wanted candy so she sat on the potty and went pee
1:30:00 Timer went off and we sat on the potty but nothing came out.
Nap time for all of us! Nap time
4:30:00 Awake from nap.  Napped with diaper on and it was wet when we changed back into undies
5:00:00 Timer went off and we ran to the potty and sat and read a book.  Nothing came out and she didn't want undies, so no undies Watching Robin Hood
5:30:00 Timer went off and we rant to the potty and she peed!  Washed hands and got a piece of a cookie. no undies still
6:00:00 Timer went off and we ran to the potty.  She peed and washed hands and got a piece of a cookie.  No undies still
6:20:00 She asked to sit on the potty so we did, but nothing came out
6:30:00 Timer went off so we ran to the potty and she peed.  Washed hands and she got a yellow starburst.  No undies still making trees with popsicle sticks
7:00:00 Timer went off and we ran to the potty and she peed.  Washed hands and she picked a mini tootsie pop.  No undies
7:30:00 Timer went off and nothing came out on the potty
7:50:00 Katelyn ran to the potty all on her own! and peed!  Finally gets the tootsie roll she's been begging for for the last half hour! Watching Safe Side
8:30:00 Katelyn pooped on floor right as alarm went off then we went to dump it in the potty and she peed in the potty
9:00:00 Peed in the potty!  Loved her cookie Started Robin hood
9:30:00 Sat on the potty, but nothing came out
Time for bed in a diaper

This was on a Google Spreadsheet and so David was able to follow along with our day and loved it.  The following days got better and better and it was so exhausting.  Some people wonder why I didn't do it with David home, and I think it was just something that I wanted to do on my own.  I tend to micro-manage David (I hope I am not the only one) on what works and doesn't work with the kids since I am home with them all day and I could have sorted it out so we were on the same page and done our potty training on a weekend, but I didn't want to have to worry about it.  I didn't want to have conflicting methods or have to worry about him doing something one way and then I do it another and confuse Katelyn in the process.  So just doing it my way while he was away was nice and he was able to come home and see what we did and join in on the fun once she had a good idea of it.

The down side of him not being there was that this was exhausting...physically and emotionally!  I tried to be excited and cheerful and keep any frustration or anger hidden away and I think I did it.  By nap time the first day, I had to wash her undies so she didn't run out by the end of the day with how fast she was peeing through all of them!  I tried to stay hopeful and I am glad I did, because she did get the idea of it and figured out the whole peeing and pooping thing.

This potty training thing got very interesting when Katelyn's gag reflex came into the picture.  When ever she had a pooping accident she was always grossed out by it.  I was on top of the mess and cleaning everything up for her every time, but I wasn't always fast enough and she would start gagging.  She did this occasionally when she would watch me change Davy's diapers or spit up.  David didn't think she really was gagging and that I was just exaggerating her reaction.  On Christmas morning Katelyn was all dressed and ready to go to my brother's house and we were eating our yummy Sticky Buns and eggs for a late breakfast.  Katelyn pooped her pants and David went off to help her and clean it all up.  The clean up didn't go too smoothly and Katelyn started gagging.  I am finishing my breakfast as I hear this all going on in the bathroom.  As I finish my breakfast, Katelyn's gagging turns into puking.  So David picks her up and the mess is spreading.  He now had Katelyn's poop and puke on him.  To add to it, Davy had spit up on him just minutes earlier.  I came in to help and get everyone cleaned up and calmed down.  I sent David to clean up himself and I took over with Katelyn.  Cleaned her up and dressed her up again and she was good to go.  I came out to find that David was still in his disgusting clothes eating that heavenly meal!  I was in shock that he didn't change first, but he said he just wanted to eat the good food in peace and calm down from the whole mess of it all so that's what he did!  Food is the way to his heart, and the messes of his wonderful kids wasn't going to stop him!  ...and he let me know that he did indeed believe me that Katelyn does gag with things that look or smell bad.

So, her gagging has made this potty training adventure that much more exciting!  We even have to flush before she checks out what she put in there.  I have found that I can usually distract her and ask her questions that don't relate to the accident weather it is her own or her brother's to prevent the puking.  Anyone else have kids that get grossed out to the point of puking?

Another thing...we used our stash of Halloween candy and she got to pick something EACH time she went.  These are the like the individual starburst, mini snickers and chocolate candy bars, dum dums, and other candies that are pretty small, but she was going potty every half an hour and sometimes every 10 minutes!  Between the sugary drinks and the candy rewards, her diet consisted of sugar!  Sometimes she didn't even have enough time to finish her starburst or sucker before she had to go again.  But I don't think she would have let me take the candy out of the whole training process.  Eventually we moved to a Katelyn sized bite of a cookie, a single chocolate chip, a single M&M, or marshmallows.  She was close to a sugar coma that first day!   I underestimated how often she would actually go.

She quickly learned that if she went potty she gets a sugary treat and when she would finish one treat, she would announce she had to go potty and would hope she could get something out in order to get more treats!

I was so paranoid to go out in public...or to church of grocery shopping!  We survived though.  She had some accidents out in public but we all handled ourselves well and the times that we made it home from places with no accidents felt victorious!

I made up some "piddle pads" as I like to call them that saved us some frustration too.  They were simply a rectangle that had lots of layers and one layer of the plastic vinyl so they could soak up any mess while we were on the go.  They have been great for her car seat especially!  I also use them if she falls asleep somewhere without a diaper on for nap time and I don't want to wake her up putting a diaper on. She used them around the house the first couple of weeks if she didn't want to sit on the vinyl taped on the ground then she could sit on her "piddle pad" instead.

She was very proud of herself and will now cheer us on as we go.  She has often announced "I go potty!!!!" to the first person she sees outside of the bathroom in any public place.  Most people understand her excitement and glee and will congratulate her and give me a reassuring smile telling me they remember those days with their own children.

So as of now, she wears a diaper for her mid-day nap and when she sleeps at night.  We have had a couple of times where she has gone through a slump and didn't want to go to the bathroom.  She wanted to go when she wanted and it was frustrating, because we knew she could do it, but I think we were stressing her out asking all the time so that was her way of taking control.  It can be so hard to be cheerful all the time, but I have tried so hard even when she is being rebellious.  She has come out of the slumps on her own and I don't think I changed anything of did anything different, just stayed persistent.  It takes a lot of patience, but I think we are getting to the tail end of it all (every time I have said that, she has gone into one of her slumps and started having accidents, but it has been a month now so I think we are clear!).  Once she can consistently stay dry during the nights then we will drop the night time diapers.  I am proud of her and that she pretty much had it all figured out within a week.  We have had good times and bad times but I think she has it all figured out!

Feeling Good About Spring

Well Spring is officially here and it feels refreshing!  We have had a couple sunny days and we have played with friends just because!  I am usually a home body and am just fine hanging out and staying cozy at home doing our thing, but lately it has been good to get out here and there.

Winter wasn't too crazy or boring either.  We have just been plugging along as it flew by!  Everytime I think to blog, there are so many things to write about and more blog-worthy thinbgs keep happening putting me further and further behind on this blog.  So....I will update you on our winter that skated on by way to fast and then I will start fresh with spring.

To start off the year I was talking to David about resolutions and how there were so many things I wanted to accomplish and get in the habit of that I couldn't decide how many to pinpoint and try to tackle...so I didn't, whoops!  I asked David what his resolutions were and he said, "I'm clear! I don't have anything that needs work."

So...we were off to a "great" start!  Goodness!

Of all of the resolutions, getting healthy and excercising more is usually on top of the lists.  We had actually been doing really great.  We were doing Insanity workouts each day from Thanksgiving to New Years...usually the time of year that people don't start excercising.  Then when the new year came, we dwindled off.  So now that we have taken a break when most people start excercising more, we are ready to go!

David has been working and working and working.  He is loving his job still and misses his family still too.  He has been put all over the place...Up in Pennsylvania for weeks, down in Richmond and Roanoke, Virginia for a couple weeks, back to Pennsylvania for a month, and now they were very nice and put him on a client just 5 minutes from home for the last month!  We head out as a family some weeks and live in the hotel with him, but now always as sometimes I have appointments with doctors, friends, Young Womens and so on or sometimes I just am not in the mood to pack up and head out and am willing to take on the kids for a week!

Hotel life...playing with beads and string with David because that's all we got!  Katelyn was in heaven, and David tried so so hard to figure out this girly bead thing while he was watching the Notre Dame vs. Alabama Championship game.

Meeting up with an Idaho friend in Harrisburg

David has been all over the place the last couple of months, but 80% of the last year he has been on the same client in Harrisburg.  We had a lot of ideas of how we could move there and then questioned all the possibilities and pros and cons of it all and if it would save us money or not, or if he would even be assigned to that client anymore.  When he was placed on a client just minutes from our house because the Partner felt he has been away too much and needed to be close to home with his family, we realized that they did care about family time.  We talked it over with his Partner and mentioned that we would be willing to move to Harrisburg if they could garuntee that he would be on that client or any of the other clients in Harrisburg.  This would save the client money as they are the ones that pay for all of his hotels, food, and travel expenses.  This would also make so David can come home every night!  We waited and waited for a response and just finally heard back that they will keep him busy in Harrisburg for the next 1-2 years....so we are moving on to Harrisburg!

We will miss the friends we have made here, but it is worth it to be together as a family for more than just the weekends.  Skype calls at night only get us so close.  Katelyn has hugged and kissed the laptop David goodnight enough and we are excited to be with him more.  We are a little bummed we won't be raking in the Marriott points, but we will survive!

So how about that for a fresh start this spring?  We will probably move in May so we have some time to figure out all the details of our move.  We have a couple good friends that know the area well and have already been in contact with them and they are so helpful.

The rest of our winter we have been here and there.  I have been doing little crafts here and there when the kids are sleeping or off with friends while I leave the kiddos with David...a Valentine's wreath, framing my side of our family picture, turning a Goodwill trashy lamp into a fun little treasure, finishing some painted canvases in my dining room, finally getting pictures of Davy up on our walls, built a small table for our laptop, and my next project is sewing a dress for myself to see if I can make something for myself that looks nice and not too homemade!

When David was in Richmond I got to spend some fun time hanging out with an old friend from highschool.  It is fun to look at our lives now especially compared to where we were 10 years ago!  Terryn was a month away from having her second baby and now he's here!  It is so fun to be going through this motherhood thing at the same time as her.  We crack each other up and have the same frustrations with our kids who are close in age.

This is the best my camera got...Katelyn and Davy wanted out and Terryn and I desperately wanted a picture together so we went for it...and everyone was matching in all that plaid...weird, but cute!

David hasn't been up to much but working.  When he's home, he just likes to be home!  He loves our little family and watching them learn and grow.  He works so much that having time to hang out on the weekends is so nice to him!  He will go play basketball with friends every once in a while, but usually he works too late for that.  It will be nice to get back to normal hours again soon!  We all adore him and have to take turns having his attention when he's home!

We had a weekend Valentine's date at home while a friend watched the kids.  I sucessfully made some yummy Orange Chicken and Fried Rice...the only thing David ever orders at Chinese places.  It was a nice cozy simple dinner with no hair catching on fire from the candles!  David was all for an "at-home" date and it was nice and relaxing for him and nice for me to be home with just him and no kiddos calling out for us for the whole night!  Much needed and much appreciated!

 David tried to do his best Asian face and the shadow of his hair adds a nice touch!  He can be a tough critic on testing out new recipes, but I nailed it this time!

 We finished off the meal with a yummy find from Pinterest!  It is a yellow cake with caramel, sweetened condensed milk, Cool Whip, and his favorite candy bar, Butterfinger!  We loved it, but had to hand some off to our babysitting friends because it would not be good if we ate this all on our own!

 I made up Katelyn's "presents" that she gave to her friends at our Valentine party.  It was a fun party with lots of food, kids running in circles and parents hoping no one collides!

So that has been our life for the last two months or so.  We are all getting over being sick just in time for the sun to warm up our days so we can go have fun in the sun!

We are excited about this move even though it feels like we just got settled in here.  We were a little surprised by it all working out the way it did but are ready to pack up and move on out!  We are hoping for the best and that this is all a good idea!  We'll let you know how it goes!

Advent Christmas

 Yikes...It is February now and here goes a post about our December!  Bear with me!

I really was on top of it this last year especially at the end...but 2013 so far?  ...not so much!  The New Year's Resolution post hasn't been written yet and neither have any of my resolutions, so nothing is expected right?

Near the end of November, not only did we host out-of-town family, but I searched around pinterest and organized our family's 25 Days of Christmas...an activity each day along with a story to read.  

I made these felt mittens to hold a slip of paper in each one for each day and loved how they turned out.  The numbers are puffy paint and the mittens are sewn around the edges and then have a different colored strip sewn along the top.  I printed out the list of activities and books and cut them into slips and folded them up and put them in each of the mittens.  I glued a piece of twine between each pair to hang them along the ribbon on the wall.  Katelyn looked forward to getting the slip of paper out each day.

Some of the weeks were in hotels traveling along with David for his job, so I even hauled all the supplies with us!  I'm telling you, sometimes I really am on top of things!

December 1: Attend Ward Christmas party and check out christmas library books 
Read: "How the Grinch Stole Christmas"
We headed to the library and loaded up our library bag to full capacity and checked out 25 different Christmas books.  I wrapped them up and numbered them and we opened and read one each night before bed.  This was fun for the first few nights, but then along with any other part of our bedtime routine, Katelyn realized that unwrapping the book meant it was close to bed time.  She doesn't ever want to go to bed, so she didn't always want to read the books.  Next time we will probably read them in the morning or any time not realted to bedtime.  She loves books, just not bedtime!

The Christmas party was fun.  They had a yummy meal, some holiday minute to win it games, an awesome turnout, a video of all the kids explaining what they do in their family and what they like about Christmas, and then Santa made his appearance.  Katelyn understood that if she sat with him, then she would get a candy cane as she watched the other kids, so she went for it.  She and Davy sat with him and no tears were shed.  A lady in the ward took a picture for me and it was adorable, but she still hasn't sent it to me.  I have forgotten about it until now, so I bet she has too.  I hope she still has it!

December 2: Decorate the Christmas tree 
Read: "The Littlest Evergreen"

December 3: make popcicle stick nativity 
Read: "The Spirit of Christmas"

This was a fun easy one that Katelyn was able to help with a little bit.  I learned from this activity that if I want it to turn out like I want AND to let Katelyn be a part of the activity, then I need to plan to make one for her, and one for me to decorate.  I like how it turned out, but I did almost all of it.  She handed me the sticks and the markers while I cut, glued, and colored the whole thing.  Not the involvement that I wanted out of these activities.

December 4: Paint Hand Print Christmas Trees 
Read: "The Legend of the Candy Cane"

She sort of liked this one.  She doesn't like her hands being dirty at all, so it took some  convincing that it was fun to have paint on her hand.  She got paint all over her and my clothes becasue she couldn't resist the urge to wipe her hands...so this activity needs to be done in our underwear next time so we don't ruin clothes :)

December 5: make white chocolate/peppermint spoons 
Read: "The Christmas Bears"

These weren't too toddler friendly either.  Katelyn did help (handing me spoons and smashing the candy canes), but I fell like I spent more time telling her not to touch the spoons, or the hot melted chocolate so they could harden up.  They were yummy, but I definitely need more candy cane in my hot cocoa :)

December 6: Make Christmas Cards 
Read: "Ella Bella Ballerina and the Nutcracker"

I planned on making cards out of the papers that we hand/foot printed the few days earlier, but it just didn't happen.  But...I did make a tree skirt!  I sewed the red star and burlap on a Dollar Store tree skirt one ring at a time.  I just ruffled it as I sewed it by folding it as I fed it into the sewing machine.  No Christmas cards this year, but we finally have a tree skirt!

December 7: Bake Pumpkin Rolls
Read: Froggy's Best Christmas

Image from VeryBestBaking.com
I made a few of these and they were so yummy!  They were everyone's favorite!
I use the RECIPE from the Libby's Pumpkin puree can and it is fancy looking, but not too hard.

December 8:  white elephant party 
Read: Little golden book Christmas favorites.

We attended a white elephant party for a date night and it was a fun time.  I went home with a putting green and hole that David is going to take to work just in case there happens to be some down time...and David picked up this intersting little giraffe.  I told him to take this to work with him because this has to be the ideal saying that describes him and all the other auditors he works with :)  He didn't think it was a good idea for some reason!



December 9: deliver goodies
Read: Little Whistle's Christmas
We made up plates with all of our treats and delivered them to our friends that live close to us.  I really wanted to be brave and sing some Christmas Carols, but I was pretty sure I would be singing a solo, because Katelyn didn't know any songs, Davy was sleeping, and David probably didn't want to sing.  Everyone enjoyed the treats and we made up some gingerbread cookies to fill up the plates too.  Its always fun to give and recieve, and there was no way were going to be able to eat all those treats on our own.

December 10: Learn a Christmas Song 
Read: Bartholomew's Blessing
I got our bells out and we sang and rang "Jingle Bells" all day long.  Katelyn also sang "Happy Birthday" too, just because she is cute like that!

December 11: Make snowflakes
Read: "Our very own Christmas"

This was fun and I let Katelyn follow my lead with her own paper and scissors in hand.  I didn't get a picture of her sliced up papers, but she was so proud of them and loves any chance to use her scissors.



December 12: Make a Wreath 
Read: The Puppy who Wanted a Boy

This didn't happen on the 12th and this is where we started to lose steam with each day.  We had LOTS of time together a few days before Christmas when we started potty training so we made up some of our missed activities.  I cut a circle out of the middle of a paper plate and then we went to town painting away!  This is one of the ones I just let her do her own thing as well and we are both much happier when it goes this way.  She sees what I am doing and gets the idea of it and does her own!  Excuse the undies only look...I did mention before that painting activities needed to be done in underwear!  and...we have lots of carpet, so for the week of potty training I taped all the strips of vinyl I have to the floor and the vinyl caught many accidents!  We used it for finger painting too and it was perfect to catch the mess!





December 13: Make Ornaments with dough
Read: Mary Engelbreit's A Merry Little Christmas : Celebrate from A to Z.
This was a fun one that we did with some of Katelyn's friends were were babysitting.  We all played with the dough, cut out the shapes we wanted (Dollar Store had these Christmas cookie cutters...6 for a dollar!) baked them, and then painted them.  These are breakable and we only have about half as many as we started with, but they were fun and simple.  Katelyn painted most of them first and then I finished up whatever she started.  We finished them off with some glittery paint.

  

  

December 14: Make felt mittens ornaments

Read: The Mitten (one of Katelyn's favorites since it is full of animals)

I made up these felt mittens and sewed around the edges.  I let Katelyn go to town decorating them and then I glued everything on where she put it.  

December 15: Make homemade donuts
Read: My Christmas collection : three favorite stories.
The original idea was to go out for donuts.  I thought it would be fun to make our own.  I found a recipe that said they were just like Krispy Kreme donuts...you know the light airy buttery glazed donuts?  Mine turned out terribly and were nothing remotely close to being light and fluffy.  They were about as fluffy as a pretzle stick.  I wasn't too proud of these.  They just wouldn't rise the second time and I cooked a couple anyway in hopes that a miracle would happen, but they were pretty bad.  Pretlze dry brick donuts...coming right up!  Next time we'll go out!...I actually tried just this weekend to make some donuts from another recipe and realized that my yeast is dead! We have had it for 4 years or so. Let's hope this is the reason...

December 16: Make a Snowman with marshmallows
Read: Snowman Magic

This activity never happened either.  We read the story and it was one of our favorites.  Katelyn got really excited when it snowed a week later as she learned from the story that we could go out and make a snowman.  We made this on Christmas Eve and we both loved it!  We made it right before bedtime so that meant that we needed flashlights to find the body parts.  She loved our scavenger hunt and figuring out that flashlight.

Christmas morning came and our snowman wasn't doing so great.  His eyes, mouth, nose, and buttons were falling off and Katelyn thought he was getting tired so we went with that idea.  He kept leaning over a bit more each time we looked out at him and she wanted to go out and help him.  She couldn't quite decide how to help and then she ate his baby carrot nose!  Silly girl!

He wasn't in the mood to stand back up...just too tired :)

December 17: Watch "Elf"
Read: Santasaurus

This was an easy day.  "Elf" is such a fun movie and we all enjoyed snuggling up for the movie.

December 18: make snowglobes
Read: Polar Express

This activity didn't happen either.  I never got around to getting the supplies on the weekend and David took the car for the week to Pennsylvania for work, so I flaked out on this day and we watched Miracle on 34th Street.  It is one of my favorite Christmas movies!  We didn't even read the book until a couple days after Christmas!

December 19: make popcicle stick Christmas trees
Read: Ricky's Christmas Tree

These were simple enough.  Katelyn and I painted away on one of our potty training days on our plastic "magic carpet" and they turned out cute!  We now have our forest as a wintery decoration!


December 20: make shower curtain wreath ornaments
Read:  A Perfect Day
These are simple too, but in order for it to look neat and symmetrical, I had to do my own and let Katelyn work on her own.  All we did is wrap yarn around a plastic shower curtain ring and then glued a bow on the top and a string for hanging.  Simple and cute!

December 21: make penguin light bulb ornaments
Read: Santa's on His Way : a changing-picture book

This activity didn't happen either.  We were going to paint lightbulbs, but instead we painted nails!  I painted Katelyn's and she painted mine!  I can't find the picture of my nails, but I had nail polish all over my nails and knuckles.  We worked hard at only getting it on my nails, but that is a lot of work!  Katelyn wasn't too excited for her picture this time :)

December 22: Watch Christmas Story and have hot chocolate
Read: Snowed Under and Other Christmas Confusions

This day was for David.  He always hopes I will let him watch this movie all day like he did with the marathon on ABC...do they still do that?  It is an obnoxious movie to me and not my favorite, but he sure does like it and looked forward to it all month!

December 23: Go Look At Christmas Lights
Read: The Night Before the Night Before Christmas

We didn't end up making it to see the Christmas lights until a couple days after Christmas.  It was beautiful and we even made it to the concert for the night.  It was a trio playing jazzy Christmas music and  Katelyn had to go potty every 5 minutes so I didn't hear the majority of the concert.


December 24: Prepare yummy Christmas breakfast
Song of the stars : A Christmas story

I prepped the sticky buns, and made some mini cheesecakes.  I got side tracked with the new blanket of snow to bring in the Christmas Day and we went out and made the snowman that was pictured above.  We finished off that night with hot chocolate...did I mention that before?  We drank hot chocolate on way more days than was "planned" but it is something that shouldn't have a limit during winter!

December 25th:  Skype with family 
Read: One Starry Night

David and I thoroughly enjoyed opening presents at midnight on our own while the kids were in bed!  It was great!  We were able to see each other's reactions to the gifts we gave and it was fun to have some time to check them out together and we enjoyed some kid free time.  Katelyn opened her presents and Davy's too in the morning and she had fun with the whole presents thing.  We skyped with Peter and Rosie and then headed out for the day, while talking to David's dad who was sadly in the hospital for a terrible dog bite, to my brother's place to finish the day off with family.  We did a big group skype and checked out pregnant bellies in the family, listened to Chad's wise words of wisdom, and make jokes about fuzzy faces.  It was fun to "be surrounded" with family!  We all dwindled off as Tracie couldn't stand to waste time sleeping when she could be chatting with her family back here in the states!

Katelyn and Liam went wild as always and then turned into zombies when we turned on Toy Story while we played a game of Settlers.

We scarfed down the sticky buns and managed to have a bit of Christmas dinner.  We crock potted a roast and made up adobo chicken along with rolls and strangly slimy potatoes and gravy.  Good food, good family, happy bellies, happy kids, and decent Christmas away from home...as good as it gets!



Here are the stockings I made for Christmas, after Christmas.  Maybe we will get them used next year!  Ruffles for the girls, pleats for the guys!  It matches my tree skirt as I used the left over strips of fabric and burlap to whip these up.

Yikes...not so straight on the pleats, but it looks better from a distance, right?!

That was our wonderful Christmas!  I had a great plan and I say it was a success only because I did way more Christmas related activites than I ever have, and it was a great motivation.  I didn't get to all of them, but it is fine by me.  We will go for it again this year to get us in the mood and have some fun with it.