UPDATE

Friday morning I went to put a diaper on Alaina and she informed me that she needed to go potty. "okay!!!" was my reply. She'd done this many times before and never actually did anything but she liked to sit on the potty and I wasn't going stop her. Anyway, so she actually went and I was SUPER excited! I asked her if she wanted to wear underwear and her reply, "I want to wear ungerwears!!" with a huge smile on her face. We've since had undies on everyday since and she's only had 2 accidents...one the first day and then one today (she fell asleep in the car and accidently went). I am sooooo proud of her. It could be because I told her that Santa Claus wouldn't bring her any presents if she didn't start going on the potty. I know that sounds like bad parenting, but really it was just that she kept getting really bad diaper rashes and I felt bad for her. I knew the only way to get rid of the rashes was to get rid of the diapers.

Today we went to church, get our haircut, and to the mall and she didn't have one single accident while we were out (until she fell asleep, but that's okay!). I am so glad that we didn't try to force our kids to potty train before they were ready!

On another note, yesterday we went to Mizzou to see Pat's youngest sister graduate with her bachelor's degree. She graduated with a BS in chemical engineering, pretty cool! Other than that, we're just getting anxious for Christmas to get here. Declan informed me the other night that we need to leave out cookies and milk, "because that's what Santa REALLY likes". It's so much fun watching their excitement.

Our Winter

So for us, December is typically the busiest month of the year and this year is no exception. We have my dad, Pat's dad, Pat's step-mom, my grandma and Alaina's Birthdays all this month. That doesn't include Christmas, New Years, our anniversary and then all the Christmas programs and parties that we get invited to. I have to say that even though this is the busiest time of year for us, it's also the best. I LOVE Christmas time. I love it when it snows and everything is covered in a glistening white snow. It seems so magical and beautiful. Overall people seem happier and more cheerful and it's a great time for kids, too. I love seeing how excited my kids get on Christmas morning. Every Christmas, since Declan's been born, my parents come over on Christmas morning and we open gifts and we have breakfast and then we spend the rest of the afternoon with Pat's family. It's such a relaxing and fun time to the end of a year.

Last night we got our first snow of the year and the kids were SUPER excited about it. They wanted to go out and play so we dug out the boots from last year, bought them some snow suits and let them have a blast! They loved every minute of it! Hopefully it snows some more so we can actually take them sledding!!! Yesterday, since Pat worked, we went to see santa and then spent the afternoon with my mom and dad. Luckily we went to church last night so we didn't have to get out this morning!

Wow...it's been a while

Oh my goodness, I can't believe it's been a month and a half since I wrote on here. Not too much new stuff is going on here. Pat and I are nearing our Bachelor's degrees. He will be finished in March and I will be finished in June. This next semester is going to be a crazy one. I have class monday and tuesday nights and he has class wednesday and thursday nights. I just keep reminding myself that there is a light at the end of the tunnel.

Things with the kids are great! I think Declan has hit another growth spurt because his pants seem to be getting shorter. Alaina just had a visit from her Parents As Teachers lady and it went really well. She said that since September, she can understand Alaina so much better. Alaina will be 3 in just 3 short weeks :o( My baby is getting so big. Since Declan has been going to school, Alaina has really been enjoying her alone time with me on Tuesdays and Wednesdays and Declan has been much more behaved now that he gets out of the house frequently. He has his first school Christmas program next Wednesday! I can't wait!!!

Other than that, just living one day at a time and looking forward to actually having some free time!

Declan

Declan had a mini photo shoot the other day while Alaina was napping. Since he's started school, I haven't been taking quite as many pictures of him as I have Alaina, so I wanted to catch up a little bit. I hope you enjoy!

The time has come

dun dun dun! So it's potty training time in our household and so far...it's not going so well. She wore undies all day today and somehow only made it on the toilet twice even though I took her EVERY 1/2 hour. I would say this is the one thing I dislike about being a parent. I despise the potty training stage. It's no fun, tons of laundry, and lots of cleaning. Eventually we will be a diaper free household and it can't come soon enough! I am determined to be consistant with taking her every 1/2 hour and I've heard that it will only take a week or 2 for her to get the hang of it. I hope that's true! I believe Declan was 3 1/2 when he finally got the hang of it. I just don't know if I can do another 6 months of diapering. I just pray to have patience and understanding during the process ;o)

Quality Time

Well the past two days Alaina and I have spent ALOT of time outdoors. Yesterday we went to the park all afternoon and it was absolutely beautiful there. I tried to capture it with photos but it doesn't even compare to how it looked in real life...breathtaking. Then today, we went to a different park this morning, some stores, and then to the pumpkin patch this afternoon before picking Declan up from school.

I've managed to take well over 1100 photos this month and it will be even more once I do the wedding on the 29th. The bride told me today that she saw it's supposed to rain that day, so please pray for clear skies and some sunshine!

Anyway, I just wanted to share a few photos from our adventures these past two days...I hope you enjoy as much as I did!

more than blessed

while putting dishes in the dishwasher yesterday morning, I looked out the window above the sink and just realized how blessed we truly are. Fall is my favorite time of the year and looking out to see all the different colored leaves on the trees behind our house, I was just overwhelmed with God's beauty. Here is a glimpse of what I get to see behind our house!

Our friends came to visit us last week and then they came back on Sunday and we ventured out with 3 adults and 6 kids to the zoo on Monday. We forgot that it was a holiday, so it was a little more crowded than we had anticipated, but it still was a good day. I forgot to take my camera (even though I sat it next to all the stuff I was taking) but hopefully I can get some pictures. The kids had a blast and all the animals were out and about.

I've been in a picture taking mood lately (I've taken almost 1,000 pictures already since October 1st), with the leaves being so pretty and the weather being so nice (well it was, this past week has been around 90 everyday). The picture of Declan and Alaina was taken yesterday. They were being so loving and cute, I'm so glad I was able to capture it!