Is it time...ALREADY?!?

*** WARNING***

Toddler Potty talk enclosed in this post...

Andrew has been showing lots of interest and initiative when it comes to going potty. I have been doing everything I can to put him off for a while because I don't feel ready to potty train, I don't have the energy for it yet!

Well, on this day he and Sam had been playing in the living room (dancing to Christmas music). He stopped all of the sudden and grabbed his diaper and said "I go pee pee!" Great, I thought, Glad you are telling me after the fact! But then he proceeded to strip off his pants and diaper and run to the potty. I got there just in time to see him peeing in the toilet. Yeah!!! I praised and rewarded him and then said it was time to get his diaper back on. He insisted that he had to go "stinky" so we waited...I read him a book...we waited...he still insisted he had to go. I left the room to go and check on the other two kids. A minute later, he came walking out of the bathroom telling me that he went stinky and was all done. He looked back in the bathroom and then got a very concerned/confused look on his face. "Uh Oh, Mommy...What that?" he kept repeating as he pointed towards the toilet. I went to the bathroom to find a little "log" lying on the floor directly in front of the toilet. GROSS! But also very funny...he was genuinely confused about where it had come from! So, I guess we need to explain some more things and then start potty-training for real. The kid is definately ready, we'll see how well the mom does!

Baby Blessing

We blessed Abby in church on Dec 6th. She was still very young, but we wanted to do it while Joe's parents were in town so that they could be there. It was so nice to have so much family around! Here are a few pictures that we took that day...

Our little family with Joe's parents before church

Grandma Lodge and Abby

My Grandpa Clark with his newest great-granddaughter

Grandma Olson and Abby in the beautiful dress that she made for her. Thanks Mom!
Grandpa Olson and Abby

Joe helping get her ready just before church, what a great daddy!

Thanks to everyone for coming to take part in this special day for our family (especially to Rob who had to work, but made all the arrangements to come on his lunch break...) it sure meant a lot to me! I wish that our whole family could have been there, two of my four brothers were there, but I sure missed Jon (on a mission) and Mike (in Utah getting ready for finals)! It's times like this that you really realize how important family is!

Crash Course in Real Life

The last couple of weeks I have had a lot of help...Joe had a week and a half off work when Abby was born, then his parents came to help when he had to go back to work. Well, his mom left over the weekend and today Joe left to go out of town for the week. So, it's my first day at home by myself with three kids and I won't have reinforcements until Friday night! But, it's almost bedtime, everyone is still smiling...
...I consider that a successful day! One down, four more to go!

Two Weeks!!

Abby is now two weeks old, it's amazing how much she has changed in that short amount of time. She is a very good baby but is very sure to let us know when she is hungry! Here are a few new pictures of our little lady!

Our Baby Girl

Wednesday we welcomed Abigail Charlotte Lodge into our family. She was born 1:59 PM (via C-section) weighing 8 lb 5 oz and is 18 1/2 inches long. We were both released from the hospital today and are very glad to be home! The boys are very excited about their new "baby Abby" and so far have been very good with her. Here's a few pictures from the last few days...

(no she is not actually orange, the coloring is weird and I don't know how to fix it...but at least you can see her eyes!)

Sam's gift for his new baby sister...a butterfly crown. He was so excited to give it to her!

This is about as close as Andrew likes to get to her at this point...
Well, there's a brief intro to our newest addition. So far she is a fairly mellow baby and has tolerated her brother's craziness very well! We are so excited to have her in our family!

Warm Air

Ever since we had to turn on the heater (several weeks ago) the boys are obsessed with the warm air. It's not unusual for me to find them most mornings like this...

Even throughout the day, when they hear the heater click on, they run to lay on top of the nearest vent. Funny boys!

Blast from the Past

This year the boys' costumes were inspired by this picture of Joe and his big brother when they were about the same ages as our boys... Here's our version...

Andrew was having problems with his mask, it was too tight and the eye holes were too far apart. He tried for the picture but ended up not wearing it most of the time!

These picture were at the ward Trunk-or-Treat that was the night before.

On Halloween we went to my parent's house for an early dinner and got to see all the cousins in their costumes. Getting a pleasant picture with all of them together was not really possible, but here's the best we got...no one is looking at the camera, but at least they are all there! After the attempt at the group picture Mom and Dad went inside so the kids could knock on there door and start their trick or treating. Sam was so excited! From there we went with my sister-in-law to the South Hill for the rest of the evening. The boys had so much fun and both really got into it. We were walking for a long time and a lot of it was up and down hills, but neither boy complained or got tired (that they would admit). It was a really fun night and the weather was perfect!

Here's one more attempt at Andrew's mask after I made some adjustments to it...but he still didn't want to wear it!

Carver's Farm Field Trip

Last week Sam got to go on a field trip to Carver's farm. He was so excited for this trip...especially because Joe took the morning off work to go with him. Here are some of the highlights:

He loved the corn maze and when he got home decided to turn what was left of the cornstalks in our yard into a "maze". (Really, we only had two short rows of corn so that just meant walking between the two rows, but he loves it!) He is also very excited about popping the indian corn that he brought home.
Joe said that he loved the hayride and had a great time playing with his friends. He loves hide-and-seek!

And, of course, what is a trip to the farm without picking out a pumpkin!

Halloween Decorations

Sam came home from preschool yesterday and said that his teacher told him that it was time to go home and decorate for Halloween. I'm not much of a holiday decorator (except for Christmas) so I wasn't prepared for this "homework". So, today we improvised and I helped the boys make these VERY SIMPLE decorations. (All of you Martha Stewart types out there are going to laugh at my attempt at homemade decorations!) They had fun, though, and Sam was satisifed!

Costumes have been decided on and purchased (again, not so much into the homemade this year!) Decorations up. Now we are "ready" for Halloween!

I Try It!!

A friend gave us this belated shower gift last week at church. I brought it home, opened it, and commented that "she'll" be wearing that at Andrew's age (appreciating that it was a larger size). Andrew apparently heard and thought that meant it was for him. He started chanting, "I try it!" This boy loves to try on clothes, weird huh. But, you have to admit that he would make a pretty girl!

Here we go again!

Another monday morning...another out of town job for Joe. This is the third week in a row and I'm so glad that it's the last, for now. He'll probably have one more out of town before now and when the baby comes, but at least he'll be home for a few weeks in between. So, it's just me and the boys again. To top it all off, I'm sick. Ugh.

On a more positive note, today marks a big milestone for me in the pregnancy...32 weeks!! At this point with Andrew I was just starting to have some of the bedrest restrictions lifted (ie: I was allowed to eat sitting at the table with the family and start walking up/down the stairs OCCASIONALLY, believe me that was an improvement from the first six weeks of flat-on-my-back bedrest). But, it looks like I've avoided bedrest this time around! Hurray! Even if something crazy happened and they decided to have me restrict activities at this point, it would be nothing like before. What a relief! Now, I just have 6 weeks to go until D-day... delivery...that's when my c-section is scheduled. I am so ready for this baby girl!!

Oh, and that reminds me...

I totally forgot to mention the great baby shower that we had a couple of weeks ago. Abby threw me a baby shower at her house...thanks Abby! Great food, great friends and lots of great girlie stuff! Thanks to everyone for coming, it was lots of fun! Unfortunately, Abby and I realized at the end that neither one of us remembered to get our cameras out, oops!

Sam's First Field Trip

Today Sam got to go on his first field trip with his preschool class to a local bakery. He was excited, even though he didn't quite understand what a "field trip" was or even what a "bakery" was! He seemed to enjoy it, though, and was very intent on everything that the tour guide was telling them. They learned about what ingredients go into making bread...

...got to see the huge ovens that are used for baking...
...saw a demonstration of the bread slicer...
...and got a monster cookie at the end!

I thought that it was a great little tour and the kids really enjoyed and seemed to learn something. It was fun that I got to go along, although Sam did make it clear that I was NOT allowed to stay at school with him when we got back!