Priceless

To Mom ,

Love, Sam

It doesn't get much sweeter than this!

Three months...and then some!

So, actually Abby will be four months old next week, but I'm just barely getting around to posting these pictures that we had taken at three months.

She's growing so fast, I can't believe it! We sure love having her as part of our family!

Birthday Marathon

This week was Joe's 30th birthday and we had a full week of birthday activities! We started by going out with some friends (Abby and Ryan) last Friday. Abby and Joe's birthdays are a week (and a couple of years) apart so it was great to go out and celebrate. We went to dinner and then played laser tag afterwards. Joe didn't love the laser tag, but he was a good sport and gave it a try for me!Then on Sunday we had a family dinner at my parent's house. It was a feast of ham, potatoes and yummy homemade mac 'n cheese (that was the biggest hit) and topped off with Joe's choice of two different kinds of pie. The oh-so-attractive hat that he is wearing is the official Birthday hat at my parent's house and he was a good sport and wore it for the pictures! After he blew out the candles.......of course Sam had to have a turn......and Andrew... ...and then Ela!

Tuesday was his actual birthday. I made him an omelet for breakfast and had him open the present that I'd gotten him. He was actually surprised and very excited...SUCCESS!!!

Later that day we stopped by his work with balloons and donuts and disrupted the entire office, I'm sure!

I, of course, had to make fun of him turning 30 and brought some "age appropriate" gifts for him to open there. That night we went out to eat at Cia Mambo, a great Italian restaurant in Couer d Alene. Danny and Jessi came and babysat (thanks guys!) so we got to have a quiet and delicious dinner.

On Thursday Joe received this in the mail from his parents. They apologized over and over for it being late, but they live in Virginia and have literally been snowed in as of late, so he forgave them ;-). Now he just has to go and get it installed!

It was a fun week of celebrating and I think that Joe enjoyed it all. So, now my husband is officially old! Love you honey, Happy Birthday!

Just Cute

Abby and her new chair...which she loves!

Sam doing his best to get Abby to smile for a picture. He sure adores his baby sister!

And then there's Andrew...messy face and all!

Tales from the Potty

As I mentioned in my previous post, Andrew is doing GREAT with potty training...with one minor setback....he's terrified of any potties but ours at home. There's a valid reason for his fear, let me explain how that happened.

A few weeks ago we had to drop my dad off at the airport during the day. It was just me and the kids and my dad. When we got to the airport Andrew said he had to go potty. So my dad stayed with the other two in the van while I ran in with Andrew to go to the bathroom. We made it. He climbed on up and was halfway through peeing when the blasted toilet flushed. It was one of those automatic flushers and was SO LOUD! He was scared out of his mind, I think that he thought that the toilet was going to swallow him. So, he wouldn't finish going potty, he said he was done but I knew that he just wanted to get out of there. As soon as we got back on the road he started saying, "Mommy, the pee pee is coming!" over and over and over. But there was no way that I was stopping and dragging all three kids into some gas station bathroom so I told him he just had to hold it till we got home. About 20 minutes later I heard, "Oh no mommy, the pee pee came!" Great. He was so upset.

Ever since that experience he refuses to use other toilets and keeps talking about the scary potty. It's a real problem. Saturday we were at my mom's house for a couple hours in the morning while Joe was at work and guess what, as soon as we got there he had to go potty. After lots of unsuccessful attempts by me and my mom to get him to sit on the potty, it was starting to look like an accident was unavoidable. As a last resort, I asked Sam if he would go outside with us and show Andrew how to "water the grass". He did and Andrew followed his example. So there it was, like 40 degrees and my boys are in the backyard peeing. But there was no accident!

Hopefully, he'll overcome this fear soon, but until then he may be watering lots of grass along his way!

Not a Coincidence

Do you ever just step back from your life and realize how Heavenly Father is blessing you? Well, I had one of those moments this morning. I'm not talking about the big things, you know, like my wonderful husband, healthy kids, comfortable home, good friends and so on. I mean more on a day-to-day basis. Here's what I realized...

This year when Joe is busier than ever at work (he was gone from like 7:30AM to 8:30PM most of the days this week)AND he's trying to finish up the CPA exam AND he's out of town almost as much as he's home AND when we are both serving in presidencies at church AND when we have just been blessed with our third child...it's no coincidence that Andrew is doing so well with potty training....or that Abby has basically been sleeping through the night since six weeks which allows me to get much needed sleep ...or that Sam has truly embraced his role as big brother and is a cheerful helper most of the time.

My Heavenly Father loves me.

My life is far from perfect, my house is usually a mess, the kids fight, I get grumpy with them, I could do be doing a lot better in a lot of ways. But even with all my shortcomings, Heavenly Father is blessing me with exactly the things that He knows will help me most. It makes me want to try a little harder to show how grateful I am for my blessings.

Six Weeks!!!

Our baby girl is six weeks old already!

It's been such a busy time with the Holidays and all of the family stuff going on, I can't believe how fast the time has gone! She is a joy to have in our home and the boys (especially Sam) just adore her.

She is starting to smile more and more, which is lots of fun! She is still a mellow baby and is sleeping really well, so I'm counting my blessings! Joe weighed her last night and she is 11.5 lbs. Needless to say, she's a good eater!

Oh, and as a side note, six weeks also marks the end of my "recovery" from surgery so I can start exercising again! Yeah! I've had "activity restrictions" for the last 10 months (since I was 5 weeks pregnant) and it feels so good be able to exercise again! Plus, I've got to lose this baby weight! Wish me luck!