I love the way he thinks.....

Me: Henry, did you know that we're going to meet your new baby sister this week?

Henry: Oh, yeah! Is she coming tomorrow with Grandma from Washington?

Me: Nope, she'll be born on Tuesday. That's two days from today.

Henry: Can I go to the meeting?

Me: The meeting?

Henry: Where you get to meet my sister!!!

I will never.....

Add this one to the list.

There are a few things in my life that I've said "I will never...."

Do you have any of these? My advice is be careful what you say! :)

Two of mine are:

"I will never live in Texas." (Ha ha ha!)

and

"I will never drive a minivan!"

Yep, that's me and my new Honda Odyssey mini-van. We traded in our cute little car this week for this cute (slightly bigger) van. We were just going to make it work with the car, but three car seats across the back? Pretty crowded. And it didn't leave us ANY extra space.

The boys think it is SO COOL. Every time we leave the house, I hear "Mommy, can we PLEASE take the van???" (as if we had so many other options!) They picked their own seats, so they are both sitting in the farthest row back (by the really neat cup holders!)

I'm actually surprised how much I like it! It felt really, really big when I first drove it (so much head room!), but now it really doesn't seem so different from a car.

My favorite feature? Power doors. I can open up both side doors from a button on the key fob. Seriously, does it get any cooler than that? :)

Busy, busy, busy!

I saw the doctor yesterday and she offered to induce labor next week if I was interested. Of course I'm interested! I can't wait to meet this little girl! :)

So Tuesday (at the latest) we'll have a new baby in this house! We are so excited! I only have a few more things that I'd REALLY like to get done before she arrives, but nothing is urgent.

Other than that, there isn't much to say. We've just been busy enjoying the sunshine and summer! Hope you all are having a wonderful summer too!

The swingset is here!

I think I may have mentioned on here before that my mom was getting a swingset for the boys. It was back-ordered, but it finally came today around 3:00 (after I spent all morning at home because it was supposed to arrive "sometime between 9 and 11 a.m."). Sam wasted no time in coming home after work to put it together....and here it is!

Isn't it great? The spot Sam had cleared in the woods is just perfect--it looks so cool, set back in the trees. Since it was a surprise for the boys, when Sam got home to work on it, I took the boys to a movie. (We saw Ratatoille; the boys loved it, I thought it was okay.)

They were (are) so excited when they figured out what Daddy had been working on out there! They could hardly wait to head out and try it all out. SO FUN!!!

I think it's going to be even more of a challenge to get the boys to come inside now!

Happy Anniversary....to us!

Today is Sam and my 8th anniversary! It's amazing how quickly time flies. It seems as though these years have passed in the blink of an eye, yet so much has happened that I can believe it's been that long!

(These were delivered this morning from my incredibly thougthful mom! Thank you Mom--they are so beautiful!)

God has blessed us so abundantly--he certainly did create the two of us for each other. I can't imagine spending my life with anyone else. Sam always knows how to make me smile and laugh, he knows when to give me advice and when to hold his tongue, he listens to me when I need to just talk, and he loves me always (even when I'm crabby!). Sam makes our life fun, and he's a great daddy too. How could I ever ask for anything more???

I would love to post a wedding picture on here, but my wedding pictures aren't digital (so they're not in the computer) and I don't have a scanner. I really couldn't even find a decent picture of Sam and I together. So here's a picture of the fruit of our marriage:

I realize this should be a post in itself, but I took the boys roller skating for the first time last week. I would have thought they were too young, but it was free--so we couldn't pass it up! We never quite made it out to the floor--they could hardly stand up without taking each other down (getting this picture was a miracle!) so they preferred to stick to the carpeted areas. And they were laughing hysterically every time they fell down. SO fun! :)

Anyway, Happy Anniversary Sam! I love you honey!

A day at Grammy and Grand-pop's!

We spent Saturday afternoon out at the grandparents house. We all had SO much fun! When we first got down to the dock, Sam's dad had saved some catfish he caught to show us--they were HUGE!!!!

The boys (with their cousin Jordan) spent a few hours playing in the sand and a perfect shallow area of the lake. They were in heaven! The sand was thoroughly WET, but that just made it more fun for them!

Sam and I went in with Jon and Kelly and bought a new tube to pull behind the boat. It can hold two adult riders and it can jump into the air--I can't wait to try it!!!! It looks like a ton of fun, but for some odd reason they wouldn't let me use it this weekend. I guess maybe after the baby is born! :) (For Sam and I, this is our anniversary gift--we will celebrate 8 years this Wednesday!)

Jonah had a blast on the tube, although they were going a little faster than I really wanted--it's scary to see your little two year old being pulled across a lake at high speeds! When he got back into the boat I said, "You were really brave out there!" and Jonah said, "I was scared too!" but he was smiling and laughing while he said it!

Henry wasn't really interested in riding in the tube. He was content to watch from the boat, and he made sure to holler at everyone to "hold on tightly!" so they wouldn't fall off.

We finished off the evening with this beautiful sunset. What an incredibly fun day!

Dance Party

We go through phases at our house. One week it's coloring with crayons, the next week it's molding things out of play-doh. One week it's riding bikes on the back patio every free minute of the day, the next week it's pic-nic time every afternoon. I know that children love routines, I am just amazed at how often my kids get these mini-obsessions!

Anyway, our current phase is the dance party. We crank up the tunes (any music is fine, but we're currently listening to some great oldies from the 60's!) and bust a move in the living room! Of course it doesn't hurt to have a costume on when you come to the dance party (since costumes our the other current obsession!).

Dancing can really wipe a kid out! What great exercise, huh? I actually LOVE dancing around the living room with them--so fun! And then I feel like I actually worked some exercise into my day (since I haven't been able to work up the energy to make it to the gym lately!).

Jonah and the potty!

For anyone interested, I thought I'd put out a little information on Jonah's potty-training success. We used a book called, "Toilet Training in Less Than a Day" which was recommended by Sam's mom. It's an old one and out of print, but you can find it in places like Amazon that sell used books.

We actually successfully trained Henry using the same method. The basic theory is that you have your child "train" a doll to use the potty, then switch to trying it himself. Along the way you are rewarding all sorts of actions with salty snacks and LOTS of drinks, so there are ample opportunities to try the potty. The goal is to have them taking care of everything by themselves--without needing even a reminder to go potty. It really only takes a couple of hours (pretty dedicated hours), but I would definitely say that it works! Jonah is not quite 2 1/2 and he is wearing underwear all the time (except for a pull-up at night) and he even stays dry during his naps!

Henry actually completely trained in a VERY short time, while Jonah took a little bit longer. I think the reason for that is that I was able to dedicate myself more fully to the training with Henry--with Jonah it was a spur-of-the-moment decision and I didn't have anyone lined up to watch Henry--so he was a constant "help" (ie, distraction!). So if you have older kids, I would say that it's probably easier without them around! :)

As with any book that I read, I did have reservations on some of the specifics in the book. There are a few things they have you do that I don't agree with, and the book is certainly a bit dated (it was first published in the 70's). I won't bore you readers with those details, but if anyone is interested in using this method on your child--I would be happy to share with you more.

I love play-doh!

For some reason I can't put a title on my blog....anyone know why? The title box is still up there at the top of the page, but I can't click on it. I couldn't put one on my last lovely blog either. (Which reminds me--I have to admit that the puddle was orange juice. Sam opened the fridge door, the oj jumped out, and I grabbed my camera! Paybacks are fun, aren't they? I think he may be regretting the "dancing" picture of me on his blog!)

Back to what I was planning on writing about.....play-doh is so fun! The boys can spend at least an hour at the stuff and never get bored. Of course, Jonah usually needs a little help, so I usually get to play too. :) The boys have rolling pins, cookie cutters, molds and of course their great imaginations! Such a great invention!

Here's Henry with his "Snowman" creation!

Okay, I feel silly, but I just tried to put in a title again (for one LAST time!) and it took it! I think I'm just not computer-savvy some days. :)

Potty training with Jonah is going really well. He's not exactly independent or anything yet, but he is getting the picture. We've been pretty busy--not exactly the best time to really focus on potty training, but I'm starting to feel the time crunch (the baby is due in a month!). I would love for him to have it all figured out by the time she arrives--be praying for us! :)

Now if I could just get Sam better trained . . . .

Happy 4th of July!

I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday!

Thank you God for our wonderful country--and those who have fought to protect it!

If anyone is interested, I just wanted to mention that the potty training with Jonah is going really well! :)

Hmmmm.....

Any guesses what these two things have in common?

The swingset

A while back, my mom offered to buy the boys a swingset for the backyard.

We had one when we lived in Montana--Henry LOVED it and played on it everyday. Since we've been here we make a lot of trips to the park, but there really isn't a park very close to where we live. So the boys don't get to swing nearly as often as they'd like!

We've been working out the details with my mom. We finally picked out a great swingset online just a week ago. We want it to be a surprise for the boys, so we really haven't told them what is going on. It's so easy to keep a secret from pre-schoolers! :)

Having a swingset has been on Henry's mind apparently anyway. A few days ago at breakfast, Henry was looking out the window into the backyard, and he said, "Wouldn't it be the best thing in the whole world if we had a trampoline AND a swingset in the backyard, like we did in Montana? That would be so cool!" Sam and I just laughed!

Sam found the perfect spot in the backyard to put it--set a little way back in the woods so it will have some shade--very fun! So he has been clearing trees and making a level spot to put it. The boys have been helping out, and they think that we're putting another patio "so we can drive our bikes!" back there. Can't wait to show you everyone the picture of the finished product!