Ride That Potty Train Baby!

We have finally made it to the milestone every mother dreams about! That's right, after 10+ years of changing diapers I am finally retiring. Hallelujah! Ellen is a super potty trainer. In fact I would say this has probably been the easiest potty training I have ever done. Of course, that has everything to do with the fact that I am far more relaxed now, than when I trained Anna..Sophia...and James. Plus I have a new no stress, positive peer pressure method that is totally motivating to the unmotivated toddler and worry free to mom.

The ABC's

Ellen recently learned to sing her abc's. She is pretty proud of herself.

Super J

James has recently discovered the joys of T-ball. I have never seen him so enthusiastic about a game. It is really fun to watch him play.

Re-creation

Saturday Anna ran excitedly into the house, begging me to bring out the camera. When I made it outside I saw this. After taking the picture I mentioned to Anna how impressed I was that she was trying to recreate George Washington's crossing of the Delaware. Her response was utter amazement that I knew what she was doing. I guess Mom is just full of surprises.

Status Update

Where I am.

Where my brain is.

Sping Break

For spring break we decided to visit the San Rafael Valley. We gathered our tent, sleeping bags, coats, and our courage and headed out into the COLDEST spring break ever. We had a lot of fun, but I was grateful we didn't freeze to death that first night...or any other night for that matter. (When we went to bed that first night it was 28 degrees.) Our first day trip took us to Goblin Valley. The kids loved it. They played on, in, around, and through the "goblins" for hours. On day two we hiked the narrows of Little Wild Horse Canyon. It was amazing! I have never seen rock formations like it before. The kids loved climbing around on all the rocks. We tried to talk the children, James and Anna specifically, into following the "don't climb higher than your head" guideline (mainly to keep my nerves from exploding), but as they only followed it half the time we are very thankful no one broke anything. Ellen's favorite part of hiking the canyon was the sand everywhere. She got amazingly dirty, and had the time of her life. Really, I am just glad sand is near the ground. On our last day en route to home we went hunting for ancient rock art. It took a while to find, but it was worth the journey. In addition to our petraglyphs we also found these perfectly round fossilized dirt clods called concretions. They were humongous and very cool. Really the highlight of the trip for me was the face that Ellen slept and hiked well. It was so fun to have everyone enjoying themselves...even me.

When Vampires Attack

Mike recently went to the doctor to have a mole removed. The mole didn't seem that big, but by the time the dermatologist finally removed the whole thing, Mike was left with a long line of stitches on his neck. While he tries to make it inconspicuous by keeping it covered with flesh covered bandages, inevitably someone will notice and ask what happened. The following are just a few of his current stories.
*Vampire Attack
*Neck Lift
*Knife fight
If you have any other ideas we would love to hear them. After all, the truth about most injuries is not usually very interesting....and where's the fun in that?