HELP!!

We have the stickers, we have the charts, we have the potty, we have the 2 year old and we definitely have had ENOUGH of the diapers!! Does anyone have any suggestions before we begin? I've tried to look up info on the internet, but everyone wants me to buy their book. Does anyone know of a particular method that's tried and true (sort of like babywise for potty training?) =) And now, for the big question, what do you think about discipline for little boys who know how to go to the potty (especially #2) and just choose not to do it in the potty???? AHHH!!!

Never a Dull Day

Today was going along so smoothly. Samuel and I were playing and getting ready to go for a haircut. I've had to wet his hair completely to get it to stay down, so I thought it was time.

It was beginning to look like Alfalfa's (all slicked down and plastered to his head). I was expecting one strand in the back to pop up any minute. =)

As we were pulling out of the driveway, I backed up as usual into our neighbor's parking space (the space that I THOUGHT was EMPTY!!) and,lo and behold, I found that it wasn't empty at all. Betty's car was in it's usual spot and I crashed right into it. It kinda goes right along with the year I'm having so far...crazy!! Oh well, Travis says we have good insurance. Praise the Lord for that! Of course, Kara slept right through the whole thing. Samuel was such a good boy and never once opened his mouth until we got to the barber shop. It was there that he told everyone waiting for haircuts that "Mommy crashed into Miss Betty's car!!!" Thanks, Sam.

P.S. I always have some good story about Sam, so here's some recent shots of our beautiful baby Kara. She was very comfy with her daddy last night after dinner resting on his chest.

July 4th

We visited my brother and his wife for the 4th of July this year. Samuel and his cousins, Will and Micah, had a great time watching the "fireworks." Here's some pictures from the huge event (which consisted of a couple of spinning light up things and some charcoal snakes). When we celebrate, we really go all out! Samuel kept singing, "America, America...asleep on the hay." He's still working on the difference between Christmas and Independence Day. Heehee!

The Brave Hunter

It's definitely been too hot to open the windows for the last couple of weeks, but we had some really nice, cool weather a couple of weeks ago. Travis was having great difficulty with the fly swatter. He never could seem to hit the flies he was swinging at. We had TONS of them in our apartment, because we had the windows open. One night he was unusually successful and actually hit this poor fly in mid air and sent it flying across the room to it's final doom! Honey, you're such a brave hunter...I'm sooo proud of you =)

Moving

The boxes are starting to fill the house again! We're heading to Bellefonte, PA the end of this month to assist my mom with the care of my dad. Travis is quitting his job, and full time deputation begins! It's been quite a busy time trying to pack and take care of a newborn and a 2 yr. old! I'm not sure if Samuel is going to make it. He's very tired of having no one to play with, cause his only play mate is always either packing or feeding his little sister! =( Just yesterday he decided to dump his entire plate of chicken and rice on the kitchen floor (which is carpet). And last week, he poured all the milk I had just finished pumping for Kara all over our khaki chair. If we make it through toddlerhood it will be a miracle. (or should I say, if HE makes it through toddlerhood...) Oh well. It will teach him patience at least to have to play by himself. I'm not sure what lessons I'M supposed to be learning from all of his mischief?? Here are some recent pictures of what we've been up to.

On Saturday morning we had eggs and grapefruit for breakfast. Samuel decided he wanted to try the grapefruit after Travis was done with it. First Trav said no and then we decided it would be fun to watch his reaction to such a bitter taste. Well, apparently, he liked it! What a weirdo!

Travis' mom found this awesome toy at a yard sale for a dollar! It's made by Playskool, and I checked it out...they still make it (a new and improved version...$20). It's the coolest toy. You place the balls in the top and they roll down the spout into the bottom where they are shot back up through the tube by air pressure. You have to press the red button on the back to shoot the balls out the top. Samuel has played with it ALL morning.

My friend Kelli encouraged me to take LOTS of pictures of Kara as she was growing so that I could remember how small she was. So this one is just to show you what she's looking like these days. I bet she's close to 7 lbs now!! What a sweetie!

(I know I'm only saying this cause she's not 2 yet!) =)

Ready for a Wife

For the last few days, I've been letting Samuel help me with the dishes.

He used the sprayer to rinse them and to rinse a few other things (like the counter, the floor and himself!). And just a few days ago he brought me a flower from the plant outside our house.

I was beginning to think that he was just about ready to get married, since he's able to do so many things that wives love (washing dishes, giving flowers), until I thought about the fact that he's still wearing a DIAPER! I'm not sure his wife would go for that! I guess we still have some work to do in the dishes department too, because at the end of the rinsing he started drinking the water from the spoon he had just rinsed.

OH WELL!! We'll have to do a bit more training before the big wedding day! I think we'll start on the "no drinking the water from the rinsed dishes" first, cause I'm just not ready to tackle the diaper yet. Maybe by the time he's 25 we'll have that one accomplished!

I DID IT!!

This may not seem like much, especially to my pregnant-with- two- other- children -age 2- and-under-who-took-a-4 day-camping-trip-friend Carissa Smith, but I went to the grocery store today with BOTH of my children. I was actually quite proud of myself. I fed Kara at 8:45am and then scrambled around to gather everything up and write my list. I realized as I was making beds that Samuel's bed smelled VERY badly (IF you know what I mean) =) and so I had to change his sheets. I was on a very tight time schedule to get back here before Kara's next feeding at 11:45. At 11:45, however, I was just checking out and still had to load my $150 shopping order and come home to unload the car, get Samuel his lunch and then feed Kara. By 12:00 she was screaming bloody murder. I was trying to stay calm and just move quickly, so the poor baby wouldn't starve to death. Samuel was in charge of holding her pacifier in her mouth, so that I could get him in his chair for lunch, so I could feed her. It was quite a challenge, and I'll try not to make this a regular habit, but I just wanted to see if I could do it. Millions of mothers do it every day...why not me??!! =) By the way, you can check out my very brave friend, Carissa's camping trip here. You are my inspiration, my good buddy ol' pal! I'm actually really enjoying being a mom. It's definitely a challenge, but I'm so grateful to the Lord for the opportunity to influence 2 lives in such a profound way. I love you, Sam and Kara! =)