Our NEW family tradition...at least we think!

So last saturday we loaded up the kidos along with my Dad and Kari and made a LONG trek up into the Wenatchee National Forest on the south side of Lake Chelan to find ourselves a Christmas tree. This proved to be quite the trip. Dad and Kari took Lainee which proved to be the EASY child. Jaxon evidently was feeling a little car sick upson our leaving town...can you see where this is going??? He slept and was great and then as we wound our way down the lake and up the mountain he kept say "My mouf hurts" this is what he says when he is not feeling well. And just as I was tlaking to him here it comes....ya fun, I tell ya! So I have come to the conclusion that riding in the back seat of Dan's big truck is what does it! He cannot see out the front window, and as his Mother has been afflicted with for years, causing us to get sick in the car!! So we drove up and down this stinkin mountain and round and round for which seemed like FOREVER to me with the lovely smell invading my breathing space. We FINALLY found a spot that we thought would be nice and got out and hiked all over. Up and down, down and up. Don't you know this is a BLAST when you have a person the same height as the under brush :) and a little person strapped to the front of you as you walk up and down trying to stay balanced and not fall over! I am sure I was a sight for sore eyes!! lol!! So after much dilberation, we found THE TREE!! And of course my handy husband cannot bring a real saw with us, he has to bring the power tools and in about 30 seconds the tree was being loaded into our truck! I you remember back I did tell you my Dad came along as well. I think he does not realize how big trees are when they are standing. He found this tree that he REALLY wanted.....I promise you it was easily 25 feet tall and laws prohibit you from cutting a tree no more than 15 feet tall. So after we talked and talked and finally conviced him to keep looking he settled for another mu SMALL tree....only 14 1/2 feet tall...for his 12 foot ceilings mind you! We cut a tree that we thought would fit our room perfectly and we were pretty close, only cutting off about 6 inches...for our 9 foot ceilings. So after all the trees were loaded we jumped in the trucks to head to Wenatchee to eat at Applebee's. Upon getting back in the truck Jaxon starts to compain about his mouth again and yes it happens AGAIN!! This point I am dying. I of course being the planner that I am, brought NO CLOTHES for Jaxon, just Lainee! Jax finally falls asleep and before we can go in to eat I have to go to Target and buy the kid some clean clothes. Then we were finally able to eat a very yummy lunch, that was much deserved after all our hiking, cleaning up yucky stuff, and LONG car ride! So ya...all in all we had a good day and had a GREAT time hiking through the great outdoors. Isn't it amazing how God creates such a beautiful world for us to be in? The experience of hiking with the kids was actually a lot of fun and we are thinking about making this our family tradition each year. Loading up and hiking into the forest with the kidos to find our perfect tree. You could not buy family fun for the 5 bucks for a tag and a tank of gas these days!! The only bad part is that fresh from the forest trees are very sparce and have very weak limbs, and I of course love those thick lush trees, that are so full you can barely get an ornament on it. But I will side with my husband and go with the fresh tree and all the fun that comes with it!


So after all my babbling here are a few pics to commemorate our trip!

Impromptu Pics

So I got a wild hair last night to ATTEMPT to get a Chirtsmas pic of the kids. We got just a few before meltdown set in. But here are a couple decent ones!

STOP THE CAR........

So we were driving to Moses Lake (45mins away) on Satruday afternoon, and all of a sudden Jaxon starts yelling "Stop da car Dad...I nee go pee!!" Dan and I look at each other in total shock and each take a few seconds to comprehend what was just said and start laughing. Then I ask Jaxon does he really need to go and he say "Des Mom, Stop da car!!" Of course we are on a very narrow road with NO place to pull off so we tell him to hold it for a minute and Daddy will pull over as soon as he can. So we go a 1/2 mile of so and we find a spot and low and behold he REALLY had to go! This was only the second time he has actually told us he needed to go. We were SO PROUD!! The whole telling us thing has been an on and off again thing, but at least he realized it! Maybe we are getting somewhere!

We LOVE stickers

So we have been doing the whole go potty on the toilet and get a sticker, fill your chart and get a prize, and Jaxon LOVES it! This has been going on for nearly two weeks and he is starting to forget about the stickers and just go. He did really good for a week or so with only 2 pee accidents all week, but then has had a few more this week! The whole poo thing is a real pain! So we will continue to trudge through it! I hope someday this gets easier!!

A reward or bribery......

So week 3 is starting in potty training land. So this weekend I got some stickers and prizes to try and entice Jaxon to go to the bathroom without the fussing. He will do great then all of a sudden get mad at me making him go potty! I wonder where he gets his STUBBORNNESS from??? =D So we started out small, 12 squares to fill, and in one day he wa able to fill the squares so he got a new puzzle! He LOVES his new puzzle, but today he is throwing a fit when I tell him to go potty! If Dan stayed home all the time I think he would be trained in a few days, because he does it for Daddy, not for Mommy...frustrating. So I am going to try the sticker and prize thing and see if it works. If you have any insight into this whole process spread the knowledge! So ya, I will stop babbling and go bribe my child some more! :)

FRUSTRATING...........ahhhhhhhhh!!!

So after a GREAT day yesterday, today was horrible! 3 accidents by 11am, I was DONE!!! I put the diaper back on and boy howdy did he hate it! Which I thought was hillarious!! He freaked out when he wet his diaper and I just had to chuckle. I am going in to take off the diaper from nap time and start afresh...but I really just want to bag the whole thing and come back in two months, but it is nice to be using less diapers everyday, so there is one perk! Maybe tomorrow will be better!

Day 12.......Yes I am STILL counting.....

Jaxon has been doign really good. I was so proud of him yesterday, no accidents then just before church he had one, oh well, I is not too bad. He is starting to understand what the "feeling" is. Maybe by Christmas we can be day time potty trained, at least that is my hope! :)

We had a WONDERFUL weekend away visiting friends in Couer d'Alene. Jaxon did not do all that great with the potty thing, but we were away in a new environment, so he was wanting to explore and play, I don't blame him!

Lainee is rolling over when put on her tummy, but she HATES being on her tummy so I rarely put her on. I got her on video rolling over finally and Dan has to upload that because I am video camera upload challenged!! =D lol

Hope you all have a wonderful week....and are looking forward to the upcoming Thanksgiving Holiday! Tootles!! ;)

My little Lady is growing up!!!

So yesterday Lainee rolled over for the first time! I was SO excited that I ran to get the video camera and tried again and again, to no avail. No more rolling!! I will keep trying and when she does I will post for all of you to see her new milestone!! Congrats Little Princess!!!

Day 6.......

So I had a LONG talk with Jaxon last night before he went to bed about waking us up in the morning when he felt he had to poo, seeing as though this usually happens around 5:30am. About 5:25 he came into our bedroom and said "Mama I poop!" I asked if he had gone in his daiper, he said, yes, and I asked again and he said "Nope, I go potty!!"" YEAH!! So we ran to the bathroom and low and behold he went on the toilet!! I am SOOOO proud of him and all his accompishments this week! I know we are no where near totally potty trained, but he is making HUGE gains everyday! I just hope he keeps it up this weekend when we head out of town!

The end of day 4......

So day four is coming to an end and we have had 3 accidents today, but too bad. This evening I put a diaper on Jaxon because Matt & Shawna and the girls came over for dinner and for some reason when he is playing with them he totally forgets he needs to use the bathroom, too much excitement I guess! He DID NOT like the diaper. He peed in it and was like get this thing off me! He just stood there with his legs spread freaking out, it was SO funny! I guess that is a good sign though. If any of you have any great tips about potty training your little ones I would LOVE to hear them! I will take any help given! Thanks for following the potty blog! :)

Oh the dreaded Potty Training!!!

So Jaxon has been using the big potty since Saturday, Nov 1. We have only had four accidents in four days, so I am counting our blessings! I have been setting a timer and about every 30-40 minutes he has to stop and hop on and go! He is so funny he says, "Mama tima go beep beep, I go peep peep potty!" I LOVE how little minds process things! The hard part is I don't think he really understands what the urge to pee is. His first accident was HUGE and then the latter ones have been rather small where he he caught himself and then tells me, "I need go peep peep." So maybe he is starting to understand, who knows! My goal today is to try and teach him how to get up and down all by himself and take his undies off, what a HUGE feat that is, man it wears me out!! So ya, keep us in your prayers that he gets it and we can go back to only buying diapers for ONE KID!!! Diapers are SO expensive, I hate them, but I will NEVER do cloth, too much work for this lazy bones! =D So ya, potty training here we come!!! lol

Happy 4 month Birthday Lainee!

If you can believe it my baby is already four months old today! Boy how time flies when you are getting little sleep! *grin* We took the little Lady to the Doctor yesterday and she is officially PETITE!!! =D She is ONLY 12lbs. 1 oz (25%) and 23 3/4 inches long (50%). Unlike her older brother who was 15 lbs and 25 inches at this point! She is a girl she is suppossed to be small, is what everyone keeps telling me! But somedays I just LONG to have one of those cute chubby babies. I think baby fat is SO cute, but my children have never had an ounce on their bodies, my little string beans!

So Happy Four Month Birthday my Little Princess, Mommy LOVES you more than words can explain!!

Exploring Daddy's World

So last week Dan was fighting a LARGE house fire in town here. He brought home all his gear and has yet to return it to the station. Last night he brought it inside and Jaxon was in little boy heaven, getting to play in Daddy's stuff! He was SO CUTE, at least I thought so!

Fall Carnival

Here in good old Coulee City the Auction committee puts on a Carnival. This year is was the weekend before Halloween. Jaxon was much happier and thoroughly enjoyed it this year compared to last year! Jaxon was a Tiger and Lainee was a flower! So cute!!

Pumpkin Time!!

So on Saturday my Mom came up and brought a few pumpkins and some Crayola paints because I did not feel like gutting a pumkpin and then carving it, mainly because Jaxon would want to cut and then get mad because we would not let him, so just decided to go the EASY route!

So here is where it gets funny. My Mom arrives and gives Jaxon the box of 10 paints. He opens it looks at every bottle, then asks "Drama, where da back one??" That would be Grandma where is the black one for those of you who do not speak fluent Jaxon. I was like what is he talking about? Thinking the black bottle has probably fallen on the floor or is under something. So I walk over and there are all the colors seen in the above picture, but NO BLACK!! So my question to you is what 2 1/2 year old realizes that there is no black intermixed with ALL the other colors?? CRAZY!!!

So here is the final product, a very "petty pumpin!!" (Pretty Pumpkin)

Here goes nothing......

So I thought I would "babble" to you all in a new way...blogging. I have never been a real blogger, but I thoroughly enjoy reading several friends blogs on a daily basis, so I thought what the heck, might as well try it out! Maybe I can bring some laughs to someones day with my kids' antics!! =) They can be pretty funny some days and others just a real pain, but of course I LOVE THEM!! So I hope you will follow our crazy journey through life and enjoy a few laughs!!