I will lose my mind!

So now that Sam has turned 3 he is showing some interest in using the potty. It is not consistent and I have not been pushing the issue. Actually, I think that I am being rather lazy about the whole thing. I am a true expert at the quick diaper change. We can go through 15-20 diapers a day!! I would love to not have to change diapers anymore, but the whole potty training thing is time consuming and one thing I do not seem to ever have enough of is time.

Anyways, I decided that it was time to push the issue and be more consistent. I knew that I would need 3 potties, even if only one was training. Otherwise there would be alot of fighting and no going to the potty. I did have a couple but I quickly found out they are not easy to clean. They have become the backups, and I bought three little red potties. They are great!

Before I started I thought that maybe Carlee would train along with Sam and that Ben would never sit long enough to actually do anything. So maybe two at once would not be so bad???? Well guess what! All three want to go potty! On this particular day, I think the first day after we got the red potties, I literally spent over 2 hours on potty duty. I got nothing else done and anytime one says potty they all have to go potty and the potty party starts all over again.

Oh and did I mention Naked Hour! They all love to undress themselves and run around in the kitchen completely naked. We all have Daddy to thank for that wonderful idea. So now I have to dress them 17 times a day too!!! I seriously am going to lose my mind over potty training!

The potties are still around, but I certainly am not asking them if they have to go unless I have a couple hours to blow! So back to the drawing board, I will have to formulate a new plan for potty training. Maybe that will be one of my New Year's resolutions!

Where have I been????

I am finally able to spend a few minutes with my poor neglected blog!

I just looked back to see when the last posts I made were. I have not posted anything substantial or very interesting since the beginning of November!!!! And I have not posted a SOAP bible study since Nov 5 - WHAT!!!! I can not believe that it has been nearly 2 months since I have been in any kind of normal routine.

So here is my plan - well for blogging anyway. I know that there are now some followers to this blog, and that there are some friends and family who will occasionaly stop in - please say hi when you do! I usually hear from my mom that someone has stopped by and enjoyed the pictures and stories of the kids, but I would love for everyone to leave a comment so that I know you were here!!

I have realized that I have to be better at organizing my time and my day. I will be working on that this week - sort of a New Year's resolution. Part of my day will include time for blogging and of course time for Bible Study.

Right now I am taking a break from housecleaning. I am loving that the kids are off school this week and I have several kids that can come babysit this week. Well it really isn't babysitting - more like keeping them out of my way! Haha they are loving the attention.

So while I am working on my new routines and trying to get my house back in order. I thought I would do some update blogs of things that have happened in the last couple months.

I wonder if I should backdate these blogs to the days or weeks that I am writing about. Then they will be in order, yep makes sense to me. So even though I am writing this on Dec 30, this post will be dated Nov 9, basically when I left off.

Isn't the world of blogging wonderful! I can keep everyone updated, even though life has been completely chaotic!!

Christmas at our house

Christmas Eve
The kids wore jammies all day. I called them "getting ready for Christmas clothes". They thought it was funny that they didn't have to get dressed.


Then we baked Christmas cookies. I didn' have time to take a picture while decorating the cookies. I was pretty busy trying to keep the decorations on the cookies and making sure they didn't eat too many!



Then we were off to the church for the Christmas Eve program put on by all the children. Our kids were the sheep! I didn't get any photos of them in the whole costumes that night, so I had them put the wooly shirts on again just for the picture. They were cute and even had little sheep ears to wear. It was too bad that we didn't get a picture that night.


Christmas Day
They were very excited that Santa came and brought them a play kitchen! They also enjoyed opening presents and playing with all the toys and games they got. Even though it was just the 5 of us it was not a quiet Christmas!

Santa's everywhere!

We saw Santa at the Fall Supper. He showed up on a firetruck which was so very exciting! But then I guess he was pretty scary! Sam and Ben sat on his lap but both were uncomfortable. Carlee wouldn't go near him, but she did go back after getting her coat on and sat on the stage. I guess it was her version of sitting of Santa's knee!

Later when we were telling Daddy all about it, you never have guessed they were afraid. The way they told it they were very excited to see Santa and get candy!!!



Then we saw Santa at the Christmas Parade and he was on a firetruck again. How very exciting!! Later when we told Daddy all about it, they made it seem like it was the most fun and exciting thing to see!


And we saw Santa again on Christmas Eve. At the end of the Christmas Eve Kids program at church Santa came and gave all the kids candy canes. I don't have a photo that I can post of that.

I think that this year the kids got a really good idea who Santa is and they are enjoying the Play Kitchen that he bought for them!

I love Santa, but I am also proud of my kids for knowing that it is Jesus' birthday that we are celebrating. Sam even asked me if God gave us Santa!

Carlee's 1st Haircut

FINALLY!!!!!

A few weeks ago we were getting ready to go someplace and after getting dressed Carlee was sitting on my lap. I nearly cried as I told Daddy and Mimi that I did something to Carlee that I had never done before! I pulled her hair out from her collar!!!

And now just before Christmas the boys really needed haircuts so I thought that Carlee has enough hair now that she could finally get her first haircut!!!

Here is the before picture. She did go up on the chair willingly, but it looks like she is not too sure about it!

And the after picture. There wasn't alot of hair cut off to save for her 1st haircut, but we did get some. She is not impressed!!


Even after we got home and they got a snack she is still not impressed! They all look pretty snifty (Mimi's new word haha)



There! That's more like it!!!


That reminds me of some other 1st haircuts!!! Sam's was when he was about 13 months old.


Ben's was when he was about 17 months old and was a huge change! This was that haircut when I lost my baby and found a little man!

I love Christmas

I had most of the ornaments on the tree when the kids came down from their nap. They were so excited!

I Love you This Much!

Quilts for the kids

I am just getting back to the computer after being away for awhile and I missed out on many Gratituesdays, but now I am nearly caught up and grateful for that! However for this weeks Gratituesday post (Jan 13), I am using this one that I posted in November. You can find more Gratituesday posts at Laura's blog Heavenly Homemakers.

Gratitude and grateful are not descriptive enough words for what I feel towards my mom and all she does for our family. We love you Mimi!! Here is the post from November....

While my Mom was here I totally took advantage!! I locked myself in my sewing room and completed three quilts for the kids. I cannot tell you how much I appreciate my Mom and all she does for our family. She is truly a blessing and I am grateful for her!

These quilts are called "I Spy Quilts". Each square is a different pattern, so there are 36 patterns plus the borders. I chose fabrics that could be easily identified, examples are frogs, boots, houses, trains, flags, hearts, butterflies. They all have the same 36 patterns but are randomly placed. The idea is that we can all sit around with the quilts and play a game - Who can find the Snowmen? Or something like that. They also have three different flannel fabrics for the backings. The flannel made them nice and cuddly.

Sam's quilt


Carlee's quilt - Don't you just love the hat! Daddy says she looks like a hoser! (Only my Canadian friends will understand that joke!!!) It has been cold in their bedroom so that is why I gave them their quilts on Thanksgiving instead of Christmas.



Ben's quilt - I think it was still warm from pressing! I literally finished this one, wrapped them up and gave them to the kids! And of course it would be Ben that had to get on the table to snuggle with his new blankie!!!

crazy east coast weather!

Growing up in Saskatchewan I am accustomed to quick and sometimes drastic weather changes. A common saying is "If you don't like the weather, wait 5 minutes, it will likely change.

I was not however, prepared for some of the strange weather we have had in VA & NC lately.

The beginning part of November was quite cool and we had alot of rain. But Nov 15 was unusual! It was extremely warm and pouring rain. In fact it was so warm that the kids were playing in it and not getting cold. I think it was near 80 degrees.




Five days later...Even though it is only a short drive away, I had not yet had a chance to get to see the Atlantic Ocean since we moved here. So with my Mom still here we planned a day trip to the coast. Unfortunatley the day we went was only about 50 degrees, and so we did not stay long on the beach!





And then this is what we woke up to the very next morning!!! The kids had fun and I was glad to see it gone by the afternoon!

Sam turns 3

Sam had been fascinated with astronauts and rockets so I was excited to learn about the Virginia Air & Space Center. Sam's Birthday Adventure was going to be all about airplanes and rocketships!

We started the day with waffles, Daddy embellished them with bananas, sprinkles, chocolate chips and who knows what else! But they loved them, well Carlee was quite concerned about being "messy"!




Then Sam put on his Airplane shirt and flew around the house while we were getting ready to go. Later he was thrilled to be able to "fly" this little plane and then Daddy helped him to fly a model plane. It was very serious!




But the best part of the trip was the Astronauts and Spaceships!





We completed the day with a spaceship and rocket birthday cake.