Forks & A First

Last night at 9:30PM, with our windows open, front door open (screen door), TV on.... you get the picture... some youth from our church started forking our yard!!! Are you joking??? 9:30PM when we are obviously wide awake!!!??? What is happening to the youth in America?? Once TJ stepped into the doorway they left. They could definitely use some tips from my high school friends! Then tonight while we were in Target we saw some youth leaving with quite a bit of toilet paper... I guess it is a good thing we really don't have a lot of trees.

As far as the "First" goes... on Friday I took the kids out alone for the FIRST TIME (excluding church). Yes that is right... the FIRST time. Lets just say we usually travel as a family or I go places alone!! I had to take Anderson to the doctor and we usually schedule appts on TJ's day off but they didn't have one open. His foot doctor did say that his foot might have to be casted again. He wants to check him again in two months to see if the stretches we do will help.

Here are some pictures of the kids... I think my mom is just about to die. I mean I have not posted pictures since Thursday!

Not too happy about dinner... he just wanted to go to sleep!


Anderson's new thing is playing with daddy on the floor. He is starting to push up a lot and try to stand on his own. He is so cute trying to wrestle with TJ!



Learning to love ranch dressing like her mommy...

Hanging out with daddy in her room... she is watching Dora and he is reading.

Karoline was so tired after playing at church. She ran in the door and got her blanket right away... she just wanted to chill!


I tried to get Karoline to show off her artwork she made today but Praise Baby was more important.

Funny story: Our dear friends Brian and Misi took us out for a WONDERFUL dinner on Saturday night. I took Karoline to the potty like three times because we have not been out to dinner yet since she has been potty trained. The second time we went to the bathroom Karoline was sitting on the potty and the lady in the stall next store started going potty... Karoline screams "YEAH"!!!! The lady didn't respond but I was laughing pretty hard. She was so proud of that lady for going potty!!

Here is a video of Karoline... no editing and nothing but Karoline being Karoline... probably one of those video's for the grandparents.

If You Have Air Conditioning...

... Get on your knees right now and thank your Heavenly Father that you have air conditioning!!

Boy do I wish we had AC... we are baking in our house and can't go outside either. It's just too hot!

My Birthday...

I had a WONDERFUL birthday yesterday. I woke up to the smell of BACON!!! Need I say more... I will... TJ made me homemade french toast and bacon, my favorite. AND cleaned the kitchen completely before leaving for work. He came home around 4 so we could go on a family walk and then we got ready for a date!! He asked our good friends, Misi and Brian, to babysit and we went to Macaroni Grill. I almost cried when when he told me we were going to go out on a date. It was so nice being alone and just enjoying dinner together. I could not have had a better birthday. I have the sweetest, best husband EVER!!!

My YUMMY breakfast made by TJ...

Karoline was not cooperating for the picture...

TJ and I before our date... I HATE this picture of me but TJ is cute!

I took these the other day...
Oh these picture tells of things to come I am sure..


He's so cute... SO CUTE!

My yummy fingers...

Anderson's New Hobby: YOGA

Gammy was very worried since I am busy tonight going to Now Were Cooking that she was not going to get new pictures... So here you go!! Anderson has been doing what I call Yoga positions a lot lately and it is so cute! He is not crawling yet but SO CLOSE. He did sit up by himself for the first time on Sunday night (like went from laying down to sitting up).





Here is the only picture of Karoline that I have taken the past few days... BECAUSE she has basically been in tears or upset. We were in the back yard the other day and two squirrels were playing and chasing each other. It scared her so bad! She also saw a spider on the swing set and now she will not go outside. She gets scared when she sees an ant. It's ridiculous! She actually wanted to come inside from playing to help me with the laundry!! I don't like bugs/ spiders either, but she has got to get over this! She is the girliest girl I have ever known.

As for potty training, Karoline is doing SO WELL! She is pretty much day time potty trained. I really am so proud of her! I have a box of diapers that I just bought at Target and I am taking them back!!

Mothers Day

We had a great and mellow Mothers Day as usual. TJ gets home late from church so we can't go out to lunch because the kids nap at 1PM, and I had Bible study at night so there was not much of a celebration (which is fine with me). We are having my Mothers Day dinner tomorrow... we have some wonderful filet mignon's to cook!!! YUMMY!!! Karoline did make me a beautiful card in Sunday school and I got a 4 lb. tub of Red Vine's from TJ! MY FAVORITE!!! Anderson didn't spit up on me today so that must have been my gift from him. OH, and I GOT A NAP!! It was wonderful.

I LOVE LOVE LOVE being a mom... there is no better job in the world. I am so blessed to have such amazing children and get to be with them every day, all day! It can be very hard and challenging at times and I am not saying that I don't want to pull my hair out multiple times a day but there is NOTHING as rewarding than kissing my babies goodnight seeing Anderson look up at me and smile after I lay him down and hearing Karoline say "I love you mommy" as I close her bedroom door... every bit of stress or frustration that I feel at the end of the day goes away!

Knowing the deep love I have for my kids has really made me think a lot about my relationship with my Heavenly Father. I cannot imagine my Heavenly Fathers love for me but I know He loves me more than I love my kids... I just cannot comprehend that but oh how I am SOOOO thankful!! I know I drive Him crazy with stupid things I do or say that are childish, or I loose my patience, I let Him down, I don't obey, and I am too caught up in myself to realize the goodness that is in front of me... but at the end of the day HE LOVES ME!!! I am SO THANKFUL for his unfailing LOVE!! SOOOOOOO THANKFUL!!!! I am so blessed that He not only puts up with me but cares for me deeply! Thank you Jesus!! Thank you Jesus for letting me be a mommy to Karoline and Anderson!!

This was the best picture I could get... my camera is on top of a tissue box on top of a table. TJ was at church so it was interesting trying to get them to look at the camera.

My card Karoline made...


Emily and Avery came over to "Goff Park" on Saturday and the girls had a great time! We love it when Avery comes over to play...

KaBoom

Our friend Tammy from church works in the Port of Oakland in the shipping industry. I have learned so much about the shipping industry for her and it really is amazing!! I didn't realize how many steps are involved in getting what Pottery Barn sells into the stores! :) She took us to a company party and we had wine and some wonderful food (even caviare). The big even though was a big fire works show that was being shot across the bay in the city (SF). So we had a wonderful evening and then the big climax... the fire works. Well, we could hear them, but we could not see them. In good ol' San Francisco style the FOG rolled in and blocked the show!!!! But we still had a great evening!!
I didn't take my Rebel with me, just my small camera. I wish I could have taken my Rebel because I could have taken some really cool pics of sunset but oh well...
This is one of the ships that Tammy works with... not on the boat. She works in a nice office but to explain her job is too complicated for me. It is very interesting though...

No kids... BABYSITTER! I was so scared to leave Karoline potty training with our dear friends, Greg and Susan. She did great and had another no accident day. Greg is a chef and made Karoline smoked gouda mac and cheese!! She asked me for more gouda at breakfast!!

They had these precious mimi hamburgers... they were so yummy!


The cranes were the inspiration behind the Star Wars imperial walkers... the creator of Star Wars lives in the bay area.

SHE DID IT!!!

NO ACCIDENTS!!!

I am so proud of her... no accidents today. She even went #2 in the potty! So today was her third day of potty training and her first day of no accidents! I also am beginning to let her go longer than 30 minutes without putting her on the potty. She is beginning to let me know if she really does not have to go potty. Later tonight she went over an hour without needed to go so I can tell she is learning to hold it. I really am so proud of her!!!

I asked her where were her new underwear and .... There they are mommy...

Say CHEESE...

Princes Karoline takes time out of her busy day to color...

I could not do a post without pictures of little man... We had a wonderful time playing outside today.

Potty Training: Take Two

Yesterday (Wednesday) Karoline brought me a pair of my underwear and said "I want underwear" while trying to put them on. I told her they were mine and I thought what the heck... I have nothing better to do the next few days, lets try potty training again. We tried in February but Anderson was still at a point where he was a lot to take care of and now that he enjoys playing alone I figured it would probably work out... Plus if I wait until the busyness of the summer it would not happen until August.

So yesterday I decided we are DONE with diapers (except for nap time and night time). She had 6 "victories" and only 2 accidents. We even ran an errand and I forced myself not to put a diaper on her. She did great! Then today she had 10 "victories" and 3 accidents. TJ had her all morning while I went to the doctor and she was accident free. I am so proud of her!

I went to Target and got her another pack of Dora and Disney underwear and a bag of M&M's for potty rewards. I have never really given her candy before. That girl can force herself to go potty when she sees the M&M's. She has enjoyed the M&M's so much that she asked to pray for them during our prayer time before bed!! Is it bad that I give myself M&M's after I go potty??

I am very proud of her and I know that she will continue to do well... she has to. I promised myself I would not go back. I know she can do it! Wish me luck (and pray for patience!!). Anderson has been great when I have to leave him quickly to take Karoline to the potty...

Karoline has been sitting on a towel if she is watching TV... She thinks it is special that Anderson is not allowed on the towel!

M&M's...

She picked out two blue M&M's after another victory!!!

Little man waking up from his nap...

He loves to play peek-a-boo using his bumper!! He is so cute...


This picture is so special to me... If you don't know, Karoline was NEVER a cuddle baby... she never rested for a moment on my chest. My boy however is a cuddle baby. He would rather be held most of the day (except when he is sleepy and wants his crib). Tonight he was cuddling before bath time. I realized I have yet to take a picture of him cuddling so I made TJ get the camera.



Here is a video of Karoline playing in the backyard...

Video Troubles

Do you have a problem viewing the videos that I post?

I ask this because TJ's parents and his sister cannot see the videos that I post. We are trying to figure out the problem. If you have trouble please leave a comment and let me know and I will see if I can fix it... THANK!!

More Random Things...

As I was thinking about my list of random things I kept thinking of things for the kids and not me... but I did the list about me but I thought I would write down just a few (just enough to bore you) random things that have to deal with my precious ones...
1) Karoline wakes up every morning saying "I have a good nap"... We try and explain it is not a nap but she thinks it is. She then says "Oatmeal have a good nap", "Table have a good nap"

2) After talking about naps Karoline asks for milk. But she says "I want purple milk" or "I want tea cup milk" or "I want alligator milk"..." WHAT?" What she is doing is telling us what cup she wants to drink out of that day. It is pretty cute...

3) Anderson likes to pull off his socks and eat them... the little mans feet can be so cold but he will still pull them off!!

4) My kids wear Luvs diapers... Like the commercial we bought the expensive diapers at first but then got real and got Luvs. So new mom's out there Luvs are great! They are not as luxurious as Huggies or Pampers but they do the job just perfectly! Just make sure you get the stretchy tabs (Luvs is in transition to stretchy tabs).

5) Just incase you were wondering 15 avocados make 4 ice cube trays worth of baby food!
Hey there little man...

Anderson sitting up in the bath tub now...

Karoline is such a big help during bath time. She does all the rinsing for us...

Today Karoline GRADUATED!!! She is now in the 2-3 year old Sunday School class... Our good friend Misi was her teacher which made her happy and helped with the transition. She had a great time. When I picked her up she was drinking juice out of a cup (we need to do this more at home) and eating a cookie. I want to go to her class!!! Anyway, here is her artwork!! I am sure she did it all by her self :)

After everyone took their Sunday naps (I napped longer than the kids- it was wonderful!!) we went on a drive and this is what she looked like leaving... Thanks again Natalie for the bunny ears!!

Here is a video of our dinner last night... the kids were "feeding" off of each other... it was crazy but pretty humorous to TJ and I... so instead of getting upset we just laughed!