horsytails

Instead of calling them pigtails, Millie calls these horsytails!!! So, both girls wanted horsytails this morning. :)

Crazy kids!!!

We have my niece Millie for 3 full days, and boy is our house loud....I mean louder than usual! :) She's only 6 months older than Ethan & Eliza, so we've had a few sharing issues. They've all 3 just recently potty trained and they tend to fight over who gets to go potty first. It's a little crazy!!! But, all that said, the cousins are having fun together! I even conquered a trip to Target with all 4 kids. I must admit, I'm tired!

It's a....

Surprise! Eric & I have decided not to find out what this little one will be - a boy? or a girl? We were able to find out that everything is going extremely well, and that it appears to be a very healthy baby. What a blessing to receive this news!! Seeing God's miracle on that screen never ceases to amaze me!!!


Although it's fun not knowing, I must admit that it was hard when the ultrasound tech knew. Eric definitely didn't want to find out - we were surprised with Sam, and in hindsight he always says he wishes we wouldn't have found out with the twins. For this one I could go either way, I have no preference. However, it would be nice to purge what we don't need! And, since we're having such a hard time with names, it would easier to element a gender for the name search.

The last picture is of the baby's fist up under it's chin, so cute!!! Tiny Baby U #4 even gave us a little wave right before this shot. Isn't that amazing! It help to subside my reservations of having a 4th, since it's been hard to swallow the thought since we found out. I'm sure it will melt my heart once it arrives!

Foil-Pack Taco Chicken

This is a simple, yet good recipe that our entire family really liked! Thought I'd share...

http://www.kraftfoods.com/kf/recipes/recipedetail.htm?recipe_id=75567

I didn't follow it exactly - like we used plain potatoes and not red, and I didn't have any Mexican cheese so we put a little chedar and a little mozzarella on each piece. We also did't have any sour cream. But, there is no mess to clean-up!!! I did read online that some people said the potatoes didn't get done for them. Our's were fine, but I did cut them very thin - kinda like the picture.

Going Away Party for Tim

Our friend Tim is joining the FBI and starts training on Monday. The training will go for 20 weeks, so tonight we went to a little farewell party for him. He'll be back for visits during training, but more than likely he & Mel will have to move once training is over. We'll miss having Tim around!!! And, it will be VERY sad to say good-bye to all of them...but we won't think about that until we have to.

Donuts!!!

Okay, so you might think I'm crazy, but I've never been a big fan of donuts.....until I discovered Tim's Bakery!!! Eric worked late last night at a 2nd job of sorts (it's a once a month thing he does for a friend), and didn't get home until 3:30 am. In an effort to let him sleep in a little, the kids & I went to get donuts this morning. I just love this place!!! I still don't like donuts, unless they come from here! They are so YUMMY!!!! If you're ever near McCordsville, Indiana you must try them out!

Success!!

It's only been one week since the potty training began, and I can't believe how AMAZING both Ethan & Eliza are doing!!! They both go completely unprompted and completely by themselves! WOW!!!! We've been staying home all week, so the real test will be when we are out. Today Eliza has a doctor's appointment, then we'll head to McD's for lunch....with underwear on, no pull-ups. I'm a little nervous, but with only 1 accident this week (Ethan on Monday) I think it'll go great.

I would highly recommend the book I used - Toilet Training in Less Than a Day by Azrin & Foxx. It was written in the early 70s, so it's a bit old school. But, if followed exactly, I'm here to say that it really worked for us!! I didn't use this with Sam, and he was MUCH harder.

What a great feeling!!!! I was dreading this so much. It's awful enough to train one kid, but two at the same time I just didn't think I could handle. To know that it's done is such a relief. Now, let's just pray they won't digress when we move or when the baby comes! :)

Potty Training

...is my least favorite thing about parenting!!! (So far anyway, I'm sure the teenage years will change this!) And, training 2 kids at the same time is simply for the birds! Although they really are doing okay at it, it's still no fun!!!!! I feel like I can't leave my home for a few weeks while I really work on this - that alone is not a great feeling.

This, combined with keeping the house clean in case we have a showing, being pregnant, and doing all the regular things of caring for 3 kids and doing normal house stuff (cooking, laundry, etc.), is about to send me over the edge.

Any great tips on what worked for your kids with potty training would be greatly appreciated!!! When I trained Sam the twins were 3 1/2 months old, so it's somewhat of a blur. (Although I remember saying over and over that it was the most challenging 2 weeks of my life!!!)