Splash Park

I found some pictures on my phone that I like and thought I'd share. First, though - we went to the splash park here on the square that just opened (in the winter it's an ice rink - how cool!). It's free and tons of fun. The best part is the kids can play their hearts out in the water but can't drown. :) Always a plus. The downside is it's very slippery. Lincoln had his feet flipped out from under him twice. We're going to get water shoes before the next trip. Anyway, I can bet we'll be spending lots of time here this summer. There's clean bathrooms, shade, picnic tables, and tons of water - what more can you ask for!

Below is Lincoln helping Noah ride his tractor. Too sweet. And below that is from the Dogwood Festival in Siloam. Me and the boys took a choo-choo ride. It was quite a hit.

Now I am off to take a nap (spent most of the night waiting for my amazing friend to have her sweet baby girl!) then we're off to Siloam again to play with our new little friend (well, Lincoln seems to think a day-old baby can play).

Oh It's Fun to be a Mother!

Happy Mother's Day!!!!!

(Thankful for my great example, Barbara Lynn!! Love You)

We're Back!!!

I've been missing from here for a week or so and two things are responsible:

(1) My computer got a virus - again - but our friend Tim is a genius computer guy and fixed it for me last night (THANKS!!!)

(2) We have been SICK in this house the past week. Jason got the stomach flu, Noah got a double ear infection, I had the worst sinus infection I've ever had (seriously thought it had reached my brain at one point), and Lincoln....well, Lincoln just wanted to go to the park and was sick and tired of being around sick people. Poor thing.

But we're BACK! This morning we said happy birthday to Jason and sent him off to work...then we met Bethany at the Safari. So of course, I have lots of pictures to accompany this post.

In super exciting news, Bethany is going in to be induced on Sunday with baby Ellie!!!!! I can hardly contain my excitement! So happy for her and Brandon!

Other exciting news, our house appraisal went through perfectly and we are oh-so-close to closing now! No more major hurdles. Loving God's faithfulness.

Enjoy the pictures.

Update on the Day

The route I took with training Lincoln to pee in the potty:

- Use the potty chair (that we've been using as a step stool for the past few months)
- Keep potty chair in the foyer on the tile (easy access)
- Let him wear underwear and t-shirt only
- Just ask him a bazillion times "do you need to go potty?" throughout the day

What DIDN'T work:

- Remember he's been using the potty as a step stool in our bathroom for some time? Well, when he wanted to brush his teeth, he met me in my bathroom (I was getting ready) with his potty chair in hand (with pee in it, mind you). As I was explaining we are now using it as a potty only, I noticed he has also "stored" his toothbrush and toothpaste in the urine-soaked middle of his chair. Disgusting.
- Just asking him if he had to go didn't not work at all. We went through 4 pairs of underwear in an hour.
- Using candy as a bribe...he just basically hopped up and hop right back on for the next piece of candy.
- Oh the pooping part: Upon his first urge to poop, his eyes got huge, he dropped his toy and took off to run behind the corner. I grabbed him (urgently) and as I was simultaneously stripping down his underwear, a turd hit the tile; I then swiftly plopped him on the potty where a second followed. I kind of considered this a success though since non were in the underwear!
- The whole "Don't pee=pee on Diego!" - yeah, he could care a less about peeing on Diego.

What DID Work:

- Instead of asking if he needed to go, TELLING him to go sit on the potty every 10 minutes or so. Miraculously he peed every time, too. Wow. After a few times of this, he would just go do it himself every 10 minutes - glorious.
- Lots of cheering by me and Noah...LOTS.
- The underwear itself. When he didn't make it to the potty, he would tell me immediately his pants were wet and he didn't like it. There's hope.

Overall, he did terrible at the start of the day, almost perfect throughout the day, and had 2 accidents again after dinner (then I just put a diaper on him finally about 30 min. before bedtime).

Not sure if this is good or bad or what to compare it to, but that's what we got. :)

Oh and as for Noah - yeah, I realized within an hour of my first post I might have bit off more than I can chew and gave him a bottle at 10:00am. Yeah.

(He's gonna love me for this post someday).

Today's the Day

I'm not really sure what came over me this morning...maybe I'm slightly grumpy because I've now been sick and sleepless for 48 hours...maybe I've taken great notice of the ever-so rising prices of EVERYTHING (not just gas) and thus am trying to cut out one less thing I have to buy...maybe the pressure of people is getting to me...and maybe - just maybe - it really is time to "Potty train that child!"

(as my mother has put it a few times).

I had no plans to start today, but today is the day.

We have our Diego and Spiderman's ready, the potty set up, and I am literally winging this thing. No books read. No video watched (one was mysteriously dropped off on our door step a few weeks ago...hmm). So this could be a total disaster. It's not rocket science, though, right? (I'm actually afraid it might be).

I figured today because it's still raining, tomorrow is suppose to be cold, and I have no money to put gas in the car until Friday so we're here to stay. I can't think of anything more miserable than staying in the house potty training while the sun is bright and shining outside!

So far? He's gone once in the potty and once in his pants (which he quickly realized and didn't like - thank goodness).

Oh - I also decided to be stubborn on Noah drinking milk out of a bottle. He gets a sippy cup of milk today. He drinks everything but milk of a sippy cup - until TODAY. He took one look at it, smelled it, and goes "BOBBLE!! BOBBLE!!"

Sorry fella - today's transition day. My favorite day. Oh - and I'm still sick. I might as well shoot myself in the foot today, huh?

Are You Serious??????

First off, it's ABC Family... you know - the channel where me and my little darlings are suppose to gather around and watch some quality TV together (well, a few years down the road probably)??

The show is The Secret Life of an American Teenager. No, I don't watch this show; in fact this was my first, and I am here sick in bed and thought I'd check it out.

Can I please share with you the scene that was on when I was watching?????

[ENTER] Teenage girl and her boyfriend at girl's house.

[ENTER] Teenage girl's mom.

Girl: "Hey mom, I'm spending the night at boyfriend's house and needed to get some clothes"

Mom looks alarmed and follows girl to her bedroom. Mom then questions this and says it's not a good idea.

Girl points out that mom's shirt is inside/out (implying mom just had sex).

Mom looks like she's been caught and says "Well, okay - I guess you can go."

**********This is my first "HUH??!!!!"***********
Mom asks if his parents will be home, to which the girl says "No".

Then mom says: "Well, I guess yall have been here at the house alone and didn't have sex so I guess I trust you to do the same at his house."

Girl: "You know we've been thinking about having sex, don't you?"
Mom: "I just hope you do it when you're ready! You know, the person you have sex with now probably isn't the person you will be having sex with for the rest of your life?"
Girl: "I know; I'll make sure we're ready, but I think we are."
Mom: "You know, I'm SO glad we're able to have a big conversation like this and discuss these things!! Have fun tonight. And I know whatever you two decide, you'll be ready for that decision!"
Girl: "Thanks mom...I love you."

ARE YOU JOKING??? What happened to the Zac & Kelly romances???? To top it off, when it went to commercial, there was a PSA with the lead character talking about how to prevent unwanted pregnancies and giving advice/phone numbers to call for support.

Is this weird and disturbing to anyone else???????

A Different Kind of Easter

It doesn't seem possible that a story you've heard since you can remember, can still - to this day - bring you literally to your knees, in a weeping heap, in complete awe and reverence for the subject of that story.

But this is no ordinary story...

This story is about Jesus, my Savior...your Savior.

And tonight Jason and I spent the evening in reflection and communion  upon this story of Christ love for us.

I can't get my mind off it (hence blog post #2) - it's been all-consuming - and for some reason Jesus' sacrifice for us - for me and you - has penetrated deeper in my heart this Easter than ever before. I pray it goes deeper still.

What an amazing Savior we serve that, even after years of following Him, He still teaching me the intimacies of His love for me.

There are no words.

But now I must add:

The whole reason we had this opportunity tonight was because some of our dearest friends, Brandon and Bethany, wanted to come watch our kids for us before they have their little baby girl in a few weeks!! Super sweet of them.
Even sweeter was how they took care of our little Tigers in tornado warnings while we were gone! Apparently rotating clouds were passing right over our area, and Bethany (mid you is 9.5 months pregnant!) got in the tub with Noah and Lincoln (and loads of toys) while Brandon had a mattress ready to throw over them.
Ha. SOO wish I could have seen that! They did manage to get a picture that she's sending me so I'll be sure and post that one.
They're great and we're so blessed to have such great friends!!