He's a Big Boy Now

We decided to start potty-training Matt this week. He's about 2 1/2, which is how old Kaitlyn was. I had no allusions that this would be as easy as Kaitlyn was, and on the first day he proved me right. We had five accidents and no successes. He was excited to wear his Lightening McQueen underwear though. I was sure we were in for a bloody battle, but by day three we were down to only one accident. And he's woken up the last three mornings comletely dry. We have, however, been secluded in the house all week, so today was to be the first test. We had to go to Kaitlyn's dance recital (photos and video of that later) bright and early this morning. We tried to get Matt to wear a pull-up, but he only wanted his underwear. So we packed an extra pair of clothes and took off. About half way through the recital he told us he had to go, so I took him and that was that. No accidents, no tantrums, nothing but a wonderful, potty-trained big boy :)

Kidz Club (and a little Christmas)

I don't have any of our pics yet from our trip to Utah, but the one of the cousins, so I'll post the rest later. You might realize that Kaitlyn is absent from the cousin photo, she was having a really hard time on our trip to Temple Square. I don't think the time change, or the lack of sleep, or the fact that she started throwing up a couple of hours later helped anything :) Also, every year we give our kids matching pajamas that they get to open on Christmas Eve, so that is what that picture is about. The first pictures are of the kids new church clothes.

The rest are of our time at Kidz Club. It's this great indoor playground here in Vancouver. The playground is three levels high, and has these great slides. My kids love it. It's also fun for adults, except for the beating your legs take as you crawl through the place. The slides are super fast though, so at first my kids were too afraid to go by themselves, but after I'd gone a few times with them, they started going by themselves. They had a blast, as did our friends Wendy, Annie and Katie. It's a great way to pass the time since it is always raining here :)

And as a side note, every one is healthy and well again, and I was lucky enough to never catch what the rest of my family had. I know that the Lord was blessing me so I could have the strength to take care of my family that week and get them all home in one piece. And for that I am soo thankful :)

A Few Trip Hi-Lights

We went to Utah to spend Christmas with Aaron's family. The trip didn't quite go according to plan.
-We spent three hours on the plane, while the plane sat at the gate. Then another two hour flight. The kids did suprisingly well.
-Matt, Aaron and Kaitlyn all got the flu, Kaitlyn a bad ear infection, and all three of them strep, which we then proceeded to pass to everyone in the family.

Aside from those not so good moments, the trip was great. It's been two years since we've seen most of Aaron's family, so it was great to spend a week with them. The kids had a blast with all of their cousins (there are 12 now), and we had fun staying up until the wee hours of the morning playing games.
We also got to spend a couple days with my family as well. One of the perks of having both families living within a few miles of each other.
We head home today, hopefully our flight will go well, and the kids will make it with no further illnesses. I'll post pictures when we get settled again (which could be a few weeks) :)

A little rant

Matt has pink-eye. And I'd just like to say that whatever genious pharmaceutical company decided that drops were the best way to get rid of pink-eye obviously never had to administer them 4 times a day to a two-year-old. At least Aaron and I are getting some practice in for if we ever want to join professional wrestling, or hog-tying. . .

It's Christmas Time

We had our first snow this last week. For Vancouver, it is pretty rare. We got a light dusting (as you can see in the pictures) on Wed., so of course they canceled school. But it kept snowing and snowing. As of this morning (Sunday) we have about six inches. All church meetings have been canceled today, so we are holed up inside for the duration of the storm. For those of you laughing that school and church would be canceled for a measely little six inches of snow, remember that Vancouver is pretty hilly and has no snow plows. Needless to say, driving is pretty fun. The kids of course are loving every minute of it. We've tried to build two snowmen, with no success. So they've just had to play on the snowy swing set and have snowball fights. We're hoping the snow stops long enough for us to fly out. Fingers crossed!Last Saturday night Matt started hacking away at night, and this continued all Sunday night as well, so we took him to the doctor on Monday, and found out he had croup. So after a couple of very stressful nights with the most horrible sounding cough you can imagine, he got better. Needless to say after being locked in the house for four days with no outside contact, my kids were ready for some fun. So we got together with Wendy, Annie and Katie and made some gingerbread houses. And yes, I cheated and just bought the kit, but I must say that the kit worked pretty well. Nice thick frosting and nice sturdy gingerbread. It tasted horrible, but the kids only wanted the candy anyway.

And last but not least, Kaitlyn's preschool had their Christmas program on Friday. Kaitlyn was the angel. During the singing you could hear her voice the loudest. At least she's not shy :)

A New Do

We straightened Kaitlyn's hair today, just to see if we could straighten all those curls. I think it worked quite well. She loves it. She keeps running to the mirror just to look at it. Her next statement was "Miss Carolyn is going to tell me how beautiful I am. " (Miss Carolyn is her preschool teacher for those who don't know). Since when did I raise such a vain little girl???

Let there be Lights

Last night we went to the Portland Zoo to see the lights with our friends the Atkinson's and Peterson's. It was a perfect night to go, not too cold and actually clear, so of course it was packed. We had a great time though. You just walk through the zoo and there are thousands of lights all over, mostly in the shape of animals. There is also a train ride (which of course was the kids favorite). It was a great night, only slightly marred by the hour we sat in traffic on the way home due to an accident on the freeway :)