Potty Training!

(I actually wrote this post a couple of weeks ago and forgot to attach the picture and post it to the blog. I know, I'm slack.)

Well, we have successfully made the journey through potty training. It was a tough couple of days and it is still a work in progress but Claire is almost completely trained. Yay! We celebrated this milestone by going to Build-A-Bear and picking out a special little critter. She went through the whole process of picking out a sound, stuffing her kitty, and kissing the little heart that they put inside. She brushed her and picked out a dress and hairbows. She was so excited!

So we have a new addition to our family, her name is Maddy the kitty. I kind of like her myself since she doesn't shed or use a litter box. The perfect pet!

So here's a pic. I didn't take the camera to the mall so the pic is of Claire and Maddy at home. Enjoy!

Happy New Year!

It's hard to believe Christmas is over. It seems to go by faster and faster every year as I get older.

We saw a lot of family in the span of two days and I don't even have pictures of everyone. Some don't like to have their pictures taken, I was too busy making Christmas dinner to get pics of that and the rest of our family wasn't here for Christmas so they are not in the pics either. Sooo... the pics I got are in a new slideshow to the right.

Christmas Eve, we went to Grandma and Grandpa Couch's house to drop off gifts. Then on to my Paw Paw's house after that. We ate lots of fattening food and all the Great Grandkids got to open gifts. They had a lot of fun playing with each other and I got a pretty funny video of them. The head count there was 31 or 33. I can't remember exactly but it makes my grandfather so proud that he has such a huge bunch.

Christmas morning we opened our gifts. I got a Zune, Frank got a basketball goal and Claire got a babydoll bed and lots of other various things. A little later Mom, Dad, Jen, Saunders and Lucas came over for Breakfast pizza and the kids got to open more gifts. That was fun but that wasn't the end of it. They all went home and came back again for Christmas dinner along with my aunt Brenda, cousin Rhonda and MawMaw Perkins.
The kids opened more gifts while everyone was waiting to eat. We waited for about an hour as I haven't quite mastered the task of preparing a huge meal on time, but I had prepared enough cheese and crackers to satisfy everybody until the food was done.
It was a rather mild day so after we were finished with dinner, we took the kids for a ride in the wagon down to the playground and let them burn off some energy. I even tried out all the slides in hope to burn some calories. Claire thought that was pretty funny.

Overall we had a great Christmas and now we are here at a New Year. I hope everyone has plenty to be thankful for as they reflect on 2008 and tons to look forward to in 2009.

Happy New Year!

Well it's Christmas time and we are starting to get our projects wrapped up around the house. We have a few more rooms to paint and lights to switch around but there's no rush. I really just wanted to blog this time so you can see a picture of my tree before Claire totally rearranges it. I have been finding little piles of ornaments in obscure places around the house. I discovered the other day that Barbie also no longer has a foot and there is a star with some beads missing. For some reason she still puts everything in her mouth.
I will be posting some more pics soon of the other Christmas decor that we put up but it's not quite finished yet. Merry Christmas!

The Move.

Well we are moved. Moved but not settled. It will be two weeks tomorrow and we have succeeded at getting 4 rooms painted, the shutters and front doors painted, a few lighting fixtures changed, curtains hung in 4 rooms and the lawn seeded and fertilized. This doesn't sound like a lot but it feels like we have been working non-stop. We have also managed to get half of our stuff unpacked and the rest will come soon. It's not fun living out of boxes. Poor Claire asked to go home for about a week and I think she finally grasped that the new house is our home. As tempted as I have been to drive by the old house I think that it would thoroughly confuse her.
I have to say it is still a little surreal to me. We had been praying for so long that we would sell our house and when it seemed like the worst time to have a house on the market, our prayer was answered. God truly is amazing.
For those of you that have helped us in whatever way to get here and get our stuff here "Thank you!" We couldn't ask for better friends and family.

Can you say PUMPKIN WHOOPIE PIES?

With the fall weather finally showing up, my love for pumpkin stuff was starting to fill my brain. So I just couldn't help myself. I made a pumpkin pie on Thursday and by the time that was gone I had an idea for Pumpkin whoopie pies. I have all this pumpkin that I need to use up before we move so I'm sure I will be baking more stuff soon. Will I post picture of it, probably not because nothing looks as good as whoopie pies.

Pumpkin Patch

Today we went to the pumpkin patch with Aunt Sarah before she left. Claire enjoyed all the things they had for kids to play on and the hayride we took around the farm. This was the first hayride for Claire and she was mesmerized. I wish we could have gotten a picture of her face when the tractor started pulling the wagon. She was sooo excited. Then they dropped us at the "pumpkin patch" to pick out our pumpkins. Claire again, totally excited, could not focus on one pumpkin.

So we finally got one for each of us and headed back to the stand where I enjoyed a Berry Cider slushie( yes slushie, it was 80 here today) and Claire had a white chocolate sucker shaped like a candy corn and Sarah got a caramel apple and a slushie. It has been a lot of fun introducing Claire to all the things that come with Fall. She gets so excited about every new thing. I can't wait until Christmas rolls around.

Disney on Ice

We took Claire and Lucas to see Disney on Ice this weekend. It consisted of Cars, , The Little Mermaid, Lion King and Tinkerbell. Tinkerbell is her newest obsession so she was excited. We parked at the South Blvd. light rail station and rode the train into town. I don't think I have ever seen Claire this excited. She couldn't sit still. Then we watched the show which was about 2 hours long and she sat still almost the entire time. She was so entertained. Then we took the train back. Again very excited but at this point they were pretty tired and so were we. I bought Claire a souvenier but she didn't know it until we got to the car. (I couldn't keep up with a kid, diaper bag, purse, and a souvenier all at the same time.) So you'll see Tinkerbell shoes in some of the pics after we got home. That was the souvenier and she loves them. She's been guarding them and putting them in a special place at night.