Potty-trained!!!!

At 3 1/2, Xander is finally potty-trained!!! Yipppeeeee! He caught on quick... like 2 days. We started the day we got home from Utah. And he is now wearing skivvies 24 hours a day. I hope I'm not jinxing anything... I really don't want to strip his sheets in the middle of the night tonight. I am sooo proud of him.

Now if we can just get the going-to-bed-and-staying-there thing down....

Lillian @ 18 months

(for journaling purposes)

She just had her 18 month appt. 4% for weight (20 lbs 8 oz) and 57% for height. I was a little worried because the paper they gave me said that she should be stringing words together, and she wasn't. Of course, the next day she started doing it.

Xander: It's mine.

Lil: No, it's mine.

Xander: No, it's mine.

Lil: No, it's mine.

(on and on this goes, all the day long)

Mommy: Who wants chocolate?

Lil: I do!

See, she strings words together.

__________

I found her sitting in the recliner today, holding the little Primary Children's Songbook... singing (well, Lil's version of singing). I don't think I've ever heard her sing before... She always just waved her hand around to lead the music instead.

__________

She is a climber. She started climbing out of her pack n play / crib over Christmas break. The other night, I woke up to her banging around in the bathroom in the dark at about 2am. She had climbed out of her crib (with a sleep-sack on no less), gone into the bathroom, took her sleep sack off, played in the toilet water (which I'm pretty sure had pee in it), tried to clean up the mess by sopping it up with the rest of the toilet paper from the roll, then was trying to get her stool into place to climb up into the sink to wash up.

I found her on the counter in the kitchen another day, with her hand in a box of chocolates on top of the fridge, and another chocolate in her mouth (with her little guilty face on, of course).

__________

Her hair is a crazy mess that hangs in front of her eyes. I tried to give her a haircut yesterday, but it just ended up being a shorter crazy mess.

__________

She wants to be just like her brother. When he is done eating his oatmeal, she is done (even if she only took two bites). She does everything he does... especially the naughty things.

Xander was telling me secrets ("Do you want to eat some stinky poop?"), then laughing and running away. Lil would come up to me, whisper some sounds, then laugh and run away.

__________

She loves to brush her teeth. Any chance she can get in the bathroom, she goes in there and stands at the sink, rubbing her finger across her teeth, saying "teef! teef!"

__________

She is a sweet, sweet girl. Except when she is being a "bully" (which I have been told by babysitters that she is). She doesn't take any crap from anyone. Try to take my toy... smack! You're on my ladder... shove! I think it's because she has an older brother who has recently decided that it is fun to plow over her or smack her for no reason.... we're working on that.

SNOW

I do love snow.... when it only comes twice a year. We were snowed in this weekend... 23 inches. Everything was closed down yesterday, and no church today (even though it stopped snowing yesterday at 4pm).

Sorry, no pictures. But we had a great snow day/weekend. We went sledding with friends, ate soup and grilled cheese, made a fort in the living room and told scary stories in it, napped, put on a puppet show, and drank hot cocoa.

My favorite part of the day was the scary story-telling: Brian would tell Xander a scary story, then it would be Xander's turn to tell a scary story, and he would just repeat back the story Brian just told him, but in a Xander version.

What a fun, lazy weekend.

A little boy lives here

I found a dried booger stuck to the wall next to Xander's bed. The End.

New Moon

The midnight movie of "New Moon" on Thursday night was the perfect kick-off to my birthday yesterday. We got a great group this year, and we even made matching "Team Jacob" and "Team Edward" shirts with numbers on the back. You know, just to keep myself feeling "youthful". Tell me this picture wasn't embarassing though... the theater behind the photographer was FILLED with people just staring at us old ladies in matching shirts getting our picture taken. We had a great time, though, and the movie was great! So much better than the first one, if you ask me.

To finish my birthday off, I slept in while Brian made me my favorite breakfast/dessert: belgian waffles with peanut butter, ice cream, and hot cinnamon syrup. Then off to a 1 hour massage, lunch with the girls, a nap, flowers from my hubby (funny story about the flowers: I didn't see them sitting on our table until after our date, and mentioned on the date that I was still waiting for my flowers... little did I know that he had already got me some, and I just didn't notice them... ooops!), dinner at the Cheesecake Factory, and a Heroes marathon. It was a great birthday! Couldn't have been better. I don't know why people get so uptight about their birthdays and getting older. I say rejoice in my old age and try to keep myself feeling young (like going to a midnight movie with a bunch of teeny-boppers!). Hehehehe.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

Happy Halloween from the "Enchanted Garden"

(...and these two cuties.)

Things I've learned THIS morning...

Apparently, this guy is the one that is smarter than me (sometimes, hehehe)...

(He taught Xander where the size is on the Target diapers. I should have known that he taught him that. He is always teaching Xander things... like how to turn the lights on with a flip-flop.)

This kid has scary dreams...

(He woke up this morning telling me how he had a dream that "Lil had lots of eyes, and that mommy said "no" and then Lil's eyes would get bend, and it was SCARY!" No wonder he comes into our room crying at night.)

Things I've learned this morning...

This kid is smarter than me sometimes...

(I recently switched from Huggies to Target brand diapers, and I can never tell which size diaper is which because, unlike Huggies, there is no size number written on them anywhere. Well, when I asked Xander to get me his diaper out of the drawer, he pulled the tab (the one that keeps the diaper on) open and looked for the size number under the tab. I have no idea how he knew to look there. Sure enough, Target brand diapers have the size printed underneath their tabs.)

And this kid knows what she wants...

(After refusing to eat breakfast, she climbed on a stool to reach the snacks, opened the "Chocolate-covered Ritz Crackers" box, and managed to get a cracker out. Then walked around the house munching on a delicious treat. I've since started putting up a baby-gate to the kitchen so she isn't constantly in the snack bin.)

Left & Right

That's my boy! He's some wicked smaht.

Utah Summer Fun

This summer was the first summer since Brian and I have even known each other that we were able to have a summer vacation in Utah. It was soooooo much fun. Thanks to the McCauls, Grandma, and the Bostons for such a great summer vacation.

We went to the Oquirrh Mtn Temple open house

We went to Seven Peaks with Grandma, McCaul's, Katie, Katie, and Hezzie's summer camp (thanks Hezzie!!!)

We played at Aunt Hezzie's house, and Liv's house...

...and tried out Liv's new tub.

We went to Cheesecake Factory and a concert (Jack's Mannequin & The Fray),

and met Andrew McMann (fulfilling Brian's dream).

We had a 1st Birthday Party for Lil. Thanks to Brian, Andria, Grandma, and Katie for making it happen (and for putting up with me being sick with the Swine Flu). It was a great party.

And thanks to Amber and Bob for coming. It was good to see you.

We went to Bear World...

...and saw lots of bears...

...and pet some animals...

...and rode some rides.

We stayed in Island Park, ID at some gorgeous cabins (thanks Dad). And while we were there...

We went to Mack's Inn Playhouse...

...and went to a dinner show with some unusual characters.

We sat in the hot tub.

We floated down the river...

...and tried out a rope swing.

We had a fiesta, complete with a pinata.

We played some games at the cabin.

We went to Yellowstone Nat'l Park (my first time ever!).

We saw geysers, hot pots, waterfalls,...

...and lots of animals, close-up.

We had a wicked good time! Can't wait for the next Boston summer vacation.