Gobble, Gobble

Happy Thanksgiving from these little Turkeys!

(This is a little late....I forgot to post it.This picture captures Brier perfectly--it's going to be my parent's Christmas card! Ha!)

I Forgot...

I forgot how hard it is to potty train. I knew that I wasn't looking forward to the process, but I forgot how frustrating it can be. It's been two years since we've done it. But, Hudson decided that he was ready to go on the potty. To be honest, I really wasn't though. It's much easier for me to have him in diapers. But, as he keeps telling us, "I BIG boy!" Up until last week, he refused to even talk about sitting on the potty--but I was teasing him about being a baby since he wore diapers and he kept telling that "NO! I big boy, Hudson!" So I said that big boys go on the potty, not in diapers. I guess it was starting to sink in, because he got up last Friday night and said, "Mommy, pee pee coming!" He sat on the potty and went. He did it again a little later and then with poo poo. He enjoyed the fruits of his labor with an ice cream cone.

 

We were one proud set of parents!! The ipad was a great help too! He was perfectly content to sit on the potty while playing on the ipad.:)

 

I'd love to say it was smooth sailing from then on....but nope. I realized that the key to his success was to be completely bare on the bottom. If he was wearing underwear or a pull-up, he'd go in his pants. But, when there was nothing on, he'd run to the potty yelling that "it's coming!" Unfortunately, we had a streaker running though the house ALL day long! I wondered if we'd ever get there...but it just "clicked" and one week from him starting, I'd say that he's got it! One thing that helped is that he has a favorite pair of shorts and he hated me having to take them off of him and wash them. He hasn't had an accident yet, now that he's wearing underwear (and his favorite shorts) and even when we go out now, he comes home with a dry pull-up on. He even went potty at church on Sunday and at the gym today! I think I'm in shock that it just took a week and I went from having a baby to a BIG boy in no time at all. (Tear) I'm so proud of my BIG boy!! He'll always be my baby though....

Gracyn Interview, Age 4

I asked Gracyn these questions last year...and it was so fun to see how her answers have changed as she's grown over the year--AND how some have stayed just the same! :)This year's answers are in pink.

 1. What is your favorite color? "PINK is my favowit colow!" PINK!

2. What is your favorite toy? My dollhouse ipad



3. What is your favorite fruit? Apples Apples

4. What is your favorite tv show? Mickey!! Word Girl

5. What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch? Cheese & "Cackers" Cheese & Crackers

6. What is your favorite outfit? Jessie Outfit or Jessie Pajamas Flower Party Dress

7. What is your favorite game? Elefun Candyland

8. What is your favorite snack? Toy Story Fruit Snacks or "Sting Cheese" Cheez-Its

9. What is your favorite animal? "Elfant" Horse

10. What is your favorite song? "'Tinkle, Tinkle' Little Star" "God's Not Dead"

11. What is your favorite book? "Beddy Bye Baby" by Karen Katz "Julius, Baby of the World" by Kevin Henkes

12. Who is your best friend? Ava & Hudson Pierce

13. What is your favorite cereal? Shredded Wheat Cheerios

14. What is your favorite thing to do outside?"Pay on my paygrownd" Ride my bike

15. What is your favorite drink? Milk Milk

16. What is your favorite holiday? "Kissmas" Halloween

17. What do you like to take to bed with you at night? MinnieBlankey (all one word) MinnieBlankey

18. What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast? Tortilla Donut with sprinkles

19. What do you want for dinner on your birthday? "Macawoni & Cheese" chicken & pasta

20. What do you want to be when you grow up? A Dancer A Princess

FOUR!!

She's four! I simply cannot believe that my baby girl is FOUR years old! She has brought us so much joy over the past four years and is one of my biggest blessings!

We had a really fun day celebrating little Miss Gracyn Kate today. Drew went to Krispy Kreme and surprised her with sprinkle donuts for breakfast. 

She loved her presents...maybe I should just get her a card from now on? 

 

The Rapunzel singing card was a hit!

She couldn't believe that she got a Dream Lite!

Hudson got one too.

The Princess figurines were well received too. 

 

We went to her two favorite stores today....Party City and The "Mickey" Store. They put her name up on the big screen and stopped what they were doing and everyone came over and sang to her. She.was.loving.every.minute!!!

They gave her a Birthday button to wear and a bunch of other little trinkets. 

 

We went to get a cookie for dessert and then picked up Nana for lunch. She chose to eat at Perico's. It was a toss up between that and Alamo Cafe and Freddy's. I think the playground is what sealed the deal and made Perico's the winner. 

 

We came home for a quick nap and then headed to dance class. I made her favorite dinner, "chicken and pasta" and we were surprised with a special delivery from Aunt Laurie...a Birthday balloon and a cookie bouquet!

What a treat!!

 

Happy, Happy Birthday sweet girl! We love you to pieces!!!

 

Fun Days

I asked the kids what they wanted to do one day, and they said that they wanted to go to the Mickey Store. So, we headed to the mall. They have a great time walking around, checking things out, and watching what's on the big screen. The good thing about the kids right now, is that they know we are only going to look and they never ask or throw a fit for me to buy them something. They ask to have it for their birthdays. I wonder how long this will last??

Hudson LOVES Mickey!

Graycn cracked me up with this mask on. 

 

Hudson pulled this Spiderman suitcase all around the store!

 

Playing at the park....I sure do love these two!

Lately...

Here's a little of what we've been up to around here lately...

Drew and I ran in the Rock-N-Roll 1/2 Marathon last weekend. It wasn't our best race...I finished at 2:03....darn those 3 extra minutes! I'm pretty pleased with my time though since it was SO HOT that day and the fact that I'd been sick off and on made my longest run in training 5 miles and I'd hurt my knee running in the 5k, and I hadn't run for 3 weeks before.  So, I'll take it. :) We're running in the Houston 1/2 marathon in January and plan to kick our training into high gear to be under 2 hours.


 Guess who learned how to pedal his bike??
 
 We're still working on pedaling and steering at the SAME time!

 Enjoying a fun game of hopscotch.

Hudson's Christmas pajamas came in the mail!

Isn't he the cutest little elf you've ever seen?! And, the princess is pretty cute too!!


Here's Rainbow Bright! She was pretty proud of this outfit she put together...technically she matched as she pointed out.

Hudson loves to pick up flowers off the front porch for me every morning.

The perfect place to play on the ipad??

She learned the "Turkey Tango" in dance class this month. Cutest little turkey!!

And, I've been crafting up a storm!! I made these for the kids' rooms.

This was a birthday gift..

I made these package bows to match a Christmas shirt my mom made...

I'm in love with this new monogram!!

Pulling My Hair Out!!

This little guy is driving me CrAzY these days! He likes to get himself dressed now, and does so MANY times throughout the day...leaving a mess like this behind! He totally empties out his chest of drawers!!

 

You might think that he's just throwing everything out--making a mess--but, he's usually looking for a specific item of clothing. He knows what he wants to wear and looks to find it. He's VERY opinionated about getting dressed!!! (Why did I get two kids like that?!)

 

 Hard at work! He goes into his room and shuts his door and gets busy. If I don't hear him for a while, I usually know where to find him.

 He can take it off and put it all on by himself. I guess I should focus on the positive, that he's really becoming so independent. But, that also means that my little baby is growing up! (Tear!)

 

Sometimes, he even layers his shirts if he can't decide on which one to wear.

So proud of himself!!

Later that same day....

 

It probably wouldn't bother me so much if he'd just stick to one outfit a day... :)