It's Official...

Well I know that it is "officially" spring as of Saturday, but now that the weather is agreeing it is officialy spring (except it is pretty darn cold right now, but lets pretend it is Saturday all over again).

We took a family hike on Saturday. The first of many, I'm hoping. The weather was glorious, the place we live is so flippin' awesome-we have a huge forest right in the middle of town. No driving for hours to get to nature for us!

Be jealous...

Why is Grace wearing a coat? Who knows, it didn't last long.

Can't you see it in her eyes? She is one happy girl.

Grace is bossing the kids around, she has a gift. She is only egged on by how well they listen. She was explaining to them how they all needed to find a walking stick.

This is Elliot's favorite shirt. He made it at school and wants to wear it every day :)

When they saw this cabin at the park at the bottom of the trail they yelled, "It's grandma's cabin!!". How cute that they thought it only takes and hour to hike to grandma's cabin. It's grandpa's cabin too, by the way :)

Yes, my kids all look like orphans (albeit well-fed orphans), but who cares? It's Saturday and it's SPRING!

Holy Jet Engine, Batman!!

Last week I got to go with Elliot's preschool class on a field trip to the airport!

A little boy in Elliot's class has a dad who is the big boss over ground maintenance. He pretty much hooked us up.

We got to meet some firemen,

(check out the cool, shiny outfits they wear!)

We got to see the big snow moving machines

(which were hardly used at all this winter)

Elliot is cracking me up in the above pic :)

Elliot got to play with his friends under the big UPS plane,

Spend some time with his favorite teacher, Ms. Lisa,

And check out the flight deck!

We had such a fun day, Elliot was too pooped to even finish his cookie before zonking out :)

Thanks so much Colin's dad!!

Pictures and such

My friend Misty taught me a few things about my camera (which I am afraid is a bit too sophisticated for me, but I'm trying to learn!). I'm learning about f-stop, ISO, shutter speed, AV, TV, and more. She also taught me a bit about composition, and I have been practicing front light. She recommends you turn off your flash and use natural light whenever possible. Maggie was my subject. I think they turned out pretty well!

I put Maggie in front of a window so the light was directly shining on her (front light)

See how you can see the reflection in her eyes? That is what you want!!

This one might be a little bit more side light...

This one is my favorite :)

Check out this Blog!!

You HAVE to check out this amazing blog!! I am totally going to build this for Elliot, who currently sleeps on a mattress/box spring with a hollywood frame. I'll probably make one for Naomi when she moves to a big girl bed, too. It seriously looks easy enough for even ME to do!

Remember This?

Our favorite family Christmas present?

It only sat in my living room for 2.5 months.

It became a big huge coloring book for the kids.

They would jump on the box and say "I'm jumping on the trampoline!"

(sad, I know)

Well, now it is this!!

Last weekend we had some downright glorious weather.

We only had a little grumbling from dad when the suggestion was made...

2 hours later...

After some help from the kids...

Viola!

(Yes, Elliot did wear his pj's all day)

Seriously, whoever invented the trampoline is a gosh darn genius!!

I'm thinking Nobel Peace Prize,

talk about creating peace.

Al Gore and Prez Obama have nothin' on the trampoline-inventor guy,

but, well...oh never mind,

I'm trying to keep my blog non-political ;)

My kids haven't slept this well all winter...

Toothless Wonder

Grace lost her other top front tooth this week. I think it is so darn cute how she talks now, I can't help but smile when I listen to her. This video isn't as good as real life, but it's pretty adorable anyway!

Look Who's....

POTTY TRAINED!!!

Maggie up to no good in her big girl unders!!

So, I was a bit reluctant to jump into the potty training again. Elliot has only been potty trained for about 8 months, and we all know what a nightmare that was. But Maggie is going to be 3 in a month, so I figured it was time. I don't know if it is karma or what, but Maggie has been a cute little piece-of-cake to potty train! One thing I learned from Elliot is that it does no one any good to potty train the mom. It can't be forced and no matter how many times you take them to the bathroom every hour on the dot, it won't do any good if they aren't ready. So one week ago today I got out her potty and explained to her that she wasn't going to wear diapers anymore. I talked to her about going on the potty, showed her the stickers she would get to put on her sticker chart every time she went, and showed the the candy she would get every time she went. What can I say, the girl is motivated my the sweets. Like mother like daughter, I guess! Then I left her alone.

Naked.

That's right. She has run around naked for most of the week. She loves her little potty and at first sat on it while she watched TV, in her birthday suit. She was so surprised and excited the first time potty came out of her and into her potty. She would carry her potty with her wherever she went. Now it has gotten to the point where she will just run over to her potty and go when she needs to. I'm not constantly asking her if she needs to go, I refuse to do that again. I just let her figure it out on her own. The only accidents she has had have been when she was wearing a pull up (if we had to go somewhere), which just reiterates my whole notion that pull ups are just more expensive diapers. She wears them at night, but has been waking up dry most mornings. I'm beyond thrilled about how easy this has been, and Maggie so so proud of herself for what a big girl she is!!

3 down, 1 to go!!

In Like a Lion, Out Like a Lamb

(That is March, right?)

It is sunny and warm today. It's supposed to get up to 60 degrees! I know it isn't officially spring yet, but it's coming, I feel it in my bones.

It makes me happy, I love spring!

Now go and be HAPPY!