Tums

We go through a lot of Tums in our house. I take them because it seems like I have chronic heartburn (thanks to my unborn baby), and Jared takes one daily to supposedly help his chronic barfing problem.

Well, today he tried a new flavor and said, "Yuck! That tastes like the smell of a pit toilet!"

I laughed pretty hard at that, although personally I think there are much grosser things than Tums out there. He's a funny kid.

So Proud of my Kids

First, an accomplishment of Jared's:

The past three weeks Jared's Elementary School was having a reading competition to see if all the students in the school could read at least 555,555 minutes combined or something like that.  So Jared came home with little reading logs each week where we would write down how many minutes each day he read.  Well, a couple days ago I found out that he read the most minutes out of anyone in his class, so he was invited to a special lunch at Chick-Fil-A with the principal and other "top readers" from each grade!  (He didn't really read an extraordinary amount, I thought.  It was usually just 25-30 minutes a day, but sometimes more.)  Jared was soooooooooooooo excited when he brought home the invitation.  He got to go to school earlier than usual today (because he has pm kindergarten), then he got to ride a bus for the first time, and the school bought each child not only a kid's meal but also a hot fudge sundae!  He was in heaven and knew it was special.  He was also a good sport because I talked with him about not mentioning this special lunch to other kids in his class so they wouldn't feel bad that they didn't get to go.  Today when he was giving me the report he told me that he didn't tell anyone about his special field trip except his teacher, who specifically asked him how it went.  

(By the way, a quick brag on Jared: Last week was parent/teacher conferences and his teacher told me that when they tested Jared's reading skills he was at a "level 10" and that they like the kindergartners to be at a "level 3" by the end of the school year. He is one smart cookie!  But, we do have our own challenges at school, lest you think everything is easygoing.  Jared still has a long way to go with writing skills and also things like responding to authority. Jared likes to follow his own rules.  Ha ha.)

An accomplishment of Maggie's:

She is doing so well with potty training!  I like to just "rip off the bandaid" and take away diapers completely.   Today was day 7 of wearing underwear.  The first couple of days were pretty rough, but then she hasn't peed in her underwear at all since day 2 or pooped in her underwear since day 3!  Not a single accident! (OK, she wet the bed during her nap today, but I think it's because she took an extra long nap.  She is also still in a pull-up--"nighttime underwear"--at night. I think I'm a failure at nighttime potty training my kids.)  The best is that she initiates going potty herself; I don't have to ask her every 30 minutes to go like I feel like I had to do with Jared.  Sometimes she can go 2 hours or more before she tells me she needs to go.  The only place she has gone this past week was church, but I still don't feel ready to take her shopping with me or anything because sometimes she sounds pretty urgent.  Hopefully we'll be able to leave the house again soon.  

This is Maggie watching "Elmo's Potty Time" in our kitchen during the initial phase of potty training.  What an incredibly cheesy movie with cheesy songs, but both my kids have ADORED it, and I've even had a couple of neighbors borrow it from me to use with their kids.  Here is Maggie dancing to one of the songs.  

30 Weeks and Counting

I'm not one of those women that takes a week-by-week belly shot during my pregnancies, but here is at least one photo of me to prove to my  unborn child that I once was really pregnant with her.

I feel so HUGE already, although I can tell from this photo that I guess I don't look as big as I feel.

My "New" Kitchen

We've had these done since October, but I'm finally posting the final picture.  Last September we hired our friend Brian to install a coat closet and pantry (with storage bench in between) in our kitchen nook and couldn't be more thrilled with the result.  Since we were going to have to do some painting anyway, we decided we were tired of the brick red kitchen and went with a light aqua instead.  (I helped prime our kitchen one evening but then Alan ended up doing 95% of the painting all by himself since I was still in my first trimester of pregnancy and we realized I probably shouldn't be painting.)

Here are the before pictures.
Before the cabinets were added:

After the cabinets were added but before we painted:

Big Girl

I am going to be potty training Maggie this next week, but first we got Maggie out of her crib and into a big girl bed.  She also moved into Jared's bedroom.  After a couple of rough nights, I think she is finally getting the hang of her new bed.  However, she still doesn't understand that it is her bedroom, too, and will tell me "I want to take a nap in Jared's room."

Christmas Day

As I was looking through the pictures I've just uploaded on my computer, I realized that I didn't take a single picture on Christmas Day.  I did, however, get a couple of short videos of Christmas morning.

We started out by having our own little Christmas at our house, followed by a lovely time at Alan's parents' house, a quick dinner at my brother's house, and then ending with Christmas evening with all of my siblings at my parents' house.  My dad was very, very sick on Christmas and completely bedridden, but we still sang some Christmas carols as a family and tried to be cheerful.

Sunday Clothes

Here are a few pictures of some of the Sundays in December.  Both Jared's sweater and Maggie's dress were from Grandma Stout (Maggie's white sweater was from Grandma Curtis).

I don't usually spend very much time on Maggie's hair since I always have to take it out for her nap anyway.  But this particular Sunday it looked super cute.

 Jared got this cute purple shirt and vest from Grandma Stout for Christmas.  Maggie already had a purple dress of the same color, so I of course had to coordinate.  Alan happened to be wearing a purple tie on the same day (not planned), so here is a picture of the three loves of my life.

Maggie received her first dress-ups for Christmas.  She doesn't wear them as much as I thought she'd want to, but she does like them a bit.

Jared's School Christmas Program

I have some catching up to do on this blog...so don't mind the next few posts.

Jared is 2nd from the left on the top row

A few days before Christmas break started, I got to go listen to all the elementary school kids sing their Christmas songs.  I think it was so cute how they made all the kindergartners wear matching Christmas collars. (Ok, I actually resented having to get there so early to be able to get a decent seat, but it was soooooo worth it when Jared's face lit up when he saw Maggie and me sitting in the audience.) Don't mind Jared's belly shirt.  He was supposed to wear Christmas colors and that was the only shirt I could dig up.