So Happy!

Christmas was great for all, the kids got more than enough, thank you all who gave to our children so freely and willingly.

Selfishly I feel I have to write about a gift that hopefully will continue to give and give and give. About two birthday's ago (or maybe it was a Christmas gift, I can't remember now) my parents gave me the money to go and get myself a good bike for exercising and leisure riding. It is a great bike and worth every penny and I love it. The only issue I had with it was the time consumption. I work full time and go to school part time and sometimes the last thing I want to do when I get home is leave Hillary and the kids and go for a ride. But thanks to my in-laws I have solved the problem. My mother and father-in-law gave me a gift certificate to a local sporting goods store. After 30 or forty-five minutes of browsing and looking at things that would solely benefit me I walked past the solution to my year long dilemma.

I got a pull behind cart for my bike. Now when I get home and want to go for a stroll on the bike, I won't feel bad about it. I will have the kids with me, and be able to excercise, and the greatest thing of all... Hillary will get some time to herself!! (She is pretty pumped about that) Right after I got it all hooked up, I strapped the kids in and off we went. (To all you safety buffs, yes I got the kids helmets to wear, they just don't appear in the photos.)

Anyway, I love it, the kids love it, and Hillary loves not having us... hehe.

We have a winner!

The first thing I want to say is that there will be no picture with this post. By the end of you reading this you will be so glad that I did not put a picture... trust me. Also, Hillary wasn't about to let me take a picture of this monumental event.
Most of you who will be reading this probably know me pretty well and know that eventually a story about poop will come out of my mouth at some point, so here it is.
While I was partaking in my morning rituals (throne time) my sweet little girl Evelyn walks right up to me and asks me, "what are you doing daddy?" Trying always to be honest with my children, I told her that "daddy is pooping baby, could you give me some privacy?" She said no. After that she said, "daddy I go potty too", (and for those of you who have had to potty train children know that when you first start potty training, your child will just sit on their potty and do nothing and ten minutes later poop in there new diaper... it always happens here) so to continue the dialogue, I told her that she did not need to go potty, that she just needed to go play. That didn't work. She kept on saying, "I go potty too." Needless to say I gave in, stripped her down and sat her on her potty and let her sit there.
Now before I continue with the events of this morning, I feel I need to tell you about our kids little toilet. It might be the coolest thing ever! When a little poop or pee hits the bottom of the bowl it will play music. The kind of music that when you hear it you think of victory. Quite a gratifying thing to have something cheer for you after your business is done! (I must admit that I hit the music button on the bottom of the toy toilet once for myself before... hehe!)
Saying all of that, Evelyn is sitting there just holding her doll and out of nowhere I heard the triumphant music of the toilet and looked at Evelyn and saw the great joy on her face as she finally went potty in her potty! She was so proud of herself and we clapped and cheered as she is finally growing up and using the "big girl potty".
So as we all are celebrating Christmas Eve and the joy of the birth of Christ, we are celebrating Evelyn's first poop in a potty. She's a winner.

Turns out, second times a charm!

So we tried again to make our Christmas pictures. This time we had professionals help us... grandparents!! Also we thought the kids would sit a little better if we were in the picture. Turns out that both ideas were golden.

We haven't posted for a few days, it's been crazy around here. Levi and Hillary have a little sinus infection, I have an ear infection, and the princess Evelyn has pneumonia. We are all doing okay for now, but look forward to this house not being infected!

No Christmas pictures this year!!

Anyone out there who has ever tried to take pictures of a two year old and a one year old at 6:30 at night just before bedtime will understand why... there are no Christmas pictures this year. Hillary and I tried all the tricks in the book; bribes, kisses, threts, raisins, you name it we tried it and nothing seemed to work. As soon as one child was ready the other had a breakdown and vise versa.
Levi was more interested and seeing the pictures we had already taken on the digital camera and Evelyn was more interested in jumping. (Don't ask, but the girl loves to jump... with an astonishing vertical of one inch!)

Anyway, after about 45 pictures taken and 30 minutes or more gone by, here are some of the better pictures we took.

adam

The lights are up!

Well after two nights of extension chords, broken lights, holly bush scratches, and a lot of vomit from Levi... the lights are up! I am not sure if Evelyn had more fun watching me put up lights, or if I had more fun listening to her.

She turned the corner around the garage and saw me up on the ladder and immediately said, "oh, daddy get down, get down" (which is what we tell her when she climbs on things). It was pretty funny the concern that was on her face. After more lights got put she began to say, "good job daddy, good job". It was kind of nice having my own cheering section!

Now I am sure someone may be wondering about the Levi vomit I mentioned earlier. Not five minutes after Hillary bundled the boy up and got him outside, he covered himself in puke. It was gross. I was trying to hang some lights in a tree and all of a sudden I hear Hillary say, "aw man!". I turned around on the ladder and looked down and Hillary's face was priceless, half grossed out, half not surprised.

Anyway, the lights are finally up. 7 strands of big bulbed lights, six 100 light strands of small lights, two 50 light strands of small lights, and five extension chords. "And a partridge and a pear tree!"

adam