Potty Training Follies...

So, Sam has been accident free as far as urine goes for about a week now. We're still working on BM - this may not be appropriate for a public audience, but I want to remember it...

So, every time he has an accident, I tell him very firmly how sad I am and that POOP DOES NOT GO IN HIS UNDERWEAR...well, this afternoon, he figured out another way - Pearl came downstairs to tell me he pooped on the floor - that's right, his pants and underwear were off, but the poop was on the (thankfully hardwood) floor - he seemed to think it was a success, I think because I didn't get quite as angry - probably out of sheer tiredness. I had to stop him from getting a potty treat for it - he's thinking, well, I didn't put it in my underwear!!!! What do you do?!

And here are a few more...

Family Pictures

We were lucky enough to have Auntie Sara take our family pictures this year. Hopefully, we'll see them every December and the tradition will continue...because, as you can see, she does a fabulous job. These are just a few of my favorites (actually, they all turned out really cute). I'm sure I'll post more when I get bored...

Day in the Orchard

I never would have thought this would happen to me, but I am officially a farmer. I love it. I spend way more time on my food producing plants than on my flower beds. I just don't feel the same reward from them...

This is my orchard. I have charge of 14 trees in there. Today I hacked out one dead one and two that were displeasing to me (multiple grafted trees, never do that, they are a pain!), pruned them all, planted 3 new trees, and sprayed them. We have: a golden delicious apple, fuyu persimion, elephant heart plum, santa rosa plum, early elberta peach, some other peach that Sherry planted before I got there - it's a clingstone that has really buttery textured flesh, perfect for canning and baby food, a Jonathan apple, a Jonagold apple, a pink lady apple, an O'Henry peach, a gala apple, a multiple grafted pluot, a moorpark apricot, and a panamint nectarine. I also have 5 dwarf citrus trees on my porch ( kumquat, cara cara orange, meyer lemon, berass lime, and kaffir lime) along with a pomegranate and three guava trees in my flower beds. I love these little babies, especially when they have fruit on them. The kids and I walk the orchard almost every day in the spring and summer, seeing what has fruit, what has bugs, and encouraging things to grow so we can eat healthy food!



Pearl was an especially big help to me today. This is the pile of branches she collected (with just a little help from Sam, he didn't last long). We are going to cook hot dogs and roast marshmallows on our pile tonight! She kept asking me for jobs, so she fertilized the citrus trees, held the new trees while I filled the holes, and watered the new trees. She really is becoming quite a helper, and loves our farm chores. She can tell you the variety and name of every tree in the orchard, it's fun to have her. (I think her favorite tree is our new Pink Lady, who wouldn't love that name?) All in all, though I wouldn't have quite expected to do this growing up, I'm grateful to live on property so that my children and I can have these experiences (though the chicken dusting I could do without...but that's another post!)

Cranky

Being pregnant makes me cranky. Jared seems to have forgotten this unfortunate side effect of pregnancy. I think it's worse this time. Maybe he'll consider that before he decides to have more kids!

Deep in thought...

I know, so many park pictures lately! The weather has been wonderful, we're taking advantage before the rains come. I'm not sure what the girls were talking about, but apparently it was serious...Probably about how they are both big sisters now. I'm just sorry I wasn't fast enough to get a really good front shot!

Who has the cutest kids ever? I do!!

And a cute niece too!

So happy to be a destructive force...

We went to the park after Pearl's dentist appointment (sealants already! She totally has her dad's teeth) Lizzie met us, as her baby sister is interesting, but not THAT interesting...

one more picture of Baby Katie...

Ok, so I just have to post one more picture of my new neice. This is the picture Mara decided to use on the baby announcements, and Jared was really proud because he was holding her when I took it. (we draped the blanket to hide his shirt, I could have fixed the edge if I knew photoshop better...) It's amazing how much more comfortable he was with her than with Pearl at two days old. I guess it only takes a few kids to make a man a confident baby holder:)

Pearl's Room

Pearl has taken her new found writing skills seriously. She likes to write notes and post them on her door - which works for her as long as we can read them. This is the most recent, and it made me laugh out loud. I sometimes need her to translate for me. This particular one says "no one's home"

New Niece

Isn't she adorable?

Potty Training Update

So, we've gone a whole 36 hours with NO ACCIDENTS!!!! The bigger victory is that he even told me he had to go potty in the middle of a movie!!! Yeah!!! I hope it lasts...

My two kids

Much of our vacation was spent potty training Sam. Now that Pearl can read, she even took a turn keeping him occupied (he couldn't be left alone...he has accidents when he's alone...) It just warmed my heart to see her reading to him! (in his underwear, of course!)

Snow Jeeping with Mona

So, Uncle Brian's jeep, Mona, was once again central to our family entertainment. Jared was invited by his jeeping buddies (only because they know Mona's on loan - otherwise, we would not be part of the club...) to go snow jeeping on New Year's Day. He took his brother John instead of me (mostly because I get really carsick, especially in the Jeep. Good thing I didn't marry Brian - that would have been quite a dissapointment...) and the kids along. They had a great time, and Jared even looked (sort of) like he knew what he was doing! Then, after they went home, he took the kids to chinese food and broke the Jeep in the parking lot - that's right. You can imagine how that call to Brian went...uh, I broke mona...what happened is that he locked the door and it wouldn't come unlocked. Further inspection revealed that the lock was held together with duct tape and bailing wire anyway...so, Brian wasn't too surprised that that was the problem. Hopefully he can get it fixed before Brian returns (I think we have a few years...) Oh, and yes, Sam is wearing a hot pink snow suit courtesy of a Pearl hand me down. He kept telling people it was really red - nice try, buddy. I guess we'll have to ship that one out to Cumorah! At least he was warm:)