Potty Training and Ballet

Potty training Jake was really kind of a nightmare. He had heart surgery #2 at 2 1/2 and that slowed down the process and then I think I wasn't consistent enough working with him. After 3, he finally got it after many tears and much frustration! I'm pretty sure I'm just not so good at this particular parental job. When Grace turned two, she was instantly interested in going potty, and I (naively) thought, "this will be so easy!" She loved going but also was content with her diapers and I didn't want to push the issue. This fall when she started school, she noticed that some of the other girls in her class wore panties and got to go to the bathroom. Being the social butterfly she is, she wanted in on that action so went potty for her teachers consistently. At home I didn't have the same luck with her, and she was more than content in her pull-ups.

And then the Christmas program happened. When I didn't put in my earlier post about how cute the kids were in the program was that after the program at the reception, her teacher informed me that right before the twos walked out, Grace apparently went #2 and somehow it came out of her pull-up and somehow her other little friends in her class thought it would be fun to play with...So, the teachers had to clean everyone up before they went onstage. As a parent, can you really apologize enough for something like that? AND, Grace thought it was funny...

My Christmas wish quickly became for Grace to be potty trained! She and I had made a deal that once she was potty trained, she could start ballet lessons so after she loved the Nutcracker so much, we talked about that a lot. A friend from church started a dance studio in the fall, and she fortuitously emailed me around the same time that she had a spot in her beginner's tap and ballet class. We bought the outfit and the shoes, talked about how ballerinas don't wear pull-ups and that was that...she decided to be potty trained and hasn't looked back.

Now I'm thinking we should have started ballet in September :)

Christmas in Marshall

We had Christmas (take two) in Marshall the weekend after New Year's. It had been way too long since we'd visited and it was so nice to get out in the country and play! Both Pops and Nonnie took the kids out on the Rhino and we took the kids fishing in the pond. Ty set up our kid's tennis net on the back patio, and we had a blast with that. Jason, Jolie, and Elsie Jane got to come over for dinner, and it was great to spend time with them as well. Our nephew Zach even stopped by to see the kids...it was a great weekend :)

Jake "driving" the Rhino...he would spend hours doing this...

Ty starting Grace out early with her racquet

Riding with Pops

The girls with Nonnie

Elsie Jane at the dance party the kids had...no grown ups were allowed :)

Jake had too much fun on Saturday and stayed up too late...he fell asleep sitting up in the kid's rocking chair. Ty videoed him...it was soooo cute :)

A Merry Christmas

A few days before Christmas we headed to Oklahoma to spend Christmas with my family. The kids were super excited to see their cousins! There was a chance of snow, but unfortunately, it was quite dry.

The highlight of the trip for Ty was going downtown to see a Lego display of downtown OKC. We took our nephew Hendrix with us to see it once, and then Ty took our nephew Ky another time, too. They had replicas of all of the buildings including the Chesapeake center where the Thunder play and even a replica of the bombing memorial which was the neatest part for me.

It was great to have the five little cousins playing together all weekend along with the two older ones. Gentry and Grace played princess the whole time and even had a "ball" where they made their brothers dance with them. All of the kids were so excited for Santa to come! Jake got the Lego alarm clock that he has been asking for for months and Grace got her "sparkly" pink bike!

The only downside to the trip was that 11 of us ended up getting a stomach virus! We fell like dominoes and it wasn't pretty :( By the grace of God, my mom didn't get it so she played nurse to our family (Ryan's family was all sick at their house as well around the corner). It was nice to have my mom take care of me for sure. Another downside was that we didn't get to go to Ty's family's Christmas in Marshall like planned. The super sad part was that is brother Eric was moving the next day to Alabama so we missed saying goodbye to he and Jill. The upside is that Ty thinks he'll have some business trips nearby to them this spring so he might get to visit.

We did REALLY enjoy spending Christmas in Oklahoma though. I am definitely thankful for my family!

Hendrix and Jake outside the LEGO display

The LEGO display of the OKC memorial

Playing Legos with Daddy

The four granddaughters on Christmas Eve

Christmas morning--excited to get his LEGO alarm clock!

In their matching jammies

an attempt at a family Christmas photo

Gracie and Poppy

precious Morgan!

Dancing at the "Princess Ball"

Riding her pink sparkly bike

Gigi taking the kids for a cold Christmas night walk

The Week before Christmas

So, I realize it's the middle of January, but for preservation's sake, I'm going to finish my Christmas posts :) We did have such a great month, and I'd like to document it! The highlight of the week before Christmas for me was that my parents came to visit for my birthday! This was the second year they've come on my birthday and I rather like this new tradition :) We played with the kids, shopped, celebrated Jake's 4 year anniversary from heart surgery #1 at Bouncing Bears, and went out to dinner.

Somehow I didn't get any pictures with my parents. Here's one with my dad teaching Jake to play the mandolin. I think we must have taken others with my parent's camera.

Another highlight of the week before Christmas was the kid's Christmas program at school. They had practiced all fall, and Jake did an amazing job! He sang all of the songs, did the motions, used his props, and said his line, "He slept in a manger." We were proud :) Grace sang, too, twirled around on stage, lifted up her dress, and smiled a lot :) We were proud of her, too :)

Jake holding up his star

For some reason, Grace is pointing at the audience :)

Proudly walking off the stage

Visiting with Santa after the program

The other highlight of this week was still Gilbert, our trusty elf on the shelf. The kids just LOVE him and still talk about him nonstop. Christmas Eve, Gilbert had to "go back with Santa to the North Pole." Jake is constantly wondering what Gilbert is doing and how he is helping Santa. They can't wait to welcome him back next December. This might be a commercialized, trendy new tradition, but I LOVE it, too. The creators of this were genius! I'll be excited to see Gilbert again, too.

Gilbert sewed a "G" on some fabric with my new machine

Going for a float in the pool--"Gilbert" wasn't too smart on this one. He got extraordinarily wet but lucky for him, he's plush and dries nicely in the dryer!

We caught him drinking the syrup!

"Fishing" for goldfish

Eating some of my birthday cake--he even wrote his name in the icing!

Grace's highlight from the week was definitely going to the Nutcracker Ballet. She saw a commercial for the Houston nutcracker back in November and asked me over and over again if she could go to the "Houston cracker-nut" because "it looks so beautiful!" Now, who could resist that? A few friends of ours had daughters in the local Woodlands version so I took her to see that with my friend Lisa and her son Isaiah. So I guess Grace had her first date to the ballet :) She loved it and hasn't stopped twirling since seeing it!

Grace and Isaiah at the Nutcracker