the wkend

 saturday i took ellie out to spend time with her. she was needing some one on one with mama.  we had so much fun. as we finished up our fun day she grabbed my hand and walked to the car and i said "you know ellie, you are FUN to be around" she looked up and me and said "i know" hahaha

sunday, i took the older 2 kids to church. chris stayed home with joey. we are not 100% confident in her potty progress, so to be safe we just kept her home on sunday...but before we left i snapped these of ellie. she is so fun to dress up and cute to boot

 sisters!
ellie joy

 us

 sunday afternoon, we took the kids on a 3 HOUR drive. to see the country, and get outside. its still quite cold and yucky around here.  we put down a plastic sheet for joey just in case BUT she stayed dry the whole time and even peed on the side of the road when she had to go

 ellie

 my crew

 we found an old bridge, and took some time to explore it

 even thou its still winter, its nice to get out side and do it as a family

 see! chris came! 

 little joe

 at the end of the bridge

 every morning ellie checks her flowers and voila!  monday morning there was visual sprouts!

 even thou there is no light, the flowers are growing

we had a good weekend. prob one of the better weekends, we hung out, spent time together and enjoyed each other's company

and we start a new week.....

and much to our dismay!  joey has had 1 accident since fri.  she forgot about the potty while she was busy playing in the playroom...it was an easy clean up.  im still pinching myself at how easy it was... 1 comments

Posted by mel at 8:52 AM

this week. minus potty training!

 in between potty training, i tried to live a normal life...nate played games with his sisters
could i GET a better, big brother?
no. i think NOT
-ellie funny. as i tucked her into one night this week, i told her that she would be getting a new room with joey soon...she cried "NO!  i have to have a room with my big brother nathaniel!"
sob, sob

so on thurs, in between potty stuff. haha
i showed ellie how t plant seeds. i let her plant her own seeds and we will see what happens. i think we ALL want spring at this point!

 then we made some easter crafts
sisters!

 ellie!

 joey! (dont you pee on mt chair! hahaha)

 then i made a game out of putting their art on the door. the girls spent a good 30 mins making eggs and bunnies) to then hang them on the door. one. at. a. time. hahaha (burn off that energy!)
joey was so into this...i took her pants, for easier (is that even possible??? potty training?)

joey!

 ellie!

 ellie on the chair

 pant less joey a coming!

 both of them

 joey, pant less. adorable
nate chose to play video games. haha

 thurs, while staying in the house, i decided to COOK
i made 2 AWESOME meals. 1- pepper filled and

2

 2- pasta that "papa made, just with tomato and mushroom"  the kids ate ALL of it
and as nate said "for someone who hates to cook, you are REALLY good at it"
and i WAS!

 thurs afternoon was filled with in house play...aka potty training 101...lol
the girls kept busy in the front room playing " doctor puppy nurse"
see MY yellow cart? it was filled with their "supplies" that they would use to "feed" the sick...this time it was joey's turn with me yelling in the back ground "DON'T YOU DARE PEE ON MY COUCH"
she didn't
and ellie nursed joey to health

 see~

 close up of MY (that ive yet to use as MINE yet.hahaha) and the food

 poor ellie
she's sick

 see
cough
cough
cough

 joey (pant-less, for easier potty training. haha) making ellie's food

 then we went back to MORE crafts
ellie had me write all the names that came to her, they were....jesus, ellie, papa, nana, nate, mom, dad, shawn, joey, nate etc.....but when the girls randomly put them on the door. jesus some how ended up in the center.

 this week during our "pioneer"  study. which i admit. i LOVE, i really enjoy this time period and i want to get nate a board the 1850-1920's time period. ha....we did a mini project on what the "tinker" did.  while i was bathing the girls, nate got busy making an art project. on his own. i was so very pleased. nate did a GREAT job!

 after nap on friday, we had some sister fun
joey was NOT happy
ellie was

 tippy toes! while big, bro finished his school

 then ellie made some art
and showed us her creation

 my 3 blessings
after a HARD week
i can say. thank you jesus, i truly am blessed

 sister pony tails

and that wraps up a week!
a crazy week
but through it all he's there 0 comments

Posted by mel at 6:37 PM

Potty Training!!!!

 so, mon was suppose to be potty training day 1. BUT joey was still sick, so i stuck with my gut and out it off until wed.  for a lot of reasons mainly after 5 yrs i KNOW that the first day of the week, the first day of school after 2 WEEKS off and a sick kid is NOT the time to start potty training. haha.  so on monday we chilled. we did school, nate did the BEST.  i can not be more PROUD of that kid.  i LOVE having him home.  anyways, i let the girls make a mess in the kitchen, telling myself that water is an easy clean for over an HOUR of sister fun

this cracked me up
i will miss these antics
joey left the poor pig like this to go out and play with the neighbors
poor pig

 tues, i went for a walk with my friend. she is training for this CRAZY marathon this coming sept in scotland....after an GREAT school day...we dropped the kids off at church and went for  a walk. it was SO nice. and the BEST moment was getting a text from chris saying that he loved me...

nate funny. on the drive home from church nate asked me to rate him from 1-10. which is normal. he asks EVERY day what his "rating" is.  i stopped.  and thought.  then i said "nate, i cant think of ONE moment that i spoke to you today"
nate said " did i get a 10?"
i said "no, only jesus is perfect" lol....but really. i didnt speak ONCE to him
i said " you get a 9.5"
he was blown away
so was i
on our drive home i shared with him that the next day was day 1 of potty training joey and i needed him to give me grace to spend time with joey
he was like "what ever you need mom"

 so wed morning, after chris saying that i was nuts to start. lol. i followed my gut and decided that it was THE day.  potty training day 1
i had ZERO expectations. actually, i prepared myself for it to be HELL
so on wed, i put joey in ellie's old undies. i decided to NOT buy joey new undies BUT use ellei's old undies (that are stained haha) and when she's fully trained, ill get her NEW undies
and wed morning we had 1 pee on the floor
then nap
afer nap we had
one pee on the floor
one on the chair
one on the floor
BUT 2 in the potty!

i was EXHAUSTED when chris came home. haha

around 2 i decided to throw an ice cream party!  the kids and i ate ice cream
joey loved hers

 see

 i ate mine from the container

 at the end of day 1, joey had 2 stickers on her potty chart and 2 chocolates

 st

 and some pop corn

 just because its FUN to watch joey make a mess

 see!
on thursday day 2 of potty training my LAST kid (sob,sob)  joey did ALL her POOPS and PEES in the toilet!!!!

what the heck????

i pegged joey to be the hardest to train????
i also sent chris a text at 3 saying " i NEED to get out ALONE" lol and i did get out at 4:30 to go GROCERY shopping. hahah...
back to potty training...

 day 3!!!! i decided to bath the girls fri morning (its been 3 days, EW!) i got joey out first, then ellie. as i finished with ellie's hair (love ellie, her hair is JUST like her AUNTY!!!) i said to ellie " i got to get joey to the potty"
then i heard joey "MOM MOM!!!!"
i ran to the hallway, it was to late. my fresh out of the bath joey, in a new matching outfit was soaked in urine
i hugged joey, and told her it was ok. it was really MY fault
i cleaned her up
and she did another pee on the potty before her nap

and 6!!!!  pees on the potty after her nap!

 but the kicker is the last 3 pees.  lol...not to share EVERYTHING (cause i DO) with you guys...
school ran late. nate and i got into our science and history and we ran late.  (another reason why i LOVE homeschool)  i brought joey up to the school room with ellie.  ellie finished her school work on thurs, so she had today off.  so ellie and joey played.  i mixed joey sippy cup 3/4 juice, 1/4 water (vs her reg 1/4 juice, 3/4 water) to get her to drink and potty train. joey came to me the last 3! times and got me.
then she put HERSELF on the toilet
note the kid bed as a step stool
wiped
flushed
ALL by herself
pulling down her pants AND putting them up. herself
not needing my help. haha

so on day 3, joey had 1 accident in the morning
and a full potty chart...

 and at 5:30 she proudly showed me,haha, that she was DRY!

i totally pegged joey and prepared myself that she would be the hardest...

but now that i think about it, maybe i just prepared myself KNOWING what i was getting into...
i had a plan
i prepared for patience
i allows nate and ellie to "help"
i cancelled ALL social activities
i went out on thurs ALONE, even if it was just to get groceries
i relied on god to help me stay the course
i cried on chris's shoulder...as i conned him to massage my back. ha

potty training is AWFUL. im SO very glad (i think) i DONE with it 0 comments

Posted by mel at 6:10 PM