Celebrating Potty Training with an Alphabet Train

I'm happy to say that, except for nights, Will is officially potty trained! This happened just before Christmas. He'd been earning stars on his "potty train" chart for each success (along with M&M's), and he gets a smiley face for each day that he keeps his diaper dry and clean. We told him that when he gets a whole chart full of smiley faces (one full week of keeping the diaper completely clean and dry), he gets to choose a special thing to do. The day arrived to celebrate his achievement, and Will's greatest request was.........to do a puzzle with Mommy :). We were thinking something a little more "special", but come to think of it, I can't think of a whole lot that's more special than spending time with this little guy. Look how proud he is of his puzzle!

Great job on the puzzle, buddy. And great job on the potty training!

The gift that keeps on giving

The new freezer came

with a new toy for the kids......

Christmas 2010

2010 was a strange year - ups and downs, highs and lows. The blogging suffered, but it's back! To get started, here is a sampling of some of our Christmas festivities at home. Warning: lots of pictures to follow!

Decorating the tree:

gingerbread men:

nightly advent, story reading, and caroling:

candy cane fingernails:

graham cracker houses:

christmas crafts:

Playing nativity - the kids came up with this one. Here they are in one of their versions, with their slide platform serving as the stable and 2 baby Jesus (so they could each hold one):

Of course stockings:

and presents:

Will got "lots of cars and one truck", as well as an "Alphie" robot, some books, and a game.

Lauren got a hot air balloon, a boat, and a carriage house (and of course more princesses) to go with her princess castle. She also got a box of art supplies, books, and a game.

And a few more, just because they're cute:

The kids in some holiday shirts (thanks, Grandma!):

Jessie's Christmas sweater:

A family picture after church one Sunday:

Lots of fun together celebrating, making memories, and remembering Jesus' birth!

Halloween!

We had a really fun Halloween this year. As you can see, the kids dressed up as Peter Pan and Tinkerbell. I don't really have a good picture of the two of them together (not for lack of trying! Lauren came up with the idea (I guess she'll be our resident costume idea person - too bad I'm the one that has to make it happen!). She started out wanting to be Wendy but I couldn't find a Wendy costume, so after much conversation she agreed that it would be OK to be Tinkerbell (the tipping point was that I told her she could carry a wand). I like this picture of her because she has the ornery Tinkerbell look. Will was a great Peter Pan and loved his little sword, and especially loved his hat. His costume also came with little booties that looked pretty spiffy, but he doesn't have them on in this picture. They were both so cute!

Independence puts on a big festival called "Neewollah" (that's halloween spelled backwards, in case you didn't catch that). It's a pretty big deal here - the whole downtown is transformed into a carnival and our little town of 10,000 has about 80,000 people in it (those numbers are real). Anyway, we all had a blast! We played carnival games, rode rides, ate funnel cake, and just had all kinds of fun. Wednesday night was the first night of the carnival so we checked that out, then took a break Thursday. Grandpa and Grandma (my mom and dad) came over for the parades Friday and Saturday and got to take part in all the festivities. The kids were in the kiddie parade on Friday, in costume of course, which was fun except it was windy and cold! I told Lauren while we were waiting that when the parade started she should hold up her wand so everyone could see and to smile and wave at people because they would be waving at her. As soon as we started moving she held her wand straight up in the air (like over her head - her little arm was straight up) and did a beauty queen smile and wave (elbow, elbow, wrist, wrist.....I'm not even kidding). I got her to lower her wand, but she continued the princess wave through the whole parade. It was pretty funny. After grabbing a bite to eat they were off to trick or treat. We had a little wand problem (apparently the wand somehow escaped the wagon and was left downtown), but thankfully Walmart had a replacement so she still had a wand for trick-or-treating. I stayed at our house to pass out candy to trick-or-treaters and we had a ton! I had to call John while he was at Walmart getting the replacement wand to grab some more candy (and we had bought 4 bags!). We went to the grand parade Saturday morning and it was awesome! It was the first time either of the kids had ever been to a parade and I'm pretty sure no two kids could possibly enjoy a parade more than they did. It was 2 hours long and they loved every minute. Lauren caught on quickly when to smile and wave and when to hold out her bag for candy, and they both LOVED the marching bands (I'm so proud!). The kids rode a few more rides and we ate some lunch, listened to some music at the bandstand, and then went home and collapsed! I think the kids had a great first Neewollah! Here are a few more random pictures from the weekend. The captions are underneath the picture they belong with - enjoy!

Playing the duck game at the carnival.

Ready for the kiddie parade.

Enjoying some funnel cake with Grandpa and Grandma.

Helping hand out candy to trick-or-treaters. They both really loved this.

Lauren and Will showing off their trick-or-treating loot!

Waving and enjoying the parade.

Riding the cars - Will's favorite ride.

Riding the fish.

The kids with Jessie in her traditional dinosaur costume - Lauren loved it (I think she was too little to remember it from last year) and Will was not impressed.

Jessie was pretty exhausted from the excitement of the weekend (especially barking every time the doorbell rang with trick-or-treaters!)

funny and sweet

Quotes from the evening:

Lauren (during dinner): "Look, Mommy, my fork is hiding up in my pizza!"

Will (also during dinner, after Lauren gave him a bite off her plate): "Thank you!"

Lauren (in response to Will): "You're welcome, Will! I will share with you for always!"

Will, after asking him what he wanted to do with Mommy while Lauren helps Daddy in the garage: "Party!"

Lauren, after bedtime kisses: "I love Mommies and Daddies...but I don't like bugs."

Pictures!

I seem to have gotten very behind on editing and sharing my pictures, but not behind on taking them. As a result I have a huge number of pictures just waiting to be waded through. I have begun tackling them, and have put our pictures from the month of May and from Lauren's birthday on our shutterfly site (http://tierneyfam.shutterfly.com). Stay tuned for other pictures from the last 6 months as I get to them...

Happy Birthday, Lauren!

Lauren just celebrated her 3rd birthday on Tuesday (well, we celebrated just us - we are having an extended family party on Sunday). The last 3 years have flown by since we've welcomed our sweet baby girl into our family. Here's a little look at Lauren through the years :).

Just born

1 year old

2 years old

3 years old!

As you can see, she's becoming quite a little lady (rather than a little baby!). She requested a care bear party for her birthday so our house looks like Care-A-Lot right now. We had a good time celebrating with her Tuesday with presents and ice cream sundaes. Here are a few pictures:

Lauren with her presents and her care bear balloon

Will and Lauren both thought it was fun to sit on top of the presents
Getting ready to open...
Wow! A trike!

Checking out some new books

Mothering her new cabbage patch
Completing her floor puzzle

Enjoying a birthday sundae.
Happy Birthday, Lauren!