Terrible Two & a Half's

My three "angels" :) Emily, Addy, Hailey

This pic kills me cuz it so shows their personalities. Addy is trying to be the big sister of the bunch and listen to mom and get everyone together for the picture. Hailey is being the little stinker and trying to do her own thing. And Emily is like "Get this silly headband off of me!"

Hailey, Emily, Addy
Here the girls are at the Y for an Easter Eggstravaganza. They got to meet the Easter bunny, play in jump house, etc. They had a blast!

As their shirt says "BEST BUNNIES!" Emily, Addy, Hailey

Hi there! So...I dare not say it...but Addy and Emily are both done with their potty regressing I think! They've been doing AWESOME again at staying dry and have been going #2 and everything (for the most part) in the potty! Woohoo! Soooo happy about that. I think they regressed because they didn't like going on their little potty's in the basement. For one, they were always freezing cold..and for two, what fun is it if you don't get to flush it? :) So..now that things in the kitchen are more manageable, we can go on the "big potty" again. Phew! So glad it was short lived (I hope anyway!)

BUT....the girls have sure been acting up the past couple of months. OHhh man. Somedays I think I'd take the no sleeping newborn stage any day over dealing w/ 3 two year olds. :) I love so much about this stage - seeing them get so proud of themselves, seeing their minds learn so much, communicating with them more and more, watching them interact together, etc. BUT...they sure know how to wear on Mom & Dad's patience! They LOVE to tease each other, take each other's toys, pull hair, knock down their sister's towers, you name it. Anything to get a rise out of their sister...or out of me! And, they love doing things "Myself! Myself!" So getting their coats on, shoes on, etc. takes a LOT longer now. Even buckling themselves in the car is a big deal. And now they care about and fight about the silliest things. Like who gets to sit where in the car...who gets to wear which boot - even if they are the SAME boots, who gets to sit on which side of mommy's lap, etc...and the list goes on. So...we have assigned "days" now...each day of the week someone gets to have a "day" where they get to have 1st pick on everything. Usually that actually works and they are satisfied because they know their day is coming soon. But still, it's just lots of refereeing and time outs and all of that fun disciplining that I get to do all day long. It'll pay off, right??

The worst has been at bedtime. They were doing VERY good in their big beds until a couple months ago. Little Miss Hailey especially likes to get out of her bed and bug her sister's. At first, we put her back in her crib as a punishment...which worked for a while....until she started realizing that she could go to sleep much faster when she was along...so then she started to LIKE her consequence. OH dear. So then..we started taking away blankie's, treats, gave time outs, and then resorted to spanking - NONE of which worked! We were like "what ELSE can we do?" Why won't she GET it? Will she EVER get it? Ahh! But THEN, last night and today during naps, we did the "super nanny" trick where you stay in their room and sit on the floor and stare at the carpet and just wait quietly for them to fall asleep. I have no idea why this worked, but it DID! Soo great! It was like they were so confused why we were still in there that they just went to sleep and stayed in bed! It was FABULOUS and WAY less frustrating to just sit there in silence and pray for them and listen to their chatter. So funny. I about burst out laughing so many times listening to them talk. It's kinda scary because so much of what they say is stuff that I say to them all the time! They kept saying "Good job sweetie!" and all sorts of talk like that. So cute. So...if anyone out there is having trouble with their toddlers getting out of bed, I'd highly recommend the staying in their room thing - they were out in like 25 minutes which is WAY better than an hour and a half of marching back into their room with punishment after punishment! I hope everyone has a GREAT Easter!!!

Kitchen & Potty update

Hey!!! We're surviving over here! :) So far, I feel like the whole project is actually going pretty fast! We're only 2 weeks in and SOOO much has been done already! This past weekend we were able to paint like crazy....then today the floors went in...and then tomorrow the cabinets go in! Woo hoo! Then it'll just be waiting for the counter tops! Can't wait! Thankfully, the weather has been pretty nice so we've been able to be outside a lot and grill out. Grandma Kathy offered to have us over once a week for a meal so that is a huge help...and our friends have had us over too! Can't wait to repay the favor in our new kitchen! :) So, things have been going pretty well! The only thing that ISN'T going well is potty training! Blah!!! I do NOT understand these little kids of mine. For instance, Emily was seriously pee-trained for a month, not ONE accident - only poop accidents. And then she did fine the 1st week and a half of the kitchen remodel..but then NOW...she's all of the sudden having accidents! Part of me thinks they are just having too much fun playing outside that they don't want to come in and do their duty. Hailey too - she's like totally regressed with kills me cuz i KNOW she knows HOW to do it! Addy is doing the best as we speak but it can fluctuate too with her depending on our what we're doing. I am so mad at myself for putting them all in pull ups the 1st week of the remodel because that really messed them up. They just started going in their pants again cuz they feel so much like diapers. I just did it cuz I didn't want to deal with poopy underwear and having to drag that through the torn up kitchen to the laundry room to clean it.... Ahhh...oh well... I'm sure they'll pick it up again after the kitchen is done. It is just so hard to swallow the fact that they are having accidents now that I KNOW they know how to hold it! So confusing and frustrating! Oh well - we'll keep plugging away! Here's some pics!

"Emmy - let's hold hands!"
"Okay - ready?!"
"Go!"

Playing downstairs - AEH

Watching....

Mr. Jon on stilts! All eyes were GLUED on him! Great entertainment for the girls!

Our big dumpster! :) After the snow melted, Ryan put "Frosty's nose" (charcoal) in the dumpster. Everyday, the girls keep asking to see "Frosty's nose" in the trash. Then, the other day, we were playing outside and the girls wanted to go sledding but I said we couldn't because there was no more snow! I asked them where all the snow went and they said "in the garbage." :)
Hailey directing traffic
Emily, Hailey, and Addy playing in the kitchen
2 wknds ago, we drove to Iowa City to see college friends who just had their first baby girl. The girls had fun "babysitting!" Here's our friend Evan getting worn out with 3 MORE girls! :)

Looks like Hailey was loving the road trip... :)
Coloring in the basement... (EAH)

Our Kitchen Adventure :)

Hi Hi. Well, posting might be a bit lacking in the next few weeks just cuz life is going to be crazy! :) This past Saturday, we gutted our kitchen and began a big remodel! So exciting!!! I seriously love remodeling, seeing how the process works and then the end result. We are knocking down a wall to make more room for our kitchen table as it sat in a walk way before. So...we'll see how it goes! We're completely moved in to our basement and it feels like we're on a camping trip or something - living out of boxes, paper products, etc. I'm getting kind of excited to try out new grilling recipes and crock pot recipes. I had some freezer meals stocked up but we won't be able to use our oven much longer so I better use one up tonight! The girls are having fun 'watching' the worker guys go to town on our kitchen. They would probably sit there for hours and watch if it weren't dangerous. They're making friends fast though with all of the guys. One of the workers even said he has 3 little tool belts for the girls so that should be fun. :) I just don't want the girls to watch them bash the wall in with a hammer because you KNOW they'd start to try that on their own. :) Oh dear.

So, so far, it's been going okay! We've been staying out of the house for the most part and otherwise hanging out in the basement. This whole process would be a lot easier if the girls weren't potty training and IF we had a bathroom in our basement. But oh well, it'll be an adventure! Guess Ry and I like to keep life exciting! :)

They said it could take about 6 weeks or so....here goes nothing!

All eyes on the 'guys' :)
The girls' make shift bathroom in the basement.

Where I do the dishes...

Our make shift kitchen in the basement. Gotta love it!
Playing outside! It's funny how we actually get EXCITED here in Wisconsin when it's above 30 degrees. It feels WARM so we can actually go play outside! The girls love it! I can't WAIT for spring!