Happy Birthday Aunt Coco!

These are some pictures that Corey took a few months ago of the kids at the fire station.  They're just too cute not to post.  

The weather has been so nice here (unseasonably of course) so we've been trying to take advantage. We've been taking more walks in the evening, and we've really been wanting to do some hiking. Since we've never hiked with Luke before I thought I ought to try it somewhere near home first. So after some other errands this morning we set out for the Yellow River Park, which is a lovely park about 20 minutes away that has paved and non-paved trails for walking, mountain biking and horse back riding. (Lucky for us the equestrian trails are separate...no horse poop for us!)
I put Lukers in the back pack and Laurel and I headed out to find leaves, acorns and Bambi. (No, not just deer, we were looking for Bambi himself) The trip started out interestingly enough because she had to potty right when we got there. (No bathrooms yet, but the cinder block frame of the bathroom-to-be taunted me) So I taught Laurel how to do the lady-potty-squat. I know you female campers out there know this one. I think the exact body position differs slightly from woman to woman, but once you learn how to do it you never forget. Unfortunately, the position wasn't right and Laurel ended up wetting the entire back of her pants. But as prepared as I always am...stop laughing everyone...I somehow had a pair of Nemo PJ pants in the car. This explains the odd outfit my daughter is wearing, she looked much more put together before I set her pants up as a potty-target. But, if her pants were the target, Laurel really hit the bulls-eye. There is something to be said about that, if you're going to pee on yourself you might as well do it right!

Don't stop after looking at these videos...there are more videos and pictures that are newly posted below.  (Sorry it's taken me a little while to post AGAIN)

Here is a personal message from Laurel to Uncle Skip...

This weekend was crazy.  We went to Alexis' wedding in Louisiana, having to drive 10 hours directly towards an oncoming hurricane.  Of course we had no intention of putting ourselves in danger.  The luxury of driving is that we just watched the weather and could have turned back at any time.  Plus the hurricane itself was making landfall about 300miles away, so we only had the outskirts of the storm to contend with.  In the end it didn't mean much for us, a little rain and a lot of wind.

The wedding was beautiful and the reception was fun.  Laurel couldn't wait to dance, that's all she's talked about for days.  She danced with me and Coco and Erik and Hallie and Abby and even by herself.  At one point she even joined a line dance, though I'm not sure she meant to.  I've attached some pictures and video, including a photo-slide show of the many faces of Abigail.  (I swear this is the same face in every picture!) 

  

This year for the very first time we braved the Yellow Daisy Festival at Stone Mountain. I have seen the line of cars waiting to get into the park and had never wanted to do it. But this year, armed with a plan to go on Sunday to avoid SOME of the crowds, we headed out. We actually had a lot of fun. There was an unbelievable amount of vendors, and some of their crafts were amazing. We didn't buy much, but we could have. There was a kids corner with face painting, and hair sculpting and a Backyard Circus. Laurel enjoyed the show but didn't want to be in it. She also chose not to get her hair done or face painted, maybe next year. But she liked walking around and seeing all the kid-related vendors. She bought a little spider puppet and tried to scare people walking down the path with it.
Between the heat and the walking we were exhausted, so after that we went home and didn't do much. Laurel and Luke played together for a while, she had him cracking up. I caught some cute video and pictures of them playing. Of course, when she knew the camera was on she hammed it up a little too much which annoyed Luke. (As Laurel would say, he was frust-er-rated)
This was Laurel's third day in preschool and seems to be really liking it. I had only hoped that she wouldn't hate it, it never really dawned on me that she'd love to go. I couldn't be happier. Though it's somehow sad to see her happily hop out of the car every morning and walk away with someone who isn't me. But I'm proud of her, and I'm so glad she's having fun. She talks about her friends when she gets home, and tells me what she ate for snack. It was her snack day today and she was very proud and excited to bring in the muffins we made last night.  

(Picture and video coming soon...)

Today was the very first day of preschool.  The whole thing was a little disjointed since we didn't know the ins and outs of how this all worked.  But it seemed to go smoothly enough.  Laurel sensed from the beginning that this was different than orientation, and she was a little testy this morning.  By the time we pulled onto the street that the church is on she already started telling us she didn't want to go to school.  In the parking lot she started crying.  I picked her up at that point and used a big voice and told her to stop.  (This was dangerous on my part because it would either make her stop, or turn crying into bawling and wailing)  We lucked out because she stopped at that point.  I carried her in and down the stairs.  When we got to the classroom I put her down.  We walked in, hung up her bag and showed daddy the play kitchen.  Around that time her teacher asked her to go with her to look at something, and she did.  Then her teacher asked her if she wanted to sit and do a puzzle, again she agreed.  At that point daddy and mommy gave her a quick kiss and made a run for the door.  Apparently she never cried or anything.  There was a small issue with her not being able to climb onto the big potty...I guess that's my fault for not anticipating that.  I assumed a preschool would have the preschool sized potties to use.  Not so.  So we'll need to work on that.

Yesterday was Laurel's preschool orientation.  We got her all gussied-up and went to meet her teachers and see her classroom.  She's pretty excited at the prospect of being in preschool, but we'll have to wait until Wednesday to see how she actually likes it.  Her class is the fun frogs and her teacher is Ms. Donna.  The picture is of her right before we left the house.  (She had to have a backpack...even though none is required.  It's filled with all of her "guys.")

The video is of Luke in his Bumbo chair.  These things are amazing.  He's enjoyed sitting and playing in this thing since he was 3 months old.  Now he enjoys showing off his new tummy strength by bending backwards and then twisting back up.  

This weekend was Laurel's 3rd birthday. She and Luke have both had a cold, but despite that we had a lot of fun. Grandma and Grandpa and Grandma Schieres have been in town all week to visit and be here for the birthday festivities. On Saturday we all went to the Yellow River Game Ranch to see and pet all of the animals. I had no idea how big it was and all the different animals they had. It was quite an adventure, starting with having to go to the bathroom in a stall with no door using Laurel as my lookout. (Now there's a mother-daughter bonding experience.) It rained on us off an on while we were on the trail. We had to hideout once in a small barn space with a bunch of goats, sheep and donkeys. Another time we got trapped under some muscadine vines until the rain slowed. And the last time we got caught under a little covered bridge where Laurel found and chased some new duck friends. (We also watched a deer kick someone...that was funny)
After the petting zoo we went back to Grandma's for the party. We put up the decorations and made the cakes. It was an undersea party complete with a family of fish cakes.
Laurel got all sorts of great presents, she got a tent and a bike and I think the favorite of all were the horses that are the exact same as Abigail's horses that she isn't allowed to touch at Grandma's house. All in all she was pretty excited.

This has been a crazy week for us.  Daddy's been out of town since Wednesday, and Laurel has slept at Grandma's house twice.  As I was lying in bed last night with Luke I kept worrying about forgetting that Laurel was with me and not at Grandmas, and accidentally forgetting her in the morning.  (Not that that would ever happen, but still I worry about such things)  

Luckily, I didn't have to worry for long because Laurel woke up crying hysterically about a "scratchy monster" in her room.  She asked if she could sleep with me...how could I say no?  In the morning I got up to get dressed and this is what they looked like.  SO cute.  

But then after the flash went off they curled up together like this...even cuter.  I had to share.

Potty training has been a great success.  If anyone would have told me that halfway through Friday I wouldn't have believed them.  But last night at 9pm I took Laurel to the store to buy her reward for pooping in the potty.  The potty part she had down by Friday night...no problem.  But the poop part was a little harder.  After an accident on Friday and Saturday I wasn't looking forward to Sunday.  But after staying at home all day and not getting dressed...poop never came.  Monday was Daddy's turn, but by the time I came home from work, still no poop.  

Laurel and I played in her room while Daddy was at the store, and all of the sudden she decided she had to go and ran off.  She emerged a few minutes later to come and get me and show me.  In celebration we ran around the house screaming, and then when Daddy came home we showed him.  

That's not to say that she's perfectly trained and we'll have no accidents, but she gets it and that's a great start.

Update on Kaitlin and Julia; the girls are home. I just can't believe how healthy they are! Kris, you're my hero...really. I had to post the new pictures of the girls. I'm waiting on one with all three girls now! Laurel is so excited, she can already tell from the pictures which one is which.

These pictures and video are actually from a few months ago. Laurel reminded me today about her horse friend Maggie. (Every brown horse she has now is named Maggie) So I went in search of the pictures we took at the Medieval Festival at Hallie and Abby's school.

The party was a success, the actual potty training remains to be seen. I'll update that one later!! The party involved a diaper cake complete with potty and poo, a water balloon diaper game and diaper party hats. Fun was had by all!

Update #1: It's 3:20 PM on the first day of potty training. It was a long morning with no potty in site...at least no potty IN the potty. There was potty on the floor, potty on the carpet, potty on my office chair that I sat in (not kidding). Then there was the poop. (also not in the potty...but I got plenty on my hand) Anyone know a secret for getting poop filled underwear off with out getting it down the kids legs?
Success seemed unattainable. Then, like a miracle, after lunch she decided she really wanted the Hershey bar in the treat-bowl. So I told her she had to go potty for it, so she did. Filled the whole stinking potty up! (I guess I should have given her two treats for that!!) Hoping it wasn't just a fluke we tried again about an hour later. Not nearly as much potty this time, but there was potty. Whew...it isn't a lost cause. I'm off to wash some more underwear.

Update #2: So far we have 4 potties in the potty. I think she's realized that she can go just a little bit at a time, thereby creating more potty trips and getting more treats. Oh well, potty trained is potty trained...I don't care how we get there.

So no potty training yet. We had to push it back to next week. Grandpa and Grandma went on an impromptu trip to NYC to visit Erik (and have a nice romantic getaway I hope). So the rest of the Thurmond clan was at our house this weekend.

The weekend went by pretty fast. We went and saw the 3D Journey to the Center of the Earth, we played Tennis, we swam, we had Guitar Hero and Wii tournaments. I'm not sure I've ever done so much playing, but it was fun. (And I'm now I need a vacation)

As for potty training, I think the plan is to have the party Wednesday and start Thursday, but it really depends on Jon's schedule. (he's been really busy lately, so it's hard to work around) We need a couple of days of mostly uninterrupted time so that we can just be at home and potty train. I didn't think it would be that hard to find that time, but so far it has.
(We did have the party, here are the pictures)

Big happenings in our house this week. We took Laurel and Luke bowling on Sunday. And learned that one game of bowling is plenty for a 2 year old. (Though as she will proudly tell you she's "Laurel Dorman 2 years old, be three in August") Bowling was a lot of fun. Not only did we use the bumpers (best score I ever got), when Laurel got tired of pushing the ball down the lane there is a ramp they can use. I just have to aim it, load the ball and she can walk up and push. When she got tired of it by the second game I let Luke push it. (It's that easy) Luke sat propped in his chair for most of the first game. Every time Laurel bowled and knocked over pins she would jump and hoot and holler and offer up high fives. On the rare occasion that the bowling ball still managed to miss the pins despite the bumper she would smack her head and say "oh man." But every time she cheered, Luke would smile and laugh and bounce.

After bowling we went the church. Odd combo I know, but that's what we did. Anyway, during church Luke was sucking on my hand and I realized it was a little scratchy. So I popped his little chin down and to my extreme surprise, he had two bottom teeth! Not swollen gums where teeth were coming in, actual teeth. I couldn't believe it. No more gum-only smiles, my baby is growing up.

Lastly, we've decided to make a push for potty training. On Thursday we're having a no-more-diapers party. Complete with diapers for party hats and special cake with some kind of diaper decoration. (Haven't quite figured that one out yet, I was thinking maybe fruit roll ups tied up like diapers? I'm open to suggestions) And we'll begin the actual potty training on Friday morning. So wish us luck. I'll post pictures of the festivities later.

Our nieces have arrived! Julia and Kaitlin weighing in at 3lbs 15oz and 5 lbs 5oz. These two little beauties arrived in the world about 2:30AM early this morning. It makes me wish it were Christmas so that we could see them. Talk about a house full of kids! By Christmas Jessie will be 4, Laurel will be 3, Luke will be almost 1 and the twins will be almost 6 months. I'm so excited but I can't do a thing about it. (Not fair)
Congratulations Bob and Kris, we can't wait to see them.

Luke changes daily. It's so exciting to watch. On Saturday both Jon and my mom were out of town, therefore I had the kids alone all day. When I write it like that it doesn't seem too abnormal. But it's rare that I have a day when I don't see another adult. That being the case it's rare when an entire day goes by and I'm the only one holding Luke. Consequently we played a lot of games, giggled, talked, sang. It was great. He learned how to stick his tongue out and blow bubbles. Every time he did it he'd laugh and laugh.

The video is of Luker's very first meal. It was fed to him almost entirely by Laurel.

Times have seemed rough lately. Gas is so high that we're short on money. My employer has done their first round of lay-offs due to financial problems. And of course Jon has his ongoing issues with his work situation. Everything just seems stressful. Of course, on the other hand we're both still employed and we still have enough money to live, which is more than some people can say these days.

My point isn't to depress anyone, though it is a little cathartic being able to voice some of the frustration. My point is that through all of that, gas prices, lay-offs...through all of that, we have these two beautiful children who just don't care. They don't care about money issues, they don't know about the stress we've been under. They just want to run and play and laugh. (Or in Luke's case, wiggle and play and laugh) There is something so calming in just sitting down and playing a made up game with Laurel. Or watching Lukers play with a new toy for the first time, or learn to roll. I love my kids so much, and I know Jon does too. Our morning isn't complete until we hear the pitter patter of Laurel's tiny feet running towards our bedroom. Or until she says "Good morning Mommy, good morning Daddy." And there is nothing purer than Luke smiling for no reason other than he's just happy to see you.

We're really lucky.