Another Texas Family Visit

This time it was Gramma, Joel, and Rowan!

We all went to cheer on Kirstin in her first swim meet!

She had the biggest group of cheering fans ,

even holding up homemade signs :)

We did two days of cookies and it was not an easy task!

Look at those little red cheeks :(((

Poor Joel ended up getting sick but the bearded man

kept him company with some old school Nintendo play:)

It was a little hectic, lots of fun, and after they

left the kids said it was boring at home without them.

**Also, can we all take a moment to applaud Gabriella's 

amazing lipstick skills? I think she was going for the joker look

or maybe the I ate to many Cheetos smile:)

Her First Semi Formal

Sophmore year-2017

Thanksgiving 2017

Watching Frozen for the 100th time.

She is currently only wearing princess dresses

that are too big, tons of lipsticks, and her brothers hockey

"batman" gloves to throw off while singing

'Let It Go.'

Kirstin made the fillings for the three pies and did gravy.

Kaveri made sweet potato souffle.

Kylie helped with pie crust and whipping cream.

MiKayla made green-bean casserole.

Daniel licked 10 spoons.

Dad made mashed potatoes and I made the 

two hens with crispy skin!

Thanks for the challah bread gramma D.

Yum! Yum! Yum!

Thankful for my peeps!

All By Herself- Is That Really Such a Good Thing?

So here's the story.

Gabriella cracked her clavicle 

at the end of May.

By this time she was 85% potty trained.

She picked it up very quickly.

After her accident she regressed....a lot.

It seems as though she just doesn't 

have time to stop and ask to go potty

or maybe she looks at like a job/chore.

See picture below.

Whatever the case may be we don't push

it because she still has a few months

before she is three and we have had 1 or 2

other children who had some regression in the past.

It typically isn't to much of an issue.

I will randomly ask her if she wants to go potty.

Sometimes she will, others times she runs away.

If she has a number two in her diaper

I will often put it in the potty and say things like

"this is where we go poo-poo"

"big girls go poo-poo in the potty"

etc.

Just some parental encouragement if you will.

Then I let her flush the toilet and we clap.

Well, I was in the shower and I heard her 

come in the bathroom. She was chattering.

She often hears me in the shower and

will come get in with me.

So nothing new. 

But then I hear the toilet lid open.

I look out just in time to see

her put her poop from her diaper in the toilet.

WITH HER HAND!!!

And then of course she flushed the

toilet and threw her hands
in the air with a big girl,

proud of herself smile.

I have OCD and I am a germophobe.

Yes, I have 6 children and 3 dogs,

so I am aware of the fact that germs 

are all up in our house and there's no escaping that.

We most likely clean and sanitize 

more often than your typical family.

So just in case your wondering

I. NEARLY. DIED!

Happy Parenting Everyone.

That is all.

Trick or Treat 2017

You know what I hate?

When the day before Halloween its 60 with sunshine

and when it comes time to trick or treat

it's 40 with 100% chance of rain  :(((

If you want to risk taking your camera 

outside for pictures be ready for lots of blurry ones.

BOO!

We have Harley Quinn who headed off to a teen party.

An eskimo girl, Rainbow Brite, Batman, A crazy cat lady, 

and a black kitty cat.

Gabriella wanted to be a superhero

like her big brother so she wore 

a super girl dress and a spiderman hoodie.

"MOM LOOK! THEY GAVE FULL SIZE CANDY BARS!"

-screamed by every one of our children throughout the evening.

Hoping for better weather next year.