we're off!

While the blog has been, er, not updated lately, it will continue to be that way for a while longer as Haven is off to the grandparents & "Aunt Holly's" house and we are off to another continent!
See you in a week...

Friday's Funny - friends

Kylie [5.5 yrs], Cade [newly 2 yrs old] and Haven [2 going on 12]

Last weekend we had the pleasure of hosting my good friend from college, Renae & her family. Most of you have lovingly heard me refer to her as my "Gus", her nickname from college that still sticks in my heart. It was fun having them here and the kids loved playing together. Thanks again for coming guys & hope all are healthy.

CVE trip

Last week we had the privilege of traveling with a work team from Lester...including my Mom.
We were past due to visit CVE & see how the orphanage has changed since our first visit[s] back in the summer of 2004. It was great catching up with Carissa, Seth & meeting many new faces including many precious kids & teenagers.

Thanks to all at CVE for opening your homes & lives to us and also for the Lester group for letting us tag along on your work team.

super friends

We spent the Super Bowl with some great friends, great food & a great time of kids playing together!

Haven [2 yrs. 3 mo.], Drew [2 yrs. 7 mo.], Landry [11.5 mo.]

Friday's Funny-coloring

Lately around our house, Haven has been seen playing with her Thomas engines and coloring in her Thomas coloring book...this is what I found one afternoon while I was making dinner...when I asked her why she colored just the wheels, she replied "Mommy, Emily's green"...I checked on the page & sure enough, she was coloring a newer engine named Emily & she is in fact green...no idea how she picked that up! But I was proud of her coloring for a 2 year old!

museum date

While the winter blues [or should I say grays] have set in to Central IL, I thought a fun outing to the Children's Museum would be in order. I have already raved about how great the museum is in a previous post [click here] so I'll just share the pictures of Haven with her cousin William, also 2, as they explored together on a recent Friday morning.

Friday's Funny - "sitting"

This is what I found last week when I went to get Haven from her nap...

"Haven, what are you & your friends doing?"

"We're sitting...yep, sitting" :)

potty training

For the last 1.5 weeks, we began the process of potty training Haven. While the first few days I was banging my head against the wall, the last week or so it has gone pretty well. I'm not sure what the most conventional way is to potty train a child, but I figured we'd just go cold turkey into panties and if accidents happened, they happened...she has had accidents from time to time, but usually it's her Mommy's fault for not realizing how much time has passed since her last potty. She usually tells us it's time by declaring "I not have to go poopy Mom"...hmm, she doesn't quite understand the negative adverb concept yet :)!

I'm also totally bribing my child with a potty chart & Thomas the Train (which she currently loves & plays with more than ANY toy in her house) prizes along the way....like I said, probably not the most conventional potty training method & in most cases, quite pathetic, but hey, it's working!

this is her potty chart I created...no laughing: remember I'm a high school teacher and this is as close to bulletin boards as I get!

1st major owie

Last Tuesday ushered in our first major "blood everywhere" owie in Haven's 2 year career...she ran into the family room after dinner (very usual), jumped into her bean bag (extremely usual) which then rolled her forehead square into the stone fireplace...bean bag obviously too close to stone fireplace.

After much blood, wailing, tears...did I mention the blood, Arlan and I decided to take her into the doctor & see if stitches were necessary or maybe just some dermabond glue to stop the bleeding. By the time we arrived at the doctor, she had calmed down and was in her usual fun-loving spirit, demanding her animal friends had owies also. :)

The following pictures were taken Sunday morning & as you can tell, it's really healed nicely.

Friday's Funny-hide & seek