Nate is potty trained!!!!

Sing with me now:

He's a Super Duper Pooper!

He can potty with the best.

No more diapers to get in his way,

I bet you are impressed!

He's a Super Duper Pooper!

He knows when he has to go.

Take a bow,

He's a big kid now,

He's the best pooper that you know!

A little over the top?  No way!  We have been waiting for this moment for quite a while now, and our hearts are soaring with pride!!!  Nate has been pee trained for about a month now.  He was just afraid to make a BM in the potty.  On Sunday this week he had a bit of the runs.   He literally accidentally pooped in the potty.  That was all he needed to realize that pooping was not a scary thing.  I promised him I would take him shopping right away if he went poopy.  He held me to that, and we ran to Target at 7:45 pm on a Sunday night.  He picked out a big car that moves and makes lots of noises.  He had one poopy accident the morning after and I took his car away.  He was so upset by this that he finally decided that pooping in the potty isn't so bad after all.  He has been dry and in underwear ever since!  YAY!!!!  I realize he is getting bigger before our eyes, but this is one milestone I am not at all emotional about.  I am so happy to kiss those diapers goodbye!!! Woo hoo!

Thanksgiving 2012

On the weekend before Thanksgiving we headed up to the cabin for a pre-Thanksgiving celebration with my parents.  We had such a great time!  We left early Saturday morning and arrived in time for lunch.  We ate out and then my Mom and I dropped the men off at the house, and we went back out to do some shopping!  We had such a great time!
With the help of the men, we made it back in time to piece together a Thanksgiving feast!  We stayed up late talking and playing with the boys.
In the morning, my Mom made us a very filling brunch  and she painted my nails! :)  We set off by noon, and were home by 4:00pm.

 ET and Grandpa breaking the wishbone!

 Of course ET won. :)

Jay and I worked for two days and then we were off until the following Monday.  We left on Thanksgiving morning and headed over to Jay's Grandma's place for an incredible Thanksgiving meal!  Everything was homemade and wonderful!  We left around 3:00, and then headed over to my Aunt Diane's house for the remainder of the evening.  We did not get home until almost 9 pm.  It was a busy day, but time well spent!  I am so bummed I forgot my camera, so I was not able to capture any memories!  We had a wonderful Thanksgiving Day celebrating family and God's abundant love!

A brief update on ET...

ET has been doing great at school!  According to him, a girl at school wants to marry him!  Her name is Lilly and I guess she even kissed him on his shoulder once.  I try not to pay too much attention to it because I really don't want him focusing on it so much, but he fills me in with little details every so often.

ET still plans on moving to Mars when he is a grown-up so that he can fight bad guys with the Star Wars people.  Apparently, "those people" really do exist on Mars!  He promises to come back and visit us from time to time though.  Phew!

ET has been taking enormous strides on the piano lately!  He knocked the socks off his teacher last week by learning three new songs!  She gave him a Christmas piano book as a reward!  He fights us tooth and nail when it is time to sit down for a lesson, but he is bursting with pride when he gets through it.   

ET started basketball!!!  He is built for the game, but he still has a lot to learn.  He is very motivated and very competitive, so we believe he will learn fast.

Preschool Halloween Party!

I took a lot of time planning the activities for the preschool Halloween party this year.  We celebrated Halloween on November 1st because I had the day before off of work.  I was a little emotional that ET wouldn't be with us this year.  I told him this, and he replied with, "Don't worry Mom, we can play fun stuff when I get home from school."  He is such an incredible kid!

Here are the pics from our party...

Group picture!

 We started out with a couple projects.  I read the book, Pumpkin Jack and we placed pumpkin growth pictures in sequential order.

 Our next book was, Where's My Mummy?  We completed a marshmallow mummy craft/writing activity...

 Next I set up all the GAMES!  Here is throw the spider at the web and get it to stick...

 Vacuum suck the pumpkin seeds with a Halloween straw and transfer them to the other plate...

 Balloon games!  Catch the balloon with the Halloween cup!

 Bowling...

 Toss the glow necklace on the witches hat...

 

 Toss the bean bags in the jack-o-lantern buckets...

 Book, Go Away Big Green Monster with felt activity...

 Licorice eating contest!  Hands behind your back, first one to gobble it up wins! :)

  Halloween board game with dice...

 

 Pumpkin Pie Play-dough...

 Sensory bucket with dried corn, beans, tweezers, magnifying glasses and other Halloween trinkets...

 Lot's of dancing!!!

 Candy corn colored lunch! 

 Peter, Peter, Pumpkin Eater?  We found the rhyming words in this poem.  Do you like pumpkin flavored foods?  Stand on the pumpkin with the "yes" or the "no."

 Emmett's home from school!  Pumpkin pie for snack!

 Coordinating costumes...Police officers!

 Homemade duck and monkey...

Watch out!  The tigers are out!

 POUNDING PUMPKINS!!!  This was so much fun for the kids!  They took turns pounding golf tees into pumpkins to make a polka-dot pumpkin.

 Sticker face Jack-o-lanterns!

 We made a lot of lasting memories for Halloween 2012!

Halloween 10/31...

We attended the Fall Harvest party at our church on Saturday, October 27.  It was a small turnout for this year, but I know the kids still had a lot of fun.  ET especially loved playing the game where he threw real darts at the balloons to pop them.  I think Nate enjoyed trick-o-treating in the Sanctuary.  He looked confused at first, but very happy that everyone was giving him tons of candy!

I ended up taking off from work on Halloween day to help out at ET's school.  They had a big costume parade and classroom party.  Luckily Grandma Darlyn was able to come over and watch Nate while I was at school.  I enjoyed myself so much!!  This is my second time being able to help out in the classroom, and I loved it!

 We went out to dinner and then went trick-or-treating.  It was a fun night!  Nate walked about half of the way and then needed a break in the wagon. 

This year the both boys chose their own costumes.  ET chose to be a police officer and he requested a pair of real handcuffs.  I really wanted the boys in coordinating costumes so I suggested Nate to be the jailbird.  However, I asked Nate out of curiosity one day what he wanted to be and he instantly replied with, "Eddie, the cat!"  He asked for an Eddie costume everyday after until it was shipped.  The boys have dressed and played in their costumes almost everyday for nearly a month now!