I Love This Little Girl

Alivia- "Sissy, I came over because I want to clean."

Me- "You want to clean?"

Alivia- "Ya, I'm going to clean the boys room."

Me- "The boys are downstairs playing, don't you want to play with them?"

Alivia- "No, I want to clean."

The next thing she did was went back and started picking up their toys. I laughed to myself, but didn't try and stop her. She wanted to clean. The funnest part about this is that she does it all the time. She loves to clean. Shelley's got her trained well. I can only hope that one day my boys will follow Alivia's example. Thank you Alivia! I love you so much, and you're always welcome to come and clean, or play at my house.

The Great Escape

The beginning of September has been so nice. The weather's been cooler, the days have been beautiful, and I've loved light breezes. So with all the greatness, I started opening my windows to keep the house cool, and let refreshing outside in. Little did I know, but the boys thought having the windows open was even better than I did. I started cleaning up dinner and the boys were running around in the house playing. After a little while, I noticed it had gotten really quiet. So I immediately go to see what mischief they had gotten into. They weren't in their room, or the family room, which left the only room in the house that I hate them playing in. The computer room/front room. Well, they weren't in there either. They weren't in the house at all. The two little rascals pushed out the screen from one of the windows in the front room and crawled out. Kelly and I headed out to find them. We found the cat stuck on the post of the porch, and our two little boys playing in the sandbox, still with their bibs on from dinner. They are getting so smart and I am definitely going to have to stay on my toes with them. I can't believe some of the things they are starting to do. It's so much fun to watch them grow, and learn. Even when it's mischievous things like this. At least it makes me smile and laugh. Sometimes, I can't wait to see what they'll do next... or can I?!?!?!?

Potty Training. . .

Oh my gosh! How in the world anyone potty trains their little ones is beyond me. Lately Carter has started taking off his diaper every time he poops, and then chucks it. Disgusting, to say the least. Well because of this, we thought they might be ready to start potty training. So I went and bought 70 pairs of underwear. Everyone that I talked to about it told me to buy enough underwear to last each of the boys one week. So at 5 accidents per day, per boy for 7 days in a week, I came up with the 70. Shocking I know! I usually do all my laundry one day a week though, so it does make sense to me. Anyway, the next day (August 28th) I got the boys out of bed and took them into the bathroom and had them sit on the potty. Neither of them went after sitting there for about 10 minutes, so I decided I'd go get their underwear and put them on them, and try again in 10 minutes. Well, I didn't even get back to the bathroom with the underwear before Carter had walked out into the hallway and peed on my floor. Ugh!! So I cleaned that up and put their underwear on. They thought it was fun, and they looked so cute and grown up in them. I set my timer for 15 minutes and took them back in when it went off. Carter dribbled a little and still nothing from Landon. So I re-set the timer and minutes later Landon came to me wet. After this one accident, it was all down hill. From the time they got out of bed around 8 in the morning, until 1 in the afternoon, we'd had a total of 13 accidents. Two of which were dirty ones... eewwww... grossss... sick! At that point I was done. I put them back in diapers, and pulled out the masking tape, and taped Carter's and Landon's diapers so they couldn't get to the tabs. We haven't tried potty training again, and I have no intentions until they are closer to age 3. And thankfully the tape has worked thus far. No more poo flinging in my house! Hooray! For those of you who have successfully potty trained your kids, my hat goes off to you. I don't even want to think about it again, though I know at some point I'll have to.

Welcome Home Uncle Greg

Kelly's youngest brother, spent the summer in New Jersey selling security systems. He had some great success, and we are all so proud of him. He got home a week after we returned from New York, and so we celebrated. Kris Anne and her family, and Neil, Sharee and Evelyn, and Michael all came over to see Greg and help us welcome him home.

I made his favorite dinner, enchiladas, a yummy green bean dish, rice and beans and chips, salsa and guacamole. For dessert we had angel food cake with fresh berries and strawberry sauce. I even made home made whipped cream for the first time in my life. It was delicious!!!

Afterwards, we all sat around and talked and got caught up. We had so much fun, and are so happy that we have Greg home with us now. Congratulations once again Greg on a successful summer, and don't ever do it again. We missed you too much!! Love you.

Tormenting

I don't know what it is about tormenting Kelly... but I LOVE IT! Isn't that awful. He absolutely hates it of course, and gets unbelievably mad a me most of the time. Yet I still do it, all the time. I do all things to him, trickling is the worst. He hates to be tickled more than anything in the world. He's so ticklish that if you even pretend to start tickling him he'll be having fits acting like you already are. It's hysterical! To me anyway!! He hates having people whisper in his ear, like you see here. This is a common face you'd see him have whether it's tickling or whispering. Do any of you do this to your husbands, or am I just mean? Either way, I don't know that I'll ever stop doing it. It's too much fun and way to funny to stop. Sorry Kelly! I still love you more than anything in this world.

New York

In August, Kelly and I took a trip to New York with my family. We left the boys with friends and family for five days and headed to the big apple. It was the first time for me, and I loved every bit of it. We of course did all the normal sight seeing. Ground Zero, the Empire State Building, Statue of Liberty, Central Park, Rockefeller Center, Grand Central Station, China Town, and so much more. We stayed in an apartment we rented out just a couple blocks away from the heart of Times Square. The apartment wasn't so great, but the location couldn't have been better.

The highlights of the trip for Kelly all involved the Yankees. He was able to walk through Monument Park and see the plaques of all the Yankee greats. He loved it! The new stadium is under construction, and almost complete, so this was the last year of the fabled stadium. We all went to a Friday night game and then the guys went to a Saturday afternoon game. It was a dream come true for Kelly to be able to see the Yankees play in the stadium before the switch. I too enjoyed the game, except for the hour rain delay. It was miserable!

The highlights of the trip for me were the two Broadway plays we were able to see. Before we left one of Kelly's co-workers told us about lotteries the theaters do for tickets. You arrive 2 hours before the show starts and put your name in a hat, and then they draw out 13 (or so) names. If your name is drawn you get to purchase two tickets for $26.50 each.

We decided to try this for Wicked. When we got to the theater there were so many people there waiting already, but we waited and put our names in the hat. When it came time to draw the names, the guy came out and said that there were about 200 names, and they would be drawing 13 names. I was ready to leave thinking of how small our chances were. I'm sure glad we didn't. Kelly's name was the second to last one drawn. We ended up getting to see Wicked at the Gershwin Theatre on the front row. It was AMAZING!! I absolutely loved it! It was one of the best plays I've seen, and I can't wait to see it again. Kerry Ellis played Elphaba, the Wicked Witch of the West, and was unbelievable. I was teary eyed by her performance. I never imagined that I would have been moved like I was. It just goes to show how good it really is.

I was also able to go and see Legally Blonde on Broadway with my Mom, Morgan and Shantelle. We had so much fun. We all went and saw it while the guys went to the second Yankees game. The play was hysterical, and so well done. I loved the music and the cast. It was even more fun for me, because I'd watched the casting of Elle Woods on MTV, and getting to see Bailey Hanks (the winner) was so much fun. I loved her!

The day we went to China Town was a little unfortunate. We were looking for some "purses" and had been pulled into a little secret room to view them when one of the little shop owners rushed in and started speaking really fast. They started pushing us out of the room and ripping things out of our hands. We couldn't figure out what was going on. They were furiously pulling things in from outside and closing up as fast as could be. It was so insane! We shortly found out that undercover cops had started raiding the shops looking for illegal merchandise. It was unreal. I seriously think that half of China town shut down in five minutes or less. People passing by were telling us to wait and come back tomorrow. We wouldn't find anything we wanted. I couldn't believe it!

This trip was a blast, and I can't wait to go back. Thanks Mom and Dad for making it possible for us to go on this trip. We love you!

Here are more pics...