An Early Christmas Celebration

The holidays are always very busy for every family.  Since Hannah was born, we started traveling to Wisconsin for Thanksgiving so we could be at our house for Christmas.  Then, Tim's mom and dad and sister's family try to come down after Christmas for Hannah's birthday and we can celebrate Christmas then.  This year, Tim's mom and dad will be with us in Disney right after Christmas and his sister and her family are not able to go.  So, Thanksgiving was the only time we would all be together.  We decided to kick off Thanksgiving weekend with a little early Christmas.   I'm thankful for flexibility Tim's family shows during the holidays.  It really doesn't matter when we celebrate, as long as we are able to do it all together.  We had a great time celebrating Christmas while we were in Wisconsin.  We had an nice meal, reflected on the birth of our Savior, and opened some fun presents.  This year, we asked the grandparents to do the four gift rule -- something the kids want, something they need, something to wear, and something to read.  It was fun finding these items and nice way to keep Christmas somewhat low key.  We capped off the night with a cute cousin picture in matching Christmas jammies.  These kids had so much fun together!  It's so fun to see them interact and play and I know the fun times are just beginning.  I'd say our first Christmas celebration was a success!

Our Little Pilgrim Girl

Every year, Hannah's preschool puts on a family Thanksgiving dinner complete with turkey, stuffing, sides provided by each family and a little program all the kids participate in.  The 3-year old classes are always the Indians and the 4-year olds are the pilgrims.  I remember last year, she tried to sing a long, but still had some trouble putting so many words together and being able to remember all of them.  This year, she was an old pro and sang right along with everyone else.  I'm so proud of how much her speech has come in the last couple of years!  Here is our sweet pilgrim girl singing along with her classmates.

After the program is over, the children join their parents for a yummy potluck Thanksgiving dinner.  We sat by our good friends the Grindstaffs so Hannah could sit by one of her best friends, Jackson.

I love this tradition Zion does every year.  It's a great way to get together and celebrate Thanksgiving.  I can't wait for Cameron to do it next year.

Potty Training Encore

Early in the summer, we had a free weekend and decided to give potty training a go.  I knew once we got into summer more, it would be hard to carve out four days at home.  So, while I was at a week long class, Tim was going to take on the task...and it lasted two miserable days!  At one point, Tim sent me a video of Cameron screaming and crying at the top of his lungs while sitting on the potty.  At the end of day two, Cameron had ZERO successes and lots of accidents.  As day three approached, we had a basement incident that (sadly) put potty training on hold.  

As I looked at the calendar, I knew Veteran's Day weekend would be our only long weekend until at least January because of traveling for the holidays and going to Disney over Christmas.  We cleared our schedules to make sure someone could be home with Cameron from Friday until Monday so we could give it a go.  

Tim had the first shift on Friday.  We had a potty, step stool, candy rewards, 

 and lots and lots of undies!

We also had a pretty happy boy!  Here goes nothing!!!

Friday was a HUGE success!  With the timer set every twenty minutes, Cameron had 6 successes and 1 accident (which came late in the day) ALL DAY!!!  It was a complete turn around from our June attempt.  We trudged on through the weekend.  We stayed home pretty much all weekend so we could devote all of it to the task.  By Monday, we were still setting the timer for every 30-45 minutes and only had 2 or so accidents a day.  It was an awesome start to potty training.  He was really getting the hang of it!

On Tuesday, he was off to Ms. Amy's in big boy undies.  I checked in periodically and he had ZERO accidents all day and woke up from nap dry!  The same happened  Wednesday including another dry nap.  He even started telling Ms. Amy when he had to go!  By Thursday, she kept him in undies for nap time.  He woke up dry again and did the same today.  He still hasn't gone number 2, but I'd say we are about 95% there on number 1.

Cameron has done so well with this and I'm so proud of him!  Hannah's experience went fairly well, but this was almost too easy!  We are now going to focus on the "other."  Way to go Cam-man!  We are so proud of you!!!

Hard Work=Build a Bear Treat!

A few weeks ago, we were at the mall when we ran into our friends, the Speaks'.  Hannah's BFF Emma was getting a new Build-a-Bear she earned for doing some morning chores.  Hannah spotted a rainbow bear and was pretty bummed she couldn't get it that day.  We made a deal with her and gave her a chance to earn her own bear.  We decided that Hannah needed to get dressed, make her bed, and brush her teeth for ten days and she could earn her own bear.  It took about three weeks, but she finally filled up her sticker chart for her bear!

While Tim was home with Cameron, Hannah and I had a date to the mall for her to get her new bear.  She still very much wanted the rainbow one, so that is what we got.  First she had to help the girl stuff her bear.

Then, once it was all stuffed and sewed up, she gave the bear a bath to rinse off any extra fuzz.

 When we were all done, we stopped at Auntie Ann's pretzels for an afternoon snack.

Hannah really loves her new bear, named Rainbow, of course!  If she wants clothes, she needs ten more stickers.  We will see how long it takes her to get those!  This was Hannah's first experience of a sticker chart to earn something.  It seemed to work well and I'm proud of her for working hard to get her bear.

Happy Birthday, Daddy!

Today is Tim's 32 birthday!  Although we both had to work and it was a fairly normal day, we did a few things to make it special.  Tim chose one of his favorite meals for dinner, baked spaghetti.  Hannah also picked out a carrot cake to make Daddy for his birthday.  We worked on it after school and she had fun helping me.  We are so thankful for Tim and the blessing he is to our family.  He is a wonderful husband, father, and friend to so many.  Happy Birthday, Timmy!  We love you!

Open Wide!

Hannah has been to the dentist with me a few different times, but today was her first official visit.  I was  afraid she would be nervous, but she did a fabulous job.  First, the hygienist showed Hannah her tools and let her feel the polisher on her finger.

Then, Hannah opened wide and let her clean and polish her teeth.  Dr. Mike came in at the end and took a final look.  He said everything looked great!  So proud of our big girl!

The Fabulous Fox Theater

One of the activities our family loves is live theater.  I remember going to many different live productions as a child, whether it be at the local high school, the Muny, the Fox, or anything in between.  Tim also enjoys the theater and we have been able to have season tickets to the Fox a few different times.  This past summer, we noticed that Beauty and the Beast was coming to the Fox.  After talking with my mom and dad and Tim, we decided to get tickets and take Hannah to her first live show.  It was so much fun!  She sat pretty well and especially loved when Belle came out in her pretty dress.  We had such a fun time introducing Hannah to the Fox with this classic tale.  I can't wait to share this love with her many more times in the future.