Tidbits from Virginia

If you don't have children, you are sick of hearing about moms talk on and on about potty training. And if you do have children who have been or are being potty trained, you know why we talk about it so much. So. . .here I go. Ryan is doing great, much better than I ever expected. He has not had a single accident in 4 days. So what do I do today? I put him in big boy pants and take him to Kohls 0.3 miles away to quickly return and purchase something. What does the boy do? Pee on the carpet of Kohls' shoe department (for those of you in NC, do not fear, this happened in Virginia :)). Back to training pants. And here's a story from last Saturday. . .we were out and about much longer than anticipated. After lunch, I took Ryan and Madeline to the bathroom with me. I had to go very badly, so I went first and then I put Ryan on to see if he had to go (I did not flush before putting Ryan on). Guess who fell in (hint, it was neither Madeline nor I)? Here we are 20 minutes from home at a mall and Ryan is soaking wet. Thankfully, it was very hot last Saturday, so he quickly dried in the sun and we then headed home.

Since we are in Virginia accompanying Matt on a business trip, Matt's mom took the children for the afternoon and overnight on Sunday so that Matt and I could have a whole evening to ourselves at Matt's hotel. It was WONDERFUL!!!!! We went to the gym together and then met our best friends, Bobby and Lanie for dinner. Afterwards, we shared a large Mint Oreo Blizzard from DQ and sat outside talking with Bobby and Lanie for at least an hour. The next morning we awoke at 4:50, headed to the gym, and then had a wonderful breakfast while reading the paper. It was SO refreshing and we cannot wait to do it again.

Yesterday we headed to Ashburn for a visit with Aunt Christie and cousin Zack. Of course everyone was a little shy at first, but within an hour all the children were playing like best buds...to be continued!

Tidbits

Daddy is off to Virginia Beach and we will miss him, but we will have fun.  Hopefully Daddy will get to visit Katie Carlin (oops, that's not her last name anymore) and her new husband. Yes, we are getting old.  The teenagers that were in the youth group when we were involved are now getting married and having babies!!!  I'm bummed not to make the visit, but Madeline has ballet lessons through January.  

Madeline has a new cute saying when she's bummed about something.  She tells me that she learned it from Jackson in our basement.  Is this true, Courtney?  She says, "Oh man, chickadees".  And now Ryan is saying it too.  Perhaps it will be in Webster's in a few years!

My hope in this blog is to print it out and keep the entries in a notebook for you both to read one day.  Thus, I thought it was only fair to include this picture.  Yes, Mommy confesses, while you watch your shows I often take naps.  When I awake I often find myself singing, "Hey Hey it's Jo Jo's Circus" or "Super Wwwwwwhy, Super Why", and a myriad of other "special" songs.  I don't know what moms did before Playhouse Disney.  I'm sure they were just really tired all the time. :)

Ryan and Tyler sit with a skeleton at the Life Science Museum.

My little climber girl climbed on the top of a tunnel just like she watched her friend Tyler do.

Why is it so hard to get four children to sit still for a picture? :)

Yes, this is the best picture I could get of Ryan and Jackson.  Why, do you ask?  Because they do not sit still when they are together!  They are a great match when it comes to levels of activity.  Unfortunately, I think they draw out the crazy, active sides of each other.  Only moms of boys can understand this.  To others this type of activity might be observed as out of control.  To those of us with little boys, we know that it is just our boys having some good old fun.  And we love it because it usually means a good nap is on the way!  Though I sometimes get overwhelmed by the volume of sound these boys produce, I love watching them play.  They just seem to understand each other, loving to wrestle and be physical.  At church a couple weeks ago,  I observed a sweet friendship moment between them.  They were at the train table, standing in front of each other, pumping their arms up and down in a mirrored fashion.  Ryan accidentally hit Jackson in the face.  Jackson said, "ouch" and Ryan said, "I sorry".  Jackson then said, "It's okay", and they continued to play (until the donuts came out, of course).  Cute, cute, cute.  And yes, that was the same Sunday we momentarily lost Ryan and Jackson only to find them playing in the back of a vacant room.