The latest

We've been teaching the kids to share. Because sharing is good. Except in the case of germs. Which the kids have been obediently sharing. *sigh*

The cold bug took out Scott toward the end of last week, and it got me today. Hopefully the sickness and sniveling is over. The boys remain largely unscathed. Claire has a lingering cough that's been around since Conan got jipped at NBC.

And now, as the clock turns past 1 am, I can't sleep. So I thought I'd burn a little time on the computer with the hopes that it would make me sleepy. It's not working yet, but there's always Craig's List to peruse.

Good night and don't let the bed bugs bite (what a yucky thought).

A Joke to Lighten Your Day

Courtesy of Cade:


Q: What kind of bus do shapes ride on?









Wait for it...



Wait for it...




A: A rhombus.

Snow Days

So I'm sure you've heard or experienced the epic snow storm we had last Thursday in Texas. So much snow in a day! And boy did we have fun.

I walked to get Cade from school Thursday afternoon, and on the way home, we made ginormous snowballs, had snowball fights with his friends, and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.

The boys spend a little time outside on Friday since school was closed. Here are the obligatory snow pictures from their frolic outside.


Cade built a little snowman...



Cade & Jack threw some snowballs at each other...



Cade layed down in the snow... not to make a snow angel... but just to lay down.



Cade slid down the slide on the swingset which had snow MOUNDED on it...



Jack enjoyed throwing snowballs at the fence. I'm sure the fence deserved it...



Cade then threatened to throw a snowball at me...

Update on the Potty Party

So it's been a week and a half since I first started potty training Claire. And I have to say, she's doing a GREAT job. She's had very few accidents and happily sits in her little potty when asked to. She's not telling us yet when she needs to go, so we're going by the clock and when she starts to do the unmistakable wiggle. So far so good! She's even going potty at school and at church (they both of little real potties that are low to the ground)! YEA! Two kids down, one to go.

Jack is going to be a whole other animal. Thankfully, Scott is sparing me that job and will be taking off two days to make a four day weekend of potty training H*E*L*L. I wish him well and will be praying for success. But I'm not too optimistic. The physical delays, the sensory issues, the weak core muscles... well, let's just say I'm not expecting too much. But Jack's got to be potty trained to go to kindergarten in the Fall. And I want him to go to kindergarten in the Fall!

Casa Nueva

It has snowed cats and dogs today (is that even a correct way to use that phrase?!?). At least 4 inches and counting. Despite the weather, Mom and I ventured over to the new house today to do some work. I snapped a few pics of the house while it was snowing. I love snow!

playing with the template

I'm playing around with the template... excuse my dust. I don't have a server to upload and preview my blog before it goes live. So you're seeing the behind the scenes adjustments that need to be made. :0

Not so much a party...more like a boring work meeting

Here's the update on the great adventure of potty training Claire. Bottom line (pun intended): it's going OK. Yesterday she didn't have any accidents. SUCCESS! But we were also preemptively putting her on the potty in anticipation of something happening. Today, I'm going to try and let her continue to let us know when she needs to go.

This whole process is just sooooo slow, tedious (it's like you're walking on pins & needles, waiting for a bomb to go off any moment), and boring. Probably much like the conference calls Scott is on all day at work! (shout out to any of Scott's co-workers reading this). I've watched enough children's programming for a lifetime. If I hear the Wonder Pets theme song one more time, I'm going to run through the neighborhood naked. Well, maybe I won't do that. I might just leave the room instead. It seems to be a much more rational reaction than my first idea.

Other than having Claire master telling us when she needs to go, the next phase in this process will be to transition her from the little portable potty to the big potty. She looks so tiny on the big potty that I'm afraid she's going to fall in! Alas, she'll still need to learn to go on the big potty if we want to ever leave the house again. And I'd like to leave the house again. I'm going a little stir crazy.

That's enough potty talk for now. Scott took the boys to "camp out" at the new house last night. They got a pizza and went to the new house, took showers, played, and watched a movie while in their sleeping bags. I'm anxious to hear how they slept (or didn't sleep).

Nicole. Out.

It's a Party on the Potty!

Tomorrow I will attempt to potty training Claire. I'm holding her back from school so there won't be any other distractions (read: children) here at the house, and we can concentrate on the business at hand. I'm sure hoping that things go better with her than they have with Jack. I'm a little nervous about tomorrow. I think she's ready, and she's pretty sharp. So hopefully I will have worried for nothing. And hopefully seeing Claire going potty will make older brother Jack want to get out of his "diaper pants" (that phrase always makes our children giggle).

*sigh*

I wish there was someone you could hire to potty train your children. Maybe I've just stumbled on a niche market (for someone else to take advantage of, obviously)...

A Must Have Office Supply

I received an Oriental Trading Company catalog in the mail today. I leafed through it, about to throw it away, when I discovered a jewel of a find: the nose pencil sharpener.


If my Daddy were still alive, I'd buy this for him in a heartbeat. Beautiful.