Peace Out Diapers

Gavin has been telling me every day for the past few months that Crew needs to wear underwear. He tried for weeks to bring Crew a pair of underwear every time I told Gavin to bring me a pair for him.

G: "Crew wants to wear underwear like me, so I brought him these Thomas underwear. He can wear them, he's a big boy."

Remind me NEVER to take the word of a 3 yr old big brother over my own intuition. I just KNEW I should probably give it more time than it took with Gavin. Gavin wanted to wear underwear at just over 2 yrs old. He wanted to wear them so bad he pretty much potty-trained himself...totally not kidding!

But Crew was not so easy. I blame myself, once again, because I dont think he's ready. But now I am committed! And there's no going back.

We started with a few days of a few pee accidents, but I was diligent and took him to potty about every 12 1/2 minutes. :) He got a sucker for pottying, and started getting the hang of it. When I got him to poop on the potty, I thought we were home free! I was sure it was all going to click! Instead he always told me about 30 seconds too late.

Crew would follow me into the bathroom all day long and tell me "GOOD JOB!" every time I went! He would tell me that I get to have a sucker! And when we would spend 20 minutes or more together while Crew sat on the potty, we sang songs and Crew would tell me stories and have me read books.  But inevitably, every day, at some point in the afternoon, he would sneak away and poop. Or he would get all the way out to the playset to play, then tell me "I POOPY!" And I didn't have the slightest chance to get him all the way inside before he had an accident. He literally waits for the most inopportune moment to NEED to go! It's been a quite a bonding experience for the two of us these past two weeks!

Speaking of 2 weeks, after officially 14 days....WE HAD OUR FIRST ACCIDENT FREE DAY! I thought I won the lottery when I put him to bed a few minutes ago and hadn't had a single pair of underwear on the sanitary cycle in the washer! (TMI?....sorry)

This cute little booty is on it's way to rocking underwear like a champ! And I won't be sad to say goodbye to diapers forever! 

Summer Here We Come!

The boys just finished their last day at Mother's Day Out for the school year, and I just had to snap some pics of their cuteness! Each year they perform a few songs or a verse for all the parents, and then we have a small party in their rooms afterwards. Gavin did great singing all the songs with his class, and spent the entire time smiling and singing just for his Mommy! It was so precious. Crew, on the other hand, didn't do so well. He saw me and immediately wanted to come down the stairs to sit with me instead of performing. When he found out he had to stay put, he started crying, and crying, and continued crying until the performance was over! It was sad and cute at the same time. He just loves his Mommy too. :)

Gavin: Over this past year at school, Gavin has learned so much! He now knows the pledge of allegiance, and several bible verses. He's come home countless times telling me stories from the bible, and also recognizes his letters and numbers pretty well. We're working on writing at home, although I know they started working on that at school this year too. We've got a ways to go, but he is seriously excelling so much with everything he's learning.

Crew: Crew was already a talker before he went to school. He's learned some songs and loves to sing every day. He loves to pray each night for all his family members, including Lexi. I honestly think he was the life of the class because he is so loud and bossy! His teachers loved him so much and always had funny stories of Crew's day to tell me when I picked him up!

Precious

Viva Mexico!

For years, Megan and I have talked about taking a fun vacation together. It never really works out when you both have kids and lives and plans of your own. But last fall we FINALLY locked ourselves into a long weekend beach trip! May 1-4th, we spent at the Secrets Aura in Cozumel. The weather was beautiful and we truly enjoyed it! Megan and I even went Parasailing one day, which we will never do again! Being up in the air with only a rope holding you to the boat, and crazy winds blowing us sideways was enough to make us think twice before ever thinking about something like that again! While we were away, our family was participating in the Great Strides Cystic Fibrosis Walk, so on Saturday morning, the four of us woke up and put on our "Emery's Angels" shirts and "walked" from afar! 

The boys got to spend some much needed quality time with their Nana and Papa. Ray and Debbie were so nice to make a trip home just to hang out with the boys for the weekend! And they had a blast! They spend the majority of the weekend outside and totally not missing us! Thanks to Nana and Papa for being so wonderful! 

 It was a perfect weekend to get away with great friends and we can't wait to do it again soon! Now if only we had planned it for 5 days instead of 4! 

We have arrived! 

Our favorite person Adrian and his girlfriend

Lexi's Milestone Bday

This April 1st marks Lexi's 10th birthday! I can't believe this girl has been with me for 10 years. She is absolutely, hands down, no exceptions....THE BEST DOG! She never barks unless there's someone at the door. She never chews or runs away. She's never snapped at either of the boys, no matter how many times they've fallen on top of her, stepped on her, used her as a personal stepstool, or used her as a drum for their entertainment. 

She loves to be wherever we are, and loves to follow the boys as they drive around in their car. If I sit anywhere, she's never more than a foot away, and she never tires of following room to room so that she can be near me. She's traveled to New York and lived there with Eric and I for a year when we got married, she's been through hell and back on an airplane in the cargo pit. I still remember picking her up in Dallas after our flight from New York and she had no voice because the meds we gave her to calm her down hadn't worked and she spent the entire flight crying. :( 

As old as she is now, if we go in the backyard, she runs straight for a ball or a frisbee for us to throw for her. And she'll fetch until she literally collapses. I have never had a better dog and I don't know what I'll do when she's gone, but for now, I know she's living her life to the fullest and loving her family unconditionally! 

Love you Bun! Here's to 10 more with you. :)

Easter Fun 2014

We had a great Easter with the boys and family this year. Each year they get more and more into the fun of the holidays, which makes it much more entertaining.

School pics

 Easter Egg Hunt at school

Gavin and Jordan

 Easter morning we got up and the boys were so excited to see how nice the Easter bunny was to them! Nana and Papa had sent some special things for the boys, so we included them in their gifts and their baskets.

This year, we spent Easter morning at church with my Dad and the Blackburns. We go to LifeChurch and I have never found a church more inviting, more moving, and more inspiring than LifeChurch. The kids love it and we have conversations about God and what they learned in their class more regularly since we started going.

After church, we headed to Mom's house to have lunch and hunt eggs with more family. The kids had so much fun hunting eggs and playing with all the fun things Grandma put in their Easter baskets. They even re-hid the eggs another 10 times so they could keep having easter egg hunts. It was so cute!

Peeking at the eggs! 

So many goodies from Grandma and Bill! Spoiled kiddos

Happy Easter everyone! 

Gardening Adventures Take 5

How many years in a row have I posted gardening pics? And if you haven't noticed, I only post the pics when they are newly planted. Pretty pots and mailbox flowers, and last year I even posted about my attempt at a watermelon harvest. In my defense, I didn't know the watermelon plant was going to trail 15 feet down the yard and I had three of them! 

Every year I ATTEMPT a garden and fail miserably. But this year....oh this year Im not going to fail! Ive pulled out all the stops and Im recruiting any and every website source, and mostly any family member crazy enough to monitor my progress! And even though Ive wasted countless dollars on the plants I kill, I somehow talked Eric into investing in a raised garden bed, and an herb garden planter. He must love me alot! 

We built it, mostly Eric

We removed the sod from the area...I mean Eric

Prepared it for dirt

E and Gavin filled it with dirt

And I took pictures along the way

See what I mean? Im working HARD to make this garden a success and I WILL grow vegetables and herbs like you can't imagine! 

Here's a quick pic of my herb garden when I planted a little over a month ago and it's progress after about 3 weeks! I can't wait to post updated pics of the garden progress and I now I will have to hold myself accountable!