CEC Easter Egg Hunt

Today was the annual Cleburne Eye Clinic Easter Egg Hunt at the park. Although it was very windy, we had a great time hunting Easter eggs and getting to see the Easter Bunny (or as Parker called him, the Easter Rabbit). Parker really enjoyed getting to sit with the Easter Bunny and giving him a high five. Eden, on the other hand, was terrified of him and screamed any time I even took her near him. Addison was in town today and we were excited that she was able to come and join in the fun too.

Our annual picture of Parker and Jewell with the Easter Bunny

Family pic

Giving the Easter Bunny a high five

Addison wanted nothing to do with the Easter Bunny but she had fun hunting Easter eggs

Waiting for the Easter egg hunt to start

Eden hunting for eggs

"Look what I found, Dad!"

Parker and Eden hunting Easter eggsEnjoying one of her candy treats

Spring Break

Another Spring Break has come and gone and I go back to work in the morning. Here is a little recap of what we did this past week.

Sunday was a beautiful day so Cory and I took the kids to the playground after naps. We went to a playground at a local school so we could avoid some of the crowds at the park. It was great. We were the only ones there so the kids had the entire place to themselves.

Playing in the rocks...one of her favorite things to do! Riding on the dinosaur with Mommy

On Monday, Aunt MerMer came into town to spend the day with us. It was another pretty day, so we went to the park to feed the ducks and play.

Early Tuesday morning, Parker woke up with the stomach bug. It wasn't long before I had it too. My mom was out of town, Cory's mom was out of town, and Cory had to work. That left me to care for the kids (one sick and one well) all by myself. It was one of the longest days of my life, but with a lot of help from the Little Einsteins and Mickey Mouse we made it through.

The house was a disaster by the time Cory got home from work that day. There were a few moments during the day when I was so sick, I didn't even know where the kids were in the house and they were able to make some pretty good messes! Cory was such a saint and by bedtime, he had fed the kids, cleaned up the entire house and put them to bed all by himself. I could not have survived without him!

We spent Wednesday and Thursday recovering from the stomach bug and by Friday we were ready for Aunt Emily, Addison and Aubrey to come and play. The kids all played so well together and we really enjoyed their visit.

This weekend has been a lazy one...lots of resting and getting ready to go back to work. I was able to go and have a girl's night out with several of my good friends from college last night, which was a lot of fun.

At dinner last night, an older man at the next table leaned over and asked us, "Do you go to TCU? Are you girls on spring break?"

"No," we replied, "We actually all went to Texas A&M and graduated almost 11 years ago."

I don't know if he was more surprised that we were that old or if we were more surprised that he thought we were that young.

Regardless, I think we all got a pretty good laugh from that one!

I hope that all of you that are finishing up your spring break had a good one. Only 10 more weeks until summer!!!

Happy St. Patrick's Day

from our non-Irish family to yours!

The Ninja Strikes Again

Yesterday morning I was making pancakes for breakfast when Cory walked in and said "Come and look at your daughter." I got a little worried because you just never know what that means around this house!

Apparently I was so into my cooking that I did not hear her sneak into the pantry, get the entire box of dog treats, take them into the playroom and proceed to feed Rocky as many of them as she could until she got caught.

Look at her face...don't you think she's thinking "What? What did I do?"

Check out Rocky licking his chops...he knows just how lucky he was!!

Success!!!

After several days of trying to get Parker "unscared" of the potty by doing a lot of talking and sitting on the potty with our clothes on, Parker has finally been successful!!!

We went today and bought an incentive chart and stickers to help motivate him even more. As you can see, he put three stickers on the chart just this afternoon.

I am so proud of him and am hoping that he will continue to progress with his potty training. Thanks for all of your advice and support. We will keep you updated on our progress.

Baby Steps

With Parker's 3rd birthday quickly approaching, I am spending more and more time thinking about the dreaded task of potty training. I am not sure why I feel so intimidated by it, but for some reason, this is the first parenting issue that has truly been daunting to me.

Unfortunately, Parker is not making it any easier for me. So far, he has shown no interest in potty training. We bought him a potty almost a year ago, have read books about using the potty, and talk about it several times a day. He even knows that he gets a sucker if he is successful. The problem is that every time I ask Parker if he wants to try and use the potty, he starts crying and screaming. This morning he even told Cory that he is scared of the potty. What? That is news to me!

As a result of learning this new piece of information , I decided that our first step is going to have to become less scared of the potty.

So today I let Parker sit on his potty both with and without his diaper on. We were not successful but at least he was not crying and screaming. I would definitely say that it was a step in the right direction. A baby step but at least it was a step.

I would love any advice that any of you moms out there might have about potty training a VERY stubborn and strong willed child. If I don't figure out something soon, I may have the only first grader in the world that is still wearing diapers!!

This picture cracked me up...doesn't he look so much like a man relaxing on the toilet?

Miss Independent

Hey, Mom! I know that you just fed me dinner. I know that I finished an entire grilled cheese sandwich, peas, black beans, and two helpings of oranges...but I'm still a little hungry.

Don't worry, Mom... I know that you are tired and don't want to fix me anything else, so I'll just climb up in this chair all by myself and finish what Parker didn't want of his dinner.

I would hate to be a bother, mom. I am almost 16 months old and I can start doing lots of things all by myself to take some of the burden off of you. Just let me know if there is anything else you need me to do...I'd be more than happy to give it a try!

Conquering the Jungle Gym

There is a section of the playscape at our park that Parker tries to climb every time we take him, but he always stops on the second or third step because he gets too scared. Yesterday, he finally conquered his fears and climbed the entire thing without any help from us. He was so proud of himself and did it over and over again. If you listen closely, you can hear him in the video saying, "I'm not too scared."