The Potty Fish

When Abby was potty training the end reward was a "Potty Fish" and that is how we had Nemo for about 2 years. Now Megan has finally earned her "Potty Fish". We'd like to introduce you to our newest family member.....Sweetheart.


Sweetheart is a girl fish of course, she is hiding behind her friend Nemo in the bowl photo. It's actually Sweetheart II - Sweetheart I didn't make it through nap time. Apparently they should only stay in those bags you get them from the pet store for 1-2 hours - who knew? But Abby and Tim made an emergency replacement run while Megan was still napping/occupied and she didn't notice the difference. Abby has done her part to keep the secret also....for now.


Here is Megan having breakfast with Sweetheart this morning. It's her job to feed Sweetheart every morning. She still thinks that Sweetheart will eat/bite her for some reason or has teeth. She's slowly figuring out that she will stay in the bowl, but still likes us to stay close while she is watching her.

So we are pretty proud of Megan's accomplishments and are enjoying not having to buy diapers/pull ups anymore. She is fully enjoying her "big girl panties" and is always asking for more as she thinks she should have ones that match every outfit she wears. She even told us to put away the potty seat this weekend because she was a big girl and could go potty like Daddy/Abby. So we are very happy, and it was a nice celebration to buy Sweetheart.


And of course the Easter Bunny. We did not take (force is probably the better word) the trip to Bass Pro. We were grocery shopping after church on Sunday and the Easter Bunny was there all ready for pictures. Abby hopped right up. Megan even touched his hand before he moved and she freaked out and ran away crying. So Abby got the photo with the bunny and Megan continued her look out for the Easter Bunny the rest of the morning. He was not at Michael's or at PetSmart which she was very happy about.


Our continued quest is to start to get ready for #3. I am finally officially moving Megan into Abby's room. She has been sleeping in the bunk beds for quite a while but her clothes were still in the other room. So the process of moving her clothes into the closet/drawers - upgrading to the next size clothes/putting winter clothes away since it's practically summer.....has started. Wasn't exactly the easy project I thought it would be as these girls have a lot of stuff to put in one room and one closet! So Tim put in a new shelf to help with storage - which was the first thing on my 2 page pre-baby list that got crossed off, so that was a small win in my book. Now I just need to finish the rest. I'm hoping by mid week to have it done at the latest. Abby is having a hard time parting with clothes that were her favorite - especially when Megan is wearing her summer clothes from last year. There were tears, and a plea to try them on to see if they still fit to keep them for this year. It's going to be fun. I can't wait until they are the same size and get to fight over clothes daily. They are going to need a bigger closet......

St. Pat's Survived

Another St. Pat's has come and gone and as I have taken a vacation day to recover and finish the cleaning - or surveying the damage - depending on the room I am cleaning I've had some time to reflect on some of the weekend's highlights. As I am finding some 2nd day discoveries behind toilets I am cursing a few of those highlights. Right now I am just thankful for Lysol......
I didn't take any pictures which I wish I would have as it was an entertaining weekend. Some tried to reclaim some of their former college glory days and others came up with a few new surprises. But here are a couple of the highlights:

• Boat races in the garage
• Summer weather and being outside most of the weekend
• 45 minute french fries
• Boat races again after midnight....
  
• Scandalous
  
• I need a portal
• My muscles hurt.....
• If the trailer is a rockin......or am I rocking, maybe it's the wind?
• Text pick/hook ups at bars
• 3 Man
• Forgetting the rules to 3-Man and making up a few new ones
  
• Scott not speaking English after 30 minutes of 3-Man
  
• Is this Hangover 2? No - it's Bridesmaids
• Filthy stinky aromas - not exactly a highlight but present every night, morning, and afternoon. You shouldn't be able to clear out of driveway with your stink if you are outside but our friends are just that skilled.

So as I wait for the carpet cleaner to show up I am thankful that everyone made it home safely and had a good time. And we survived yet another St. Pat's, and continue to enjoy our version of the "Best Ever".

Abby's First Father Daughter Dance

This past Friday night was the Auxvasse Elementary Father Daughter Dance and we found out that Preschoolers could attend as well. So there was a purchase of a dress that twirls and jewelry and make up applied. As you can see my little 5 year old looks all grown up.




Posing outside with Tim. Megan had to get a little jewelry and make up on as well so she didn't feel left out.

Posing.....again.

And a Megan update!! By some miracle the whole potty training thing clicked this past weekend. She was in big girl panties all weekend with one minor accident. We might be seeing the end of pull ups in our near future..... We'll be at the end of our potty chart by the end of the week.
We are very proud of her!

Abby was kind enough to pose with Megan as well. Megan let her borrow her Tinkerbell necklace and a couple rings which was a nice sharing surprise.

This weekend is our annual St. Pat's party with the Rolla crew. Wish us luck that it's not too painful.

Applebee's Birthday

Apparently we had another birthday in the family yesterday. Megan declared yesterday that it was Applebee's birthday and that she needed a party. Well any excuse to have some cake.....


So Tim picked up a delicious chocolate cake on the way home and after dinner we sang happy birthday to Applebee and Megan blew out the candle (eventually).



So Happy Birthday Applebee!
If you are wondering Abby decided that Lena's birthday is March 28, so another party is not far away.

Megan's 3rd Birthday

Three years ago our baby was born - how time flies! There was snow and ice on the ground, much different than the sunny 40+ degrees we had this weekend. Just one of the first photos of us at home with Megan with big sister Abby helping feed her. I can't believe how small they both look!




For the birthday party we headed to Bonkers, our go to favorite place to have birthday parties that exhaust children and there is no cleaning involved! We showed up after it opened to grab our tables, which was lucky since that place was extremely full last Saturday.


Playing a little Big Buck Hunter before the guests arrive.



Upstairs playing games - Abby, Carter, and Levi.

The Tinkerbell birthday cake. Megan picked it out herself - first time without peer pressure from Abby. There was only one piece left and it was good! Thank you Hy-Vee!

The birthday girl with her cake.

Posing all grown up with our birthday shirt on.



Opening one of our many presents. The Hello Kitty is about as big as Megan is!


At home on Sunday with our just family party. She has a gift from Abby and one from Mom & Dad.

One more cake.....at least it's a small one.

Blowing out the candle and trying not to set our hair on fire.

The other blowing out the candle photo. This one only got frosting in her hair thankfully.


Megan at 3

• Not officially potty trained yet - but is in big girl panties this week - so we're hoping it's near!
• Still speaks a little Meganese, you get used to it when you are around her for a while.
• Best friend is her sister Abby
• Has a little bit of an attitude when you ask her to do something she doesn't want to do.
• Can eat as much pizza and/or cheese as most adults can.
• Favorite Movie (as of now): Gnomeo & Juliet
• Still can throw a fit like a champ
• Is probably left handed
• Still likes to snuggle
• Is fearless
• Still taking a 2 hour nap in the afternoons
• Starting to dress herself
• Has a flip flop fetish
  

and so much more........

Thank you all that came to her party and gave her gifts! She is still on a high from her birthday weekend extravaganza, and will talk about it for months to come.

Snow Day

We received a couple inches of nice packing snow yesterday and we decided we better take advantage of it as it might be the only snow we see this year as they are calling it "the winter that never was" in Columbia. I had ordered a snowman kit for the girls around Thanksgiving and this has been our first chance to use it. His name is Frosty of course.




Snow angels and sledding were next on the list of things to do. Followed up by grilled cheese and chicken noodle soup to get warm again. It was an evening well spent.

Coco Keys Trip

This past weekend we took an overnight trip to KC to enjoy in some indoor water park activities. Last New Year's Eve we spent the weekend here and the kids had so much fun that Jenn and I decided we should go back for at least a night so they could enjoy it again. They still talked about the weekend there from last year like it happened last weekend so they remember it very well.


The girls posing in the Pirates Cove kiddie pool area. Allison had a good time in that pool also with the zero entry area.


Another pose from the big kids. This year they were brave enough to go without their life jackets - or at least we allowed them to where they were taller than the depth of the water.
They are all extremely comfortable with water and slides.

And this year at least 50% of the kids were not scared of Coco. We had breakfast with Coco on Sunday morning and Abby and Ashley were very excited to see him and take pictures with him. Where are Allison and Megan you might ask. Allison is hiding behind Jenn's leg not very happy and Megan is screaming/crying while Tim is holding her as far away from Coco as she can get. The hostess had to instruct Coco to stay away from our table as Megan didn't react that great to having him close - but was always curious to where he was. Allison would hide under the table if she saw him......maybe next year.

The kids found the business center before we went to dinner on Saturday night - so they are just getting some last minute business transactions done before we left. Computers were still working the next day so that was a good sign.

We had a very nice trip with the Cowan family and one night with playing on the day of check in and check out seemed to be just the right amount of time to spend there - or as much as the husbands could handle. Megan came away with a black eye, scraped up arm, leg, and ankle so it's successful in our book as nothing was broken. They are already talking about going back again.......