"I Got Unnies! [Undies]"

How did my baby girl get so big that she's decided it's time to potty train herself without even consulting with me first?! A few days ago, Jordyn decided that she doesn't want to wear diapers anymore. She took off her diaper and started peeing in her potty chair no problem. We decided we might as well take this opportunity to potty train her in full so that's what we've been doing all weekend! She's actually done SO great with it and I'm very impressed with what a SMART little girl we've got on our hands! She can pee and poo in the potty no problem, but has had some accidents - more today than the last couple of days. I seem to remember Hayden and Ellie both regressing a little on day 3 too, so I'm not too worried about it! Yesterday we had the birthday party of her friend Lucia to go to, so we just put a diaper on her for the party. WELL, miss Jordyn had other plans. She ran into the living room at the party to tell Obee she had to "go" and was taking off her diaper at the same time. She didn't quite make it to the potty and peed all over their living room floor while Lucia was opening her gifts. At least we were only at Alis' house and she has tile flooring! I guess from now on we'll be bringing the potty chair with us everywhere for awhile....should be interesting bringing the potty chair to swim lessons this week. I'll try to update on how it's going throughout the week! Wish us luck! :)

On her potty chair...

25 Weeks....

.And only 13, 14, or 15 more weeks to go until we get to meet this little one! I thought it was about time I had Obee snap some pictures of my ever growing belly. I feel so huge this time around! Another sign that makes me think it could be a little boy in there. :) I was this big when I was pregnant with Hayden, but I think this is as big as my belly got when I was already 9 months pregnant with Ellie! We shall see how much more it will grow!

Please excuse the funny faces I'm making in the pictures. It's always wierd for me having someone else take MY picture, instead of me being the one behind the lens!

Swim Lessons

The kids and I have been busy this past week with Swim Lessons. They're both doing great with their lessons, but the pool has this rule that the parents are not allowed by the pools, so it's been hard to see Hayden over in the big pool doing his thing. I wasn't able to get the kids swim lessons at the same time, so while Hayden does his class, the girls and I hang out visiting friends from school, then Ellie starts her class once Hayden's is over.

One thing that's been SO nice, but a little bit exhausting as well, is that we actually live close enough to the pool to walk there each day! I think we walked everyday but one because we had errands to run afterward. It's really hot now and it takes up our entire morning with the walk, but it's been nice getting some fresh air and exercise with the kids.

Hayden learning how to rescue someone in distress (I took this picture BEFORE they kicked me out of that area!)

This is the best view I can get of Hayden's lessons...not too great...can you see him out there???

Hayden and Jordyn waiting around for Elliebelle to finish her lessons

Our 1st Camping Trip of the Season :)

Last month, my friends and I decided we were going to take all of our families on a camping trip this summer! This past weekend, we all loaded up our camping gear and went up to Scott's Flat Lake for Father's Day weekend. The kids had the greatest time all playing together, getting dirty and going out on the lake. Us adults had fun just sitting around the fire at night and getting time to hang out, all of us together with our families! It was a lot of work packing, setting up, taking down camp and unpacking again. I think next time we camp it will have to be for more than just two nights!

Hayden with his buddy, JohnnyOur campground tree, which Hayden and Ellie didn't seem to discover until the last day, surprisingly!On Saturday afternoon, we decided to rent a cheap little fishing boat to take the kids out on the lake. This was one of the highlights of the entire weekend for the kids (and us too I think!) We had fun going full speed, just floating around eating lunch on the lake, and finding our special swimming spot! Hayden and Ellie each got to take a turn driving the boat....This is our own little special swimming spot where we parked the boat and went for a private swim in the lake. It was such a pretty spot, but I couldn't get the best pictures with the lens I had on the camera!Jordyn and her friend Lucia blowing bubbles....

Ellie, Leilani, and Jordyn painting rocks. What fun! My friends and I for a group picture, just us four. (This was the last day and I REALLY wasn't looking my best as you can see!)Our group picture of all the kids! :)And of course, a typical "family portrait" of US! Sheesh!

Chore Charts, Silly Faces, and Midwife Appt.

Well, today I had my 24 week midwife appointment. This time around we've been taking the kids to each appointment with us because they always love going so much. They've got a nice little set up of toys there for the kids to play with, plus the kids get such a kick out of hearing the baby's heartbeat and our midwives are so patient and sweet always explaining every little thing to them so they really feel like they're a big part of this baby's life already (which of COURSE they are!) Everything looks good with baby. The heartbeat was 154, which is lower and closer to what Hayden's was when HE was in my belly. We still don't know if we're having a boy or girl and are enjoying the surprise of it all until he or she arrives!

I've started chore charts with the kids and they've been doing so good with them. We have a calender that has our fun "activity" for the day written on each day and whoever gets all the chores on their chart done the quickest gets to be calendar helper for the day. They get to put the date on the calender and reveal what our fun activity for that day is. If the chores do not get done, then we don't get to do our activity - but so far so good - and we've been able to do lots fun play dates and stuff.

These pictures are of the kids before the midwife appointment sitting in our front entryway. They were so excited to go to the appointment that they all got up, showered and did their chores so fast, even I was impressed with them today!

Time for Lemonade :)

Raspberry Lemonade that is! The kids have been begging me all week to go out and have a lemonade stand of their very own, so I told them that if they got all of their chores done on time this morning, we would have a lemonade stand of our very own once daddy got home from work. They were so excited! We made our lemonade in the morning so it would be nice and cold by this evening, made our sign and gathered up everything we would need for the perfect lemonade stand.

We decided to do it on the street right where our neighborhood park is, since there is a little more traffic there, instead of our own street. The kids were a little bit discouraged at first, but after about the first 15 minutes or so, they had a very popular little business going! They also figured out that if they started making eye contact and waving at each car as they passed by, the cars were MUCH more likely to stop and buy some refreshing lemonade!

After about an hour, they had made a whopping grand total of $10 and were out of a huge pitcher of lemonade....quite a success!

Backyard Photo Shoots

Today I decided it was time to do a little photo shoot of the kids out in the backyard. Well, I did Jordyn's while Ellie was still asleep this morning, and Ellie's while Jordyn was napping. When Hayden got home from Gramma and Grampa's house he was NOT in the photo shoot mood (is he EVER these days?) so his is still to come. My next goal? To get some decent pictures of the three of them together. My Ultimate goal? To actually get, or even get a CHANCE, to attempt a Family picture of the 5 of us before the new baby comes! We'll see if it actually happens! Anyone out there that wants to do a trade for family pictures, let me know and we'll set a day in stone that CANNOT be canceled! :)