Potty Training, Teeth, Hair Cut....

We tried the three day potty training thing...It took three weeks, but at exactly three weeks Olue got it.  I'm not sure if it took that long to strengthen her bladder muscles or what, but she hasn't had much for accidents since last Thursday.  She even made it through an afternoon bought of diarrhea with no accidents (thank goodness!).  She still wears a pullup at night which I like (I'm not doing multiple loads of laundry everyday now).  I'm down to doing the normal every other day laundry again, which I like :).

Jeremiah has his two front bottom teeth now, so his Christmas wish list is fulfilled...All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth:).

Jeremiah is in the process of getting his hair cut.  It was getting so long that I was having to decide which way to comb it after baths to stay out of his eyes.  We've had two goes so far and we're still not finished.  I had one of those sick-and-tired-of-it moments after I gave him a bath yesterday at noon, so I cut his bangs.  I only took two snips (and they weren't totally strait), but he looked so much better!  Josh didn't even recognize him when he got home.  I had to stop there because he was hungry and wiggly.  Then after supper Josh started to buzz the back of his hair when he got an ambulance call and didn't get back til right at bedtime.  So he still has a mop on the top of his head, but hopefully tonight we'll get it finished.

Olue seems like such a big girl now that she's potty trained.  She's doing so well communicating and being a little mommy.  She loves to color and draw.  She likes to draw little circles all over her paper.  She's very precise (as precise as you can get at that age) when she's drawing.  I think and hope she'll like to do crafty things with me when she gets bigger:).

Jeremiah is looking like a little boy now instead of a baby (especially with the partial hair cut).  He's getting pretty big.  I tried to put him in a pr of overalls that Johnny had gotten for Christmas at this same age, but Jeremiah has already outgrown them.  I saw him get up onto the crawl stance once this week.  He kinda scoots around backwards on his tummy, but I'm not sure if his directions are intentional or just frustrating for him.  He never seems to be frustrated with anything though; he just plays with what's infront of him or watches the other two play.  They do a good job of including him in their games every once in a while.  He just discovered his feet last weekend (when he was wearing a sleeper with big puppy dog ears on the feet).  He now loves to take his socks off and play with his toes.

What about Johnny..."What about Me?"...He says that a lot.  Johnny is Johnny.  I know he's growing and maturing, but now it's slowing down compared to the other two that I don't notice as much.  He always asks "What are we going to do today?" or "I want to stay here today" or "I want to go to Grandma and Grandpa's (or Addy's or Cy's)".  He talks very well in full sentences, sometime he missuses words, but I can understand what he's saying and try to correct him.  Lately he's been saying I'm really "drinky" or "eaty" instead of thirsty or hungary.  One time I didn't want to read to him (I used to read to the kids while I nursed Jeremiah, but now he wants to look at the book too, so I have to focus on feeding him separately ) and Johnny said "But I'm really read-ee"  It was pretty cute, so now he's been doing it with the drinky and eaty.

Johnny and Olue really like to go outside.  We LOVE having snow to play in and the weather has been really nice for playing in the snow.  John loves to run and chase and play tag outside.  He's everything a romping boy is.  Olue likes to play in the snow too, but not so ruff.

Okay...I need to get outside and feed the animals before "7".  (That's when the kids can get out of bed...I think they might sleep in a little today though.)

November Happenings

So we've been busy here and these pictures are old, but this is what happened in November...

• MN Deer Hunting Weekend
• Josh sat with Tolya as he shot his first buck.  Me and the kids stayed up at the house and enjoyed the weekend together with the family.

• ND Deer Hunting Weekend
• It stormed on deer hunting opener weekend.  We thought Josh might not get his deer til later, but he was successful on Sunday night.
• We came home to lots of snow and beautiful ice on Monday.
• Weekend at home
• We started potty training Lu Lu.  We went cold turkey into panties.  We have since gone back to training pants at night, but she's doing fairly well.  I still am doing more laundry than normal, but at least I'm not changing my big girl's diapers any more;)
• Josh helped me clean house and we started working on Johnny's Christmas present, a race track.  He's been helping too, but he thinks it's a chicken feeder...Shhhh don't tell him.:)
• Thanksgiving at Home
• We spent Thanksgiving Day at home relaxing, watching football, and eating bacon cheese cresants.
• Thanksgiving weekend at Mom and Dad's
• We had a nice ham and all the fixings Thanksgiving meal at Mom and Dad's

Ooops!  So I've used up my 1 GB space on the blog.  I won't be able to add pics anymore.  I'll have to figure it out later.

Here's what the kids have been up to lately...

Jeremiah has a new tooth.  His first one.  I noticed it on Monday when we came home from Thanksgiving.  He rolls over now and pushes himself backwards when on smooth surfaces like the wood floor.  He still likes to snuggle with Mommy and sit in his bouncy chair.  I'm usually trying to get him quieted down for the night when Josh is playing (romping) with the other two.  Jeremiah can't stand calming down when Daddy is playing with John and Lu, he wants to join it too.:)  He likes listening to me read books to the other kids and he gets the best spot, in the middle on Mommy's lap.

Lu Lu is working on potty training.  She's sleeping in a big girl bed.  She talks all the time about everything and is so cute!  She has a dolly that she takes everywhere.  She plays with it all the time.  Doesn't really play with much else right now.  The past two days she's been potty training her dolly.  Johnny even got in on the game and got the diaper bag out to change dolly's diaper.  Jeremiah's diapers didn't fit the dolly too well.:)

Johnny loves to run and chase and play football and "Sharp Teeth" and hide and seek and wrestle...See a trend?  Sharp Teeth is a game where one is the T-Rex and the other is the Long Neck Dinosaur.  The T-rex growls and chases the Long Neck and the Long Neck tries to push the t-rex over.  

Both Johnny and Lu Lu are my big helpers.  Sometimes I need to keep on them to help me though (or I'll find dirty laundry half way to the laundry basket:)  They also help me set and clear the table, bring diapers to the garbage, help dust and mop, and most important bring me a burp cloth when I've been spit up on!:)

John and Lu work on art projects for "school".  Lu can count to three and knows some colors.  John can count to 10 or so (the teens get a little mixed up) and knows lots of colors.

They are all growing up so fast.  It's a joy to be their Mommy.

ND Deer Hunt

Josh shot a buck this weekend at Mom and Dad's.  Here are the pics...(just for Jake and Jared ;-)

Happy Fall!

We celebrated fall on the 21st.  We carved pumpkins, made and ate carmel apples & chocolate cupcakes with orange frosting, ate Halloween candy, (got tummy aches from too much sugar;),  played football outside, went for a long walk in the pasture around the four wheeler trail, and took a drive in the country looking for deer, but finding LOTS of phesants instead (on posted land of course).  It was a fun day after a hard weekend of work...Cleaning out, tilling and spreading manure on the gardens.

We spent last weekend at Mom and Dad's.  They are done harvesting, so it was nice to see Josh and Dad in and out of the yard working on various projects (like getting the cows into the harvested fields...fixing fence, picking flint corn, and moving bales).

Carving pumpkins...

Jeremiah's pumpkin looks bigger than him!

Lu Lu's "Rella" pumpkin

Shelling Beans

 We just finished shelling the pinto beans last night.  We still have MANY MANY more beans to do!

Jeremiah just rolled over this morning from tummy to back.  I think it was kind of a fluke, but maybe he's ready to roll?  He is now moved to the crib in Olue's pink room (poor guy).  Olue is sleeping in John's room in a big bed.  Me and Daddy like having our own room back and the peace and quiet it brings...That monitor is so easy to shut off!:)  Jeremiah seems to be sleeping better too.  I think the crib is a lot more comfortable than the pack and play and we aren't waking him up all the time (when we go to bed and when Josh gets up for work).

Jeremiah loves to smile and laugh.  He likes when the kids play with him.  He's starting to grab toys if they stay next to him long enough (his older siblings seem to steel the ones I put in front of him.)  His favorite word is "Agoo", just like Johnny as a baby and he loves to hear his name.  We sing "Jeremiah" to him in all kinds of tunes.  We also call him "Jerry" and "Minah".

Olue is getting to be such a big girl.  She loves helping (sometimes too much).  She puts laundry away in the basket for me and she throws diapers or anything else that needs to be thrown in the garbage.  We found a dolly that I used to play with when we were at Mom and Dad's one weekend.  She is now inseparable with it.  She carries it around all over.  She nurses it, wipes it clean with baby wipes, puts it in the bumbo and bouncy seat, and puts it down for nap time.  It even has it's own pillow on her bed and sleeps next to her.  It's pretty cute!  Her favorite book is Cinderella.  She calls her Rella and wants everything to do with "Rella".  She loves getting dressed on Sundays, because she gets to wear a pretty dress like Rella.

Johnny is my big boy!  We do art projects together almost everyday.  He's learning his colors really well and he can count up to 12 or more (depending on the day:).  He helps me with a lot of things!  He likes to get eggs...if their's no hens in the box.  He knows what I'm asking him to do, even if it's a task he's never done before.  It's really helpful!   He loves to read books.  We always sit on the couch together while I feed Jeremiah and read books together.  He's really starting to get interested in school stuff.  Like what different letters are.  Sometimes when he draws he makes lists, scribbling in the lines on the paper, just like my lists look like.

We've had many nice fall days lately.  It's so nice to get outside and be able to bring Jeremiah out too (not having to wait for him to fall asleep to take the other two out to play).  We've gotten moisture too, so it's not dusty anymore, but not to much because it's not muddy either...Just right!:)

I better go...Jeremiah is squirming on my lap, grunting for food:).

WINDY weather

Yesterday and Today were crazy windy.  We are having up to 60m/h gusts.  Crazy!  It's also been cold and rainy.  Good weather for staying indoors!

Tuesday on the other hand was gorgeous!  Josh told me to forget naptime and play outside with the kids.  (forgetting naptime was a bad idea...Lu Lu was inconsolably crying after supper and ready for bed...not doing that again.)  But we had a lot of fun outside all afternoon.  We finished digging potatoes.  (Lu Lu's pants were black!)  Then we watered the chickens (Lu Lu got soaked!)  She went through quite a few clothes that day (including an extra shirt from having a sucker from the credit union in the morning:).  Anyway, after playing in the sandbox and Lu Lu swinging for a while we decided to go to the playground.  John had asked to swing and I thought maybe they could both swing there (we never made it to the swings, but they had fun).  We walked all the way to the playground, very slowly, since Jeremiah was in the stroller, so Lu Lu had to walk.  Johnny's a pretty fast walker and I had to ask him to slow down a bit.  We also stopped at Gambles and looked through the toy isles. 

Jeremiah's been not sleeping well this week until last night.  He would only sleep in my arms.  Yesterday I had quite a few things to get done, so he just stayed awake pretty much all day, except for a couple 30 minute naps.  I knew eventually this would happen, I just didn't know when...He finally crashed around 8:30 in my arms last night and he was sleeping hard for the first time all week.  I laid him in his bouncy seat just incase he had gas (we thought that might have been part of the problem before).  He slept until 8am today, except for waking him to eat at 6, because I needed him too.  He's been pretty sleepy today too, but when he is awake, he's very happy and content....Finally!:)

Lu Lu is finally in the big bed in John's room.  She likes sleeping in there with Johnny, but I have to stay in there with them at nap time or I don't think they'd ever fall asleep.  It's okay with me.  I get a chance to lay down for awhile.:)

Cy came to visit for a week.  He played with John and Lu, helped clean out the garden, brought all the pumpkins, gourds, and squash up to the house, shelled beans, and in the evenings went bow hunting with Josh.  They saw quite a few deer but the buck they saw wasn't in the right spot to shoot.  We brought with  to my Mom and Dad's for a day to spend at the farm and he got to ride in the combine.  He was really excited about that!:)

Cy telling John about the toys

Playing together

Shelling beans

 We've been going to my Mom and Dad's on the weekends to help harvest.  Josh enjoys helping and we all enjoy being with Mom and Dad.

Playing with Grandpa's toys

Relaxing

Melt my heart

Last day of the cast

 This was the day John got his cast off.  It was a short leg cast and now he is cast free.  He still walks with a limp, but the doctor said it would go away.  He really likes having it off.

We've been doing art projects and playing school (learning to count and our colors).  I've been focusing on Johnny, but Lu Lu does it all too.  It's amazing how fast she picks up on everything.  She can count to 3 and sporadically knows some colors.

painting with apples

 We were trying to make the star imprints, but it didn't work too well.  They didn't seem to care and had a lot of fun!

Making Pancakes

St. Francis

Preach the gospel at all times.  When Necessary, use words.
-St. Francis of Assisi
It's his feast day today.

September Happenings

It's now October and I'm posting about September.  I guess I'm behind again.  I thought things would slow after CSAs were over but we're still busy as ever, just with different things.

Prairie Fire

 We watched this prairie fire burn about a mile away from our house.  We could see it spreading from our bedroom window.  It was reassuring to hear the firemen fighting it over Josh's pager.

Eating pancakes

Canning

Josh likes to run the victorio when he's helping me can.  I don't because it makes a huge mess that I know I have to clean when I'm all done.  He told me it's not that messy.  I proved him wrong with my spaghetti sauce mess.  Thank you Josh for running all the apples through the victorio for sauce this year!  It's a lot nicer to just clean up the mess than make it and clean it.:)

Good Morning Boys!

Apple Cider Canning

 Pumpkin patch pics...

Johnny and Jeremiah in John's tent

Duck Hunting opener at Jake and Ruth's

Cousins

Duck Hunting

Jeremiah and Susanna

Apple Cider

You and Me pressing apples in the dark!

 Harvesting Beans at Mom and Dad's

Story Time