Always thinking ahead.

This afternoon the kids and I went to the Y. We were walking hand-in-hand with James in the middle from the car into the building when James turned to Kaitlyn and said in the sweetest voice, "I love you, sister."
She looked at him with her pig tails bouncing and said, "I love you too, James."
I about cried. I told James, "That was SO sweet and nice of you to say to Kaitlyn, James!" I was nearly bubbling over with pride in my son.
Then he shrugs his shoulders and says, "Be nice for Christmas time or you won't get any presents.... That's what I told her this morning when I woke her up."

I love him!

I need TWO songs to sleep.

James likes to try to keep Nathan or I in his room as long as possible before bedtime. Whether it be needing a drink or another hug or a toy placed in a specific place, he uses them all.
He'll even call us back upstairs sometimes if he's needing something, and if we can't ignore it, Nathan or I will go back up there to see what he wants.
The example the other night was this story....
I heard over the monitor, "Mom? Can you come up here, please?"
After I had just gotten very comfortable on the couch, I got my rear up and hiked up the stairs.
"What James, what do you want?"
"Daddy only sang me ONE song and I need TWO songs to fall asleep."
Oh geeeez. Ok, so whatever, I was feeling nice and spoiled him with another song. After that was over, I gave him some goodnight kisses and told him I needed to get back downstairs.
He might as well have ripped out my heart because then he said, "Mom? Can you go down stairs and draw a picture of you and me holding hands?" AWWWWWWWW.
I hugged him a bit tighter recognizing that he needed me, not for the song, but for more hugs. Sniff... sniff....

You YELLED at me!

Kaitlyn is and always has been an independent and strong little girl. However, when she gets in trouble, all of that seems to disappear. Most of the time when she gets in trouble she says to me, "I want you to hold me!" It's long, drawn out, and sounds more like 'I want you to hooold-uh meeee.'
It tugs REALLY hard at the heart strings when she's sitting on the naughty step and crying out, "I want Mommy... I want Mommy!"
She also is a bit of a softy when it comes to me or Nathan raising our voices at her. A stern voice is all it takes to prompt the response, "You YELLED at me!"
I have to admit it's really cute and a bit heart breaking all at the same time!

Beach Day!

Last weekend we went to the beach... or was it two weekends ago? I'm losing my mind- but anyway, here are the pictures. :)

Potty news- uh, for Kaitlyn, that is. ;)

I am so shocked at the progress Kaitlyn has made over the last week with potty training. She hasn't had many accidents- the only ones worth reporting were only in Pull-Ups while she was at school or at the Y. Understandable... there are SO many other things to think about while out of the house.
This week I have been slightly worried about how she's going to learn to start telling me that she has to go potty instead of me just taking her there and sitting her down. She has only told me twice, in history, that she had to go potty. When, you ask? Well, I'll just say that the seat belt sign was illuminated... BOTH times. We were taking off and landing on our flight from Des Moines last month. Really, Kaitlyn? The only time in the entire world that I CAN'T take you to the bathroom do you tell me you have to go? Silly girl!
Anyway, so back to this week.... Yesterday, as I was preoccupied with my brother Kevin being at my house, I heard the toilet flush in the bathroom and the door was shut. I asked Kevin if Nathan was in there (I had been outside) and he said no. I peeked inside the bathroom to see what was going on.
There was Kaitlyn, standing pant-less by the toilet looking at me.
"What are you doing Kaitlyn?" I asked, hoping not to see a bunch of water everywhere.
"I went pee-pee and poopie and then flushed it away!" she replied with a grin.
Seriously. She had gotten up from watching Peter Pan, gone to the bathroom, used the little potty, and then dumped it into the big potty and flushed it away. ALL by HERSELF.
Granted, I had to help with a little "clean-up" of the rear, but she did is alone! ALL ALONE! But wait, it gets better....
Later, about an hour later, she was walking by the bathroom, stood still for a second, and then changed direction and went into the bathroom and proceeded to use the potty again, without even cluing me in. I just happened to be watching!
I guess I don't need to worry anymore about this peanut... I'm amazed. Of course, today, she'll probably have an accident now that I've shared this with you all. ;)

The Tweeties Flew the Coop...

Here is the last photo of the birdies.... They flew the coop on Saturday just before we headed to the beach. Nathan peeked outside to see the last one on the ground and then fly to the pool fence. I can't even take credit for this photo... Nathan snapped it! :) We seriously think they were only hatched and in the nest for two weeks.
Bye bye birdies!

Making progress!

Kaitlyn is definitely making progress in the potty training department!
Today she used the potty all day long, and only had a wet diaper after we had been at the Y for an hour.
I'm SO proud! :)

How about a weekend in Iowa?

Kaitlyn sure enjoyed playing at the Neipert's house, and she really loved the DIRT. She's obviously not my daughter. Ha.

Kaitlyn really also loved their swing.... Get a load of the videos at the end.

Mattie and the cherry tree!

Bennett was lying on the cement playing completely and contently by himself until I butted in with my camera. This is him, getting up to walk away from me. :)

Bennett's 3rd birthday party!

Look at those extremely jealous onlookers. :)

Kaitlyn took a break from present opening to practice "bags" for when she's in college.

Bennett opens a basketball hoop from Grandma and Grandpa Wilcke.

Kaitlyn and James sacked out after the long day in Des Moines.

Drool! :)

Surprise on our back porch!

Our back porch holds a surprise... can you see it?
No, not the horrendous mess... look closer...

No, not the deflated and faded pool innertubes... look closer...
Closer still...
Now do you get it? It's a nest!
Birdies!!!! Tiny little fuzzy birdies! TWEET! TWEET! TWEET! TWEET! TWEET!

Actually, they are still too young to tweet yet... we think they just hatched a few days ago! I get this response by going over to the nest and making kissing noises. You can only see 4 here, but there are 5 lil' ones! They are right outside our bedroom doors (french doors on pictures). I can't WAIT until they start tweeting at 6 AM! ;) AND pooping all over! Ha ha ha.

Spider web!

Check out this spider web that Nathan found in the backyard!

Kaitlyn's sensitive side.

This morning a few things happened that I had to blog about. They are just so sweet!
The kids woke Nathan and I up by playing loudly in James' room. I heard them talking about St. Margaret Mary school, but really didn't know why. I heard James say, "When I am 5 I get to go to school at St. Margaret Mary." Kaitlyn replied, "I get to go to St. Margaret Mary too!"
When I walked in and was talking with them, Kaitlyn pointed at their school toy set and told me, "This is St. Margaret Mary!" SO sweet.
Yesterday, the kids both went to school and both brought home the paper Scholastic book order forms. James, for some strange reason, grew very fond of these tiny booklet and wanted to keep it forever. It was on the floor of the family room while the kids were munching on Cinnamon Life. Unfortunately it was in range of Kona's back paw when the dog decided to scratch himself, and his claws ripped the corner off of the back page of the pamphlet. All hell broke loose in James' world.
He cried and cried and cried. I tried to explain to him that it was just paper and it wasn't meant for us to keep forever. "It's something that you can look at to order books, but then you're supposed to throw it away." I tried to reason to him.
Kaitlyn says to him, "James, are you sad?"
"YEEEES," James cried.
"You should have Mommy hold you." She told him.
SO SO sweet! She is becoming more aware of how other people are feeling! At a different point this morning when we were up stairs getting teeth brushed and I was changing a dirty diaper on Kaitlyn (YES- still using pull ups- that's a whole different story), James was mad at me and she told me, "I want to go give James a hug." Unfortunately she was mid-changing and I couldn't let her get up or I would have. She's such a girl!!! ;) I love it!

Potatoes Tomatoes.

Kaitlyn LOVES tomatoes. She doesn't like potatoes. However, she can't seem to get it straight that tomatoes aren't potatoes.
For months now, she has called tomatoes "potatoes". We'll say to her, "Kaitlyn, these are NOT potatoes, they are TOM-A-TOES." She repeats, "tom-a-toes." Yes, good job.
Next time, it's the same thing all over again. She knows too, she KNOWS that she gets it wrong and now is starting to try to get around trying to actually calling them what they are.
Tonight's dinner was a hodgepodge of things. I put together plates for the kids, James got zucchini leftovers from last night (with chicken and rice) and Kaitlyn got a diced tomato (also with rice and chicken). James doesn't like tomatoes, and Kaitlyn isn't so fond of zucchini, so I humored them a little and gave them what they liked.
Nathan had the pleasure of putting the plates down on the table in front of the kids. Kaitlyn got excited when she saw the bowl of chopped red things that she loves so much sitting in front of her.
She said to Nathan, "Are those potatoes?"
"No, Kaitlyn, they are not. Tell me what they are."
Kaitlyn replied again, "Potatoes!"
"No, try again."
"(insert mumble here)-ta-toes."
We laughed a bit under our breath, and then Nathan said to her again, "Tell me what they are Kaitlyn and then you can have them."
Then she busts out with, "Just trust me, Daddy."
Ha ha ha ha ha!
Seriously... potatoes/tomatoes.... what a cutie.

Polishing off the house!

This was a conversation between James and me on the way to school this morning....
James: "What are those trucks there, Mom?"
Me: "Those are landscaping trucks. They are bringing trees and bushes to plant to make that new house's yard look pretty."
James: "Our house isn't pretty."
Me: "You don't think our house is pretty, James? Why not? What can we do to make it pretty?"
James: "Make it sparkle."
Me: "How do you think we could make it sparkle?"
James: "Wipe it off."
Me: "Are you talking about the inside or the outside?"
James: "Both the inside AND the outside."

So apparently, to make your house sparkle, you need to wipe it off. ;) There is your DIY project for the weekend.

Look at me!

Kaitlyn has been doing one of those "copycat" things lately, and it absolutely cracks me up every time.
If she tries to tell me something and I'm not looking at her she says to me, "Mom. Look at my eyes." and then starts in with whatever she was going to say.
:) CRACKS me up.
I won't be reporting on the bad things she picks up that I do or say. ;) LOL.

She is making progress with "going" on the potty. It's still a hazy road that lies before us... but it's becoming a bit clearer. I just keep thinking, NO MORE DIAPERS! YESSSS!

In other news, James was officially accepted into St. Margaret Mary Catholic School! My heart swells with pride as we start this journey with Christ as the center of his education. How sweet HE is!

Kaitlyn and James see the Easter Bunny!

Dying Easter Eggs!

We had a lot of fun today dying eggs for Easter tomorrow. The kids really enjoyed it... I think Nathan and I enjoyed it a little too much too. ;)
This is the first time we dyed eggs at our house as a family!! Happy Easter everyone!