My Favorite Things...Part Two...Mommy Style

Favorite thing #4...The candor of little children. We have been on the long of potty training a stubborn 2/almost 3 year old boy. There has been much progress, but two steps forward one step back. He gets ice cream when he poo's on the potty. This is a great incentive to him. Mostly, we don't have too much of a problem with peeing, he's just learning how to aim and I am a poor teacher. This weekend he went in to potty with his daddy and Ryan came out laughing. Ben said "Whoa daddy, you have a GIANT pee-pee!" Now I'm not THAT lucky, but in size comparison, Ben is right. Way to make daddy feel proud!

Favorite thing #5...For real, actual music. Maddie takes violin lessons. Not because we are cruel "this will be good for you someday" type parents, but because she begged us. She does very well, reading the music after a few short months and "wowing" her teacher every week. Last week, she played "Ode To Joy" with her teacher accompanying her on the piano. I almost cried. She has only been playing since May.

(I will make her play it and take a video, but she's not home right now! Also, a 1/8 size violin is not the best sounding instrument. Even her teacher sounds kinda crappy on it. We will move up to a 1/4 size soon, and I hope it stays in tune better! Some of those lessons are hard to sit though :) )

My favorite things...part one...mommy style

My favorite part of the morning #1...Waking my sleeping daughter for school.
Maddie is a hard waker. She gets that from me. We like to sleep, we like to cuddle, we don't like to get out of our warm cocoons and face the cold, hard, dark morning. Ryan is a shock waker, who likes the EH EH EH EH of the alarm to make him jump out of bed. That kills me. So I decided I would wake my girl up for school in a more gentle way. I climb into bed with her and love her awake. I love that she, in her sleep, rolls over and throws her arm around me.We have a nice calm wake up and start the day that way.

My favorite part of the morning #2... After all of our things are dine and she's waiting at the bus stop, she climbs on the bus with a coment to the driver (who doesn't seem to know what to make of her) and sits at the window. She turns to me and we blow kisses to each other. Then we catch them and save them! I still get a little pain in my heart watching the bus drive away.

But Ben usually makes up for it...Favorite part of the morning #3...Snuggling on the couch with Ben. He gets his blanket and pillow and sets up a little place for us while I am out at the road with Sister. It's a good alone bonding time for us. Plus I get to doze.

This Time of Year

It's my favorite time of year again, though I don't feel there was any summer to transistion from. It has gotten bitter quite quickly around here. This ONE day of sun is doing me some good, as I sit and type, it's shining through the window on me.

On top of the giant hay mountain

Last weekend, we went out to Blakes Cider Mill for some family fun. We rode the hayride out to pick pumpkins, fed the goaties, walked though the "Black Hole", got lost in a corn maze, ate cider and donuts and it only cost us an arm and a leg :)! We had so much fun, though. It was worth it to watch Ben shriek in terror as we walked by the "Spooky House".

On the train ride

Worth it to see Maddie giggle while the goat licked her hand, and worth it to have Ryan pretend to lose his Wedding Ring inside of a goat. Very funny. I actually felt good for a change! That is so rare nowadays. I'm hoping (though this pregnancy has not been like any of the others) that it will lessen when I hit the second trimester, which is in 3 days. Not that I'm counting.

Maddie has lost two teeth now, with one more slightly wiggly. I love the look of the teeth with "toes" :)