Cousin Camp

I highly recommend this teeter totter! The kids had such a good time, Jason and I had to give it a try. We couldn't stop laughing. That's little Wesley in the corner.
Nana loving on Andie Grace. Nana manages to feed, bath, play, read to, and snuggle each of her 5 grandkids. She loves to be Nana!

Cousin Camp

Cousin Camp 2007 has started! All are excited to be together. Pictured - Evan and Jack have spent hours racing scooters around the house.
Uncle Jason squeezed his way into a big wheel. While Evan rode Andie's pink and purple bike. Uncle Jason is the cool part of cousin camp. Last year's cousin camp had a bouncy house. In addition to that, this year we have a teeter totter, big wheels, scooters, tricycle for Andie, ride on toy for Wesley....just plain fun, fun, fun.

Dream Home Blues

Any fellow HGTV fans out there? This is my third year in a row to enter for the HGTV Dream Home. This package was worth 2.5 million dollars. I entered everyday for about a month and a half. Then would anxiously wait for the day that the big winner would be announced. I would look out my window wondering if that was the crew coming to ambush surprise me. My stomach was so messed up from nerves - I even took a pregnancy test. ( Negative) I take the disappointment a little better each year. Afterall, there were 41 million entries - I know the odds aren't in my favor - but I can't help it. My stomach is back to normal now. Now I will have to wait to enter next year for the HGTV Dream Home 2008!

Milestones !!

My parenting style was fairly similar with my first two children. Adding a third in so close together, some of my techniques changed to help reduce my stress level. Example: When Evan and Andie were between 9-12 weeks of age they starting sleeping through the night. On occasion they would cry for a few minutes. (I followed Baby Wise closely.) I could never stand to let Dean cry for fear of waking everyone else up. Well, he was 9 months old and was still getting up 2-3 times a night. I finally realized my decision to keep everyone sleeping, was getting me no rest. Would you know it only took 2 nights of giving him his paci instead of feeding him - and he instantly started sleeping 12 hours?!?

And I'm very happy to say that my 3 1/2 year old is officially and completely potty trained! It has been a long, hard road. But what a victory it feels like now! He had a HUGE emotional hang up with doing the #2 thing on the potty. I truly think a child psychologist would have been intrigued by him. He has conquered his whatever the hang up was - you should see how proud he is.