Fun with Dad

The noise level in our home dramatically increases when the kids are with us, especially when the biggest kid of all is present...Daddy! He always manages to find a way to get the kids all wound up and excited. I guess it's good for them to exert some energy, and Jake sure gets a workout too! Luckily we haven't had any complaints from our neighbors yet! More than once during a weekend stay I can find the four of them participating in these events...

Pig piles...

wrestling...
flips...

and just a whole lot of fun!

Sometimes they even drag me into their crazy antics, but I managed to escape this time!

Progress

This is the face of a boy who is very happy and proud of himself, and he should be!

Nate made some MAJOR progress in the potty training department this weekend. Not only is he proud, but we are too! I know that there have been several people involved in the potty training adventure with Nathan. Everyone from Amy, Judy, Grandmom, Jake and I, daycare workers and even Jenn Farnsworth. So I thought you would appreciate this post.

Out of everyone who has been part of this project, I probably have had the least success with getting Nate to use the potty. At least at our house, he prefers to do this with Jake and that is perfectly fine with me :) When we had the kids with us two weekends ago, Nate stayed dry all day both Saturday and Sunday. But, Jake was home all weekend with us and he did all the potty breaks with Nate. Knowing now that he can do it, I was determined to keep the ball rolling. However, this weekend Jake had to work all day Saturday. So first thing in the morning I asked Nate if he needed to go potty. He said, "No, my Daddy does that with me." I reminded him that Daddy was not home today and Nate could have cared less. He was perfectly content with using his Pull Up. So, I found a timer and set it for 3 minutes (because Nate is 3) and told Nate that when the timer beeped it was time to use the potty. He agreed! The timer went off and Nate went to the bathroom. From then on I set the timer for 30 minutes and he went potty every 30 minutes and his Pull Up stayed dry all morning! By the end of the morning he was even doing everything all by himself and didn't want or need help!

It gets even better! Immediately after one potty break I found Nate hiding in his bedroom. He told me not to look at him and I knew why. He was doing his business. I suggested he do it on the potty rather than in his pants. He reluctantly agreed and successfully went poop on the potty!! Nate was pretty amazed and quite interested in the whole process. He kept looking in the toilet at his creations and was very excited when he "made a carrot" and was quite concerned when "one broked"!!! Got to love kids!

The good news continues. Nate continued to use his timer today and stayed dry all day and even went poop on the potty again!

Good job Nate!!! We are so proud of you!!!

Nate's Day

Saturday while Emma and Abby were at work with Jake, Nate enjoyed a day all to himself. He had a relaxing morning at home that consisted of staying in his pj's until 1:00pm, eating a HUGE breakfast (two bowls of oatmeal and one bowl of Lucky Charms all within an hour!), playing with whatever toys he wanted, eating lunch and taking a nap. After our fun morning at home, we went on an adventure to a play date with new friends. My good friend Sarah invited us over for an afternoon with her boys, Julian and Cole. Julian is the same age as Nate and Cole is a year and a half old. It was such a fun afternoon! It took Nate quite awhile to warm up to his new playmates (I think he was a little lost not having his sisters with him) but he finally got comfortable. By the time we left, he didn't want to go! They had an exciting afternoon playing with Buzz Lightyear and Woody, Spider-Man, Superman, cars and trucks, jumping on a mini trampoline, and play dough. But their favorite game they played with was this box...

I love how the simplest things can entertain and make kids happy! It was a great day with our new friends and Nate can't wait to go back. He said next time he wants to bring his sisters along to meet his new friends:)

I'm so glad we had this opportunity to give Nate a day to himself. He is a very different kid when he is alone. He has a lot to say (and actually has the chance to be heard), is very bright, imaginative and self sufficient.
This day went so well, that we think we are going to start giving each of the kids a day all to themselves every once in awhile. We'll have to wait and see what the next adventure will be!

Where are they going??

Where are Emma and Abby going all dressed up at 7:30 on Saturday morning?

To work with Daddy of course!

This was a last minute change of plans for today. The girls love to go to Lens Crafters with Jake for a few different reasons. They like to help Daddy work and they love to try on all the glasses, but I think the real reason they like to go so much is because they get to get all dressed up! Since we weren't planning on doing this, we didn't have the girls bring their dress shoes from home. Luckily, we have a pair here for Abby that she got for Christmas from Nana...but we had nothing for Emma. Not to worry. Emma just graduated from wearing a kid's size 4 shoe to a women's size 6! Can you guess who else wears a size 6 shoe? Yup...I do! So Emma was able to wear a pair of my dress shoes. She is growing up too fast!

Check back later to see what Nate and I are up to today while the girls are gone to work!

Guitar Lessons

Friday night, Emma was eager to teach me how to play Guitar Hero. I have attempted to play this before with my cousin, Mackenzie, and knew how bad I was at it. I am video game challenged (unless it's old school Nintendo with Mario and Luigi!) and am NOT musically inclined. So, put the two together and it's a recipe for disaster! But I love Emma and she was just so excited...I couldn't say no. We had lots of fun and even completed a "world tour" together! Emma is an excellent teacher and has lots patience :)

Getting started...

I needed LOTS of help!
On my own...and not doing so well :(

Jake and Emma were a great team together...

And, of course, Jake did just fine on his own. Even though he did well, I think Emma is still the queen of this game!

I LOVE being an Auntie!

I had the opportunity to travel home this past weekend for a quick visit with my family. We didn't have the kids and Jake had to work, so it was just me. It was a great weekend and I had so much fun. One of the highlights of my weekend was getting to spend some time with my nephew, Connor. I saw him not too long ago at Christmas, but he has already changed so much since then. We had lots of fun together.

Last time I saw Connor, he was just starting to crawl. He has now mastered crawling and has moved on to bigger things. Here is is practicing his walking skills. Look out...here he comes!

He also pulls himself up to a standing position. Sometimes he even gets daring and lets go, but he is only able to stand on his own for a few seconds. He is growing up so fast!

He loves his little chair...

And books too....especially books that make noise.

Since the family hairdresser was in town for a couple days, my sister decided it was time to trim up Connor's stray locks. This would be Connor's first haircut, so it was a big decision whether or not to do it, but my sister was brave and went for it!

Sporting a mohawk...

He did so well! We just kept giving him snacks to munch on and he didn't even notice what I was doing.

All done! So handsome :)

Ice Skating

We had so much fun ice skating today! We have been looking forward to taking the kids ice skating and managed to do it today. The girls have been skating before and this was Nate's first time. They all did great and we had a blast!

Headed for the rink...

All suited up...
And there off! Emma and Abby took off on the ice like it's something they do all the time! Emma wasn't sure she would be comfortable on the ice because it's been a while since the last time she skated, but she did great! And Abby...this girl has no fear! She threw all caution to the wind and just went for it!

Abby had a few wipe outs but not one of them phased her. She got right back up and continued skating as fast as she was before! Emma was always nearby and helped Abby find her feet again. What a good big sister :)

There's goes Emma!

Oh dear...Nate and I had a rough start. I have only ice skated a few times in my life. Abby and Emma were going circles around me and for some reason I thought it would be better if Jake go with them and I would hang back with Nate. Not such a good idea!

So, I turned Nate over to Jake and do you believe it...by the time we left Nate was skating on his own!

Getting more comfortable...

Learning to balance...

And doing it all on his own!!!

Way to go Nate! We are so proud of you!!!

It was a great afternoon outside skating. We finished our adventure with some hot chocolate and then headed home to warm up. We will definitely be doing some more skating before the winter is over!

Chore Charts

Up until this past September, there has been very little routine in the kids visits with Jake and I. In the year that we lived in MA and they were in PA, we only saw them one weekend a month. In that small amount of time we wanted to have fun and do as much as we possibly could in that short amount of time because that's all we had. Our visits with the kids have changed a lot since we have moved closer and see them more frequently. We still go on adventures and have lots of fun together, but we also have more opportunities to relax and just be together. The kids are also adjusting to the idea that they have two homes. At our apartment in MA, the kids didn't have their own space, toys or clothes but here they do. It's taken a few months ,but they are finally referring to our house as "my house." That makes us happy because we want them to know that they have a place here all the time whether they spend lots of time here or only a little. This house is just as much theirs as it is ours. So with the craziness of the holidays behind us and the kids understanding that this is their home too, Jake and I thought now would be a good time to start encouraging the kids to help out with chores when they are here. We sat together on Saturday and talked about what chores are, what they can do to help, and how they can be rewarded. It was great to hear their input and see their enthusiasm.

They each made their own chore chart and chose which chore they wanted to do. We let them come up with the chore on their own and didn't assign them any.

Abby chose to help load/unload the dishwasher. She was excited to get right to it after making her chart.

Putting the silverware away can be tricky when you have two sizes of each utensil. But not for a smart girl like Abby, she just matched them up next to each other to see which one goes where.

Emma chose to do the laundry. Apparently, she already has some experience in this department helping out Mom and Aunt Judy. This works out great for me because there is always more laundry to do the weekends the kids are here! Emma was so amazed that our washer machine keeps spinning even with the lid open...I guess Aunt Judy's doesn't do that (Judy's washer is probably MUCH newer than ours!). She kept asking me if she could go watch the laundry...too funny:)

I don't have a picture of Nate, but his chore is to help Daddy with the trash. I think this is the perfect assignment for Nate considering he is not fully potty trained yet and does his fair share of stinking up the trash!! He also loves to take the walk to the dumpster with Dad.

Each time the kids do their chore, they get to put a sticker on their chart. Each sticker is worth a quarter and they get their pay at the end of the month. I hope their excitement about chores now is the same when they are teenagers!

The Three Little Indians

Emma, Abby and Nate had lots of fun playing in this fun little t-pee from their friends Mackenzie and Jamieson. It provided for hours of entertainment and endless use of their imagination.

Daddy even made each of them their own Indian hats...

Chocolate

I am a chocolate fanatic and I am so glad that Jake and the kids love it just as much as do. There is something special about chocolate...it just makes life better :) We always find a way to have a little chocolate treat when the kids are here. This weekend the girls and I baked brownies to satisfy our sweet tooth.

Emma assured us that she knew how to crack eggs and wouldn't get any shells in the bowl. She managed to get the egg in the bowl without shells, and in the process got egg all over the front of her shirt and the cabinets! Baking with kids is always an adventure :)


Emma had fun singing with the spoon...what a crazy girl!

She finally decided to put the microphone down and start mixing...

Abby finished the job for her...

The brownies were delicious and it wasn't long before they were all eaten!

Happy New Year!

We want to wish you all a beautiful new year filled with love, joy, peace and happiness!

May 2009 be a wonderful year for all of you!

Love,

Jake and Nikki