Our Big Boy

Well, I think that my baby is not such a baby anymore - and that makes me so very sad. . .

Yesterday, when he woke up, he decided that he wanted to wear undies. I agreed, but was not expecting much success and boy was I surprised when he had NO accidents all day and I did NOT remind him a single time! He had done it all by himself - with the exception of nap and night, of course. I even posted on facebook last night that I think it might have 'clicked.'

Well, this morning I was not sure what to expect, but when he came into the bathroom shortly after waking and took his diaper off, I had a feeling that he had figured it out. Then he did something I was not expecting - he pooped on the potty!!!! For those of you with kiddos that are/have potty trained, you understand just how BIG this is and he did it all on his own! I did not remind him or ask him, he just knew what his body was telling him!

A little later, we were preparing for  Science Club at our leader's house. I tried to put a diaper on him, but it turned into a HUGE battle, so I just packed extra clothes and, once again, he did great! I reminded him because I did not want to be cleaning carpet's, but he did awesome!

Tonight we are going to celebrate his new accomplishment with a little celebration and cake, much like we have with the other two. I am so very excited, but so very sad at the same time. Very soon, all signs of a baby will be out of this house. . .Luckily, Wesley knows that he will always be my baby and even insists that I call him baby most of the time!

I truly did not think that we would see this day for quite some time, but he was ready. He chose the time. He did it on his own. And I am a very proud mommy of my special baby!

He LOVES his 'big boys'

Strangers

Tonight, we learned firsthand of the kindness of strangers. . .

I took the kiddos to McDonald's for a special treat. Normally, on Tuesday and Thursday they have $1.99 Happy Meals, so I had promised the kiddos all day that if they were good, we would go and get one. However, once we arrived, we realized that this is not the case anymore and I refuse to pay full price for one! I pulled the kiddos aside and informed them that we would not be getting the Happy Meals, but that we could still get chicken nuggets or a hamburger. They were a little disappointed, but that quickly faded when they remembered that there were games! The kiddos ran off to play and I stared at the menu trying to figure out how to get dinner for them with the cash I brought for 3 $1.99 Happy Meals. As I was contemplating my options, an older couple walked up to me. They were waiting for their decaf coffee and hot fudge sundaes when they heard me talking to the kiddos. This couple spoke to me for a moment and then the gentleman handed me a $20 bill. He told me to get them some dinner, that since he can not get his own grandkids Happy Meals, that he wanted to do it for mine. I tried to argue, but it did no good and so off I went, buying 3 Happy Meals. After I paid, I took the change and brought it to the man. Again, he insisted that I keep the change and buy them some ice cream or another Happy Meal later!

As they walked off to enjoy their date, I stood there waiting for our food with tears rolling down my cheeks. They had no idea that today had been a hard day. They have no idea whether we struggle or not. They just saw a young mother trying to figure out the best way to be cheap and wanted to step in to help out.

When I brought the food to the table, I had each kiddo write a thank you note to the couple and before they ate, we delivered them. Robert, Hannah, and Wesley each passed on their note and we all exchanged hugs and thank yous.

This mystery couple taught all of us a very important lesson tonight - one that I will never forget. So whoever they are, wherever they are, I hope that they know just how grateful we are for their kindness.

Rosaries

Back in October, we celebrated the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary by making a candy corn/pumpkin rosary. The kiddos had such a great time counting and laying out all of the candies, that we decided to do the same only with candy hearts - little Sweet Tart ones for the Hail Mary Beads and larger chocolate ones for the Our Father's.

*Forgive the blurriness - this was done with my phone that was recently introduced to the toilet!

 The kiddos sorted the sweet tarts by color and then counted out 10 of each. We then chose the chocolates. The kiddos were given the option of using different ones or the same ones, and they chose to use all of the purple/pink ones. They sorted out all of those and then we were on our way to making the Rosary!

Before we began, I told the kiddos that we were going to be praying for Precious Jack as we laid out the Rosary and glued everything down. We made it through the entire Rosary before the first wimper of not wanting to pray anymore! I was quite proud of them all!

*Again, forgive the blurriness - this was done with my phone that was recently introduced to the toilet!

In 3 of the 4 corners, Robert, Hannah, and Wesley drew a picture of Holy Mary. In the final corner, we wrote "Our Family Rosary." We had a great time making it and praying it for Jack!

Martin Luther King, Jr Day

What a fabulous day we had today. Daddy had the day off, so it was extra enjoyable! We started the day off with a small breakfast and school work. Once that was done, the kiddos helped me make breakfast #2 - bacon and eggs to be delivered to daddy in bed! After cleaning up from that, we all decided to make chocolate chip cookies - and they were YUMMO! Before long, it was time for lunch and nap. While the little ones were napping, daddy and Little Robert went to run an errand. When they returned home, they had 4 new fish (named A, B, C, and D) with them, bringing the grand total to 7!

You can not see them, but they are all in there

Once A, B, C, and D were settled into their new home, Daddy and Little Robert left for the neighborhood park to play some baseball!

 

 

Once the little ones woke, we decided to go for a scavenger hunt. We were looking for "Giraffes and Elephants and Eagles and Caterpillars and Butterflies" - basically, just about everything! We did not find those, but we did find the neighborhood ducks and tried to feed them, but all we had were pretzels, and we found out that ducks do not like them! However, we did enjoy chasing and catching them :-)

 

 

 

We came home from our hunt and played, cleaned, cooked dinner, and prepared for bed. All of the kiddos were out in no time, so I think it is safe to say that they enjoyed themselves!