Pool day and Potty Training

Hey everyone!  Things are going swell out here!  We've had a good week, and while the weather has started to warm, we have adapted as best we can!  Just look at Winry, cool as a cucumber!

Here's Brooke having an important meeting with her stuffed animals!  You know it's serious business when Cookie is in attendance!

Also, at family home evening Monica and I got out our computers to look at the calendar and stuff, so Brooke needed to get her computer out so she could check her calendar too!

Little Winry crossed 4 months (technically it was last week, but the 4 month pictures were taken this past week)!  She's a super smiley baby!  And she loves to be held, loves to stand, and is starting to like peek-a-boo!

We've also started having her sit up some.  She can't sit on her own, but we put her in the high chair and let her play with spoons during dinner some times.  Monica has also been helping her sit up and trying to get her to laugh lately, resulting in this picture.

Brooke started potty training this past week, and she's doing fantastic!  She started Tuesday, and we got rid of all her diapers so there was no going back this time.  We told her the first day she went without an accident she'd get a special surprise.  That day happened to be Tuesday (no accidents her first day!), so the next day Monica took her to Target to pick out any toy she wanted.  She was pretty fond of a Care Bear at first, until she saw this! (Yes, Jelly is laying in there)

She just LOVES to give her stuffed animals naps in their pack and play.  She puts them in, gives them some little blankets, puts in a bottle so they wont get hungry, and adds a pacifier and these little bears that Velcro to the swing for stuffed animals!  Someone always sleeps in there next to her crib every night, and in the morning she'll tell us how they slept.  So far everyone has slept great!

On Thursday Monica captured this magic moment, and words just cant do it justice, you'll have to watch.

On Friday we had a fire in the back yard and roasted hot dogs for dinner and had s'mores for dessert!  We all had a great time in the back yard, and we were evening thinking about sleeping in the tent out there, but it got too late and we still hadn't set up the tent.

Saturday morning Brooke woke up and hadn't had an accident in her pull-up the night before!  We're just knocking out mile stones left and right!  As a reward she got to go to Chick-fil-a for lunch!  She was so excited all morning.

The only thing she could have possibly been more excited for was to go swimming in her pool in the back yard!  She watched me out the back window all morning as I mowed the lawn and inflated the pool to get it ready.  We spent all morning out there and had a blast!  The water was pretty cold at first, but when it's 90+ degrees out it feels great pretty quickly!

Winry laid on a towel in the shade nearby and had lots of fun with toys while we swam!  She also wore sunglasses for a while as you already saw.

Saturday afternoon one of Monica's old roommates came to stay with use for a few days with her family.  In typical fashion we managed to get no pictures with them...  I hope the drive home was safe for you guys, and I want you to know that Brooke was "calling" Izzy all day today on her phone.

Winry has recently started to realize the utility of her feet.  She has started to grab her feet, but more often she uses her feet to grab toys!  She's always got something between her toes when she's laying in the play mat these days.

This morning we enjoyed my day off by piling on top of dad and cuddling this morning.  This isn't very typical for Brooke unless it's the middle of the night, so I was grateful to get to spend some time together!  Brooke was even putting her arm around Winry and hugging her the entire time.

This morning when it was time to get ready to go Brooke took it upon her self to get her hair ready.  The first step is obviously to get your hair wet before you brush it, so spray the spray bottle she did.  Unfortunately as you may have noticed the bottle is pointing over her head, and with every squeeze she was getting something else wet behind her!

Once we were ready for the day we headed to a nearby park for a ward activity.  We were getting together to do some kite flying.  Brooke had a lot of fun running around with her Moana kite, and I had a lot of fun chasing her and throwing it back up into the air.  There was some wind, but unfortunately it was breezy off and on, so it was pretty hard to keep the kite in the air.

To celebrate Memorial Day today we got out our ice cream maker.  Sadly, this is the first time we've ever used it.  I joked with Monica that we've made homemade twinkies in our corn dog maker, but never made ice cream before!  Well, we fixed that issue today.  We actually made frozen yogurt, and it was really good!

This past week at church I was teaching a lesson on faith, and during the lesson I was bearing my testimony about the Atonement, and about Jesus Christ's gospel, and how he has paid the price for us to return to live with God, and that if we will follow His commandments, repent, and strive to live as He did we can return to live with Him and our Heavenly Father.  While I was bearing my testimony I felt the spirit so strongly in the room bearing witness to the truth of what I was saying.  It was an amazing experience, and I could see as I looked around the room that others were feeling what I was feeling too.  I am so grateful for my Savior.  I am grateful for the Atonement, and that through it we can be cleansed from our imperfections, healed from our transgressions, and brought back to the path of eternal life.  I am so grateful for the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and to be a member of His church.  I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Sisters gotta hug!

Hello everyone!  I hope you are all doing wonderful today!  Things are going well out here, and our family is as close as can be!  Just look at these girls hugging!

This is one of Brooke's new favorite things.  She loves when we hold Winry up so she can give her a big hug!  And Winry probably likes it too.

Brooke has continued to get better at holding Winry, and this past week she even held her without help on the couch!  She also was "helping" her get her pacifier... by sticking her thumb inside.  In about half the pictures she's trying to help Winry get it, and the other half Brooke's playing with it...

Winry joined us at the table one night for dinner this past week.  She is allowed to start solids, but we haven't given her anything yet.  Maybe soon!  We started getting her used to the spoon, and it looks like it went well.  Though really, it looks like she's about to take that spoon into battle!

Which reminds me of Chex Quest!  (That's a free game we got in a box of Chex back in the 90's)

This past week Monica took everyone to the park while I was at work.  Brooke tried out the digger for the first time and loved it.  She wasn't able to pull the handles at all, but she had fun, and that's what's important.

Brooke brought Cookie with her to the park, and after discovering that Cookies couldn't sit on the excavator Brooke decided it was time to swing!

Later that day Winry was being a super talker!  Just not so much for the camera...

On Saturday morning we were getting ready to head to Chick-fil-a for some free breakfast!  I was in charge of getting Winry in her car seat, and we had a blast!  We got free chicken minis, which are pretty good!  We also got Brooke a kids meal, and her toy was a paint by numbers done with stickers!  She actually got two, and here she is doing some of her first stickers.

So Jelly absolutely loved Monica while she was pregnant and would always jump up on her lap and stuff.  Since having the baby it's been not so much, until this past week when Monica was feeding Winry and Jelly just HAD to have some cuddle time!  She couldn't fit on the boppy with Winry, but she sure tried!

Today Winry fell asleep in her swing while Monica was making dinner, so we took the blender upstairs to make the sauce!  Classy!

Welll, Winry won't stop screaming, so gotta go! See you next week!

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mothers Day!!!  I hope everyone is doing fantastic, as you can see Brooke sure is!  After church she asked if she could go run in the grass, and she was SOOO happy about it!

Also, I guess me emphasizing that I'm taller than Brooke is a theme for photos this week... but really, this one was so cute I couldn't not put it in.

Winry continues to study for... the GMAT or something.  Today the study included various animals that got on the bus to go the fair.  Go figure!

The weather has been pretty nice here this past week.  This means that Brooke and I have been running together outside (I should get a picture of us this week), and we've spent a lot of time in the back yard!  We put up Brooke's swing in the tree, and sometime I showed her lawn darts, and she loves to get them out and play!  We usually only do a couple throws, and the rings are pretty close, but she has so much fun!

Also, sometimes while we play I'm sitting in a chair so I can watch Winry as well, and Brooke is nice enough to bring back both of our darts!

Brooke decided to do some "tricky" drinking this past week.  There's no real story for this, it was just ridiculous!

So, a while ago Brooke saw some Frozen chapstick at King Soopers and really wanted it.  We told her she could earn money to buy it by doing chores.  Well, she remembered that, so this past weekend we got to her first chore, which was helping Monica weed!  Sadly, we don't have a picture, or even better a video, because every time she would pull a weed she'd throw it over he shoulder, right onto Monica's head!!  It was really funny, and everyone got a good laugh from it!  In the end Brooke ended up earning another dollar, and she was very excited!  So excited that when we got back in she decided it was time to "work some more money out!" 

This past week we've heard sounds from the upstairs bathroom a few times, and we finally figured out the source!  Of course it was Jelly, but how she snuck behind the blinds I do not know...

Also, this morning was bath time, and I filled up Winry's tub and put it on the floor.  Jelly promptly came by to take a drink!

We went to see a friend this morning who recently had a baby.  First, I figured since we have a 4 month old, a new born wouldn't seem that small, but newborns are really small!  Also, Brooke saw this picture of a momma fox with it's baby and wanted a picture with it!  Happy mothers day to Monica and to foxes!

Tonight Brooke and I made a special mother's day dinner for Monica!  We went out to the freezer and I let Brooke choose what we should make.  We ended up with pot stickers and raviolis!  It may be a weird combo, but they were both great!  Wise choice Brooke!

Today in church we talked about President Nelson's talk from this past conference on receiving revelation.  We talked about the light of Christ and how it is different or the same as revelation.  The question was asked that if the light of Christ teaches all men to do good, than how do we know if something is our own thought or the light of Christ/revelation.  The basic answer is that it doesn't matter, as long as it's good we should do it and it's from God.  But, as one person answered they talked about how when those good thoughts come from us it is a sign of our progressing to become like God.  We all want to become like God, and as we do we will personally have thoughts that align with the will of God.  I thought that was a pretty cool insight!

Well, Monica is waiting for me to finish so we can play Donkey Kong, so I better go!  It is Mother's Day after all!

The big 30

Hello everyone!  Yes, yes, this past week was my 30th birthday.  Boy how time has flown!  We had a great day to celebrate, and got to have wonderful chocolate peanut butter cake!  Here we are with the candles going!  Also, we had a number 3, but of course when we were pulling out the numbers that one fell out of the package and broke in half... I think it was an omen...

Monday was smoothie day, and nobody loves smoothie day as much as Brooke loves smoothie day!  Just look at that face!  Also, this may be the last time we make a smoothie that "doesn't need a straw..."

When we were getting Brooke ready for bed I took out her bow and when I turned around Jelly was sitting there, so I figured I'd try clipping it in!  She let it stay in for a few minutes and didn't seem to mind, but once she wanted it out she got it out in a hurry.  Still, it looked cute while it was there!

We've recently realized that when Winry has her pacifier she needs to have something else to hold.  This is because if she only has her pacifier she'll grab one of the moose's legs and pull it out of her mouth.  Apparently Monica thought it's never to early to learn to love high heels or something... (...Alex gave her my shoe, not me....)

On my birthday we had cinnamon rolls for breakfast.  Sadly no one thought to take a picture until after breakfast, so here are the ones we didn't eat.  They were super good, I might have to have a birthday every week or two!

After breakfast Monica mentioned making a cake that day and Brooke ran to the drawer to get the candles.  When she got out the candles Brooke also got out the flashlight and would hold it up like this and say "I'm flashing the light!"

When I got home from work Brooke just had to have cake right away because she'd been looking at it all day (and helped Monica make it).  She also was very excited for me to open my presents, because she wanted to help.  She kept picking them up and asking if it was time yet, so we opened them basically right away.

Brooke made me some awesome art!  It's got fuzzy balls (her personal favorite) glued to it, and curly ribbons attached and even some decorative straws stuck through it!  I love it and it's exactly what I wanted!!!

And here we all are as a family before bed time.

When Monica and I went to bed Jelly had climbed under our bath mat outside the shower...  That was okay except we couldn't close the door...

On my birthday I also got tickets to the Denver Outlaws lacrosse game on Friday!  Monica found a baby sitter (thanks the Wilkes-s!) and we headed to the game!  The Outlaws play in the Bronco's stadium, so going to lacrosse games is extra great because I'll probably never sit this close to the field for anything else ever!  While we were there we headed to the Bronco's store and found some clearance Broncos shirts that we picked up for next football season.  We also got some food, and we looked at the Outlaws gear, but there was nothing that caught my eye.  They had some nice looking jerseys, but only in kids sizes.  We had a great time, and the Outlaws won too!!  Also, I think lacrosse (at least in Denver) is at a great point in popularity.  There's enough buzz and people there for it to be a big event and feel like a big event, but after the game we casually walked to our cars and still didn't have any traffic on our way home.  It's a win-win!

This afternoon I spent my time in the back yard with Brooke.  She swung for a while, and then she wanted to push bear in the swing.  She also brought out her little stroller to push bear around in the grass.  Eventually Monica and Winry joined us and we all enjoyed the nice weather chilling in the back yard!

Today I taught the lesson in Gospel Principles, and at the end I bore my testimony about the church, the restoration, and living prophets.  While bearing my testimony I felt the Spirit strongly as it confirmed what I was saying to me.  I feel like some of my most spiritual moments lately have been bearing my testimony at the end of Gospel Principles lessons.  It's amazing the spirit that bearing your testimony can bring.  I know the church is true, and I know that through the gospel of Jesus Christ we can return to live with Him and God again.  In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.