Caught Red Handed

Look what I found Genevieve doing in the laundry room. She emptied the whites basket, pulled out all the dogs bowl and ransacked the shopping bag container. I think she was trying to figure out how to get to the dog food next.

Sun and Fun

We have been enjoying some awesome weather the past few days, so I decided to set up the sprinkler for the kids. I hope to have a larger wadding pool her soon. Anyway, Grisham and Sophia loved the sprinkler. The babies not so much. They played in the sand and enjoyed the sun. I had to put a girly looking hat on Brenner to keep the sun off. He was not a fan!!

Animals and Sam's Birthday Party

For Genevieve's birthday my mom and dad got her this blow up penguin. It has balls in it and when you push on it the penguin will fall down and bounce right back up and it sings too. We couldn't fit it in our luggage so mom mailed it to use. It arrived in the mail and Grisham thinks for some reason that it is his new wrestling partner. Genevieve isn't too fond of that idea. She does like to play with it if big brother isn't around.
We had a wonderful weekend. The weather was amazing so as soon as Brenner went home Friday afternoon we went to the zoo. As expected it was packed. We went straight to the aquarium. Grisham's favorite. I really like it in the summer because it is air conditioned and they have nice benches to sit on. Quite a relief. After the aquarium we went over to the manatees. I could watch them forever. I would love to see one up close and not through glass. We headed over to the play area but didn't stay long. Grisham insisted on trying to go up this huge slide. He was blocking the way for others who were trying to go down the slide. So we left to see the Gorillas. There was a huge crowd at the outdoor exhibit. Turns out Mac the silver back was out and showing off. He was running up to the glass and pounding his chest. He even started throwing a large stick at the window. He seemed really mad to me but the zoo keeper said he was just showing off. Hey, what do I know anyway.
Saturday was full of yard work. I love yard work, especially when it is gorgeous outside. I mowed the lawn and then we all went to home depot to get some dirt and grass seed. I wanted to fill in the holes that were left from putting in the patio a year ago. I am also thinking that about creating a rock garden at the rear of our yard. There is this shady spot that only grows weeds so to dress it up I think that I may place rocks and a birdbath too.
Sunday afternoon we went to little Sam Fink's Birthday party. It is always fun to get the kids together. especially at an awesome park like Homestead. We had yummy veggies and pizza. Then we sang happy birthday to Sam. After we had some cake we needed to get going. Both kids were exhausted. Early to bed.

Thanks Ladies!!

Thanks to all who had wonderful suggestions and directions for my blog. I plan to give it a shot in the morning when I have more time. If I still have trouble I may be giving one of you a call. :)

Help Please?!

I need some help with the blog. I have been trying to set a new background for my blog and have been very unsuccessful. I am a complete idiot when it comes to the computer. If anyone knows something about placing a new back ground from the cutest blog on the block, help!!

Potty Update

I caved and used a pull up last night. Yesterday Grisham woke from his nap wet and really upset. He was so mad that he peed his pants while sleeping. So to avoid this I used a pull up. He woke up in a much better mood. The pull up was wet but it didn't leak. I think this may be what we will have to do. He hasn't pooped yet. I think he might be holding it in. It has been since Tuesday. Not sure what to do here. Any suggestions?

Potty Time!!

About two weeks ago I found a book on line about potty training. I have been feeling a little concerned about Grisham and his lack of potty training. I know that he just turned three and it is not uncommon to have an untrained three year old boy. But dog gone it I am tired of changing his stinky diapers!! So I purchased the book. The author laid out a simple plan. The hardest part would be my consistency. She suggested that you throw all diapers and pull ups away so you have no crutches to fall back on. I of course did not throw them, what a waste! But I did store them all. So far her plan is working for us. Yesterday, our first day, was a bunch of accidents but finally in the evening he did it. He went in the potty! Last night wasn't too bad. I got up around 2 and checked him. He was wet but I was able to change him head to toe without waking him. This part kinda worried me. If he is so dead asleep how is he going to know if he needs to pee? The sleeping part is what I am a little concerned about. I may have to use the pull ups at night. I will give this author her three days and see how the nights go. The days are great. Grisham has really learned to listen to his body and come to me when he needs to pee. So far we haven't had to deal with the poop. That should be coming here soon. I will keep all who care up to date with. I guess if you didn't care you wouldn't be reading my blog. Oh, and here a few cute pics of Genevieve waving and eating her mac and cheese. Until later....

Marshalltown and Genevieve's 1st Birthday!

Sorry it has been so long to post anything. Last weekend Scott, the kids and I went to Marshalltown Iowa for a job interview. They really rolled out the red carpet for us. First of all they paid for our plane tickets. The flights went well. The kids slept most of the time. We had a slight delay in Chicago but isn't that always the way it is in Chicago. When we arrived in Des Moines there was a driver waiting for us. It was nice not having to drive. We put a movie in the dvd player for Grisham and sat back and relaxed. We arrived at the Tremont hotel with open arms. The owners of the hotel/restaurant were waiting for us. They showed us to our amazing room. We had two Queen sized beds and they were nice enough to set up a play pen for Genevieve. After settling in we went down to the Tremont Grille for lunch. If anyone is in the Marshalltown area I highly recommend all Tremont restaurants. After lunch we went back to the room to rest. Scott and Genevieve slept but Grisham and I did not. Now, both Grisham and Genevieve were not feeling well. Grisham woke up that morning with a fever. My parents were going to come up from Altoona to babysit the kids. We had dinner with the partners that night. When they arrived I convinced then to take the kids back to Altoona for the night. They needed some serious rest. They thought that was a great idea and packed them up and headed out. Side note here. This was the first time I had ever been away from Genevieve and the second for Grisham. The first time was when I gave birth to Genevieve and I was only gone for 24 hrs. I was so thankful that we were busy non stop or I would have had a really hard time. Dinner was wonderful. We went to the country club for dinner. Beautiful!! We met with the partners and their wives. Friday morning we were up early and went to breakfast to meet the medical director and the bank manager. After breakfast it was one meeting after another. I met up with the wives for a tour of the town and lunch while Scott was back at the clinic talking business. We eventually got a break and went to see Scott's parents, sister Heather and family. It was very nice of then to travel over to see us. Grisham and Genevieve stayed with my parents one more night. Once again we met the partners for dinner. Saturday morning we met with a realtor and saw a few houses. We also went on a tour of the YMCA. It had to be the nicest Y I have ever seen. After the tour we had our wrap up meeting with the partners. It was the busiest 48 hrs I have ever had. It was a great time and we really do like the town very much. Now we just wait.
Saturday night we had a birthday party for Genevieve. Her birthday was on the 19th but since we would be traveling all day we decided to have it earlier on Saturday. My parents, sister Sarah and her husband Joshua, Scott's sister Heather and husband Dan and their kids, Cali and Gavin and some friends from college showed up. After dinner we sat down to sing Happy Birthday to Genevieve. We thought that she would dive right in the cake but actually she did not like it at all. She gaged on it actually. It was a great time seeing our family and missed those who could not make it.
Sunday was another day of travel. It was raining so our flight to Chicago was delayed. When we finally arrived in Chicago around 4:55 we called the 1-800 number to see what time the Columbus flight was leaving. Originally it was to leave at 4:25 but everything was backed up due to weather. The operator said it was to leave at 5:00. That meant we had five minutes to unload get our stroller and run 19 gates to make our flight. We had to get on it because the next flight to Columbus wasn't until 3:00 the next day and Scott was on call. Luckily the flight was delayed another 15 minutes so we were able to make it. We arrived home a little before 8 but our luggage did not. The airline had to deliver it later that night. It was a short trip but well worth it. I was so happy to see my family and hopefully we will be able to make a decision on where to move to.

Zoo Pictures

Here are the pictures that I was able to get at the zoo on Saturday. After the camera broke I missed out on pictures of the aquarium and manatees and of course the kids doing cute kid things. However we did get to see quite a few animals. Bears, wolves, moose, eagles, otters, deer, elephants:), rhinos, tigers, lions, and so much more. It was a beautiful day!