Potty Training

I gave Bracken underpants as we're starting to potty train. He put them on, then in a very concerned voice said, "But Mom. My new underwear already has a hole!" He's decided to wear his underwear backwards for the time being.

Bracken's 3rd Birthday!

At Lake Havasu

We stopped at Lake Havasu on our way home from Arizona. The kids were very ready for a break from the car. We walked around the London Bridge (the actual London bridge, moved brick by brick and reassembled in Arizona about forty years ago.), ate lunch and just let the kids run.

A couple of tourists shared tortillas with the kids so they could feed the ducks. Bracken and Kylie loved feeding the ducks and chasing the pigeons. Bracken tried so hard to catch a pigeon.

My beautiful sister Linsy...I had so much fun hanging out with her for the weekend.

We bought ice cream cones. As I was about to eat mine Chandra grabbed my wrist and pulled it to her mouth and took a good sized bite before I could react. She loved her first taste of sugar, and was so persistent in grabbing my hand and trying to get a bite that I let her help me eat the rest of my ice cream cone.

Contentment...

Trip to Yuma, AZ

The kids and I drove to Yuma, AZ with Linsy and Kylie to visit my Grandpa Rudy and Grandma Ginger. We had such a great time! I haven't been to Yuma for over 8 years. It was fun to see Grandpa and Grandma's beautiful new home, meet and visit with their friends, and most of all just spend time together.

Chandra playing in the rocks...Grandpa and Grandma's back yard is beautiful! We loved spending time outside. We wore shorts and t-shirts the whole time we were there. It made coming back to six inches of snow and freezing wind painful. :)

After we arrived at Grandpa and Grandma's house, the kids gave hugs and then went in the backyard to play, SO happy to be out of the car. When I went out to check on them about ten minutes later, I found Bracken and Kylie barefoot on top of a glass patio table, the glass bowl full of rocks from the backyard pathways, dumping them down the little hole left for a shade umbrella. Rocks were ALL over the once carefully manicured yard. They were so happy.

They did a lot to make the house more kid-proof than normal and to help us not worry too much about the kids breaking things. Grandma's closets and countertops were full of her beautiful and breakable things she collects that are normally all along her floor. (Happily the kids didn't break anything.) They bought each of the kids a toy of their own so they'd have something to play with while we were there. Cars for Bracken and dolls for the girls. They loved their new toys but I think still had the most fun destroying playing in the backyard. We helped get it back in shape before we left.

Grandpa took us for rides on the golf cart. When we were little girls in Evanston, Linsy and I (and all the grandkids for that matter) loved riding Grandpa's golf cart around the church parking lot across the street from their house. In fact, that's probably the first vehicle I ever drove. Bracken thought it was so cool that he got to ride on the back of the golf cart for a little while.

We went to the sand dunes one afternoon and the kids loved it. Bracken and Kylie dug holes, ran around the hills, jumped off the top of the hills and landed on their bums to slide down the rest of the way. Bracken even rolled around in the sand...needless to say, we had to strip them down before taking them home. This was probably the highlight of the trip for Bracken.

Chandra loved the sand dunes too. She dug at the sand with her little hands, fell in Bracken's holes a time or two, and ate a little sand before I could stop her. It was fun to watch her crawl on the sand. She'd put her hands on the ground in front of her, lock her elbows, and let her hands just slide around on the sand while she pushed herself with her legs.

Grandpa Rudy and Grandma Ginger watching us play in the sand.

Grandpa Rudy and Chandra

I'm so glad we were able to go see my grandparents! I love them both so much and enjoyed spending time with them. I'll always laugh at how Grandma was on a diet but insisted on making big desserts for us each night (which threw my eating right out the window), our card games every night after the kiddos were asleep, how Grandma wanted to take us to dinner at "Burgers and Beer" but was so worried about our reaction to the invite, late night talks while giving them footrubs, and the kids being so excited to go on golf cart rides. I love you Grandpa and Grandma!

A Ride on the Ambulance

Brian taught a boy scout troop about emergency care and first aid this week. He was able to take one of the city ambulances to let the boys go inside and see it, and one of their fake people (I'm sure these have a name, but they just look like rubbery mannequins) to practice CPR on. It sounds like the boy scouts were pretty excited to see inside the ambulance.

When Brian's class finished, he stopped by our house on the way back to the ambulance shed and Bracken, Chandra and I got to ride in the back of the ambulance while he took it back. You should have seen Bracken's face! He never stopped grinning, and he said over and over, "This is sooo cool!" When he got out he kept telling Brian "Thanks Daddy! That was exciting!" He hasn't stopped talking about his ride in the ambulance.

Sometimes when Brian is staged at the ambulance building he and his partner will stop by our house for him to run in and grab dinner to take with him. Bracken always goes outside to watch as they pull away, because Brian will flash the lights for him for a second. Bracken thinks it is so cool that his Dad works on an ambulance ("My Daddy is a hero, huh Mom?") and loves the ambulances.

Little Girl