Christmas in August

While we were at the concert, Shane and Cathy watched the boys for us. We are so thankful to them for keeping and entertaining them. We know the boys had a blast. We are also thankful to them for the Rescue Hero tower they gave us. Ryan and I contemplated waiting and giving this to the boys for Christmas, but decided to go ahead and give it to them now. They love it! Thank you so much Shane and Cathy:)

Andy P concert

Last Friday night we took the youth to Nashville to see one of our favorite artists, Andrew Peterson. We went to Andy's release show of his new album, Counting Stars, which is wonderful! I love these types of concerts because the album is played straight through, and you get to here the stories behind the songs:) Mercy did great! I was a little unsure about bringing her...will she cry all the way to Nashville, and back? Will she cry during the concert or make her new loud noises? What about feeding her? Everything went well, though...so glad I went, too, and brought her, of course!

Mercy in her Andy P, Sandra, and Derek onesie:)

Ryan and I with Mercy on our love seat chair...yes, I brought my boppy pillow into the concert.

youth girls

more youth

yes, more youth:)

tummy time

Mercy Cate has really been enjoying "tummy time." It's odd to me since the boys cried whenever I placed them on their bellies. She doesn't seem to mind it at all, and her neck has become stronger. Here she is yesterday when I placed her on her belly:

The boys were napping. (Yes, Josiah napped on this particular day:) All of a sudden...Mercy rolled over....YAY!! Here she is after the 1st roll:

Go girl!

busted!

Josiah is beginning to grow out of naps. Some days he naps, and some he doesn't. I'm okay with that...especially when he plays well in the morning; with a good attitude. A couple days last week I found myself with Mercy in my arms asleep on the couch (ready to sleep myself) when Josiah came out of his room (unable to sleep). I sent him in Mercy's room with toys to play so I could sleep. It worked well the first day, so I didn't think anything of it the second day when I sent him in her room. It is a treat to play in her room since (normally) they don't play in there. (They like to play with the glider rocker and make bridges to the bed...maybe they will be engineers:) Anyway, I found Josiah like this when I went into Mercy's room:

He had gotten into the baby powder. Wow. It was pretty bad. Almost the whole container of my barely used baby powder was gone, and a new, fresh scent filled the room. Not to mention it looked a little cloudy. The first words that came out of my mouth (with I'm sure a shocked look on my face) were "Don't move." I went to get my camara:) This is one of those offenses that I just can't get angry at. I expressed disappointment to Josiah. Laying upon the changing table was Mercy's puppy poodle (from Aunt Francie) covered in baby powder. When Josiah saw me look at the puppy, he broke down crying. Josiah LOVES little stuffed animals like this...he plays with them. He was so upset that he "hurt" (his words) the puppy. He cried and cried. He went to Mercy and apologized for hurting her puppy with the powder. He kept asking me if the puppy would be okay.

I took a baby wipe and wiped the powder off. The white powdered puppy appeared pink again and Josiah was thrilled. The puppy now has a fresh new scent. She is now resting on the dresser to recover:)

Potty News

Last weekend we startd potty training Aedan. He started out being completely clueless on how to pee. I had to make him just sit on the potty while I (or Ryan) read books to him. After a week of training, he is doing really well. We are so proud of his efforts. We've gone through a good number of pullups, but in the last two days, he has been telling us that he needs to go more (and is dry:)! Hopefully he will continue to make progress, and be able to wear "big boy" underwear soon! It will help financially, also, to only have one in diapers. I stocked up on diapers throughout the spring (when on sale) with the hopes of having enough diapers to last until Aedan was potty trained. It looks like the timing will be close:)

Tragedy struck last week when one of Aedan's stickers accidently fell into the tiolet. Ryan flushed the sticker, and the boys were in complete shock...which led to tears and sobbing. With his knowledge from Nemo, Josiah said in horror, "All tiolets lead to the ocean. The sticker is going to the ocean and we'll NEVER get it back!" The boys cried and cried, while Ryan and I tried not to giggle. Once they were calmed down, Ryan told the boys that maybe a dolphin would find it and put it on it's dorsal fin. And, maybe we would see the dolphin wearing it next time we go to the beach. This appeased them a little...I'm sure they'll remember the sticker that went to the ocean next time we're at the beach. They'll definitely be looking for a dolphin!

"get my hand"

(sorry it's so dark...i had the lights off in an attempt to get her to sleep:)

need a laugh?

National Dance Day was July 31st...and most of you know my love for the show, "So you think you can dance." (If you've never seen it, you have one last chance this season. The season finale airs Wednesday night at 7:00 central time, and the results show is on Thursday night. You'll see some pretty amazing dance!) Anyway, I tried to teach Josiah and Aedan the Tabitha and Napoleon hip hop dance routine that was online. They provided step by step instruction. Well, after about 15-20 minutes of teaching...the boys weren't getting the steps down...they were only interested in their own choreography...