brief update

Hello! I wanted to give a brief update of the happenings in our home lately. It seems most fitting to do it with pictures...enjoy!

My mom and I took the kids to meet Bob and Larry at a new Christian book store grand opening. Laney was NOT going to go up to get her picture taken with them, but Car watched a few other kids do it, noticed they came away unharmed, and decided to try it himself. He still doesn't look too sure about it though! We came away with a free CD of three Bible stories and a sing a long DVD that goes with the movie we took them to see in the theatre - we watched it and Carson just kept asking when the movie was going to start.

"No more pictures, please." Can't you just hear it?!? I think this is an adorable way to capture that we are in the middle of potty training Carson - wow, what a task that is with a lazy little guy!! All of the candy and sticker rewards in the world make NO difference in his life! We started a new chart and he is excited about the possibilities on it - new unders, a new book, and the finale (after 30 successes)....a BIG BOY bed!!! YEAH!!!!

This update doesn't have to be all about the kids ~ it can also be about my absolutely wonderful husband!! I have wanted an ipod since before Christmas (I get VERY tired of listening to the women around me talk about their drama while I'm trying to walk/run at the gym). On Valentine's day I got this box of chocolates...lo and behold, there really was an ipod shuffle inside of it...thank you sweetie!!! All I could say in return was, "We made you a big heart shaped brownie - and we even iced it!!!"

Our nephew Seth has spent the week with us as his parents are in the hospital welcoming their new baby boy, Luke, into their lives. He has done a GREAT job adjusting to our routine and he fits right in. The boys have actually slept in the same room. It's been fun to see them all enjoy life together and to see each of their reactions to Luke. Seth is young enough it only phases him that we get to see Mommy and Daddy. Carson is worried he's being replaced. Delaney is in awe of this little creature and wants to look at him and love him lots.

Matt has promised to show me how to put all this on the blog so that you all can start checking it at your leisure instead of getting emails so full of pictures it takes 45 minutes to open :-)

Have a great rest of the week!
Gretchen

A Long Overdue Update

Hello friends and family! I hope that 2008 is off to a great start in all of your lives and homes. We are having a blast and keeping too busy to sit still and do these updates as often as I'd like to!

We went to the Children's Museum 3 times in 10 days! I took them with some friends from church, then we went with our friends from MOPS and then.....I feel like there should be a drum roll here.....the Monkey George (that would be Curious George to those of you who don't spend enough time with Car) exhibit opened!! Matt took a half day from work and we went to check it out on the member preview day....that was the only exhibit we visited and we had a lot of fun! We had gone to the exhibit when we were in Chicago with Matt's grandparents, so the kids were excited to see some of the things they had played with there in our museum (especially the payer - Delaney's term for cash register and the person running it).

Matt and I had a crazy idea and decided to take the kids to see the new Veggie Tales movie in the theatre. The movie was excellent and the kids were wonderful! We went all out and bought popcorn to consume during the movie - it was gone by the time the previews were over! There were a few "scary" parts, according to Carson and Delaney, but it all worked out okay, so they were happy. They have requested that they get to see more movies like that - we'll have to see about that one :-) If you haven't seen it (which I'm guessing most of you haven't), there are talking cheese curls in the movie, so now every time we have cheesy poufs (is that how you spell it, Matt?) Carson bites a mouth into his and then they converse with each other for the rest of the meal - it's pretty cute!!

The past week or so we've been battling some kind of flu bug. Car came down with it last Wednesday and Delaney came down with it yesterday (sorry to everyone we've been around during the last week). Delaney had a dentist appt and a dermatologist appt last Wednesday, so Matt stayed home with Car and Laney and I had a girls morning - it was so much fun! We had about 45 minutes to kill between the appts, so we went to the mall and had a snack. She got the giggles b/c I dropped the lid to our icing on the floor and we laughed about it for a while - we very rarely spend time together without Car, so it was a nice change of pace - she didn't have to compete for the attention for once.

Tomorrow Delaney and I are going to visit GCA (the school I used to teach at) to see about enrolling her in K4 next year. I am going to see what they are doing at this point in the school year and see if it might be worth it to send her. I think she'd love the social aspect, but I worry that it won't be challenging enough, I mean, come one, she's my firstborn and she's a girl - she is a genius!!!

Have a great rest of January - stay warm (unless you live in California - then I hope, by some freak of nature, it snows horribly on you)!!

Gretchen