Highlights

Here are the highlights of what's been happening with our 5 for the past few weeks:

Sophie is potty trained! I took the advice of a friend and put her straight into panties (instead of Pullups), and she got the hang of doing #1 on the potty pretty quickly. Actually...a little TOO well, because she'd have a hard time going to sleep at night because she was worried about wetting in her sleep (she wears a diaper or Pullup to bed). She's calmed down about that now. After about a week of going #2 in her Elmo panties (which devastated her--you know how much she loves Elmo!), she figured out how to do that on the potty too. AWESOME!!

During the first days of her potty training, I was sitting on the edge of the bathtub waiting for her to potty and was praying out loud (I'm not sure if my praying out loud all the time will strengthen the faith of my kids or make them think their mom is schizophrenic...but that's another post for another day). I was praying "...what a blessing it would be if I could get one of the kids out of diapers..." and Blake walked in and said "potty?" I took his diaper off, and I'll be darned if he didn't sit down and pee pee in the potty! God has a sense of humor! Blake hasn't been interested in the potty since, but I'll start working on his potty training next.

Graham had another hearing test last week, and they confirmed that he definitely has significant hearing loss. His tubes have already fallen out and his eardrums are concave, so it feels to him like he's in the mountains or on an airplane. The tubes usually last about a year, and his have only lasted 5 months. He goes back in for surgery next week, and while he's sedated the doctor will insert a different type of ear tubes that should last longer. He'll also have an extensive brain stem auditory test to determine the cause of the hearing loss. They've prepared us to expect that the hearing loss is irreversible, but I'm praying for a miracle.

Brent and I are taking a Dave Ramsey class at church, which we both love. Like I mentioned yesterday, we have a budget that's almost painfully tight but will hopefully pay off in the long run. The LONG, LONG, LONG long run. Will we ever eat out again?! We're trying to cut expenses, so I've been shopping mainly at Aldi, cooking all of our meals at home and making homemade waffles and freezing them (Brent and the kids go through SEVEN waffles each morning). This week I even made homemade laundry powder, dish soap, foaming pump hand soap, detangling spray and baby wipes. The dish soap and baby wipes aren't cutting it, but the rest are awesome. If you want the recipes, let me know! They all took less time to make than driving to the store to get them--I wish I would have heard about this years ago. Brent is changing the oil on our cars himself this weekend, which also helps a lot. I can't bring myself to wash ziploc bags yet, but know people do it. Any thoughts on how to do it without the kitchen being covered in drying baggies all the time?? If you have any "budget living" ideas, let me know!

My neighbor put heat-reflective tinting on their house windows and said it's made a tremendous difference, so yesterday we put it on a few of our windows. First of all, it's exactly like hanging wallpaper with your spouse, so prepare yourself for marriage counseling before you start! We finally got the hang of it and figured out a good system, though, and are really pleased with the results. It made an immediate difference in how hot the "sunbeams" were. Our living room and bedroom have vaulted ceilings and are usually like a furnace by the time I get home from work, and the poor air conditioner runs constantly until late evening to make up for it. I'm anxious to see how the house feels tonight. I'd love to see our electric bill go down!

Sorry for the long post!

We're baaaaaack!!!

Hellooooooo from our house! It feels like we've been gone a while!

I have to be honest, I've been trying to decide what to do about our blog. I love blogging and love reading other people's blogs, but I struggle with finding something "fun and happy, light and bubbly" to post about every day, at least that anyone else would find worth reading. Then it hit me: I can STOP trying to make every post into a Holly Hobby snapshot of our day! Simple, isn't it?! Nothing drives me more crazy than the first five minutes of "fluff" conversation with an old friend before you get to the nitty gritty. The five minutes of "Life is great! The kids are great! Everything's great!" before the facade dissolves and you get the real story. I've let our blog become that five minutes.

So...from now on, as I continue to chronicle the day-to-day milestones of three silly toddlers, you'll also be subjected to the hodge-podge of things that make up our daily lives: trying to teach our kids about God, getting grounded in church, potty training, work stresses and cutbacks, tackling finances with Dave Ramsey, and learning to live within a very restrictive budget.

If you're in, I'm in. I'm ALL in.

Dad & Louise's deck

Last week was busy with River Festival activities! We love this time of year in Wichita--so much fun stuff going on for a week. We went to the parade, walked in the River Run, saw Loverboy in concert and walked in the Walkfest. We also had a birthday party and a celebration at school. Full week! I'll post pictures soon of the festivities.

Dad's having his deck covered! They have a great deck with built-in seating, but the huge tree next to the house drops leaves and twigs on it all the time. Here's the first installment of progress pictures. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for good weather tomorrow and Friday--I know he'd like to see it closer to done before the holiday weekend. Wish we lived closer so we could enjoy it, too!!

P.S., for those keeping track, the "hanging garden" is doing great so far! Our pepper plants and one cherry tomato plant are blooming.

Our "garden"

I was inspired to plant a garden this year, and couldn't decide where to put one. I kept hearing about the Topsy Turvy upside-down planters, but they're pretty costly. This is my "version" of upside-down garden containers.

As you can see...they're Dillons reusable sacks! They come with a plastic rectangle to make the bottom a little more sturdy, so I cut an "X" in the bottom of both and fed the plants through. Then we added soil to fill the bags and viola'--upside down planters! We planted 11 bags total, plus 2 small pots of herbs, for about $60 (bags, plants and soil). If it's successful, it will be a super economical garden!! I'll post updates and pictures throughout the summer.

My gardening assistants #1 and #2...Sophie and Blake were more interested in throwing dirt at each other.

Gardening assistant #3...Graham was more interested in his popsicle. :-)

Gardening assistant #4...this squirrel was WAY more interested in the project than assistants 1, 2 & 3! He spent a lot of time checking out the bags.

We planted 11 bags total, plus two small hanging baskets of herbs. We planted tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers. Wish us luck! I do NOT have a green thumb...Brent got a chuckle out of me literally praying over our "garden." I told him that God's grace is the only way we'll have a fruitful crop. :-)

Video of Sophie and Blake doing a little mudslinging! Press the play button under the picture to hear some sweet laughter.

Parties, Parties, Parties (part 2)!

Our MAPS (Mothers and Preschoolers) "mom", Barbara Jean, hosted a "garden party" for our small group last week, and it was fantastic! Our only responsibility was to wear a hat. The weather was cooler than expected, so the party was moved inside. She had a beautifully decorated table ready for us, and the house was decorated with pots of gerber daisies everywhere!

For dinner we had a delicious "ribbon sandwich" along with a mixed green salad with strawberries and candied pecans. I'd never had a ribbon sandwich before! It was a loaf of bread sliced lengthwise into several slices, and between each slice was a different type of sandwich spread: pimiento cheese, tuna salad, crab salad, chicken salad. Then it was frosted with cream cheese, and when sliced (like a loaf cake), it was a gorgeous layered sandwich! These are roses from her garden decorating it.

For dessert we had individual meringue shells topped with whipped strawberry fluff and hot fudge. Sorry, no picture of that...I must have been too busy eating and gabbing. :-) After dinner we had hot tea in pretty tea cups in the living room. Such a girly evening and SO much fun!!

Here's a picture of our group!

As we were leaving, Barbara Jean gave us each a pot of the gerber daisies to take home. Daisies are my favorite flower. :-) Here's a picture of mine! Pink to match my outfit!

"Voovie"

This morning I was getting the kids' breakfast ready while the boys were running around underfoot in the kitchen. Sophie's door was open and she was stirring, but she was still laying in her bed. Blake was in a full panic once I started putting food on the table, worried about his sister not getting breakfast. He started frantically running to her doorway and yelling "Sophie, come on!" then running back to the table. It came out sounding like "Voovie, 'mon!" It was the first time I've heard him say her name, and it melted my heart. He finally seemed at peace once I roused her and brought her to the table. Sweet.

Another funny thing happened last night at the dinner table. I noticed something drop from the sky and a flurry of activity near the front step, and realized it was three mallard ducks. The kids were excited to see them, and were yelling "Duck! Quack! Quack!" A moment later, Brent and I froze in shocked uncomfortable silence when we realized that they were...um...ahem...making baby ducks. Right outside our window. While we were eating dinner. I mentioned three ducks? Two boys, one girl. It felt...WRONG. I'm blushing AGAIN as I write this.

I have more pictures to post of the parties from last week, and of the final "fingerpainting artwork", per Christy's request. I'll get them on here soon!

Parties, Parties, Parties (part 1)!

Sophie's friend Ellyott celebrated her 3rd birthday last weekend, and the boys were allowed to tag along to the party (even though it was a princess theme!). SUCH a fun party!! We started off doing some finger painting on real canvas boards. Sophie was NOT interested in getting her fingers dirty and chose to paint her masterpiece with a paint brush instead. :-) Elly's mom gave them each an arts & crafts apron with their names painted on!

Next was dinner, and the boys must have been famished. They were the first ones eating and the last ones finished! It was a delicious meal of bratwursts, hamburgers, pasta salad, homemade macaroni and cheese...Jess is an awesome cook! Sophie is sitting next to the birthday girl, Ellyott. Jess had neat princess and Thomas plates and cups for each of the kids to take home with them.

Brent and I took turns feeding the hungry boys cake and ice cream...check out Graham's mouth! HA!!! I told you--these kids take eating seriousy!

Elly opened her presents, and these are the tutus and wings we gave her. The hot pink set goes great with her hot pink cowgirl boots!