Pictures and updates galore!

These are not in the order that they happened but here is a recap of the past few weeks!

I got a new camera! YAY! I haven't had a chance to play with it much but took it out the other night for a quick couple shots... here is the inaugaral photo... number 1 on the SD card! The pictures are great even on the fully automatic mode. They somehow seem to capture the feeling and emotion instead of being a flat picture! I'm sure once I learn more and get the hang of a digital SLR as opposed to my old film SLR that m pics will improve greatly! JT has taken a liking for bowls... He tends to wear them!

We have been potty training sort of for quite a while. AJ does well if she has a big enough prize at the end of the day so I knew she was ready and just needed something to get her to buy into the idea the potty was a good place to go! So we did a one day potty themed day. Just her and I.

After breakfast we read our princess potty book and used the stickers to decorate our own princess potty.

We used our borrowed Potty Patty doll to have Addy teach the doll how to go potty. Addy loved her!

We made potty pizza!

Had a tray full of potty prizes...

The marshmallows and rub on tattoos were her favorite prizes!

She made a potty princess crown and we did potty arts and crafts.

We made special undies!

And played a special game at the end of the day... Our first game of CandyLand!

All in all it was a super fun day! Addy did great on the potty and had no accidents! The weekend after she did super well too! Since then she has been staying dry at daycare and doing really well with pee at home. Still some random accidents and some trouble with poop but doing pretty good overall. She definetley is very vocal about not wanting to do pull ups again and wanting to be a big girl so that she can go to school next year!

After Halloween I got a bunch of costumes for dress up on sale for 3$.... Here is Little Red Riding Hood!

Our friend Lindsy came over and cooked with Addy.... somehow AJ ended up cooking in her undies and apron!

We went on a winter sleigh ride with some friends! It actually wasn't too cold out and was very peaceful. The kids did great. Addy even stayed dry the whole trip.

Why does she look so cute all bundled up and I look like a big dork!

We spent Thanksgiving with family! Addy loves her uncles! Here is her an Spencer!

We had a slumber party with Amanda and Lindsy. A fun girls night! They totally spoil Miss Addy with presents, crafts, and fun food! Lindsy even let her open up one of her birthday gifts, a new princess sleeping bag!

So there's our last few weeks in random order!

Black Friday

Well Jared and I had a super fun black Friday!

Obviously I haven't posted for a while... my computer had a very slow and painful death. I still have a few things I need to pull off of it and then we will be set and I will post real updates with pictures! But for now you get our black Friday recap...

Thanksgiving at Jareds dads... Had a good time, decided to really DO black Friday so left the kids there overnight so that we could do it together. We never have really done black Friday. Usually we will run to 1-2 stores before work and that's it so this year I took the day off and we went full force.

We went to a bunch of random stores (Old Navy, Toys R Us, Walmart, Fleet Farm, Office Max, Best Buy, etc.). We got a bunch of good deals on stuff that we actually needed and got most of our nephews/nieces Christmas gifts done (our kids are already done). I got a new computer!!! YAY! Jared got a free game for our XBox Kinect (the game I wanted even)! Then we headed to the outlet furniture store by Jared's dads house. We got a new TV cabinet for our living room, a big dresser for our room, and a set of twin mattresses for Miss AJ! We got it all for the same price we would have paid for just the dresser since everything was 35% off of the sale price and they price matched the TV stand! WOO HOO! We have been discussing getting these three items since we moved into our new house a year ago so finally hammered it out! And best of all, they are having it delivered to our local store then we will take a couple trips with the van and avoid the delivery fee's!

It was nice to spend the night with just my hubby doing something we are way too old to do... Who stays up all night, waits in the cold, and then deals with two toddlers who decide not to nap at the same time!

Not sure we will do it to that extreme next year but it was fun to completely do it once!

Winter Wonderland!

Tonight I picked up AJ and Ty at daycare and Addy informed me that it was snowing out. She was super excited and wanted to make an angel in the snow. So tonight after dinner when it was horribly dark out, she still insisted on making an angel so out we went! We got out all of her new winter gear for this year (note, I still need to get her mittens as her ones from last year were too small)!

The joy of snow!The first angel of the season.... And the second angel! After getting up and looking at her angel print, she exclaimed that it was BEAUTIFUL!

So sweet!

Flashback!

My how they have grown (or shrunk in JT's case!)....

Last November 2009.... Addy almost 2, Tyler 4 months.... 2 years ago, November 2008, Addy almost 11 months old!

Scrap-a-holic!

A long time ago in my pre-kid life, I used to do a lot of scrapbooking. The good old paper scrapping where you would print out a ton of pics, fill your living room with papers and fun add ons, and spend a few days going through and scrapping it all together. Once the kiddos came along, I realized very quickly that spreading my stuff out and expecting it to stay where I wanted and not get mangled was never going to happen. And then I saw a friends album that she had done via digital scrapbooking (Thanks Marianne for the inspiration!). I talked with her a bit and was HOOKED!
At first I missed the paper scrapping, I missed the mess, I missed the joy of sorting through everything. At first, digi-scrapping took me forever! But after a few pages I realized the joy of digital and now I am hooked! Its all contained in my laptop. I get all my papers/elements for free. I dont have to print all the pictures. I can reuse as much as I want, crop, alter, the pics in anyway fairly easily and love it! I go through phases where I am feeling more creative and in a scrappy mood and the last 2-3 weeks I have been inspired. So inspired that I got caught up on BOTH kids scrapbooks through September... of this year!

I did have this goal of every 3 months doing the previous 3 months so that I would always stay somewhat up to date but with a busy schedule and two little rugrats, every 3 months comes and goes too quickly!

I've had a lot of people asking me about it lately so thought I would post a few of my favorite pages. Some of my favorites are actually the more boring pages that are simple or with a plain white background although I did have a few favorites that were really neat but they were two page layouts so I skipped posting those!

The zoo:
Addy at dance class:

Dance recital last may:

Addys new jewlery box and faux makeup!

Our superbly cute pics by our dear photographer friend Catharine (Addy's 2 year and Ty's 6 month pics):

Ty's baptism

Ty's 1 year pics who were taken by another photographer friend Miss Shawna:

So there you have it! I ordered all of my pages so hopefully they come in the next 7-10 days so I can get their books all put together. (My goal is to have them done by Addy's birthday!)

Rainbow Hair and Noodle Fingers!

We did twists again last week but just did the back half and left the top in a puff. We added some beads for variety! After leaving the single puff in for a week, we washed the top half in the sink and did more twists and beads... And a fancy bead pattern of a rainbow with the red(pink) on the bottom and the purple on the top! It is SUPER cute in person! And of course she loves the sound of the beads clanking together when she runs or shakes her head! She loves her pretty curls which makes me immensely happy!

Earlier this week we had pasta....My brilliant child....
What's funny is that Ty saw her and then did the same thing (although his got flung across the room before I could get a picture!)... And yes I realize by taking a picture I am encouraging the behavior, but who doesn't like a bit of creativity in their life! They've pretty much figured out anything with a hole they can stick on their fingers... olives, noodles, spaghetti o's :)

Potty Training Gone Amuck

Looking for potty training suggestions...

We've been potty training off and on since about Julyish. Addy totally could do it, if she knows she has a big prize at the end of the day then she does great! If there isn't a big prize, well then she may or may not decide to go.

So last weekend we decided to quit! My sister had been in town for an extended period of time so that goofed up her schedule, we went to camp, we've been super busy, all of which are not ideal for decent potty training. So here we are, one week into quitting and she doesn't really want to quit. She's sitting on the potty when she wants. She's figured out that now that we have new Halloween candy, it may be worth her time to go potty so that she gets a treat.

I obviously don't want to push her too much if she isn't ready or willing but am ready to be done with the potty training!

So as of today, I have a weekend reserved for full on potty training. Undies only, potty doll, special treats/stickers/tattoos, potty books/games. We will be doing the "potty party" method. Since AJ is able to go on the potty what I need is for her to buy into the idea that its a fun good thing to do all the time! I've talked to another mom who did it and it worked well for them, so what do I have to lose. If it works then great! and if not, then I've spent a weekend of quality time with my daughter.

If anyone has done the potty party or has other ideas please let me know!

And if anyone wants to do anything the weekend of 20/21st, you are out of luck! The whole weekend is reserved for Miss Addison Javonna Sharelle!

Sleepy girl... super cute hair!

What a sleepy little princess... Can you sleep in a chair?

Look at these beautiful curls! I am SO jealous!

HALLOWEEN!!!!

The Best Halloween EVER!

These two kiddos were SO CUTE! Addy got to choose their costumes this year and since I wanted them to match I gave her about 8 options of different things that they could be. Things that I knew that she really liked. So she chose Ariel and Sebastian! Great for me as her lobster costume from last year was easily converted to a crab costume for Ty!

Sebastian and Mommy!

Miss Ariel and the pumpkins...

JT playing with the pumpkin tops!

Our sad attempt at a family picture! (yes this was the best one!)

We went to a fun halloween party at a local church. It was AMAZING! Definitely something we will do again. They had four bouncy houses, fun fair type foods, a ton of carnival type games for the little kids, laser tag for the big kids, and pony/horse rides! We had a blast! We met Alden and Logan there... I mean Woody and a lion!

Woody and Ariel! What a cute couple!

JT had fun riding atop Jared!

My little sea princess!

Addy got to ride Chocolate!

After going to the big Halloween party, we headed home so that Mr Ty could go to bed! Then Addy, my sister and I went trick or treating around the neighborhood. We went to about 15 houses and Addy LOVED it! She was super cute! She said trick or treat really loud, always said thank you, and sang "we're following the leader" between the houses!

Seriously, so cute, the best halloween ever!