What happens when a 2-year-old snatches your camera...

Family Trip to the Zoo

On Sunday we took a much-needed family adventure to the zoo! I try to do fun things with John with our friends. We usually have weekly play dates with other moms and kids. But there is just something special about doing fun things as a whole family! I know Andrew wishes he could do more fun things with us, but he works very hard to support our family - and we appreciate it! =)

John had a great time looking at all the animals. He is at the perfect age for enjoying the zoo! Here are some pictures from our wonderful family day:

Loved the slide! =)

Baby #2 Update

Baby belly pictures haven't been a common occurrence with Baby #2... oops! Today marks week 29, which means we only have *about* 11 weeks left. If he is anything like his older brother, we might have 12 weeks left.

Baby #2 - 28 weeks

We have been taking classes for the Bradley birthing method. It is a twelve week course - one night a week for two hours. Now we only have two classes left! I am shooting for a natural birth this time and I think this class has given us some good tools for getting through labor without drugs. We shall see! ;)

Thanks to those of you who have been keeping me and Baby in your prayers. All our doctor appointments and ultrasounds have gone well. So your prayers are working! Keep 'em coming!

2011 Garden

We planted this garden several weeks ago. We were a little lazy this year and just used starter plants. Hopefully they will take off soon! We planted tomatoes, pumpkins, yellow squash, red onions, artichokes, spinach, snap peas, lettuce, and potatoes. John and I have fun watering it every morning. Here is what it looks like now. I will post more pictures as the plants grow.

Pre-school: Learning Letters

I have been keeping an eye out for ways to integrate more formal learning for John during the day. I do realize that he is learning all.the.time and soaking up everything we say and do together. However, I want to make sure I am giving him some tools to begin a foundation for formal schooling - especially since he is interested in it.

For Christmas, Uncle Aaron bought John the Letter Factory from Leap Frog. I put it on John's wish list because it was mentioned in this great post I read on learning to read written by a homeschooling mother. John has been watching it probably once every other week, on average, and loves it! He also has learned most of his letter sounds by watching it and being quizzed with flash cards. He knows we are proud of him and so he is very proud of himself.

Several weeks ago I began reading a book called Mommy, Teach Me to Read. It is loaded with good ideas and I highly recommend it!  I've already implemented some of the author's recommendations for teaching letters. I bought some magnetic letters and I let John just play with them when he wants. However, we do put them away after he is done with them because I want them to be a special toy and I don't want to lose any of them!! In a little while, I will use them for more formal teaching, but for now, he loves playing with them and making "words" with them. He lines them up on the fridge and makes the letter sounds. It's an especially great activity for him while I'm making dinner! ;) I started taking pictures of his words and telling him how proud I am of him. In the pictures below, you can see the progression of his own pride. At first he was uneasy about me taking a picture, but now he runs to me and asks me to take his picture with his words. Very cute!

Babies!!

We have a lot of friends who are pregnant right now - there is quite the baby boom happening! =) So I have been going to a few baby showers lately and there are many more on the schedule in the next few months!

Corina and Me (and John...) at her shower

All the pregnant moms at Corina's shower

All the pregnant moms at Erin's baby shower in order of due date L-R

Fr. Bryan Ochs!

Last Saturday we were able to witness Bryan Ochs' ordination to the priesthood. He is a good friend from the Newman Center at WWU. The ordination Mass was beautiful and we are filled with joy for Fr. Ochs!

 Praise God!

Organizing: Under the Sinks

As you probably know, I love taking before and after pictures! I noticed recently that the areas under the sinks in the kitchen and bathroom were getting pretty disorganized. So I invested in some plastic drawers to help get inspired and organized.

Here is under the kitchen sink BEFORE:

AFTER:

Here is under one sink in the bathroom BEFORE:

AFTER:

And under the other bathroom sink BEFORE:

AFTER:

The Cousins

A couple of weekends ago, we went up to Bellingham for our nephew's graduation. He was homeschooled, so they were able to have the actual ceremony at Mom and Dad's house. It was neat to see a homeschool graduation ceremony and I am glad we could be there. It was also a special weekend because John got to meet his cousins for the first time (they live in Nebraska). He loved his cousins and we sure wish we lived closer to them! Here are some pictures from the weekend:

All the cousins!

Hi!

Well, it sure has been a while since my last post! May and the beginning of June were very busy, but I think (hope!) things will be slowing down. In the next few days I will share what we have been up to.

The current big news is that I decided to work on potty training with John. I think he is ready, and I am also ready. It would be nice if he had a good grip on it by the time Baby #2 is born. But I'm very relaxed about it and know that he might regress some after the baby is born. We have been working on it every day for the past 3 days. Progress has been made! Yesterday he was sitting on his potty chair and while I was reading a book to him he went pee! I called Andrew and he and my parents came running in to make a big deal about this achievement. We all clapped and John poured it in the toilet. He was beaming! =) I also gave him a lollipop and asked him why he was getting one - he said "toilet!" That's right, little man!

Today he spent some time wearing big-boy underwear. I told him that he needed to tell me if he had to go pee and not to get his big-boy underwear wet. He was playing quietly with some toys and then said with urgency, "pee-pee." We both got up and ran to his potty chair. He picked out a book for me to read and the second I started reading, he started going potty. I was so impressed that he is already learning to acknowledge the urge to go to the bathroom.

We have a long way to go - I've heard that it can take anywhere from 3 months to a year for kids to be fully daytime potty trained (nighttime is a whole other story!). But I am very proud of his progress!