Thanksgiving

This Thansgiving was truely a day to be thankful for. We were able to spend the day with Family and Friends. I was a little nervous at first having such a large crowd that we would not have enough food, but like always there was plenty. I even tried out some new recipes and they turned out great.

The Place settings, I decided to not put names on the turkey's and let everyone sit where they wanted.

Homemade rolls from Steph

The Kiddie Table - Garrett, Clara, Brooklym and Lucy

Big kid table - Jake and Hannah

Really Big kid Table 1 - Marin, Matt, Reagan, Uncle Angelo, Stephanie, Richard and Gretchen, Marin's mom (she came later after the pics) - the Wheelers got snowed in from traveling to Matt's family so we got the pleasure of having them spend the holiday with us.

Table 2 - Auntie Dina, Jennifer and Brent Galvan - they don't have any family up here as well so we adopted them.

I think B liked the grub

B and Lucy busy on the magna doodles

My favorite place that day in the kitchen. Actually with Auntie Dina here is was great, she is an amazing cook so she helped get most of the sides done the nigth before and we prepped the turkey so it was just gettinf everything in the oven on time. The day was a true success thanks to Auntie's help.

Brooklyn had the camera and was taking pictures

Happy Cousins

Ah the couch after a long day time to relax and enjoy each other. Of course we had to go through the ads and scout out where we were shopping at as well.

We love that they come visit for Thanksgiving and Brooklyn's birthday. It really means a lot ot us and we love spending time with them. Thank you for all your help and for making our little girl feel so loved and special.

This is Auntie and I waiting outside Target for it to open at @4 am. We decided to not go to sleep and hit Walmart at 12am. We ended up shopping until 11am meet the boys at Cabela's then went to breakfast and finally laid our heads down to rest at 1pm Friday. It was crazy, but fun. We were delerious and laughed a lot do to the lack of sleep, but I would do it again. Of course next time I would be better at actually getting my shopping list done.

The new beanie Uncle got B at Cabela's and Daddy's new Wii hunting game she's ready to play with the big boys next year.

Birthday Part 1

Our baby turned 2! Wow where has the time gone, I look back at old photos and videos and can't believe she was so tiny. She has such the great personality and is so much fun. She has discovered the terrible 2 stage which I can do without, but that just calls for lots of deep breath moments which she mimicks me when I do them and can't help but laugh.
Brooklyn first present she opened her new Magna doodle from Linda and Gordy Johnson. It is a hit with all the kids. Thansk for thinking of her.

I had big plans to take her to the cupcake store and get her a cupcake, but with hosting Thanksgiving I was doing last minute shopping so we took her to Red Robin for dinner instead. She was not quite sure when they were singing to her.

They have cupcakes at Red Robin bow did you know that? She was super excited.

Her new trick she covers her nouth when she laughs or thinks she is so funny.

Kisses for Uncle, she was so happy to see them when she woke up from her nap.

Smiles with Auntie

We went to Toys R US where she got a crown, balloon, and they annouced her birthday and sang over the loud speaker it was quite fun.

She loved playing with all the toys and dancing with the Dora doll and Mickey Doll.

Auntie bought her a wind up butterfly she had a great time playing with it. Overall it was a crazy day not how I had planned but she was plenty happy with dinner and the toy store.

Snow, Baby, and Birthday

We our first snow fall of the season the weekend before Thanksgiving. It was just enough to build a few snowman.

Brooklyn was excited at first...

Until she walked in it and it got her boots wet and dirty that she decided that she had had enough of the snow.

The 2 snowman that Danny made by rolling the ball along the grass as you can tell it took all the snow we had.

Baby Shaun Matthew O'Connor was finally born, poor momma had a terrible terrible birthing story that went on for 3 days,but he arrived healthy and happy.

The proud new parents Matt and Sara they waited a long time for this baby boy we are so excited for them to finally be parents.

Lucy playing beauty parlor on Uncle Danny, he really needed a hair cut, to bad the scissors were plastic.

Brooklyn enjoyed the pretend nail polish

Jake turned 8 and had an Army party. Ricky was the the drill sargeant yelling at them while going through the obstacle course.

Brooklyn with her commander headphones from the goody bag

Cousins Clara and Brooklyn they are so cute together. They already have the look that they will get into trouble together someday.

Potty Training

Crazy I know I started Potty Training a week before we left on a 5-6 hr rode trip to Oregon, not the best decision. We survived though made it all the way there with dry panties!! At one point we pulled over on the side of the rode adn pulled out the potty chair, but it was 20 degrees and Brooklyn decided she did not need to go that bad. I don't blame her I think my pee would have froze while trying to come out. It was an hour before the next rest stop and she held it. So proud.
Don't let me fool you it has definitely been a struggle. My friend emailed me a 3 day potty training e -book and it suggested starting as early as 21 months the sooner the better. We were almost out of diapers and I said spend $50 on more or give this a try. so we went for it. It was a rough 3-4 days. You pretty much stay home and follow her around the house asking them to tell you when they need to go and picking up after her accidents. The first day we went through @ 18 panties and washed laundry all day. It got better nad seemed to click a bit more by the 3rd day.
We for the most part have been trying not to use pull ups, for cost and she know if I have one of those on it doen't mess though my pants so I am good to tinkle a bit and try to get away with it. She did great in the beginning telling us when she needs to go but has now decided it is not that important to tell us everytime. We struggle don pooping but have gotten much better with that just wokring on the pee pee again. It is a daily task I wonder sometimes if I started to early, am I making her grow up to fast, am I making our life miserable when we get upset with accidents and always having to take her to the potty, the list goes on and on. Lets face it diapers are gross to change but so much easier on the parents. So far we have our ups and downs but sticking to it.

Oregon

We took our annual trip to Bend, Oregon to visit with Auntie, Uncle and Cousins and for the boys to go hunting. As you can tell from the picture above, Brooklyn loves to spend time wiht Uncle and eat all his fries and ketchup.

We got to spend a few days with Cousin Kirabella. The girls loved dancing and playing dress up.

Brooklyn also became quite the fan of Nicki Dog not sure if Nicki was as excited, but she was a good sport.

And here is Danny with some of his loot that they got over the weekend. I didn't take many pictures I was to busy relaxing and just hanging out with Auntie. We had a great weekend stayed in our jammies til noon watched Hallmark Christmas specials, talked and laughed. It was a great time. The boys seemed to enjoy themselves as well. It is something we look forward to every year. Thanks for coming up with the idea Uncle and Toni Marie and Russ for having such a great ranch for the boys to go to.

Baptisms and Birthdays

Sunday we were invited to attend Reagan Wheeler's baptism. It was a rush to get out the door but once we got there it was a good experience to be apart of.

The kids got to help bless the water before the baptism, they of course loved playing in the water.

The Wheeler family plus Audrey and Brooklyn after the baptism with the preist and new godparents.

Reagan so sweet and newly baptized. Her big brother Garrett got to help pour the water over her head while being baptized. She wasn't so sure, but G liked it. Thank you Marin for inviting us to be apart of Reagan's special day and for the excellent brunch after.

Later that day across the street was Berlin's birthday celebration. It was mellow mostly family and Brooklyn was the only other 2yr old there. It had been a while since we had hung out with our old neighbors it was nice to reconnect.

The excited Birthday girl, Berlin and Brooklyn trying to eat her ice cream cake. We survived the potty trainign that day she did not do so well at the Wheeler's but at Berlin's stayed dry adn told me when she needed to go potty. Baby step, baby step and lots of patience.

Joys of parenthood

Brooklyn has been enjoying her new bed, she has been great staying in it at night. I think she enjoys the freedom of being able to climb in and out at night. I always check on her before I go to bed and this is what I found when I opened the door.

I have no idea how she got there but laughed and had to go get Danny to see and them take pictures of course.

Another night with her feet hanging off.


I have been thinking about Potty Training Brooklyn for a little while and asked a friend who has a book called 3 day potty training and it has worked great on her 3 kids each time as early as 18 months. So I read it and decided to jump into it. The first thing it sayd is for the parents to be prepared mentally for this. I thought it will be frustrating, I have watched my sisters go through it but it can't be that bad. WRONG I was. Day 1 the first 2 hours we went through 18 panties and had to quickly wash them. Followed her aroudn the house wiht Lysol wipes and carpet cleaner. It started getting a little better but definitely tested my patience. By the end of the day she had gone pee pee a few times and it was a dry night.
Day 2 I had to babysit our nieghbors daughter so it was a distraction for both of us. We had a few accidents especially pooping. Washed more panties all day but was expecting it to be harder due to having a friend over.

Day 2 in her minnie mouse panties

Dancing around

Day 3 seemed to click better she would  go potty more but still having pooping issues. Which from what I have heard from others is completely normal. Come Friday she was not happy with us because she new it was not good to poop and pee in her pants so her tummy hurt.
Saturday was a really bad day she would cry and not go to the potty only to pea, she was in pain. I was ready to put her back in diapers after sitting in the bathroom with her for an hour trying to help her but she finally went that night some in the potty some in her pants. We missed Cousin Lucy's birthday party beacuse of how the day went. Danny was trying to bribe her with a barbie and money of she went in the potty. We did a chart with stickers, but she is still young so does not quite understand the concept.
 Sunday we had a baptism and a birthday party to attend we barely made it out the door on time to get to the church for the baptism trying to get B to go potty for 20 min before we left. She had a few accidents that mornig so I put her in pull up which I was trying to avoid. She would not talk to us or look at us. She gave us a nasty attitude. I would try to hold her face to look at me and answer me she would look with her eyes straigh at the ceiling. Boy are we in for it in the teenage years. That evening she did great went potty and stayed dry. She does great at night staying dry I wake her up around 3 - 4 am to go potty then around 7 -8 she goes again.
Monday night she completed her pooping chart of going 6 times in the potty and got a barbie and $0.25 in her piggy bank. She was dancing around with the biggest smile I had seen in a while, it was a great moment. Things are getting better each day I ventured out with her to the library and we stayed dry so now I am feeling better about starting her and not like a failure of a parent. I just need work on my patience I pray for more every night.

I think the trauma of potty training has gotten to her, she now sees that her door is slightly opened and ventures out to wake me up with her singing glow worm and a sweet voiced "momma" at the wee hours of the morning. I just love waking up in a panic. Just another joyful thing about parenthood.

Our next challenge this week will be taking a 5 - 6 hour drive to Orgeon to see family. Hopefully we will stay dry on this road trip!