Jeff's Home!

Jeff is home! He came back bearing gifts and the kids loved them. Lily thinks her pink Duke shirt is great, and the boys can't get enough of the Duke basketball hoop. We are becoming a Duke family. Jeff had a wonderful time and made a lot of great friends and was so happy with his team and the program in general. We feel so blessed for this opportunity, it really is amazing!

We went to Centennial Village in Greeley to see some farm animals with Lily and Ryan's friends Olivia and Reed. They all loved the animals and spending time together. 

Max got a big smile when he would go in to pet the bunny. 

Max must have a lot of Winder blood in him, because he really liked the sheep. His hand was in their mouth and all over their faces. 

Just checking out some old homes. 

I feel so blessed to say that we now have the opportunity to visit farms on a regular basis! The Mason family in our ward live on a farm and wanted to allow kids to come and spend time outdoors and do a type of farm school. The two kids are homeschooled so they are great with my kids and we love going there. This was an answer to prayers because I was wanting to get involved more with nature and gardening and animals. 

Ryan and Lily LOVE picking carrots from the garden, washing the dirt off, and eating them straight away. 

We went to the creak and Lily had no fear crossing the tree to get to the tree house. Ryan crawled along the log, which was still impressive since that looked pretty scary to me too. 

Eating lunch on the bridge. 

Daylon was awesome and spent a lot of time with the kids in the creek. The kids had absolutely the best time. 

I got some baskets from Sandi for our produce and egg gathering.  

This was the only thing I had in my car before I got those baskets: a little potty (luckily it had never been used). 

Lots and Lots of Visitors!

Potty training has been a bit challenging. Ryan did great when I set a timer for every 20-30 minutes, but then I did it longer or just kept asking him if he needed to go. Sometimes he'd try and not go, but if I waited too long after that then he would go in his pants. I was so tired of cleaning up messes Jeff told me to just put diapers back on him and try again later. School would start soon so I didn't feel like I had much time, but I was tired of trying. However, once he put diapers on he would tell me when he had to go and didn't have one accident! It turns out Ryan can hold his bladder a really long time and I was just annoying him by asking him to go so often. And he has done great since!

We have had an influx of pictures. Lily LOVES to do art and this is a small sample of what she produces. I love it! I love seeing her busily work away and come up with her own drawings or creations. 

Watching the train go by. 

Kids having fun means lots of clean up later. 

This makes me tired looking at it. 

We have been so lucky to have lots of visitors! I felt bad not taking Lily to Virginia to see cousins when I went last, but then they all came out here, lucky us! Greg, Holly and family stayed the night and we got to enjoy spending time the next morning before they headed off to Utah. It was so fun to have some time to talk and catch up without a ton of other people around like it usually is when I see them.

Fun at the park.

Brigham, Caleb, Mark, Lily, Ryan, Max. Jacob was already in the car. 

The same day they left, Trevor, Heather, and family came on their way from Utah to Virginia. They were just going to leave the next morning, but their car had a problem and needed to get fixed. Even though I felt bad they had to get a later start on the road, I was so happy we got to visit longer! We took a walk to get Dunkin' Donuts and could have really used my double stroller. But the kids were troopers and made the long trek. Later, Trevor took Lily and his kids to a trampoline park while the boys napped. They played with the new race track for a long time, had tea parties, built train tracks, castles, towers, princesses, and had a great time.

Building castles with Emmett.

That car track entertained for hours. 

Having a tea party with Addi and Z. 

Z, Ryan, and Lily spent a long time making the perfect train track. 

Z and Lily in the foam pit. 

The day after they left, Jeff's cousin Stephen, Jenny, and their six kids came to stay. They are vegan and I was worried about what to feed them, but they gave me some recipes to try and the one I made was really good and very easy. They are really into The Child Whisperer and Doterra Oils so it was fun talking to them about different things. It's always nice hosting people because it gives you so much more time to talk to people.

The next day I drove with Stephen, Ryan, and Max to Westminster to drop the boys off while Stephen and I went to the temple for Nick and Lisa's endowment. Lily stayed rode back with Jenny. I always love going to the temple and don't go often enough, so it was wonderful to be in a session with lots of family!

On the way back from the temple Ron, Stephen and I picked Jeff up from his two weeks at Duke. He was tired, but had a wonderful time and is so excited about his program and the people he is doing it with. We feel very blessed for this opportunity.

The kids were all so excited to watch a movie together at Mama Baer's. 

Jeff, me, Jenny, and Stephen, such a fun reunion!

Wow, what a whirlwind two weeks this was, but I was extremely blessed this whole time and could not have done it without help from lots of prayer.

Potty Training Time!

I had a big agenda of items I wanted to accomplish while Jeff was away and potty training Ryan was one of them. He starts school in a few weeks and will need to be out of his diaper by then, so I realized I just needed to buckle down and have a potty day. We used stickers every time he sat on the potty and the big prize at the end of the day was he got to watch Chuggington. Lily was my helper with the stickers and would give him some options, let him choose, then ask if he wanted to put it on the paper or have her. Ryan went pee in the potty probably ten times and had only one accident. He even told me once he had to go. I set the timer for 20 minutes so we were on and off that potty all day long.

In other big news, Lily learned to ride a bike all by herself! We got her a balance bike and she went on it three days. But Tuesday, she went on it a few times then I gave her the bike and off she went! She even learned how to start out all by herself, I was so proud of her. Such freedom to be able to be able to ride.

Max dove into the slide and once he got to the bottom he came right back up the stairs and did it again. 

She can ride!

Ryan is an adventurous climber!

Ja, Laura, and family came back through Windsor on their drive home from Utah. The kids have so much fun together and played and played out in the back. They did a "show" to the song "Firework" and ate brownies and ice cream for Ryan's birthday.

The next day the girls put on a fashion/dance show and we went to the library for a petting zoo and pony rides, which the kids loved. It was so fun to see them again after less than a week!

Laura said she tried to get a picture of Anna and Ryan like this a couple years ago and the big sisters photo bombed that picture too. 

Max has started to take steps this week, which is a big deal since he has not shown interest in walking much. I just love how amazing fasting and praying is.

Ryan has had some ups and downs with potty training, but on Saturday he asked to go one time and did a poo poo in the toilet! Every other time he went it was because I told him it was time to try, but he didn't have an accident so that was great. On Friday I was pretty fed up with cleaning up pee from clothes and carpet and chairs and wanting to give up on it all, but I was given the gift of an accident free day the next day.

Saturday we spent the day in Westminster, which was so fun since I haven't been there in a long time. We went to attend Lisa's bridal shower, put on by Nick's aunts. They were so nice and did a great job and it was great. Lily was so thoughtful and noticed if someone was hot she'd offer them her fan. Or she saw that Sandy didn't have a fork so she got her one. After going to bathroom she told me all about it and where the garbage was located because it was hard to see. She helped Lisa with the presents and it's nice being alone with her in public settings (when I can focus on her rather than chasing Ryan or Max) because she is just a delight. She was eager to meet Nick's little 4-year old sister and wanted to become friends. I just love her and feel such a joy that I get to be her mom. Lisa and Nick together will make a powerful couple and do much good in the world. I just felt that as I spoke to them and heard all the wonderful things happening to the people around them as they see the spirit in their lives, especially Nick as he is embracing the church again. It's very cool to see.

We celebrated Ryan's birthday with cake and presents. Ryan is such a funny boy with an infectious laugh. Once you get him going on something funny he can't stop laughing. He likes being silly and speaking nonsense words. He was happy to be celebrated again and of course loved opening gifts. His favorite gifts were some little cars...that boy loves cars! I just love the things he says and how he says them, I wish I could record him talking all the time because it's so cute. And Max took some more steps tonight so I'm just going to keep praying it continues!

Ryan got to pick out his present at the toy store from Granny Dot. This turned out to be the best present because it entertained cousins (of all ages) for a full week!

Lily and I decorated this box and it became a space ship. We cut a hole and the kids loved poking their head through. 

On Sunday the kids did amazing at church, I was really surprised and felt very, very blessed. We lasted all through sacrament! I pretty much spent the next two hours in the hall, but I figure that's the typical Sunday for the next three months.