You know you have good neighbors when...

It's a good thing it's Spring Break around here, because multiplication facts have a way of sneaking onto the back burner with happy little distractions like sun and 80 degrees on unsuspecting March days.

We're pretty much cool with distractions like that.

We've accepted our momentary academic lapse, and in it's place have welcomed to our backyard loads of the friendliest, most well-mannered neighborhood kids on the planet. I tried to keep the girl out of the mix for as long as possible so: 1. the boys could actually pull off an organized game of soccer, and 2. So she wouldn't get run over by a herd of hyper children who just woke from their Winter slumber. The trampoline held her off for a while, and then there was no use... But she didn't head out all on her own. I had to confirm that my ears had heard correctly. Did those boys just invite her to play? I couldn't believe it. Two middle school boys from down the street had just offered a free kick to my three year old girl. You'd better believe that she didn't even look over to check with me first. The game continued with her now in it, and the look of pure bliss on her face was priceless. I'm not sure if that was the best part, or if it was when Chase kept saying to the neighbor kids, "That's my sister, you know," as he looked back to check on her. She ran like a maniac, trying to keep up. And after she snuck in one last kick and made a wide-open-on-purpose goal, she danced some crazy celebration dance while chanting, "Uh huh, oh yeah, uh huh, oh yeah..."

Junior high boys are officially cool.

A birthday party, fourth child style...

Moments like these are what make busy moms glad they stayed up until 1:00am to make a last minute birthday cake. She never smiles this big when she first wakes up.

Last week was one crazy week. We made a very exciting trip to Cincinnati to see the newest cousin on Thursday and Friday. Tess's birthday fell on Saturday, but I got home and quickly got to work on the baby shower I was scheduled to help throw on Sunday in Bluffton (for another new cousin... babies everywhere in this family, and we love it!). We had already decided to lay low for Tess's birthday with all of the traveling, and I even talked myself into no cake... just a candle stuck into something at some point in the day.

Wow. This is fourth child thinking, for sure. Good thing I'm so far behind on scrapbooks that they'll never know the difference. And good thing you don't remember anything from when you're three anyway. But there are those simple moments that are worth the effort, even if they won't remember it a year from now. Or next week. After I couldn't stand it any longer, the cake went in the oven at 11:00pm the night before her birthday. I had no cute plan or even a theme. No matching napkins and streamers. I scrounged around for anything remotely girly and party-like (hard to find in this house!), and began decorating the kitchen at midnight.

She loves babies, and this is as creative as I get on a whim. Heh. Her surprised face when she woke up the next morning.... totally worth every minute of lost sleep. The great thing about having three brothers is that you always have a party on your hands. They cheered and sang and cheered some more, and didn't even fight over her presents.

Probably because they were all pink.

As much as she gets in their space, I think they've still all asked at some point why they can't marry her. She's still spunky and spirited, but she's finally maturing in her behavior and is becoming such a fun little personality. A day doesn't go by when we don't laugh hysterically at her antics. She was able to attend VBS while I volunteered this year, and every night multiple leaders would come to me with the funniest stories about her (they usually had something to do with her expressiveness, extreme silliness, or her crazy good three-year-old dance moves). One leader's comment was, "She's so adorable because she's hilarious and she doesn't even know it."

I couldn't agree more.

Thanking God for his faithfulness (and help!) these last three years. Tess, you are such a gift.

Happy 3rd Birthday!

No more swim diapers :)

Movin' on up!

Look what we took down this past week! For as much as I feel like we've been in the baby stage forever, I can't believe that after ten solid years of use, this thing will no longer take residence in our house. If I thought about it too long, I might get a little emotional. That is, until I remember the schemes of this little daredevil.

She and Trey, my two little climbers... up, over, and right on out of the crib. It only took one time to shake Trey up. Tess on the other hand... oh dear. It takes a whole lot to sidetrack this girl. I haven't had to get her out of her crib for the last month and a half. Spunky, that kid.

So the new big girl bed is working out quite nicely, and she's even slept past six a.m. a couple of times in the last few days. That alone is a miracle, and worth the switch, if you can credit it to that. The first night she slept in her new bed, I listened to her sing herself to sleep through the monitor. It was soft, sweet, and purposefully tender and melodic, and it went a little something like this:

"I like you new bed... you look like Jack's bed.... you're so pretty and cute... I no climb out.... my momma 'pank my bucket... I love you new bed...."

How does this happen?

Just so we're clear, this child would never do this for me. :)

V-i-c-t-o-r-y

Yes, I am training my two year old "mommy" to capture precious moments... on the potty. It's a normal practice around here. You know you do it too. After all those years of changing diapers, you take pictures of your kids learning to use the potty. Not just because it's cute (even though it is). But because it spells V-i-c-t-o-r-y. And since there are so many days when we as moms feel less than victorious, we'll capture anything and everything that slightly resembles success. She's been potty trained since August, and it still feels surreal when I look at her cute little bottom in those pink Hello Kitty undies. Partly because she's wearing undies and not a diaper, and partly because they're Hello Kitty and not Spiderman. All that fiery determination of a personality has to be good for something. When she asked me to go potty, I drug my feet, knowing that starting too early can turn into one big headache. When she realized that I wasn't going to be any help, she started asking her brothers take her. Since they never tell her no for anything, the dreaded potty training began.

Four kids are a lot of work, but these older boys are starting to earn their keep. Chalk one up for the school boys who passed Tess's first of many hours on the potty by sitting and reading to her. I still owe them. But I mostly credit one determined little girl, who now is dressing and undressing herself multiple times a day. I had no idea that started this early. Lord help me.

If you're new to this potty training thing, I'll have you know that there are no magic secrets or hard and fast formulas that work for everyone. Even if you saw it on Dr. Phil, it might not work for you. My earliest was trained right at 2, and a certain boy was definitely three before we could leave the house in undies safely. Every kid is different. But, certain things have worked for us. They may not work for you, but if you're desperate, you'll try anything, so I'll go ahead and share. :)

Here are my top five "what's worked for us" in potty training (I'm so loosing half of my readers right now... bear with me for the sanity of parents of toddlers everywhere!):

1. Don't start until your child shows signs that he is ready. It is tempting to start at a certain age, or when the peer pressure builds because every other mom in your child's class at church starts, but don't do it. You will definitely see signs to let you know that your unique child is ready to give it a go.

2. When you do start, commit to it. Don't start and then stop two days into it. I promise that this will confuse your child. Be consistent, be attentive, and just do it! Training is just that... training. Training takes time and practice, and won't be over in your timeframe (sadly). That being said, if you mess up #1, there's no shame in stopping, and starting again when the time is right.

3. Don't leave your house. I have found that starting on a week when I can stay home for several days straight produces the best results. With a busy schedule and changes in location, it is very difficult for a child to get into a potty routine. Don't add more expectations and stress to an already stressful situation. Oh, and don't plan on answering the phone that week! :)

4. Don't use Pull-Ups during awake hours. I may get some disagreements on this one, but for my kids, it was one more thing to confuse them. We used undies from the start, even when going out, so they could distinguish the need to stay dry. Now naps and overnight, on the other hand, totally acceptable in my book...

5. My favorite potty training secret? Let them go naked at home. You may slightly embarrass the Schwann Man and the Fed Ex guy, but trust me, they'll live to tell someone about it. For obvious reasons, my kids were way more aware of their need to go potty when they were exposed. Many ask if I cleaned up accident after accident using this method, and the answer is surprisingly no.

That is, of course, when I strictly adhered to points 1, 2 and 3.

And by the way, you have my permission to take a picture of that too. It may remind you of sweet victory, or it may come in real handy for their high school graduation open house...

Summer Fun!

Birthday Girl...

For lots of really great scheduling reasons, we partied simply with this girl this year. It was just our family, and it was a great choice. The boys helped pick a theme for Tess's party, and the conclusion was unanimous... Her most favorite thing in the entire world? A cat named "Bob".

Go ahead and laugh. I laugh every time I say his name too. He is our neighbor's cat, and to say that Tess is majorly obsessed with him is putting it mildly. She wakes up in the morning and asks for Bob. We take several walks across the street each day to go find him. And when we're not trying to find him, we're talking about him. We make up stories about him sleeping or going on adventures in the neighborhood. Tess's number one sentence spoken every day is (with her hands thrown up in the air in confusion), "Bob?? Where-eeee-goooooo?"

Look out when a boy says Bob's name when we're actually taking a break from talking about him. He immediately gets the look. Everyone knows that you don't ever bring up Bob when she's miraculously forgotten about him for five minutes. Geesh...

So we celebrated Bob-style, and she was more than thrilled...

So happy to see her cake!

Bouncing up and down and dancing while everyone sang to her.

Spitting - uh, I mean blowing- out two hard earned candles!

Wait, is someone cheering for me?!?!

Happy Birthday, Tess Elena!

P.S. Oh how your brothers adore you.

P.S.S. Bob? Not so much.

What femininity...

Look what her brothers taught her to do.

Not the naked thing. She taught herself how to do that. She either needs potty trained or duct tape, and I'm pretty sure she's too stubborn for the first option. Even with the pink princess throne potty chair, that plays royal music and all. Her babies sit on it all day long. But her?

No way, baby.

She does, however, like to stand in front of it, push her big belly out, and fake pee into it. I wonder where she learned that? Yes, this one's easily influenced, I'm afraid. That's why she got the potty throne. Normally I'm not so whimsically impractical.

For the record, I'm not hung up on potty training. She's number four, remember? But going naked really isn't all that popular in public, so we may have a problem on our hands. We did solve the naked-in-the-middle-of-the-night issue, though, so we're getting somewhere at least. Kudos to my old high school friend on facebook who gave me the solution: cutting off the feet of her sleepers, and zipping them on her backwards. No more surprises in the night in this house.

Well, naked surprises, that is.

Ah, facebook... what a handy little tool you are. Knew you were good for something.

She's daring, impatient, and wants her momma 24/7. And on occasion, she makes her brothers cry. My favorite line? "You're eight, and she's two. Really, you can't get away from her?"

Yep, she's two now, and we all feel like we deserve an award. These two years have definitely blessed us, and taken every last bit of our energy.

But she has a way of capturing your heart. Once you've earned a place in hers, that is.

One look at that cute bottom, and I forget how much work she's been. She can also be pure joy with that sweet, crooked smile. She makes my boys sweeter boys, and makes me rely on God a little bit more than I naturally would. And that's always a good thing.

Lord, give me patience with this energetic, terrorizing two year old. Help me to appreciate her for who she is, and for who You are making me in the process...