I also compiled this list in 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, and 2009. I can't believe how much my little man has grown!
10. The way he still loves George, even after numerous patch jobs, and smells his ears when he comes out of the dryer to make sure he's “just right.”
9. The way he'll play Lego Batman on Wii for hours if we'll let him.
8. The way he never meets a stranger and will speak to anyone about anything, much to our chagrin.
7. The way we still talk about his least and most favorite parts of the day while sitting in the rocking chair at bedtime.
6. The way he still wants to wear his long-sleeved flannel Christmas jammies, even during the summer.
5. The way he so freely gives out hugs and kisses, his lips landing in whichever spot he can reach.
4. The way he has so many little girlfriends: Sophia, Kyra, Rachael, Dharma, and Julianna. He's such a charmer!
3. The way he is so kindhearted. When Rosie went to heaven this year he wanted her to have his stuffed monkey, and he painted her a picture to put on her cloud.
2. The way he stated in his preschool graduation interview that Kit Kat was his favorite food, and he wanted to be Batman when he grew up.
1. The way he amazes me more and more each day. My little man-so smart, so energetic, and so all together wonderful! I love you, Bubby!!
Hello everyone! I am more than happy to report that My Mangled Meanderings is up to date!!! Be sure to check back as far as April because I have been adding posts here and there. I'll be behind again once the butterflies make their appearance, but I digress.
The only problem is that I'm stressing out because Lorne said that he found some typos, but he couldn't remember exactly where. I have a degree in English for goodness sakes! I can't have typos! I'll send a box of Cracker Jacks to anyone who wants to comment with any discovered typos. LOL He said he thought one of them was to/too/two which really bothers me because that is a huge pet peeve of mine when it is used incorrectly! It's probably a close second to there/their or maybe its'/it's/its. OK, I'll stop now and go get the kids ready to leave for swim lessons!
I am so excited to show the pictures of our new fence. It has been quite a process! I got estimates from three fence companies back in April. I couldn't believe how much it was going to cost, so I thought I would try going through State Farm since the west fence had been damaged by wind on more than one occasion. I should have had State Farm come out first. There was a recent hailstorm, so it took about two weeks for him to come out and take a look. He said that they would pay to replace the fence posts along the west fence, but that was all. The damage didn't reach our deductible so that was a complete and total waste of time. I think that it actually hurt us that Lorne had been doing repairs along the way, because it was in much better shape than it would have been otherwise.
The next huge step was getting four signatures from our affected neighbors for the Homeowner's Association Architectural Change form. How difficult is it to get four signatures? I'm so glad that you asked, because it is a HUGE PAIN!!!! It took me about six weeks!! It's amazing how busy people get when you start asking them for money! It didn't help matters that the house along the north fence was on the market. The original owners wouldn't sign the form even though I kept telling them it was just for the HOA. Lorne did the math and split the cost in half for our part, and then the remaining balance three ways for our neighbors' contribution. I finally started telling them that it was okay if they didn't pay (none of them did; the losers!), so that we could get our fence! The fence guy said that what he sees happen is that they won't pay us, but they'll call a fence company to construct a new fence for them and they only have to replace two sides instead of three...nice!
I was hoping to get the new fence in May because Rosie spent the month with Larry and Velma since we'd traveled so much. It saved her time in the car and the cost of boarding for us. That obviously didn't happen, but it wasn't too bad having to take her outside on the leash. I was afraid that I would forget at 4:30 in the morning and she would get loose, but I just left the leash right in front of the patio door as a visual.
They came on Wednesday and removed the old fence and posts and set the new posts. We now have metal posts which should help tremendously with sustaining wind damage. It started to rain about thirty minutes after they left. I was worried that it would change their schedule, but the owner said it would be fine. They didn't come Thursday because they were allowing the posts to set. They didn't get here Friday until after 10:00, so I was worried that they wouldn't finish, but the new fence was up by 5:00 that same day. We now have cedar instead of spruce, so the backyard smells so great! This fence also has a cap along the top, so it makes for a cleaner and sleeker look which I really like.
The street view of the original east gate.
The street view of the new east gate.
The yard view of the original east gate. We have been double checking the latch for years, always fearing that Rosie would escape.
This gate had been damaged since we got Rosie in September of 2001. She was only an outside dog for a short time, but she did a lot of damage as a puppy. I was very happy to see it go!
The yard view of the new east gate. What an improvement!
The before shot of the north fence.
The new north fence. We were also able to pay the guys to haul off some concrete that had been in that back corner since Lorne updated the patio back in 2002. I was almost as excited about that as I was about the fence!
The before shot of the west fence. This stretch sustained the most wind damage and wear and tear. Lorne replaced fence posts and bracketed the rails many times after we had 70+ mph winds on a few occasions.
The after shot of the west fence.
The before shot of the south fence.
The after shot of the south fence.
The before shot of the remainder of the east side.
The after shot of the east gate. They were running a "special," so now we have two gates. I like how the new gates are level unlike the original ones.
Lorne's not happy about the Blackwell Fence sign. He doesn't believe in free advertising for someone after you've paid them. That's why we always take the dealership names off of our cars, for example. This sign probably won't last long either.
I started potty training Chloe on June 15th. I thought that the timing was good because we would be home for two weeks before going out of town again, and we would be going to Mark's where we could be pretty casual and laid back about the whole process. She actually did ever better than I thought at Mark's. She never had an accident, and even kept her swim diapers dry (as dry as a swim diaper can be, that is). I think it was in large thanks to Kayla. It was so funny to see them lined up in the restroom. I brought Chloe's potty and Kayla had hers, too. What a sight!
I started with her in Pull-Ups, but quickly realized that I wasn't going to get very far going the Pull-Up route. I had gone from changing wet diapers to changing wet Pull-Ups. She didn't seem to understand what I was trying to tell her about keeping them dry, but I really didn't give her much of a chance, either. I just kept hearing "girls are much easier than boys," which was the what I heard one million times while I was training Sawyer, so I just had a feeling that she would do great in big girl panties.
I was having flashbacks of starting the process with Sawyer. I remembered how he started wetting Pull-Ups, and then moved to wetting training pants, only to quit the process until the following summer when he was three. I am still putting her in the nighttime Pull-Ups, but we have just recently started Sawyer in underwear at night, but that's another story!
Everything is going really well with Chloe, and I think it is because of some major differences from what I did with Sawyer. She is crazy about the Disney Princesses, so I took her to Wal-Mart to let her choose her own big girl panties, knowing the royal ladies would be her choice. Sure enough, she gravitated to Sleeping Beauty, Snow White, and the gang, so I knew we were on our way! It may mean a larger carpet cleaning bill, but I have the Kiwi warranty for a good reason!
The other thing I have been doing is keeping her potty as close to her as possible. The potty changes rooms when she does. If it's just us at home, who really cares if there's a potty in the living room? I sure don't, especially if it means that we will be able to avoid an accident!
She started telling me when she needed to go in about a week and a half, and she's on target about half of the time. The rest of the time she just sits and sits, but I think that is a normal part of the process. They seem to realize pretty quickly that this whole potty training thing is a way for them to gain some control over their little lives.
My life on the road has gotten really interesting since both kids are wanting to use the travel potty. I pretty much have to add at least ten minutes to each stop so that each child can do their thing. I know that the novelty will wear off with Chloe, and Sawyer will go back to only using it when he really needs to go. I don't know what I would do without the Tahoe. It's Pit Stop Express on the tailgate most of the time!
I was a little worried about how she would do in a public restroom, but I fretted for nothing, which seems to be pretty common where Chloe is concerned. I think it is kind of funny that Target's restroom was the first public restroom she used because it was Sawyer's too. Target was also the first place I took each of my kids other than the pediatrician's office when they were newborns. I guess that I should stop spending so much time at Target!
Another difference is that I haven't done any type of reward or prize with Chloe. I almost went to the poor house (not really) buying trinkets for Sawyer's "Treasure Bowl" that he would be allowed to choose from and unwrap upon completing his mission. It just seemed to lose its appeal before he had really gotten the hang of using the potty, which conflicted with what was referenced in the book I read. I only read one book, which was The No-Cry Potty Training Solution by Elizabeth Pantley.
All I have done with Chloe is the "potty dance." Everyone joins in and has a grand old time shaking their groove thing to celebrate Chloe's accomplishment. I took a quick video to torture them with when they get older.
Something that I took from the book was to make them their very own potty book. It turned out that Chloe's is much nicer than Sawyer's, but I attribute that to the fact that Chloe was only three months old when I made Sawyer's. I have quite a bit more time these days! I took pictures, as rated G as possible, in their various stages of using the restroom. I put it together in a book, had it laminated and bound, and the potty book was born!
I had quite a bit of drama with Chloe's book. I took it to a UPS store that I don't usually use because the one closest to me didn't have the coil binding. I didn't want to go back to Kinko's, because that's where I went with Sawyer's, and I didn't think that they did the best job because the holes for the binding weren't far enough away from the end and soon began to tear. I guess that I should have gone to Kinko's, because the man didn't put the pages in the correct order when it was bound so I had to redo all of the pages. I was so upset!!! I had left the book with him for a few hours, per his request, so I wasn't there to verify. I went home and worked on the second book during nap time and most of the evening. I was also upset because I had missed going to the gym that Monday because I had stayed up until almost 2 AM working on the silly thing only to have it ruined.
I was waiting for the store to open the following morning with my new potty book in hand. This time I was able to cut the pages out of the laminate myself (one had already started to unravel in the other one), and triple check before they were bound.
I think that the worst part was that he never apologized, and he was the owner of the store! I swear customer service just isn't like it used to be! The good news is Chloe is enjoying her book, and is well on her way to being a big girl (and increasing the balance of Mommy's checking account!) :)
This is one of my favorite pictures of Chloe!
I love to sit and listen to her "read" her potty book to me.
I took Chloe to have her ears pierced today. She didn't even cry!!! She actually acted more annoyed that the lady was bothering her ears! It was too funny! It makes me glad that I didn't make more of a deal out of it. I did promise her that she could choose a toy afterward, but that was kind of anticlimactic because she wasn't even upset!
It may have been an impulse on my part, but Lorne has been wanting them pierced since the day she was born! I knew that it was going to involve some maintenance on my part, and even though it isn't much, I wanted to wait until she was a little bit older. I'm hoping that she doesn't do like I did when I was young which was pull them out so that the holes grew back. I ended up having them re-pierced when I was older.
We were at Grapevine Mills mall to meet Ashley, Erik, and Ariana for lunch. They were in town for some testing for Ariana. They actually walked by when we were getting ready so Ashley was able to take pictures for me. I wanted to be there when the mall opened so that she would have time to adjust if she was in any pain, but we didn't have to worry about that which was great!
The before shot.
Chloe pointed to the largest CZ, the 6 mm, when asked what earrings she wanted. I have already taught her well in her two years! :) FYI: I went with the 3 mm!
Chloe with her, "Just Got My Ears Pierced," sticker.
She was able to choose a lollipop and was all smiles when it was said and done.
Enjoying her prize.
We had a nice time at the Rainforest Cafe. The kids kept pointing out "Dori" in the fish tank.
Afterward at the Rainforest Cafe. I was able to get a good shot because she was distracted by everything in the gift shop.
Chloe was so excited about the elephants that I finally let her stand up and get a peek.
The kids and I traveled to Mark's house in Buchanan Dam to spend July 4th weekend. We were there from Wednesday to Sunday. Lorne wasn't able to take off work, so we went alone. They do so great in the car, so that went really smoothly. It's kind of tricky when we have to stop, but we have the Fisher-Price Potty On-the-Go, which is one of the best things Fisher-Price ever invented, second only to their Healthy Care Booster Seat, but I digress...
Mark was the only one there when we arrived. He purchased his new boat Wednesday so we were able to help him out and take him to get his truck at the boat dealership. We also got to take the first boat ride which was a lot of fun!
Here are some pictures from the weekend:
Mark bought a beautiful new boat just in time for the holiday weekend.
Co-captain Sawyer.
Mom and Chloe
Sawyer was busy helping Uncle Mark get the fishing pole ready.
Sawyer didn't get to wet his line for long, but it seemed to satisfy him so that was the main thing.
Mom hung out with the kids while Mark and I docked the boat.
Chloe wanted Mom to have a strawberry birthday cake, and Sawyer wanted me to write Mimi and a smiley face on top, so there ya go!
Chloe was enamored by Bonz as usual.
Sawyer and Chloe getting in some pool time prior to Kayla's arrival.
The kids spent hours in this pool from HEB.
They loved their Drumsticks!
All smiles and waves!
I loved Chloe's expression in this picture. I cannot even express how much fun she had on the water.
Sawyer warmed up to the tube and gave us a little wave.
Jackie had fun riding in the tube too!
Chloe was totally comfortable in the boat.
I went for a ride with Sawyer and Kayla. I was terrified, but I didn't want them to know!
We pass by this house on the lake, so Jackie took a picture. It's massive!
Chloe threw a fit each time we took her out of the water. I need to check her birth certificate and verify that she's only two!
Mom had just sent Dad a picture of the Marigolds he planted when Chloe picked them for me!
Jackie got this great shot of the kids on the Power Wheels.
Mark serenaded us with his guitar. He's getting quite good!
The kids all had their scooters, so I bought them bells.
Chloe and Sawyer working on their sparkler project.
Kayla hard at work.
The kids with their safe sparklers.
Chloe and Kayla take a break!
Mimi wanted to wear a bandanna on the boat, so of course the kids had to have one too!
"Ahoy, Matey!"
Watching the fireworks from the boat. It was quite a sight.
The fireworks over Lake LBJ.
We "stumbled" upon this fireworks show on our way back to the boat slip, but it was the most spectacular show I have ever seen!
Chloe kept saying, "Another one, Mommy, another one!" when the fireworks exploded.
