SUCCESS!! and a milestone

After 8 1/2 years of daily diaper changes (about half of that time I had 2 kids in diapers)...the unthinkable has happend...it's over! Yep, Spencer is potty trained. There were some tears shed and a pair of underwear or two were thrown out...but it went fairly quickly. He was motivated by a toy car that sat on the sink staring at him for days and by nightly presents for dry pants. I waited awhile to share the news for fear of jinxing it...but it's been about 10 days and for the last 8 he has even been dry at night! It's nothing short of a miracle in my book. Doesn't he look all grown up (and skinny as a rail)in his "big boy underpants"??

I have to say that I have reflected on the whole thing (no really, it's a big deal!) and feel so excited to move on to this next phase of motherhood...we also signed Audree up for Kindergarten this week...they are all just moving on to the next step in their little lives and I am so excited to be their mom for all of this! Sure, I will miss crawling babies, snuggling in a rocking chair, using a binky to make them quiet...but I still have a few years of playing Dr. Mommy, squirting them with the hose, and reading books to them at bedtime...and I am sure when that passes I will find things to love about the next phase too. I just LOVE where I am and I LOVE being their mom!

Rylee Phelps!

Rylee competed in her first big karate tournament this weekend! She looked like Michael Phelps by the end...winning 2 silver and 1 gold medal! She loves the chimbara (fighting with sword-like sticks)...that's what she won gold in! I was so super bummed because they told us the tournament would last 1 hour...so I planned my photo shoot that for after the tournament would end...I did NOT want to miss it! Then they didn't end up calling Rylee to compete until 3 minutes before I had to leave...next time I will leave LOTS more time...Daddy video taped it for me...but it's just not the same. Luckily, Rylee forgave me and I am so proud of her!

Winter Weekends!

So 3 weeks ago we discovered a free way to take the kids skiing...the rope tow at Sundance...hooray! We have spent the past 3 weekends skiing (Jake even convinced ME to ski this last time...a HUGE accomplishment on his part). The kids are LOVING it and we are just enjoying being together and trying something new. We are impressed...they can each come down the little slope by themselves (Even Spencer, although he likes riding on Daddy's shoulders better)...Karlee and Rylee are getting rather adventurous as the hill gets easier for them.

After an afternoon of skiing we all love to come back down the mountain and hop into Grandma Clark's hot tub to relax! What a fabulous way to spend our Saturdays!

Preschool Dino Trip!

We love to visit the Dinosaur Museum at Thanksgiving Point...so when Audree's pre-school was going on a trip there...we jumped at the chance! Me, Spencer and Audree all headed up and enjoyed all the exhibits...especially the floating paper tubes, giant shark head and digging in the sand! After the museum we enjoyed lunch at our favorite spot...JCW's! What a fun way to spend the day together!

The adorable girl next to Audree is her friend, "Boo"! They go to pre-school and dance class together...they have almost as much fun together as me and her mom do!

My Little Chicken Nugget

Spencer has coined his own little catch-phrase lately...and it cracks me up! He says "Chicken Nugget" about anything and everything.

For example, when I put him to bed, instead of saying "good night"...he says, "Chicken Nugget".

When we are driving down the road and he sees a big tractor he says, "Wow! Chicken Nugget".

When he feels a little silly he says, "Mom, you're a chicken nugget!".

When he sings a song he knows he will replace random words with "chicken nugget".

Sometimes when he just hasn't had anything to say for awhile he will simply blurt out, "chicken nugget"!

This kid is hilarious to me...I really will miss having a toddler in the house here soon. Don't get me wrong...I am ready to move past the whole diaper, sippie cup, tantrum stage...but they really are so fun at this age!

It's a Big Deal...

Well...First of all, Rylee has been wanting to lose a tooth for about 2 years now (ever since Karlee started to lose hers). She has had a somewhat loose tooth for a couple months now and just in the last week or so it has gotten a lot more loose. I still thought it had some time. So, anyways, tonight she wanted me to tie some floss to it so that she could tug on it (I didn't think this would work...it never has before). I underestimated Rylee's determination though and after I tied the floss to the tooth she YANKED on it as hard as she could and that tooth came flying out! I totally laughed...it bled like crazy because it still had some root left on the tooth...but she couldn't be happier! Congratulations Rylee!


Also, I feel bad because with Audree's dance and Rylee's karate there are "performance" opportunities where I can tell you what they've accomplished, but Karlee's cheer class doesn't really have anything like that. She has been really excited lately because she goes up into something called "extensions" and just this week she learned to do a twisting dismount. She sure loves that class and I have a blast watching her! So, here's a little picture of what she's been up to. Go Kars!

The weather has been hinting at spring this last week and we have enjoyed some spurts in the sunshine. It's been FABULOUS to go outside and breathe fresh air. Audree's big accomplishment this past week has been learning to pump herself on the swings! This is great news for her and also great news for those of us who have been pushing her on the swings the past few years! Hooray for Audree!

One more thing...Spencer is killing me! That boy couldn't be less interested in going on the potty. I am not sure how to motivate him...he's so laid back...and he is just completely content being changed. He really likes getting all comfy on the bed, putting his hands behind his head and waiting for us to make his "bum all shiny". He doesn't like having dirty diapers...but if he must, he will just deal with it rather than go to the potty. I adore that kid, but we've got to get this started...any ideas would be great!

Rylee's a Movie Star!

This week Rylee was the "Star of the Week" in her 1st grade class. Her teacher asked us to do a 15 minute presentation about Rylee. It could include a poster about her, show and tell some of her favorite things, etc. We decided to put together a little movie about Rylee to show her classmates...since I already have all of our pictures in digital form...it was actually the easiest thing to do!

I thought some of our friends and family might enjoy this look back at Rylee growing up. So, I posted the movie on YouTube. Here's the link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9luhOuR6Ifc if you'd like to go see it! Just copy and paste that link into the browser or go to www.youtube.com and search for Rylee Clark 2010. Anyways, watching this makes me cry everytime...she's just growing up really fast and I love this kid! I hope you enjoy!