Friday, July 24, 2009

Way to Go Owen!!!!

My to-do list before our little girl arrives is quite lengthy. Not only do I have to get her room all ready, buy her clothes (this requires a lot of shopping and $), but I have to update all the boys photo albums, scrapbooks, finish remodeling our 1/2 bathroom, and potty train Owen. I am quite pleased to announce though that I can check off my list...potty train Owen! We always potty train our kids when they turn two, so when we returned from our vacation we said "good-bye" to diapers and "hello" to big boy underwear. He has done great with only a few accidents. However, one was a very sticky and messy disaster as he decided to poop in our upstairs loft and then proceed to walk in it and down the stairs. Luckily he did this right at five o' clock and daddy had just come home and was able to help with the clean up. Besides that mess it has been smooth sailing. I'm just so thankful I won't have to deal with two kids in diapers. Unfortunately, we will continue to fill up the landfill and pay for diapers for our newest one.

Potty training in process....Day 1. He loves to watch "Choo-Choo," otherwise known as "Thomas the Train" while working his magic! Hey whatever works.
Our Super, Silly Big Boys! They just finished running around in the sprinklers in their underwear, at least they weren't completely naked!

Thursday, July 9, 2009

Family Summer Fun!

We just returned from an exhausting, but wonderful vacation to Colorado, Kansas, & Missouri! First we flew to Denver to see Catherine and Gabi get married. The ceremony was beautiful and Catherine and Gabi could not have looked more happy to be husband and wife. The boys all got to wear matching zipper ties and Owen LOVED his. By the end of the evening he was wearing Drew and Ian's ties too.

The Bride and Groom with all their nieces and nephews.

We jumped on a plane for Kansas the morning following the wedding to meet up with my family for an Elliott reunion in Branson, MO.
Here we all are, soon to have two more babies to add to the group.

While we were there Owen turned 2 years old, so we celebrated his birthday with family. He loved his gifts of a new pool ring, water guns, and water balls and used them all in the many hours spent down at the pool.


We spent two hot days at Silver Dollar City. Carmin and I, who are both very pregnant, spent hours trying not to go into labor as we hiked up and down hills, in the heat, for hours pushing strollers with kids. We did "hide out" in the taffy store, which was air conditioned, with our sleeping kiddos in hand and ate a lot of taffy and talked. It was wonderful...when the husbands came looking for us we snuck to another store so they couldn't find us!

The boys are obsessed with trains right now, so they all loved riding the train around the park.


Ge is a big kid at heart and adores her grand kids. She had a bigger smile on her face than the kids as she hopped along on the frog!
Grandad and Ian flew around on Dumbo, he gets sick easily from rides, so he was a trouper to ride this with Ian.
We surprised my parents with a dinner out on a ferry boat down the river. We dined on pizza! The boys even got to steer the boat!


We spent one morning at a fish hatchery where the boys got to feed the fish and then went hiking.
Owen let us know that he would definitely prefer walking rather than take this ride on uncle Ty!
Drew, Jace, and Ian hiking in Branson.


The Elliott men are known for their savy card playing and Kenny loves joining in. Unfortunately, he lost to an 8 year old!
While the big boys were playing games the little kids were too! Ge had bags full of prizes for them to choose after they would win. She sure does know how to have a fun time.


Ge's one request for the whole trip was to Ride the Ducks with the older grandkids. Drew and Ian were ecstatic to get their duck calls and to go on this adventure.
They got to ride around town quacking at people then go into the water.



We had a marvelous time with family and love the memories that were created. We can't wait to see everyone again soon. Thanks Ge and Grandad for making our reunion so much fun...we can't wait for the next one!