Cole is a big boy

It's Christmas Eve eve for another hour and everyone in my house is asleep except for me. I hate being the only one awake but it feels so different not having to go to work and staying at home all day- much easier to stay up late and laze around in the morning :)

It was day 2 of Cole's potty training and it went well. It's so funny how different I feel about it than I did with Shelby. When I knew Shelby was ready to potty train, we said NO MORE DIAPERS. Of course I had read the theory somewhere, but we completely went cold turkey. Nap time at school, night time--- no diapers. (I'm sure the teachers thought I was crazy!) But it worked. Now with Cole, I am much more cautious. He is ready...he has to be! He's a month away from three years old. But, I'm more scared. Weird!
So yesterday we stayed home ALL day long and he wore undies all day. He had one pee accident (in the living room carpet of course!) and besides that the day was perfect. I caught him one other time with that look on his face and he had already dribbled, but stopped it and finished in the potty. The huge success of the day was after dinner when he pooped in the potty for Daddy. That was a celebration! The poop is why his teachers and I have been putting off potty training for so long!
We had him sleep in his diaper and he woke up soaked this morning, but he immediately put undies on and did great all day. Both days I did put a diaper on him for nap (see, totally different than with Shelby) but he woke up completely dry. Today, Uncle TyTy came over to play with the kids for a couple of hours so I could go do my grocery shopping and while he was here Cole pooed in his undies. Besides that, it was a no accident day. We even went to Chuck E Cheese tonight (and I put a diaper over his undies, was totally not brave!) and he went to the potty there and stayed totally dry.
So, let's just hope that the Pecks will not have to buy diapers in 2010! That would be a great start to a new decade :)

Here we go...

Wow- so much has gone on in the past 4 days!
I started my yearly Christmas break. What an awesome feeling it is!
Friday night we bought an AWESOME new car.
Saturday we drove to Arkansas (no small feat, 6.5 hours!) and then attended a wonderful family Christmas party. We spent all day Sunday there, and headed home today after a brunch at Aunt Jan's. The kids were amazing on the trip. Seriously- i feel so proud of them. At this point I feel like maybe we're over that two (slash three) year hump that is supposed to be pretty tough when you have "Two under two." They both behaved so well on this trip- being stuck in the car for hours and hours, staying up late, being at houses with tons of people and very little toys, going on no naps, eating out, eating in the car, and more driving! They were so great. Makes me feel a little bit more positive about our drive to Florida in June!
I feel so awesome coming home and knowing that the kids and I can just stay home tomorrow. Cole is going to wear undies all day (fingers crossed for us please!) in an attempt to potty train. I think he will do well except for the number 2- which is where I need the prayers for patience!!!
I just put him to bed and my boy who has never taken a paci or attached to any animal or blankie, was crying to sleep with his Rangers hat. Such a BOY!
We are really looking forward to this week of family time and love, and celebrating Jesus' birthday.
Happy first day of winter 2009 and Merry Christmas week!!!

Are we there yet?

Another car ride...

5 years of Santa?!?!

I love the comparison pictures---but it is hard to believe that we have been doing this for FIVE Christmases already! :(

2005

2006

  (Oops! This is my excuse for no Santa picture.)

2007

2008

2009

Teacher Conferences

Saturday we had our semi-annual Parent Conferences at the kids’ school.  They go over the assessment that they did at the beginning of the school year and then just talk about other things, and any issues if there are any. 

When we woke up I calculated that we had 1.5 hours until we needed to leave, so I laid in bed snuggling with the kids for awhile, then I hopped into the shower (in which both kids joined me.)  Then after I showered and was dressed, Jeff announced that we had to leave in an hour and 15 minutes and without looking at a clock, I stupidly thought OH we took a fast shower and we have longer than I thought!  So we got to slow down and leisurely get ready and get the kids ready.  Fast forward to Jeff saying “It’s time to go!” and I finally looked at the clock again.  9:15.  My heart jumped because Cole’s conference was at 9am!!!  Jeff had apparently just known about Shelby’s at 9:30 and planned around that.  Long story to say that we missed Cole’s meeting and I was very upset.  We saw his teachers when we got there for about 2 minutes as they were heading into their 9:30 meeting.  They had us sign his assessment (96 out of 100) and said they really didn’t have any issues to talk about.  They said they were just going to tell us how amazed they are at his language. (We are too!)

So on to Shelby’s teacher meeting.  Her assessment surprised me because there were a couple of things she missed that we know she knows, and just one thing that she missed that I wouldn’t have expected her to know (her address.)  Our street name has 5 syllables in it (she says “Guardalaharla”), and our city has 4 syllables.  She does know both of them, but not numbers and she doesn’t know it as “our address.”  Her score was 91/100 which is lower than other years, but still great of course.  In fact when we were leaving the teachers told us that she was 1 of 2 kids in the class of 20 who scored in the 90s.  Go Shelby!  Unlike past years where these teacher conferences were all sunshine and rainbows where they told us how brilliant our kid is, this year the teachers had some not great stuff to say as well.  They said that Shelby (to put it nicely!) is a bit bossy.  She has a bit of a problem with tolerating some of her friends when they’re not doing what she wants them to do, and she can be mean.  This really did shock me (especially the mean part) because I do know that she is a little bit bossy to me, but with the children I observe her with (mostly Cole but also friends friends like Ashlyn or Joe) she is very loving and patient and plays  very well with them.  The teachers said that it could just be that she has been with this same group of kids for 3 years now and she is just done with some of them, or that she feels a sense of ownership and love with her brother and other friends  and treats them better than she does some other kids.  Whatever is the reason, we talked about it a lot with her on Saturday and when I picked her up from school yesterday (Monday) she got a gleaming report.  Her teacher said that she had a PERFECT day and no issues with being mean to or bossing her friends.  (Oh and it did make me feel better to hear from all the other parents at a birthday party on Saturday that the teachers had not-all-positive “stuff” to say about all the kids.)

The teachers said that Shelby is a very sweet girl, a huge helper to them, and is beautiful and smart.  They said they think she’ll make it ;)  haha.  Next year is on to kindergarten and I wonder how different it will be…I don’t think Mommy and Daddy are ready for that yet!

Saturday at Gram & Granpa’s

Saturday afternoon we headed out to have dinner and a “slumber party” at Gram and Granpa’s house.

When we got there Shelby immediately started asking Gram to teach her to sew- this is the thing that Shelby thinks about when she thinks about Gram because Gram is an awesome seamstress and quilter, and has promised to teach Shelby some day.

She had some beginner sewing cards for her.

Aunt Jen and Doug brought Matthew over and the kids were so excited to see him.  Hugs all around!

Sunday morning we played outside a lot- it was nice out!

Then we decorated Gram’s Christmas tree!

Look at these sweet cousins!

 

Cole loved this motorcycle Santa who played rockin’ around the Christmas tree.

Now The Pecks in Pilot Point are ready for Christmas too!

Living the life.

Coleman just climbed up in my lap and said, "Where's my picture??" So I told him I would show him the blog.
We get to the first picture on the below post-and Cole says, "I'm fahncy...sissy's like a pretty girl!"
Shelby's walking through the room all dressed up in a party dress and heels, and hears him.
S: "Cole-man! Coleman I'm pretty right now." (big head tilt and grin)
C: (Pointing at her excitedly) "Sissy's pretty right now!" (hopping down from my lap and running to her) "I wanna dance with her! Daddy we wanna dance!"
S: (Taking him in her arms) "Coleman we have to dance like prince and princess." (starts singing and swaying)

Ahhh, it is our castle :)

Santa Claus is coming to town.

Monday we all went to the mall to see Santa.  What a perfect time to go!  There was no line at all!

 

They are both smiling so big in the picture we bought- but Cole is quite serious in the one from my camera.

 

Then Shelby told Santa the specifics of what she wanted for Christmas.

 

He thought about it and said it sounded good :)

 

Then Cole told him his wish.

What a fun Santa trip it was! 

     

       

 

The end.

Our Galveston Trip

So we three friends… we planned a trip together. 

Jessica’s parents have a boat down in Houston.  So Jess invited us and our husbands down for a trip to boat from Houston to Galveston for the Dickens on the Strand yearly festival.

Their boat docks at Clear Lake, TX (south side of Houston) so we all packed up into the Kerr’s mini van and headed south last Friday night.  Can I just say that mini vans are amazing?!  We fit 3 men, who are 6 ft and the other 2 are 6’4’’, 3 ladies (who are all very tiny of course) and a big ol’ carseat in the minivan without a problem.  Oh, and a stroller and ALL our luggage too.  Crazy!

Susan’s husband Trever (bless him) drove, and by the time we finally got to the Pier we were all so giddy and excited :)  We sat around talking and munching on leftovers and whatever else we could find (we hadn’t stopped for dinner on our way down.) After a couple of cocktails, Jess headed downstairs to put Joe to sleep and she never came back up.  The Kerrs and the Pecks probably stayed up too late, enjoying our childless freedom…at some point the camera came out. 

 

Oh wait, let’s see if I can do a little boat tour. 

Here she is – the Nancy III

There’s no way I can use the actual boat terms.  My dad asked if it had a galley.  I said, “You mean a kitchen?”  Well yes Dad here it is!

The galley is in an area with a large table and a big couch.  Behind that room is the door to the back patio. :)  You can look out there, I took these pictures because the water was so rough in Galveston Bay when we were heading back to Houston from Galveston.  And this boat can kick up some wake!

Ok, back inside.  From the galley/living area you walk up a few stairs to where you drive the boat.  The view…

 

This area has a big “L” couch, to keep the driver company of course.  From here you can walk up some stairs to the top deck (have no idea if that’s what it’s really called.)  The top deck can be open air but was all sealed up for our cold trip!  It has more seating and a table.  It also has a whole ‘nother cockpit if you want to drive from there. 

This is where we spent the ride to Galveston- It was so nice and beautiful views.  Plus, Santa was up there with wine!

The ride took about 2 hours.  I am told it was 25 miles and we went about 16 or 17 knots when we weren’t in a no-wake zone.

There’s an open deck on the back top- this was where Trever and Jeff relaxed, aren’t the cute? :)

We will be going back when we can sunbathe up here!!!

Back down at the main cockpit, you can step down the other way to get to the 3 bedrooms and bathrooms.  I took some crappy pictures.  This is the master bedroom.

and the front bedroom where Jeff and I stayed (Jeff is looking out the window at the waves)

This room we stayed in has a porthole right above the bed- it was so cool to stand up and stick my head out when I got hot during the night (not knowing we had our own thermostat!)  Susan and Trever’s bed just had a MIRROR over it- no porthole, nanny nanny boo boo! ((wink wink))

The 3rd bedroom has twin beds in it.  There are tvs everywhere, with satellite so don’t worry- the guys didn’t miss any football games!

Ok I think that is it for the tour.  Oh yes, the front of the boat- I got a shot of Trever out there exploring (he’s standing right by my porthole):

Notice how Nancy and Bruce had it so pretty and festive for Christmas!

Ok, back to the weekend.  Saturday morning we went out for breakfast in South Shore (is that right?) at Skipper’s and it was yummy!  We were so organized, we sat in perfect order.

This was the girl/boy/girl brown eyed, right-handed side of the table.

And across from us looking into the eyes of our favorite people, was the boy/girl/boy, blue-eyed, left-handed side of the table.

(We couldn’t get Jason off his damn phone, he wasn’t interested in our amazing seating arrangement!)

After breakfast it was back to the store to re-fuel (not gas silly!  Beer and wine) and then back to the boat to make way for Galveston.

I drove…..    

(not)

Jess and Joe really did drive.

Jess shot a cute photo of Jeff and me

In Galveston the Dickens festival was pretty cool.  LOTS of good food, and LOTS of people in costume.  Like, over half were in full get-up.  It was like you were in another world.

Later back at the boat, we were able to forego a nap and just hang out enjoying every moment.  We eventually got all ready for dinner.  Jeff got sick of Susan and I trying to get a good picture, so he snapped this one upside down through his legs.  It was the best one.

Ha!

The dinner was amazingly yummy.  Seafood.  On the coast.  Yum!  I can’t even remember what type of fish we got- Jess?  Snapper?  Yellowfish?  I dunno!  But if you’re ever at Willy G’s in Galveston, get a huge bowl of Lobster Bisque and sop it up with their garlic toast and thank me later.  Ok, now my mouth is watering.

The next day we noticed that a Carnival ship (the Conquest) had docked right behind us, I told the Meikles that their boat isn’t so big afterall! :)  Of course, we didn’t have to share with a thousand other passengers either!

The boat trip back to Houston was a little rough.  We all were fighting off the queasies.  But we made it back in one fine piece.

We loaded up in the van and headed north for about 30 minutes.  Then we realized Jeff had left his truck keys on the boat, so we headed back south for another 30 minutes (thanks to Bruce for meeting us!) and then we headed North AGAIN.  This time for good.

It was an amazing trip that we will always remember.  Great friends, good debates, lots of confiding and laughing and just relaxing.  I love you all and am so grateful to Jess and the Meikle family for welcoming us!

When can we go back?!?!  :)