Isabella potty trained Hunter

For the past two months I have been asking Hunter occasionally if he wanted to use the big potty. He emphatically always answered "NO!"

I haven't been too worried; after all he isn't three years old yet and warmer weather is coming. I thought I could just strip him down and stick him outside in the warmer weather, then things would just naturally happen.

Well, Isabella had a different plan. (What this means for Isabella's teenage years, I'm not sure.) Monday evening Isabella found the training seat that sits on a big toliet, but makes the seat smaller. She put the seat on the toliet and told Hunter to go pee in the potty. He did and Isabella continued to take him to the potty about every 15 minutes all evening long.

I decided to make the most of this opportunity, so I put Hunter in underwear Tuesday morning and we've not looked back. He has had a few accidents. On Day #4 (yesterday) he went pee in the potty all day without any pee accidents. Thanks to Isabella, Hunter seems to be getting the hang of this!

Hunter is very proud of his baseball underwear.
Hunter and his potty trainer, Isabella
What a cute trio of trouble!

Orion is six years old!!

Orion acolyted at church on his birthday. For the first time he walked up front with the candle lighter and lit the candle all by himself.
Orion decided on a bowling party for his birthday. He invited six friends. We had two lanes for bowling, pizza, brownies decorated with striped icing & sprinkles and lots of fun.
Orion, Johnny and Blake getting ready to throw some strikes.

Hunter and Christopher (our good friends' son) had a blast bowling ... until Hunter dropped a bowling ball on his toe and Christopher fell back in a chair and split his mouth. At least the picture was taken before their injuries.

Caleb, Isabella, Blake and Orion

Sabrina was her usual smiley happy self - even though the party was right in the middle of her nap. She just sits here on the table looking sweet.Orion is attempting to blow out the candles on his brownies.

Sunny Days are FINALLY here

We have had an unusally cold winter this year. From Christmas through the beginning of February we did not have a single day where the temperature got above freezing. So ... last week when it was sunny and 60 degrees we were loving it!! These were taken in our backyard.

Hunter
Sabrina eating French fries.
Sabrina lounging with the Nerf football.
Sabrina was trying to get grass off of her hands. She also has a couple of pieces coming out of her mouth. ;-) Isabella's profile as she wonders around the backyard directing Hunter.

February Snapshots

Sabrina can get herself into a sitting position. She is so proud of herself.
Sabrina doesn't crawl on her hands and knees; she drags herself using her forearms and toes. She would make a great Army low-crawling soldier.
Isabella made this two fine pieces of art work at preschool. They were learning about things in the ocean.
Hunter insisted that I take his picture also. This is a very typical picture of Hunter - a cross between crazy and scary.

Sabrina and Isabella sitting at the table.

We tied them to their chairs in order to get a Valentine's Day picture. We took over 300 pictures with about 30 of them turning out decent.

Glimpse into January

I didn't think I could really catch up for December through February, so here are a few snapshots from January.

Hunter and Sabrina playing with basketballs. I can't tell you how happy it makes their dad to see these type pictures.
Orion holding Sabrina at the YMCA swimming pool. This was Sabrina's first time swimming.
Isabella and Sabrina playing in the fort, a present from Santa Claus.
Brett's parents visited at the end of January. Here is a picture of "the boys" - Brett, Orion, Hunter and Harve (Brett's Dad).
The girls - Dixie (Brett's mom) Sabrina, me, and Isabella