MI Visitors!

I was so excited once I knew my Dad was going to be okay after his surgery because he was going to have six weeks off of work. He said he, Jamie and the girls would come visit for a weekend! We haven't had many visitors and since it would be really difficult to drive home with all three kids myself, I was thrilled when they said they'd come see us!

We had such a good time. I LOVE when my sisters come because they love to play with Riley and Lincoln and they play SO well. Reagan and Riley are only 5 years apart, so they are starting to like and play with the same things (ie. Barbies, Littlest Pet Shop, Babies, etc) and McKenna and Lincoln always join in too! I really felt like I barely saw Riley and Lincoln for 4 days because they were constantly entertained, it was a nice break.

While they were here, the kids swam a few times in the pool, we went shopping, went to the Jump House, ate Chick-Fil-A, Jamie and I scrapbooked and we all just spent time together. I was so worried about my Dad and just seeing him after his surgery reassured me that he truly is doing so well. Just seeing him face-to-face was sureal because 3 weeks prior I didn't even know if he'd make it through his surgery and now, here he was; laughing, playing with the kids and spending time with us!

Dad and Ty sporting matching "Flavor Savors" :)!

Two of my favorite men :)!

Their stay was way too short and I was so sad to see them go, but hopefully we'll make it home soon and get to see everyone again soon! (Especially since my Kasey, Corey and Micah moved back...of course once we move again they move back...BAD timing Kasey :)!!)

Gritt's Pumpkin Patch

We decided to take the kids to a pumpkin patch this weekend to pick out a pumpkin to carve. We had a great time and love taking the kids to new places! The best part about the day was that it was October 23rd and 85 degrees!! We were all sweating in our long sleeves, I wasn't anticipating it being so warm (not that I'm complaining though!).

My three mini pumpkins!! To get all three kids to look at the camera and smile at the same time is near impossible. Here's our best shot :)! 2 out of 3 isn't bad, right??

Emmersyn @ 3 Months

I swear Emmersyn should not already be THREE months old! It seems like yesterday we brought her home. She is a great baby, much less fussy in the past month or so which makes my life so much easier! Emmersyn is sleeping pretty well, eating well and at such a fun stage right now! I LOVE babies at this stage! She is usually sleeping from about 8pm until 4:00, eating, then sleeping from 4:00 until 7. I know if she didn't go to bed so early she'd be sleeping through the night, however, she's like my other two babies who like to go to bed early and wake up early. She is eating every 3-4 hours and napping after each feeding. Normally her naps are about an hour long, however, her long 3 hours naps (two of them) are also when R and L are napping!! I'm pretty sure it's the only time I get anything done around here.

Sweet sleeper!! (Where's my nipper??)

haha, I love this picture...cracks me up!

E smiles more than any baby I've known. Her laugh is contagious and she loves to mimic everything I do. If I smile, she smiles. If I laugh, she laughs. If I "coo" at her, she "coos" back. I LOVE IT. If babies stayed at this age forever, I'd be in heaven! I often feel so guilty that I cannot hold her or spend as much time with her as I did the other two, but I am thankful for our time together when the other kids sleep and I LOVE wearing her in the MOBY wrap. I hope she senses and knows how much she is loved! I often stop what I'm doing just to hold her and talk to her. I can honestly say that I now cherish and appreciate my baby more than I did when R and L were babies. I couldn't wait until they started crawling, then walking and talking. Now I just hope Emmersyn stays little because when we're done having kids this is the age that I will miss SO much!

We don't get a chance to have a family picture very often!

She is growing like a weed. She didn't have an appointment this month, but when I stepped on the scale with her my weight went up more than 16 lbs. so I think it's safe to say she already weighed 16 lbs. I can't believe at three months she weighs more than Riley weighed at a year! Crazy! This girl also sucks on her hands so much that she gives herself "hickeys" on her hands and fists. She's starting to drool a lot more because she's constantly sucking on her fists.

AWANA

I love the church we go to because they have wonderful kids' programs. One of those include AWANA. AWANA is something I always did as a kid and I think it's a great way for kids to learn Bible verses and learn more about God. Riley and Lincoln have been going for the past month and it amazes me what their little brains soak up. Riley has to memorize a verse each week and since we work on it with her, Lincoln is also learning them. Yes, the vests may be super nerdyand I'm pretty sure the books are the same from when I was that age, but I love the Biblical education they are getting from the program.

While they are at AWANA Ty and I are attending a Bible Study about Raising Children in a Christian Home. It has been an awesome Bible Study and I love that they have it during AWANA.

R.I.L.E.Y.

I have been working with Riley on writing her name. A couple days after she turned four, I asked her to write her name (I spelled it for her since she gets the letters mixed up sometimes). This is her very first time writing her name all by herself:

She can write almost all of her letters now, we're still working on a handful of them, but I cannot believe how smart this girl is. I may be a little biased, but I think that's pretty darn good!

Potty Training Update

Monday, October 4th, I decided I was SO sick of changing poopy diapers (or diapers in general) that when Lincoln woke up from his nap I took his diaper off and never put it back on. I got out the little potty, but it in the living room, and explained to him what I needed him to do. Every 20 minutes I told him to try and go potty and after about an hour he went pee pee!! I made a HUGE deal out of it and gave him chocolate chips as a reward (this kid is SO motivated by candy because he very rarely gets it.) Next thing I knew he was sitting on the potty all by himself, jumping up and down and asking for candy saying "I did it, I did it".

From then on, I never put a diaper back on him! When I start potty training we go completely cold turkey--even at night and nap time. It has now been two weeks, he's had one accident (at church) and that's IT! I cannot believe how easy he has been to potty train. He truly was ready, I suppose. I am also SO happy to only be changing one baby's diapers! I have always heard that boys' are so much more difficult to potty train and I thought that since Lincoln isn't even 2.5 yet he's be difficult, but I am thankful that he wasn't.

Don't be alarmed, if you come over and see this because I also let my kids runs around naked when we're starting to potty train!:

Take a Guess!

Can you guess, by this picture, what we're doing this week?? Fun stuff.