Update..

I was reading through my posts and noticed a theme....poop. What is the deal? First with the septic then with Olivia. It's safe to say this season of my life can't pass too quickly!!! So the potty has been a success. Only 1 minor accident (I have her still in diapers when we leave the house, I'm not crazy) and lots of M&M's later we are on day 3. So far so good. And as for the septic we finally uncovered the clean out yesterday. Luckily it was a balmy 32 so we could stand it for longer than 5 minutes. That was short lived though as we got a winter storm advisory last night and the power went out for a bit this AM. Back to -30. Not really ideal running weather so I'm stuck to the treadmill. Not always the most enjoyable but doable. So I just wanted to catch you up. Hopefully the poop news will end soon!!!

Pink Potty Seat

So all week long I have been fighting Olivia about wearing diapers. She continually takes her diapers off after one little pee and yells at me that she doesn't want to wear one. Good I thought but she won't go on the toilet. She always wants to sit on it but just sit. Yesterday I went to get her from her nap and she had her diaper off and her clothes back on with pee in the bed....not the best combo. After all this Kevin and I were talking and we thought she would do well on a small potty seat. The boys would never use theirs but we thought it was worth a shot. So I got a pink one and she was excited as you can see.

Her baby seems to have it down!

Then the moment we've all been waiting for.....Olivia used the potty!!!! As I sit here she is still sitting on the potty...still going. I think I'm more excited than her. She got her M&M's and is quite content. Hopefully she'll get this down since she doesn't like diapers....I will keep you posted on the potty progress.

As for some adult news, Kevin and I got to go to the UND vs. UAA hockey game last night. The phone company gave us tickets when we started service with them. I don't know if it was a coincidence or not that we got tickets to UAA. It was a good game but I still have a hard time cheering for UND. Not so much when they are playing some other college but my loyalties still lay with UAA. So Kevin cheered for UND and I secretly cheered for UAA. It as so fun. Tonight we are going to a community wild game feed (Not really my thing) with Elk, Bison, Deer etc.. but Kevin is pretty excited. We'll see.

Oh yeah, I forgot that Gavin is going to start hockey and I am trying to get Payton to go as well. He is stuck on soccer and there is no soccer here so it is proving to be difficult to get him to go out. It's just a little community pick up with no comp. They just play each other but they at least learn the skills. The closest team is 45 minutes away so we will see how serious they become.

Need to go help Kevin find the septic clean out under the snow in the yard. At least it's 5 out!!!

Happy Day

Payton's birthday went well. He only wanted one thing, a Nintendo DS for the long long long car rides here. Kevin and I told him he had to save the $130 to get it so he saved all his Christmas and Birthday money and had just enough. It was extremely hard especially since Gavin and Olivia got to shop right after Christmas. But he was determined and thought about it for about a month and on Friday night he got his toy. We had our reservations about the video game thing so I told Payton he had to sit down with me and make a list of rules and sign it that way I didn't have to hear "you never said that" or "I wouldn't have spent my $ on this if I knew there were rules" so He agreed. This is a picture of him sharing with Gavin and even letting him play. So far so good.

The only other new news is that our septic tank and leech field seem to need work. I have a lovely slow drip down my basement wall where the waste water exits the house. GROSS!! So Kevin is coming home to dig out the septic cleanout so we can check if the tank if full. We had it pumped when we first moved in but it might be full if the drain field is not working. Oh boy...I wasn't very happy with the prospect of sewage in the basement in the middle of winter. I was sitting here letting the situation overwhelm me Olivia climbed up on my lap and I got this picture.

I love it because she makes me smile. Then I got this video that made EVERYTHING better!!

Where does time go?

Today was Payton's 7th birthday. Remember when he was born? Like it was yesterday right. I am amazed at how fast the time goes. Everyone told me it would fly when he was born, which I couldn't believe with all the late night feedings and non stop diaper changes, but here we are 7 years later and I keep asking myself "where did time go?" He asked for cinnamon rolls for his class treat so while I was there I snapped this picture. Pretty cute.

So not much new or exciting to report. It has been so cold out lately. It is -20 right now and hasn't warmed up much during the days. Gavin and Olivia are going crazy with me inside all day so we bowled the other day. Pretty comical as you can imagine so I will share some of the video.

Well it's late and I am tired. I will try to update more often. Miss and love you all.

Kirsten

We are still here...

Okay, I know I've missed a few days of blogging but nothing spectacular has happened. It has just been a lot of diaper changing, refereeing, juggling (bet you didn't know I could) on and on...You know what I mean. The kids are keeping me busy and are so antsy for spring. (As proven by the video of Gavin below). There was no wind today, I know you all are in complete and utter shock, so Kevin and I decided to burn. While outside Gavin joined us and was running around the yard exploring. Snow up to his hips and tromping through the trees he was having a grand time. Olivia was sleeping and Payton was inside fixing his lunch (I do love the independence!!!) I guess Gavin got bored so he pulled his bike out of the garage. It was pretty comical seeing him trying to get his bike to roll down the snowmachine trail that runs in front of the house. The following ensued.

Not much else happening here. I did get a new piece of furniture. I got an old wooden church pew. It is fabulous and I love it. It was free from the daycare so Kevin couldn't complain too much. Gavin said "Mom are you getting that so we can have a time-out bench?" I just smiled, as I am sure you are.

Hugs and kisses to all!!

Slow Down

So here we are in the second week of 2008 already. I want time to stop. Not today of course, today would be a bad day for time to stop. My wonderful children, the dears they are, were extremely needy for their mom today. (I couldn't cash in any vacation time today. What you all don't have 4 weeks built in?? RIGHT!!!) I don't really want to stop it but in general I wish I could slow it down. Olivia keeps getting bigger all the way around, her vocabulary, her size and her sassy attitude. I guess she comes by that naturally. She likes to play tricks on the boys and laughs and laughs. It's that amazing laugh children have that is so deep you just can't get enough. Then of course the boys are growing so fast. Gavin is 4 and crazy as ever. It is amazing we haven't had an ER visit yet. (Knock on wood). He jumps off everything he can climb and makes ramps and jumps out of anything laying around. (shelving, cardboard, the stairs) And it seems like just yesterday we were bringing Payton home from the hospital. In 11 days he is going to be 7. Where does the time go? We are just keeping on up here with the normal daily grind. Playing, fighting, yelling, laughing, hugging, crying. All those normal things you expect to hear in a growing family. Kevin took the kids out the other day to play on the sleds and they had a blast. He was pulling the sled behind the 4 wheeler up and down the driveway. We probably burned a whole tank of gas on the driveway, but they had so much fun. That is what I do it for. Good times and great memories.

Keep making those sweet memories.

Love Kirsten

New Experiences

Okay. So a real quick note before bed just to keep my daily streak going. Tonight we went to a Motorcross event. (I was extremely skeptical envisioning something like a monster truck rally and all the people who go along with that vision) but it was fun and the kids loved it. Gavin especially (he wore his "I do my own stunts" tee shirt) liked the jumps and flips. The show was 2/12 hours long (long for anyone under 5) and Gavin and Olivia made it to about the 2 hr. mark before getting extremely squirmy. Payton, surprisingly, enjoyed himself. He isn't the daredevil type and wasn't too excited at the prospect of watching motorcycles for 2 hrs, but he was yelling, clapping and smiling the whole time. Good times and fun with family.

Need to sleep it's already technically Sunday here and 6 am comes quick.

Love Kirsten

Little Helper

Not much in the way of excitment today. (which I am thankful for) The kids were wound up and Gavin couldn't wait for Payton to get home. I just thought I would share a few pics of Olivia helping me with the cherries this year. They make me smile and I thought they might for you too!! Have a great day! (please note the top of the line(1970's) counter top and flooring. Only the best for me!!)lol For those of you wondering where you might purchase these beautiful home products I regret I cannot reveal my sources....You will have to make due with a less popular product line!!)

Confusion....

So this morning started rather slowly. I didn't want to get up when the alarm went off at 6am. I finally rolled out of bed at 6:30 and made it as far as the couch. I think it's the hibernation thing (winter and all). I had no intention of getting the kids up until well past 8 which was fine until at 8:13 (right after Payton got out of bed) we got a call from the bus barn wondering if Payton was going to be riding the bus this morning. WHAT??? What school in normal reality starts back from Christmas break on a Thursday morning? I take full responsibility for the oversight as I should have read the calendar, however, in my defense has anyone ever heard of this kind of thing? At a normal school? (I know ND isn't normal I guess I shouldn't be supprised) So that is how the AM started. Showered, dressed, fed (kind of) and out the door in 12 minutes. Not bad! The day at home was rather uneventful. Gavin and Olivia kept me busy with their normal antics and I tried to be productive. Gavin and I decided to go outside to play after we picked Payton up so we could all play together. As you can see from the pictures above we had a blast. We raced around the garden, climbed the snow piles and dug the beginnings of a snow cave. Not too bad for our first warm day (30).

Slow Start

Well it's been 2 days since I last blogged and as I said in the beginning I may need a little time to become dedicated to posting. It seems like the days are so busy but then at the end of the day I don't see that I've accomplished much. Right now we are preparing for Payton's birthday. Can you believe he is going to be 7. I cannot. Where does time go? I think it gets faster as I get older and have more children. So he is very excited and has a list of all the things he didn't get for Christmas that he wants for his birthday. Olivia keeps singing Happy Birthday (since it was just her birthday in Nov) but she keeps singing Happy Birthday to Olivia over and over. It is pretty cute and I've tried to get it on video but she isn't so good at preforming on cue. I will keep trying though. She also has a new talent for cleaning out her diapers with her hand. GROSS. Kevin, as you can imagine, can't deal with it and I am hoping that her dislike for dirty diapers will turn into a quick desire to be potty trained. I know it's still early but a mom can always hope. Gavin hasn't had much going on in the last few days. We rented Underdog and he has been continuously watching it. He likes it very much and as you can imagine he wants an underdog costume. At least he's true to form. I guess he hopes to fly with the cape. (I'll keep you posted on how that all works out!)

Thanks for checking in on us. We love to hear from you even short comments.

Love and Happiness

Kirsten