The dust is finally settled and cleaned up

We finally have our house back. After over three weeks of living in dust, cramped into two small rooms downstairs things are all put back together. We still have to get a new dinning room table and some decorations for the living room, but it is all coming together.

The hole is gone above the pocket doors, they actually work, and the trim around them looks right and not like it was just thrown up.

The dinning room is a nice bright yellow. No more dark green. It looks like a totally new room. Nice and bright.

And best of all all of the seams are hidden.

Big girl bed

This weekend with all of the illness in our house; colds, stomach bug, fevers; Sophie decided she no longer wanted to be in her crib. At About 4 am a felt a set of eyes staring at me. I thought it was Brie so I told her to go back to bed. When I actually opened my eyes it was Sophie standing by my bed. When I asked her what she was doing she said she climbed out. Luckily she did not get hurt.

The next morning it was time to take down the crib. Sophie was against it and cried. Once it was done and she and Brie played in it for about an hour all was okay. She has been sleeping in it without a problem for the last few days. I was concerned that she would not stay put as she generally talks and plays with her toys for a while before going to sleep, but she has not tried to even get out on her own.

Mess, Mess, Mess

Right now our living room and dining room are under construction. We have an Amish carpenter fixing the seams, painting and redoing the trim.

There is dust everywhere, the house smells like fresh paint, and we are crammed into two rooms.

I know it will all be worth it to have it redone, but the mess is getting the best of me.

Hopefully he will finish up this week so we can have our rooms back.

little hands

hard at work
painting pictures

one with the left

the other with the right

Playing in the snow

We awoke on Friday morning to find this
Since Daddy was away, the girls helped me shovel

And we made snow angels

There was not enough to make a snowman, but we had fun playing in it anyway.

Potty Training boot camp

Last weekend we decided it was time. No more diapers for Sophie. She has been telling us when she has to go potty for months now, but we have not been very consistent about asking her if she had to go before we went places.

We had good success with Brie with Potty training boot camp, a program I had found online. So Thursday night I asked Sophie if she was ready to start wearing big girl panties. She said yes!

So Friday morning we started. Panties on and timer armed. I knew I was in for a long day. Marcus was going to be home at 2 so I wouldn't have to do it all by myself. Now Sophie is a bit more stubborn and opinionated then Brie was at this age. She was not thrilled to have to go to the potty every 15 minutes. She would much rather play with her babies. Many times she would crawl to the bathroom or have to be carried kicking and screaming. It made for a wonderful day. It was hard not to laugh as she would crawl as slowly as she possibly could from the living room to the bathroom. So with a total of 6 accidents and lots of practicing, by the end of the day she finally told us that she had to go potty and made it there in time. I was afraid she was not going to get it.

So Saturday came and we started again. This time we set the timer for 30 minutes. This seemed more tolerable for Sophie and there was not as much complaining. She made it through the entire day without a single accident!

Sunday she had one accident, but she told us she had to go, but refused help to pull down her pants so she did not quite make it. But she stayed dry at church and a 2 hour trip to the mall.

Since then we have stopped the timer and she has been telling us when she has to go potty. She has had 2 dry days at school and gone to lots of places with her big girl panties.

Our proud little girl got to go to the store and pick put new panties. She wanted puppies, but after searching 4 different stores at the mall without success, she settled for monkeys.

Santa brought a train, good thinking Santa

The girls got a train set from Santa this year

They have been playing with it daily since then

Daddy I think likes it just as much as they do. We even had to buy more track for daddy so he could make the paths for his trains.

Green Family Christmas

We spent Christmas Eve at Nana and Pops, just like every year.

The kids had fun playing

Brandon got into Nana's bright orange heels

Sophie was all smiles

and ate lots of chocolate

Brie got her vanity that she loves to sit at and do her nails