Chicka Chicka Boom Boom

     JT's favorite book by far recently has been Chicka Chicka Boom Boom. For anyone who is a parent or has a young child, this probably has been read in your home many times with your little one. We have been reading it so much that JT can now recite much of the book from memory. I particularly love how JT says "Coconut" in the book, so I wanted to get it captured on video before he starts saying different/more correctly :) Enjoy the book!

ABC's Super Why Style

    Tonight when I was reading to JT, we were looking at a book that had a classroom setting with ABC's on the wall. JT promptly started to sing his ABC's. He now sings it like the show, Super Why- a PBS/Sprout show that is all about letter sounds, recognition, and spelling. He was too cute and I wanted to share it with you all.

Warm Winter Day

     With this weekend's weather looking particularly cold- high tomorrow is supposed to be 30- I thought today was a perfect day to reflect on the wonderfully warm weather we had last week. I miss it already!

 It was so warm last week, I took JT and Finn outside to play in the afternoon. They didn't even need jackets it was so mild.

 This is what they did for about 45 minutes. Back and forth running with the big trucks.

 JT looking for his buddy Finn to catch up.

 A brief pause to look adorable for Mom.

 I love this shot of the 2 friends playing side by side. Too cute!

Just look at all of this energy these boys have. Simple joys of running in the yard with your toy trucks.

 On the patio, we lifted a large bucket and found several worms. Finn was a brave boy and held one on his hand.

Though our squirmy boy thought the worms were "Cool", this is as close he would get to them. Though we won't be playing outside much in the next several days, I'm looking forward to spring where outside play will be a daily event.

Sarah's Birthday

     This past weekend Sarah came home to celebrate her 19th birthday. It was kind of an unusual birthday in that there wasn't any party with friends and Sarah's boyfriend, Doug, was out of town most of the weekend with an FBLA event. Regardless, we loved having Sarah home for a few days and we wish her a very Happy 19th !!!

 Sarah wasn't sure she would be making the trip home for her birthday, so Aunt Cathy sent her gift to Sarah at Campbellsville. Sarah brought it home to open, but said she loved getting mail at school because she doesn't really get much. ** Hint  hint- we need to send some more cards and notes to her.

Sarah opening Aunt Cathy's gift.

Nanny also sent her gift to Sarah at school as well. Look at the adorable printed envelope she used (Aunt C did too). Such a cheery package to receive in the mail!

Sarah opening Nanny's gift.

While Doug wasn't there for Sarah's birthday, he had a gift that he needed to give Sarah for her birthday. It was a time sensitive gift that we basically had to force Sarah to open without Doug being present. She wanted to wait until Sunday and open when he came home.

Opening Doug's gift. She had to open it because the concert was on Sarah's birthday (Saturday). Doug was so sweet to purchase 3 tickets, for Sarah, Lindsay, and Courtney since he wouldn't be in town to attend the concert with Sarah himself. The headliner of the concert is a band Sarah has loved since the 8th grade, so this was a big surprise.

 For our gift, we couldn't really purchase it without Sarah choosing it first. I took her out to shop for scrubs and shoes for her CNA clinicals. Sarah is a pre-nursing major and one of the prerequisites is to become a licensed CNA nurse. This is a course she is taking above and beyond the 17 units at CU. Her clinicals will be within the next month, so we went shopping for her uniform needs. 

There were so many different top options! Prints and solids for every season and so many different styles and cuts. The photo above shows Sarah had many options heading into the dressing room.

One of the tops she selected. She is starting to look like a grown up to me now ;)

This was one of her favorites. She loved the cinched in waist, the puffy sleeves, and the nice deep pockets in the front that offered style plus function.

We ended up purchasing 3 tops and 3 bottoms and found a great pair of all white tennis shoes that Sarah will be wearing soon for her clinicals.Happy Birthday Sarah, we love you!

Groundhog's Day

     On Groundhog's Day, I was looking to do a little art project with the boys to mark the occasion. Not a ton out there that was appropriate for 2 year olds to make on their own, so I decided to print off a coloring page for them to color.

 Very serious about their coloring.

 JT is just about ready to say cheese any time I'm holding my camera.

 Finn working the red-orange crayon.

 Clearly staying in the lines is a long way off ;)

     

     After we colored the groundhog, we made the most of the sunny day and talked about shadows and how the ground hog would hide if he saw his shadow, he will hide and 6 more weeks of winter will follow. Of course the boys didn't fully grasp all of "rules", but had a great time playing with their shadows. I certainly hope the prediction of 6 more weeks of winter isn't true though- this girl loves being warm!

Train Whistle

     Last night, JT got a special treat- a train whistle! It was a reward for doing something he's been trying to learn and last night he did it!!! JT was very excited to play with it and "Choo Choo" up until bedtime.

To see what JT did to earn his train whistle, watch the video.

Way to go JT and keep up the great work :)

Wild Hair

     As I mentioned in the Diaper Free post, JT receives a small reward prize when he uses the toilet. In the morning, JT is more than ready to get his "prize" and is eager to go to the box. On this particular morning, JT had a major case of bed head.  With his cheesy expression, this photo looks hilarious!

He managed to have a nice smile as well :)

     

     JT is continuing to do really well with using the bathroom. He will let us know when he has to go and really hasn't had many #1 accidents. Since we started this past weekend, JT has even remained dry during nap and overnight which is great! We are still working hard on #2's with no success so far. However, this time last week I was thinking it would be months until JT was going to be ready to potty train, so I will celebrate his victories instead and know he will master all parts of potty training before too long.