I'm A Big Kid Now...

I went and bought some pullups the other day and decided we would have Ethan say bye bye to diapers. He wasn't too interested in the pullups but much more interested in his spiderman underwear in his drawer, so i decided to let him give it a go and he is on day 3 of wearing underwear with NO accidents!! WOOHOO!! He even pooped in the potty yesterday and today. I have just been asking him every now and then if he needs to go potty and i get lots of "no" and an occasional "yes". Along with the potty training goes flushing the toilet aproximately 5 times each time, climbing all over the toilet, little pieces of toilet paper everywhere, a stark naked boy half the day, and a smashed finger in the door (his own) while trying to shut the locked door. He agrees to let me put a diaper on him at bedtime with the agreement that he gets to wear underwear over the diaper. I'm proud of my big boy and very happy to be done having 2 in diapers!!

It's About That Time

To turn me around in the van. I think i will like it much better sitting up like a big girl. My big brother Trey is not happy about it cause he is sad he won't be able to see me in the car anymore, he always made me giggle. Mommy went out on a limb and bought me a pink car seat without daddy there (daddy isn't very fond of pink) but daddy must be softening a little cause he actually said it was cute!

In other news i recently had a follow up with my dermatologist and got an A+! My skin is wonderful right now, of course it is not without a few rough patches of eczema, but it is extremely mild right now. Mommy just took me off formula and is trying soy milk. So far mommy has decided that i can handle 1 or mabye two bottles of the soy milk a day but if i have more than that i tend to break out a bit, so we are still just testing the waters.

The Prairie Punisher

in between the two runs-chilling with the kids

the transition-switching the leg strap with the time chip from Rachel's to my leg

taking off on the 2nd 5k

finishing the 2nd 5k-last stretch

our winnings for being first female team finishers

wiped out!!

Johnny got the kids up bright and early to come watch me-we had a rough night with the youngest two-Ethan has a horrible cough and was up for almost an hr at 1am and when we got him back to sleep Raegan woke up-Johnny sent me back to bed and slept in the recliner with her

June, my mom, me and Julie(we missed you Susan)

my team mate Rachel (thanks for teaming up with me Rachel-it was fun!)

Today was the 7th annual Prairie Punisher Duathlon. Several years ago i did the whole thing, last year i was 9 months pregnant and went and watched my sisters complete it. This year I teamed up with Rachel Weyand. My mom teamed up with my sister Julie (which by the way i'm proud of my mom out there!! She passed on her love of running to me, i know if her feet and knees could take it she would be right out there running too!) , and my sister June teamed up with a friend, Damon (my sister's husband) did the whole thing and so did Rachel's so we had a good group to cheer each other on- the race consists of a 5k to start, then an 18 mile bike ride (that's where the punisher comes in because it is quite hilly!) and then another 5k run. I did the two 5k's and Rachel did the biking. It has been quite some time since i have done any races so this was so fun for me-probably would have been a little more fun if i had trained properly for this, but i completed it and now hopefully i will be hooked on races again! We were getting ready to leave but i thought i would check the results board and saw that Rachel and i had gotten first place in the women's team duathlon so we stuck around and got our award. Now i have to go to work which just might be a good thing that i keep moving so that i will actually be able to walk tommorow!

Memories Made At Camp Gramma 2008...

I let Raegan have a red popsicle and she enjoyed every second of it!

Ethan and Molly having their own "meeting" during devotional time

buddies forever!

Avery just received her t-shirt and visor

crazy cousins!

signaling for the trucks to honk and we got plenty of honks!

the tradition has begun to walk over the bridge across the highway and see how many trucks the kids can get to honk. They look so forward to this. This year we has a lot more than just trucks honking and the kids were sure it was because they were famous from being in the paper the day before.

our campfire meeting on the final night of Camp Gramma, all of the older kids share their testimonies of when they were saved

group picture that was taken for the Hutchinson News

watching the horses

I tried to put this picture last, but didn't turn out that way- this is how i found Raegan yesterday afternoon when i was unpacking from the trip. Even though she wasn't a camper, i think Camp Gramma wore her out!

Trey feeding the goats

i'm not sure just what the temp was during the day when we went to the zoo (felt like 110!) but when we were heading to the bridge at 6:45 that night it said 102 degrees so it had to have gotten pretty hot!

Avery and Ethan looking oh so thrilled with the ape

Avery's favorite part of the zoo was the rainforest/jungle, she especially thought it was the coolest that mommy remembered going there when i was a little girl and that was my favorite part of the zoo!

The kids had a great week and didn't want Camp Gramma to end! My parents have an annual tradition called "Camp Gramma". It started Monday night and went through breakfast on Thursday. All of the cousins stayed in tents in the backyard with Gramma and Grandpa. They had plenty to keep them busy- the pool, air-conditioned playhouse, zip-line, swing sets and fort, and the newest addition- a trampoline! Ethan was not officially a camper yet but got in on most of the action except for sleeping in the tent. The activities were fishing, water spray park, free time (which included all of the yard activities), the Wichita Zoo, walking over the bridge, daily meeting times and a bon fire on the last night. Their are 23 cousins- 22 were at the house for Camp Gramma, so as you can imagine it kept everyone extremely busy! I know it wears my parents out but i am so grateful that they do this for our kids! The time and effort they put into this is something we will never forget and the kids will always have fond memories made at Camp Gramma!

Camp Gramma

We are having a HOT week at Camp Gramma !After us girls rested up on a weekend hotel getaway with no kiddos. (see Gramma's News). We are definately making up for our time away now! I have decided to wait to post pictures till i get home. If you want to see all the action we are having see my sisters blog-just click on The Smattering of Duehrings on my blogroll.

Boys...

Trey loves frogs. He went camping with daddy and some guys this last weekend and went frog hunting. If it was up to Trey we would have a zoo of animals in his room, he has tried to convince me several times before that he needed to keep a frog he has caught for a pet.

Ethan made an interesting shot clinic experience for us this afternoon when he got upset that a lady put her purse in his chair-she moved it for him and he went and sat down and then proceeded to give her a couple of taps with his foot (according to Trey). The woman proceeded to announce to me "i think you should be aware your son has now kicked me 2 times and i think he needs to know that this is unacceptable behaviour!" - i think their my have been a cloud of smoke coming from my ears because she infuriated me the way she took a snooty tone with me and acted like i might possibly be completely ok with my child "kicking" complete strangers!!! For one he was in plain site of me the whole time and i never even saw him barely move-she acted like he full out wha-lay kicked her Not that i was ok with what he had done, but cmon lady! Against what i felt like doing i made him go and apologize which he did in a matter of fact "SORRY! " accompanied with a grumpy face which she replied in her ever so snotty voice "i'm sorry i put my purse in your chair" Hello lady he is 2 years old you are acting like he's a 6 yr old. Hope i don't run into her again any time soon! :) I am definately not one who thinks my child does no wrong, but the way she handled it didn't bring out the best, Christian like attitude in me! :)

After a little talk before bed about never kicking strangers, we said prayers. Ethan's goes about like this " Jesus- daddy safe at work- angels round bed- die on cross-amen".

Vacation Always Has To Come to An End

fireworks at Pier 14

Ethan just couldn't hang with us any longer

this is what vacation does to a 2 yr old!

downtown Myrtle Beach

we started going to Myrtle Beach when Trey was only 18 months old and now he is 9

Happy 4th of July!

On Friday we enjoyed the beach and pools one last day and then went to check out the Nascar Speedpark. I forgot my camera so no pictures of that. Trey got to drive a go kart on his own for the first time and loved it! A guy (that was leaving) came up to me and handed me a pile of tickets (about as many as we had bought) so we ended up spending a couple of hours there. Daddy took Avery and Trey on some rides and then Ethan drove the mini go karts.

We then went back and went walking downtown and bought all the souveneirs that the kids had been scoping out all week and then we went to the pier to eat dinner and watch the fireworks display out over the water. It was very windy so we had to hang onto our food but it was beautiful eating dinner and watching the sky light up.

Our last night at the hotel was the most eventful one. Avery had been complaining of a tummy ache & apparently something hadn't agreed with her because she woke up at 1:30 am vomiting all over their bed, stuffed animals, blankets, and pillows. I now wish i would have taken a picture of Johnny with a towel wrapped around his face as he was stripping the bed, but it just wasn't quite as amusing while it was happening.

As i write this , we are driving through the Smoky Mountains... God's creation is absolutely beautiful...i'm car sick and Raegan is screaming her blessed little head off...

We arrived safely home on Sunday morning at around 7 am, again with Johnny doing the majority of the driving, although i drove for a stretch when i made him pull over because he had just seen a bear in the road(not really, he was just so tired he was starting to see things).

So kids when you look at this, this is your vacation in review... Myrtle Beach 2008!

More Vacation...

the view from our balcony

beach from our balcony

trey and his boogie board that he used most of the time in the ocean

daddy starting to make his mermaid

the finished mermaid-she would only allow a shell belt nothing else!

daddy and trey making sand castles

crawling after mommy

Avery enjoying the waves

nothing like taking a 2 hr nap on the beach

some mighty big alligators

the kids got to pet an alligator

riding the alligator

watching the alligators feeding time-that alligator's name was Goliath

Thursday was more beach/pool time. We decided that the older the kids get the easier vacations are going to become! The thought of 4 potty trained kids, all able to stand on their own two feet, no poopy, sand filled swim diapers, no trying to change those poopy, sand filled swim diapers in a restroom with no changing table and trying to not slide off the toilet lid yourself in your own wet swim suit... finally stripping them down and putting them in the sink being the easiest solution and then trying to get a wet swim suit back on.... besides the few frustrating times along with some fits from an overly tired 2 yr old the youngest two did great! :)

Thursday afternoon was time for Alligator Adventure (Ethan's much anticipated visit to see the alligators). Ethan was in awe of the huge alligators and decided that he definately would NOT be riding on an alligator's back! He said "if the alligator bite me, i spiderman and i bust him up!"

Thursday evening we ate at a huge seafood buffet. I tried some things iv'e never tried before and actually liked them, and i watched i watched other people eat things that i will NEVER try! Trey loved the crab legs.

A Little Break In Vacation Posting....

for a new accomplishment for little Raegan. She is getting pretty good at it and very seldom crawls the last couple of days, it is just constant walking, falling, getting back up and walking some more. You are growing up way too fast Raegan!

Beach Photos

I absolutely love black & white beach photos, so anytime we have a chance to go to the beach i go crazy taking pictures.