One year ago

One year ago today ...

Our family went from this:

to this:

We took on my sister and brother-in-law's three little ones - Conner, Cade and Kaylee - for three months (Feb, Mar, April, May) while their mom (my sister, Shannon) recovered from a staph infection from a back surgery.

Boy was it a busy, hopping, fun, learning and a growing time! I miss my buddies...

xoxo - Your Highness ;o)

Just Us

Yep. It is just us now.

My three little friends went home yesterday. Shannon is healed ... she needs to build up her strength and endurance - plus my parents will be with her for 6 weeks to help her so she can keep recovering.

I'm going to miss
Tablespoon drinks of water at night (sigh ... when I saw their empty cups on the bookcase).
My little alligator swishing across the floor.
Cade vacuuming with my new vacuum.
Your Highness.
I'm dry!
Not Cars.
Toothless grins.
Midnight feedings (sort of)
My-ca-doos.
Remembering how many plates to pull out each meal.
Mommy.
I did poop!
Pancakes EVERY MORNING.
Playmate for Kendall.
Dance parties.
Discovering movies I didn't realize we had.
Snowmen snowcones.
Snowmen!
Names on their chairs (and being VERY possessive of it!).
Prayers.
Talks on the phone with Shannon (I'm not a huge talker on the phone ... seems like everything falls apart while I'm on the phone!).
Princesses.
Doctor visits (maybe?).
A very active pew at church.
My closet sleeper.
Cade's head popping up from the pillow when you come in the door.
Having my little buddies around...

It was a great experience. Thanks for sharing the kiddos David and Shannon!

Update with the my extra little friends

You can visit my sister's blog here to read my journaling for April 1 - 7. Lots of fun stuff! Cade and Kaylee having a dance off - it is a riot! You can also see some funny pictures of Cade with Kaylee's princesses and read the story behind it on the same post as the dance off. You have got to check it out!

Potty Trained

My boys did it! They are potty trained! Cade (My sister Shannon's little boy) runs and tells me when he has to go. Kendall has a bladder of steel and holds it forever. I usually just put him on the potty every 3 to 4 hours ... (so maybe he isn't potty trained completely, but he hasn't had an accident in over 5 days!).


Not bad for boys. Cade turned 3 in January. Kendall turns three at the end of June. I don't miss their diapers!

Catching up

I'm catching you up ....

Read my journaling here for March 27 (potty training adventures, Kaylee is dry!)

here for March 28 (eating snowmen),

here for March 29 (church, what did Cade ask for breakfast? wardrobe issues for Cade),

here for seeing a cute video I took of Conner scooting,

here for March 30 (summary of Spring Break, update on potty training),

here for March 31 (developmental differences, dealing with honesty, Kendall waking up dry, etc...),

here for April 1 (no fooling ... they were up early! 5:45 a.m. - my VT companion - dear friend Candace M. from Naperville and moved out here into our ward shortly after we did - called and told me she was bringing me dinner. So sweet! Boys playing with princesses ... super cute video I took!)

My sister, Kelly, put the video up I took of the boys playing with Kaylee's princesses on her blog here. They are boys!

You can read my journaling here for April 2 (and see some video Shannon took of Conner while we were visiting on the web cam)

March 26 - with my extra little friends

You can read about our potty training experience here. We are also in the middle of a Blizzard Warning.

March 25 - with my extra little friends

You can read here about my day. Potty training... bribes. More.

March 24 - with my extra little friends

You can read here about my day. Bribing works. Eye appointment for Jenna - beauty in contacts! ... and more. We are in the middle of Spring Break.

March 23 - with my extra little friends

You can read here about my day and see come cute pictures of Kendall and Cade doing spring cleaning. Conner has RSV ... poor baby. We are hanging in there!

March 22 - with my extra little friends

You can read here about my day (David visits, Conner is sick, a day with the princesses). Cute video of Cade and Kaylee discovering their Daddy was visiting from AZ.

March 19 - with my extra little friends

You can go here to read about my day (Cade is quite an exciting kid to shop with ... in the women's department).

March 18 - with my extra little friends

You can read here about our day playing with trains, Conner being banned, and Kaylee's "hit man" in training.

March 17 - with my extra little friends

You can read about our Green Dinner, gross jelly beans, glasses and other journaling here . . . you can also see some fun pictures.

Marcy 16 - with my extra little friends

You can read my journaling and see photos here.

You can see pictures of my sister's PICC line here (after it was removed and cleaned up...it is pretty cool!). She just had it removed...one step forward to recovery!!! Get better Shannonbow!

Conner and Kendall eating

Here is a cute video of Cousin Conner and Kendall. I fed Conner his first rice cereal...was it a hit? You tell me....

March 10 - with my extra friends

Click here to read my journaling and see photos.

March 9 - with my extra friends

Click here to read my journaling and see photos

March 8 - with my extra little friends

You can read and see pictures here

March 6 - with my extra little friends

To read my journaling and see pictures go here.

March 5 - with my extra little friends

Go here to read my journaling and see pictures