The Potty Master

Ezra showing us his muscles. He is officially King of the Potty. And who decided it was time to train? He did! One day he tells me, "Mom, I don't want to wear my diaper anymore."

"Okay," I say, "Let me know when you have to go to the bathroom.

15 minutes later...FLUSH!

"Ez, do you have to go potty?"

"I did."

"Did you wipe?"

"Yup."

Sure enough he'd taken care of everything all by himself, and that was that. Easy as pie. I hadn't even considered training with the new baby and a move coming up in June. I guess he figured if I wasn't going to worry about it someone had to. Way to take matters into your own hands Ez!

A quick potty story...

We had a little boy over the other day who is not trained yet. He was asking about one of Ezra's toys and I thought I'd throw in a little propaganda for his mother's sake and said, "Oh, Ezra earned that toy by staying dry all day. Did you know he can use the potty?"

"Yeah!" Ezra jumps in, "I can go forwards," thrusts his hand out, "backwards," waves his hand around, "even standing up!" one more big wave. It's true. He loves experimenting with the potty. One day I went in and saw him sitting backwards on the potty, facing the tank. Whatever works funny guy!

Ticklish

Mark on St. Patty's Day.

The Wave

This boy is so precious pictures just don't do him justice, but I know you're itching, so I'll give you a couple of his most distinguishing feature: the wave. Check out his 'do! Yup, it's all natural curl and I don't do a thing to it besides keep it clean . I love it. It's like an ocean wave right along the top of his head. I hope it's stays always.

Counting our January Blessings...

January always seems long to me, so here's a few snaps of our brightest January spots (besides baby Mark, which is a given):


Mark Quayle (as the children always refer to him because there are so many Marks in our family) doesn't like chocolate. I like dessert. Mostly desserts with chocolate, so I took the opportunity to expand my horizons and explore new recipes. This one is a keeper. Pumpkin Spice donuts. YUM. Go here for the recipe.

An at-home date night with my Lovey. We decided to cook together steak-house style. Everything was delicious from the steak, to the blue cheese sauteed spinach and crab potatoes. Delish. The best part of course was creating something fun with Mike and enjoying it together.

Gunny Bag!! Those of you who don't have a Gunny Bag should get one! We were introduced to Gunny Bag through the Joy School carriculum. The idea is that Gunny Bag eats up all the toys left out and keeps them in his tummy. At our house it's not the threat of losing toys that's the motivator. The incentive at our house is that if there are no toys to eat he eats girls and boys. And gives them a ride around the house until he's too tired and spits them back out onto the floor. Whatever works!!!

Christmas at Our House

I know what your thinking, "CHRISTMAS!?!?!? In March? Christina!" Let me kindly remind you that we have a newborn. AND Christmas was really fun, so I can't just skip it. These peeps are important to us and my sis-in-law Shelley has a great camera, and great talent, so there are some really awesome shots.

Boy oh boy do we love having Brent back. Here he is zooming the kiddos on Ez's new scooter.

The girls waiting for pizza oustide Boston's finest Pizzeria Regina after a brisk walk along Boston's Freedom Trail.

The annual Christmas Squash Match. Hi Scotty!

A very full house.

The Sorensen boys love to snuggle. Mark's getting in on the cuddles.

Ez, enjoying the masterpieces. The adults had a gingerbread competition while the little ones were sleeping. We couldn't decide whose was the winner so we thought we'd let Ava and Ezra decide come morning. When asked, Ava responded, "I just can't decide. I like them all so much!" Sweetie!

Thanks Sorensens for coming out our way. We had such a great time together, you guys took such great care of our family. Ya'll come back now, ya hear! We miss you!