Beginning of March

We did something very exciting starting March 1--potty training for Graham! He was so excited and sooooo ready. He's been ready for months, but I wasn't. And he fulfilled all my wildest dreams of being the world's easiest potty trainer. Hallelujah!

We had a "potty party" in the bathroom for two days where they were allowed to play on the Kindle as much as they wanted and drink tons of juice boxes and sit on the potty a ton. They moved the party to the bathtub so Lucy couldn't bother them. Poor girl!

Some celebratory ice cream for Graham getting through the first day of potty training. It was smooth sailing after the first two days.

Dane dug a hole at the park and buried his "weapons" he was finding--sticks and acorns. I asked if he was being like the people of Ammon and he said yes. I love him acting out Book of Mormon stories--makes me feel like I had something to do with it (when I really didn't). 

Oh so nice! Thank you Lucy for going through our trash for us!

Mr. Potty Guy.

So exciting to plant things in our garden! I need to take an updated picture--everything is growing like crazy! And I feel like I've accomplished something huge--I haven't missed a single day of watering it yet. This is huge for me.

Lucy is always thrilled when she's allowed to be on the tramp with the boys.

What a walker! She is cruising everywhere now.

I love little kids in underwear when you're still getting used to it. Their bums look so tiny after wearing diapers.

Lucy being left out again. Come on guys, let me up?

I took all three kids to a doctor's appointment and to Trader Joe's right afterwards. And in a one-hour span I had four people say to me, "You look like you've got your hands full!" Hmm, yes, thank you. I wish I had a better response to that. I know people mean to be encouraging and friendly, but it made me wonder if I looked stressed or harried to hear it that often in such a short span of time. I know I have a lot of children, thank you very much.

Lucy loves her hippo friend.

Graham and his buddy Anson playing out in the backyard. Anson loves diggers and is obsessed with playing in our yard when he comes over.

Lucy was being so funny the other day. She was taking bites of blueberry and putting them in her mouth, and alternating each blueberry with sucks on her pacifier. She had a good system down.

We had a ward bonfire the other night and it was such a fun night.

Dane said, "Mom, I think it's time you come and take a picture of us with our trucks!"

Ooooh, great, Lucy! This is just what we want you to be doing!

Graham and his friend Emmi stealing their own snacks.

Lucy carrying Big Baby around, which is 3/4 her size.

We went for a nice long walk on this nice trail near our house. It's not walking distance from our house, so we have to drive there, but once we were on it it was so nice. We were all happy exploring. I was wanting to get some more time outside, especially now while the weather is nice. Soon it will be too hot for this sort of thing (sob sob).

Tommy and I went on a date to a drive-in movie theater! I've been wanting to do this for ages, and it did not disappoint. It was perfect. We saw Black Panther and it was really good.

Lucy's style of grocery shopping.

Lucy on her last night before turning one. COULD SHE BE ANY CUTER?? We were so sad to say good-bye to our baby year with our baby girl. Now she's a full-fledged toddler, walking and all.

February

February was another slooooowww month around here. We did basically nothing other than our everyday life, and it was nice.

These two are such buddies. Dane is always following her around and trying to make her smile. She loves him so much.

Ditto these two. She is the queen around here and she knows it.

She is in the "terribly busy" stage and is into everything right now! We have found her so many places making messes it's hard to even describe.

Don't mess with Texas, y'all.

Lucy looks like Cousin It with her hair not pulled back. But she is still so beautiful!

I cannot get this girl to stay sitting in the grocery cart to save my life.

I have a picture of Graham learning how to climb stairs at the park in this exact spot.

And now he's helping to teach Lucy! Sniff sniff.

She is happiest when she's outside!

Snuggle time with my boys. So nice.

They love making nests with all their stuffed animals. They spent like half an hour this day sitting and reading books together in this little nest. It was the cutest, and you have to document these things to remember when they're fighting the next half hour.

Look at these matching buddies! That's what Lucy gets for having hand-me-down boy jammies! 

Mmmm, looks delicious, Lucy. (You can tell it's our third child when we don't stop her licking the rusty swing chain, we just take a picture instead.)

In love with our phones.

Happy birthday to Kurt! Graham's face kills me in this picture!

Our garden boxes! We have been wanting to build these for forever and it was so satisfying to finally get them ready for planting.

So reverent for family prayer on the table in the toy room.

Three cuties playing together.

I love Dane's reading practice.

Dane was so proud when he got yellow tape on his belt in taekwondo. It means he's learned a "kata" or a skill, and that he's getting closer to progressing to the next belt. His friend Ben got his a while ago, so Dane was so proud to keep up.

Terribly busy!

Tommy found Dane sitting smashed in this box like this during naptime.

This girl could not be any cuter!

This may have been the best experience of Lucy's life. She has been dying to get in the bathtub with her brothers for months. Now bathtime is a little crazy with three crazies in the tub together, but she could not be happier.

I am so, so happy watching Dane's reading progress. He is doing amazingly well. I am shocked by how quickly he picked it up now that we've finished the lessons. We are practicing every day and he is doing so, so well, even reading words that are really big. He surprises me every day. And we are reading the Little House on the Prairie series together after each day of reading practice which is only one of my fondest parenting dreams come true, so this is basically one of the best things I've ever done.