thesellers.net

Leah has become a lot more vocal and happy.

We finally got ourselves a Christmas tree after our adventures in potty training calmed down a little. Molly enjoyed helping out decorating it.

While we were in Tennessee with Jen's family, Uncle J built us a campfire (Molly's first). A good time was had by all, and the marshmallows were very tasty.

I've been prepping Molly for potty training for a few weeks, so this past weekend we had a Potty Boot Camp at our house. I read The Potty Boot Camp and decided to follow the recommendations for potty training your child in three days. Yes, THREE days! Chad was a bit skeptical, and I was hopeful that an intense potty training weekend would do the trick. So, I got my act together gathering potty rewards, crafts to keep Molly entertained in the kitchen, and items to entertain her while sitting on the potty. Wouldn't you want to stay in the bathroom with these fun things?

So, we started first thing Friday morning and went diaper free, except for naptime and bedtime. We sat Molly on the potty every 10 minutes for 5 minutes at a time, using an egg timer (affectionately named "Baby Egg" by Molly) to keep time for us. It was a hard first two days, but by Sunday she was starting to get it, so we increased her time off the potty. By Monday morning, she was self-initiating, and by Tuesday afternoon I was no longer using the timer. We didn't make it in three days, but I'm so proud of how well Molly has done. Now we just have to get out of the house!

We spent Thanksgiving at The Cottage on Watauga Lake in Butler, TN with my family. We rented the cottage two years ago when Molly was 7 months old, but now we had two more little girls to celebrate with. The 8+ hour car ride was rough due to Leah crying anytime she was awake, but while there we had a nice time.

We mostly relaxed at the cottage, but Molly, Uncle J, and Grampa did go on a scavenger hunt. They found everything on their list (and an extra 20 or so rocks).

Molly also tried to get in a little workout on Uncle J's Wii Fit. She needed a little help, so Uncle J happily assisted. Here they are going down the ski jump.

We put together a nice feast for Thanksgiving lunch.

And here was part of my contribution to the meal. Yum!

Our last night in Tennessee included this great campfire built by Uncle J. It was pretty chilly out, so we all had to keep warm by the fire.

We roasted marshmallows. Molly wasn't into the roasting part at first (though she was very happy to eat the marshmallows), but she eventually warm up to the idea.

During our stay, Molly slept on a very large air mattress (complete with headboard) on the floor in our room. Here she is waking up on our day of departure. She did really well and very much enjoyed her big bed.

There are a lot more pictures from our trip. We even managed to get a cute family picture!

I took Molly to Storyville at the Rosedale Library in Baltimore. They have many different areas for kids to explore and play. We were there for 1.5 hours, and could have stayed another hour!

Molly had fun gardening and growing pumpkins. She must get her green thumb from her grandfathers!

She performed a puppet show with a goat and a pig and even gave out tickets to the show.

She had the most fun in the Storyville Store. I think if it had been her first area to visit, we never would have left! She wanted to put everything in her basket, which left the shelves pretty bare.

Molly wanted to buy so many things at the store, she ended up having to work a shift at the cash register to pay for everything.

I took the girls to have pictures taken last week. Leah cooperated; Molly didn't.

Molly decided to sing the ABCs this morning. Of course, she sings them with her usual level of energy, making them very entertaining.

I thought it'd be fun to show you some of Leah's facial expressions lately.

Do you have something to say, Leah?

Mid-sneeze...

A seriously squished face...

And our sweet, happy girl!

What do you do for fun on a wintry day? Make Play-Doh suncatchers to bring in a little sunshine, of course! So, today I hosted a playdate to do just that. All the kids enjoyed squishing small balls of Play-doh and creating a rainbow of colors on the Contact Paper.

When put together and hung up, it turned out really nice. Though, it didn't last in the window very long. Molly insisted on wearing it like a bracelet, and then it eventually wound up crumpled in a ball. But, she had fun playing with it all day!