Tuesday, August 26, 2008

SUCCESS (for the most part)!!!



Tevin is potty trained! :)

After getting to the point of sheer desperation (realizing it was a matter of weeks before preschool started and Tevin was REQUIRED to be potty trained), and after having a serious talk with my dad, I buckled down and got serious about helping Tevin lose the diapers. My dad helped me decide that I needed to commit to it 100%. So the next morning, Tevin and I gathered all of his diapers, put them in a box and taped the box up, and then wrapped the box in pretty gold paper. We wrote, "To: Babies, From: Tevin" on the box. Then Tevin put his own artistic rendering on the paper. We "sent" the box away to the babies because they needed the diapers way more than he did. He enjoyed it very much. At last, I was able to turn in Tevin's enrollment paperwork at the preschool! (Tevin still has accidents from time to time, especially when he is heavily immersed in play. He is also wearing pull-ups at night. We're all VERY proud of him nonetheless!!!)

About 3 weeks later, we got a letter from Tevin's new teacher, Ms. Carol. It was so sweet! The letter was addressed to Tevin and it welcomed him to her Teddy Bear Class for the fall semester starting September 3rd. Tevin even gets to take his favorite stuffed plaything to school on the first day for a Teddy Bear Hunt. He posed with his Pillow Car (the lucky plaything that gets to go to school) and the letter we got from his teacher.

I cried as Darren read the letter out loud, because I couldn't believe my little guy is "big" enough to be going off on his own for a couple of hours to school. I am amazed every single day by Tevin. Sure, preschool is only 2 1/2 hours a day, 3 days a week.... but that's 7 1/2 hours (or 450 minutes, or 27,000 seconds) that I will miss his smile and his unbelievable spirit.

Cousin Sarah


Sarah is my favorite cousin -- she has always lived in the north part of Denver but that has never stopped us from hanging out or getting together. Since I'm only 6 months older than she is, we've always been close, no matter what the physical distance is or has been. We spent the morning a few weeks ago at my aunt's house and went to the pool. Sarah has two kids of her own (Tayla, 17 months, and Kyler, 6 years). She's holding Tayla, who is 5 months younger than Brynlee. Sarah and I hope that our girls will always be as close as the two of us are!
Tevin decided he didn't need us girls and motored around in his pink floating car for about an hour. He was HAPPY AS A CLAM!!

"Heat" Wave


Brynlee loves coats. Regardless of what the temperature is outside, she wants to wear one if she sees it hanging on the coat rack. For whatever reason, the coats were out of the closet one day, and of course, she had to wear her pretty pink one. At the time, we happened to be in the middle of one of the longest heat streaks in history (97 degrees that day) and she went outside with this coat on. I didn't let her wear it for long because I was afraid she'd get heat stroke! I also didn't get the pictures of her having a temper tantrum when I made her take it off (I'll save you that drama).

Keep on Truckin'!



Last week, I detailed my brother's truck before listing it on CraigsList to sell before he moves to California. Tevin and Brynlee have always enjoyed the sights and sounds of the truck (it's tall and very loud!) and they had to give it one more joy ride before saying goodbye.

Monday, August 4, 2008

Happy Birthday Gammy K!

Gammy K turns 29 today! ;) Happy Birthday Mom/Gammy!

Babble Brynlee

This little girl LOVES the phone, and she's not even near her teens yet! I can hear it now though:


"Hang on one sec, Mom, I'm making a call..."


"It's ringing!!"


"Do you MIND? I am on the phone here!!! UGH!!!"

Happy 85th Birthday (Great) Granddad!




Darren's granddad (the kids' great-granddad) turned 85 on Saturday, August 2nd. In his honor, the entire family gathered in Denver for picnics, dinners, and a family photo. Great Granddad Mike's three kids Randy (Darren's dad, from Dodge City, KS), Linda (from Dallas, TX), and Brent (from Phoenix, AZ) as well as all of their kids (and their kids' kids!!) came to celebrate 85 years of greatness. In all, there were 24 of us trekking around Denver together. Mike had a huge "85" cake at dinner on Saturday.. you can see that our kids enjoyed it almost as much as Mike did! Happy birthday Granddad Mike!