It's been awhile...

So, to all our wonderful viewers--we are back! Sorry that we've been missing, but it seems this time of year is busy for all. With the weather getting nice there is so much to do. First, I am giving these g diapers a whirl. Carsten is currently wearing his first pair, so I'll have to let you know how it goes. Pretty cute. On this same note, Reese is officially potty trained in my book. We are working on nighttime and he definitely wants to not wear a diaper at night, but he is not waking up dry, so...

The kids and I went to my parents for week and Reese did not want to leave. When we were about an hour from home on Saturday, he said, "I want to go to Opa and Oma's"...
He spent a good deal of his time outdoors helping with watering, walking down the driveway to get the mail, put out the trash, etc. Fun times.

Reese and Unc riding in the trailer to the riding lawn mower.

Reese loved getting to ride in the trailer with Unc. Unc's friend, Sam, and his son, Paul, came over to play. Reese now has a new friend, Paulie.

Opa and Carsten playing house...

Opa and Oma's...

Reese on the *farm*... He got to help Oma and Unc with the burn pile--cutting up wood and separating the brush.

At one point Reese was sitting on the riding lawn mower by himself and we asked him if he wanted Oma or Unc to drive with him and he said, "It's okay if I drive by myself." We had to inform him that his foot would not reach the brake. He said he could do it and that he would just... and he pretended to drive and made the appropriate noises and motions...

Later, he asked Unc if Unc was the farmer... It is beautiful here and he would stay outside all day if we allowed him!


Everyone always asks for Mommy pictures, so here you go... Carsten catching a ride while we watched Reese working *in the country*.

Starting...

For those of you interested, here is our property before any work has begun... It is taken from the driveway towards the main road.

Here is the same angle, but from farther back and after removing blackberry bushes, etc...

And from across the main street. Notice the mobile--we are planning some major hedges to hide that one!

Potty Training...

Well, here is the scoop on potty training...

Reese goes a couple times a day without help, prompting, or company.
He hasn't had a p-o-o-p-y diaper since last Tuesday when we started this project.
I can't take any credit for this undertaking as Oma is the chief potty emptier, potty company, and potty prompter.
Reese has only had a couple of accidents (only p-e-e ones)--with several days of no accidents.
We've gone in public with only training pants on...
We now carry a little potty chair in our car *just in case*.
Fun times at our house!

(That is a plastic egg he is holding, one of the rewards for a big success.)

Saturday...

Cousins

We tried to take pictures of the cousins together and this is one of the great pictures we ended up with...

Abigail on Saturday...

Friday Night...

Justin wasn't very exciting on Friday night... Content to sleep through it all...


Stella... We had a very nice evening Friday night with cousins, Tom, RaeAnn, and kids. We had dinner and talked, talked, talked... We've decided it is silly that we don't get together more often given how close we live to each other and how close our kids are in age. We don't seem to lack things to talk about and have so much in common.

Papa reading to Stella

Papa with Justin...


Jim and Tom doing important boy things... trying to fix a helicopter that was not working.


My mom and RaeAnn telling stories... We sure had a good time with them on Friday night.

The week goes on...

Cousins...

We had a wonderful lunch (if I do say so myself) today with Paula, Alicia and her baby, Justin. It was my first time to meet Justin--he is 10 weeks old. He is very cute and won the best behaved award while we took pictures... my two are getting to be rascals for pictures. Reese is just sick of the camera and Carsten would rather be out of the frame than in it!

We were lucky enough to have a visit from Auntie Marilyn last night...

A New Week...

In our news...
Carsten has tooth number five and six is on the way. Carsten has been crawling on hands and knees now for a week or two. He is also walking behind the Pooh car all over the house... He can stand without support for longer and longer... Carsten is also saying, "da, da, ma, ma", and lots of "wa, wa, wa, oh, oh, oooo". I think that sums up Carsten lately.


Reese is funny as ever... I think all our two year olds are doing the same things these days (from reading other blogs). Reese imitates the librarian, the drive-thru, he is always asking me, "you take American Express?", he makes caramel lattes in the bath and asks how many shots you want...
He is definitely ready for potty training as he use the potty 50% of the time. It is on my end that we are failing probably because I don't ask him throughout the day and I put a diaper on him. Oma is here for the week and she is determined to get him trained this week (he is wearing Thomas underwear as I write)!
Some Reese-isms... He keeps calling shoulders *hips*. In reference to taking Carsten upstairs, "take he upstairs".
The hammer hasn't lost it's appeal...

This weekend we had Ben and Mindy here for the night--I was terrible and didn't get any pictures. On Sunday Kelly and Christian (and parents) had us all over for lunch--yummm. Sunday evening we had 10 adults and 5 babies/kids over for dinner. Reese was the oldest and Lane, 3 weeks old, was the youngest. Chaos everywhere, but so fun.

Carsten walking behind the Pooh car...

Clean Up...

I couldn't resist posting a picture of the bookcase after Reese cleaned up his books. He had gotten them all out and was being the librarian--scanning them and checking them out. I didn't have the heart to straighten them out or tell him that that was not the way we put them away as he had such a willing spirit... he made his mama proud (and he was pretty proud too).

Carsten 10 Months!

Carsten had his 9 month doctor's visit today at 10 months... He weighed in at 20 pounds and he is 28 1/4 inches long. Just as a comparison Reese was 19 pounds and 28 inches long at his 9 month checkup (one month younger...). Carsten seems to be right on target with all his development and he was a happy boy for the doctor. He is still only on breast milk with the occasional Joe's O's (similar to Cheerios). He does not show too much interest in food. We try foods with him, but he just makes faces and lets them run out of his mouth. Reese didn't eat solids until 11 months, so we'll see how long Carsten holds out.

The Bulldozer and Steamroller...

Our new nicknames for the boys are steamroller for Reese and Carsten is the bulldozer... This should be somewhat self-explanatory, but Carsten pretty much acts like a little bulldozer and goes over anything and is determined. Reese is getting quite rough with his brother and constantly has to be reminded to be gentle and careful with his brother. They play really nicely together except for these recent bouts of tousling... I'm sure this is the way it is going to be now with two boys...